CHAPTER 3: THE GOSPEL TRUTH

As Jill was still contemplating her fate, the soldiers swarmed her and took all her belongings—her magic pen, her phone, her wallet, even her pocket lint. Then they put her in handcuffs and escorted her and Grim to the other end of the campus. The large crack in the school's barrier was all too visible now. Jill looked around, but she couldn't see Crowley anywhere. The headmage wanted to confront these people alone… was he taken, too? In which case, it seemed like almost nobody would be on her side.

Jill and Grim were forced inside a large gray aircraft about the size of an RV. As Jill put herself into the nearest seat, she noticed that she wasn't alone.

Riddle Rosehearts, Leona Kingscholar, Azul Ashengrotto, Jamil Viper, and Vil Schoenheit were sharing her ride. They were all handcuffed like her, and seemed quite shocked to see her.

"Guys…?" Jill asked faintly. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes, we're doing just swimmingly," Azul said sarcastically.

One of the soldiers placed Grim's cage next to Jill, then left. The large doors closed up, and not even a minute afterwards, Jill felt the aircraft take flight. She had never been in an airplane before, and given how her insides seemed to shake, she didn't like the experience so far.

"Who are these guys?" she finally asked. "The military, the police…?"

"They're worse than either of those," Leona said quietly. "They're the Styx Organization—dedicated to researching and protecting the world from blot." He glanced at the nearest wall. "They're an independent organization, and most don't even know they exist." Jill was shocked that Leona knew so much about this unknown group, only to remember that he was a prince.

"Even so, independent organizations can't just go breaking into public property and abducting students," Jamil reasoned. "Wouldn't they be facing lawsuits left and right if this is how they went about things?"

"Sure, maybe you could try and sue them," Leona scoffed. "But the Jupiter Conglomerate isn't so easily taken down."

"The what now?" Grim asked.

"The Jupiter Conglomerate?!" cried a few people in shock. Jill had to admit that she had no idea who they were talking about.

"You mean the multi-million dollar organization behind the search engine Olympus?!" Azul said. "You mean to tell me that Idia Shroud comes from that conglomerate? Oh, if only I'd known that, I would've made a deal with him!"

"What's this about Idia?" Jill asked. The subject seemed to veer so suddenly.

"Oh, that's right. You just arrived," Riddle said sourly. "Idia himself was the one who captured Azul."

"No way," Grim said. "Idia's a gloomy shut-in. He can't be some big-shot multi-millionaire who captures overblotters!"

"But in a way, it does make sense," Jamil said. "He does have special privileges, such as getting to use his tablet instead of showing up in-person. And he does have a unique arrangement with Ortho, with the two of them acting as one student. The Jupiter Conglomerate is one of the few families even more influential than the Asims—it would be no trouble for them to pull some strings for Idia."

"Idia is also an expert at blot. He helped get the blot out of Grim," Jill agreed. "And… he and Ortho helped me with my overblot, too…"

"You too?" Vil asked. Jill sighed and looked at her handcuffed wrists. She felt like she was in a striped prisoner's uniform with an iron ball chained to her ankle.

Riddle knew about Leona's overblot. Leona knew about Azul's overblot. Azul knew about Jamil's overblot, and Jamil knew about Vil's overblot. Jill and Grim had been present for all five events, and everyone knew what had happened to Grim. But none of the five other overblotters knew about Jill's situation. Her sin wasn't apparent until now.

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to," Jamil said quietly.

"Well, she should get used to it," Leona said. "As soon as we get off this ride, we're all going to be questioned."

"Leona's right. I-I've seen all your overblots," Jill confessed. "So you should know about mine, too. It's only fair…"

"I remember that you asked us all if we knew a way to access your world," Riddle said. "But none of us were able to help you. I imagine that would be very frustrating."

"It was frustrating," Jill agreed. "I was angry, and depressed, and desperate… so I…" She steadied a breath. "I decided that if no one in Night Raven College could help me, then I would look elsewhere. So I tried to put my foot in Royal Sword Academy's door. I believed that Ambrose the 63rd would help me get back to Earth."

"Royal Sword Academy?!" Vil cried in disgust.

"Eh, I can see it," Leona shrugged.

"So you were planning to transfer?" Riddle asked.

"No, Crowley wouldn't let her," Grim said. "He even warned Jill against messagin' Ambrose. So after a while, Jill just… snapped."

