North Water

Chapter 10

The hot water cascaded down her tall body. Her aching muscles undoing and her thoughts at ease. It had been three weeks since they first arrived at Adira's wonderful home just outside of New York. They were awaiting the council meeting that would decide James and William's fate and Ashley could not have been more nervous.

With her only getting a couple of hours of sleep or no sleep at all some nights, she was exhausted and stressed. As each day passed her memories flooded back and the days got closer and closer to the day her mother died. She remembered it all. The dreadful events replayed in her head over and over again. 

"Mama do you think I can go outside?" She asked.

A woman with light blonde hair tied in a messy bun looked out the window. She shook her head as she applied a dark shade of lipstick. "No my love. It's raining right now."

"But mama." The young girl's lip quivered. A yellow raincoat hung on a hook by the front door and the young child didn't understand why she couldn't just slip that on and go outside.

"Your fathers going to be home soon and then we are leaving my love. Plus I don't want you to catch a cold." The woman brushed out her beautiful hair and looked down at the child. "Why don't you go play with your dolls?" She queried.

"I want to play outside!" The young girl whined.

The front door opened and shut and the girl rushed to meet her dad. Dressed in a dark suit the tall man took the her in his arms. "Papa! I want to go outside!" She told her dad.

He chuckled and shook his head. "It's raining! You don't want to get wet." He put her down and walked up the stairs and to the bathroom to meet his wife. He pressed his lips to hers and asked if she was ready to go.

"Just a second." The woman applied black mascara and spoke to the young girl. "Listen Ashley, mama and papa are going out tonight so that means Becky will be watching you until we get home. You need to be good."

"I will." Ashley nodded.

"Be nice and dont cause any trouble." Her mother bent down and kissed her forehead before taking her husbands arm. They left out the front door and little did that young girl know, that would be the last time she saw her mother.

Two officers showed up at the house and informed the babysitter what had happened and Ashley couldn't understand why she was sad.

"Why are you sad Becky?" She pulled on the leg of the woman's pants. "Becky, why are you crying?"

The water burned as hot as the tears that formed in Ashley's eyes. Even at the age of 24 she didn't understand why her mother had to die that night. That peculiar, awful night changed everything. Her father was never the same and gambled more than he should have and he fell into numerous addictions.

She shook her head, attempting to shake off the past, and shut off the water. A knock on the bathroom door made her jump. "Come in!" She shouted.

Adira entered the steamy room and placed a towel down on the counter. "How are you my dear?" She asked.

"Fine. Thanks for the towel." Ashley smiled.

Adira nodded and left the girl alone and went to the kitchen where the men were drinking whiskey and talking.

Ashley quickly dried off and put on a pair of skinny jeans and an oversized burnt orange sweater. The material soft on her skin and making her feel more comfortable.

She made her way down the stairs and sat next to James at the table.

"Are you ready for tonight?" He looked at her.

"I don't know. How are you two feeling?" She looked between the two men. William was deep in thought looking out the window, his jaw clenched.

"I'm nervous. I still don't understand what's going to happen tonight." James said and ran a shaky hand through his thick dirty blonde hair.

William scoffed and shook his head. "You humans never listen." he rolled his eyes but decided it would be best to explain everything one more time. "The council will vote on two things; whether my actions were just and whether we," He waved his hand in to James and himself, "should live."

"There's six council members right?" She asked.

He nodded and took a sip of his whiskey. He was deep in thought. The members of the council were cruel, cold, and merciless. The only way that any of them would simply listen to William's reasoning, they would need something in return. His jaw clenched at the thought and anger boiled within him.

******

The dreaded time came. The three of them walked to Central Park where Adira chanted in latin and the ground began to shake.

"What is happening?" Ashley whispered and grabbed onto William's muscly arm.

A small building rose from the ground made of old looking stones. It reminded Ashley of one of those cheesy horror movies where the coffins rose from the ground and the skeletons came to life, but there were no skeletons. Just a door that was cracked and beat up.

"Holy..." James trailed off. His eyes were just as wide as Ashley's.

Adira stopped chanting once the building was fully up and turned to see the worried looking girl clinging to William and a boy nodding and a look of excitement plastered to his face. Adira just rolled her eyes and as she approached the door lifted up her hand again and placed it on the cold stone door. She whispered something else in latin and the door slid to the side, revealing a staircase going down.

"Could this be any more cliché?" James laughed.

Adira shot him a glare. "Watch your tongue around the council boy. Because if you end up getting William and yourself killed," She took a deep breath and continued. "I swear to God I will kill you myself." James went pale and nodded profusely.

William chuckled and placed his hand on the small of Ashley's back guiding her to the stair case and then descending down into the darkness. The others followed closely behind.

Ashley's eyes came upon a huge room that could have been centuries old. The walls were made of a dark cobblestone. At the far end of the room sat a long wood table with six chairs in the center of it, all next to each other. That's when she saw them.

The people that William had talked about with such a sour tongue. On the far left, she recognized the man in a crisp dark pinstripe suit as Max Dalton. He looked in her eyes and then his eyes scanned down his body as though he was a hungry lion preying upon a gazelle. Next to him sat an old pudgy woman that had bright purple lipstick on; beside her a handsome man in white attire. He had a strange familiarity to him that Ashley couldn't quite put her finger on. The last person to the far right was a stunning woman. Her eyes were like a cat's and her make up was done to perfection.

"Ah William, my boy! So glad you could attend!" The man in white attire said with a cheshire cat smile. By the way his voice boomed over the large space and how everyone immediately stopped talking, it was clear that he was the leader.

William nodded and then bent down to whisper into Ashley's ear, "Go sit over there with Adira. Everything will be okay." He reassured me.

Ashley didn't say anything but just nodded and made her way to Adira who was on the left side of the room.

"Adira has so kindly given us a rundown of the situation that took place a few nights ago. Would you like to state your name and your rescuee?" The man let out a soft cruel laugh. He clearly found all of this amusing, amusing that two people could die, amusing that he would be the one to vote for it.

"My name is William Charles Miller. My rescuee is James Bryce Halifax." He gritted.

"How do you plead?" The man smiled.

"Not guilty."