I am suddenly pulled away and my body forces me to sit up. I gasp and put my hands over my mouth. I realize the darkness is gone and I am alone in my bedroom. You have to get of here. Cedric's words echo in my head. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. It wasn't real, but it felt real. I realize its morning and soon the guards will be waking us up. I climb out of bed and walk into my bathroom. I turn on the cold water in my sink and splash my hot and sweaty face with the water. I already feel better. I towel dry my face and look at myself in the mirror. I notice something dark underneath my hair. I get closer to the mirror and sift through my hair. A small clump of hair underneath my longer hair is the opposite color of my hair. It is black. What the hell? Is this because of the dream? Are my powers doing this? My lips part and then I search my hair for more, but there are no more. Only a single piece. I am startled when I hear a knock on my door, telling me to get my butt moving. I quickly braid my hair and tuck the black strand under the braid. A hint of gold catches my eye in the mirror. I look down at the gold band around my ring finger and slowly slip it off. I walk over to my bedside table and set it down. I'm not ready to tell anyone yet. I shouldn't. I should wait until the time is right. Things just got a whole lot more complicated and I need to focus.

I leave the ring and quickly get dressed in my training clothes and head out into the hallway. Everyone is in the hallway. I look beside me and see Kim. She looks as startled as me.

"What's going on?"

"I heard that we are being escorted to the throne room," she says. Crap, why are we going there? Is Max announcing our engagement? Did he already tell his mother? I feel sick. "Are you okay?" I look at Kim.

"Yeah, why?" She shakes her head.

"You look pale, that's all," she says as we move down the hallway. I intake a breath and follow the rest of the trainees. He would have told me, right? If something was going to happen.

As we near the Throne Room the crowd grows. Everyone whispers under their breath and tries to stay as quiet as we can as we enter. Benches are set up. Kim and I find a spot in the left side. We sit down and I look up and see the princes are near the throne and are discussing something very intense based by their expression. My hands start to tremble. What is happening? Do they know? Do they know I'm a black and I snuck in? Do they know about the Resistance? I want to crawl into a small ball. About a million things run through my head.

"This is weird," she comments. I keep my gaze towards the front of the room.

"Yeah," I manage to say. She folds her hands in her lap.

"I wonder is the prince found a bride." My chest seizes up and I don't say anything back to her.

Kim stays quiet beside me, but I know there's nothing to say, we just have to wait. Once everyone is seated, we wait. We wait for something. Anything. Something to happen. Someone to say something. I fiddle with my necklace when the doors open with a boom and the Queen marches inside the room right down the aisle. Her march is not a sturdy powerful walk it is a frantic and angry march. Fear courses through my veins. Our heads turn as we watch the Queen barrel towards her sons. They watch her as well. She ends her march and stands in front of her throne. Her eyes are sharp and graze over us like darts. She is angry, but I have no idea why.

"Someone, here, has been lying to me," her voice is hard and strong. My hands freeze in their place. It's me. This is it. I can barely keep my body still. "Among you is a snake and a liar." The people around me start looking around as to who the culprit is. "An abomination." These words hit me hard. I bounce my knee up and down and try to control my breathing. "So, I am going to give this person a chance to come forward and face the Trial." A Gasp echoes over the crowd. I glance at the princes who are both looking at me. I should stand up. The Trial is my best shot at freedom right now. I move slightly but Max move his head. No. He says no. The Queen stares at each one of us. She grows tired of waiting so she looks at her sons and then towards the back of the room.

"Bring him in," she commands the guards. Everyone in the room turns to the doors which are being opened. Two guards drag a man in a uniform by his arms down the aisle. It's Dale. A wave of horror passes through me. Dale's face is bruised and bleeding. I almost scream. The guards drop him in front of the Queen. I squeeze my hands together to keep myself from screaming or making a noise. I press my lips together and watch as she kicks him to roll over like a dog. My eyes fill with tears.

"This guard has lied to the system. Instead of reporting and killing a Black when he should have. He inputted her as a Red. Whoever this person is, is among you." I grind my teeth together. "Stand up or I will kill him." She gestures to the guard and he hands her a silver dagger. I feel like I might pass out. Please.More people look around and we wait for someone to stand up. No one will. She's going to kill him. The Queen scoffs at the silent crowd. She hauls Dale up to his feet to face us. She puts the dagger to his neck and looks at us. Don't.

"Well?" She says. I want to scream and cry out for him. "Fine." Stop. Queen Joanna swipes the blade across his throat in one fluid motion. Blood sprays from his wound onto the stone and he topples to the ground. The crowd cries out and some turn their faces. I watch as the blood dribbles out of him. I'm so sorry, Dale.

"Go to your rooms! I want the Black found!" The Queen screams at us and then drops the dagger on the floor. Everyone gets up in a rush and Kim grabs on to me. We make our way to the doors. I look at Kim who is pale as paper. I feel like I might explode. I clutch tightly to Kim as we make our way through the crowd and up to our rooms.

