Crimson Frost (Mythos Academy #4)(37)
Author: Jennifer Estep

But even if she did, I’d still need at least one more member of the jury to vote for me, and I didn’t know who it might be. Certainly not Linus, who’d made his feelings about me so clear already. I doubted Agrona would vote against her husband, so that left Inari and Sergei. I looked at them, and they both stared back at me with smooth expressions, telling me nothing of what they might be thinking or what they’d uncovered about me while they’d been on campus.

When everyone was seated, Linus picked up a small gavel and rapped it against the table. "We will now come to order."

Everyone quieted down, and I drew in a breath-my trial was about to begin.

Chapter 16

Linus shuffled some papers around on the table, while the others did the same. Everyone except for Raven, who seemed to be reading another one of her celebrity gossip magazines. At least, I thought I saw a bright, glossy cover hidden in among the stacks of papers in front of her. She noticed me watching her and gave a little shrug. Good to know she was taking this so seriously.

While the Protectorate got ready to start, I stared up at the domed ceiling. Maybe it was a trick of the lights, but the hand holding the set of scales looked particularly prominent today, almost like the hand was straining to punch through the stone above my head. As I watched, a soft creak filled my ears, and the scales began to tilt to one side, as if I’d already been found guilty. It fact, it seemed like the scales were dropping lower and lower, almost as if they might erupt out of the ceiling and crash down on my head, crushing me where I sat-

I blinked, and the carving was just a carving once more, and the scales were perfectly balanced. Sometimes, my Gypsy gift made me see things that weren’t really there, like the pictures that always seemed to come to life in my myth-history books, but those tilting scales had been creepy, even for Mythos. I shivered and dropped my eyes from the ceiling. Or maybe I was just especially freaked out because of what was at stake right now-my life.

Finally, all the papers were shuffled, and all eyes turned to me. Grandma Frost tightened her grip on my hand, letting me know that she was there for me no matter what. I gently squeezed her fingers.

Linus banged the gavel once more. "Let us begin," he said. "Bring out the basket."

Basket? What basket?

Raven got to her feet, walked down the dais steps, and headed over to one of the cells. She punched in a code, and the glass whooshed back. The old woman stepped into the cell, bent down, and picked up a small wicker basket that I hadn’t noticed before. She turned and carried the basket over to the stone table where I was sitting. Raven glanced over her shoulder at Linus, who nodded at her to go ahead.

The old woman took the top off the basket, stuck her hand inside, and brought out a snake.

I let out a gasp and lurched back in my chair.

"Easy, Gwendolyn," Nickamedes said in a low voice. "This is just part of the process. Don’t worry. You have nothing to fear."

"Now," Linus said. "Shackle the girl to the table."

"Shackle me?" I asked. "Why?"

He ignored my question. "Ajax, if you will."

Coach Ajax grabbed something from under the table. He stood up, and I realized that he was holding a set of handcuffs attached to a long chain. Ajax came over to the interrogation table and put the cuffs and chain on top of it. The harsh clink-clink-clank of the metal rattling together made me wince.

"Hold out your hands, Gwen," the coach said. "Please."

I bit my lip and looked at Grandma and Nickamedes. They both nodded, indicating that I had to do this. I reluctantly held out my hands, and Ajax clinked the handcuffs around my wrists, then secured them and the chain to the stone ring in the top of the table.

I drew in a breath and waited for my psychometry to flare up and show me all the awful memories of everyone who’d worn the cuffs before me-but nothing happened. I got an idea of the cuffs being made, and Ajax handling them with a sense of regret, but that was it. No other memories, no other feelings, were associated with either them or the chains. My breath hissed out in relief.

"I made sure they were brand new," Ajax said in a low voice. "And not the ones we used on Preston."

I nodded, grateful for his thoughtfulness. I’d been in Preston’s head plenty of times, but I had no desire to feel what he had when he’d been shackled to the interrogation table, to experience all his rage and hatred of me.

Linus gestured to Raven, who stepped forward with the snake. Before I could open my mouth to ask what she was doing, the old woman held the creature out, and the snake sank its fangs into my right wrist.

"Ouch!" I shrieked. "It bit me!"

I yanked my hands away from the snake as far as I could and stared down at my wrist. Two drops of blood trickled out of the puncture marks and spattered onto the table, but the stone soaked up the crimson liquid like a sponge. I expected the wounds to start throbbing, but to my surprise the bite didn’t hurt all that much. Instead, it felt more . . . uncomfortable, like a couple of IV needles had been slipped into my skin. I was also aware of a cool sensation flowing through my body, like some sort of medicine had just been injected into my veins.

Raven placed the snake on the table right in front of me. For a moment, I thought it was going to bite me again, but the creature ignored me, as though its job was done. I hadn’t noticed it before, but a small circle had been carved into the stone. The snake settled into the groove like the creature was familiar with it, like it belonged there. Its body curled around and around until its head finally came to rest on top of the table-an inch away from my fingers.

"That is a Maat asp," Linus said. "Named after the Egyptian goddess of truth. Over the years, the Pantheon has discovered that the asp’s venom has an unusual property. It acts as a sort of truth serum and encourages people to answer honestly-or suffer the consequences."

Well, I guess that explained the cold sensation that continued to spread through my body. "Consequences?" I asked. "What consequences?"

"If you tell the truth, the venom is harmless, and your body will flush it out in a few hours," Linus said.

"And if you don’t tell the truth?"

"Every time you tell a lie, the venom heats up a little more in your veins, like liquid fire, until it can feel like being burned alive from the inside out," he answered. "It’s quite painful, from what I’ve seen."

So they were going to torture the truth out of me. Trial by fire, indeed. Great. Just great.

"The asps themselves also have an unusual ability," Linus continued. "They can sense whether or not someone is telling the truth, and they act accordingly."