The girl stood there for a moment as a small smile spread across her lips. “You like me, don't you?”
William immediately let go of the girl's hands and turned his back on her. This is what he gets for trying to be human with something that had chosen long ago to be something less than human. All he could do was laugh to himself at his own stupidity. Of course that would be the first place her mind would go. Never mind the fact that she may very well die in the Tower and if he was going to oversee her burial it would be nice to have a real name to go with the casket, not just some fake boobs and a stripper title. He was so disgusted with her he wasn't sure he ever wanted to see her again.
He felt more than heard Ansuya and Ares taking up an escort position to either side of the girl. William glanced over at his pack. Nicolas was wearing a lopsided grin and Katherine had her arms folded, looking passively at him. He glanced back down toward the ground and shook his head. What had he been thinking?
From behind him he heard her say out loud as she was walking away, “Chelsea, Chelsea Thompson.” There was a slight bit of...desperation in her voice. Whatever it was it caused William to look up and watch her as Ansuya gently guided the girl around to face the Tower. Her eyes met his before she was forced to face her trials. Desperation and fear was all he found there. William looked up at the ceiling crystals as they were well on their way to brightening for the morning. There was no composure in the girl. She had been stripped of all she knew and all she had in the world and all that was left was a scared little girl named Chelsea Thompson. William looked up at the Tower once more. He felt a pit drop in his stomach. He had never seen anyone walk off to fulfill a death sentence before. He supposed that there was a first time for everything.
He walked over to his pack mates. Charles stood still and continued to watch as Chelsea was lead around the near corned of the Tower and disappeared from their sight. Nicolas was shaking with barely controlled mirth. Katherine stood there staring at him.
“What's his problem?” William asked irritably.
Katherine shrugged just as Nicolas let out a bark of laughter, “Oh man, you just got dissed bad, by a stripper!” He gripped at his midsection as he continued to laugh hysterically to himself.
William felt like punching the guy, “I did not just get dissed, all I asked was her name.”
Katherine looked at him, “Why?”
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William glanced over at Charles. He nodded to him, ever so slightly. William smiled at his friend in thanks. At least Charles knows what I was trying to do. He looked back at Katherine and as calmly as he could he said, “I wanted to know her name in case we have to bury her in the next day or two.”
Nicolas seemed to have recovered from his bout of mirth and scoffed at William's remarks, “Oh, who cares? One less dumb slut in the world, right?”
If looks could kill, Nicolas would be nothing more than a smoldering pile of ash. “That, 'dumb slut' is a person. She has just as much right to live as any of us.” He had to practice some heavy self control to not let his fists fly and seriously damage Nicolas's face. “Wasn't it your visions that took us all the way to Southern California to find her? If you're right she has the potential to be just as valuable as you Nicolas, maybe more so.” He lowered his voice and glared at Nicolas in the eye, “I hope that you're right and that she is a shape shifter. I hope she becomes an Enforcer. I can't wait to see you get your ass kicked by that 'dumb slut.”
Nicolas's face twisted in rage and his arms flew out and impacted on William's chest. He spat out, “Just because your new girlfriend may die in there, that's her problem! Don't take it out on me.” Nicolas stalked off to disappear between two buildings off to the left of the Tower.
“What is it with you two?” Katherine asked. She looked after where Nicolas had disappeared. “Although I don't fully agree with Nicolas he does have a point.” She turned to look at William, “If she dies, there is nothing that either you or Nicolas or I can do about it.” Katherine softened her tone noticeably, “We all had to face the Tower alone and so will she. All we can do is wait and hope, or pray, if you're into that sort of thing.”
William nodded and glanced back at the Tower one last time. He could admit to himself that when he first got thrown into it, he had allowed fear to grip him, probably more so than he would like to admit even to himself. But Katherine was right there was nothing he could do for her. He found very little comfort in that.
Looking around himself, he realized that Nicolas was not the only person to have left. There was no one other than the three of them standing where they had been when Chelsea had been taken to the Tower. He figured that they must have all dispersed to go do whatever it was they were scheduled to do for the day.
A huge yawn suddenly cracked William's face and he reached his hand up to cover his mouth. He yawned so largely that tears formed in his eyes and he had to blink them away.
Charles said quietly, “I'm tired too. Do you guys want to go get something to eat? After that I'm going to go to sleep.” Katherine and William both nodded, although William had to cover his mouth again as another huge yawn split his face open.
The three of them went to the cafeteria even though none of them had much of an appetite. William noticed that Keva was nowhere to be found. He figured that even she got a few days off every now and then. He didn’t eat much of anything as his thoughts kept turning to Chelsea, scared and alone in the dark of the Tower, he didn’t think he had ever felt more helpless.