When we get to our rooms, she gives me a sad look and then goes inside her room. I go inside mine and shut the door behind me. Bile bubbles in my throat and my breathing starts to pick up. He's dead. I run to the bathroom and release my stomach into the toilet. I let out a cry and tears come with it. I lay back and lay my head against the wall. He's dead because of me. I did this. It's my fault. He was my friend and now he's dead. I cry harder and bury my head in my hands. I should have turned myself in. Something stirs under my skin and I start to feel it in my bones. It's rage. It ripples through me. I stand up and gasp at the energy in my palms. It slowly gets bigger and bigger. I release it in front of me and black shadows shoot out and hit the mirror. The mirror shatters with a crash and I fall back down on the floor shaking. Fragments of glass cover the floor below me. The energy drifts back under my skin, but it is still there. I lie still on the floor feeling numb and let hot tears fall down my face until I go completely still and fall asleep.

"Octavia." A hand shakes my shoulder and suddenly I'm awake and looking into Max's brown eyes. "Hey," he says lightly. Max looks pale and the dark circles under his eyes stand out.

"What time is it?" My throat is dry which makes my voice crack. He helps my sit up.

"Almost midnight," he says. So, I passed out for 16 hours. He picks up one of the pieces of glass from my mirror.

"Sorry," I say. He looks at me and frowns.

"I'll send someone to fix it." I nod as he picks up a blanket from my bed and wraps it around me. "Sage is waiting." My eyes meet his. How is she handling this? She knew him longer than me. Max rubs my back and pulls me into his arms. I can barely feel my body.

"I don't want to see her," I say. He stops moving. "It's my fault," I cry out to him. He shakes his head forcefully.

"It isn't and she knows that," he tells me.

"I feel so guilty, Max." He looks at me with sad eyes.

"I know, but no one blames you." I bury my head into his shoulder as he put his arms around me.

"Come on," he says taking me and leading me to the door. We exit my room in silence and walk down the halls towards the garden where Sage is sitting down waiting. Her head shoots up when she sees us. The rims of her eyes are red. I can only imagine what I look like. I clutch my blanket tighter and wrap my arms around her. I feel the tears coming again when we pull away. We both sit down on the bench and Max stands in front of us.

"This doesn't affect our plan," Sage finally says. I look at her in surprise. I look at Max as he nods at Sage. "In a few days this will blow over and the Queen won't find you."

"You don't know that," I say. She takes my hand.

"We can't give up now. We have to do this for Dale. He would have wanted us to go through with it." I slowly nod. "Max will tell his mother about the engagement and she will set a date for the party. I'll take my men to the river. We will cross and I will use this entrance to get in. We will cause a distraction and you and Max will take the same passage towards the river. You will wait for me and then we're free."

"What if something goes wrong?" There are flaws in her plan, but she seems confident about it. What if we get stopped or we can't get out to the river?

"It won't. You will have my protection." Max says looking me in the eye. I believe him, but I can't help but worry. I look down at my hands.

"Dale was a good person," Sage says.

"He died because of me. It's my fault, Sage," I raise my voice.

"Dale choose the risk. Yes, he did it for you, but he knew the price." I press my lips together and squeeze both my hands. "We need to focus, Octavia. I know this is a setback, but we have to be strong if we're going to get you out of here." I nod and listen to her. "I know it's hard, but we have to act normal, so everything goes to plan. We don't have time for mess-ups." She's right. We are so close and if one tiny thing goes wrong, we could all be at risk.

"What happens... after we get out?" I ask looking at her. She gives me a devious smile.

"We start a revolution," she smiles and for some reason it gives me hope. Max nods and grins.

"I'm going to kill her," I whisper to her. We both share a gaze that we both understand. She's going to let me.

"I know," she whispers back. She licks her lips and I nod. He puts her hand on my shoulder and sighs.

"I'll send word to Max when we can meet up next, but otherwise keep your head down." She squeezes my shoulder and we both stand up. Sage leaves and Max leads me back to my room.

We stay silent as we walk to my room. I still feel like a rock. Yesterday was like a dream and today feels like a nightmare. I think back to the dream I had last night. Was it warning me? I can't help but think of it as a sign. Warning me for what would happen today. My powers are more than I thought. The dreams, the hair, and the rage. They all connect.

"You look like you're deep in thought," he says as we near the stairs. I am startled when he says this.

"Sorry, I'm just... thinking," I say not wanting to elaborate about my sickishly evil powers that have been unleashed in the past 24 hours. We reach my door and I reach for the handle.

"Octavia," he says stopping me. I bring my eyes to him. "We're going to be okay. I'll figure this out."

"I know you will," I whisper.

"I know Dale meant a lot to you, but stay strong for him," he says squeezing my hand. I nod and then slip inside my bedroom. The glass from my mirror still covers the ground, but I could care less. I climb into my bed and stare at the ceiling and think of Dale's face. Blood pouring out of his neck. I imagine myself dragging the dagger across Joanna's throat until I drift off.