Chapter 14: Choice
Liam and Chloe, two of Mark's old cronies, nodded vigorously from the back of the crowded office. Liam smirked. 'Good,' he thought. 'Get the psycho out of here before he decides we're next.'
Emilia immediately stepped forward, her hands clasped in front of her. "Sir Owen, please. You don't understand. Mark was... he was awful to Nox. For years. And Nox, he's been protecting us out there. We wouldn't have made it this far without him."
"Protecting you?" Chloe scoffed, her voice shrill. "Or waiting for a chance to snap again? He had a gun, Emilia! He planned to kill someone!"
"That's not true!" She insisted, though a small, uncomfortable seed of doubt was there. She glanced at Nox.
He was just standing there, arms crossed, looking utterly bored, as if this whole dramatic discussion was a minor inconvenience he was forced to endure.
'Why doesn't he say something?' she thought, frustrated. 'Defend himself? Anything?'
"It doesn't matter what Mark was like, Emilia," Sir Owen said, his voice heavy with resignation. "Taking a life... that's a line. Especially now, with everything else. The girls can stay, of course. We need everyone who can help. But Nox... he has to go. There's no other way."
Emilia looked from Sir Owen's resolute face to her friends, then back to Nox. His expression was a blank slate. She felt a knot tighten in her stomach.
This felt incredibly wrong. He had saved them, taught them how to fight, even if his methods were harsh. But then she looked at the faces of the other students, her classmates, people she'd known for years. They were visibly scared. And if she was honest with herself, a tiny part of her was scared too.
"Please," she whispered to Sir Owen, her voice barely audible. "Just... reconsider."
"There's nothing to reconsider, Emilia," Liam cut in, stepping forward with a newfound boldness now that he had the teachers on his side. "He's a danger. Either he goes, or we'll make him go."