"That's beautiful," Faith said. "Wow Hylla, you rock that blue."

Hylla was wincing and smiling at the same time as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, studying her bruise. That was Kinzie's sentiment exactly.

Her lip was split, and her eye was black. The bruise stretched down to her cheek.

"Someone make up a really cool story about how this happened. Make me sound badass." Hylla said.

They spent twenty minutes debating as they got dressed for the day.

"I'm just going to go back to the infirmary to thank Paula," Hylla said. "Don't think I made myself clear last night. Later."

"Don't be late for study hall," Kinzie called out as she slammed the door behind her.

"Well I'm glad you two made up," Faith said. "Also I'm glad that the karma truck is running over Lulu's ranks. Thanks for that. I think it's nearly worth her black eye. I'm just having a very happy day."

Kinzie laughed and grabbed her own bag to get a move on with the day. She wanted breakfast badly.

On her way there she took a shortcut past the treasury so that she might intercept Hylla as she came out of the infirmary.

Then she recognised the Vigil at the treasury door and she froze in her steps.

"What are you doing there?" she hissed.

"Why Kinzie," Lulu said. "I'm on duty. You might be familiar with it: it's when you're worth enough to work for the Kingdom. No, you don't know about that? Oh well."

"You… After what you did?" Kinzie spat. You beat up my best friend three against one just after she'd spent two hours training, and you nearly had her go into a full-out all-hands-on-deck PTSD flashback or seizure or whatever they're called!

"Queen Miranda trusts in the promotions she's made." Lulu said simply.

And in that moment Kinzie suddenly realised what Hylla had been talking about in July, when she'd been talking about how someone had poisoned her mother.

Miranda.

She'd been talking about Miranda.


"I've got coffee," Kinzie said popping back in the room.

"Oh, Amen." Hylla said. They had an exam tomorrow, as Fidus. Hylla wasn't very nervous, Kinzie had told her most of this stuff before, but she didn't feel like screwing up an exam because she might misspell a rank or important name like 'Otrera'.

"So," Kinzie said as she handed Hylla a cup. "Who do you think killed the Queen?"

Hylla looked up at her, a bit shocked that she was bringing that up. "I'm… well, I'm not completely sure and I don't have a strong theory or proof or anything…"

"I think it's Miranda," Kinzie said. Hylla choked on her drink.

"Geez, that was direct." Hylla said. "That was… what I thought too. I just didn't want to… say it. I know she was like an aunt to you."

Kinzie breathed deeply. "She hated what my mother did with the Kingdom, and she undid the two biggest changes ASAP."

"Not to mention that the same night I talked to you about the poison, her guards came to tell us to shut up and we got promoted the next day. She was trying to sucker us into something." Hylla said.

"Speaking of promotions," Kinzie said nervously, "I need to tell you something… Lulu's still a Vigil."

Hylla winced. "Oh…"

"I'm sorry," Kinzie said.

Hylla didn't acknowledge that. It wasn't Kinzie's place to apologise for someone else. "Is that why Diane wasn't at the gym today?"

"Maybe," Kinzie said biting her lip. Hylla didn't want the Honourable to be in trouble because of them…

The door flew open and Faith stood there looking alarmed. Her eyes were wide and frightened.

"Shut up both of you," she said. "We can hear you from outside the door, are you trying to get yourselves killed?"

Neither of them spoke. Kinzie was holding her breath, Hylla was making up a lie to save their butts.

Faith shut the door. "Since when have you two been thinking about this?"

"A while," Hylla said. "Well, Kinzie just got on the same page yesterday or so."

Faith shook her head in shock. "I didn't think…"

"Wait- did you know?" Kinzie said.

"Well, I had a sneaking suspicion. I was one of the healers in the infirmary on the night Asha died, wasn't I?" Faith said. "The second I mentioned that there might be a poisoning involved, Miranda kicked me right out on the grounds that I 'was disrupting and worrying the queen'. I was due for a promotion in June, wasn't I? I'm stuck as Fidus now. It wasn't hard to figure out why Miranda had it in for me."

"I'm sorry Faith," Kinzie said.

"It doesn't matter," she said. "I thought that I was crazy, but clearly if you two think so two…"

"Hylla's seen people poisoned before."

"Doesn't surprise me at all," Faith said. "You two have a plan don't you?"

