Chapter 13

Shawn tossed and turned in the dark of his room, then sighed in frustration. Trying to sleep would be useless as long as his head was kept awake with visions of the officer woman, and even when he did manage to rest, his dreams showed him the very same thing.

He was sore and groggy the next morning and decided to skip some of his usual activities. Instead, he grabbed some spare pieces of paper and a pen, then went to look for someplace private to sketch. First he went back up to his room, but the air was stuffy, and it was such a nice day outside, besides the fact that there was no desk in his room anyway, so he made his way through the hallways and eventually found the quietest, most closed off place in Avonlee—a small space near the rear of the gardens. There may not have been a desk, but there was a bench for him to sit on under the shade of a tree, so he set to work.

He was not much of an artist, but he felt the need to try and recreate her face. Her pale blonde hair, pulled back tight in a ponytail; her big, blue eyes; the colour of her lips, and a million other details.

The first drawing he attempted looked outright horrendous—completely disproportioned and lifeless—so he tossed it away and began again. This time he closed his eyes and recreated the image of her from his memories. He studied every subtlety, every single detail, and carefully began to sketch. Before long he had a decent picture of her, and for a moment it felt like she was actually there with him, so he started on another portrait of her, this time from a different angle.

"Shawn..."

The word could have been from his memories, and he nearly shrugged it off, but what caught his attention was that it wasn't the only voice.

"Shawn!"

"Shawn, are you all right?"

"Spencer!"

He looked up suddenly and his heart stopped. Sitting in the bushes before him, calling out, was Juliet O'Hara. Behind her were two other men who he didn't recognise.

"Shawn! It's me, Juliet!" she whispered. "Do you remember?"

Panic was the only thing he felt in that moment. He had been seen, he had been followed, and he had put Avonlee in danger. There were three intruders here, and there was no chance of getting them out secretly, so punishment was inevitable. Not even the love he felt for Juliet could overcome the sheer dread that was spilling from his heart.

"Shawn!" one of the other figures called. He was an older gentleman with greying hair and wrinkles lining his face. "You gotta remember me, right?"

Shawn—Daniel—whichever—rose to his feet and stared at the three of them, letting the paper and pen he'd been holding drop to the ground.

A loud siren sparked to life in the distance, and they could hear dozens of footsteps coming toward them. Shawn instantly knew it was the white watchers and he didn't dare move.

"What is going on here!?" Kinapus barked as he and a large group of watchers tromped toward the scene. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Juliet, Henry and Lassiter.

Carlton rose and immediately pointed his weapon at Kinapus, and Shawn took several steps back. The head tactical advisor wasted no time in using his telekinesis to remove the gun from Carlton's hands, and before he could make another move he said, "Immobilise them!"

The watchers swooped in, surrounded them and held them still with their powers.

"And please escort Daniel to his chambers," Kinapus added, scowling in his direction.

"Wait, Shawn!" Juliet cried, but four white watchers were already taking him away. He didn't look back. He tried to block out the noise. He didn't want to think about what had just happened, what he had done, or what lay in store for him.

He was escorted to the second floor of the castle where he was left in his room, the watchers locking the door behind them, and he sat on his bed waiting for someone to walk in with news of what was going to happen, but as the minutes wore on the only thing he could think of was the moment when Juliet had called out his name in the garden. It replayed over and over again before his mind's eye, making his heart flutter each time. Had she come all this way because she loved him? The thought was so sweet, but so unbelievably stupid. Things couldn't have been worse for her now.

"Daniel," said Clementine as she entered the room with two Watchers. The door swung wildly and banged against the wall as her furious emotions radiated through the air. She didn't scowl, but her face was as hard as stone and Shawn—Daniel—stood to meet her, hoping that he could potentially undo some of the damage he had caused. "The day of the mission, you said that no one saw you, correct?"

Daniel looked down as he said, "Yes."

"You lied, didn't you?" Clementine pressed, pain in her voice.

Daniel's through caught and he desperately wanted to lie again, but he knew she was probing his thoughts at that very moment. "I'm sorry," he replied. "I was sca—"

"Daniel, you have compromised the safety of everyone in Avonlee," said Clementine, crushing Shawn's spirit with just a few swift words. "Now we are left to question weather or not we can trust you."

Shawn felt his heart squeeze sharply in his chest and he felt so many conflicting feelings. On one hand, he wanted to do everything in his power make things right with Clementine and Avonlee, but another part of him wanted to run away. He wanted to run away with Juliet to her world, far from his mistakes here.

"Take it out on me, then," he said desperately. He knew that his punishment was inevitable, but the others... they would undoubtedly be forced to endure another memory wipe, and something deep down inside of him—in his heart of hearts—couldn't bear the thought of Juliet not knowing who he was. "Please, take it out on me, but don't hurt the others. Please don't wipe their memories."

"You are in no place to bargain," Clementine shot back. She suddenly seemed a little remorseful about her harsh words, but she looked away before she started unraveling. "You'll be placed under house arrest. You won't leave until Agatha can see you."

As she spoke, the two White Watchers who had entered with her moved toward Shawn and froze him in place. Then one of them reached under his robes and pulled out a band of shiny metal—the very same kind of band that the watchers all wore. He reached up and placed it firmly on Shawn's head.

The moment the cold metal met his skin, it felt like a cage had been strapped to his brain, blocking all cognisant thought, absorbing all light, and locking him up within his own mind. His vision seemed to zoom out and he felt like he was looking through his body using a long pipe—unable to clearly see what was happening around him.

"Clementine!" He yelled, but he couldn't feel his lips. Only the sound of his mental voice could be heard as it boomed all around him. "Clementine, please! Let me out!" A strange darkness crept in around him, cutting him off from the living world. "PLEASE DON'T HURT THEM!"

Outside of his body, Shawn became lifeless. His eyes stared off into the distance, his mouth didn't move, and his breathing was calm. A silent command came from the king somewhere off in the castle and Shawn walked over to his bed, laid down, and closed his eyes. Clementine had her own conflicted feelings about all of this, but she swallowed them as hard as she could, attempting to follow her orders.