Wrapping up this saga of a girl's freshman year (I tried to avoid school because, let's face it, there are enough books about a teenager navigating their way through life in high school without me adding to it.) "White Flag" is by Dido. A lot happens in this chapter, and there are some references to the beginning of this story to show you how much Dawn has changed as a result of what has happened. And I shoved a little reminder of what's to come in Dawn's love life.
Chapter IX: White Flag
"Miss Silver, if you are ordered to go back to your parents, would you?" Paul asked with a slight break in his voice.
"I wouldn't have a choice," Dawn said.
"So you do not know that you can repeal? How much do you know about law, Miss Silver?" asked Paul.
"Objection, relevance?"
"Witness competency to stand trial, Your Honor."
"You've been doing that for the last hour and a half. Get to the point," Ratner said. "Witness will answer the question."
"I know I don't know much about law, Mr. Robinette, but the psychologist hired to judge my competency gave me two thumbs up," Dawn said.
"Do you parents treat you well? They make sure you're home on time, eat right, get good grades, and don't do drugs?"
"I highly doubt that they know my birthday, let alone my curfew. They won't know if I ate lunch, let alone what I ate if I had eaten. And they don't know the names of any of my teachers, never mind what my grades are."
"No further questions, Your Honor," Paul left quickly.
"Prosecution calls for the taped recording of psychologist Varda Swan," said Brenda. "We will also request the documents she wrote on Dawn Silver."
"The jury members all have a copy of People's Exhibit Q?" asked Ratner. At the affirmative mumblings, he nodded at Brenda to press play.
"Can Dawn Silver stand trial?" Brenda asked in the tape.
"Yes. She is fully ready to go to court. She understands the charges and knows right from wrong in a way that's very mature for her age," Varda said.
"Based on your expert and professional opinion, is Dawn faking the abuse?"
"Dawn is either a better actress that Mary Pickford or truly being abused," Varda answered.
"Objection," Paul said in the present. "Swan and Silver are the same age. How can Swan determine competency."
"Miss Swan entered an Ivy League college when she was nine, graduated a year later, and holds the five years of psychotherapy practice under her belt," Brenda said.
"But Miss Swan is Miss Silver's friend. I want an unbiased psychologist to test her," said Paul.
"Motion granted. Where is Liz Olivet?" Ratner demanded.
"Competent," Olivet said.
"When do they resume trial?" Dawn asked.
"Next week. Plenty of time to do the homework I brought for you. It's my way of saying that I hope this all works out," Mara said.
"Chocolate says that better," Dawn muttered.
"I did all of it for you. All you gotta do is sign your name," Mara said.
"Chocolate means nothing to me, honey!" Dawn said loudly.
"A 7-year old wasn't the only one hurt in that case, Ben," Paul looked down as he met with his old friend in his house. "Dawn…she was so innocent."
"The things we don't do cause us to make up for them later on, and then we often regret it," Stone sighed.
"Dawn actually came up to me and said she understood what I was doing for her parents. She actually told to me to try to get them a lighter sentence. She told me that they suffered before. And I tell you, Ben, my heart broke. The sight of that little girl, asking to forgive those who hurt her…will we ever achieve that kind of wisdom?"
"Maybe she can teach us both," Ben got up and went away. He wanted to be with his girlfriend tonight.
"On the three counts of the indictment, how does the jury find?" asked Ratner.
"We, the jury, find Samantha and Michael Silver guilty on all counts of child abuse, sexual harassment of a minor, and emotional abuse of a child," said a woman Dawn didn't want to say looked like a strained plum. Actually, she did want to say 'like a strained plum.' But she didn't.
"Dawn Silver is now in custody of the state of…Indiana?" Ratner read the statement with some shock.
"I'm native to Indiana, Your Honor. I just moved here to film a movie," Dawn said. "And you should have seen the antics off-screen. They would have thrown everyone in jail. Especially when I shoved the lima bean up Calix's nostril-"
"She's with me," Mara and Varda both said.
"And what about the lovely lady over here?" Ratner motioned to Callia.
"She's been taking care of me. She reported the abuse, actually. I'm really grateful for her," Dawn smiled up at 7'-Callia.
"Would you like to be a ward o Calantha Reid?" Ratner asked. "She'll be a legal guardian, not a parent."
"Very much," Dawn smiled.
"I don't have the means to support you," Callia reminded when the trial was over. "I've got no steady job," she sounded ashamed.
"Judging by the shame in your voice, that won't be the case for long," Dawn said in her I'm-so-clever tone.
"I have quite a few friends in Miami, where I'm headed next week," Ratner said. "I can get you're a job in law."
"Law. I'd have to do a bit of studying," Callia frowned.
"Varda's studied law," Dawn said.
"Varda's studied everything."
"I've never studied rapping," Varda said with a straight a face as she could.
"You actually study that?" Dawn put on an expression of exaggerated shock. She caught her reflection in the mirror and saw real beauty—courage. Funny how one thing can make another thing beautiful. Outside, even the dew on the grass seemed beautiful, so glitteringly iridescent.
