A/N: After putting out 4 chapters in 5 days I had to take a short break and collect my thoughts haha, so that's why it's been a small wait for this chapter. Here's the beginning of the tribunal. I haven't decided how many chapters it's going to be, but I'm going to say a minimum of four. But once the tribunal is over there will probably only be one or two chapters afterwards. So the end is sort of in sight. (Oh, and PS this chapter is putting this story over 40,000 words. Woohoo I'm so excited haha)
Thank you yet again to my awesome reviewers. You guys rock! paper. creations, pff401, xx. michelle. moran. xx, JmacKarla, mediate89, sarah12345, shimmershadow30, xXxTwilightfan93xXx, staplerrr Madge xD, onyxrush707, morning-hues, EdwardAlways, Someone aka Me, vampire's kisses 4 me, Animelover231, TopKat90, and TK-MR are amazing!
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I own Ian O'Shea, I don't. I don't own anything else having to do with the Host either.
We walked to the game room slowly. Maggie and Sharon seemed uninterested in picking up their feet. I was growing impatient and shoved Sharon forward, causing her to stumble slightly. Jamie gave me a reproachful look. I looked back at him sheepishly.
"I couldn't help myself," I said, guiltily. He game me a smirk then leaned in to my ear so Jared couldn't hear.
"I smacked Maggie across the face when she back talked me earlier." I stared at him with wide eyes. "It felt good." I laughed.
I shouldn't have been impressed that my brother was becoming as sadistic as me, but I figured once Maggie and Sharon were gone neither of us would have any reason to be violent. Plus we had to take full advantage of our opportunity to take out our anger with Wanda not around. When she awoke we were going to be in a world of trouble if she saw Maggie and Sharon's bruises.
We reached the game room and saw about half of the group assembled standing in the middle of the room. They were whispering back and forth, no doubt trading rumors of what they had seen and heard today. We walked past them and I could feel eyes boring into the back of my head. They had no idea what they were about to hear and they were terrified that something had gone wrong.
Sunny was standing off by herself near Candy and Lily. She was looking down at the ground, moving the dirt around with her feet. She looked horribly awkward, wanting to join in a group but not being comfortable with anyone there at the moment.
She walked over in our direction but kept a safe distance from Maggie and Sharon. Jamie dropped back and stood next to her, giving her a sympathetic look. I smiled. He seemed to know just what everyone needed to feel better.
We sat Sharon and Maggie in the same chairs that they had forced Wanda and Sunny into earlier. I took a small amount of satisfaction in that. They looked supremely uncomfortable and I relished it. If only I could threaten them with having their neck sliced open and ripping them out of their bodies. For some reason they were convinced that instead of being punished they were going to be given a medal.
I didn't think they would have as many allies as they seemed to think. I knew that not everyone would be as horrified as I had been but I didn't think that they would take this lightly. At least I hoped not.
There were still some who weren't comfortable with souls among us but Wanda and Sunny had proved their worth time and time again. There was no one who could say that they posed more of a threat than they did a help.
As the rest of the group was filtering in Heidi walked up next to me. "Where's Wanda?" she asked curiously.
I shook my head with a smile. "That's kind of why we're here. We'll tell everyone together."
"Oh," she replied, somewhat flustered. "Is it something bad?" she whispered.
"In my opinion, yes. But you'll have to decide for yourself," I replied, giving my best diplomatic answer.
Jared was doing a silent head count, taken attendance in his head. "Who's missing?" he asked out loud when just about everyone had arrived.
We all looked around counting our neighbors. "Looks like Doc, Ian, Kyle, and Wanda," Geoffrey answered.
I narrowed my eyes. Ian had said Kyle would be here. In fact, the only reason I hadn't gone after Kyle was because Ian had guaranteed it. I was planning on giving Ian a dirty look or two later when Kyle stepped through the entrance.
"Don't worry, I'm here," he grumbled. As he walked inside I took the chance to survey him. His expression was broken, his cheeks were tear stained, and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. As he passed Sunny he looked pointedly at the floor, determined not to make eye contact. I couldn't tell if this was remorse he felt for hurting Sunny, or the pain he felt for loving her in the first place.
He sat on the ground next to Maggie and Sharon and folded his arms across his chest. "Let's get this over with." I was surprised that he sat with them. If he felt he belonged in the same category as them then he must feel terrible about his actions. There was no other explanation. Ian was right. He wanted to be punished.
Jared nodded to him and turned to face the group. "Ok, so you all know that this morning Maggie and Sharon had a meeting with Wanda and Sunny. We wanted to let you know what happened."
