Edward Graves: Temporal Detective

One of the earliest memories that Jessica had was one of her father, sitting her on his knee and telling her that there was no need to fear the dark. Every night when her mother would put her to bed she would not last more than twenty minutes before screaming and crying - desperate for her mother to rescue her from the monsters that lurked in the shadows of her room.

Her mother had never been particularly comforting to Jessica, not even at that young age. But her father had been different. She remembered him sitting her on his knee and telling her that monsters don’t live in the dark, they like to live in the light where they can be seen. She could remember him saying, “What’s the point in being a scary monster if nobody can see you?” She was still unsure so he then told her that, rather than thinking of the dark as being scary because she couldn’t see, she should think of it as peaceful. “Being in the dark means that our minds aren’t being bothered by what’s around us. It’s the only time that we can really be in peace,” he had told her.

That was probably the clearest memory she had of her father, if not the only one.

Now though, as she sneaked through the dark halls of Hayden Crawlfield’s mansion, she was finding it hard to feel at peace. The moonlight that cut through the windows offered very little comfort, instead just casting sinister shadows and contorting furniture into menacing forms.

But no matter how sure she was that the twins had taken care of the guards, or that everybody else in the house was asleep, Jessica couldn’t fight that basic, primal fear of the dark. Or more specifically, things that hide in the dark.

She had cleared the second floor and was now making her way through the first. Melanie had just finished the ground floor and she was expecting her to catch up to her any minute.

Room by room, she reached out through Timespace to detect the presence of anybody inside. If she could feel someone, she pushed as hard as she could through the Temporal Defences, to see if it was Edward. If not, she’d just keep moving. When she couldn’t sense a presence inside, she’d open the door and take a look, just to be safe. So far, nothing.

She heard a slight creaking sound, barely audible but definitely there. She froze. She was in a dark spot in between two windows, so she was pretty sure that she couldn’t be seen. She pressed her back to the wall and had to hold her breath when she nearly knocked a vase off of a small stand.

She closed her eyes and listened, trying to pick up another sound. Nothing. But she was certain of what she had heard. She reached out into Timespace with her senses and felt a presence. There was definitely somebody else there; just a few paces away from her and getting closer.

She held her breath and tried to focus of the presence as it drew closer and closer.

“Melanie!” she said through Timespace, “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

She couldn’t see her through the darkness, but she definitely sense her standing in front of her. She could just imagine her black lips snickering.

“Find anything on the second floor?” she asked, her voice reverberating in Jessica’s head.

“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “You?”

“Am I dragging a beaten up Temporal Detective with me?” she asked. Jessica glared at her, which, she realised, was a bit of a futile gesture given the circumstances.

“Come on,” said Jessica, “let’s finish this floor.”

They continued working their way along the floor in silence and with each room that they left, their hope for finding Edward dwindled. Jessica hoped that the others were having more luck.

Soon, they came to the final door on the floor. It was at the end of the corridor, directly in front of them. Outside the clouds shifted and pale moonlight flooded through the high arched windows, casting ghostly shadows onto the walls and the pink carpet beneath their feet.

As they approached, Jessica began to hear voices coming from the other side of the door. She and Melanie shared a look, before Jessica projected her thoughts outwards towards her.

“We’d better call the others first,” she said.

Melanie nodded and then closed her eyes in an effort of concentration as she broadcast the message to Archie and the others through Timespace. A few minutes later, Archie and Solomon walked cautiously up the hallway, Solomon’s gun extended in a casual but sure manner.

Not a word was wasted between them as Solomon put a finger to his lips and then signalled for Jessica and Melanie to stand clear, while he approached the door, with Archie on his flank. The girls hid behind a small table that supported an ornate marble statue of a young girl, watching in silence. Jessica glanced back nervously down the way they’d come. Clouds had shifted which allowed more moonlight through the windows, exposing details which she hadn’t noticed before such as the beautiful watercolours that hung on the wall. The flood of light would expose anybody who tried to corral them in from that end, but it meant that they were also exposed.

She looked back at Solomon, who was peering through the keyhole of the door. He freed his second six-shooter from its holster and shared a subtle look with Archie. Then, with both guns in hand, he kicked the door and charged in.

Jessica held her breath, which didn’t really help her racing heart, or her shaking body. She looked at Melanie, whose face and knuckles looked a shade whiter than usual, though it was possible that it was a result of the moonlight.