"So, how long are the Silvers going away for?" Dawn asked when Callia came in and hung her coat on the rack.
"Eight months. But they can never adopt you again," Callia took off the tie.
"Ken's parents got, like, no time. Steve and Lilith Tully should have rotted in hell for what they did. Well, okay, Lilith was crazy, but Steve was just sadistic. Just 'cause he's a world war two vet don't mean he's all that great."
"Well, his idolized older brother is considered AWOL, whatever that means. Varda didn't quite teach me legal terminology of…well, anything," Callia dropped her hat on the chair. She joked around now. Even though she had lost everything she had worked for before she "died," she seemed lighter. Dawn wondered why people only complained when they knew things could be so much worse. She supposed it was because they were usually too busy to keep it from being worse or making it better to complain. Or they had lost all hope of living and were simply waiting for death. Dawn shuddered at the thought.
"Wanna give the elements away after dinner" Callia asked suddenly.
"Wouldn't miss it," Dawn replied with as much cheer as an extremely exhausted person could.
"For your freshman graduation essay, you will write about everything you learned this year as a freshman and how you will use those lessons in sophomore year and beyond," the English teacher said. "It is due the last A Day before graduation. Got it?"
"Yes, Ms. Tully," Dawn nodded as she put the assignment away in the folder she had of a red cat in a wheelbarrow. The shopping spree seemed like it was years ago. Heck, Callia-less living seemed years ago. And the face that she now controlled 1/7th of the universe was mind-blowing, to say the least.
Suddenly, pressure enveloped her mind and crushed her like Jezebel's water had back in the volcano. She couldn't control power. She had wielded her powers of beauty, naïvete, and empathy to manipulate people like Angelica into doing things for her. But she made a mistake with a person, she could just move to a different school. She couldn't possibly move to a different planet if she were to infect Earth with carbon monoxide by accident! What if she did?
"Callia! Callia!" Dawn cried out. "I'm scared! Everything's so unfamiliar. I can't quite let go of the Mimosa Mansion!" Dawn didn't know why she made such the statement about her house. It had been in her family ever since Eliza and Solomon Reid built it back during the Industrial Revolution, but Dawn just wanted to go home.
"It'll be alright," Callia said. "If Magick runs rampant, there are Morphers to smooth things over so Nature can reign again. Besides, creating magick takes energy. Creating enough to go against nature will undoubtedly knock you out before you can do anything."
"Morphers? People who change shape, like Varda?"
"Precisely. Now, here are your element tokens," Callia said. She took out the Airy Wand of Breezes. "This is for casual use only. It's very easy to aim, but it can only send out so much power." Next, the Staff of Gales was handed to Dawn. "It's a lot stronger, but heavier and harder to aim right. Here's the recorder, which can strengthen the wind if you're too tired to do it yourself or weaken it. The orb is a ball of wind so strong it will blow anything to Jupiter from whatever's inside. The locket establishes that you are the sole person to use such things. The tokens in anyone else's hands will be useless. And here's another cool trick," Callia let each of the tokens touch Dawn's skin. They seemed to fuse and the token disappeared. Dawn knew where they were, but Callia had no idea.
"Cool, but just a little bit disgusting, but on the plus side, no more Calix reading my diary!" Dawn cheered with a fist in the air. Callia laughed again.
"How was it?" Callia asked after Choir Trip 2008.
"Horrid. I stayed in Sam's group and he was absolutely horrid to me," Dawn sighed. She had a crush on Sam's best friend Calix, and it was blindingly obvious.
"It'll go better next year," Callia said.
"I hope," Dawn sighed. She brightened suddenly. "Homeward bound next week!" she cheered.
"Paper due tomorrow," Callia reminded.
Dawn groaned. Trust Callia to ruin a moment! She went off to do it as the phone rang.
"Dawn," Callia entered nervously. "Ken Tully just died."
Dawn and Callia ran down the hallway as fast as they could. Callia stopped dead as soon as she saw the body under white cloth being wheeled away and flung out her right arm to keep Dawn from getting further. Dawn didn't notice. She ran right into the stiff arm with an "Ump!"
"Callia," Dawn whispered. "The Light." It felt like she was starving, but it was in her heart. There was so much pain, she might as well have been numb. It was so cold, and her visions had started randomly blurring.
"It can be yours. It already was, in a way," Callia said.
"Good," Dawn said strangely. As Jaunie pushed Ken away, there was clatter and pale yellow objects fell to the ground. Dawn picked them up and walked over to Jaunie. She felt strangely uneven, like she would tip over any second, in a way that had nothing to do with grief.
"Don't just deliver him to the funeral home yet, please," Dawn pleaded.
"Why not?" Jaunie looked up curiously.
"Because I can bring him back," Dawn said. "It's completely within my powers, just like it was in Varda's to heal Ken's injuries if Callia had told her about it early enough."
"How?" Jaunie asked.
"In private," Dawn said. She followed Jaunie to another room and waved the Staff at Ken's body and let loose.
Damn.
Callia was right. It took energy to bring Ken back. And then Dawn was unconscious, still feeling weird, and Ken screamed in pain.