The knock waking me up was a bit more violent than usual, Noah breaks in without asking permission, walking over to the chest and opening it.

  “Where is it? How did you do it? Why did you do it?” He stomps over to me, kicking mud.

  I sit upwards, “relax please…” I rub the sleep out of my eyes. The stinging pain still in my brain.

  “Relax? Really? You just cut off the only safe spot we have in this place, the only place with a lock.”

  I don’t say anything, I’m not sure if he is trying to get me to admit guilt or actually wants answers, either way the demon could’ve entered the food clinic with or without a lock.

  He waits for me to speak, I open my mouth a couple times before deciding on my words, “I’m on your side.”

  “No shit, I know that, THEY don’t.”

  “Just tell them a lock wouldn’t have stopped her either way.”

  He stomps a bit, “people don’t think like that, people don’t turn everything into statistics, they feel less safe, no place to hide children if something were to happen. It isn't the lock it's the IDEA of the lock.”

  I stand up, he is a little bit taller than me despite being younger, when did that happen? “I just needed blood vials.”

  “Then ask.” He speaks coldly, knowing he is in control.

  That wouldn’t work, “you know that wouldn’t work.”

  “I wonder why, it’s the 7th fuckin world wonder why nobody trusts you.” He laughs in a pained way. “Look, I know you’re a good person, you’re my friend, but you’ve been changing, especially after that last visit with her.”

  I blink a couple times, “okay.”

  He seems to supress his rage and pats me on the back, “sorry, but yeah, people want you to show up at the food clinic, Jackson will make sure they don’t rip you apart.”

  The outside air is cleaner today, the sky is a lighter shade of grey, a beautiful day for us. Noah walks me to the food clinic where everyone is convening.

  I never really thought about the fake protection a locked door can give people, how is it that these people can see that she can turn a man into soup but not break through a wooden door?

  It’s surprisingly quiet, this isn’t a trial or a hunt, all these people know me, why wouldn’t they? We’ve all been here for 5 years, all been in the same situation. They all have talked to me at least once in the past, even though I’ve forgotten most of those interactions.

  Whispers of nothingness get louder as I approach, Jackson walks forward, “hey Fay, wish we could meet again under different circumstances aye? A cold beer in both our hands.”

  I would understand, except I’ve never had beer, so. “Yeah.” Everybody is staring at me, killing intent clear in some of their eyes.

  I suddenly feel 14 again, scared of what will happen, outside of my old reality, these people can kill me, and I can't talk my way out of it.

  I have 3 of the implosion spells still in my pocket. Jackson seems to notice the change in my confidence when I put my hand in my pocket, he is way too sharp. I begin to squeeze the paper a bit.

  He takes a careful step back, “we just want to know, did you destroy the door?”

  I nod, a definite ‘YES’, the crowd of people stay silent, I expected an uproar, I forgot these people were not animals.

  “Okay, how?”

  ‘How’ and not ‘why?’ This guy is really walking around landmines, “I can’t say, I will say when I can say, but right now I can’t.” I give a complete empty air answer.

  I can’t risk them tinkering with blood magic when I don’t even know how it works, how it could possibly kill us all if it goes wrong, if some kid will try to make an explosion spell and kill a group of people, if some man tries healing magic and has the same vomiting reaction I did.

  I can’t give them the information because I can’t trust them to be smart with it. Only I can use it, only me.

  I can see Anne watching me, she is stroking the hair of two crying girls, they probably thought that door meant safety. I would too if I was that young.

  Jackson steps forward again, he wipes his face, getting some of the mud off, without so much mud his bright blue eyes stand clearer. “Fay, if you had to choose, would you kill 100 ants to save yourself?”

  I look down, this is a trap of a question, I’m too used to these sorts of questions from her.

  “Do you think these ants hold the same value as me?”

  “It’s arguable.”