Kinzie and Hylla looked at each other. It was like Kinzie read Hylla's mind.

"Proof," Kinzie said. "We need proof."

"I have a plan for that," Hylla said. Her heartbeat was steady, but Hylla was a million times more conscious of it than she would be in any other given moment. Like on the pirate ship. Suddenly things were at stake, and Hylla was the one with the plan that could backfire.

Kinzie kept her eyes on Hylla- hopeful eyes, ready to follow her to the ends of the world even if her plan was stupid- just for the sake of friendship.

She reached inside her bedside table's drawer and took out an old pin. Her Cacula pin. Kinzie's eyes lit up in recognition.

"Explain," Faith demanded.


Hylla was the one sent in, which made sense. She was used to this sneaking around business, she'd done it more than once- to escape from the foster system with a six-year old child and get to Circe's Island, at C.C.'s itself, in the pirate ship…

Kinzie was Hylla's backup. She was waiting a few halls away with her textbooks, pretending to study for exams while her roommates were being too loud. She and Hylla had 'borrowed' tiny headsets in the form of adhesive chips from the storage rooms. Another fancy knickknack Hylla had with her was a smartphone that Faith was supposed to be trying out and then review. That was another responsibility of the Fidus. It had a camera on it.

She'd used a passage that Kinzie had found as a child to get into the Queen's chambers without the guards sensing her. She looked around. It was basically the same as when she'd had supper with Kinzie and her mom. The Queen's personal things had been moved though, and anything like throw pillows or decorations had been replaced by Miranda's possessions, all things in a brighter palette. Kinzie's childhood memorabilia was gone. There was an encaged bird in one corner.

Hylla went for the bedroom. Things of importance were kept in office; crucial things were kept in bedrooms. Tip number twenty-four she'd learned from Blackbeard's ship, she supposed.

She crept inside and memorised the room so that she'd be able to replace everything she might move to its original spot.

She went for the bed right away, checking under the mattress, the pillows and the bed.

She went to the desk after finding nothing and looked through the drawers. She looked through carefully, until she found a box of receipts. The strange part was that none of them were from , which was weird for any Amazon but particularly if you were in the Court.

She looked around. Some of them were from male-owned industries- which could be used to shun the Queen but not to prove any criminal intent. She took pictures anyways. They were for very basic things- some specific kind of tea that the Kingdom didn't carry, a gift for a baby with a card dedicated to a niece… Nothing remotely interesting popped up until she found a receipt for an apothecary's shop.

Hylla looked over the purchases. They were a list of ingredients. They didn't mean anything to her, but Faith might have a clue. And, on the plus side, Miranda had signed the receipt. She took a picture of it and put it back where it was from.

She looked further. The only other thing she photographed were flash cards she'd found pressed between the pages of an old notebook- they seemed to go along with a presentation on why the death penalty shouldn't be banned. It must've been presented to the Court. Throughout the notes Miranda was very clear that she did not agree with Asha.

She was just about to open the fourth drawer when Kinzie's voice gave her a heart attack.

"Hylla," the voice projected in her ear via computer chip said. "Get out of there. Guards are coming."

"What kind?" Hylla replied.

"Vigil; get out!"

Hylla didn't do that, she'd look suspicious. She got the heck out of the bedroom though, because that was worst, and she started rummaging around the kitcen.

The Vigils came in.

"You," they called.

Hylla spun around.

"Oh, hi," she said with a nervous smile. She wasn't charming, that was Daisy's job.

"What are you doing here?"

"The Queen sent me so that I could pick up some tea for her," Hylla said.

"The Queen is attended to by the Court," one Vigil said sternly. She was lucky that Lulu hadn't popped in.

"Yeah, but I suppose she forgot for a second. She often got me to run errands when she was Minister. It was such a shock to her when the late Queen Asha died, I've heard that they were friends since the day they both joined the Kingdom." Hylla said.

Her lie seemed to make the Vigil uncomfortable. "Fine. Get what you need, and get out."

Hylla nodded, looked through a few drawers until she found the tea she'd spotted on the receipt, and left. The Vigil picked up a briefcase and left after her. Hylla should have checked that before going into the bedroom. Oh well, she'd gotten what she'd needed.


Nat and Daisy were sitting on the unused top bunk when they got back to the dorm.

"You got anything?" Faith asked.

