Katherine sat with her hands in her lap next to Mabel as the car made its way down the long road to the wrought Iron gate. Across from her sat Marianne who shuffled through papers and Adelaide who had her gaze fixed out the window next to her. Katherine tried to tune out her mother who was busy yelling at her assistant David on the other side of Mabel. Katherine tried not to make it obvious she was scrutinizing each of them by only letting her eyes wander while the rest of her sat still against the leather seat of the car.
One of them knew Death and Katherine wanted to know if that was why she was still alive and if it had anything to do with losing her magic. Sure, the man from the forest sewed her up, but her soul had to get back to her body somehow and a human didn't have the capability to pull something like that off. And why had Death sent her back to her body after three months? Katherine let out a long sigh as she took a peek outside at the frosted pine trees whooshing by. She could see Marianne shift from the corner of her eye and take something out of her bag.
"That is the Creaturae rules and regulations handbook, just read the section on Witch trials and procedures," Marianne explained as she placed a small thick leather bound book on to Katherine's lap pulling her from the abyss of her thoughts. Katherine glared at Marianne as she pushed the book off her lap for it to fall on to the floor causing it to slide over to where her mothers' feet were placed.
Katherine could feel everyone in the car tense as Sophia stopped speaking into the phone and leaned down to pick up the book. Katherine bit her lip, she had only meant to annoy Marianne not die on the way to her trial. Sophia turned the leather book over in her hands and then lifted the book in the air to throw it at Katherine. Mabel and Katherine both scrunched their faces and flinched as the book hit Katherine's chest with a thud.
"If you embarrass me today, do not bother coming back to the manor," Sophia snapped and returned to her phone call.
Katherine let the breath out she had been holding and flipped through the thick book to the pages Marianne told her to read, but she couldn't focus on the words. She had knots in her stomach and little stars that blocked her vision. She was nervous about what was going to be said about her in the trial, she was not the murderer everyone said she was. She just wanted to restore her magic, return to the human world, and forget any of this ever happened. Katherine closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the seat. The entire day had been a whirlwind and she just want to rest her eyes for a few minutes to calm her nerves.
***
Katherine felt a sharp pinching sensation on her hand and her eyes flew open. Mabel was inches from her face causing her to sink further down into the leather seat.
"We're here," Mabel murmured motioning her head toward the window. Katherine raised her head to peek out the window and saw a large white stone building with a blue tinted glass dome on top. Oh no, she thought internally kicking herself, she hadn't meant to fall asleep but they had already pulled up to the Council building in The Valley capitol. When she turned her head back to the car everyone else had gotten out except for Marianne who rummaged under her seat pulling out a brown briefcase.
Katherine straightened up in her seat about to open the car door when Marianne held her hand up to stop her. She opened the case revealing a black metal cuff with a chain and an empty space next to it as Katherine was already wearing the pair to match it.
"They won't allow you into the building with just the one on," Marianne took the cuff with the chain from the briefcase and held her hand out for Katherine's uncuffed wrist.
"Will it hurt?" Katherine asked as she bit her lip and her chest tightened with anxiety.
"It won't hurt, just make you tired and… Docile," Marianne explained choosing her words carefully. Katherine held her wrist out for Marianne to cuff her free wrist and attach the two cuffs together with the chain. As soon as the cuff locked with a click, Katherine's head felt fuzzy like little bees were buzzing in her head.
Marianne helped Katherine out of the car and guided her toward the steep stone steps to the Council building entrance where Guards in their pinstriped suits stood waiting to escort them to the main Council room. Katherine could barely keep her eyes open, forcing herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other as she was lead down a long corridor lined with floor to ceiling windows. At the end of the corridor stood a large red door that opened on its own for Katherine and Marianne to step through.
Through the door Katherine adjusted her heavy eyes to light that shined down through the blue glass dome overhead. The main Council room was bigger than it appeared with dozens of rows of empty dark wooden seats that tiered downward toward a large cleared area that held four rectangular tables arranged around a podium in the center. Marianne put her hand on to Katherine's back to gently usher Katherine down the stairs where she was made to stand on the podium.
Katherine had hardly noticed the only people in the room sitting at the tables when she descended the stairs but now that she was in the center of the room she was painfully aware of the glares she received from the man positioned directly in front of her. His white hair had been slicked back and his ice blue eyes narrowed as if he had already decided she was guilty.
Katherine averted her eyes from the man with the deadly stare, she let her eyes wander over the room when they came to settle on a man in a dark green suit who sat in the last chair at the end of the first table she had walked by. He looked vaguely familiar but Katherine couldn't quite place him with the buzzing in her head.
The mans darker brown hair was longer on top but had been trimmed shorter on the sides, and his tanned skin had a soft glow about it. She let her eyes linger a while longer on his sharp jaw line as the man took a drink from his coffee cup. The man flicked his eyes to look at Katherine and her heart rate spiked. His grey eyes sparkled in the light casted by the glass dome and Katherine's mouth turned warm like she was going to throw up.
Upon making eye contact with Katherine the mans eyes widened in surprise and inhaled his coffee causing him to cough loudly spilling his coffee on to the table in front of him as he tried to clear his lungs. Her eyes zeroed in on the golden wolf emblem fastened to the mans lapel, Katherine balled her fists in anger and felt the sharpness of her nails dig into her palm.
He was lucky there was a table between them to keep her from strangling him. Katherine's lips set in a tight line, the fuzziness in her mind started to fade the angrier she became at the man who poisoned her.
"Ahem," Marianne cleared her throat to call attention to the room, "We're ready to begin the trial of Katherine Deighton."