The clock struck thirteen, and everything changed.
"Oh no," Raquel murmured, looking fearfully at the grandfather clock in the kitchen. "Oh no no no."
"What is it?" asked Raquel's younger sister, Angelique.
"Do you not hear the clock?" Raquel's voice was squeaky and pinched.
Angelique looked up at Raquel with her big gray eyes, the color of a stormy day. "Was it thirteen? Has the time finally come?"
"It was not meant to," muttered Raquel.
"But mother foretold it would. That was the deal."
"But the clocks never strike thirteen! I never thought the time would come."
"Mother would never make a deal where she did not end up paid," replied Angelique in an eerily calm voice.
"You must hide." Raquel grabbed Angelique roughly and shoved her toward the dumbwaiter. "Get in."
"We must pay Mother," stated Angelique simply. Her voice taking on a slightly automated tone.
"What? How can you say that? Do you not know what price mother demands?"
"It's alright, it only has to be one of us." Angelique's head tilted slightly too far to the left.
"What are you?" Raquel demanded, "Angelique would never speak this way."
"Oh, I think you know, dear Raquel." Angelique--or whatever was in her place--faced Raquel. "You are the one who made the contract. You knew the terms. I have taken my fee."
"No!" screamed Raquel with all her might. "I made the contract, take me, not Angelique."
"Angelique was there, she signed the contract in her own blood as well and of her own free will."
"She was a child!"
"Details," waived Mother in Angelique's body. "Anyone who is of an age where they are aware of their soul--as Angelique was--can sign a contract."
"But it was I who sought the contract. I demand that you take me."
"Demand?" cooed Mother in Angelique's body. "Who are you to demand?"
"What--when will you release her?" asked Raquel.
"You know the terms."
"When the clock strikes thirteen a second time."
"Indeed."
"But you decide when the clocks strike so!"
"Perhaps."
"This was not a fair deal," cried Raquel.
"Fair? When did I claim it would be fair my dear, dear Raquel?" The look in what used to be Angelique's eyes was a mix of wonderment and guile.
"I did not--"
"You did not question when you received your end of the bargain, hm? You were spirited away from that wretched man who claimed to be your father, though he did not treat you as such. I provided you and your sister with your own home, your own means of independence, your own wealth. Did I not?"
"You did, but--"
"And all I demand in exchange is some time in one of your bodies."
"To do what with?" demanded Raquel, though her voice was beginning to show signs of defeat.
"Why, that is up to my own discretion. This body is much younger and more beautiful than the one I was using before. I think I shall have quite the time with it."
"Is...is Angelique still in there?"
Mother in Angelique's body tilted her head a bit too far to the right, "Yes, though you could say she is sleeping."
"So am I just to wait by this infernal clock for her return?"
"Yes. Though you will retain the means to do otherwise."'
"I didn't ask about that."
"In words? No, but I heard your thoughts."
"I will wait."
"So you say."
"I will!"
"Well, then I shall see you at the next strike of thirteen." And then Mother in Angelique's body was gone in the blink of an eye.
"I will," repeated Raquel to herself. She stared at a chair that had been pulled up to the clock.
(Prompt by ChatGPT)
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