OUT OF MIND² ━━ Bellamy Blake

𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈: Return of the Reaper

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RETURN OF THE REAPER

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THEY ARE SENTENCED to death by a monster playing man.

     A thunderstorm is clawing at Lyra's throat as she is chained to the metal stool in the gloomy chamber. Her hands are still twisted behind her back as the sickly light flickers overhead, casting everything in that nauseous yellow half-sickle moon glow. Silhouetted in raw black shadows is Pike as he stands before her and Kane, who is chained just beside her; she cannot bring herself to look at him. They are being arrested and it is all her fault.

     "As you know, the terms of martial law and of the Exodus Charter give me both latitude and ultimate authority in determining your punishment," drawls Pike, his voice fatal with derision as he stares them down. "Do either of you have anything to say for yourselves?"

     To hide the pain puddling in her eyes, Lyra dips her eyes to the steel table dividing them. She can feel Bellamy's gaze pressing in on her, but she cannot bear to see the look on his face right now.

     "I admire your adherence to the law," begins Kane softly. "I really do. But there are times when we have to look beyond the rules. To realise they were established to serve a rule of the past. Not of the future. I beg you one last time to see the world as it is. Not as it was. Or as you want it to be."

     Pike shakes his head scornfully. "And I hope you believe that if I thought for one minute that turning myself over to the enemy would secure the safety of our people, I would do it. But only a deluded man would believe that."

     It has worked before, Lyra thinks. She has not forgotten what Clarke did to the boy she loved.

     "And only a guilty man would try and tell him so," finishes Pike before he rises, a cruel triumph glittering inside his beady eyes. "Marcus Kane! For the crimes of treason, kidnapping, and attempted murder, I hereby sentence you to death."

     Lyra's stomach plummets.

     "Take him," orders Pike and Noah emerges from the darkest corner, his face unreadable.

     "As for you, Lyra Jupiter. . . "

For the first time, Noah speaks up, his tone flat and dead. Lyra knows he is struggling to play the part, to act like he's still with Pike even now. "Sir, to arrest Marcus is one thing. But he manipulated Lyra. She's just a kid."

     "They haven't been kids since the day we sent them down here to die," retorts Pike coldly.

     "She's seventeen!" Bellamy blurts loudly from where he stands. There is a wild, almost crazed look in his glassy eyes as he rounds on Pike. "She's seventeen, on the Ark she would've been sent to the Skybox for review at eighteen, they wouldn't float her — "

     " — but this is not the Ark."

     Any contempt Pike might have held now darkens into malice. He faces her with such a fiery hatred that she almost winces. And when he speaks, his words are harsh and unforgiving, echoing off the colourless walls that cage her in;