"I saw a recent news article about female students being admitted to Royal Sword, with their own custom outfits," Jill went on. "So I made myself a Royal Sword outfit, and I planned to fly towards the academy. If all went well, I'd go through the academy in my disguise, and I would reach Mr. Ambrose and ask for his assistance. Of course, in my plans, he would be completely understanding and he would help me with no questions asked." Jill shook her head, embarrassed by her childish daydreams. "I didn't want to consider that Mr. Ambrose couldn't help me. Or that I wouldn't just be arrested for trespassing."

"What happened?" Azul asked warily.

"We didn't even make it out of Night Raven," Grim said. "The barrier was stronger than when I escaped. We broke our broom in half, and we crash-landed right on the field. Then Jill started cryin' and talkin' about how nothing ever works out for her, and she turned into a crazy skeleton lady."

Jill looked up to see the other five with surprised expressions.

"Well, I wasn't a complete skeleton," she admitted. "I still had some skin. But I lost my arms, my legs, my neck, part of my face—it was so painful that it felt like dying. I was consumed with grief, convinced that my life was over… so I wanted to share the pain. When my friends tried to help me, I toyed with them, terrified them, tried to kill them, all so they would be dead from the inside out like me. All so I wouldn't be alone." She stared back down at her handcuffs. "I was an absolute monster. If the others hadn't stopped me… well, I wouldn't be here talking to you."

"Just Idia and Ortho were able to stop you?" Vil asked. "How did they even know you were going to overblot at that time?"

"They had a heads-up," Grim said. "That Myron guy from Jill's club had a vision about her. He told Ace, who then told Deuce, Jack, and Ortho. Rook saw it too and told Epel. But they didn't tell anyone else."

"I get it. Jack was just looking out for you," Leona acknowledged with a nod.

"So Myron, Rook, and Epel knew about this… and they didn't tell me?" Vil demanded in frustration.

"Yes, and Ace and Deuce didn't tell me a word about this," Riddle seconded.

"Please don't be angry with them," Jill pleaded. "They were just trying to protect me. They were afraid if too many people found out about my plan, it would make things worse."

"Especially since all five of you guys have hurt Jill before," Grim added.

None of the other overblotters liked the reminder. Jill was starting to wonder how long this trip was. It felt like hours had passed by.

"Well, regardless… I'm glad you're okay," Riddle confessed.

"I can't say I'm happy with what you attempted to do… but none of us are any better," Vil said. "It seems we're all in the same boat, so to speak."

"You've been through a lot," Jamil said. "I suppose it was a matter of time until the stress started to affect you…"

"I told you to accept what you can't change," Leona noted. "But… I know that's not easy."

"If you ever want to talk, my schedule is free," Azul said.

"Guys…" Jill felt lightheaded from relief. Even after her greatest mistake, she wasn't alone. Perhaps she really was one of the villains after all.

"One question, though," Azul changed the subject. "Were you the one who told Idia about us?"

"What, me? No!" Jill cried. "I would never do that! When Ortho questioned me on Grim's condition, I just said that he ate some black crystals."

"You know, the crystals that appeared after you guys overblotted," Grim said. "Boy, were they tasty!"

"Ugh, so that's it," Leona groaned. "Idia likely analyzed those blot crystals and figured out who the five of us were. And then he was there for Jill's overblot."

"So this is Grim's fault," Jamil said.

Grim puffed up as though he wanted to argue, but then deflated. "Yeah… sorry, guys."

"But we've all been through counselling and tests to make sure we were stable," Vil said. "Even if we all overblotted in the past, we shouldn't still be a threat."

"I dunno," Leona admitted. "Charon usually intervenes when it comes to emergencies—mages that were completely destroyed by their own blot, or mages that overblot all the time. We don't fit the bill, but it's likely they just took us as test subjects."

"Idia took us as test subjects…?" Jill echoed. She could see the dread and confusion in everyone's eyes, and her questions only continued to pile up.

She didn't know Idia Shroud very well. He struck her as very quiet and shy, never wanting to be in the spotlight. He could be brusque, but he had showed her kindness in the past. Getting the blot out of Grim. Installing a wide-screen TV in her dorm. Helping in the Harveston Sledathon. Even if he was an expert in blot, he couldn't be like the Charon soldiers. But the others had confirmed it as truth…

Jill realized that she didn't know the real Idia Shroud at all.