The audience rumbled. My heart pounded in my eardrums.
“We, the Council, propose that Lady Helen lives out the rest of her days on Mount Olympus. This sentence will begin immediately.”
I shot up from my seat. “No!” I screamed. I tried to climb through the nest of plants but the Bough of Demeter wouldn’t budge. I pushed and pushed, but the vines kept me in their iron cage.
The audience gasped and sighed. They were getting their show all right.
The Council seemed unmoved by my show of emotion. Apart from Cranus. His lips curled into the slightest of smiles.
“Thank you for your verdict, Council members,” Judge Themis said. She turned to face me from the podium. “Lady Helen, this may seem like a harsh sentence, but…” The judge’s voice trailed off. I couldn’t absorb anything, not with the deep sadness springing up inside of me.
I’d never have another sleepover with Yasmin, Noor and Daphne. I’d never sleep in my own bed or take the 43 bus over Waterloo Bridge. I’d never see Grandma Thomas again.
I hung my head and let the tears fall. My life wasn’t worth living.
My grief was interrupted by shouts and cries from the audience.
“Judge Themis! Judge Themis, I need your attention!” A man’s voice cut through the clamour. I looked up and saw a young man with dark curly hair and tanned skin approach the stage.
It was Marco.
FORTY-THREE
I wiped my eyes. Were tears blurring my vision? Was I having a sleep-deprived hallucination?
No. It was definitely Marco, wearing the same traditional robes as everyone else in the courtroom. He was close enough for me to see his smoky brown eyes and the mole just above his lip.
“Marco?” I stuttered. “Is that you?”
Nausea mingled with shock. I never expected to see him again.
Least of all at this trial.
Had he followed me here and snuck in past the guards? I didn’t understand how he had found his way into our trial. Only those with immortal blood could be here.
Marco ignored me and marched up to Judge Themis, dwarfed by the podium.
“Judge Themis, I have to tell you the truth. Helen is innocent!”
A flicker of hope leapt inside me. Was he here to rescue me? But then I remembered our last conversation. This trial would never have happened if it wasn’t for him. He’d betrayed me.
So why was he telling Judge Themis that I was innocent?
The auditorium gasped. The gods rose from their seats in shock, but Dad held them back from approaching the podium.
Judge Themis looked as though she recognized Marco. “Makario! This is most unorthodox. What is the meaning of this claim?”
My tummy twinged. Makario. Maybe it wasn’t Marco after all. Just someone who looked and sounded exactly the same?
Wake up, Helen. I’d know that face anywhere. It was him all right. But I still didn’t understand how he’d got into the trial.
“Helen, I mean Lady Helen, didn’t reveal her secret to a mortal.” The entire auditorium waited with bated breath. My pulse quickened. “She revealed it to someone who already knew everything. An immortal. Me. I’m the person in the recording.”
My hands shot to my face as I gasped. It was all too much to take in. Marco wasn’t a normal guy. He was immortal. He was more like me than I ever could have imagined. No wonder we’d connected.
Any small joy I felt at knowing Marco had immortal blood disappeared. The true realization of what this meant flooded through my head.
Marco would have known I was half-mortal. He pushed me into a confession by threatening to dump me. Then shared the video with the world anyway. He would have known the consequences.
My confusion turned into rage. His betrayal was even worse than I thought.
Judge Themis raised one eyebrow. “You may take the floor.”
He walked to the centre of the stage, just metres from me. “My father instructed me to spy on the gods while they lived in the mortal realm. I was to gather any evidence of rule-breaking. When I couldn’t find enough compelling evidence, he told me to persuade Lady Helen into revealing her heritage. I coerced her into admitting it, which is what you hear on the recording.”
It was all a trick. Every goodnight text message. Every email filled with kisses. Every lingering hug. How could I have been so stupid? I felt like a spider trapped under a glass, exposed and imprisoned at the same time. I wanted to slip down into my basement cell, far away from the crowd’s yells and cries.
Shouts of “Retrial!” and “Free her!” rang through the air. Judge Themis raised her hands and the audience simmered down.
“Makario, this comes as a huge surprise,” she said. “You’re one of the most diligent young legal minds in our land. And your father, Cranus, is our longest-standing Council member.”
Cranus was Marco’s dad? I imagined having such a cruel parent and my heart throbbed with pity.
Marco held his head up high. “I’m ashamed to say that it’s true,” he said.
Judge Themis turned to the Council benches. “Cranus, can you confirm this is true?”
But Cranus wasn’t sitting on the benches. He was nowhere to be seen. While we were all distracted by Marco, he must have slipped off.
Judge Themis motioned a pair of guards forward. She muttered instructions that we couldn’t hear. The guards jogged out of the auditorium.
“Judge Themis, you must overturn Helen’s punishment!” It was Athena. She stood up and glided over to the podium.
While they talked, Marco turned around to face me. Seeing his face jolted the anger out of me, but only for a few seconds. It must have shown on my face because when I turned to him, he stepped back. Like he was scared of me.
Good. He had every reason to be nervous.
“Do you have any idea how much you’ve put me through?” I said through gritted teeth. “I’ve lost everything. All because of you and your snake of a father,” I spat.
“I can’t apologize enough, Helen. That’s why I’m here. I want to put things right.”
I didn’t care about his apology. He’d left it until the very last moment to have a change of heart.
“You targeted me, gained my trust. You betrayed me.” I sniffed, not bothering to hold back the tears.
“That’s not exactly how it happened,” Marco stammered. “I didn’t target you. You didn’t feature in the plan at all. Not at first. But you caught my eye, and I couldn’t not approach you.”
I wiped away the tears pooling under my chin.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“When Father found out that I met you, he suggested that I should get to know you better. That you might let your secret slip. To me.”
Cranus knew I was the weak link. The half-mortal. I hated that I had proved him right, even if I was tricked.
“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. I hate myself and will continue to hate myself for a long time to come.”
I could feel my cheeks burning. Just thinking about the sweet emails and kisses and longing glances that we shared, that he must have faked. Shame consumed my entire body. I couldn’t stand to think how desperate I must have looked. All Marco had to do was fake the slightest interest in me, and I was putty in his hands.