Within Darkness

by C J M Naylor

  “Good afternoon,” Councilor Headrick said, her voice echoing throughout the chamber. “We are here today to determine whether or not Timekeeper Mathias Benedict should continue in his duties as the head Timekeeper of the London Headquarters. In the past twenty-four hours, I have given out an injunction for Timekeeper Benedict to cease all Timekeeping-related activity. We shall hear evidence today and the Council will vote. The majority vote will determine whether or not Timekeeper Benedict shall continue in his role.

  “I shall begin first by presenting my evidence to the Council. All opposed should wait until all evidence is presented before presenting any opposition against it. My first piece of evidence against Timekeeper Benedict is his unwillingness to delegate responsibilities to other Timekeepers in running the London Headquarters. Since Benedict has taken over for his father, he has assisted in the training of only two Timekeepers: his daughter, Abigail Jordan, and Ian Cross, both of whom are here today. Furthermore, Benedict has always opposed any outside help. As many of you know, the successful running of a Timekeeping Headquarters falls not only on its leader but also the Council that helps run the Headquarters, the individuals that conduct meetings with government officials, the individuals that keep a careful record of all events on the Timeline, and many more. The positions are endless. All of these tasks Benedict has taken on himself. And unfortunately, he hasn’t been doing them well.”

  Councilor Headrick looked at Mathias, and then the room as a whole, before continuing.

  “In regards to his attendance at annual trainings and ceremonies, well let’s just say his attendance isn’t even a factor. Benedict has attended no Timekeeper initiations, except those which were hosted at the London Headquarters. Benedict has not attended our annual trainings, at which all headquarter leaders get together. Overall, his participation in our society is lacking. This takes me into my next point; his lack of regard for our rules.

  “Timekeepers have strict rules in place. We cannot allow individuals whom we are training to become compromised. This is something that Benedict allowed when he was training his daughter, Abigail. While it was Abigail’s decision to almost save her fiancé from death, Benedict allowed it to happen. As her mentor, he should have intervened. He should have stopped her, even though she thankfully stopped herself. Furthermore, even after his daughter’s reassignment by the Council, Benedict still allowed her to break our rules. While at the American Headquarters, Abigail took part in illegal, unsanctioned travel using the Time Line. While this was primarily Timekeeper Jane’s offense, as a seasoned headquarters leader, Benedict should have immediately reported this illegal travel to his Headquarters. Instead, he went out on the town with Miss Jordan and Timekeeper Jane.”

  Headrick looked away from Mathias and turned on her heel to face the Council.

  “Councilmen and women, I feel that this issue is cut and dry. Mathias Benedict has overstepped his boundaries on numerous occasions. He has allowed his judgment to be comprised. He has refused to fully participate in our customs and practices. He has been warned on numerous occasions to change his ways. He has been warned not only by myself, but also by my predecessor, Councilor Winston. I hope you will see this for what it is: a blatant disrespect for our community as a whole. Thank you.”

  Councilor Headrick went back to the Council’s table and took her seat. She looked pretty satisfied with the information she had presented to the Council, and while I was still suspicious of her actions, I had to admit to myself everything she said was true. Next, we heard testimony from various Timekeepers who testified to the positive character of Mathias. We also heard negative feedback from other Timekeepers as well. And then the time came for us to present our testimony. Ian stood up first, and I took a deep breath. As much as he had been on my nerves lately, as much as he had upset me or acted suspiciously, I knew he would set this right. I knew he would tell the Council how Mathias had been a great mentor, a great leader.

  Ian stood up and looked around the room. He looked at Mathias for a moment, and then turned his attention to the Council.

  “Councilmen and women,” Ian began, “many probably assume that I am here today to testify to the good, moral character of Mathias Benedict, who was my mentor and teacher for several years before I became his assistant. Unfortunately, I cannot do that.”

  The silence in the room was deafening. I stood up.

  “Ian,” I spat.

  “Silence.”

