1888

TICK-Tock.

Silence enveloped the almost-empty room as we both waited for today's punishment.

TICK-Tock.

The sound of the grandfather clock echoed through the room, filling my head so thoroughly that I felt faint.

"Maybe he only wants to punish me this time," suggested Silas, although a glance at his beautiful face told me he knew that was a lie.

If one of us misbehaved, the punishment was carried out to both. The Grand General enforced that rule when he saved us from the Camp 12 years ago. When he saved my twin brother and me from enduring years and years of physical and mental torture because of our abilities. I shouldn't be too worried, the last punishment happened less than 2 months ago and it was swift - solitary confinement and little to no food or water for the next week or so. Time was hard to tell in places of silence, which is why he liked to carry out this specific punishment for us both. If I have to be honest, I preferred solitary confinement to bones breaking, repeatedly, over days. That is what the others got if they stepped out of line.

TICK-Tock. One, two, three, four, five-

"It's my fault and you know it. I'll confess and he won't make your punishment last the full time. Honesty worked once, maybe it can work again?" I asked, unsure of the words even as they left my mouth. One look at Silas told me what I didn't want to know - there was no backing out of this one. We were both going to be thrown into the Room. Again.

TICK-Tock.

Panic overtook me instantly. It always did when I thought about the Room. White padded walls, no bed, no windows, just a tiny hole large enough to fit my thumb through that gave way to the adjacent Room -- the one Silas occupied. No food unless they thought to give it to me. No water. A black sheet was thrown over my face when I needed to use the bathroom. No showers. In silent places, time stopped. In silent places, my head was overwhelmed with voices. Some, I recognized. Some, I didn't.

TICK-Tock. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirte-

Silas moved across the room, taking a seat by my side and hugging me tightly to his chest. His fingers trembled. I pretended not to notice. For me, Time inside the Room was filled with voices and visions, but I never asked what it was like for him. It was a silent agreement of sorts, to never speak of the horrors we endured in those Rooms. I thought it was to keep him from crumbling but... somehow, in the last few years, Silas seemed to comfort me and protect me instead. When we were children and still kept at the Camp, it had always been the opposite. I am older by 7 minutes, or that is what we were told since we never knew our parents, and because of this I always protected him.

Back then, of course, he was shorter than me and cried constantly. I would hug and sing to him in the darkness after our... obligations in the Camp had been fulfiled. Sing until my voice was raw and the tears choked me. Sing until he fell asleep. Sing until I did too.

Our horrors in the Camp consisted of strangers strapping wires to our temples and to the bottom of our feet. Strangers connected them to monitors and machines that beeped and beeped. Strangers turned them on and electricity flowed through our veins, painful enough to draw blood from our noses and vile from our stomachs.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen-

I shut out the memories and cling to Sil, grateful for any support. Looking around the room, I see what I always have - bookshelves that reach the ceiling, thick velvet curtains, mahogany furniture, a rug over hardwood floors. The familiarity was a comfort, but it would not stop the Grand General from coming in any time now, the tears and sentiment didn't win us any favours here, but they are our truth when we are alone.

Still, even after everything, I am grateful.

Here, we are not lab rats and nobody pricks at us with needles. Here, faces aren't covered by masks and the voices in my head don't take solid form and hurt us. Here, we are partly safe. And yet, still, there was a time we weren't.

Sil and I were 6 when the Grand General of the New Order led a raid that liberated all those imprisoned by the Camp. We were only there for 2 years, others had been there for 20. Once transported to the New Order's headquarters, we made a home with others like us. The only home people like us hope to find because of what sets us apart. The rules of the New Order are simple: Do as you are told, exercise your abilities, learn to control them, get your Missions and return once you have completed them.

Our mission this week was to retrieve files before they were burned by members of the Emissos and bring them directly to the Grand General. The Emissos, the ones who want to disrupt the peace we managed to achieve these last 12 years. The ones who Made the Camps.

We knew of the accident and exactly what would be burned - what it would mean for us. We had to study the newspaper clipping of that night over and over, memorizing the details of everything and everyone we might see on that night, exactly 5 years before our Time.

It is only possible to Travel with the exact details and location of the Time we were going to. Sil and I have 2 commands:

1. Follow the orders and retrieve what was asked.

2. Don't be seen.

I was seen.

TICK-Tock.

Footsteps sounded outside the room, growing closer with each step.

One, two, three, four, five-

My hands started to sweat.