He took a deep breath and before he continued Heath cut him off. "Shouldn't we wait for Wanda then? Let her tell us in her own words?"
Jared shook his head. "No, that's why we're here. To tell you why Wanda can't be."
"What?" a few concerned voices asked.
"There's no easy way to say this so I'll just say it. Maggie and Sharon went into the meeting this morning with the intention of extracting Wanda and Sunny and sending them off." He paused as he heard a few scattered gasps. "And they succeeded with Wanda."
Kyle's head hung low as Jared spoke. He was hurt by this words so much more than the other two. Maggie and Sharon were sitting in their chairs with smug looks on their faces. Though they were looking decidedly less smug when people started shouting out their questions.
"Is she alright?" Trudy asked.
"Why would they do that?" asked Paige.
"How did they get away with it?" Andy's voice cut in.
That was the question I least wanted to answer. If I hadn't been in such a hurry to have Jared with me I probably could have prevented this from happening. I knew that I shouldn't be blaming myself but I couldn't help it.
I spoke up. "Wanda is fine right now. She's in a tank but we have to wait to reinsert her. Her brainstem is swollen but Doc said she should be back in a day or two," I replied to Trudy, looking her in the eyes. She nodded and I turned to Andy next.
"I went with them this morning. Maggie asked me to get Jared, Ian, and Kyle and she extracted Wanda while I was gone. They were about to get Sunny when Jared and I got back." The group nodded almost in unison, understanding the series of events.
"As to Paige's question of why they would do this, you'll have to ask them," I said, nodding in the direction of the lawn chairs.
They all looked at them expectantly. Maggie cleared her throat and I prepared to hear the longest line of bullshit in the history of bullshit.
"They were a threat," she said simply and I rolled my eyes. I had promised myself that during their initial explanation I wouldn't interject my opinion. I wanted this to be as fair as possible so no one could claim that we'd set them up. But if her first statement was that obnoxious I could only imagine how much worse it would get.
Most of the group sat with their mouths hanging open. "How?" Jared prompted.
"They could have exposed us all!" she yelled in an attempt to convince anyone who may have been wavering. "You all trust them far more than you should. You have to remember that it is their fault that we are stuck here in the first place! Every time we allow them out of this cave we put ourselves at risk. They are just waiting for the opportunity to slip away and tell their parasite friends about us. How can the rest of you be so blind?" she accused. When she saw the angry faces looking back at her she decided that insults were not the way to gain friends.
"I did what I did for the good of the group. If I had succeeded it would have made things much safer. Don't forget what the original parasite brought on us," she reminded, looking at Lily.
I fought back the urge to kill her. How dare she use Wes's death to further her own agenda? That was the lowest of the low. I think most of the group agreed with me when they gasped and shot her reproaching looks. Even Sharon looked shocked.
Trudy walked over to Lily and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her but Lily shrugged her off.
"What gives you the right?" Lily asked Maggie, her throat thick with tears.
"What?" Maggie asked.
"What gives you the right to decide anything around here? You have no authority over anyone."
Maggie looked livid. "The hell I don't! This was my brother's place and now that he's gone it passes over to me. It's called succession," Maggie raged. I couldn't believe she was doing this. Even if there was someone who didn't feel sympathy for Wanda and Sunny, everyone had compassion for Lily. Maggie was really hitting below the belt now.
A dozen angry pairs of eyes settled on Maggie as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She'd taken it too far. She started sputtering when Brandt cut in.
"So, what you're saying, is that you feel like you have the right to be in charge because of the line of succession?" he tried to clarify.
Maggie barely dignified it with a response. "Obviously."
"You know that in true succession, you're not next in line, right?" he challenged.
"What?" she asked incredulously. "Of course I am. Jeb was my brother. As his only sibling, I am next in line."
Brandt shook his head. "Actually, in true succession, as you seem too committed to following, the power passes to the next oldest brother." Maggie opened her mouth to argue, no doubt to remind me that my father was no longer around. Thankfully Brandt continued. "And in the event that the brother is not available, it passes to his son."
I followed Brandt's train of thought and was immediately horrified. Maggie's jaw dropped at the same time mine did. Was he suggesting that Jamie was in charge?
A/N: I discovered that one of my reviewers only lives about 30 minutes away from me, which got me wondering where everyone else is from. When you review, if you wanted to say what state or country you are from that would be really cool! I'm so curious lol.
So review! (only seven for 200*cough*)