My hands grip the sides of the wooden podium. I look down, see the whites of my knuckles, and force myself to relax my grip. I’m in the center of base camp, surrounded by my crew mates. Before me, atop a wooden platform, sit the five members of The Council: My roommate, Vittoria; Nicolaus; Artemisia; Lavinia; and Marco, who’d visited me at the lake the day before. While he isn’t the official leader of The Council-- since The Council operates as a unit and acts only upon unanimous assent— Marco always sits in the center when The Council gathers. I steal a quick glance at him and find him watching me, his cold eyes so dark they look black in the low evening sunlight. I nod at him and he nods back, then mercifully he breaks eye contact to lean toward Vittoria and whisper something in her ea...

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