This is fine. It will be over soon. The Room will only last about a week. Or two.

Shit.

TICK-Tock.

The knob turned and the door was pushed open, revealing a white-haired man. His stern face settled upon me as he entered and closed the door behind him.

We both stood up, the room seeming to shift and sway as I stood.

"To my desk. We have matters to discuss, don't we Nadya?"

My throat bobbed at the sound of my name. I could count on one hand how many times he had said it in the past 12 years.

Shit.

I glanced at Silas, and then at the Grand General, "Yes, sir."

No point denying it now or skirting around the issue. He went around his mahogany bureau and sat on the chair, opening files and throwing them on the table.

We sat down too.

Sil's knee started to bob up and down, giving way to the raging emotions underneath that usually-cool exterior. I put a hand on it and shot him a glare; Not now, I tried to communicate.

He stopped at once and shot me a cocky grin, his black hair shifting in the light, making it appear dark brown instead. Sil has always been quick with his emotions, one minute he was nervous, the next he was laughing and getting on your last nerve.

"You may begin to explain yourself now, or should I be bothered to ask?" The Grand General said, his voice cold enough to make the hairs on my arms stand.

"It was an accident," I started, "I was trying to unlock the room the files were kept in and he appeared around the corner. I didn't know - I didn't map his rotation, I missed it and he turned the corner."

I tried to shut out the memory, the terror that had consumed me in those 3 seconds the dark young man had turned the corner.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven-

"And after?" He prompted.

I breathed, readying myself, "He started asking us questions. Sir, I let Sil talk-"

"Stay on track, do not excuse yourself." He cut in, sharply. A knife. A knife that cut my words in half.

"And he started to yell for help. It was fast, one second the lock opened and the next he was yelling and drawing attention, so I..." my voice trailed off.

I shot him.

"I wounded him. Shot his leg, Sir." I finished, staring at my lap, willing the tears to appear. Although now that I needed them, they shied back. They only liked to appear when I was alone, so I had recently found out.

"And you, Silas?" A cold look towards my brother, yet warmer than how he looked at me. Sil had always been his favourite. I couldn't blame him, I preferred Sil to me too.

My brother's only tell of nerves was the slight shake of his pinky as he cooly began, "I knocked him out after, dragged his body inside the room. He stayed down and gave no signs of getting back up so we took the files and Traveled back here."

Silence.

TICK-Tock.

One, two-

Those moments had been a blur, from the yelling to the scream of pain, to the thud of the man's body hitting the ground, unconscious. But alive. That had been the real problem. We let him live.

The newspaper clipping we were shown before we Traveled had been of a burned building, now it showed a different entry. Now it read, "ATTACK ON THE EMISSOS: MAN ASSAULTED IS RECOVERING."

The young man had seen us for long enough to note our features, surely he told the Leader of the Emissos what he saw and they would now be on the hunt for us. To put us back in the Camps. Only few had our abilities - the ability to slip through Time. If records are to be believed, three, including us, had possessed the same affinity. The first died a year before we joined the New Order.

The newspaper slip could have been worse, I tell myself. There is no mention of our features, just of our relations to the New Order.

It could have been worse. You could be dead right now, or Sil could be dea-

I didn't finish the thought as the Grand General calmly looked at his gloved hands.

TICK-Tock

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ni-

He took a glove off.

Silas moved towards me, sucking in a breath. We all knew of his affinity, the deadliest out of all.

His "gift" was Death.

One touch - that's all it would take for you to be very, very dead. His skin was poison itself. It's the reason he led the Rebellion against the Emissos, it's the reason they won.

Silas began to speak, but I went rigid as I looked at his clean, deadly hands.

"Silas don't be absurd, sit down. You both will listen to what I have to say," He began, cracking his fingers and placing the glove back on.

My breathing came back in normal heaps, but now my hand was white-knuckled and holding on to Sil's for dear life.

The Grand General cleared his throat and quietly said, "It was a miracle, that your actions did not change the course of the future too much. There is no mention of what you look like to the public but that doesn't mean you are safe. You both endangered all of those at the New Order, so now you have to re-earn your place."

The silence stretched and warped. The clock, where was the clock?

I spotted the grandfather clock once more, it read 7:12 PM. My veins seemed to awaken at the notion of time, my heart's thundering seeming to slow.

"What can we do, Sir?" Sil asked for both of us.

"You have to travel to 1888." He said, almost too fast to understand. Almost.