She was frightened out of her wits, but she still tried to mentally prepare herself to fight if necessary. But then she realised that she didn’t really know how to fight, which could put her at a slight disadvantage. If she and Edward got out of this alive, she’d have to ask him to teach her some moves.

It turns out that she didn’t have to worry though; it was all over in practically no time at all, despite how long it felt to her.

There was a shout of surprise, followed by a dull cracking sound and then silence. A voice called out through Timespace, “Well are you coming in or what? You’re letting the heat out you know.”

That wasn’t Solomon’s voice, but she did recognise it for sure. With her heart pounding in her ears, she rushed to the doorway, before Melanie could warn her to be careful.

She ran into the room, practically knocking over Solomon and Archie, before coming to a sudden halt.

“Took you long enough,” said Edward.

Jessica gasped. His teeth were broken and his mouth was bloody. His clothes were torn and stained with blood and sweat. His arms were drawn above his head with gleaming shackles holding his wrists to the wall. His legs just hung limply, his feet hovering a centimetre or so above the ground.

“Well, you know,” she said with a quivering voice, “I’m a busy girl. I can’t just drop everything just because you want some attention.”

She couldn’t believe it, he actually smiled. How could he smile? She felt like bawling her eyes out or screaming our throwing up, or all of the above. But he was smiling? She remembered what Ahmed had told her.

She ran up to him and hugged him with far too much force, sobbing softly into his shirt..

“Ow. I’m happy to see you too. Ow. Ow. Ow!”

“I’m sorry,” she said, taking a step back and wiping her eyes as subtly as possible with Melanie watching.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I wish the other guy had just been giving hugs, it would have made this a much nicer experience.”

“No,” she said. “I’m sorry for this. I’m sorry that I couldn’t save you - that I couldn’t get to you sooner, I...”

“No, none of that! Jessica Lazarus, don’t you dare. I’m here because I want to be here and I won’t have you taking blame, responsibility or credit for my brilliant plan understood?”

She was confused, but she couldn’t help but smile. “I’m glad to see that they didn’t break your ego.”

“There’s nary a force on Earth that could do that.” He looked at Archie and Solomon, who had been busy tying up the unconscious guard and he greeted them each simply yet sincerely. Then he noticed Melanie lingering in the doorway, her arms crossed close to her stomach, trying to keep a placid face, but not succeeding. “Hello Melanie,” he said softly and with affection.

“Edward. You look terrible, you know,” she said matter of factly.

“Always with the compliments.”

“We’re going to have to finish the reunions later,” said Archie. “We haven’t been able to find the twins, they could be captured. We may be running on borrowed time.”

Edward nodded and Solomon set about working on the shackles with a key they’d found on the guard’s person.

“Before you do that,” said Edward, “you should know that they broke both of my legs, I’ll only slow you down in this state.”

He shared a look with Solomon who then shared one with Archie, who grabbed Jessica’s shoulders gently and began pushing her towards the doors.

“What are you doing?” asked Jessica.

“I need you to wait outside for a moment, you too Melanie.”

“I’m a big girl,” said Melanie, “I know what you’re going to do.”

“Then you know that there’s no need for either of you to see it.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Jessica as she was ushered out the door. She turned around to face Archie as he half dragged Melanie out after her.

Melanie yanked her arm away and scowled at him, rubbing her wrist.

“I need you both to cover your ears,” said Archie, “I’ll tell you when to come back in.” Without leaving room for a rebuttal, he went back into the room and pulled the doors closed behind him.

“What was that about? What are they going to do?”

“Think about it genius,” said Melanie, “Edward’s injured, the best thing for him is for them to...”

There was a loud bang that sounded an awful lot like a gunshot. Jessica rushed through the doors, Melanie said something, but she didn’t know what.

She pushed past Archie, who tried to grab her and she saw Edward hanging limp and lifeless, like a puppet, blood dripping from his head. She couldn’t speak, she couldn’t think, she felt like she was going to throw up, but her body was frozen to the spot.

Then a sudden rush of blue energy swirled into the room and worked its way into Edward, through his mouth, nose and eyes. His body jerked upright, his mouth and eyes wide open and glowing with blue energy, which now also flowed over his body. Then the light dissipated and he went limp again. He stayed that way for a few seconds before gasping loudly and jerking upright again.

