Blackwood looks up at us, and I can tell by her expression that she’s closing in, like a hawk about to swoop. “While your brother and November were in the vine courtyard, where were you?”

“Sleeping,” Layla says. Her calm tone remains, but I can hear the slightest difference in it, like she’s physically tenser and, even with her great control, it’s coming through in her voice.

“Right. Of course. You said that the last time.”

I want to jump in and defend Layla, but a distracting comment at this point would likely do more harm than good.

Blackwood shifts her gaze to me. “November, did you break your bedside water glass the day before the guard was murdered?”

Oh no. “Yes.”

She sits back, like she knows she’s won. “Did Layla help you clean it up?”

Pippa saw Layla help me. There’s no way around this. “Yes.”

“Did you see Layla take any of the glass?” Blackwood asks, and folds her hands.

“Take any of it? No, definitely not,” I say.

Blackwood straightens the ruffles on her shirtsleeve. “The guard who was killed in front of your door had his throat slit with a piece of glass,” she says, and I’m fairly certain that if I were the fainting type, this would be my moment. “And your glass is the only one in the entire school that has broken all year.”

I can tell Layla’s scared.

“Now, did you take any glass, November?” Blackwood asks.

“No,” I say too fast.

“Then the only conclusion I am left to make is that it was Layla.”

“It wasn’t,” I say to Blackwood. “Layla didn’t take the glass. I didn’t, either. But I’m sure it wasn’t Layla.” I know I’m not helping, that I have no proof to back me up, but I can’t just sit here and let Blackwood corner her.

“As much as I’d love to listen to your endless sputtering, November, I’m afraid I must get on with it. You’re going to the dungeon, Layla, for the murder of an Academy guard,” Blackwood says, and I almost fall out of my chair.

“What?” I say, practically spitting the word. “You don’t have proof that Layla did anything!”

Blackwood’s look is dangerous. “You are sorely mistaken if you believe I need to justify my decisions to you. And if you continue arguing with me, I can promise you that will only make things worse for Layla.” She looks past us, like she’s done with our conversation, and raises her voice. “Guards!”

They open the door, and Layla looks at me with genuine fear. I jump in front of her, blocking their path. The guards look at Blackwood. She nods at them and a split second later they have us both pinned and are sticking needles in our arms.

My vision blurs and the world goes black.

I TOUCH MY head, which pounds like I got dropped on it. I’m on the couch in my dorm room; the curtains are drawn, and the fire is big and bright the way it usually is after Pippa lights it in the early evening. But how did I get…All at once, the events from the afternoon flood my memory.