The Many Ramblings of K. A. Webb

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were lucky enough to get a new life now?” Louisa asked wistfully.

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Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

To begin with it was a normal evening. Natalie was upstairs working on her essay for law while the rest of her family were downstairs watching something on TV. They’d asked if she wanted to join them but getting her work done was more important that anything that was on. Law was one of her favourite subjects so she wanted to do well and judicial precedent was one of the parts she found easiest. Biting the end of her pen, even though she knew it was a really bad habit, she looked down at the notes she’d written in class. As usual they were almost impossible to read because her fast handwriting was not good at all. Unfortunately, her Law tutor spoke really quickly so she had little choice in how fast she wrote.

She’d just managed to translate a sentence when there was a loud knocking on the door. With her pen still in her mouth she went to look out of her bedroom window to see who was out there. Normally it would have taken her a few seconds to get used to the change of light but this time she had no problem seeing thanks to the flashing blue lights. There were three police cars, three unmarked police cars, and a police van. It wouldn’t be long before more police cars arrived. Some of the officers would ask the whole street questions about their family while others would arrest their closest neighbours.

Breathing deeply she walked away from the window. In an attempt to keep busy she packed up her notes and put them on the desk. Her essay didn’t matter any more. No one in her family would be prosecuted, as there was nothing in the house that could be used as evidence, but being taken in by the anti-witchcraft unit was enough to end her Law studies. Once you’d been questioned by them there was no going back to life as it was before. They would always be watching and she would no longer be permitted to study Law.

There was nothing else she could do so she sat on the bed to wait. She didn’t know what to expect because no one could talk about what happened when they were arrested by the a-w unit. Those who were found guilty were executed, unless they were under sixteen and then they’d be sent to a boarding school; those who were found innocent had to be given a new identity so that no vigilant witch hunter could go after them and once you were given a new identity you couldn’t ever speak about the old one.

A knock on her bedroom door made her jump. Still biting hard on her pen she looked over at it, wondering whether she needed to invite the police officer into her room or not. It turned out she didn’t because the door opened and he stepped into the room, holding a pair of handcuffs. Sighing she put her pen on the bed and stood up so he could put the cuffs on her. The first thing she noticed was how cold they were.

“Natalie O’Connor I’m arresting you on suspicion of performing illegal acts of witchcraft. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?”

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the floor so she didn’t have to look at him. No matter what she saw in his eyes she knew that it would make her start crying and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Crying was not going to help her situation at all or make her feel better. After one last glance around her room, which would never be hers again, she let him take her where she needed to go.

When they got outside she realised that she was the last one to leave. There was only one police van left, the police van that would take her to the a-w prison. He opened the cage that she would be sitting in and then helped her into it. It wasn’t until she was inside the van that she realised someone was already in it. The insignia on his shirt filled her with fear. Pushing it to the back of her mind she sat down opposite him. When the cage clanged shut she shuddered, knowing that she would be spending the entire journey to the a-w prison in the company of an Inquisitor.

It wasn’t until the van started moving that he said, “I’m Zach and I’ve been designated as your Inquisition liaison. Until your trial you will be in solitary confinement to stop you from conferring with your family or any other person waiting to go on trial. I will be the only person to visit your room during this time so I suggest you get used to me being around. Anything you say to me will be confidential.”

She stayed silent. Her parents had told her not to talk to an Inquisitor if they ever got arrested and she wanted to make them proud of her. There was nothing to look at in the van, except for him, so she stared at the handcuffs, carefully moving her hands because they were really uncomfortable.

“I can take those off for you if you want.”

Glancing at him she shook her head. She did want them off but she didn’t want him to take them off, because she had this horrible feeling that he would want something in return for anything he did for her. Breathing deeply she focused on her family. The best way to keep them safe was to not let the Inquisitor get to her at all, no matter how difficult it was.

“Natalie, you don’t have to protect them. Your two younger sisters will be safe when your parents are found guilty and if you help me I will do my best to keep you safe too.”

She had to believe that her parents wouldn’t be found guilty. If she stopped believing that at any time then it might give the Inquisitor a way in. The Inquisitor didn’t look much older than she was, which she knew was done for a reason. They wanted her to find him approachable and confide in him so they would have evidence against her parents. If a family member gave evidence it was always better for the Inquisition. No one really knew why they’d do it because those who gave evidence were given a new identity.

“You’re eighteen, right?” When she didn’t answer he checked a file that was sitting next to him. “Eighteen and in college, studying Law, Psychology and Physics. Interesting. Don’t throw your life away because your parents are who they are. You don’t have to be like them.” Zach looked at her. “If you agree to help me, even if you don’t want to give evidence during the trial, then I’ll help you get reconditioned.”

Natalie raised her eyebrows, even though she didn’t want to react to what he was saying. She was happy with her life so the last thing she wanted was to be reconditioned. It didn’t sound like something that could be done to a human being unless they planned on wiping her memory and starting again.

“I know reconditioning doesn’t sound very nice but really it’s just learning how to be a useful member of society. It’s a bit like what your sisters will go through when they start at boarding school. Your lessons will just be more intense because you’re older.” He reached out and touched her hand. “If you successfully go through reconditioning then you’ll be able to go back to your Law class.”

It was difficult for her to stay still because of how much she wanted to pull away from him. His touch made her skin crawl. Breathing deeply she stared down at the floor of the van, hating the way he was staring at her intently as though she was some sort of interesting insect.

“You’re going to have to get used to me being around Natalie. For the next year I will be your only companion.” He moved closer to her. “Talk to me.”

Keeping her eyes locked on the floor of the van she thought about her sisters. She wished she could be there for them because she knew they’d be scared and lonely. If there was one thing she regretted it was her younger sisters going to a boarding school because the Inquisition thought that witchcraft was wrong.

Originally posted at dreamwidth.org as kajones_writing.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

See the beginning of this story here (LJ link).
See the second part of this story here (LJ link).

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The morning newspaper was in the middle of the table, opened to what looked like page three, and everyone who was awake was gathered around it. Sighing, Skyler went to join them, even though he knew what had happened. It was the same thing that had happened every time they gathered around a newspaper. There had been another arrest of someone, or several someones if it was a family, practicing witchcraft, it probably involved someone at least one of them knew, and he wasn't sure he really wanted to know who it was. He hated the thought of recognising a name because he knew exactly what they were going through.( Read more... )

Continued here (LJ link).


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.