4

I ran like crazy as if I was being chased by the henchmen of the underworld, and almost flew over the fence when I realized that I had missed the grand event, namely the arrival of the inspectors. In the yard of the shelter there were several carriages, and some people were scurrying back and forth. Among the strangers, one man with blue-black hair stood out in particular; a cloak of the same color was thrown over his shoulders, on which a raven was embroidered with silver threads. Such cloaks are worn by members of the Order of Darkness.

At the sight of this raven, my heart began to beat faster. Here he is, a man who can answer all my questions, a man who will understand me like no other. Only retribution for the answers I can not afford. My gaze caught on a familiar silhouette, and I decided it was best to scout the area first before appearing like this in front of Clarissa's eyes.

“Craig,” I called quietly to our watchman.

“There you are, you stupid head,” Craig scolded, he was clearly preoccupied with something and frowned his gray eyebrows. Rapidly approaching, he firmly grabbed my arm and, looking around, dragged me around the building.

— Where are you taking me? Where is Clarissa?

“Clarissa ordered me to find you and lock you in the basement. Why do you never sit still? Oh, and she got angry. The inspectors are already inside, it is better that they do not see you at all.

“Okay,” I said meekly. This is the best news today. If I can sit out all this time in the basement, then I will not have to intersect with either the dark one or the catcher. It seems life is getting better.

- Okay? I feel that your obedience is not good. What are you thinking? Craig asked sternly.

“Nothing, honestly. I'll sit in the basement, think about my behavior! - it seems that I went too far with humility, because the watchman gave me such a look that I immediately understood, did not believe a single word.

It was cold in the basement, as always, the wet dress had not had time to dry and now gave me a lot of unpleasant sensations, besides, I was terribly hungry. Deciding not to waste time, I began to sort through all today's events.

What we have? The check arrived ahead of time, along with the inspectors, not only the dark one, but also the catcher arrived. The dark one instilled fear with all his appearance, and I categorically did not want to approach him. Against its background, the catcher looked like a plucked colorless chicken that is forgotten to be fed. That's weird, maybe Reiner was joking about being a Seeker? Hardly. Jokes like this can make you lose your head. Then why is he so pale? I always believed that the possessors of dark power become the catchers. To my regret, there was almost no information about these magicians in the books, except that they hunt apostates. Deep down, I knew that they did not come here by chance and, most likely, it was I who was the reason for this. Is it because of the incident in the barn? Aunt Raya mentioned that the dogs that evening seemed to have gone crazy and howled until morning.

- Peace! Move, you are urgently called to the head, - said Craig, appearing at the door.

Have the inspectors already left? I asked with a hint of hope. Otherwise, why would she pull me out ahead of time?

“No,” the watchman cut off all my hopes, “they somehow found out about you and want to see you.

I shuddered with fear, sharply got sick of going out.

"Don't force me to drag you, I'm doing what I'm told."

It was useless to resist, especially since they found out about me. If they want, they will drag them out of here by force. It is better to meet your death with your head held high! And only trembling knees disagreed with me.

We passed through an empty courtyard and got into the hall on the first floor. There were more people here than ever. The girls crowded at the far wall, some woman of a noble appearance was talking to them. On the right, I saw Ines surrounded by men, she was in a new dress, but with a tear-stained face. Clarissa was there, the dark one and... Reiner. He lazily propped up the wall and looked straight at me. The Dark One also turned around and gave me an appraising look. And there was so much contempt and disappointment in that look, as I have never seen in my entire life.

"Come," ordered the dark one authoritatively. His voice sent chills down my spine. Clarissa promised me all earthly punishments with her eyes. I timidly moved towards them.

Why is she like this? asked the head of a man with a small notebook in his hands.

"She's a little out of her mind, if you know what I mean," Clarissa replied coquettishly. In surprise, I stumbled and almost flew forward with my nose.

- Sorrowful in mind? the inspector said sympathetically.

“It is very noble of you to take such under guardianship,” another praised her. I dared to look at the catcher, he could hardly contain his laughter, but did not interfere in the conversation.

- The name of? How many years? Can she speak? the dark one asked Clarissa.

“Her name is Mira, planted fifteen winters ago. She can talk, but why should you waste your time on her, I can tell everything about her myself. - the head answered obsequiously. The Dark One gave her such a look that even I was taken aback.

"I'll decide what to do for myself!" There was a deafening silence after those words. - Hold out your hand, Mira.

There was a sound of heels behind me, but I did not dare to turn around, to be honest, I was afraid to breathe again. It seems that now they will check me for the presence of dark forces. I felt cornered, it was useless to resist, but I did not want to die at all. Fear made her sick and ringing in her ears. I extended my shaking hand forward. The dark one squeamishly pulled up his dirty sleeve and ran a blade along my wrist. I hissed in pain and involuntarily pulled the brush towards me. Everyone stared at the blade intently. Pressing my cut hand to my stomach, I awaited my verdict. Now everything will be decided.

