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Orfeo opened the door and gave a whistle, signaling that the yard time was over and it was time to go back to their cells. Caitlin stood up and filed to the door behind Daisy, and even found a moment to give her a quick hug before the other girl stepped into her cell at the base of the stairs.

When she got back to her cell, Caitlin found a simple but pretty floral dress hanging off the inside bars, and it brought a smile to her eyes. She recognized it as one of her favorite dresses, though one she hardly ever wore because it always seemed so formal and stiff, and not something that she'd usually wear to school or just for hanging out with Amanda.

Orfeo came by soon after she'd stepped inside and she smiled at the dress hanging there.

"Your mother has good taste, girl," she commented, reaching out to touch the sleeve. "Go ahead and change and I'll take you over. You've got about an hour. They're finishing up with Poppy's case right now."

"Do you know what happened?" Caitlin asked, "With...with Poppy?"

Orfeo nodded solemnly. Caitlin didn't need to hear the words, she could already see the answer in the wolf's eyes.

"The magistrate condemned her," Orfeo answered anyway. "There wasn't much else that could have happened."

"So they're going to put her where Lilly was?" Caitlin asked.

"No," Orfeo said with a shake of her head, "They're taking her to block 4."

There was a pained look in Orfeo's eyes as she said that, and Caitlin quickly read further into it and realized that it meant Momma Wolf wouldn't have access to her like she did Lilly.

"I'm sorry Momma Wolf," Caitlin said.

"Don't be sorry, girl," Orfeo said sharply. "Just get dressed and get ready."

Then the guard turned and walked away, closing the cell door behind her. Caitlin looked at her retreating back and couldn't shake the feeling that she'd said something wrong. But it hardly mattered anyway, not with her hearing so close.

Carefully and quietly, Caitlin changed out of her jumpsuit and into the dress. It still fit well, though it hung a little more loosely off her body than she remembered it, and she wondered how much weight she'd lost just by skipping the meals over the last few days.

She didn't want to sit on the bunk and get the dress wrinkled, so she took to pacing around her cell, from the window to the bars and back again. She didn't want to look out the window, and every time she came close, she made sure to turn her head away so that she didn't have to look at the spot on the grass, didn't have to think about Lilly out there or Poppy who was going to be in a different yard.

"Wearing a groove again, Kincaid?" said the familiar voice of her next-door cell mate.

Caitlin stopped and flushed a little, even though there was no one to see.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"Well if it makes you feel better, don't stop on my account."

A little laugh sounded through the window.

"Listen, Kincaid," the voice said, "You go and you tell them what you know, and you stand there with your head up, okay?"

"What does it matter if my head is up?" Caitlin asked.

"Because that's the only thing that matters in the end," the other girl said. "You gotta show them that they can't break you."

Caitlin stopped and thought about that for a minute before she answered.

"What if they can break me?"

The girl didn't answer and Caitlin sat down on her bunk, a little self-conscious now about her pacing. Sitting there, she played with the hem on her dress as she waited for Orfeo to return. Finally, she could hear the guard's footsteps coming up the stairs and she stood up by the door to wait.

When Orfeo came into view, Caitlin saw a look of concern on her face, but it was quickly hidden by a look of surprise on her face when she saw Caitlin standing there.

"Ready, girl?" she asked.

Caitlin nodded.

"I'm not going to put cuffs on you for the walk, Caitlin. Don't you go giving me any reason to regret it, okay?"

"I won't, Momma Wolf," Caitlin said quietly.

Orfeo nodded and keyed open the door and Caitlin waited while it swung out. When it stopped moving, she stepped out and Orfeo took hold of her arm.

Together, they walked down the walkway to the stairs, and then around first floor main corridor to the side of the block that Caitlin hadn't seen. Orfeo keyed them through a door that looked exactly the same as all the other doors to the block, big and solid and steel with a little window that was broken up into little diamonds by the security wire embedded in the glass.

When they walked through the door, Caitlin couldn't help but think that they were in a completely different world and she had to look back to see the cell block to believe that they were in the same building at all. Through the door was a long hallway with plain grey carpet and wood paneled walls. When she turned back around to look behind her, she saw that the big metal door had been decorated in such a way as to make it look like a perfectly normal office door from this side. The lighting in the hallway was much softer than the industrial fluorescents that lit the cells and it even smelled like a different place.

