The Golden Bond

Chapter 39

It was bewildering, the way fate always managed to equalise the powers of good and evil – in their black-and-white understanding. As if they really were yin and yang, forever chasing each other in a vicious circle. When one side already thought the victory was theirs, the other one would enter the scene and slowly and inconspicuously take the lead. The most important thing was that neither of the camps were ever 100%. While in any good lot a weakness would always occur, in the evil ones, simple human sympathy was able to turn everything around. Not even the most evil Umbra charismagician was able to get rid of human feelings and not even the best Lux charismagician was always flawless. For whole centuries they'd fought against each other and through all this time, their good and bad sides repeatedly betrayed them, over and over again.

Sofia was slowly losing the ability to distinguish between good and evil. Her naive black-and-white perception started to change into a grey blur. She used to believe unconditionally in William's absolute responsibility, love and sense of fairness. Also she originally believed that Adam was pure evil and his willingness to harm resulted purely from some selfish, psychotic whim. The course of the past few days had taught her an unpleasant lesson in life. She thought she knew the answers, but she didn't know anything at all. With William, some warped obedience won over what was truly important. Adam, on the other hand, wasn't violently aggressive just because he had nothing better to do. He was hurt. Neither of them could have been excused by their reasons, but at least now she was able to understand their behaviour, if not accept it.

Hours and hours went by. A day transformed into night, the night changed into another day and the day into another night. Sofia had lots of time to think. She could still feel the pain near her heart, but she decided to ignore the weird stabbing sensation. She didn't think about William or Adam any more, her Famous Five or her grandparents. She tried, most of all, not to think about anything. Whenever possible, she slept. The Sailor had by now realised she wouldn't have much fun with this object of her interest and left Sofia in peace. If by chance an idea arose in her maniac head to try something, she would feel a few strikes off the guards. For Sofia, the stay in prison began somehow to be more bearable. She thought it was probably thanks to Fabrizio and in her mind thanked her friends for sending him to her. Maybe it would work out in the end. Maybe he would get her out, against all odds. And even if not... she suddenly didn't care any more. Sofia became cooler and cooler with every single day she spent behind bars. Her insides were little by little turning into a huge iceberg which had one fascinating advantage – thanks to which she didn't feel anything. No joy, but no pain either. It made her strangely apathetic and also a more able to cope with the fact that her normal life was, in all probability, over, never again to return. She would probably never return to the shopping centre. She might never hold scissors or paper in her hands. It was quite possible that she'd never manage to go back home and hug the members of her substitute family. If she'd allowed herself to feel anything, these thoughts would have ruined her. This way, it was much more bearable. Although Fabrizio actually seemed to be competent, there was still Adam and his further plans that she had no idea of.

Adam allowed the police to trace the drugs he'd used. He certainly didn't do that without a reason. So it was very probable that he still had a plan for her and the plans of any Umbra charismagician never boded well.

Just as she thought of Fabrizio, the guard told her to stand up. This was already routine – he put handcuffs round her wrists and announced that her lawyer had arrived. A tiny sign of a smile appeared on Sofia's face. She eagerly held out her hands and let the guard take her to the familiar visiting room. How great her surprise was when she didn't find Fabrizio there, but an unknown woman.

Sofia stopped at the door and she asked without a greeting: "Did William White send you?" If the answer had been 'yes', she would have turned right around and left. She'd decided to boycott William's lawyer long ago.