  I looked up to Councilor Headrick who had stood up, a look of pure anger on her face. Her eyes shot daggers at me and I returned the look.

  “You will take your seat,” Headrick said, “or you will be removed.”

  A hand touched mine and I looked to see Mathias looking up at me. He gestured for me to sit, and I did. But as I did, I continued to give Headrick a look that told her I disagreed with everything she stood for.

  Headrick took her seat and nodded at Ian to continue.

  “Thank you, Councilor Headrick,” Ian continued. “Ladies and gentlemen, during my time training with Mathias Benedict, I came to know a man who has shunned himself completely from society. He wants nothing to do with the outside world. And, even though she may speak of his good character now, there was a time when his daughter, Abigail Jordan, did not trust this man. She even went so far as to suggest he had killed her biological mother, Elisabeth Callaghan. While that has since proven not to be true, it goes to show how bitter Mathias Benedict has become. He has allowed himself to become a person no one can bring themselves to trust. And he has done that to himself.

  “Furthermore, during my time with Abigail and her father, I saw little training being done. By the time Abigail came to the American Headquarters, her training was so sparse she knew very little of our customs and practices. I do not think Mathias Benedict is fit to continue running the London Headquarters, nor do I think he should be responsible for the training of any future Timekeepers. Thank you.”

  As Ian walked forward to take his seat, he whispered to me, “Your turn.” A smug smile appeared on his face as he took his seat, and in that moment, I despised him. I wished I had never met him.

  “Miss Jordan?”

  I looked up to Headrick, her attention on me again. I stood up and began to address the Council.

  “Ladies and gentlemen of the Council,” I began, “I have to be honest with you. What you have heard today is all true. It may have been spoken in a way to shape a specific individual’s narrative—” I directed my attention to Ian when I said this, and then continued “—but it was true. But that’s only because in the prime of his life, my father, Mathias Benedict, lost everything. He lost his wife and his child. He lost his existence and he became a person who seemed cold or unloving, but this is far from the truth. Initially, yes, my father was cold-hearted to me. I didn’t trust him. But after what happened to me last February, he became a father. He became someone I care about very much. He cares deeply about this world. And when he let me go that night, to save my fiancé, he did so not because he wanted to break the rules, but because he didn’t want to take away my free will, which at the end of the day is something we are all supposed to value as Timekeepers, is it not? I was initially very skeptical about being a Timekeeper, but I could tell it was something he valued tremendously. Please, don’t take that away from him. Thank you.”

  With that, I took my seat. Mathias took my head and I looked at him and smiled. He returned the smile, and we turned our attention back to the Council for their vote.

  A woman at the end of the council’s table stood up.

  “All in favor of removing Mathias Benedict as the Head of the London Headquarters, raise your hand,” the woman said.

  Several hands went up.

  “All opposed, please raise your hands,” the woman continued.

  In the end it was close, but it didn’t matter. In the end, my father lost by one measly vote.

  “Mathias Benedict,” Councilor Headrick said, standing up, “the majority has voted that yo
u will be removed from your role as Head of the London Headquarters. I am reassigning you to the Paris Headquarters in a role to be determined by Timekeeper Bouvier. You have twenty-four hours to vacate the London Headquarters.” Headrick banged her gavel and everyone in the room began to leave.

  I turned to Mathias, but he was still smiling.

  “It’s okay, Abigail,” he said, pulling me in for another hug. “Maybe it’s time for a change. Maybe this is a good thing.”

  “It’s not fair,” I said.

  “It will be okay,” Mathias said. “I promise. But I need to go clean out. I will talk to you soon. Okay?”

  I nodded at him. “Okay.”

  Not even a second after we got back to the American Headquarters, I pushed Ian against the wall.

  “How could you do that?” I spat at him. “He gave you everything.”

  He continued to smile. “You said it yourself, Abigail. Did I lie? I really don’t think I did.”

  “Abby.” Thomas put his hand on my shoulder.