Orfeo looked as if she expected the reaction and she stopped and waited while Caitlin looked around, but it wasn't long before she took hold of her arm once again and began guiding her down the hallway. On either side of the hall, Caitlin could see wooden doors, each with only a number on a little plaque in the center of the door at eye level.

There was no door at the end of the hall, and it opened into a grand gallery over four stories tall with a domed ceiling. The ceiling had a mural painted on it, but Caitlin couldn't stand still long enough to really get a good sense of what it was because Orfeo continued walking.

"Come on, Kincaid," she said, "you keep rubbernecking and you're going to be late for your hearing. That won't go over well with the Magistrate."

Caitlin shivered and faced her head forward and walked along with the guard without any more attempts to look around.

Through the gallery to the far end, she followed Orfeo until they stopped in front of a large set of double doors. They were tall and looked incredibly sturdy, but they also looked old and used, though they were immaculately clean. Above the doors was a large plaque with the letter "I" inscribed in large font. There were two other doors, the one to the left had a plaque with "II" and the one to the right read "III."

It only took her a minute to figure out what it all meant, and she shuddered once again, realizing that her fate lay behind the doors in front of her. She felt Orfeo's hand move to her shoulder and she looked around at the guard.

"Take a breath, Caitlin," Orfeo instructed.

Caitlin complied and drew a deep breath, holding it inside for a minute before she let it out again.

"All right, listen carefully," Orfeo said. "This is what's going to happen. I'm going to escort you inside, then I have to leave you in the Accused's seat."

Caitlin's eyes widened and she could feel her breathing getting a little faster and a little more out of her control.

"Don't worry, girl," Orfeo said in a reassuring tone, "I'll be there the whole time, I just can't be right there with you. I'll be off to the side, and your family will be up in the gallery. Now, you're not allowed to interact with anyone but the magistrate or whoever he directs you to speak with. Understand?"

Caitlin nodded again, and then turned her eyes back to the imposing doors in front of her. She understood Orfeo's words, but they didn't really make all that much sense until the doors opened and she looked into the room.

The court room was a large circular room. All of it was wood paneled and all the furniture was heavy oak. The carpet was a deep crimson and it looked as if it had been there for a long time with heavily trampled pile in the center of the aisles. The big room was divided into four sections. The one that struck Caitlin first was the raised dais on the far side of the room where she assumed the magistrate sat. It was tall and imposing and it had a large, heavy seal of the country affixed to the front of it.

In front of the dais was a smaller circular area bordered by a waist-high railing. Caitlin could see two swinging entrances through the railing, one on either side behind a solitary chair that sat in the middle of the circle. The only other furniture in the circle was a small table to the side of the chair. A closer look at the chair in the center showed her rings that she assumed would allow someone to be handcuffed to it. Caitlin didn't need a road map to figure out where she was going to be through the whole thing.

Outside the central circle was another circle that took up the rest of the floor space. Through that section, chairs were set in precise rows. On the very far sides of the rows, the seats were bolted to the ground, and between those two sections, the chairs could be moved.

A balcony hung above the very back of the visitors section, and Caitlin could just discern the tops of some comfortable looking chairs spaced evenly around. She guessed that the more important visitors or people who had interest in her case would be sitting up there.

As she looked around, she saw that in the very front of visitor's section, the chairs had been removed and there was a great deal of video equipment. A bunch of cameras and wires trailed all over the section and Caitlin could make out the logos of at least three different television stations. Movement brought her eyes back to the center of the room and she could see the techs making sure that all the wiring was correct running to the dais and the chair in the center of the room. One man was setting up a microphone on the table and pointing it to the chair. Another was setting up wires beneath the first row of fixed visitor's seats.

Orfeo ushered her through the doors and all of the men looked up when they walked in, eyes focused on Caitlin and her escort. Some had expressions of anger and hatred, some were sympathetic, and still others just looked bored.

"This doesn't concern you," Orfeo said firmly to the lot of them as she walked Caitlin up to the first door to the center.

The workmen went quickly back to work with only a glance at the stern wolf.

Orfeo stopped Caitlin just short of the gate and pointed to a small desk by the dais.

"I'll be up there. I'm supposed to make sure that if you get rowdy that I can get to you."

Orfeo looked down at Caitlin and smiled a little, "But you're not going to be getting rowdy, are you?" she asked.

"No, Momma Wolf," Caitlin said with a shake of her head, still awed by the sheer size and formality of the room and everything that was going on.

