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Cinder

Cinder couldn't tear her eyes away from the sharp edge of the knife. It was uncomfortably easy to imagine it slicing through Scarlet's flesh as if it were nothing more than butter, and even easier to imagine the scream of pain that would inevitably follow.

She tightened her grip on the armrests of her chair, desperately trying to expel some of the tension and disgust in her body. She couldn't let that knife fall. She couldn't let that happen to Scarlet. But how to stop it? There was no guarantee that Levana would keep her word, and if Cinder confessed that they had all been involved, they were probably all going to die anyway. There had to be a way to draw Levana's attention away from the others. There just had to be-

The gift. Cinder could use her gift. If she could just convince Levana that she had been the only one involved, that all the others were innocent, whatever evidence Levana might have against them. If she could just keep that notion stuck in Levana's mind for long enough, it will give the others a chance to escape.

She narrowed her eyes, gathering her concentration, but before she could even begin to force her will on Levana…

"Are you crazy lady?" Scarlet shrieked, her brown eyes alight with anger.

Levana cast her a disinterested glance. "Remember your manners Miss Benoit, or that knife might slip."
"Remember my manners? Remember my manners? You're threatening to cut my finger off!"

"And you'd do well to remember that."

Scarlet snorted. "She says, as if I can forget. I'm literally holding the knife!"

"And if you're not careful, you might drop it." Levana warned, a slight edge to her voice.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, now you're threatening me for being angry that you're threatening me with torture. Especially since I, or any of us, have done anything to actually deserve it."

"I'm sorry Miss Benoit, but it's clear you have."

"I'm sorry Headmistress, but it's clear you're just looking for someone to blame." Scarlet snapped mockingly, "All the evidence you have is flimsy, at best, but instead of actually seeing that, you're just going to mutilate me until someone lies and says "yep, we're the culprits, feel free to accidentally murder us.""

Levana arched an eyebrow. "So, you continue to deny your involvement in Aimery's death?"

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's what I've been saying. I mean come on, your evidence for Kai was basically, "he's friends with Cinder"."

"Well then, what if I presented more evidence?"

"I swear, if you're going to say something like, "they checked out the same book in the library"-"

"the centaurs have informed me that a group of students came to them about their recent chaotic behaviour."

Wait, the centaurs did what?

Even Scarlet briefly lost her bravado as she stared at Levana in shock.

The headmistress smirked triumphantly at them. "I sent Jael down to the Black Woods in order to get those wretched beasts in line. Imagine my surprise when he came back and said that, according to the centaurs, some students had already paid them a visit, not only that but offered their help, to get rid of the werewolves I've decided to let roam in the forest. After all, I can't exactly let them run around the school during the full moon, and they deserve a chance at education just as much as any other child."

That was about as much as Cinder could take.

"You don't care about their education!" she snapped, "You couldn't give a doxy's wing about their human lives! All you care about is the fact that they're unstoppable killing machines who would eat anyone you pointed them to. I'm willing to bet that some of them you've gotten bitten on purpose!"

Levana turned her cool obsidian gaze on Cinder. "And what would you do with them, Miss Linh? Would you welcome them with open arms, tell them that they belong in our society, that their worth just as much as the rest of us? Would you even tell them that they are just like us?"

"They are just like us!" Scarlet shouted.

Levana ignored her. "Those creatures are a menace to society, good for nothing besides killing. For centuries, the wizarding world has failed to see the potential in that, I have. I have given them a purpose in life, one that they excel at, one that they enjoy." She cast a mocking look over her shoulder at Scarlet. "Or did you think your friend Kesley was weeping in grief instead of growling when he attacked all those students?"

Scarlet clenched her jaw, but couldn't seem to find any words to say.

Levana smirked triumphantly, before turning her attention back to Cinder. "But enough of that. Your friend just admitted that she's sympathetic to my werewolves, that she thinks I only value them because they're, how did you put it? "Unstoppable killing machines"."

Cinder snorted, trying to pull up whatever bravado she had left in her previously endless store. "So?"

"So, that's an interesting opinion to have for someone who, as you would have me believe, has never been to the Black Woods."

Cinder opened her mouth, though she wasn't sure what would come out. A totally unbelievably lie? The truth? By some lucky fluke an actually believable lie?

But Scarlet beat her to it.

"Well you basically admitted to the Ministry that you've got a whole bunch of werewolves here, right? And no-one who's actually met you will believe you did that out of the goodness of your heart. The fact that you only like them because they're violent is kind of a no-brainer."

Levana gave her an unreadable look. "And the accusation that I arranged for some of them to get bitten?"

Scarlet shrugged. "Hey, a reputation as a charitable figure couldn't hurt. The more werewolves you take in, the better."

"So you continue to deny that you all have taken any actions to undermine the school?"

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's what I've been saying."

"Very well."

It was fast, almost too fast for Cinder to see. One second the knife was merely wavering above Scarlet's hand, nothing more than a threat. The next it was buried in the wooden desk, its once pristine white surface stained red with blood. Cinder could just make out something round and pink in the middle of the red puddle and she felt her stomach try to jump out of her throat.

Scarlet's shriek of pain had long-since died out, and she was clutching her bleeding hand to her chest, ignoring or not noticing the liquid splashing onto her red hoodie.

Levana took the knife out of the desk, almost casually, and smiled at the group of teenagers. "So who wants to go next?"

A/N: The interrogating continues.

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