The party

The next night, Ben arrived at the party where Liz was struggling to sit. It was taking place at what used to be a courthouse. Now it was a museum, containing items that once belonged to Edward Bridgeman. There his famous outfit, his famous sword, his famous whip and his famous book of black magic.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I just got an ass whooping last night," Liz said.

"I was bullwhipped," Ben said.

Carl and his girlfriend Simone approached them. They were both black. Simone's father owned the museum.

"Hey, I found this book about the dread pirate Edward Bridgeman," Simone said.

Simone took them the room where Bridgeman's stuff was. Ben noticed that display case containing the whip was open. He picked it up.

"Bridgeman's famous whip. They called it the girl tamer," Simone said. "They say that when Bridgeman whipped a girl, she came to carve the pain."

"That's just sick," Carl said. "How can you get off to this?"

Simone took out the book and continued reading.

"When Edward hanged, they say a worm came out and entered the body of the judge's wife. They say that this made Edward the father of her son."

"Didn't he die in an orphanage?" Liz asked.

"They say he survived, or that the worm left his body and possessed a nun working there. That she became pregnant. It's possible a whole bloodline of Bridgeman exists to this day." Simone turned to a page with a spell.

Ben took notice of it. "Is this black magic?"

"I've never been able to use it myself. Apparently it only worked for Captain Edward..."

"Or someone in his bloodline," Ben said, he began reading the spell.

The next thing they knew, lightning struck Ben and went flying into a display case, knocking him out.