“Answers in the Wastes?” Lorian scoffed. “What are you, a loch addict now? There’s nothing there but prostitutes, drug addicts, and gamblers. How dare you besmirch Mistress Helly’s name in conjunction to some hack you claim exists in the Wastes.”

Master Malwin banged a gavel on his desk. “Enough, Lorian. That’s enough. I would like to hear more about this. Helly, is any of this true?”

Helly cringed. “Yes. I was treating Kerrigan for her blackouts. I was unaware she was getting a second opinion about the matter.”

“And what was causing these blackouts?” Malwin asked.

Kerrigan’s eyes pleaded with Helly not to tell them. Magic sickness was serious. She couldn’t let the council know. Gods. But she also couldn’t expect Helly to lie either.

“Early signs of magic sickness,” she said calmly.

The council erupted in shouts. Many of the members were calling it impossible. The rest were looking at her in horror. Bastian tilted his head and kept his eyes level with hers. He’d remained silent through the whole thing, but he had to be on her side. She needed him to speak the sense he so often did. She begged with her eyes, but he made no move to help her. He leaned back in his seat and watched and waited as it all went down.

“Magic sickness,” Master Kress said in shock. “Surely not.”

“I’m quite certain,” Helly said.

“How can that be?” Anahi asked with fear in her voice.

“She’s unstable,” Lorian bellowed. “Magic sickness in a seventeen-year-old is unheard of. It’s impossible even. It must be a reaction to the circumstances of how she joined the Society. The bond pushing back against her. No one in the Society has ever had magic sickness.”

“It’s not been documented, but that doesn’t mean…” Helly tried to say.

But it was too late. Lorian’s mania had infected the rest of the council. People were jumping out of their seats to argue now.

“She’s cursed!” Boze shouted in alarm.

“The bond is killing her,” Lockney said. He began to scribble furiously.

“She’s unstable, and she must be stopped,” Kress said evenly. “Magic sickness is too severe!”

“We could never have someone like that in our ranks,” another member shouted, who Kerrigan didn’t even know.

It was all happening too fast. Everyone speaking up at once. Their own fears blinding them.

Master Malwin banged his gavel all he wanted, but no one was listening. Lorian had wrapped them all up in a frenzy. Even Helly couldn’t get through to anyone.