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“You’ll see.”
Madame Remis led us out away from the main hall, then through a pair of doors I’d yet to cross. This corridor was much like the dorm hall. It narrowed to push us closer together.
“This way.”
We came to a stop in front of a small, wooden door wholly out of place among all the stone, marble, and white. Madame Remis gestured for me to go ahead of her. “Careful on the steps.”
Her warning was understood with a single look down, down, down. A spiral staircase twisted through the bowels of the school, leading to what—I couldn’t see.
“What’s down there?” I asked, backing away.
She smiled at me. “The reflection room, Aella. As we said. No one is trying to trick or scare you.” Remis gently pressed on my back, moving me on. “After you.”
I thought about arguing, but in the end, I picked up my feet and continued down. A place to sit and think didn’t sound so bad right now. It’d give me time to think of an explanation forDrakos when he asked who was behind the hospitalization of half the Titan class.
The culprit is right on my wrist.
Another small wooden door awaited us at the bottom of the stairs. I was the one who opened it, setting foot inside a dim, windowless room—
—with nothing inside.
Well, not nothing exactly. There was a lone chair pushed against the wall beside a three-legged table. On it sat a covered plate and a goblet of water. Turning in place, I landed on the metal statue leaning on the opposite wall and kept going. There was nothing else to see.
“This is the reflection room?” My voice echoed strangely. “I’m meant to stay down here. For how long?”
Madame Remis’s smile held. “Aella, please sit.”
I did so, feeling more and more disturbed in the prison-cell space. Was this a trick?
Commander Vasili enclosed us in, heightening my anxiety. What was this? Why was he so quiet and Remis so pleasant?
“Here. You must be hungry.” Remis removed the top off the plate.
“No, thank you,” I said as my stomach growled, betraying me instantly. A plate of seeded rolls taunted me—appearing as warm and fresh as if they were made and placed there minutes ago.
“If you won’t have one, I will.” Remis and Vasili claimed a roll. They ate them more happily than I was, sitting there with my vocal stomach. Hesitantly, I claimed one for myself.
“Now then,” Remis began. “You know why you’re here. Someone purchased and distributed a large number of hellstones with the purpose bringing tensions between the classes to a boiling pot. Due to this, over fifty students are now inthe infirmary—seventeen of which seriously injured. An incident of this scale requires notifying the imperial council.”
My head snapped up.
“The Twelve will demand answers, Headmaster Drakos expects to have those answers, or no one leaves the reflection room. Is this understood?”
“Understood.”
“You will speak not a word, girl. You will not break. You will not give in.”
Selene was making me feel worse. Why was she talking like I was about to be tortured?
“Do you like it?” Remis asked, gesturing to the roll. “It’s Tantalean bread. It arrests your body’s normal functions and makes it so you don’t need to eat or drink for a certain period of time.”
My jaw froze.
“It also stops the need to expel waste.”
“Excuse me?” I spat it on the ground. “Why would you give this to me!”
“Because,” she said—still smiling, still pleasant. “You’ll be down here for a while. Leaving you in need of food, water, and a bathroom is cruelty the likes of which only a monster would inflict. The bread allows you to reflect without endangering your well-being.”
