The Curse of Time

by Andreea Pryde

  Falling defeated on the couch, I took out from a pocket the letter I had from Chance. It was silly, but keeping it close to me made me feel a bit stronger. I ran my eyes over his elegant handwriting once again, when it finally clicked.

  “How could I be so stupid?” I jumped from the couch. “That’s it!”

  “Are you turning into one of those crazy people who talk to themselves?” Midnight smirked at me. “If you did this some decades ago, people would’ve thought you were possessed.”

  “Midnight, I’ve got it!” I said, ignoring her previous comments. “I found the missing link. There’s a tiny chance, but it’s better than nothing,” I continued excited.

  “You’re not making any sense,” she looked at me uninterested.

  “Look, it’s right here!” I showed her the letter. “By the time this letter was written, everyone was expecting for the child to be born dead, right?”

  “Right . . .” she raised an eyebrow, not understanding where I was going.

  “But he wasn’t! The baby was very much alive, and there is a slim chance that he survived and had children of his own. Do you get what I mean?” I continued enthusiastically.

  “Um, no,” Midnight answered plainly.

  “This is the blood connection we were missing.”

  “You do realise there are many ‘ifs’ that can mess up your logic. What if this bloodline stopped a few years ago? Or, what if they didn’t inherit the power to control the artefact? Or, what if they don’t want to be part of all this madness?”

  “First, if there’s even a small chance, it’s worth looking into it. Second, the Earl doesn’t have this power either, he’s just pulling on Leah’s strings, so maybe if a new heir appears, the Watch will somehow react. And third . . . yeah, that might be a problem.”

  “Alright,” Midnight shakes her head. “Have it your way. But please tell me, how are you planning on finding this person? You don’t have any information whatsoever.”

  “That . . .” I scratched my head, and my shoulders dropped. “I don’t know.” My eagerness burst like a bubble. It was true, I knew absolutely nothing about the person I was supposed to find. Sure, I knew Leah and the Earl were his or her ancestors, but considering he sent the baby away as soon as he was born, there were certainly no chances that he was registered within his real family. Following the old family registry would’ve been easy considering you could find them in the British Library. But then, where did he end up?

  “If you keep frowning like that you will get a deep crease between your eyebrows,” Midnight spoke again.

  “It doesn’t matter anymore,” I answered disappointed. “Just when I thought I found a way; I wake up facing with a massive wall. So, what’s the point?”

  “Then why don’t you ask Leah?” Midnight sighed fed-up. “After all, she lives in the heart of time itself, there’s no way she doesn’t know.”

  “I can’t contact her.”

  “Did you try?”

  “Plenty of times, for nothing.”

  “Then try again!” Midnight raised her voice. “It doesn’t cost you anything, does it?”

  “Well, no, but–” I blabbed.

  “But what? I never thought you’d be the type to give up so easily.”

  “I’m not!” I jumped at her claim.

  “Then? Do it! Get on the couch, or in your bed, and go to her.”

  ***

  I laid on my bed, feeling, listening, searching; closing away the outside world, and looking for that familiar presence.

  I opened my eyes when I felt a pair of arms wrapping around my neck, and a known voice talking in my ear.

  “Oh, Scarlett, I was so worried.” She whimpered.

  “Leah! But . . . how?” I pushed her back a bit, so I could see her face. “I tried so many times to get to you, but nothing happened.”

  “And so, did I,” she said, putting a bit more distance between us. “I called your name so many times, and even though you were receptive to the energy around you, your brain created a barrier between us.”

  “So? It was me?” I looked down at my hands. “But why?

  “Perhaps, because you were feeling helpless?” she shrugged her shoulders.

  “I see,” I said softly. “Wait! Never mind that. Leah, what happened to your son?”

  “My son?” she asked, confused.

  “Yes, Leah. Your son. Within minutes before you got absorbed by the Watch, you gave birth to a baby boy.”

  “I’m sorry, Scarlett,” she said expressionless, “but I never had children.”

  “But you had! You need to remember.” I passed my fingers through my hair, frustrated. “I was right there with you, so don’t try to tell me any different.”

  The stars disappeared, leaving us in total darkness. Looking confused, Leah’s appearance changed. Her face looked pale and drained, and dark marks formed under her eyes. The blue summer dress she was wearing turned into the stained nightgown from that time, and her nicely styled hair, into a tangled mess. Scars, bruises, and dried blood marks appeared on any visible skin, and while her body got thinner, her abdomen rounded.

  Looking down at her round belly, she touched it softly, and tears invaded her eyes. Falling on her knees, she hugged herself, crying and laughing at the same time.

  “I had a son!” the realisation brightened her face slightly. “But I didn’t get to see him.”

  “Leah,” I hugged her tightly, placing her head on my shoulder “I need to know what happened to him.”

  “They took him away!” she cried spitefully. “They took him away from me.”

  “I know,” I said, caressing her back “but that’s exactly why he might’ve lived a long life and maybe made a family at some point.” There was no way for me to fully understand the kind of pain she was going through. But that tiny, tiny chance to give them freedom was something I couldn’t let it pass.

