The Queen of Freaks

Chapter Three - Detention

Evanna

Supernatural abilities. Her? They had to be kidding. There was no way that Evanna was a Freak. She was a princess. There had to be some sort of mix-up! That machine that they were using, the one with all the lights and the beeping, must have been pretty unreliable. They'd only put her in this detention cell as a precautionary measure. Any minute now, they'd walk through the door and tell her that there had been some huge mistake. That she was free to go. She'd get in a huge amount of trouble with her father, but at least this nonsense would be over. And she'd never go snooping around London again.

Evanna bit her thumbnail impatiently. She knew they could see her behind that one-way glass. She'd seen it in all of those old crime films. Frankly, it was pretty surprising that the police still used those in the twenty-third century, but it made sense that it worked. Knowing all of those eyes are on you? It must be rather difficult to deal with if you're guilty. She stared into the glass. There was nothing for her to hide, so there was no reason for her to get flustered. They could gawk at her all they wanted. She'd done nothing wrong.

The parents of all those children had probably done nothing wrong either, though. They were serving their country. It was a great burden to be a Freak, but a necessary one. If she was really in possession of Supernatural abilities, or whatever they had said, shouldn't they be a little more polite than this? Wasn't it a risk to antagonise her? They should really be handing her over to someone to assign her some work task, not throwing her in jail. But maybe they sensed it on her. Maybe they realised she wasn't what they thought. The Freaks were powerful and unstable. She didn't feel unstable. She certainly wasn't powerful.

The door to the left of Evanna flew open and that Jo woman who punched her burst through. Goodness, she was so dramatic. It was like she was a jack-in-the-box or something, constantly needing to make an entrance. How unnecessary.

'So, are you ready to tell us what you were doing in the Westminster Ruins? Are you Freaks planning something?' Jo slammed the heels of her hands onto the desk in front of Evanna, clearly trying to intimidate her. Well, without that little white box, there was nothing that scary about her. The stark, white light of the police station highlighted just how short and cute she looked. Evanna was quite short herself, but she was pretty sure she'd tower over her. That little pixie face might have been warped into a sneer, but clearly Jo was just using her loud voice and aggression to compensate for that tiny stature. Not so scary after all.

On top of that, it didn't hurt that she'd overheard the nicer bald officer telling Jo that she wasn't allowed to punch her anymore. The threat of violence gone, she was nothing but a little ball of anger with too much power who just needed to have a sleep. Plus, as confused as Evanna may have been about the whole ordeal, there was no way Jo would continue to act this way if she knew who she was talking to. So, she just crossed her arms and met that malicious smile with a calm shrug. 'I told you. You've made a mistake. I'm not a Freak.'

'The magitometer doesn't lie, honey. You're a Freak. Both you and I know it, so you can stop wasting my time right now.'

'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Do you know what they do to posh weaklings like you in Palmer's Prison?' The smile on Jo's face grew wide as Evanna shrugged again. 'A couple years back, I got called to the prison. To the west wing. Apparently, there had been a fight. I can't lie to you, girl. I almost threw up. They had this poor posh kid hanging from her fingernails. Just cos they said she thought she was better than them. I dunno how long she was like that, but she never spoke again. We had to move her to a whole different prison.'

Evanna's stomach turned. 'That's disgusting.'

'Yeah. Tell me about it,' Jo chuckled and shook her head, 'but you can be sure she ain't trouble for any prison guard now.'

'It doesn't sound like she was trouble, to begin with. It sounds like they hated her for no reason.'

'Every criminal's trouble, honey bun. That's what being a criminal's all about. If she weren't trouble, she wouldn't be in prison.'

'What was she in prison for?'

Jo's smile turned nastier and uglier than Evanna thought possible. She leant in until their noses were almost touching and let out a short bark of a laugh. The sharp scent of cigarettes and spearmint pierced Evanna's nose. 'She helped her little Freak boyfriend escape to Ireland.'

Evanna's mouth suddenly felt dry. She gulped, opened her mouth, took a deep breath, paused, and closed it again. Her eyes dropped to Jo's perfectly-polished nails on the desk. Oh.

'Looks like our little lady's lost her voice,' Jo chuckled.

'And...' Evanna tried desperately to clear her head, 'and you think I was helping those children. You think they were Freaks.'

'No, girl. I think you are a Freak. I know you're a Freak. I just want to know what the hell you were doing in Westminster.'

'So what did that story have to do with me? I've done nothing wrong!'

'Just letting you know that it's your choice. You're young enough to be taught to serve. So if you let us know what was going on in Westminster right now, we can send you off to a nice little Freak school where they can teach you how to respect authority. If you don't feel like answering my questions, we can sit you in Palmer's overnight. We'll see if you're ready to speak in the morning.'

'You aren't allowed.' Evanna's heart pounded in her chest and her hands shook, 'I... prisons are for convicted criminals. I'd most likely sit in a cell here until you decide I'm telling the truth.'

'Oh wow,' Jo sat down and grinned, 'little lady knows her rights. But we can make an exception for you. Teach you a lesson or two. Wait for you to be ready to tell us what's going on.'

'This isn't even legal! None of this is!' Evanna suddenly found herself on her feet, eyes wildly searching the room for anyone or anything that could help her. She backed up a few steps as Jo sat, still and calm, a smile etched onto that stupid face. 'You haven't asked me for my name. You haven't read me my rights. You didn't even have the decency to let my parents know I'm here! I'm a minor. You could get in a lot of trouble!'

'You're a Freak. Freaks don't have parents. They don't have names. They have identification numbers. I can do whatever I want with you. You're the property of the State. Now sit down, you stupid bitch.'

'I have a name. I have parents. A father. And when he finds out what's going on here, you're going to lose your job.'

'You'd be surprised how many times I've heard that one. Yet here I am. Still got a job. You posh kids are all the same. Think your parents run the whole country.'

'Call him!'

'I make the orders here, girl. You're nobody.'

Fighting back tears, Evanna smiled angrily. Her nails dug into the palms of her hands. 'I am not nobody. I am Evanna Reign. Princess Evanna Reign. Call my father. I dare you.'