Enjoy the chapter!! I'm sorry about killing Trixie, but it had to be done

The echo was too perfect for me to refuse

I'm so sorry

Virgil's POV:

"Okay," Lia said, pushing her phone toward Remy. 

We were sitting around a glass table at the hotel gardens. The sky was a beautiful dusky purple, and stars had just started shimmering behind the clouds. We were all still subdued by Trixie's death, but Lia had requested a meetup at this time and we still needed a plan, so we had agreed to gather here. 

Lia crossed her arms, looking pleased as Remy tried to read the document. "That's my suggested plan for how we'll handle the next trial. We'll have to completely start over, so new judge, new jury."

"New judge..." Remy murmured, taking off his glasses to squint more closely at the writing on the bright screen. "New jury?" He glanced up at Lia, biting his lip. "Do you know anything about who it might be?"

She shrugged. "There are several candidates, but..."

"So in short," I cut in, stirring my coffee, "we have no idea who we're starting with, right?"

Sighing, Lia nodded. "I suppose so. Sorry." She looked down at the table, and Rainbow-- who had decided to join and help-- put her hand on her girlfriend's shoulder.

Nudging her with my shoulder, I smiled somewhat half-heartily at her. "Hey, it's fine. We're all kind of..." I faded off, not knowing what to say. 

Emile shook his head quietly, as if trying to erase thoughts from his brain. Remy put his hand on Emile's shoulder, and they shared a long look that involved a lot of unspoken words and made me want to drag Remy off and ask him what had happened. 

But I can't do that, so I should probably try and help. 

Lia took a deep breath and blinked several times. "Alright, let's go over this one more time, then we can go to the courtroom and look around, so you feel ready. The trial is tomorrow." She cast a glance at each of us, her eyes hard. "No more putting it off. This bastard has done enough for a few lifetimes."

Logan smiled. "Do we have tapes?" he asked, glancing down at Lia's phone. 

She grinned back, winking. "But of course. And video evidence that I somehow wrangled from the county police back in Clarke. And several more witness accounts, a woman named Natalie Burns who saw from her bedroom window and a man named Toby Colt, who usually goes to get a cup of coffee from the next-door shop. He heard everything."

"There's no room for him to wriggle away," Roman declared. "We'll snag him!"

"A fish in a trap," Remus finished, eyes sparkling. "He'll be trapped!"

Patton clapped his hands together, smiling for the first time since we had gotten to the hospital. "Alright, let's go!"

"Man, we're staying up late these days," Remy murmured, glancing up at the dark sky. "Is the courtroom gonna be open?"

Lia smirked, holding up a keycard. "Nope."

---

"Lia, you are so bad," Rainbow whispered as we made our way through the empty halls of the court. "No more breaking into places, alright?"

Lia rolled her eyes. "Well, darling, this time it's important. Let's think about the bigger picture here."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Admit it, you just wanted to break in somewhere." She stifled a laugh as Lia hesitated, then nodded. "Okay, it's okay."

I was walking behind Lia and Rainbow, my heart jumping out of my chest at the slightest sound. All the shadows seemed to be sharp, and I was sure my anxiety was making me hear things. This was a lot like the haunted house in collage that I had went to with Roman, the most similar thing was the way my thoughts were winding in a circle of this is a bad idea get out of here bad things will happen I'm sure I read about that being a bad omen somewhere we're all going to die!

"Here we are," Roman called softly to us, making me nearly jump out of my skin. He, Patton, and Remy were all at the door. "Hurry up."

I crossed my arms but picked up the pace, soon reaching them. "Here I am," I said huffily. "What did you need me for?"

He glanced back at Lia and Rainbow. "Well, I was actually looking for the one with the keycard," he admitted. 

"You don't need me?" I questioned in mock-outrage. "I'll just leave then."

Roman grabbed my hand, pulling me close so he could hug me. "No!" he objected, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Stay here."

Remy rolled his eyes. "Can someone please remind the lovebirds on cloud nine that we're on a stealth mission?" He moved aside for Lia to slip the card in, fiddling with it until the tiny light turned green and made a small blipping sound. 

I watched as the doors swung wide to reveal a large, empty courtroom. It was somehow bigger than the last one, with two sets of double-doors on each side of the room. Glossy wooden seats made from honey-colored wood shone faintly in the small light from Logan's phone flashlight. 

