by Tara Sim
Danny settled down on the front step, feigning boredom. The woman stared at him a moment longer, then tugged the little boy along. Danny waited until they entered the park, then jumped to his feet and squeezed into the little alley at the side of the house.
Idiot, he told himself. The police are going to come and haul you off at this rate.
He found a rubbish bin in the alley and dragged it over to a small, square window. As he climbed onto the bin, it wobbled alarmingly under his weight. He pressed his hands against the wall with a moan of dread. Wishing he had an insect’s ability to stick to walls, he reached up and banged on the windowsill with the heel of his hand. It took a while, accompanied by some pained curses, but eventually the window eased up enough for him to wiggle his fingers through.
Danny pushed the sash open. Hoisting himself up, he almost fell onto the bin, and scrambled to use whatever strength he had to maneuver his way through. He toppled forward into a tiled washroom, nearly smashing his head against a corner of the sink.
“Danny Hart, you are not made for burgling.” He stood, wincing, and stepped into the blue-painted hallway.
“Evaline?” he called, softly at first, then louder. He wandered into the still-messy sitting room and paused, taking in the destruction. The room was filled with the echoes of smashed glass and the sounds of his own rage.
Danny backed away and checked the kitchen, then eyed the stairs uneasily. The plots of detective novels passed through his mind, ones in which the detective thinks he’s close to a clue and gets bludgeoned for his trouble. But though he took the stairs slowly, fist raised to strike a potential adversary, nothing happened. He lingered on the landing just to be sure, then peeked into the rooms. No one was here.
“Evaline?” he called again. He thought he heard a muted thumping from outside. Then he realized the sound was coming from right above him, through the ceiling.
He looked frantically for a way to get to the attic, racing back and forth along the landing until he noticed a cord. Tugging with all his might, the stairs descended with a drawn-out creak and a small cloud of dust.
He hurried up the stairs. The attic was a spacious upper room that Matthias used as storage space, judging from the boxes and bags flung haphazardly about. But there were new additions: a pallet on the floor, some books, a lamp, and a clock spirit.
“What are you doing up here?” Danny demanded as Evaline hurried toward him. “Where’s Matthias?”
Her face fell. “Danny, I’m sorry. He’s going to do something terrible. You have to stop him before it’s too late.”
Something beat low and dark in his chest. “It’s already too late. Where’s your cog?” She grabbed it from underneath the pallet. “Good. Come on, I need to get you away from here.”
“But Matthias—”
“There’s a clock spirit who needs your help. Will you come with me or not?”
She looked lost, pale fingers curled between the spokes of her cog. Still, she nodded and followed him down the stairs. She disappeared into what he guessed was her bedroom and returned wearing a green dress. Her cog was in a satchel at her waist.
“He’s done it, then,” she said when she met Danny’s gaze. He nodded, and she set her jaw. “Take me to this spirit.”
The auto shuddered but accelerated quickly over the frosted pavement. Cassie’s new holster dug into Danny’s shoulder. At his side, Evaline’s hands were folded protectively over the satchel in her lap.
“Why on earth did he lock you in the attic?” Danny asked. “I thought he loved you.”
She gave him a tiny smile, as if to say that he had a lot left to learn. “I told him what you’d said, and how I wanted to return to Maldon. He … didn’t take it well. When I asked why he kept the truth from me, he said he didn’t want to upset me with the news.
“He knew it was wrong, he admitted it himself, but the thought of being abandoned—” Her voice cracked, and Danny squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. “He said he couldn’t live through that again. He couldn’t survive being left alone a second time.
“I said I understood more than anyone, but that it wasn’t an excuse, and I would return to Maldon. Matthias wouldn’t have it.” Her voice lowered. “He forced me into the attic. I begged him to stop, but he wouldn’t listen. He told me not to worry, that his plan would work somehow.”
“Plan?”
