by C J M Naylor
"I trust Bessie," I answered.
"And that's all I needed," Bessie whispered.
I felt a large blow to the side of my head. I heard shouts from Phillip, Mathias, and Ian as I went down. My head struck the hard marble floor and my vision was blurred.
"What are you doing?"
It was a man's voice. Phillip’s. After that, I faded off.
My eyes opened. I was sitting behind Mathias' desk. My hands were tied behind my back with what felt like a pillowcase, from the couch I assumed. My feet were tied at the bottom. I looked over at the couch and Mathias was there. He appeared to have just woken up from being unconscious. His hands and feet were also tied. Ian was tied up next to him. I could not see Phillip anywhere, but in the middle of the room stood Bessie.
Bessie looked different than before. It looked like her body was almost glowing and she actually appeared more beautiful than she had before.
"Wakey, wakey, little girl," Bessie said. Her eyes were concentrated on me. She was now speaking in an American accent, very sarcastic and flamboyant. "You know my father always said I had a knack for acting. What do you think?"
The feeling of dread I had experienced earlier was suddenly intensified. Acting? It had all been an act. I knew it had all been an act, but I thought the act had been performed by Mathias. But it had been performed by Bessie. I looked over at Mathias. His head was down.
"What's the matter, Mathias?" Bessie said. She walked over and lifted his chin up to look at her. Then she wrapped her legs around his waist on the couch and began to kiss him. He shook his body violently and tried to pull away, but she held her grip until she was finished. She got off the couch and stood up straight, her hands on her hips.
"Oh my," Bessie said, "I remember that feeling. I have to admit Mathias; you haven't lost your touch. Have you been shacking up these past twenty years? Or do you still yearn for Elisabeth? Let me tell you, she yearned for you when I pushed her body off that bridge."
Bessie cackled and I felt anger go through my body.
"You lied to me!" I shouted.
Bessie turned and walked toward me. She bent down so she was eye level with me.
"It isn't my fault you are the most pathetic excuse for a woman," Bessie said. "Seriously darling, you need to develop a thicker skin. Then again, you were the outcome of reproduction between Mathias Benedict and Elisabeth Callaghan. You really cannot expect too much from that mating."
"Bessie, shut the hell up!" Mathias spat at her.
Bessie turned and faced Mathias.
"Why don't you shut the hell up?" She extended her arm and pointed at Mathias. He began to scream in agony and I screamed as well. His skin began to wither into that of an eighty-year-old mans. Finally, Bessie lowered her arm, and he was suddenly his own age again.
"You see, Mathias?" Bessie asked. "Do you see now what your precious daughter has done? Do you see the formula?"
"What are you muttering about now Bessie?" Mathias asked.
"Let's run through the details, shall we?" Bessie announced. She began to pace around the room like a professor that was lecturing. "First off, I killed a Timekeeper, your wife, her mother."
"Elisabeth was not a Timekeeper, Bessie," Mathias said. "Sorry to inform—"
It was me that cut him off.
"She was," I said. Mathias looked at me, his eyebrow going up in questioning. "She was an original Timekeeper. The stories are true." He continued to simply stare at me.
"Indeed, they are," Bessie said. "Do you see, Mathias? Your sweet little Elisabeth was a very secret person of her own. What you don't realize is that I was her midwife. I tricked her, just as I tricked your daughter. Finally, it was on the Tower Bridge that I realized I didn't need you anymore. I originally wanted you back, but I realized there were more powerful things I could have. So, I killed her. Later on, I gave up my soul to the forces of evil and finally, tonight, your daughter finished the equation."
"I trusted you," I said quietly. I hung my head in shame.
"Exactly," Bessie said, "and now I possess the forbidden powers!"
Bessie walked toward me and grabbed me by the shirt. She pulled me up and untied my hands and feet and then she threw me hard to the floor. My head struck the marble again and this time I felt blood pouring from my nose.
"This should take care of you until I return," Bessie said.
