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Cinder

Cinder couldn't take her eyes away from the knife, still dripping with Scarlet's blood. Every light splash of the droplets as they fell on the ivory desk seemed deafening. Cinder swallowed, feeling suddenly sick.

The others didn't seem much better. They were so pale, Cinder doubted that they would bleed if Levana chose any of them to be her next victim.

Scarlet was squeezing her mutilated hand tightly in an effort to stop the steady flow of blood. She was blinking a lot, and her brown eyes looked oddly shiny. Occasionally, a small moan of pain would escape her lips. But Levana paid her no mind, instead scanning the group chained to their chairs before her.

Eventually, her onyx eyes landed on Cress, who immediately went still.

"How about you, Crescent?" Levana offered pleasantly, "Would you like to go next?"

"You leave her alone!" Thorne snapped, straining against his chains

Levana arched an amused eyebrow. "Carswell, you very noble of you. Perhaps you would like to take her place?"

Cinder grit her teeth. Just listening to the calm, almost apathetic way Levana talked about torture… it was enough to make her blood burn in her veins. Who did this lady think she was? A queen? She was nothing but a school headmistress, and yet she was doling out punishments that not even the Ministry could give with impunity.

Cinder's fists clenched on the armrests of her prison chair. Her breath came out in harsh huffs. She felt a vein throb in her forehead. She couldn't stay like this for much longer, not while this – this – this tyrant threatened her friends like this.

Cinder reached out for Levana's mind. She could feel it, cold and sharp. She wrapped her will around it…

Suddenly, Levana threw out her arm, tossing away the knife with such force that it buried itself in the wall. Everyone in the room stared at it in shock. Even Levana herself seemed surprised by her action. She looked down at the arm that had thrown the knife, flexing her fingers and bending her elbow as if she was trying to see what was wrong with it.

When she looked up at them again, Cinder was taken aback. For the first time, Levana looked… angry. No, not just angry. Furious. Her perfect features were twisted hideously with rage and hate, her dark eyes practically burning.

"Who did that?" She hissed, "Which of you did that?"

Thorne leaned over to Cress. "Um, what just happened? I heard a thunk, but I can't really draw much from that."

"The headmistress threw her knife at the wall." Cress whispered back.

"So, why is she asking who did it?"

"Because one of you made me do it!" Levana shrieked, "I know it! I know the works of the Lunar gift better than anyone! Who did it? Which of you dared manipulate me?"

"She's really lost it hasn't she?" Kai muttered to Cinder.

"Pretty sure she lost it a while ago." She replied.

"Silence!" Levana screamed, "Who did it? Which of you is the Lunar?"

She stared at the group, her eyes feverishly flicking between them.

"Clay!" she cried, "Is it you, Clay? I know you are Lunar!"

"A Lunar with an incredibly weak gift." Jacin countered, eying the headmistress warily, "I definitely couldn't make you throw your knife into the wall."
Levana cried out with frustration and pointed at Cress. "You, then. You're a Lunar! Sybil told me so! You did it! You made me throw the knife!"

Cress shrank back as far as her restraints would allow her. "I-I'm a shell Headmistress. I don't have a gift."

Levana reeled back, the anger on her face momentarily replaced by disgust and… fear? "A shell?"
"Yes Headmistress."

Levana suddenly marched to Cress's chair and moved it so it was facing away from her. "Look away! Close your eyes! Turn around!"

"What is she so freaked out about?" Kai whispered, "What's a shell?"

"I think it's a Lunar with no gift who is immune to the gift." Cinder murmured back, hurriedly adding, "Professor Gertman mentioned them."

Kai whistled softly. "No wonder she wants Cress to look away. Her entire appearance is an illusion, right?"

"That's what I'm guessing."

"You will not tell anyone what you saw." Levana hissed to the shivering Cress, "You won't even think about it! I'll kill you if I that's what it takes, do you understand me? I'll kill you!"

"Will you quit it? You're scaring her, your scaring all of us!" Thorne yelled, "We haven't done anything to deserve this! Just let us go already!"

"I will not let you go!" Snapped Levana, "You will stay here, and face punishment for your actions!"

"Is this a bad time?"

Cinder twisted her neck around to look at the office entrance. Kinney was standing there, looking very uncomfortable. She watched as his eyes flickered over Cress as she quavered with fear, to Scarlet who was still trying to stop her bleeding hand, to the chains binding their wrists to the chairs, to the bloody knife sticking out of the wall.

"What do you want, Kinney?" Levana asked, her voice once again composed, "Who let you into my office?"
"Professor Clay, Headmistress." He replied, dutifully ignoring the scene spread out before him, "He wanted me to deliver a message since he himself was occupied."

"Well? What is the message? Spit it out Kinney." Levana said impatiently.

"It's the centaurs headmistress." He said, "They're attacking the school."

Cinder's eyes widened. Why would they be attacking? Has the werewolf problem really gotten that bad? Have they lost patience with Cinder and her friends? If they have, then Levana won't have to worry about arranging their deaths herself.

The headmistress slowly turned to glare at them. "You've done this, haven't you?"

"How could we have made the centaurs attack?" Cinder burst out, "We've been stuck here, fearing for our lives as you've threatened us with torture over something we didn't even do!"

"Silence!" Levana snaped, and smacking Cinder across the face.

Cinder grit her teeth. For a pampered lady, Levana could sure hit hard. Her ears were ringing. Actually, it was more like a hum than a ring.

"What's that noise?" Thorne asked.

Wait, so it wasn't just Cinder's ears?

The hum grew louder, and the very air seemed to crackle with energy. Cinder looked around, trying to find the source, and her eyes landed on the wands still arranged on the desk. One of the wands, her wand, was shaking and rolling to and fro across the wooden surface. Occasionally, kaleidoscopic sparks would fire from the tip.

"Uh, Cinder?" Kai said, "Does your wand normally do that?"
"Well, it's done something similar before, but no, not normally." She replied.

Slowly, the wand rose into the air, so it was hovering a good foot above the desk. Levana's eyes narrowed, and she reached for her own wand tucked into her belt. But whatever she was planning to do with it never came to fruition, as the wand suddenly fired a stream of rainbow sparks that hit her square in the chest with such force that the headmistress was sent flying across the room so that she hit the wall and slid down to the floor, motionless. Cinder narrowed her eyes and saw the steady rise and fall of her chest. She was alive. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Well, now that she's been taken care of," Kinney began, a slight quiver to his voice, "we should really get moving."

A/N: Please review!