  “If you’re asking if I have a god complex and I’d kill you all to survive, that’s not true, and the fact that you’d even assume that means you are way too fucking paranoid and not fit to be a leader.” I let out, I didn’t even know where the sentence would end when I started it.

  He smiles and steps closer, “was just a question, harsh, I guess the real question is...” He gets even closer and whispers in my ear, “what’s in that pocket? Come on, show us what you can do.”

  He leans back a bit so I can clearly see the resolve in his face, I whisper back “I am on your side. Please trust me.”

  Something seems to change in his face, he moves backwards and directs his voice to the crowd “it’s clear that the demon has placed a spell on him, that’s why he can’t say, but. He is one of us.”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  He pulls on my clothes, my skin pulling with it, “look at what she did to him, threaded clothes onto his skin, does that seem like something an ally would do?”

  Some woman speaks up, “she could’ve done that to trick us! To make us feel sorry for him!”

  He shakes his head, “or she could be sowing discord among us, having one of us be the target of hatred instead of her.”

  The crowd decides not to speak up again, he walks to the food clinic, stepping up one of the small steps, “it was just a door, you know what’s stronger than a door? Us. Us all united together. If they attack, we will barricade this door with our bodies.”

  Everyone nods in agreement, he is masterfully manipulative. He turns to Noah, “Noah, do you trust Fay?”

  He swallows for a second, “uh, yes, yes I do.”

  “Then I trust Fay. We should all trust Fay. Because that’s how we stay united.” He finishes his speech and walks up to me, whispering in my ear yet again, “I don’t trust you, I’ll see you tonight for you to explain yourself.”

  Everyone walks into the food clinic, I just stay there, my stomach rumbles from my lack of nutrition. This is bad, this is really really bad.

  I had already told the owner to take Jackson next, if she follows what I said, which she usually does, people will assume I somehow contacted her, told her to take him since he threatens me.

  After what had to be 10 minutes of me watching from the outside, Anne comes out with some food scraps, those disgusting crackers.

  She holds them out while shaking, I grab them delicately, she jumps a bit at the contact.

  I put one in my mouth and chew, her eyes are clearly on mine while I watch the food clinic, “I wish I had cigarettes.”

  I feel kind of happy she is keeping the conversation light, “you smoke a lot? Before…?”

  “Yeah, but now I have a genuine reason to.” She takes a breath out like she is simulating exhaling smoke, “you should escape.”

  “Hm?”

  “Things are getting bad, the majority of the people here want you dead or gone, the others just hate you… and even Noah is slipping.”

  I stare at her, “it’s fine.”

  “It’s not… and the fact that you think it’s fine shows just how fucked that creature is, how badly she treats you. Nobody else sees that.” She exhales again, “is there any way you can leave with her? Do you have any footing to stand on? Any blackmail or way to get out?”

  I take another bite, “no… not really.” She asks me every time I visit for me to stay the night or move in, but I know it's a trick.

  “Does she like you? Or is it some sick fascination?”

  It’s a fascination, “I don’t know, I’m not leaving though… this is my home.”

  “It is your home, you live here, just like the rest of us.” She seems on the verge of tears, “since fuckin... 14, look at you, people see you as the golden boy who gets the free ticket out, but you are just a kid being tortured aren’t you?”

  “I’m not.”

  She giggles in a way that genuinely scares me, “and now the people who are supposed to be on your side are going to rip you apart, you’re a kid, a kid.”

  “I’m… I’m not.” I feel like a broken record.

  She turns away, stepping to the side of me to be closer, “your formative years…” she stops herself from being emotional, wiping her eyes, snot running down her nose.

  “Anne… please focus on yourself, I’ll be fine, I promise.”

  She grabs my hand and walks, taking me somewhere, “just… let’s go somewhere quiet.”

  My feet drag across the mud as she takes me to the swamp edge, stopping with a little hop, her demeanour changed, “you ever swim?”

