Chapter 17: Vistor's Hours

Linton finally showed up that afternoon. Charlie was excited to let him in talk to him, but his face showed that he didn't return the sentiment. Instead, he seemed apprehensive and nervous.

"So, how did your, uh, thing go?" Charlie asked as she let him into her apartment.

"It went." Was all he said,

Charlie took that to mean that, whatever it was, it hadn't gone too well. Her stomach churned, as she was worried that it meant bad news for Beatrice.

"So uh—" he paused to awkwardly clear his throat. "How are the salamanders?"

Charlie crossed her arms and shot him a firm look.

"Fine. What is it that you wanted to ask me?"

Charlie asked the first thing that came to her mind.

"How do you know Beatrice?"

Linton shifted from foot to foot.

"She's a family friend." He said evasively.

Charlie narrowed her gaze, not quite satisfied with the answer.

"How so?"

Linton let out a hefty sigh, and walked over to the table and took a seat.

"I was well acquainted with her brother." He said. "When he died he left her in my care as she was still a minor at that time."

Charlie stayed by the door, arms still crossed, frown ever increasingly. 'Well acquainted'? What did that mean? And why the hell would Copper Knight be such good friends with Shadow Witch when he was a hero and Shadow Witch was a villain? It didn't make any sense! Was this some kind of huge super conspiracy or something?

Charlie pushed all of these questions aside and focused on what really mattered to her at the moment.

"Well, if you're so close to her, can't you help get her out of trouble or something?" She asked.

"I'm not above the law, Charlie." He said evenly. "I'm doing all I can for her, but what she did is very, very serious."

"Isn't there anything I can do?" Charlie asked desperately. "I mean, I was the one sho was kidnapped after all. Can't I just tell the authorities I don't want to press charges?"

"With a crime of this severity I'm afraid it won't help much." Linton said. "Everyone already thinks you've suffered some kind of nervous breakdown, myself included. I'm sure your father would just have you declared not fit to testify."

Charlie sucked in an annoyed breath. Even Linton thought she was crazy. Couldn't she get anybody on her side.

There was one last thing she wanted to try.

"Well... can I at least see her?" Charlie asked.

Linton sighed and covered his face with his hands.

"Charlie, I can't just—"

Charlie sat down beside him.

"Linton, please!" Charlie said, reaching over and grabbing his shoulders. "I just need to see her so I know that she's okay! Can't you pull some strings for me? For Beatrice?"

"Your father doesn't want you seeing her. If he finds out that I took you to—"

"He won't find out!" Charlie said. "And regardless, I'm twenty five! I'm old enough to make this decision myself."

Linton rubbed his temples and let out a tense breath.

"Fine. Give me half an hour and I'll see what I can do."

An hour later and they were on the road. Charlie called her father and told him she was going to get her hair cut, and that she was going with Linwood. While he seemed apprehensive, he ultimately relented, probably worried that she would pull away more it he kept too close of an eye on her. She needed some room to breath.

Linton drove them across the city, through the standstill traffic in his personal vehicle. It was nice change of pace for Charlie. Even though she had a license she rarely ever drove. Getting her around town was her driver's job.

It was uncomfortably quiet the whole ride. The radio was off, and the both of them seemed unwilling to start a conversation.

Eventually they came up to a discreet, silvery building with heavily tinted windows. There were no signs, nothing to indicate that it was anything other than a normal office building.

Charlie swallowed as the double doors slid open for them. They entered into a lobby, gray and serious with almost no furniture or decor, save for a small desk behind a shield of glass.

Charlie stayed a little behind Linton as he approached a man in uniform who was sitting behind the desk.

"Yes, I'm here for the 5 o'clock." He said, sliding his ID card under the glass.

The man took the card and looked at his screen for a moment before returning the card to Linton.

"Of course." The man said curtly. "She is on psych eval though, so I can only give you half an hour."

"I understand." Linton said.

The man's eyes slid over to Charlie for second, before traveling back to Linton.

"It'll be room 34 A on floor 7." The man said before pushing a small,gray circle under the glass. "Here's your visitor's badge."

Linton took it and then directed Charlie to an elevator. When they were inside, he passed it over to Charlie, and she nervously flipped it between her fingers.

