The morning in the jailhouse was noisier than the night before, which surprised Cat given she’d thought many of them would be hungover. It seemed like most of those in the cells weren’t drunks after all, especially not in the context of some of the shouts she heard echoing throughout the hall.

  “You know, those vamps are the ones who should be locked up in here, not us. I’m not the one feasting off other people,” cried out one particularly unruly occupant.

  “Yeah,” joined in another. “It’s the vamps who should be locked up.”

  “When I get outta here, I’m gonna show them who’s the fucking monster.”

  “When do we get breakfast?”

  The shouts had been going on since before the sun had come up and they were regularly inter-spaced by the cries of one guy who kept telling everyone to shut up so he could get some sleep. His yells only made the other occupants even more unruly.

  Cat didn’t bother telling them to shut it or making any threats although she was glad for the brief 15 minutes of silence which followed the arrival of breakfast. She didn’t bother eating though. Just looking at the slop they’d put in a bowl that didn’t look like it had been washed properly made her want to vomit.

  Instead, she lay down on her hard excuse for a bed and tried to get a few minutes more of sleep before the circus that surrounded her started up again.

  It didn’t take long before one guy, quite possibly the one who had been yelling about sleep, started yelling at his neighbour that he was eating too loudly.

  An exchange of threats followed while Cat tried, almost successfully, to tune them all out. That was until one of them started singing, badly. This prompted shouts and yells from the others.

  Cat wasn’t sure how long it went on for but she was relieved when a guard came and told her it was time for her court appearance.

  She stuck her hands through the bars so he could put on the cuffs, then waited while he unlocked her cell.

  He marched her down the hall, past two new detainees on their way in, and into a little interrogation room where her lawyer waited to go over prep one more time before her trial. Cat zoned out while the woman talked. She doubted anything she said or did was going to make a scrap of difference and her lack of sleep had left her little energy to pay attention. She was also starting to wish she’d actually eaten the food they’d given her for breakfast.

  “Alright, that’s everything.” Her lawyer actually smiled. It was the first time Cat had seen her look anything but stern. Had she missed something important after all? Probably not.

  “How do you feel?” her lawyer asked.

  Cat narrowed her eyes and replied, “Whatever.”

  “Okay, good,” replied the lawyer, seemingly ignoring Cat’s demeanour.

  Cat frowned at her. Maybe she had missed something?

  Before she could consider asking the woman to repeat anything, two very burly guards came and took Cat to a different room. This one had a circle engraved into the floor. The grooves looked to be filled with something white and crystalline, sugar or salt perhaps?

  The guard pulled her into it.

  “We’re teleporting?” Cat asked, guessing at what the circle was.

  “Yup,” replied the guard on her right. It earned him a reprimanding look from the guard on her left. Evidentially they weren’t supposed to talk to her.

  “I don’t get a choice?” she asked. Not that she really cared about teleporting. Some people apparently had issues with it. Cat did not. She was annoyed that she didn’t get a say though.

  “Nope,” replied the same guard.

  Next thing she knew they were in a different room.

  Normally a one off teleport didn’t bother Cat at all but the combination of no sleep, no food, and pregnancy were making head spin. She lifted her chin up, took in a deep breath, and tried her darnedest not to vomit on the floor. This place smelt like musty books.

  The guards tugged her along through another door into a large courtroom. They directed her toward the front row, behind which Cat recognised familiar faces, Kass, Amanda, Sirius, Indi, Falco, and Zeph. No Wolf though which she wasn’t surprised at. He wasn’t the sort to attend anything in a courthouse. Neither was Baz. She wished the others hadn’t come either. She didn’t need a damn audience, least of if she ended up vomiting in the middle of things all over the front bench.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  There were other people in the audience too, ones she didn’t recognise. Some who just attended to be nosy, others who came because they knew the victim. She hoped the majority were the nosy sort rather than the latter. That kind of man didn’t deserve an audience either. It would have been better if the entire room had been empty except for the lawyers and the judge. Cat ignored them all and was glad when she could sit and have her back to the room. She hoped this would be over quickly so she could return to her cell.

  The judge started to give an introductory speech of which Cat paid little attention to.

  There was no jury here yet since this was just the pre-trial hearing, with the actual trial to take place after lunch, a time slot her lawyer had been very satisfied with. Something to do with everyone being more lenient after eating.

  Cat wondered what lunch would be and if it would resemble breakfast. Then she fixated her gaze at a discoloured grain on the wooden table and focused on not vomiting again.

  “Are you alright?” a voice whispered from behind her. Kass was leaning forward over the railing that separated the audience from the defendant and lawyers.

  “I’m fine,” Cat grumbled without even a look back. It was better if she didn’t move too much.

  “Ms Nite!” called the Judge to Kass. “Please refrain from speaking to the defendant.”

  Kass sat back and said no more.

  The judge spoke for a little longer and then fixed her steely eyes on the other table at the front of the room, a table that was decidedly empty. “Where is the prosecution?” the judge demanded.