  “Do you really think so?” she looked at me with big red eyes.

  “There is only one way we can find out, right?” I tried to smile encouragingly.

  She looked at me and nodded, determined. Wiping away her tears, she reverted to her initial image faster than I could blink and waving her hand, the stars reappeared around us and in front of us, opening like a screen, figures start moving.

  Emma walked briskly, with her head down, holding the crying new-born to her chest. She headed toward the back door, but before she managed to get there, Chance stopped her. Their words couldn’t reach us, but judging by their grey expressions it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. Emma shook her head and stepped back, but Chance didn’t let her get too far. It looked like he raised his voice for a second, the words he uttered making Emma lose even the bit of colour she had left in her cheeks.

  Without any more fight, Emma, gave the child to Chance, who without wasting another moment dashed through the back door, and towards the stables where Moonlight waited for him, saddled. Jumping on the back of the horse, he didn’t stop until he reached a house in the near vicinity. The house was, indeed, smaller than the Earl’s but properly cared for.

  Without bothering to secure Moonlight’s reins, Chance dismounted and knocked hard on the main entrance door. A little maid answered and covering her mouth with one hand, she ran back inside the house, leaving the door wide opened. Chance waited impatiently, moving from one foot to another and looking around nervously he rearranged the white cloth wrapped around the baby. After a short while, a woman in her thirties came to the door, and looking worried at the baby, she urged Chance to step inside.

  “Who’s that?” I asked Leah who watched with even more interest than me.

  “I’m not sure. I know she was one of our neighbours, but I never met any of them, so I can’t tell.”

  She led him in a small room, and after he handed her a letter, he bowed tensed, and returned to the manor, leaving the baby with her.

  The unfamiliar woman turned out to be the lady of the house, and as the years passed by, she raised Leah’s
son as her own.

  The boy turned into a man, started a family and had a son of his own. Leah smiled fondly, watching her baby grow happily and cared for, and her smile grew even wider when she saw he had the luck of a long, happy life in his wife’s loving arms. Not all the future generations had this luck, but sooner or later they all brought a son into the world. Only one.

  As we got closer to the present, my hopes grew higher. The image focused on one young man, who looked rather familiar, I thought. He left behind the busy London life and moved up north, to be with the one he loved. By the looks of it, both their families were against their marriage, but they fought through, and soon after, a child was born, the one I looked for, but. . .

  “She knew. She knew all along,” I said.

  Leah looked at me with big eyes, understanding the meaning behind my words.

  For the first time in generations, the child was a girl, and that girl was me.

  “I guess I was too enfolded in my misery to notice, and I took things just the way they came, but you’re right. She knew,” she said with a proud smile. “My Lady knew all along who you are, and the purpose of our connection, while I was just happy to have a friend.”

  “So,” I continued, “when Jubilee said she followed her family’s evolution she didn’t mean she followed her father, but your son, and that’s how she got to me,” I said, enthusiastically, all the pieces falling into place. “So, that’s what she meant by ‘first you need to find out who you are’.”

  What started as a wish, was, in fact, my responsibility all along; my legacy. At the end of the day, it was up to me to stop him.

  “What do I need to do?”

  Chapter 33

  I took a deep breath as I slowly unlocked the museum’s door. I was a nervous wreck with shaking hands, but I’d made my decision. Here and there, I could hear drunk voices, singing, laughing, or fighting. To my luck, the streetlight in front of the museum wasn’t working, so I could sneak inside without drawing any unwanted attention.

  Walking ahead, deeper into the dark corridor, I lighted my way using only the phone’s screen. Cold sweat covered my body, turning my fingers into icicles and in the deafening silence, my breath seemed so loud it could even wake up the dead.

  After all this time, I found my way to the library without problems, even in the dim light guiding me. Everything looked untouched since the day the police searched the place, but now, the door hiding the electric panel was opened, yet not a single wire could be seen, the other side being pitch black.

  I swallowed drily and aiming my phone at the entrance, I stepped through. As soon as my foot touched the other room’s floor, lights turned on automatically, revealing a place untouched by time.

  I put my phone away and looked at the same room in which Leah lived her final moments.

  Everything was unchanged since that day. Same desk, same shelf, even the marble pedestal was there, though moved by a wall. The big windows painted black, kept away even the smallest ray of light. In front of a decommissioned fireplace, partially covered with a piece of black fabric, sat a painting. Carefully removing the material, I found myself staring at the life-size portrait of a woman. A dark-haired beauty, with white skin and a warm smile, looked lovingly back into the room. Dressed in a cream dress and holding a small bouquet, she looked just like a bride eager to meet her spouse.

  Moving my face away from the painting, my eyes fell on several sand mounds. My heart tightened because I knew those were once people; people whose lives were used up by Chronos’s Watch and served to the Earl as uninterrupted lifespan. Further away, in a corner, with the Watch around his wrist, Chance stood frozen. If it weren’t for the stone-looking skin, it would’ve looked as if he slept. Brushing his cheek with the tips of my fingers, I looked at him with tears in my eyes, then lifting to the tips of my toes I tenderly pressed my forehead against his, and sighing deeply I whispered, closing my eyes, “Have a bit more patience.”