"I hope not," Nat said. "Hylla, this is a totally serious accusation you're bringing up. And breaking into the Queen's chambers?"

"It was necessary," Hylla said.

"You could've gotten in so much trouble. Miranda would've been so mad; she'd have totally executed you now that the Death penalty's back."

"It was necessary," Hylla repeated. There was a seriousness imposing itself in her, and it kind of shocked and amazed Kinzie both at once. Even more so, it made Kinzie think of all the Queens she'd ever known. "Besides, I found something. Faith, have a look at this."

Hylla tossed the smartphone over and Faith went straight to pictures.

"What's Miranda's godly heritage?" Hylla asked.

"Daughter of Aesculapius," Kinzie said. "Distant cousin of Faith's here."

"We don't talk about that," Faith said looking through the pictures. "But I'm not going to deny it. Miranda knew what she was doing."

"What is it?" Kinzie worried.

"Some ingredients to make a pretty intense poison," Faith said shaking her head. "Oh boy. I'm not even sure that I'd try making that one."

"Is it that lethal?" Daisy asked.

"Worst: it's dangerous to make. I've seen it done once, back when I lived with a bunch of healers before getting here. It's a deadly effective poison- doesn't leave a trace unless you've seen it before. It makes everything look like an illness. We call it the Fabricated Disease."

"So this is legit?" Daisy asked. "Oh gods…"

"I'm afraid it is," Kinzie said with a grimace.

Nat wound her hands in her hair. "Oh gods. Oh gods. Oh gods, this is bad. So very bad, so, so totally bad…"

"Wait- what do you mean dangerous to make?" Hylla asked.

"It's corrosive, reactive, feisty about heat, toxic, requires the use of several poisons and there are studies right now to see if maybe it's radioactive." Faith said.

"Good fun," Daisy said.

"So if Miranda would have brewed it, there's a chance that she has a mark on her?" Kinzie said, an idea coming to her mind.

"I'd say an 85% chance, yes." Faith said.

"Would she have had to see another healer?" Kinzie asked.

"Probably," Faith said. "It's hard to treat yourself."

"Let's go find Paula," Hylla said standing up looking at Kinzie, with a light in her eyes. She understood.


Paula thought that their concern for their Queen was touching. Daisy said that yes, and make some excuses about Miranda looking peachy.

"I'm sure it could be the stress of having to look after the kingdom so quickly after a loss like Asha's…" she said charming the pants off of Paula."But we're just worried, and we wouldn't want to disturb her or make her think that she's doing any less of a good job than any other Queen, I'm sure you understand…"

"Oh of course," Paula said. "Well, Miranda last came here… I think it was in June. Yes, early June."

"Why?" Daisy said. "That's so strange. Asha was still reigning."

"It was completely unrelated to stress or anything like that…" Paula said shaking her head. "It was a burn. Strange, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Daisy said frowning.

"What kind of burn?" Faith said imposing herself as a healer.

They exchanged a few medical terms and Faith nodded, having understood everything.

"I suppose you have this on record?" Hylla asked.

"Yes," Paula said. "Why would you be interested in seeing them?"

"Faith is going to apply for the post of permanent healer," Kinzie spoke up saving their butts.

"I am?" Faith said. "Yeah, I mean, I just think I'd be… good at it."

"I'm sure you would," Paula said. "You have a natural talent for it. Well, I suppose that I can do you a sisterly favour."

Hylla slipped the smartphone in Faith's back pocket just before she walked away, following Paula to the computers in the back.


Kinzie and Hylla were walking back from a classroom. Every now and then, the Fidus had to take a real class or hear a real presentation as opposed to studying individually. They'd just been brainwashed by the Brazilian Amazon Head on the goodness of Queen Miranda.

They went to a scarcely used coffee shop that they'd decided to adopt since it was always empty. Except today someone else was there- Diane.

Kinzie called out her name and she looked up from her cup and smiled. Diane never smiled.

"Hello you two," she said.

"Are you okay?" Hylla asked. Diane had her hands wrapped around her cup and dark, sombre bags stretching underneath her eyes.

"I'm okay," Diane said.

"No offence, but you look horrible." Kinzie said. "And why aren't you at the gym?"

"I quit," Diane said.

Kinzie's jaw dropped.

"You what? But, Diane, you, it's your job. Nobody else has ever been in charge of the gym not since, not since-"

Hylla put an arm on her wrist so that she'd calm down.