“He’s told me about a faulty clock tower in Enfield. I thought the spirit had abandoned its tower, like I did mine. Maybe to transfer to the new tower being built. That’s how he made it seem. But that isn’t true, is it?”
“No,” Danny said. “I told Matthias about the clock tower in Enfield. I was assigned there to help with repairs.”
Danny felt dizzy, and it was all he could do to focus on the road before him. “I think Matthias planted the bombs.” Even though he had no way to confirm it, voicing the thought felt finite, irreversible. “He wanted to get rid of another clock spirit to have a tower free for you. Maybe he thought if he broke a tower’s central cog with a bomb, the spirit of that tower would disappear and he could install your cog instead. All this time I’ve been thinking the protesters had something to do with the attacks, or Tom and George, but Matthias could have easily used them as a cover.”
Matthias had lined up the pieces for him like the mystery books he so loved, waiting for Danny to put the wrong ends together.
He swallowed hard. “And he couldn’t use the new Maldon tower because he’s exiled there.”
“So there was a new tower?”
“Yes, but your darling Matthias destroyed it.” But why, apart from not being able to use it? Another thing he didn’t know. The blood pounded painfully in his head. “He killed Lucas. He nearly killed me, and Daphne.”
Danny glanced at Evaline, the wind whipping their hair as the auto sped through the streets of London. Her eyes were round.
“What? He …” She trailed off, wandering down that particular trail of thought until it came to its grim end. When she spoke again, she sounded leagues away. “He’s been so strange these last few months. I’ll catch him staring at nothing, or weeping, or locked in his bedroom working. And he doesn’t even try to reassure me anymore. His eyes are emptier than when I first met him.”
Danny’s throat tightened. After a moment he said, “I understand how Matthias feels, you know. The spirit in that tower, he and I …”
She nodded for him to go on.
“Matthias knew the bombs weren’t working, so he stole the Enfield spirit’s central cog. The spirit is with me now, in London.”
“Without his cog?”
“My apprentice is searching for it. I wanted Colton—that’s my spirit—to stay with me, to stay safe. You told me the tower here in London helps you. It’s helping him, too.”
They didn’t speak for the rest of the drive. When the auto shuddered to a stop, Danny turned to Evaline. She gazed solemnly back at him.
“I may be in the same position as Matthias,” he said, “but I won’t make his mistakes. He’s going to try to put you in that clock tower, but if he does, Colton might disappear. I’m going to do everything I can to stop that from happening. Do you understand?”
She nodded. Without her tower, Evaline was as pale as Colton. Her tired eyes made her look older than the woman she would have been if she were human.
Danny called for Cassie as soon as he opened the front door. She came out of his bedroom holding her wrench and started when she got a look at Evaline.
“Blazes, that’s her, isn’t it?”
Danny didn’t answer; he ran up the stairs to Colton’s side. There was no change in him, though his eyelids flickered when he heard Danny’s voice.
“He’s the same,” Cassie confirmed. “Hello there, are you Miss Evaline?”
The clock spirit had followed them, drawn to Colton’s presence in the house. She gave him a brief, sympathetic glance before turning to Cassie.
“Yes, that’s me. Do you know, too?”
Evaline drew near the edge of the bed. Colton struggled to open his eyes, sensing her presence they way she sensed his. A tiny ripple went through the air as she walked, a slight tug from the cog. Even Danny felt drawn toward it.
Evaline leaned over Colton until he opened his eyes fully. When he saw her, he made a small noise of recognition.
“Evaline,” he whispered hoarsely.
“Colton.”
“Do they know each other?” Cassie murmured to Danny, who shook his head. They were products of time, more or less made of the same substance. Of course they knew each other. In a way, they were each other.
Evaline removed her cog from her satchel and set it carefully on Colton’s chest. He tensed, fingers curling into the sheets, but his expression soon smoothed into relief. He opened his eyes and nodded.
“It helps him a little,” she said, turning to Danny and Cassie, “but it’s not a solution. Will you return to his town soon?”
“We have to. But I need to find Matthias first.”