Patton crept around the room, making his footsteps quiet. Remy mirrored his actions, deftly stepping around the looser floorboards. They were both experts at making no noise; they quickly made their way to the podium. 

I came up behind them like a shadow, startling Patton as I placed my hand on his shoulder and gently moved him aside. Gazing out at the courtroom, I felt my eyes widen in surprise. "Wow," I softly murmured. "It's so big."

"Yes," Lia said quietly. "Very big." I turned around in surprise, accidentally bumping into Remy as I did so. 

She was right behind us, smiling gently. "Do you feel prepared now? It's not going to be fun, you already knew that, but I was hoping to make the surprise a little less... sudden." 

Logan shone his light on the podium stand, illuminating the honeyed wooden spirals and small slashes. The bible was on the stand, too, the faded cover looking washed-out and threadbare. "This book must be quite old," Logan commented, stroking the softened fabric. 

A loud creak came from across the room, and I glanced up, already knowing with exasperation what I would see.

Roman was still trying to get across the floor without making any noise, while Emile was still looking around, stunned by the sheer size. Roman was, obviously, failing. It seemed to me he must be stepping on every loose floorboard there was by the noise he was making. 

Rubbing my eyes in exasperation, I glanced back out at the large courtroom, trying to ignore the series of small squeaks. My gaze drifted out to the giant glass chandelier hanging over the center, then at the judge's podium, and finally landed on the jury's seats. They were velvety-cushioned, with arms, while the spectators got bare wooden benches with an awful view of the stands.

Lia sighed, breaking my train of thought. "When I first worked in this room, I was irrationally nervous and actually had to be escorted out of the room due to intense fear and mental strain. In short, I had stage fright."

Surprised, I looked at the young woman. She was grinning wryly, her hair tied into a ponytail with a piece of pastel-blue ribbon. Rainbow grasped Lia's slender hand and brought their twined fingers to Lia's cheek, smiling. "You did great the second time, love," she reminded Lia. 

I looked around for Roman, but he was coming up the stairs, Emile not far behind him. "It's so big," Emile murmured, blinking. "It's terrifying."

"Mm," I whispered, already feeling my hands beginning to tremble. This is a bad idea, my mind told me. It's an awful idea and we're all going to lose and this is terrible and you're going to mess all up because that's just how you are, you know it!

Shaking my head, I walked quietly down the stairs to meet Roman. He saw my shaken face and pulled me off to the side, sitting on the short wall that separated the jury's seats from the main room. "Hey, babe, you're not doing so great."

I blew out a long breath. "And what made you think that?"

He laughed a little at that, the familiar sound making me smile despite myself. "Well, a lot of things," he said. "For one, I know you. And that's the face you always make when you're worried about something. Like, really worried."

"You know me a little too well," I muttered, rolling my eyes. He chuckled again and pulled me onto his lap, and I leaned gratefully into the hug. "But you know, maybe that's not so bad."

Roman nudged me playfully. "You stole my line, nightingale!" He paused, gently grabbing both my hands and squeezing them absent-mindedly, lost in thought. "You know what, when this is all over, I'd like to take you out for dinner."

It was my turn to laugh. "Why, Roman Prince, are you asking me on a date?"

He dipped his head. "Only if you'd like, Virgil Storm."

I leaned close, kissing him and feeling the pools of anxiety get swept up in the sweet, tender feeling. "I'd love to." 

"HEY ROMAN, YOU FORGOT TO SAY THANK YOU," Remy called from the podium, a smug grin on his face. 

Roman growled. "You are NEVER going to let me forget that, are you?!" he shot back. 

Remy smirked. "Nope," he teased, giving Roman a peace sign. Patton nearly ran into Lia, he was giggling so much. 

Smiling again, I watched as the sky slowly turned to a dark, ashen blue, like sulfur and ashes had been mixed together to form a nighttime picture. "Look, it's like the night is making a painting just for us," I whispered. 

"Hmm." Roman turned to look at it. "Pretty."

I sighed. "You have no appreciation for art, do you?"

He shook his head. "None. I'm to focused on you." 

Surprised and flustered, I sputtered for a few seconds before accepting my fate and rolling my eyes at my boyfriend. 

Emile stepped closer, sitting next to us and gazing out the open window, the breeze blowing softly through my hair. 

Wait-- open?

When was that window open?!

"I think someone's--" I began, just as a shriek cut through the night air.