"1995, I know." Diane said.

"Why did you quit?" Hylla asked.

"Queen Miranda wouldn't hear me out about you," Diane said. "I tried to talk sense into her, but she wouldn't hear any of it. I quit. She got mad at me and made me a Vigil."

"No," Kinzie said shocked.

Diane shrugged. "I wouldn't want to be her Honourable if that was what honour was."

Hylla held out her hand to Diane. Diane looked stunned and she shook it.

"I really appreciate it," Hylla said. "You didn't have to do that, but I really appreciate it. Coffee's on me."

"No girl. Coffee's on what's right." Diane said.

Hylla looked up at Kinzie, and automatically Kinzie knew what she wanted to do. She nodded.

"Speaking of right and wrong, we have something you might want to know." Hylla said.


"We have proof that Miranda bought the ingredients for the poison that killed Miranda," Hylla said. "We have proof that she brewed it. Now we need proof that Miranda actually killed Asha with it."

"Not to mention other motives and clues," Kinzie said. "She's been promoting everyone who might not be thrilled with her, or freezing ranks for those who might gain power and talk back. She refused to perform funerals for Queen Asha. Her first two acts as Queen were to abolish policies that Asha had put in place. It wasn't a secret that she didn't agree with my mother towards the end of her reign."

Hylla noted how, for the first time in a long time, Kinzie had acknowledged that Asha was her mother, and that her mother was dead. Doing something on this scale must've helped her settle and feel useful.

"And who will you bring your case to?" Diane said.

She too was crammed in the dorm room. There were actually a surprising amount of people in there –twenty people that Daisy and Faith had managed to find. Among them were Diane, The Sisters (because nothing ever happened without them knowing), Asha's ex left-hand Valerie, and a bunch of newbies that had been brutalised by Lynda and Lulu.

Kinzie, Faith, Daisy and Nat turned to Hylla.

"That part we don't know yet," Hylla said carefully. "Right now the idea is to build a case and make it as solid as possible. But that's not going to happen if nobody is ready to help."

She looked at them all.

Alex and Alec nodded.

Alex said, "We're ready to spy."

"Or anything else really," Alec nodded. "We're shameless and with very little moral."

"I'm a Vigil and I can milk it for the cause," Diane said.

"I can try to slither my way back into administration," Valerie said.

"We're still with you, Hylla." Nat, Faith and Daisy said.

"You know where I stand," Kinzie said.

She met Kinzie's eyes. That was the thing that made her feel most at ease with everything, more reassured that maybe this wasn't too grandiose to handle.

"Excellent," Hylla said. "Here's the plan…"


Things were going great. All of August was dedicated to the collection of evidence and recruiting people.

Recruiting was a tricky business since nobody who might not believe them or who might flip could be told a single thing. Daisy was the one who worked especially hard on that- her charms and pleasantness and openness helped.

The bunch of Newcomers that had shown up at first was recruiting amongst their ranks, and now there was a whole propaganda run going on in the barracks.

Hylla had appointed Alex and Alec to make sure that they knew what they were doing and that they knew how not to get caught. Alex seemed particularly good at this- and everyone was getting better at telling the two apart, so was everyone else by the looks of it. Kinzie was shocked at the differences existing in their personalities- no matter how small. Alex, for example, was a fantastic hacker whereas Alec was excellent at spying and staying on the down low.

Diane, as a Vigil, was planting cameras around Miranda's chambers and the throne room. Every night the footage and sound would be filtered through by one of their newer recruits, Fiona. She was fantastic with computers and mathematics and sorting and whatnot.

Nat, Kinzie and Valerie kept a close eye on all the policies and politics that Miranda was including and building up a pile of loopholes and contradictory policies.

There was a box full of clippings under Hylla's bed. They'd printed out the picture of Miranda's receipt, the flash cards, and the burns that Faith and Hylla had taken. Transcripts of Fiona's data were also very present. Valerie was writing and signing testimonies of what she'd seen and heard from Miranda about Asha's policies. Some of it was ugly and shocking, and made the whole political system of the Kingdom look like high school.

