We moved to the next window.
A girl—maybe 25—sat cross-legged on the floor, clutching a stuffed rabbit to her chest. Her hair hung in long, filthy ropes that hid most of her face. She rocked back and forth, whispering to herself.
“This is Amelia Ambrose.”
The name clicked—like a stone falling into place.
I stared at her.
“She used water magic to drown all three of her children while they were sleeping,” Marr continued, tone almost academic.
A cold shiver sliced down my spine.
That girl… that tiny, shaking girl…
“No,” I whispered. “She looks… she looks like a kid.”
“Magic—as you may eventually learn—doesn’t discriminate by age. Or morality.” Marr folded his hands behind his back, posture crisp. “Those with unstable Dark leanings become… dangerous.”
His gaze flicked to me at that word.
Dark.
I swallowed and kept walking, because the alternative was collapsing.
We passed cell after cell—each one housing someone worse than the last. A man muttering equations while peeling strips of skin from his forearms. A woman with smoke leaking from her eyes. A boy no older than thirteen carving symbols into the wall with his fingernails, whispering, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy,” over and over.
Every step felt like a descent.
Every step felt like a warning.
When Marr finally stopped, it was in front of a heavy reinforced door.
“Your evaluation will take place in here,” he said lightly. “Nothing strenuous. Routine testing.”
“Are you going to lock me in one of those rooms?” I asked quietly.
He laughed. “Oh no dear, absolutely not. Those rooms are only for the most violent offenders – with the most uncontrollable energy. We take them in - we help them control their magic. This place – it may seem scary, but all we really want is to bring order to the world. Is that so wrong?”
I shifted uncomfortably on the chair across the room. “So what do you want from me?”
“You know your father and I go way back.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“We were academics together, of course. We worked on the Aetheric Polarity Assessment together, to make it the guiding tool it is today.”
“That test is bullshit,” I snapped before I could stop myself.
Marr merely tilted his head, intrigued. “And why would you say that?”
“Because it brands people,” I said. “Judges them for something they can’t control.”
“You believe Dark and Light should be equal?” he asked, voice smooth, mild… dangerous. “That the Light shouldn’t hold power?”
“I think power should be shared with the light and the dark. No one is better than anyone else.”
My throat tightened.