"Good," Orfeo said. She looked at the set of fixed chairs closest to them and pointed to the ones nearest the aisle. "Your family will be right here, but remember, once you're in the center, you cannot interact with anyone outside the fence, alright?"

Caitlin nodded and looked at where Orfeo was pointing. She could see one of the workmen wiring something beneath the chair and she assumed that it was a microphone. She'd seen the broadcasts of some trials on television when she was growing up and they always seemed to have microphones where they were needed. She never expected that she'd be getting a first-hand view of how they did that. She idly wondered if her parents would even notice the cords snaking under their chairs.

"Are you ready, then, Caitlin?" Orfeo asked.

Caitlin took a deep breath, trying to steady herself for what was to come. She knew that once she walked into that circle, no matter what happened, she wouldn't be coming out the same. Before she said anything, she turned to the guard and quickly embraced the older wolf.

"Thank you, Momma Wolf," she whispered. "No matter what happens, thank you for being so kind."

Orfeo almost started to pull away with her training and her instinct kicking in, but she held off and then embraced the little girl right back, patting her gently on the shoulder.

"You're all right, Caitlin," she said. Then she held on a little longer. "I'll always remember your name, and I'll make sure all my girls do, too."

Caitlin didn't know what to say to that, or even what to feel. She didn't know if she should be grateful or depressed that Orfeo had felt the need to say it, but what finally did settle over her was a sense of calm, knowing that she wouldn't end up nameless and faceless, and that someone would know who she was.

Finally, the two let go of each other and Caitlin nodded to Orfeo as she turned to face the gate in the railing. "I'm ready, Momma Wolf."

Caitlin couldn't quite control the shaking that was going on and she didn't know if she could stand much longer with her nerves the way they were, so she started forward almost before Orfeo had opened the gate. She didn't accept any help from the guard and she walked all the way to the chair by herself. Remembering what the girl in the next cell had told her, she kept her head high as she walked, and she was gratified to see the red recording lights on all of the cameras in the corner of her vision. She knew that everyone that she knew would be watching the trial and so everyone saw her walk proudly by herself to the chair.

They didn't see the shaking of her legs when she finally sat down, or the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes when she was facing away from the cameras, and she tried to keep her shoulders from shaking, trying to present herself as strong. What she noticed was that the more that she pretended to be strong, the more strength she started to feel inside.

She saw Orfeo walk around the outside of the railing to take up her spot just where she said she would be, and the guard gave her a small shadow of a smile as she sat down. Orfeo motioned to her watch and then held up ten fingers. Ten minutes until everything began.

Caitlin closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself back at the party, trying to remember what was behind the curtain across her memory. There was still just blackness when she tried to remember back past her and Hunter in the bed together. She could remember almost all of that clearly, but then it just seemed to skip from then to when she woke up. Sometimes when she looked back with her mind's eye, she could see little flashes of images, but none of it meant anything and it was nothing that she could piece together into a narrative that she could tell anyone to prove her innocence.

With her eyes closed, though, she could almost imagine herself back in the library at school with the hushed voices of the workmen around her. She figured that they must be under the same rules that she was and that they weren't allowed to interact with her. For that she was grateful. It let her remain there in her little bubble of thought until a sound brought her focus back to the room.

It was the sound of the doors opening again, and when she didn't hear them close, she turned in her seat and watched as people started to come into the room. The first people though the doors were dressed in suits and Caitlin could see the wires of microphones attached to their lapels, and sure enough, they took their places around the cameras.

The next people to come in the door strained every last inch of Caitlin's willpower. Her father came through the doors hand in hand with her mother while her sister walked in behind them. For a moment, her eyes locked with her fathers and he nodded solemnly at her. She could see the longing in his eyes, the instinct to run to his daughter and she could tell that he wanted nothing more than to run through the gate to be by her side, but he must have gotten the same talk that she did and he made no attempt to speak to her or in any way interact with her.

She watched as they walked to the front of the aisle and took the seats just as Orfeo pointed out. The rest of the row was empty and she didn't think it would fill. Whenever the trials had been covered on the news, no one sat with the accused's family, they had the row all to themselves.

As Caitlin was about to turn around, she caught a bit of movement out of the corner of her eye on the balcony and she saw Senator Lewis walking to one of the high-backed chairs. She frowned as she watched, wondering why Hunter's father was here at her trial. Her heart gave a little leap, thinking that maybe he had something to tell the magistrate that might help her. He was always so pleasant to her when she was visiting Hunter, and she thought that he had a soft spot for her. As she watched him, though, her heart sank again, for he didn't so much as look at her as he took her seat. She tried to meet his eyes and no matter what she did, he wouldn't look even in her general direction.