And Hylla had somehow fallen into the position of leader. Now, when Kinzie said 'somehow' she didn't mean that she didn't approve of it. Hylla had a cool head, a strategic brain, logic, the right attitude and demeanour to be respected, and the ability to listen and manage a big group of people that was doing a whole lot of things. It made sense. When Kinzie said 'somehow' it was because Hylla had never demanded it or asked for it. It had just happened through some sort of general consensus.

"Any news from Diane?" Hylla asked as the group meeting of the morning wrapped up and they hid everything. Roll call was coming up.

"Nope. Haven't seen her since the last time she showed," Nat said. "She's, like, totally off the map since last night."

Hylla turned to Kinzie and she shook her head too.

"We've tried snooping," Alex said.

"We really have," her sister replied.

"Thank you," Hylla said. "Try to find her at roll."

"It was easier to find her when she was at the gym all the time," Daisy said.

"She'll get her gym back soon enough," Hylla said.

They were at roll call when things went horribly wrong and it became clear that Diane wasn't getting her gym back anytime soon.

"And lastly," Miranda said after a long chain of boring announcements, "It pains me to have to announce that for the first time since the death penalty has been put back into place, it will have to be put into practise."

Whispers tore through the room like ripples in a pond. Miranda tapped her foot to the ground.

"Amazons," she said.

Everyone shut up and looked at her gawking.

"It pains me," Miranda said, "But I'm afraid that there is no other way to react to treason. Therefore Diane McCrae, daughter of Nike, is condemned to death."

Two guards dragged Diane onstage. She had a split lip. Kinzie's blood froze.

No. No way.

She looked panicked towards Hylla. The blood had drained out of her face, and she was looking straight at Diane without blinking.

"Found Diane," one of the Sisters muttered behind them.

"Diane McCrae, you were caught yesterday morning installing recording devices around the Kingdom," Miranda said.

People frowned and whispered. Of course everyone knew Diane. They were all panicking and fretting and confusion was at record peaks. All around her people said How could Miranda do this? Surely there's a misunderstanding!

"You have refused to give us any explanation as to why you felt the need to do this," Miranda said. "Ergo we have assumed the right to elaborate our own theories."

"What happened to reason?" Hylla whispered furiously. "That isn't just!"

Kinzie wasn't breathing anymore.

"You are a traitor to the Kingdom,"

She was freaking out, completely freaking out. How long would it be before the rest of them were tracked? The newbies spreading propaganda, Hylla with everything under her bed, Valerie, Fiona, Nat, Daisy, Faith…

"-and you will be executed tonight at midnight unless you choose to cooperate."


Hylla was looking from Diane to Kinzie.

Diane was in this mess because of her loyalty to Hylla's cause, because Hylla had brought her into this. Because she'd stood up for Hylla in a situation when not many people would.

Kinzie was holding her breath. She was in this too. How long would she have now that Miranda knew that there was some kind of opposition to her reign?

Diane kept a brave and neutral look on her face, as if she were nor humiliated nor concerned.

Kinzie was on the verge of tears. The woman who had killed her mother would kill another Amazon Kinzie had grown up knowing.

Diane was going to die at midnight.


Hylla got to her feet. Kinzie could barely register what she was doing until Hylla opened her mouth and said as clearly and loudly as she could:

"I challenge your right as Queen of the Amazons!"

Everyone silenced and looked at her. Miranda frowned in confusion until her eyes landed on Hylla.

No, Kinzie thought. No, no, no! They had a plan. Hylla couldn't go and risk her life!

"Who spoke?" Miranda said.

Hylla marched out of rank and stood in the walkway leading to the throne.

"I did." She said sternly.

"Hylla Castillo," Miranda said pronouncing Hylla's surname wrong. "Of course. I should have known. Dearest, I don't know what demons overtaking you right now but you, taking me on? You're only a Fidus."

"Any Amazon has the right to challenge the Queen for her throne," Hylla said. "But of course, you knew that since you're such a rightful ruler."

The word was dripping with sarcasm and meaning. Kinzie got chills. Her heart was beating too fast. Faith pinched her so that she'd start breathing again.

"Indeed," Miranda said darkly. She knew that Hylla knew what she'd done. "Well, it is settled them. Right after the execution…"

"No," Hylla said. "A Queen whose authority is under a threat cannot carry out her authority until the duel. You cannot kill Diane McCrae until I'm dead."

Miranda's eyes flashed.

"You consider yourself a threat, Hylla?" Miranda asked.

"Only to you," Hylla said.