“Woah, woo, what a rush!”

Jessica half screamed, “You shot him!”

“Don’t hold it against ’em Jess, I won’t. I was pretty beaten up and this was the fastest and most efficient way to reboot my system, as it were. Hell, it’s what the Black Glove goons have been doing for the last few days, at least this time my murderer had my best intentions at heart. Now how often can you say that?”

Jessica felt some of the colour returning to her cheeks, well as much as was possible for her, but she was still shaking. “I thought...” She scowled and then slapped Archie with a loud thwack, “You could tell me next time!”

“Well it was all a bit on the spot, wasn’t it?” said Archie, his voice sounding a bit different as her rubbed his jaw. “Why don’t you slap them, they’re the ones who did it?” he said, indicating Edward and Solomon.

With the shock, drama and resurrections out of the way, Solomon freed Edward from his restraints with a lock pick, helping him to the floor. An added benefit of having his body essentially renewed by Temporal Energy, was that the damage to his muscles, from having been suspended in that position over the previous few days had been mended. Apart a pair of slightly sore wrists, he was good to go. Well, almost good to go.

“Where are they?” he muttered as he searched underneath a desk. “I swear that if they’ve hurt them in any way!”

“Hurt, really?” said Jessica.

“We really need to get going,” said Archie.

“Not until I’ve found them, Aha! There you are, my lovelies.” He pulled his Top Hat out of a draw and popped it into shape, placing it on his head. Then he held up his frock coat, all crumpled and dishevelled. Jessica could not believe the look of anger on his face. “You shall be avenged,” he said in quiet rage, before pulling the coat on slowly and with caution. Then he looked in a small mirror that hung on the wall and tied his cravat, which had been hanging loosely around his neck. “Edward Graves does not parade around in public, dressed like a vagrant!” He gave himself a once over, “It’ll do, I suppose.”

They moved through the halls silently, just as they’d moved before. But Jessica felt different now, she had Edward. It wasn’t just that they’d been successful in their mission, she just felt safer with him there. Somehow, as ironic as it seemed, it was like nothing could go wrong while he was with her.

They made it to the entrance hall without incident, but they still hadn’t found or made contact with the twins.

“Something’s not right,” said Edward in a low voice, frowning. “We should have heard from the twins by now. And that’s not all; you said that they did a sweep of the building and the grounds, to take out the guards. But where are the guards? Did any of you find any, tied up in any of the rooms that you searched?”

Jessica and the others all shared looks with one another.

“That’s what I thought,” said Edward.

Suddenly, light streamed in through the windows and under the door. It was blinding and Jessica had to shield her eyes with her arm.

“I think we’d better take a look outside,” said Edward as he moved over to one of the windows. “Zounds,” he said flatly, with undetectable surprise. ’I don’t mean to criticise, but I think that your rescue plan has gone awry.”

Archie was the next to look, but he said a single syllable word that was a lot stronger than Edward’s.

Jessica knew that she wasn’t going to like what she saw out the window, but nonetheless, she walked in between Edward and Archie and did her best to look through the window without looking directly into any of the three spotlights which were pointing at the house.

When her eyes finally adjusted and she was able to make out the scene outside, she nearly repeated Archie’s word. But she didn’t.

By now, Solomon and Melanie were behind her, also looking out the window, making oaths of equal strength to Archie’s.

“Language,” said Edward.

“How did this happen?” asked Jessica.

“They knew,” said Archie, “somehow, they must have known our plan. But how?”

Down by the front gate, the spotlights illuminated a group of ten or so men in pinstripe suits, all armed with guns. In front of them stood a small elderly man dressed in purple and blue - Hayden Crawlfield. Standing beside him was a tall man in a heavy coat with a wide brimmed hat pulled low over his eyes and a red scarf covering his jaw. Most shockingly though, was that amongst the men in suits, was Justin Thyme, battered, beaten and tied up with a gun pointed at either side of his head.

“Alright you lot,” bellowed Hayden Crawlfield, “come out now, nice and slowly, hands up, or Legolas here’s goin’ to be finding out, once and for all, whether there’s life after death.”

Jessica looked at Edward but his expression was hard to read. “What should we do?”

He didn’t move or speak.

“Edward?”

“The only thing we can do,” he said.