Sil looked at me in confirmation, "But sir, that was more than 300 years ago, the time of the Old Order..."

"Have I not taught you about the Old Order and what periods they served? Have my history lessons and education for you not been sufficient?" The Grand General's eyes landed on me, blue and icy. Ice so cold that it burned.

I looked away.

1888. The year was pulling at some distant memory, but one I could not quite reach.

My voice trembled as I spoke and looked back at him, "No, Sir, he does not mean any disrespect-" I shot another glare at Sil, "- but we have never Traveled back so far. The most we have done is 50 years, I don't think-"

"You will do as you are told." His words cut, deep and true.

Travelling back so far... we needed to know the Times well. Needed to speak the proper way. 1888. People back then had only been aware of abilities for less than a decade.

I watched as the Grand General passed the files to Sil, and then to me.

"This is everything you need to know of 1888. Memorize everything. You are to leave in 3 hours." He said, opening the files in front of us.

~~~~~~

We sorted through everything for what seemed like an eternity.

TICK-Tock.

One, two-

TICK-Tock.

Silence. Too much silence was beginning to fill my head when the Grand General spoke again,

"Your mission is to get a little black book. The contents inside are crucial to the New Order-"

"But how are we to find one black book amongst thousands of people?" I asked, at last letting my exasperation show.

"Patience, girl." He shot back, his own slipping the leash, "The little black book belongs to one individual. This individual has an affinity like mine, except it is... messier, more vengeful. Inside the book, there are said to be... runes that can render our kind useless. Take our abilities away. It is what the Emissos are looking for as well. It is their purpose and one of ours."

I bit back a curse. Going up against anyone with an affinity like his was impossible. You can't get close enough, you can't touch - and if the contents inside of the book are true...

Sil asked, "Our mission is in Whitechapel, London? All these documents and readings are about the same district."

The Grand General nodded, "That is correct. You are to appear on August 7th, 1888 at precisely 2:04 AM."

Again, that memory pooled and surfaced at the back of my mind but... not quite close for me to read it.

The Grand General continued, "In the 312 years that have passed, no one has ever been able to find the black book... or the person's identity."

My vision suddenly sharpened, "Then how do you expect us to?"

He slammed a fist on the table, startling us both.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, ele-

Sil now had joined our chairs together, slipping a protective arm around me, as his right hand gripped my own. My gaze shot to the Grand General's gloved hands.

"You are both our last chance, we fear the Emissos are one step closer to finding the book, especially since they might have guessed at your ability... and if they take you, they can make you do their bidding and strip you of your affinity when they acquire the book. It disappeared with the owner in 1888, and it was never seen again. There are theories the individual buried it, but those are just theories."

The danger of the situation hit, at last, making my throat dry as I spoke again, "What is the person's name?"

The Grand General shifted in his seat, uncomfortable, "That is part of the problem. Nobody knows his name. Or her name,"

A piece of the puzzle, at last, seemed to click as the Grand General continued, "It is believed that between August 7th and September 10, 1888, this individual massacred a total of 5 women. They wrote several letters to the London Metropolitan Police Service, your job is to join the Scotland Yard, as it was called, and try to figure out who the killer is, given everything you know already. Once you know who they are, finding the book will be easier."

Everything started to piece itself together, all the information laid bare before us. I nodded and at last let go of Sil's hand, running my hands through my hair and setting down the papers.

Sil opened the bag the Grand General nudged towards us, conjured from a hidden cabinet in the bureau. His eyes widened and he looked up at the Grand General. I sat up and looked inside too, my eyebrows nodding together.

Inside the leather bag, there was ... money. A lot of it. I looked at the Grand General and voiced what was in my head, "How much is this? It's more than we have ever been given."

"It's exactly £20,000. You will know what to do with it when the time comes. Trust me."

Trust me, says the man who breaks bones with a touch.

We both nodded and started to gather all of our things when he spoke again, "There is one more thing... the killer... they went by a name,"

Sil pursed his lips, "Yes, sir? What was it?"

As we stared at his icy demeanour, the answer settled in me deeply.

The answer seemed to bounce around inside my head and I sucked in a breath as the Grand General sentenced us,

"The infamous killer went by Jack the Ripper, and you have less than a month to find them before they disappear."

Silence.

A glance between Sil and I was all the indication of our horror and fear.

Less than a month...

TICK-Tock.

One, two-

TICK-Tock.