~10~

Rowen wasn't at dinner that evening.

"Josephine wasn't too pleased when she heard about what Rowen had done to Iris; poor girl." Said Melinoe.

"Why was she so upset, I don't understand?" Asked Ivory, as she filled her cup with a reddish-purple juice that smelt strongly of fresh Cinnamon and Cardamom. It was a scent that reminded her of home.

"Iris comes from a troubled past, and it would be wrong of me to speak of it to you without her consent. Sorry, Ivy."

Ivory shrugged. "I get it. I wouldn't want anyone talking about my past to someone else without consent either."

Ivory took a long swig of her juice and scrunched her nose in confusion. "What is this?" She asked.

"It's called twine," Macaria replied with a mouth full of biscuits and bacon. "It tastes like whatever you want. But it smells like whatever you yearn for."

Macaria took a small sip of her own mystery juice, then closed her eyes and smiled that same small childlike smile that Ivory would have expected to see on Avery.

"Mine tastes lie freshly squeezed lemonade, made with three extra sugar cubes. And smells like lukewarm sun on spruce needles."

Macaria opened her eyes slowly, and a mixture of nostalgia, satisfaction, and sadness swam in a clear pool of many tears. Macaria laughed, as she blinked them away.

"What about yours?" She asked Melinoe. "What is yours like?"

Melinoe took a drink of her own glass of twine and sighed. "It tastes like...Mothers lavender lemonade with only one extra sugar cube. And it smells like Fall rain and morning dew...What about you Avery?"

Avery glanced nervously down at her glass and shook her head.

Ivory realized that Avery hadn't even touched her drink once, in the time that they had been delivered to them over twenty minutes ago.

A couple of minutes had passed, and the four of them were just about to leave the hall, when Josephine burst through the wide double doors, with a sullen-faced Rowen and Charlie at her side. Kylo and Jezabel were with her too, but Kylo'ss expression was almost as unreadable as the expressions of the stone statues that sometimes stood out in the corridors. And Jezabel's was pure anxiety.

Everyone in the hall shot to their feet, and Ivory felt compelled to do the same.

"Rowen, what's going on?" Macaria asked as Rowen, Charlie, and Kylo joined them at their table.

"Jo has reason to believe that there is a spy amongst us," Kylo answered for Rowen in a hushed whisper. He turned then to Rowen, who was glaring up at him, but his only reply to her was a smug grin.

"Oh, will you two knock it off!" Melinoe snapped. "Rowen, why does Josephine think we have a spy? A spy for who?"

Rowen shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well then, if I were you, I'd pay a bit more attention to what Jo has to say." Said Kylo.

"You know, when you really serve me, you won't be allowed to speak to me the way you do."

"I'm so scared!" Said Kylo in mock fright.

Josephine has standing in the middle of the hall now. Ivory saw that a small brown envelope was clutched in her left hand. Josephine glanced around her at all of her students with a look of pure disgust in her dark eyes.

"I told many of you that the war was. Not. Over!" Josephine began. "And many of you heeded my warning. And now, I have proof."

Josephine chucked the envelope at a scrawny boy who fumbled with it for a few seconds before catching it just before it hit the ground.

The boy looked up at Josephine, but she was glowering down at him.

"Well, go on. Read it!" Josephine ordered.

The boy opened the envelope and began to slowly read the letter back to the rest of them.

"Dearest Ladies of the new court. Macaria and Melinoe Ward, Rowen Brown, Avery Ruse, and the lovely Ivory Evans,"

The hair on the back of Ivory's neck pricked even before the boy had read off her name.

"The five of you have been forced into quite the predicament, wouldn't you say?"

The boy glanced up over the paper at the five of them. Then he met Josephine's piercing gaze, daring him to stop.

"Naturally, I will give you only three options, just as I had given your predecessors.

"You relinquish each of your crowns, Bring me the scythe of Kronos, or meet me in battle."

The hall had gone ghost-quiet. No one dared to even breathe.

"What makes you think a spy wrote this?" Asked a boy beside the scrawny kid. Next to the other kid, this boy looked absolutely massive. He had beefy arms, mousy hair, and a deep voice that didn't match his chubby babylike face.

"Unless you are the one who is leaking the identity of our young queens, Armond..." Said Josephine as she took a step toward the boy.

Armond frantically shook his head and nearly tripped over himself as he backed away.

Josephine snatched the letter back from the boy and turned to face the rest of the students.

"Someone amongst this group is sharing classified information with the kings of the heavens," went on as she waved the letter above her head.

"They have not only put our queens in danger but all of you as well. If any of you have any information that could be even the slightest bit useful, I'd highly advise you to bring it to me in private."

Josephine paused, then said, "That'll be all. I want you all to go straight to bed. Curfew from now on is six-thirty. Off you go."

To Ivory's surprise, there were no groans from the others or any complaints. Everyone went straight to bed, without another word about what had just been discussed.