  I haven’t, I saw it as pointless, even before I got taken here, I hadn’t stepped foot in a pool. “No…”

  She gives a genuine smile, “then come on, just be careful of touching the bottom, there’s a science to this.” She begins to kick mud into the water, then getting onto her stomach and pushing herself slowly into it.

  Her feet stay floating as she continues to push, eventually she is fully in the water in a star position. “Just do that.”

  At the beginning, countless people died in the swamp trying to escape, so I’m unsure if I’ll be added to the lucky few.

  I get on my stomach and slide into the water, trying to float, before I know it, I’m out in the open and freak out. My legs begin thrashing and my arms try to reach for the surface.

  I feel legs tangle along my waist, and then hands guide my arms to shoulders, she speaks softly, “you looked like a dying fish, you okay?” She giggles.

  I give a faint smile, trying to hide my obvious discomfort, “yeah, I’m at an Olympian level…” I cough out water, “at swimming.”

  “Paralympic level...” We float face to face in the water, her legs doing faint movements to keep me afloat, “put your legs around me, I'll do the kicking.

  She swaps our positions, so my legs are around her waist, and her shoulders are above me, I keep my arms out, doing faint paddling movements.

  “See? Fun, right?”

  I feel incredibly uncomfortable, “fun…”

  She lets out a girly laugh that I did not expect. For as long as I’ve known her, she’s always been this mature guru woman who took it as her mission to guide me through life. I took nothing she said seriously of course.

  The water keeps splashing and getting in my mouth, it tastes disgusting, my mouth dips below the water, then above, then below, as we sway. We don't talk, its errily quiet.

  My cheeks flush red, this position has way too much contact, “are you blushing Fay? Didn’t know you could still feel human emotions.” She grabs hold of my hips which doesn’t seem like it has anything to do with floating.

  I feel sick, this is exactly how she touches me, is Anne doing the same? My heart drops as I assume she is going to drown me.

  “Can we leave? It’s really… uh wet, here.” I try to stay calm, my mind in survival mode, trying to find the perfect sentence to survive.

  “Yeah dumbass, its water.” She tilts her body and kicks to take us back to the surface, “okay let go, swim face first onto the mud.

  I reluctantly let go of her, my body feels way too out of my control right now, but I manage to swim to safety, my face drags through the mud as I slide to the surface..

  I sit on the edge of the swamp, gasping for air as the water falls off me, leaving me completely dry, guess my clothes are hydrophobic too.

  “Awww I wanted to see your hair wet, my master plan failed.” She says in an almost ‘this is over’ tone, like it's the afternoon on Christmas. “Everyone here is delusional, we aren't built for surviving in a place like this.”

  “I agree...”

  She turns her head to me and puts her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “Noah told me you stole blood vials, is that why you broke the door?”

  Are there people who think I broke the door because I just felt like it?

  “Yeah...”

  She continues her interrogation. “Is she making you do this? To learn her fucked up sorcery.”

  I wish I could say no, but a part of me, a very annoying part of me knows I'm learning this magic because I just want to, because its intriguing, because it fascinates me.

  “Yeah... she is.” The lie comes out naturally, if she asked this last week, it would be a definite fib, but now it's a half truth.

  Anne studies my face for a second, “you ever use it to try and kill her?”

  “I have, it doesn't work, that's why I won't tell people how to use it yet.” I say with complete certainty.

  “You really believe people will want to use it? God you're naive.” She dangles her fingers within the water by her feet, trying to splash it in my face, “even if you figured it out, they wouldn't use it, because it's the weapon of the enemy, and also because most people would say ‘it corrupts you’ or some shit.”

  I give a genuine laugh, thinking she is joking.

  “Is it corrupting you?” Her words stop my laugh instantly.

  “No, of course not... uhm, I'm gonna go, thanks for the swim, Anne.” I step up and walk home, she doesn't follow, I need to see if I can heal with those other blood vials. Then people will accept the magic as something we can use.