“I don’t know where he is,” she admitted with a frown. “He said he was going to the office to resign, but that was hours ago.”
“He—? Damn it.” Danny walked in a tight circle and pushed his hands through his hair. “If he did go to Enfield, we’ll find him when we bring Colton back, but I can’t risk leaving until I know for sure Matthias isn’t in London. Otherwise I might never get Colton’s cog back.”
As Evaline tried to make Colton more comfortable, Danny led Cassie downstairs. They speculated on Matthias’s whereabouts and wrote up a list of places Danny could check. Danny often looked out the window, half-expecting Matthias or the police to be coming up the walk. He crept upstairs to check on the clock spirits, but they never seemed to move. What was hours to Danny and Cassie was but a minute to the spirits.
Danny’s mother came home in the early evening, her coat slipping off one shoulder and her hair a rumpled mess.
“The news is all over,” she said, setting down her bag. “Oh, hello, Cassie. Everyone knows that Enfield is Stopped. You should hear them going on about it, not knowing a thing, and the protesters all up in arms again. I heard there was a riot in Hanover Square. It was all I could do to keep from looking like I knew something. Did you find Matthias? How’s Colton?”
She was about to go upstairs to check when Danny blocked her way. “Matthias wasn’t home. Colton is fine. I mean, he’s not, but we’re still sorting it out.”
Leila clucked her tongue. “You best sort it out fast. I don’t know how long we can keep this up.” She headed into the kitchen.
He and Cassie shared a look. “I should be heading home,” she whispered. “My mum’ll worry. And speaking of mums, you need to speak to yours.”
Danny wanted to cling to Cassie, to beg her not to go, but he knew she was right.
She wrapped her arms around Danny’s neck and held on tight. “Ring if you need me.” She promised to check on them tomorrow before she slipped quietly out the front door.
Danny squared his shoulders and walked into the kitchen. His mother was nervously washing the dirty teapot, needing something to do with her hands. He tended to do the same thing.
“Mum, I need to tell you something.”
Leila set the wet teapot on the counter. “What is it?”
Danny took a deep breath. “Evaline is here. The Maldon clock spirit.”
It was a good thing his mother wasn’t holding the teapot, or else she would have dropped it. She swayed and reached for the back of the nearest chair, leaning heavily on it.
“She’s here? The Maldon spirit—here?”
“Yes. She’s upstairs with Colton.”
Leila stared at the tabletop. She pushed herself upright.
“She has to go back. You have to take her to Maldon, Danny.”
“Mum, wait—”
“I swear, if you don’t—”
He grabbed her arms. “Listen to me! She’s our only chance to save Colton. If I take her back to Maldon, who knows what Matthias will do with Colton’s cog? He might destroy it, and then Colton will …”
Leila grew quiet, and his hands slipped away.
“I know, Mum. I know it’s hard. But we’ve got to let her sort things out with Matthias. If we take her to Maldon now, he’ll do something rash.”
Leila swallowed audibly. “Danny, how could you do this?”
The words reopened the wound inside him. It bled a fresh wave of fear through his veins, pulsing your fault, your fault, your fault.
It was a struggle to get the words out. “Do what?”
“You had to know what would happen, getting involved with …” She waved her hand at the ceiling, in the direction of Danny’s room. “You’ve gone and tangled yourself up with a clock spirit, and now Enfield’s suffering for it. Just like Maldon suffered when Matthias had his fun. How could you do it when you knew what would happen?”
They were the same words he’d told himself, but coming from his mother, they took on a whole new existence. They were living things with teeth, eating away at what precious defenses he had left. Danny held his elbows, staring at the floor. He saw what she could not: sunlight through a clock face, the pages of a fairy tale book, a dance across the tower floor.
“I’m so disappointed, Danny.” Her mouth trembled. “Your father taught you better than this. If he could see you now …”
The frail cage Danny had built around himself crumbled with a breath. His nerve endings were suddenly exposed, electric.