She placed her palm on my forehead and my vision went dark.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
A little while later, I came to again. My mind was racing. What I had a done? I had brought a murderer into the Headquarters of the Timekeepers. I had revealed the secrets my mother tried to keep from this woman so we could be safe from her. I had allowed myself to fall into this ploy of trying to find out what happened to my mother instead of realizing that whatever happened to her had been done to protect me, as well as my father. Finally, I had given a Timekeeper the ability to actually gain the forbidden powers. I felt horrible. I felt like a waste. What was the point of learning everything I had learned? I had let my judgment be clouded by lies.
As I pushed myself up off the cold marble floor, I saw the blood. Was it my blood? Was it Mathias'? I reached up to my head and touched it. It felt wet and sticky.
Standing up, I looked around. The room was dark. The fire was out. Mathias was gone. Ian was gone. Where did she take them? Why didn't she take me?
"Phillip!"
I screamed out his name. I knew he was here. He had to be. She wouldn't take him too, would she? There was no response.
I walked down the long, narrow hallway. Without the roar of the fire going, or the lights on, the hallway was very creepy and cold. Someone could be hiding in the shadows, watching me. The feeling was eerie.
Thump.
I turned my head. What was that sound?
Thump.
The thumping noise was coming from the closet door at the end of the hallway. I ran toward it and pulled open the door to find Phillip tied up and gagged. He had been banging the door with his feet.
I bent down and undid the gag and untied him.
"What happened to you?" I asked.
"She got me with those powers," he said. "Abigail, when the shock of her power hit me, I could feel the hate. I could feel it. I don't know how. I never went to feel it again though."
I pulled him up and he drew me into his arms. We sat there like that for a moment until I realized she had Mathias and Ian.
"We need to figure out where they went," I told him. "She has Mathias and Ian. I need to save them. I have to. You and he are the only people I've got left."
"I heard her say something about the Tower Bridge as she was leaving with them."
"How did she get them to go with her?"
"Abby, it was like she could manipulate them. Make them do what she wanted."
A feeling of terror leaped inside me. She was returning to the location where she had murdered my mother. She was going to take them to the place where she had left my mother's lifeless body hanging for the world to see. She disgusted me. She destroyed the family I could have had.
"Let's go," I said.
The night was cold, and the coldness was flowing inside my heart. I felt like was I turning into ice from the coldness. I didn't know how this night would end. Would I lose Mathias now, in the process of everything I had already lost?
Phillip drove as fast as he could. It was fairly late out, so traffic wasn't too bad, but we also didn't want to attract too much attention by racing in the streets. We finally made it near the Tower Bridge. Phillip parked the car away from the bridge so Bessie wouldn't know we had arrived. We quietly made our way up to the bridge. Mathias, Bessie, and Ian were not there. I looked up toward the walkway and pointed at it. Phillip understood. The walkway was closed to the public, but I had no doubt Bessie had taken Mathias and Ian up there to die.
"Abby..."
I turned and saw Ian slumped against a pole. He was easily concealed in the darkness, which was why we had mi
ssed him. I ran to him and bent down.
"Ian, did she hurt you?"
He shook his head.
"The forbidden powers," he said. "When she manipulated me, it weakened me. But it obviously didn't weaken you. It should have left you unconscious until she undid it. If your mother was an original Timekeeper, like you say, you are immune to the forbidden powers. You are dangerous in their eyes."
"Phillip and I are going to go up to the top," I said. "We'll be back for you."
He nodded and Phillip and I turned and made our way up the stairs.
Mathias and Bessie were in the middle of the walkway. Other than the two of them, the bridge was completely quiet and no one was in sight. Was it because of Bessie? Or was it because it was a calm late night?
Phillip and I moved up closer to the two of them, so that we could hear what was going on.
"Isn't this a sight?" Bessie asked. She immediately cackled loudly. Her voice was shrill in the night sky and sent another wave of iciness down the insides of my body.
"What is it Bessie?" Mathias responded. "Do you take pride in watching me stand on the place of my death?"