Upstairs, they approached the room, and Linton typed on the screen outside. The door glowed green and slid open, and they stepped inside.

This led to another set of doors with a glowing green screen that read: insert visitors pass here. Charlie did as the screen instructed and the second door slid open. Charlie waited for Linton, but he waved her ahead.

"Only one visitor at a time allowed." He said.

Charlie nodded and walked into the room. The door slid shut behind her.

It was small, and uncomfortably cold, like someone had left the air conditioning on in winter. The only things in the room were a table and two chairs. Both of them were metal and welded straight into the floor.

Guess that's so they can't be used as weapons. Charlie thought as a shiver shot through her.

Charlie's heart hammered in her chest as she took a seat. The cold metal of the chair pierced her legs, and she suddenly felt very underdressed.

Her thoughts began to race and she wondered if she should have worn a better outfit, or actually gotten a haircut before she came here. It sounded stupid, sure, but it was the only solution to her anxiety over seeing Beatrice that her brain to conjure up.

The door on the other side slid open. A guard was there, who stepped to the side and revealed Beatrice.

Charlie's heart sped up at the sight of her.

She was wearing a crumpled white jumpsuit, and her pale colored hair was disheveled and unbrushed. The bluish circles under her eyes were more prominent than ever, and her hands were completely encased in a square metal shackle that dangled in front of her.

"You have half an hour." The guard told her.

She barely glanced up at him in response and stepped into the room. The door slid shut behind her, and she slowly walked forward and sat across from Charlie.

"Are you okay?" Charlie blurted out.

Beatrice blinked slowly. "I'm fine... apart from the headache, that is."

"Headache?" Charlie asked more quietly.

Beatrice nodded.

"From the collar." She said, using her chin to gesture down at the blinking metal that encircled her neck. "They use it to cut off our powers. It gives you a killer headache, but they told me it would subside after a week or two."

Charlie frowned, and swallowed the growing lump in her throat.

A desperate part of her wanted to grab Beatrice by the arm and run straight out the door with her, consequences be damned.

But she knew it was stupid. Even if Beatrice didn't have her powers cut off there was no way they could get out of the most heavily guarded building in New Atlanta.

Charlie clenched her fist.

"Beatrice I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for it to be like this. The last thing I wanted was for you to end up here, to end up like this." She said, tears beginning to slide down her face.

Beatrice looked at the ground, her long hair falling so that it covered her face.

"Maybe this is where I should have been all along."

"What? Beatrice, no—" Charlie said.

"It's not that bad here. The food is okay. I'm safe. You're safe." Beatrice said softly. "Those are good things."

"Not being in prison is a good thing!" Charlie said, leaning across the table. "You don't belong in here with these people!"

"I think I do." Beatrice said. "I think you just don't see it yet."

"What does that even mean!?" Charlie said.

"My mom always said I would turn out like her. I think she was right."

Charlie frowned. She wasn't used to Beatrice being so bleak and angsty in such a soft and hopeless way.

"Your mom? Beatrice—"

"It's in my blood, Charlie. I was probably always going to end up here." Beatrice said.

"No Beatrice!" Charlie said. "People aren't just born bad! You weren't born bad!"

Beatrice's mouthed twitched into something like a smile, but she didn't respond. Her eyes looked glassy, and Charlie was worried that she was doing more harm than good at the moment.

Charlie sat back down. She wanted to grab Beatrice's hand and squeeze it. She wanted to tell her that it was all going to be okay. But she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to lie and she couldn't touch Beatrice's hands no matter how much she wanted to.

Her hands were locked away, so she couldn't hurt herself or anyone else.

There were two loud bangs on Beatrice's side of the room.

"Our time's almost up." Beatrice said, standing up.

Charlie bit her lip and nodded.

Beatrice walked around to Charlie's side of the table and stood there awkwardly.

"Uh—"

"I want you to hug me." Beatrice said.

"Oh, uh. Right. Yes."

Charlie stood up and wrapped her arms around Beatrice and squeezed. Beatrice rested her head in the creek of Charlie's shoulder and nuzzled in as close as she possibly could.

Charlie let a couple more tears fall down her face as the buzzer sounded and the guard came in and pulled Beatrice away by the arm.

"Bye Charlie—"

Was the last thing she heard before the door slammed shut.