Trial by Fire

The sachem narrowed his piercing eyes at her. “Whether you agree or don’t agree, three people have been tried, found guilty, and they will be hanged at dawn tomorrow. And everything they know will die with them unless we go to war and try to stop it.”


“You can’t win,” Lily whispered.

“It not about winning. It’s about having nothing else to lose.” The sachem smiled at her, a brief flash of pain crossing his face. Lily wondered what it was that Alaric had lost. “You must leave now, Lily Proctor.”

Lily stepped outside the carriage. A group of men and women filed past her to join the sachem. Lily recognized a few of the faces. She nodded at the wiry elder from Cherokee with the salt-and-pepper mane, who smiled back, looking pointedly at Lily and Rowan and how close they stood to each other. Lily’s natural instinct was to move away from Rowan so as not to give her the satisfaction, but instead she decided to lean closer to him, her willstones pulsing possessively. Just to make her point, she sent a surge of power through all of her mechanic’s willstones, making them glitter prettily across their faces.

“Lady Witch,” the Elder said, tipping her head respectfully.

“Elder,” Lily replied, staring her down.

Not very friendly, Caleb whispered in her head. She’s known Rowan and me our whole lives, you know.

Well, then, it’s about time she backed off, Lily thought, earning a devilish smile from Caleb.

She waited until the door to the war carriage was closed before turning to her men.

“Why does Lillian give the scientists a trial if she’s just going to hang them anyway?” Lily asked.

“She doesn’t just want to kill them,” Rowan answered. “What good would that do anyway? Eventually someone else will make the same discoveries as they did.”

“Lillian always has trials for high-profile scientists,” Tristan explained. “It’s not about proving they’re guilty, but proving to everyone that what scientist do is evil. She puts science on trial.”

“And it’s working,” Caleb said. “People are actually starting to believe that science is evil and that doctors do nothing but harm.”

“She traps the people on trial,” Tristan said. “She gets people to admit that science makes chemicals that pollute the world and that doctors make drugs that get people addicted, while witchcraft does everything that the people need without all the side effects.”

“Except for the small side effect of tyranny,” Rowan said quietly.

“There’s only one thing for us to do. We have to get those three scientists.” Her mechanics looked at her, surprised.

“Are you sure?” Rowan asked.

“You don’t think I’d actually let a war start because I’m not a fan of nuclear energy, do you?”

“Uh. No?” Caleb said innocently.

“I wouldn’t,” Lily said, punching Caleb in the shoulder. “But I can’t speak for you guys. It’ll probably be really dangerous.”

“Probably,” Tristan said dryly. “I say we do it.” He looked at Rowan, who was frowning and deep in thought. “Rowan?” Tristan asked.

“Yes,” Rowan answered. “Caleb?”

“I’m in too,” he replied.

“Okay. We need a plan,” Lily said, nervously rubbing her hands together. The enormity of what they were going to do was starting to sink in for her. She dropped her shaking hands and steadied herself. “You three are the jailbreak masters. What do you suggest?”

Tristan and Caleb shared a look, conferring in mindspeak. When they’d finished, Caleb looked at Lily.

“Even with you fueling us, it’s going to be a close fight,” he said.

“We can’t just barge in there, blind. We need someone on the inside,” Tristan added.

Rowan nodded, picking up on their thoughts. “You have to ask Juliet for help, Lily. Or we don’t have a chance.”





chapter 14



Hey, Juliet?

Lily. This is sort of a bad time.

It can’t wait. I need a favor.

What is it?

You know those three scientists you tried to save? You wouldn’t happen to know exactly where they are, would you? Like, what cell they’re in and stuff?