Finally, she gave up trying to subtly get his attention and she turned back to look at her family. She could see her father looking up in the balcony at Senator Lewis, though he, too, received the same lack of attention. Frowning, her father turned her attention back to her and the shrug he gave her was just barely perceptible.

Caitlin nodded and turned back around to the front, closing her eyes again to spend the last few minutes trying again to search her memory. Still nothing came and she finally opened her eyes in frustration as she heard the doors behind her close firmly and the ones on the other side of the hall open.

She watched as a younger wolf dressed in a well-fitting suit walked out from behind the dais to stand directly in front of it.

"Please stand for the magistrate," he announced in a clear and firm voice.

Everyone behind her stood and she saw Orfeo nodding to her to do the same. She took to her shaky feet and stood in the center of everything while another wolf, this one a large, burly, older male clothed in a long flowing black judicial gown, took his place on the dais.

"Sit," he commanded. His voice was firm and clear and in a tone the Caitlin wouldn't even think to argue with and she found herself sitting before she even thought about following his instructions.

All her attention was focused on the big wolf looming over her from his place and she began to shiver again, shaking against the chair while her breathing quickened and her pulse threatened to run away with her. She tried the breathing that she learned, but it only helped so much.

The room waited in silence while the magistrate looked over the papers in front of him. He didn't seem hurried at all, and minutes passed by as he flipped through the leaves one at a time. Finally he flipped them all back to their original position and glared over the top of the dais.

"Caitlin Kincaid?" he asked.

Caitlin nodded and tried to find her voice. Her mouth worked, but no sound came out and all of a sudden her tongue wanted to stick to the roof of her mouth for want of any kind of moisture. She swallowed once, then again.

"Y- yes sir," she managed to answer in a frightened squeak.

The magistrate merely glared at her over the edge of his desk, and Caitlin couldn't help but shake a little more visibly under his gaze.

"Very well," he said after a minute of staring. "Caitlin Kincaid, you are here at this tribunal because you stand accused of seven counts of murder. As you should know from your civics classes, Miss Kincaid, our predecessors used to divide this crime into degrees, but we have done away with such silliness. Seven people's lives were ended, and you stand accused of the crime. The punishment mandated for a crime of this magnitude is condemnation. Do you understand, Miss Kincaid?"

Caitlin nodded again and this time, she managed to find her voice even quicker, though it wasn't any stronger or more confident.

"Yes, sir."

The magistrate nodded and went back to flipping through his stack of papers.

"I have here in front of me, the investigatory report of the police who processed the crime scene, as well as the report of the lead investigator, an Inspector Richard Corbett. I also have results of all tests that were performed at Sisters of Charity hospital on one Caitlin Kincaid."

Again, he paused and flipped through some more papers, and Caitlin could feel herself working up again.

"I have reviewed all of this evidence, and we have convened here so that I may ask you any questions I have regarding the evidence and to offer you a chance to rebut any evidence you are able. You may also present any mitigating circumstances that may have bearing on the case. Once the proceeding is finished, I will review the evidence and make a ruling on the case."

He looked up from the papers to the cameras in the room and the visitors watching from their seats.

"Members of the media and visitors are allowed in this courtroom at my discretion, and I will allow it so long as my tribunal remains in order. I will not hesitate to throw any of you out on your ears should you chose to disrupt these proceedings."

The magistrate looked pointedly at one of the reporters sitting near one of the cameras and the reporter mumbled something under his breath.

"I'm sorry, Mister Chaucy, were you saying something that would pertain to this case?" the magistrate asked.

The reporter shook his head, but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

"That will be your first and only warning, Mister Chaucy. I do not tolerate bullshit in my tribunal."

Again the reporter shook his head, but he kept his seat and he didn't speak in response. Caitlin almost felt bad for him, already having felt the scrutiny of the magistrate, but then she remembered that he was going to be one of the ones telling her story to the entire country over the evening news and all the sympathy she had for him evaporated.

"All right, then. We shall not delay any further," the magistrate announced.