  “Thomas is right,” Alma said. “He isn’t worth getting worked up over.”

  I stepped away from Ian. “He trusted you. And you betrayed him.” I turned on my heel and left them all behind me. I needed to get away from here.

  I avoided Ian for the rest of the week. I went about my days doing the work that needed to be done, while in the back of my mind I continued to ruminate over everything I knew, everything I had learned. I had a twin. My mother might still be alive. Ian wasn’t the person I thought he was. Mathias had been removed from his position. Bridget was going through something she wanted to tell me, needed to tell me, but didn’t feel like she could. And then there was Thomas. The way that I was feeling about him. The date that we went on. Everything seemed so complicated that I was grateful for the distraction of Alma’s Timekeeper’s Ball. It would be a needed distraction from everything going on in my life.

  On Saturday evening, I stood in front of a long mirror with Alma as she did my hair. She smiled at me in the mirror as she brought a comb down through my hair and began to pull it together into a bun. Someone at the Headquarters had taken my size and found a beautiful, sleeveless, cream-colored gown that fell to the floor and pooled to the ground around my feet. Alma herself wore a black gown that also fell to the floor, but was a bit different in that one side was sleeveless whereas the other side had a long sleeve that fell down her arm. She wore the dress gracefully.

  “You look beautiful,” Alma said to me.

  I turned to her after she made the final adjustments to my hair.

  “As do you,” I said. “This is your night after all.”

  She beamed at me just as there was a knock at the door.

  “Come in,” Alma said.

  The door opened and Thomas stepped in. He looked first to Alma, smiled at her, and complimented her dress. Then, his eyes moved to me and the emotions I saw in them were incomprehensible. Passion. Desire. Protection. He stood there, speechless, continuing to take me in. He wore a simple yet handsome black evening suit. His hair was combed, and he was clean-shaven. I could tell in that moment why he was such a hit with the ladies.

  “Abigail,” Thomas said, “you look, breathtaking.”

  “Gee, thanks, asshole.”

  We both turned to look at Alma in the middle of the room, a hand on her hip and throwing Thomas a sassy expression.

  Thomas blushed. “I’m sorry.”

  Alma walked forward and pushed Thomas jokingly.

  “I’m only joking with you, Jane,” she said. “Lighten up.”

  As she walked out of the room, she muttered quietly, but still loud enough for us to hear, “You two are too cute,” under her breath.

  “Abby,” Thomas said, “I was wondering, well I wasn’t sure if maybe, um, I guess I wanted to know if—”

  “Well, spit it out,” I said to him.

  “Can I escort you to this ball?”

  A smile lit up my face. “Of course, you can, but what about Alma?”

  “It’s tradition for the parents to escort their child in.”

  I guess that made sense. Technically, when Mathias had done so, he had been both my parent and my teacher.

  “Very well,” I said.

  Thomas walked over to me and held out his arm. I placed my arm in his and we began walking from the spare bedroom to the ballroom, which I had yet to lay eyes on.

  Thomas led me down the hallway of the guest rooms and through the library. Several people were coming in off the hallway that led to the Time Line, obviously traveling in from other Timekeeping locations. Thomas led me through a door at the other end of the library and into another narrow hallway. At the end of the hallway stood two large, double doors that were wide open. Beyond I could see glints of gold and glass. Music was pouring from the room as well as the chatter of those that had already arrived. As we walked through the double doors, I almost stopped breathing at how breathtaking the room was.

  Thomas and I stood at the top of a large staircase. The ballroom itself was two floors, the upper floor circled around the lower floor. Tables and chairs were positioned on the upper floor for dining, so guests would descend to the lower level for dancing, and, I assumed, the initiation ceremony, as there was a stage erected at the far end of the room, directly in front of a large clock made entirely out of glass. The upper floor also allowed onlookers to gather by the rails and look out over the scene below, which many couples were currently doing, gazing down at the Timekeepers that were already dancing.

