“The point remains,” Paxton says, “the more heavy the punishment, the less likely we will have to deal with this again. I’m not running a prison here, it’s a community. A community stands together in mutual benefit. Once a person sees that there is no benefit in working toward the betterment of her neighbor, the community falls.” I hear a rap on the table in front of Paxton. “I’m not going to keep prisoners here. People can abide by the rules, or they can leave.”

“It would be better if they had a written set of rules to follow,” Avery says quietly.

“Fine!” Paxton belts out. His voice sounds furious. “If you steal, you’re banished. If you murder, you are banished. If you do anything to purposefully disrupt this community that I have created, you are banished. Write it down, pass it around.”

"No!" Gavin shouts. Sniff. "This isn't right! Let's lock her up. Put her in jail until she has paid for what she has done."

"I think I agree with Gavin on this one," Avery says. "She hasn't done enough to be banished."

I don’t know how long the conversation goes back and forth like an unending tennis match. Finally, a chair scoots out from the table, and Paxton stands. "We all obviously disagree about all this." He takes a deep breath and sighs. "But I'm afraid you all might be right, despite what I want to do. We'll imprison her. We'll discuss how long later tonight."

I don’t want to hear any more. The pit in my stomach has grown so large that I feel like it has swallowed me from within. I can’t think about banishment, imprisonment, or any other possibilities. Regardless, I'll be weaponless for all of it.

It’s an hour before Gabe comes to the room and unlocks the door. He’s here to tell me about the decision I already know. I want to wave him off before he comes in, but even now I don’t want him to know about my ability. I haven’t told anyone except one person in my life. He’s gone now, so I’m the only one that even knows and it’s going to stay that way.

“They’re going to imprison you,” Gabe says.

“I figured as much.” My eyes stay on the floor.

“Remi, I’m going to tell them it was my idea," he says.

My eyes go from the floor to his. “No!” I say, teeth clenched. “All that will do is get you tossed in jail with me. There’s no point.”

“But I should have never said anything to you about Shadowface or anything. Now you're being punished for it.”

“Better than both of us,” I say.

“I just can’t let it happen this way,” he says.