The Children of Hypnos

[Vol. 2] Chapter 5: Guilty

There was a dull ringing in Emery's ears as she moved to the front of the room, enlarged her revolvers and deposited them before the judges, and sat down in the chair both Jacqueline and Wes had already used.

"Emery Ashworth," Grandpa Al said, his voice entirely that of the dean of Fenhallow, "you are accused of concealing from the Hypnos State the active state of your own doppelgänger, working in collusion with the unlicensed dreamhunter Klaus Warwick to disrupt State matters, and professional negligence which led to the death of Fenhallow student Joel Cullweather. When questioned, you denied knowing of the doppelgänger beforehand and assisting Mr. Warwick in any way. During this questioning, you may correct any false statements you may have made, and you will incur no consequences. However, if you are found speaking falsehoods during this trial, you will be held in contempt. Do you understand?"

Emery swallowed thickly. She hadn't thought they'd actually put up negligence in Joel's death as one of the charges. "I do."

Grandpa Al sat. Moxie brought up her tablet again.

"Hello, Emery."

"Hello."

Her voice felt too small for the room, like no one could hear her. And with no other chairs in front of her, it felt like the room behind her must be empty too, like Wes and Jacqueline and all of them had gone.

"Miss Ashworth," Moxie said, "You're the granddaughter of Dean Ashworth, is that right?" She motioned to Grandpa Al.

"Yes."

"Thank you. Please explain to me in your own words what happened the night of October 31."

Emery went through the story just as Wes had. Going into the Dream to look for Morrigan. Finding her in Klaus's lab. Going with her to see Edgar's inactive doppelgänger. Morrigan's escape, the breakout, the storm, the rush to Fenhallow Manor, jumping back in the Dream to save Edgar.

"She escaped into the waking world a second time after that," Emery said. "To cause trouble. We followed her and came back out in the Fenhallow ballroom. Joel was still there, and I was out of bullets, and I—I couldn't stop her."

After a pause, Moxie said, "And that was when she killed Joel Cullweather?"

She didn't kill him, she ripped out his intestines and left him to steam on the floor.

Emery realized she'd taken too long to answer when Ares Montgomery cleared his throat.

"Yes," she said. "Then we fought in the manor and the woods, and I got her to go away by shooting her one last time. But I missed. I didn't hit her square in the head."

Moxie glanced at Temper, who raised an eyebrow. For the first time, he spoke instead of her.

"You shot her one last time?" Temper asked. "You just said you were out of bullets."

"I was. I can only shoot twelve times before the headache gets too bad. But I stretched and shot one more. The pain was...horrible. Like I'd sliced off part of my brain."

Grandpa Al's eyebrows creased together.

Moxie said, "And how have you felt since that time?"

Emery shrugged. "I don't know. My boyfriend was murdered, my little brother is in a coma, and my doppelgänger is after me, so headaches seem like the least of my problems."

The jury shifted in their seats. Grandpa Al's frown deepened.

"Sorry," Emery said, gruff. "I didn't mean to sound so angry."

"Under the circumstances, it's understandable," said Moxie. "Let's continue. I'm going to ask you some of the same questions I asked Mr. Jager. Did you know for certain your doppelgänger was active before the night of October 31?"