"You won't be dying right away Mathias dear," Bessie responded. "It will be rather slow and painful. To make up for the years of my life that were wasted away."
"Now Bessie, that's a little unfair, don't you think? You had every right to spend your life the way you wanted. If you decided to obsess over me, that was your choice."
Bessie suddenly screamed. The scream was anger and fury. It was hate. It was evil.
"You destroyed me, you pathetic bastard!" Bessie's voice was as shrill as the feeling of the cold night. "You will die in the same place your slut of a wife did."
Mathias responded, but this time his voice was cold.
"Don't you dare say another word about her.”
I carefully looked around the pole that Phillip and I were trying to hide behind. Bessie strutted to Mathias and took his chin in her fingers.
"What's the matter, Mathias?" she said, a smile creeping on her face. "Did I strike a tender heart cord? I think it is time we share a little story. Oh, where to begin? It is quite an entertaining story."
She began to dance and parade around like a little girl. She clapped her hands together. I felt sick. She was more than evil, she was disturbed and twisted. She had problems, real problems.
"The story begins with a man named Mathias and a woman named Bessie," Bessie began. "These two came back to England from America together. Mathias was there, studying with the American Timekeeper. They met and became a couple. But then the man named Mathias discarded Bessie." Bessie slapped Mathias across the face. "Apparently, Bessie had too much emotional baggage for Mathias to control." Bessie took out a pocketknife from her dress pocket and made a quick slash across Mathias' cheek. I heard him grunt and try to control his reaction to the cut. "Well, then Mathias met Elisabeth and Bessie became rather upset over this. Mathias threw Bessie out of his life for good, but oh, she was watching. You see, Bessie was secretly planning to find out the truth about Elisabeth. She knew the blonde beauty wasn't all she claimed to be. So, Bessie began to sneak back in to Mathias and Elisabeth's old Headquarters..." Bessie began to smile. "They really should have moved. Bessie began to spy on them."
"You little—" Mathias tried to say, but Bessie put her hand over his mouth.
"Now, now," she said, continuing to laugh maniacally, "don't interrupt the storyteller. Anyway, Bessie found out one of Elisabeth's secrets and began to send her threatening letters. She didn't know it was Bessie, of course. So, when Elisabeth became pregnant, Bessie became her midwife. You see, if only you had confided in Elisabeth who Bessie was and what she looked like, then maybe Elisabeth would have been smart enough to know that Bessie was up to no good." Bessie began to parade around again. She twirled in her dress and continued to laugh.
Mathias looked confused.
"After I’d poisoned her against you, she had her baby away from you," Bessie said, "but then she realized that Bessie wanted the child and the little bitch ran from us. She fled with the newborn in her arms and hid her from us."
The word "us" kept replaying over and over in my mind. Was there someone other than Bessie I should fear?
"Bessie tracked Elisabeth down to the Tower Bridge, Bessie continued. “Bessie knew Elisabeth must have hidden the child. In her rage, Bessie killed Elisabeth and told her the plan had failed. Now, wasn't that a wonderful story?"
"Why didn't you kill Abigail?" Mathias asked.
"Oh, I have further uses for her," Bessie responded. "You see that girl is going to be one powerful Timekeeper and I plan to use her to my advantage."
"What do you mean?"
"I think I've answered enough questions for you already," Bessie responded. "Story time is over, now it's time to play!"
Bessie raised her hand and the energy of time began to flow from it again. She raised it out over the bridge and I was blinded as everything was exposed to the light of this power. The power extended over the Thames, lighting up the water in the process. The water was glowing—it was being controlled by her energy. I would hate to fall into that water right now.
"I can use time's energy to make the elements react," Bessie told Mathias. "That water down there is now very dangerous. Imagine it like this—it is as if a thousand lightning bolts are striking the water at this moment. That is what the electrocution will feel like when I drop you."
"You are going to electrocute me, Bessie? Mathias reiterated.
"Oh, don't worry Mathias," Bessie said. "First, I'm going to make you suffer, just like I did to your wife."