  Cat’s lawyer shook her head. She didn’t know.

  “If they do not show in-”

  The courthouse doors suddenly swung violently open and a young frazzled looking lawyer rushed up the aisle, several times dropping and then stooping to pick up multiple loose sheets of paper as he went. He dumped a pile of documents down on the front bench and then mumbled a, “Sorry judge. It’s been a hell of a morning. The whole office has been having some technical difficulties. And then-”

  From somewhere behind her, Cat could hear Kass whispering something to the others, although she couldn’t make out what was said. It sounded like she was happy about it though.

  “Mr Weathers!” Interrupted the judge.

  The prosecuting lawyer went instantly silent.

  Cat glanced at her own lawyer. The woman was staring at the judge with a completely neutral expression on her face.

  “Are you ready to begin or not?” the judge asked.

  “Well, err, it seems when the system malfunctioned this morning some of the files went missing and we can't seem to locate the physical paperwork either. That combined with a box of evidence that also seems to have been misplaced, well, we’d like to request a continuance.”

  Cat’s lawyer jumped in before the judge could reply. “This trial has already been fast-tracked at the request of the prosecution. They can’t turn around and ask for a continuance now.”

  “I’m afraid defense is correct Mr Weathers. Unless in the event of extraordinary circumstances I am inclined to deny your request.”

  “These are extraordinary circumstance madam Judge,” insisted Mr Weathers.

  “Which paperwork is missing, Mr Weathers?”

  “Um, all of it. The defendant’s entire file is missing your honour.”

  The judge stared down at him for several seconds while the man appeared to shrink in on himself.

  “You didn’t have backups?” she asked.

  He stared down at his desk. “No, your honor.”

  “What about the physical evidence? Did you have photographs or documentation on that? Can you continue without it.”

  In a small voice he said, “It’s all missing your honor.”

  “Well, in that case I guess I have no choice but to declare a mistrial. The defendant is free to go.” She banged her gavel on the bench.

  “Wait, what?” Cat asked her lawyer.

  “You’re free to go,” her lawyer replied simply. She stood up like a rocket and then held out her hand.

  Cat shook it, still confused. Then got slowly to her feet. “I’m free to go? Just like that?”

  Her lawyer gave a nod and a formal sort of smile and then turned around and walked away without a look back leaving Cat staring after her.

  She felt someone grab her arm and start to tug her in the same direction. “Don’t question it,” Amanda told her as she pulled Cat out of the courthouse. “Come on, you look like you could use some proper food.”

  There were no objections in the crowd, only a few hushed whispers. It seemed there hadn’t been many supporters there for Nolan Perninski after all.

  Cat blinked at the bright light outside. She’d almost forgotten what proper sunlight looked like.

  Indi was skipping along beside the group jabbering away about all the things they should now do to celebrate.

  “That was some luck,” Kass commented as they took a seat at a nearby cafe. “Weathers is like the worst prosecutor in the entire valley. There’s a reason most lawyers keep backups of files on a separate laptop not connected to the main systems. Just on the off chance an aristocrat decides they don’t want your case to succeed.”

  “You think Coal had something to do with this?” Amanda asked.

  Kass cocked an eyebrow and gave Amanda a knowing look. Then, as if remembering who she was facing to she dropped her gaze down and said no more.

  Amanda bit her lip and then left to retrieve them some menus.

  “Oh, Coal didn’t have anything to do with that,” Indi said a minute or so later. “I may have let a little bug into their systems.”

  Falco groaned.

  “You what?” Amanda asked, as she returned in time to catch what Indi said. She handed out menus to the others.

  “I-” Indi started.

  “No.” Zephyr interrupted her. More quietly he added, “No admitting to illegal activity in public.”

  “Well if they didn’t want their system hacked they shouldn’t make it so easy to get in,” Indi argued in a lower voice.

  Kass looked confused. “Did you also make the evidence in lockup disappear too?”

  “Oh no, I had nothing to do with that.” Indi shook her head and gave a much more genuine innocent look. “They probably just lost it.”

  “What about getting Weathers assigned as prosecutor? Did you orchestrate that?” Kass inquired.

  Indi giggled as if it were a ludicrous idea. “No.”

  Cat watched as Kass shot Amanda another knowing look.

  Amanda shrugged. “More bad luck I suppose.” But her smile suggested otherwise.

  Cat snorted. “What did he ask for?”

  “I don’t know-” Amanda started.

  “Don’t fucking lie,” Cat replied but she couldn’t help herself getting half distracted by some of the words on the menu. Gods she was hungry and blueberry pancakes sounded so good right about now.

  “Coal intervened of his own accord,” Sirius said. “We had to trade for his help with the dreamweaver anyway.”

  “What did he want?” Kass asked.

  “We helped him get some dragon eggs, that was all,” Amanda replied.

  Cat narrowed her eyes. But she couldn’t tell if Amanda was lying this time or not.