  “Shall we?”

  I looked over to Thomas who was gazing down at the lower level.

  “Sure,” I said, “but don’t give me any grief about my dancing.”

  “Likewise.”

  We kept our arms linked as we descended the steps. I wanted to freeze this moment, to make it permanent. In this moment, I could imagine no problems awaited me in the world outside. There was no prophecy that needed to be unraveled. There were no nefarious villains out to get me. There were no individuals constantly betraying my trust. There was no war, no death. It was a nice thought, but it was only that, a thought.

  As soon as we stepped onto the ballroom floor, Thomas pulled me along and I was immediately swaying rhythmically throughout the room with him. My heart began to beat faster, and I couldn’t help but imagine what it would have been like to dance like this with Phillip on our wedding night. We had never gotten that far. We had never been able to practice dancing for that particular occasion.

  “A penny for your thoughts?” Thomas asked.

  I looked into his eyes. Everything about him was so familiar, yet so new at the same time. A part of me felt like I had known him longer than I actually had.

  “I’m sorry about the date,” I said.

  It wasn’t what I had meant to say. I had considered telling him that he looked nice, or that I was even more untrusting of Ian, or that it was unfair what had happened to Mathias earlier in the week. But I didn’t want to say any of that. I knew if I was going to get anywhere in the world, if I was going to go forward, I needed to let people know about my problems once in a while. And while all of those other things were genuine problems, there was also this relationship that was blooming around it. And I wanted this relationship. I needed it.

  “Don’t be sorry,” Thomas said softly. “You’ve been through a lot. You’re still going through a lot.”

  “You avoided me after that, though.”

  Thomas sighed. “I only wanted to give you some space. I didn’t want to push you. This is something you have to figure out on your own. Obviously, if you need to talk about it, I’m here for you, but I didn’t want to be intrusive.”

  He began to twirl me. It caught me off guard, but I quickly let myself be taken into it, allowing him to bring my hand up over my head, and allowing my body to spin around. I laughed as I came back to stand in front of him, and fell into him a little at the same time.

  And then I saw him. He was standing at the other end of the room
, but I was looking right at him, clear as day. Elijah.

  Thomas looked in the same direction. “What is it?”

  “It’s him,” I said. “It’s Elijah.”

  I stepped away from Thomas and made my way toward Elijah. I knew Thomas was following and as we got closer, Elijah stepped away from the ball and made his way through a side door and into the hallway beyond. When Thomas and I stepped through the door, he was standing there waiting for us.

  “Why do you only show up at balls?” I asked him as soon as we had stepped through the door and Thomas had closed it behind him.

  Elijah smiled at this. “It’s the perfect place. Not everyone here knows each other. It allows me to easily communicate with you without it being odd. It’s just casual conversation.”

  “Unless someone saw us coming in here,” I replied. “But anyway, you didn’t tell me before, but you’re my uncle, aren’t you?”

  “I have to admit, Abigail,” Elijah responded, “when you’re in a tight situation, your ability to uncover the facts is truly remarkable.”

  “Have you been keeping tabs on me?” I asked.

  Elijah raised an eyebrow and then replied, “I have my sources.”

  Thomas cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to be rude, but we should probably get to the facts as quickly as possible. Someone is bound to notice us missing, and I do need to be present for Alma’s initiation, being her mentor and all.”

  “Of course,” Elijah responded.

  “Well,” I said, “I think the most important thing is to find out what this prophecy entails.”

  Elijah looked uncomfortable at that statement and I had a sudden jolt in my gut as I thought about why.

  “You don’t know, do you?”

  Elijah shook his head. “I’m sorry, Abigail. If I had known, I would have made sure to tell you the night we first met. Your mother, my sister, was a very secretive woman who was bound to protecting you. In doing that, she only trusted in me the bare minimum. She thought it might put me in danger to know the full extent of it all, and obviously, she had planned for things to go much differently.”