Fanning the Flames of Rebellion [A Lunar Chronicles Fanfic]

Chapter 35

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Scarlet was pushed through several hallways by the thaumaturge on their way to the interrogation room. Her stomach flipped when they reached it. Scarlet couldn't bare to think about what happened the last time she had even here--not to mention the whole incident in the Court. How she was tortured for information on Cinder and the crew.

"Want to know what the best part is?" Scarlet remembered a guard saying.

She shook her head and looked up at him with terrified eyes.

"No one can hear you scream from in here."

It chilled Scarlet to the bone. The way the tile floors glinted with the reflection of the gray stone walls. Scarlet swore she could see the bloody stains left behind by past suspects. Or maybe she was just going crazy like Winter.

"Sit." The thaumaturge ordered.

Scarlet limped to the steel chair in the center of the room. You are strong, Scarlet, like a Benoit. Her grandmother's words repeated in her mind. You are strong.

She was, so she would be.

A woman entered the room, carrying a tablet. She nodded to the thaumaturge, signaling him to leave. When he did, she looked at Scarlet with a cold glare.

"Scarlet Benoit of Rieux, France?" She asked, looking at her tablet.

"Y-yes, ma'am." Scarlet replied.

The woman looked up from her device. "I'm detective Charlene Yates, head of the Lunar Special Circumstances Unit. Or LSCU."

Charlene took a seat across from Scarlet, placing her tablet in between them, then turning it around so that it faced Scarlet. It showed the same headline that he read before: Princess Winter Hayle-Blackburn of Luna Missing.

"Now Ms. Benoit, I'm going to ask you a few questions. And you're going to answer them." Charlene said. Scarlet made a mental note to try her best to answer, terrified what would happen if she didn't.

"You were said to be last seen with the princess at precisely 16:47, before she was reported missing, no?" She continued.

"Yes, she had come to the menagerie for her daily visits." Scarlet replied, showing a forced smile that doubled as a grimace.

Charlene tapped furiously at the tablet she had pulled to her.

"Well, Ms. Benoit, you are a prime suspect at this point."

Scarlet gaped at the woman. "What do you mean? I had nothing to do with it! I-I was locked up in that cage the entire time!"

"Do you have any proof? Any evidence to support your claim?"

Scarlet looked at her dry, cracked hands. "No."

Charlene gave her a pointed look as if to say I told you so. "Look, Ms. Benoit, I'm giving you a chance to confess. Tell me what you did to her highness and here she is."

"I already told you, I had nothing to do with it!" Scarlet yelled, standing up. "And if you doubt it for just one second I'll... I'll..."

Charlene looked amused, a smile creeping up her lips. "You'll what? Face it, you are powerless here. I thought you would have noticed by now."

Scarlet wanted to break into a million prices at that point. She had to prove she had nothing to do with Winter's disappearance.

Charlene stood up, grabbing her tablet and signaled for two guards to enter the room. They came towards Scarlet and grabbed her wrists, yanking them behind her back before locking them on handcuffs. She struggled against them.

"Please! I promise you, I'm telling the truth!" Scarlet pleaded.

But no one listened. The guards shoved her out the door, and down several hallways. They reached a door that was all to familiar to Scarlet.

"Have fun, Earthen." Charlene's melodic voice said, giving Scarlet a sweet smile.