The first Elder held up a hand and the chanting died down. He eyed me with a cold stare. “Will you confess?”
I slowly shook my head. “I don’t understand. What do you want me to—”
But I wasn’t able to finish my sentence. The Elder ever-so-slightly nodded his head, looking somewhere past me, and the next thing I knew, the stool underneath me was dropping away.
“Wait!” I yelped, but obviously it was too late.
My screech was cut off as I dunked underneath the cold water. Jesus Christ, cold. Cold, cold, cold!
I scrambled and got my feet underneath me, then stood up, gasping and spitting water. As expected, my scarlet robe clung to my body. I covered my shivering arms across my chest. Screw them. They were going to put me through this, they didn’t deserve a peep show on top of it.
“Climb back to your seat,” the Elder demanded, unmoved by my shivering, water-logged self. Hell, maybe he got off on it. You never knew with these bastards.
Gritting my teeth, I climbed the secondary ladder that was on the inside of the tank, and again performed the mini-gymnastic feat to get back on the stool. The chill air of the air-conditioned space made chill bumps pop up all over my arms and entire body. I tried not to give them the satisfaction of shivering but couldn’t help still holding my arms across my chest. I knew it was a defensive posture, but I didn’t know what human wouldn’t be on the defense with a roomful of hostile-looking men glaring at her and shouting at her to confess, whatever that meant.
“Confess where you went to high school, Abilene West. Confess the name of your favorite high school teacher.”
Oh shit.
Was this not about the baby at all?
Beau stepped forward. “I don’t see what this has to do with—”
“Confess!” the examiner demanded, and again, everyone around the room took up the chant, “Con-fess, con-fess, con-fess.”
I opened my mouth. “I don’t remember high school. Who can remember their high school—”
The water rushed up to meet me and smacked me in the face, flying up my nose. I splashed to the surface spitting and flailing. Fucking bastards!
“Why so hesitant, Ms. West?” asked the examiner. “These are simple questions.”
“Maybe I would answer,” I snarled. “If you’d stop dunking me in freezing water every three seconds, and I could have a moment to fucking think!”
Silence in the room, and I knew, shit, I’d gone too far. They valued delicate little Southern roses here. Wilting roses without any thorns.
“Back on the chair,” snapped the Elder.
Two red blotches appeared high in the man’s cheeks. I was not making him happy. At least that meant he wasn’t getting off on this.
I spit out another mouthful of water I’d gagged on, right in his direction, then I went back to climbing.
It went on like that for ten more minutes. The Elder asking me details about Abilene’s life that only she would know, and unhappy with my vague, palm-reader type answers.
After asking where Abilene lived now, I answered, “Well, right now I live here, obviously. The Oleander Manor. Afterwards, I’ll likely find another apartment. It seemed silly to pay rent on an apartment since I’d have all expenses covered while I was here.”
There. Nice and tidy and it gave nothing away.
Apparently, the Elders thought so, too, because next thing I knew—
DUNKED.
I came up sputtering. “What do you want from me?” I all but yelled in frustration, forgetting my promise to myself to stay cool for Beau’s sake. I’d been keeping my eyes firmly averted from him but in that moment, I broke and looked his direction. He looked tortured, absolutely agonized by what was happening to me. But we both knew he couldn't do anything. Moreover, I’d asked him not to intervene, and for once he was respecting that, no matter how much he wanted to.
But if there was a sweet moment between us, it was gone in the blink of an instant when the thunderous canes started up again.
Feeling like my body weighed three times what it normally did, I dragged my sodden form up those stupid ladder stairs yet again.
How long could they keep this up? Considering they weren’t the ones getting dunked in the cold water… probably a while.
So I was both surprised and relieved in a twisted way when they just cut to the chase and asked, “Where is the real Abilene West?” as soon as I’d reseated myself on the stool again. Even though I knew it meant I was found out, that everything was lost, and that so much of what I’d fought for might be entirely lost.
They didn’t wait for me to answer. As soon as the question was out of the Elder’s mouth, they dunked me again.
As I hit the water, I realized that this wasn’t a real inquisition. This was all meant as a macabre sort of punishment. I’d wounded their pride by sneaking so easily into their world, into their twisted game that they thought they owned the rules to and control over.