“Do you think I decided this? That I woke up and thought, you know, that clock spirit’s rather nice, maybe I’ll fancy him? You know it takes more than that. It takes time. A shared look, a … a shared story. And before you know it, you’re heading toward something you never saw coming, and when it’s there, it’s just … it … takes you away.”
Danny had been shouting, but by the time he finished, his voice was little more than a whisper. He couldn’t bear to look at her.
“I didn’t choose this,” he said.
The kitchen was silent for so long he thought they’d turned to stone. Then Leila said, haltingly, “I didn’t say it was a choice.”
“You may as well have,” he growled. “I know you think it. And if you’re going to hate me for it, I’d rather you forget I’m your son. Lord knows you’ve done a pretty good job of that already.”
She took a step back, her eyes wide. “Danny, don’t say such a thing!”
He glared at her, feeling not like Danny Hart, but someone else using his voice. “Matthias was selfish for keeping Evaline. You were selfish when you chose to go to Chelmsford. And I was selfish, too, wanting something I couldn’t have. But I’m doing what I can to save Enfield and Maldon. In order to save Colton and Dad. Don’t compare me to Matthias, Mum. Don’t blame me for something I haven’t done.”
Leila looked away. Danny moved to the stove, angrily preparing another pot of tea. It came as naturally as breathing.
“It isn’t his fault.”
They both turned at the sound of Evaline’s voice. The spirit stood in the kitchen doorway.
Leila opened her mouth, but Danny rushed to speak first; he couldn’t trust his mother not to drive Evaline from their house. “How’s Colton?”
“Worse, I’m afraid. If we find Matthias I can ask what he’s done with the cog, but I don’t think he would tell me. Not after—”
“Why did you leave?”
Evaline turned from Danny to his mother. Leila was breathing hard through her nose, her fists clenched.
The clock spirit dropped her eyes. “It’s difficult to explain.”
“Difficult to explain? There’s nothing to explain. The town’s suffered—we’ve suffered—because of you. You have to go back. You have to free my husband!”
Danny stepped between them. “Mum, wait. She didn’
t know that the town would Stop, and Matthias told her it had been fixed. Blame him, not her.”
“She’s still responsible for her actions. Leaving … leaving Christopher there …” She almost gave in to tears, but collected herself at the last moment. “She’s the most selfish of us all.”
“If Matthias had just told her—”
“No,” Evaline interrupted. “No, she’s right. This is my mistake to fix.” She closed her eyes, regaining control of herself, and then returned her gaze to Leila. “I’m sorry,” she said, “for Stopping the town and for preventing your husband from coming home. If I had known, I would never have left. I only had eyes for Matthias, and I see now that I was foolish. Perhaps clock spirits are not quite so different from humans after all.”
Danny touched his mother’s arm. “It’s not like we could help it. You said so yourself: wouldn’t you do anything for the one you love?”
Leila looked at him. Her eyes were vague and somber, but gradually something shifted, a curtain pulled back. He caught her gaze flickering almost imperceptibly to the ceiling. Toward his room.
After a moment, she turned away, crossing her arms low over her chest.
“Just as long as you return to Maldon.”
“I will,” Evaline said softly.
Leila slumped down into a chair. Danny glanced at Evaline.
“Can you give us a moment?”
The spirit nodded. She returned to his bedroom, her step so light that Danny didn’t even hear her on the stairs that normally creaked under his and his mother’s weight.
“It all seems so impossible,” Leila whispered. “I’ve spent three years trying to convince myself I’d never see him again. Now he’s right within my reach, but I still can’t touch him.”
Danny knelt before his mother. “I haven’t done a very good job filling in for Dad, but I promise we’ll get him back.”
She sniffed and dabbed at one eye with her sleeve. “What’s this nonsense? Your father would be proud, seeing you take charge like this. You sounded like him just then.”
Unable to meet her eyes, he stared at her shoulder instead. “It’s my fault he went. My fault he’s gone.”