She raised her hand and more energy extended from it, causing Mathias to wriggle in pain. He screamed in fury and agony. I could not take it any longer. I ran out.
"Abigail!" Phillip yelled, but it was too late.
"Stop it!" I screamed.
Bessie stopped and turned toward me. A look of surprise was on her face.
"How extraordinary," Bessie said. "The energy I used should have kept you unconscious until I returned. Obviously, you are immune to most of its effects."
She raised her hand and struck me with the energy. My whole body was on fire. I fell to my knees and began to scream.
"Not completely immune, though."
Mathias yelled and scrambled to his knees. He ran at Bessie from behind and clasped his hands over her eyes—clawing with his nails. Bessie screamed a loud shrieking scream.
Bessie grabbed Mathias' hands and energy radiated from hers. The energy shocked Mathias and he screamed and blasted backward off his feet. He flew across the long walkway to the other end. Bessie cackled.
"Don't touch me, Mathias Benedict!" she screamed. "I am more powerful than you now!"
Phillip ran forward and pulled me to my feet. Bessie turned around just then and raised her hand again. Phillip froze next to me, and then uttered a sound of pure pain.
"What's wrong, Phil?" Bessie shrieked. "Cat got your tongue? Or is it aging? You see, with the forbidden powers, I can increase or decrease the effects of aging. Phillip's body is reacting to the fast-moving effects of growing old. Quite the power."
I ran forward and pushed Bessie with all my might. The two of us tumbled to the floor of the walkway. Bessie rolled on top of me and grasped my throat with her hands. She began to choke me and my breathing began to slow. I saw Phillip's hands clasp Bessie's throat and she shrieked. He pulled her off of me and she grabbed his arm—twisting it. Phillip howled in pain. Mathias came out of nowhere and punched Bessie in the jaw. She lost her balance and stumbled backward. I took my chance, stood up, and pushed her out of the opening of the walkway, but she grabbed my arm and jerked me after her.
I felt my body being pulled by the force of gravity to the opening, but Phillip caught me by my right arm and I was holding on to Bessie's arm with my left. I was the only thing keeping her from falling to her death.
"Please Abigail!" she pleaded. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! It isn't me!
I have a disease! I cannot control my emotions!"
I held onto her arm for a moment.
"Abby!"
I didn't, for one second, take my eyes off Bessie. But I could hear Ian. He was on the walkway now and was yelling my name.
"Don't trust her! Just let her go. It won't make you a horrible person."
Bessie's eyes widened and it looked like… was she starting to cry? I thought it looked like betrayal, but I rubbed it off.
This woman had killed my mother. I would never know her. I didn't know if it was the right thing to do, but I did it anyway.
"Goodbye, Bessie."
I let her arm go.
Bessie's shrieks of terror filled the air as she fell downward. She fell past the bridge itself and lower, toward the Thames. She fell into the glowing river. I watched as the water electrocuted her body. The skin peeled away from her bones. She sank into the water and then her power was no more. The river stopped glowing. She sank, and then it was over. It was all over.
I sat in Mathias' study. My body was numb. My mind was numb. Phillip was waiting in his car outside. Mathias had insisted we talk before I went home with Phillip. I didn't have anything to say to him. I just wanted to be alone. Ian was now resting in his bedroom. The power had truly weakened him.
My hands were clenched into fists. I broke them up and folded them into each other. I looked at Mathias. He was sitting at his desk, staring at me.
"What do you want me to say?" I asked. "If you want an apology, then I'm sorry."
"Abigail, you didn't trust me. Instead you believed the falsities of a mad woman. A woman who killed your own mother."
I stood up in a rage.
"Do you think I would have believed her if you hadn't been lying to me all this time? I've known her just as long as I've known you! I've been seeing her the same amount of time! I had to decide who to trust and I put my trust in her! I'm ashamed because of that. But she lied to me and did a pretty damn good job at it! Whereas you just sit there with no emotion in your face. You would think for a man who had just met his own daughter you would do a better job of being a father! You took away my free will by not telling me about the contract with time."