Despite his announcement, the magistrate sat and reviewed pages and pages of documents, leaving the courtroom in utter stillness and silence while he read through passages of the reports on the table in front of him. Finally, though, he looked up and over his desk at Caitlin once again and pushed the pages to the side. From beneath the dais, he removed a pad of paper and a pen.

"Miss Kincaid, I will start with the standard questions."

Caitlin raised her head and looked up at the magistrate sitting so imposingly behind the dais and she nodded, trying to staunch back the fear that kept threatening to rise. She took a quick glance at Orfeo who was sitting still and expressionless behind the desk where she had been the whole time. The only thing that even hinted that she saw Caitlin was the direct eye contact she made. There was no other sign from the guard and Caitlin looked back to the magistrate before she could get Orfeo in trouble.

"Were you at the address of one Amanda Brighton three nights ago?"

Caitlin nodded.

"Speak up, please for the record," the magistrate said, sounding bored with the whole thing, as if a trial such as hers happened every day.

"Yes, sir," Caitlin said.

"The investigation report clearly shows that Miss Kincaid was found on the premises in the morning two days ago, and that her paw prints were matched conclusively to those found on what was determined to be the murder weapon, one kitchen knife."

The magistrate flipped through a few more pages and then stopped.

"What transpired on that night, Miss Kincaid? Tell me, in your own words, what happened."

Caitlin looked down at her feet and she thought back again to that night as she had many times before, and she began to tell the story again, starting from when she pulled up in her friend's driveway. She told the magistrate about the drinking and the party, seeing Josh and seeing Hunter.

When she got to the part when she and Hunter went upstairs, she faltered a little.

"Hunter and I went up the stairs to the guest bedroom that I always use when I stay with Amanda," she said. Then she corrected herself with a pang of sorrow, "I mean, that I used when I stayed with Amanda."

She took a shuddering breath at the reminder that she'd never be seeing her friend again no matter the outcome of the tribunal.

"We...we had sex and after that I don't remember anything else."

Caitlin couldn't turn to face her mother and her father, even though she was sure that they already knew everything by now, and her cheeks burned red with shame at having to admit that to the room full of people and on television.

"You don't remember anything, Miss Kincaid?" the magistrate asked.

"No, sir," Caitlin said, trying her hardest to look back through the veil that just would not part. "There's nothing after that until I woke up on the couch in the living room. I was naked and there was blood everywhere. And then I saw the bodies."

Caitlin shuddered and hugged her arms around herself while she sat in the chair and she couldn't stop the tears.

"I think I saw Amanda on the porch, but I didn't get time to look before the police came in and took me away."

The magistrate waited for a second to make sure that she was done speaking, and then flipped through some more of the reports on his desk.

"The accused's drug panel from the hospital returned a positive result for the illicit substance 'C,'" the magistrate intoned, reading from the page in front of him. "This substance is known to cause violent hallucinations, marked homicidal tendencies and amnesia. According to the investigatory report, the findings in inspector Corbett's interview with the accused are consistent with use of this substance. The report from the hospital laboratory was signed by a Doctor G. Amine, pathologist."

Caitlin wanted to stand up and shout at the magistrate that her case wasn't boring and that he should pay more attention, and that she wasn't just another criminal, but she felt glued to the chair. Her legs wouldn't work and her voice wouldn't come out as any more than a soft whisper, so she couldn't tell him what she wanted to, even if she could somehow get up the gumption to do it. She just sat there and listened while he read off the relevant parts of the report.

"Can you refute any of these assertions, Miss Kincaid?" the magistrate finally asked.

"I've never done C, sir," she said in a frantic voice. "I wouldn't ever risk the scholarship that I got."

"The hospital records are clear, Miss Kincaid. Your blood tested positive for that substance. Do you have any way to positively refute that claim?"

Caitlin couldn't think of any way to tell him so that he would believe her, so she just hung her head.

"No, sir," she said. She could feel the sobs returning and she shook softly with them, trying not to let them disrupt anything or draw more attention to herself.

"Very well," the magistrate said as he continued looking through the papers. Caitlin could see, when she lifted her head once again, that he was nearing the end.

"My review is complete, Miss Kincaid, and I will ask you now for anything that you have to say in your defense."

Caitlin sat there, stunned, trying to think of what she could say that might possibly sway his opinion in her favor. Her heart beat so hard that she thought it would pop out and land on his desk. Right about the time she threw up on the floor. It would be a fitting way to go.

