Tessa walked up the corridor to her bedroom haughtily, throwing her weight against her side of the door, preventing Will from storming into her bedroom, which he would have, and will.
Tessa winced as the sound of Wills consistent rapping on the wooden door echoed into her left ear painfully.
"Oh...just go away why don't you Will? Why don't you?" Tessa yelled through the door, kicking her side of it with quite a mix of muddled emotions. "My god, you are such an arse! Oh, for the question you asked me that week or two ago...yes I do! Yes I bloody do! I love you, and I love Jem, but, I do so too much, to break your hearts! You are both masterpieces ripped at the edges, and I don't want to rip you anymore! Don't you see, Will? Of course I love you! How could I never have? You bloody bloke! You lot just have zero idea of what us women go through for love do you? I am split into bloody four! There's you, Jem, Harry, and my bloody self! Why can't you just leave me alone, you feckin' barstards! And stop falling in love with me would help!" Tessa finished, tears running down her cheeks, her voice choking up, she pulled the door open to a shell-shocked Will. "How do you think, that you have lived, if nobody, anywhere, in the world ever, ever cared for you Will?" She whispered, beckoning to an extremely thick ball from under her bed. It hovered above her upward turned palm, about an inch or maybe three. "Move," she ordered, a second later it flew across the hall and with a tremendous bang, biting a chunk of wood paneling and an under-layer of stone from the wall.
"Tessa...I am so, so hopelessly sorry, for everything I have done to you. I am so, so, sorry." Will whispered slowly. "Maybe some time it will our time, but, until then, you know I'm always going to be in love with you Tess. Who is Harry? Do you love him." The way Will asked, it seemly wasn't a question. It simply wasn't. He turned away from Tessa, and began to walk down the corridor.
"No, he loves me Will, as I love you and Jem. And, if something doesn't happen to you first...I-she- might kill you, or, you will be killed. I need to tell you something, and Jem too. Please, if you truly love me, please listen to me, please." Tessa said to his back, her tone desperate, alike the hopelessness of the workhouse howl that haunted London's east end.
"What is it Tess?" Will asked, worry feeling his tone. Never more in his life had he wanted to reach out and hold her. "Did something happen?"
"It is and has already happened-happening. Please, Will, find Jem."
*
Tessa sat on her bed, twiddling her thumbs nervously, as Jem and Will burst into her room, a breathless flush flooded through Jem's cheeks, as though he had run a wide stance.
He probably had, thought Tessa.
In a moment, Jem had crossed from the door to her bed, and wrapped his arms around her tightly, Tessa doing so to him as well.
Jem sat down beside her, his arm around her shoulder, Will standing by the doorway, not entirely sure of his position in such, the present emotional arrangement.
"When my powers, the shape-shifting...I knew about them, but I couldn't use them. I was an excellent venquillotrist back in New York, I used to draw enormous crowds...but, it wasn't just that either. I have a very powerful scheme that holds my current image, the image as you know me. Back in New York, I broke the world record, for the loudest, most destructive voice, over land and water, by a human being. The original record was 600 decibels. I was 854 decibels. The boy who presented this record, he was an old man when I broke his record. He wasn't un-happy, he just simply laughed and smiled, and patted my back. He was a kind man. A very kind man. That was one part of my power, my voice. I'm not just a shape-shifter. I'm a Timekeeper. One of the most powerful in the world actually. There's a couple of assets when you're one of my kind. One of my kind, can change their image, and the reflection of their soul, that's our shape-shifting. We can twist, warp, and create time from our finger-tips. We can travel to and fro through time and memories of age and present. And, one more thing. We are born immortal. But, when one of my kind gets to a moment in one's life, and truly needs to die, when our souls feel as if we have lived life, breathed life, been life itself, one's eyes will close, our deaths are softer than the most kindest dreams. And, lastly, my voice." She paused, her breathing slightly heavy.
"By the fucking angel." Will said, his hands trembling. "How...do you mean...that you have known, about your powers...and...why on earth, haven't you told anyone?"
"You could see a woman walking down the mains street, very ordinary. Unless you see us in our Times, you could never see that I am a Timekeeper. The Black Sisters never picked up that I was a Timekeeper. Neither has Mortmain. And, until now, neither of you." Tessa let out a shaky laugh, scratching the back of her neck. "I have come back in time, about...127 years. A lot of things have happened in that time. I come from 2005, present year in my time. At the moment, I'm actually the Vicar of a small village, called Dibley. I'm not Roman Catholic, I'm Church Of England, Jem." She added quickly, when she saw Jem pale. "I bear the appearance, in that year...about...above 21. Ok, ok, I am approaching the big 40 in my image over in Dibley." Tessa said, exhaling quickly in the time of getting her secrets out to two of the people she loved-loves- most. "But, er, I'm actually a couple of million years old, us Timekeepers, er, live for rather a long time." Tessa said, barely more than a whisper. Will came and sat on the bed next to Tessa, so that he could hear her nearly un-hearable voice. "We, live the way that is necessary. But, one day, I came to this little town, all these people, and the antics..." Tessa laughed, a single laugh, but a genuine one. "...And I realised that I cared. This was in...1993. I had training and that...and from then, I became the Vicar of Dibley." Tessa spoke with hollow, as though something had snapped inside her.
"And, I am taking it, that you don't truly believe about my other powers? Well, why don't I show you?"