But nothing happened.

Nothing at all.

- Not she. Are there any more girls here? the dark man asked with an unhappy look.

No, definitely not, this last one! Clarissa replied.

“Then we’re done here, Reiner, Lady Melissa, I’m waiting for you in the courtyard,” the dark one walked past me, he smelled of leather and some kind of tart herbs. I continued to draw the statue. Everything that happened just didn't fit in my head. It's some kind of mistake?

There was a taste of blood in my mouth, I bit my tongue hard out of fear. Suddenly, a hand landed on my shoulder, I jumped in surprise and turned around. That same noble woman was looking at me, she was very beautiful, had thick brown hair styled in a high hairstyle, and was dressed in a dark blue velvet cloak, from under which a traveling dress peeked out. Her slightly slanted eyes carefully studied my face, I felt like a grimy ugly creature next to her.

- Can I see your hand? Lady Melissa demanded. I held out a cut limb, for some reason I was ashamed of my appearance in front of her. She put something on the wound for just a moment and, sharply releasing her hand, stared at my hair in bewilderment. I awkwardly smoothed my tousled braid.

"Something wrong, Melissa?" my friend asked.

The girl looks like an old friend of mine. But it doesn't matter, let's go, Reiner, your father doesn't like to wait," she replied and rushed to the exit. Reiner carefully looked into my face, opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and quickly turned around and left.

Lady Melissa, the dark one and his son left, leaving us with three inspectors who decided to stay here for a couple of days. I had a temporary respite, but I was in no hurry to relax, when they left, I was waiting for reprisals worse than the basement.

That fateful day, lying in my bed, I could not sleep. Tears of relief rolled down my cheeks, I bit the blanket so as not to sob out loud. And it was strange, because for the rest of the day after the incident in the hall, I felt completely empty and incapable of any emotions. But now a whole storm was boiling up in me, and I was not sure that I could cope with it.

The next two days passed like a blur for me. While Clarissa was busy checking, we were left to our own devices. Of course, no one canceled lessons and other duties, but no punishments and extraordinary duties. I spent all my free time in the library, trying to find answers to questions that tormented me with renewed vigor. I never managed to talk with Ines, usually, if we swore, which happened quite rarely, then I always went to meet her halfway and came up to put up first. But now I had neither the strength nor the desire to do so.

“I heard that the inspectors are leaving tomorrow morning. What punishment do you think Clarissa will come up with for you? Silva sang as she entered the reading room. In fact, it was difficult to call this small room a hall.

"Silva, why do you hate me?" Taking a deep breath, I put down my book and looked up at her. All our squabbles and conflicts suddenly seemed like baby talk to me.

What kind of idiotic questions are you asking? Did you hit your head? Despite all this tirade, I noticed a flicker of confusion on her face.

“I’m trying to remember the moment when exactly everything went wrong, because we were friends in childhood,” she drawled thoughtfully, carefully peering into the girl’s beautiful face. Silva was silent, only the corners of her lips contemptuously curved.

- We were not even six years old when we constantly spent time together. Then Ines showed up, you didn't like her much. So is it because of her? I don’t…” I didn’t have time to finish when Sylvia angrily walked in my direction.

- Are you kidding? Or do you really not remember? There was so much hatred in her voice that I was taken aback. “You told Ines about my mother whore, and she told the whole orphanage about it. I trusted you like a sister. And you traded me for some alien girl, and when I decided to take revenge on her, I took her side.

— What? Sil, Inez couldn't do it because I never told her anything. She found out about you along with everyone else. So that's why you tried to mutilate her,” she said, shocked by her words.

“Well, of course she couldn’t, Ines is virtue herself, sweet and kind, practically a saint,” she said, shaking her head.

“I swear on my life, Sylvia, that I didn’t tell her anything, you were my closest person,” a lump formed in her chest, all this time she considered me a traitor.

“Then who started these rumors?” I only trusted you with my story,” she asked sternly. I thoughtfully fiddled with the sleeve covering the cut from the ritual dagger. He didn't want to live.

“At least one other person knew your story.

- And who? she chuckled, but in an instant the smile left her face, she understood who she was talking about. “No, she wouldn't. Why would she?

“Think about it, the story about your past is too detailed, I’m sure a lot of this was not known even to you, let alone me.” With every word, I became more and more confident in my assumptions.

“But why would she? I don’t understand,” Syl asked, still in disbelief.

“I don’t know, maybe she needed someone despised by everyone, but at the same time loyal to her. How often did you report on us?

- Shut up! she yelled and quickly ran out.

The amazing thing is, just one such conversation nine years ago, and perhaps for us everything would have turned out completely differently. She glanced at her right hand, the cut throbbed a little and continued to bleed in places. I licked up the blood and winced. It's time to take responsibility for your life and abilities. I need to train, sudden manifestations of darkness constantly put me in danger, I just need to figure out how to implement all this.