  I gently kissed his cold lips before I stepped back and turned my attention to the Watch, I felt my heartbeat spike-up. According to Leah, there were three simple steps. First, to stop it from drawing Chance’s life I had to remove it from his arm. Second, to be recognised as the new owner, I had to open the facet and turn it back twelve hours, and third, for the deal to be sealed, close it and say out loud if I want for the Watch to keep working for me, or if I want it to go to sleep.

  I somehow managed to untie the small chain from around his wrist; the job would have been much easier if my fingers weren’t shaking. Pressing the little button on top, the golden facet opened, and with it, my hair flared up. I start turning the little wheel. With each turn, tension build-up at the back of my head, but at the same time from inside the Watch a heartbeat grew stronger and louder. The tension turned to pain, threatening to split my skull in two, bringing me down to my knees; but I was too close to give up now.

  Just a few more turns and the twelve hours cycle would’ve been completed, if only I wouldn’t have let my guard down. If it wasn’t for the pain, maybe I could’ve felt him approaching, but I didn’t, and before I managed to complete the last few turns, the Watch was ripped out of my hands.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The Earl smirked at me. “I must admit you got here earlier than expected.” He walked around the room, playing with the Watch between his fingers.

  “Give it back!” I shouted, my head spinning from the pain.

  “I don’t think so,” he replied, amused. “You see, I kind of need it. Since its only power is to keep me alive, I might as well use it until I meet my goal.”

  “I don’t care about your goals.” I managed to get back on my feet.

  “Oh, my! Is that how you talk to your ancestor?”

  He knows? How? His last words shocked me, pinning me in place. I was brought back to reality when a heavy blow landed between my ribs, pushing out all the air in my lungs. I fell on all fours, holding my ribs, coughing and struggling to breathe. I could feel my heart in my throat, and the throbbing pain at the back of my head became unbearable.

  “Impertinent, just like that wench,” he spat the words.

  He stepped closer to me and tried to hit me with his foot, but before he could touch me, I pushed myself up, and pressing my back against his chest, I wrapped both my arms, firmly around the one in which he held the watch. He tried to pull himself back, but unable to escape, the Earl began to hit me with his fist wherever he could.

  Still trapped under his hits, I forcefully turned the little wheel. My head was pulsing, my breathing became heavy, but there was just a little bit more left. I could feel my stomach turn inside-out from pain, and my consciousness slowly fading away.

  “Let go, you useless creature!” he snarled, continuing his avalanche of fists.

  No . . . I’m too close to give up now. . .

  “I’m too close . . .,” my voice was scarcely audible, and with one more effort, I turned it one more time.

  When the needles hit the twelfth hour, all the tension painfully gathered at the back of my head released itself in a shockwave which threw the Earl against the wall, shattered the painted windows, cracked the marble pedestal, and broke the Watch’s protective glass.

  I could breathe. My body, which should’ve been sore from all the hits, felt light and strong, and my mind was clearer than ever.

  Is this the power of the Watch? I asked myself, looking at the small object in my hand.

  “You have no idea what you’ve done,” the Earl whimpered, sitting on the floor.

  I turned to him. His face looked pale and drained, and as a side effect of using the Watch for so long, the extremities of his body began to turn to sand.

  “I don’t expect you to listen to me now,” he said, moving around, speeding up the sandification process. “but take it as a word of advice. Be aware of the woman with different-coloured eyes.”

  “What are you talking about? What woman?” I asked, confused, frowning.

  “Jul
ia, my love . . .” he moved his eyes to the painting. “Forgive me, I made you wait so long.” He reached what was left of his arm towards the smiling woman, more sand falling from his body.

  “What woman?” I asked again, raising my voice.

  “You look alike,” he moved his eyes between me and the painting. “That woman will do anything.” He groaned, struggling to breathe. “Selene . . . beware. . .”

  Chapter 34

  Once again, I was all by myself in that room. Looking at the mound of sand left behind by the Earl, confirmed the victory was mine, but then why did it feel so bitter?

  Looking away at Chance, I returned my attention to the artefact. I had to close the deal, give my command and free Chance and Leah’s souls. I had no idea if something, if anything at all would happen, but even so, I shut my eyes tight, yet I couldn’t do it. My fingers froze millimetres away from the facet. If I did that, it meant I would never be able to see them ever again. With my heart darkened by doubt, I couldn’t say the words. But then what was the point of all this? I begin to cry into my hands, frustrated by my own weakness.

  “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

  I raised my face, looking for the sudden voice.

  Matteo, seated on top of the desk, looked at me, smiling.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked dumbfounded.

  “I came to introduce myself to the new master, but it’s kind of difficult to do so when she’s crying.” He shrugged his shoulders.

  Looking at him closer, I noticed his clothes were nothing but a white robe, and he seemed like a totally different person from the Matteo I used to work with.

  “Matteo, I’m–”

  “Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!” he interrupted me. “Matteo was the name given to me by the old master. You will have to name me if you want to get any answers.”