"Mister Magistrate, sir," she said in a quiet voice, "I don't know what happened after Hunter and I were in the room together. I have never done drugs in my life, sir, and I didn't at that party last night. At least I didn't take them on purpose. Anyone could have slipped something into my drink when Hunter went to go get a refill, sir."

The magistrate waited patiently with his hands folded on the desk, and Caitlin almost missed the little glance that he made to the upper seats where Senator Lewis was sitting. She frowned as she continued.

"Even Hunter may have given me something. But I didn't kill anyone on purpose, and I didn't take any drugs willingly. I was just there to drink and have a good time with my best friend." Her voice was rising and quickening, and she finally had a little bit of strength behind it, but it started becoming choked with sobs as she finished.

"Amanda was my best friend, sir, and now I'll never see her again. There is no way that I would ever lay a paw on her. We were sisters, and there was nothing that anyone could have done. Not even a drug would have made me hurt her. I'd have stabbed myself before her, sir."

She finally succumbed to the sobbing and she hung her head while her body shook and shook as tears fell from her eyes on to her lap.

The magistrate waited for a minute longer until she got herself a little more under control and then gestured for her to go on, but she shook her head.

"I don't have anything more to say, sir. That's all I can tell you about what happened."

The magistrate nodded and then shuffled the paper in front of him back to a neat pile and hoisted it into his arms.

"I shall return within the hour with my verdict. Miss Kincaid, you will be given five minutes, accompanied by the officer with which to use the necessary facilities, and then you will remain in this room until I return."

Caitlin nodded and looked up at Orfeo. The guard had a serious expression on her face and it was something that Caitlin couldn't read.

The wolf from the beginning of the tribunal walked around the dais once again. "Please stand," he ordered.

Caitlin somehow managed to get herself to her feet and stay standing while the magistrate walked out of the room through the door through which he entered. Then she let herself fall back down in the chair and cry.

After a few minutes, she became aware of Orfeo beside her and she managed to quiet down.

"Come with me, Caitlin," Orfeo said, and she helped Caitlin to her feet and guided her through one of the doors on the far wall. Inside was a large bathroom with nothing shielded, intended for inmates to use if they needed, but without the privacy needed for them to do anything covert.

Caitlin felt she could barely stand, let alone use the facilities, but Orfeo pushed her towards the toilet in the corner. "Do yourself a favor and make sure you're empty, okay?" she said as she turned around.

Caitlin took a breath and decided that Orfeo knew what she was talking about and she went about her business, trying to ignore the presence of the guard in the corner, even though her back was turned. When she was finished, she washed her hands quickly and walked to the door.

Orfeo opened it and led her back to her chair in the center of the room. She spared a look to her parents in their seats and saw her father shoving one of the reporters away from the family. Caitlin almost stood to help them, but her mother motioned her to sit back down with a fearful look in her eye.

The reporter decided that it wasn't worth the trouble and went back to his camera. Caitlin couldn't smile when she met her father's eyes, and he didn't try.

"We love you, kitten, no matter what," he said before he caught Orfeo's look and nodded. He sat by the other two ladies and took their hands in his, all three of them watching Caitlin with love and fear in their faces.

Caitlin couldn't bear to watch them, so she turned back around and went back to her calming routine. Eyes closed, she focused on her breathing and finally she managed to slow it to a manageable level before she heard the door open again.

The smaller man was back.

"Please stand for the magistrate," he announced.

The room stood, including Caitlin, though she didn't know how. For some reason everything felt really strange, like she was there, but really far away, like she was watching a movie instead of standing there. She could feel her body, she could feel her shaky legs and the tears falling from her eyes, but they were all so very far away.

This time, the magistrate didn't release the standing crowd, just stood himself behind the dais.

"I have come to a verdict," he announced.

Caitlin felt as if she was looking down a little tunnel at the face of the magistrate facing her over the edge of the dais.

"I have found the accused, Caitlin Kincaid, guilty of seven counts of murder."

The tunnel narrowed down until all she could see was the magistrate's face, and she felt herself getting dizzy. Her hands felt tingly and like they didn't want to work and her knees shook beneath her.

"I hereby declare Caitlin Catherine Kincaid condemned. Her name shall be stricken and her identity repealed by the state. It is hereby no longer a citizen, no longer a person, and shall live at the will of the state for seven days upon which time it shall be put to death by means of firing squad.

Judgment is hereby entered under my hand."

The world finally faded to black and Caitlin felt herself falling forward, mercifully losing consciousness before her face hit the floor.