Witchling Academy Semester Eight - Avery Song Page 0,83

on the person in the bed, and I froze.

"Brianne?" Jax's voice called out to me.

No way...

"Jax?" I whispered, and he was at my side in a nanosecond, but he too stilled at the sight before his wide eyes met mine.

"Elijah?!" he gasped as I slowly nodded. The two of us returned to the sight before us: Elijah with an oxygen mask in the large hospital bed. He was hooked up to various machines, but what surprised me was the picture on the side of the bed which had me and him taking a selfie with our hands up in the typical bunny ear sign.

"How did he get here?" I asked.

"Who knows...but holy crap. This...may help the case."

"What do you mean?"

"Professor Phoenix and Ms. Electra are going to be at the trial as magic council judges. They know about our repeated past, but we still have to prove that Elisha is a twin. Since evil Elisha is connected to evil Elijah with all the recent activity they've been doing with the support of the Shadow Kingdom, what if we proved that it's almost impossible for Elisha and Elijah to do what their counterparts have been doing due to Elisha's disability and Elijah being in a coma?”

"Well...that would make sense, but wouldn't I need a lawyer who would be able to gather all that information in basically less than twenty-four hours? I don't even know who's representing me. It can't be my sister because of conflict of interest and it can't be a lawyer associated with my parent's firm."

A light bulb went on in Jax's head as his eyes lit up and he rewarded me with a sly grin.

"Who did you contact when you had issues with Officer Waters? You never mentioned the details, but you and Kaito dealt with someone, right?"

"Lisette Cross," I remembered and looked at him. "She's not a real lawyer though. She doesn't even live in our universe."

"Ya, but she was able to get all that dirt on Officer Waters to shut him up, right?"

"Ya...when did I tell you that?"

"When you were half-drunk a few days ago. You talked about how badass this Cross lawyer was and that we all should have seen Officer Water's face during the whole confrontation," he revealed. "Then you did a twirl and passed out on the couch."

I gritted my teeth in pure disgust before I muttered, "Note to self. Don't drink too much."

"You still looked fabulous," he praised and turned his attention back to Elijah. "This could change everything, Brianne."

"Maybe...but do you think Elijah will come out of the coma?"

"Only time will tell, right?" he offered and wrapped an arm around me to give me a side hug. "Go pee. We have to tell the others and see if your lawyer-not-a-lawyer from another universe can help us."

I nodded and was going to leave, but I stalled for a few more seconds at the thought of Elijah dying at the same time as his evil counterpart.

Would I be truly okay with that final conclusion?

Jax reached for my hand at that thought, and very gently, he squeezed it while our eyes met.

"Let's dig up the truth of all of this. Then, we'll determine if we can help the real Elijah. The one who was once your best friend, okay?"

"Okay," I quietly replied as I squeezed his hand back. "Thanks for understanding."

"Just because friendships end and people drift apart, that doesn't mean you wish the worst for them. Time makes us change, and no matter the past, everyone's soul is worthy enough to burn until the Universe decides it's time to be blown out. So until then, all we can do is support from afar and hope for the best outcome."

"Yeah," I agreed as he lifted our joined hands and pressed his lips to the back of mine.

"We'll figure this out," he vowed.

"Together," I replied, the word sealing our vow.

It's time to end this year with the truth.

14

Trial Of Ultimate Retribution

"What if she tries to make it seem that I'm the bitch in the situation?"

Connor watched me nervously pace through the room, my heels being the obvious noisemaker with their continuous clicks and clacks across the tiled black floor.

We were waiting to be summoned by the judges, which surprisingly included my parents. I expected this trial would consist of one judge, a jury, a few family members from both sides, and Elisha and I with the support of our designated lawyers.

Apparently, trials went a little differently when it came to magic users, especially due to