Timekeeper

by Tara Sim

  “You’re a real bloody comfort,” Danny muttered, rubbing a hand over Colton’s back. “What about an actual solution?”

  “Thought I gave you one.”

  “No wonder they call you Big Ben. Big Headed, more like.”

  “Never heard that one before.” The spirit smiled broadly. “Listen, mechanic. Time is the language of all things. It is everything you see, hear, touch. Treat it carefully.”

  Danny couldn’t tell whether he meant time as a whole, or if he meant Colton. He supposed they were one and the same.

  “And remember,” Big Ben said, looking straight at Danny. “You have more control than you think.”

  The clock struck eleven and the four great bells began to carol the hour. Danny felt the floor vibrate with the chimes and stood rooted to the spot, surrounded on all sides by the booming, mesmerizing sound. In the chimes they heard something more than bells, something like what the spirit had been trying to tell them: time moves, and so does life, for good or ill. They could stay up here and wonder, or they could go and see what would come to pass.

  When the last ringing echo faded into silence, they turned back to Big Ben, but he had disappeared.

  Danny was reluctant to move and break the spell, but he roused himself with a shake of his head. “Right. We best be going.”

  “To Enfield?” Colton asked hopefully.

  “To Enfield. But first I want to check if Matthias has been by the house.”

  “Yes,” said a new voice behind them, “he has.”

  They whirled around. Matthias stood on the landing, blue eyes fixed on Danny. They briefly took in Colton and then settled on Evaline. His shoulders slumped.

  “Why did you leave, Eva? You said you understood.”

  Evaline had frozen at the sight of him, but his pleading tone coaxed her to speak. “Matthias, this is wrong. You know it is. I thought I understood at first, but now that I know the truth, how can I?” She swung her head from side to side, a dreamer gradually waking up. “You’ve destroyed my town. All those people I loved and cared for are trapped because of you. And because of me.”

  Matthias opened his mouth to respond, but guilt stole his words. Danny saw it in his eyes, in the curve of his shoulders.

  Evaline shifted her satchel behind her. “I have to fix things. If you truly love me, you’ll let me do this.”

  Matthias took a deep breath. “If you go,” he said, “I’ll never see you again. You know that. Would you really leave if it meant never being together again?”

  She turned her face away.

  “Eva …”

  “Don’t do this to me, Matthias. Please.”

  “I can’t be alone again. I can’t lose you.” He reached for her hand, then thought better of it. “When Alice … when she … I thought that was it for me. But now I have you. You’re all I have left.”

  Evaline was silent. Matthias tensed, and Danny worried he would spring forward and drag her away from the tower by force.

  “Matthias,” Danny called. The man snapped his head around. “How could you do this to us? I thought I could trust you. You didn’t just trap the people of Maldon, you trapped my father. Your friend. How could you look my mother in the eye with everything you knew?”

  Matthias flinched. Not so strong after all.

  “Danny, let me explain.”

  “I’ve heard it all from her. And I know what you’ve been doing to the clock towers. It’s appalling.”

  Danny had hoped, in some small corner of his mind, that he was wrong. That Matthias wasn’t the culprit, that it had all been in his head, like Tom and George. But the man’s silence was as good as a confession. Something broke inside him, the crack echoing painfully through his body.

  “Danny, look through my eyes for one second. You know what it’s like to grieve.” Matthias swallowed. “Losing Alice, I thought I’d never be happy again. And all that changed.” His eyes flickered to Evaline. “But just like that, it was taken from me again.”

  Danny fought not to glance at Colton. He felt him at his shoulder, alert. “I don’t need convincing. I’ve already made up my mind, and so has she. If you stand in our way, you’re not proving your love. You’re proving how selfish you really are.”

  Matthias’s face hardened. “What do you know of love, Danny? You’re just a boy.”

  Danny fumbled for Colton’s hand and gripped it hard. “I know more than you think.”

  Matthias looked between them, his anger shifting to surprise. “You can’t mean—him?”

  “And why not? You talk about losing everything, but if you do this, we’ll lose everything, too.”

  “Danny, it’s not at all the same. Eva and I—”

  “It’s exactly the same, and don’t you dare say otherwise!” Danny yelled, wondering how many of those threads Big Ben had described were attached to this moment. Colton gripped his hand tighter. “Tell me where you put his cog, Matthias. I’ll make your life hell if you don’t.”

  Matthias suddenly came forward. It took all of Danny’s strength to stand his ground.

  “Hell? You don’t know what hell is. You know nothing of that place.” Matthias reached for him.

  Colton stepped between them and grabbed the man’s wrist.

  “Leave him alone, mechanic,” Colton said coldly.

  Matthias recoiled in surprise. He yanked his arm back and Colton stumbled, too weak to maintain his grip. Matthias turned as if to shove the spirit away, and in that instant one of Danny’s possible threads snapped.

  He lunged at Matthias.

  There was a yelp of surprise, but he didn’t know if it came from Evaline, Colton, or himself at his own daring. He had no delusion that he could do much damage; Matthias quickly regained the upper hand, pushing Danny to the floor and pinning his arm behind his back.

  “No!” Evaline yelled. She held Colton back as he tried to come to Danny’s aid. The more he struggled, the weaker he grew. “Stop this, Matthias! I’ll go with you if you leave them alone.”

  Matthias paused.

  “No,” Danny croaked. “Don’t—”

  “Do you mean it, Eva?” Matthias demanded. “I’m only doing what’s best for us. You understand that, don’t you? This is the only way we can be together. I have to take you to Enfield.”

  Evaline steeled herself and nodded. She gripped her satchel with both hands. “All right, Matthias. If you can live with the guilt of separating these two boys forever, and for all that you’ve done, I’ll go.”

  Matthias looked down at Danny and his eyes softened. He let go. Danny scrambled away, almost falling when he regained his footing.

  “You’re too young to understand,” Matthias said.

  Danny barely heard him over the horrible ringing in his ears.

  “I’m sorry it had to be this way,” the man added.

  “I’m sorry we ever trusted you,” Danny whispered back.

  Matthias grimaced, then turned back to Evaline. Colton had sunk to his knees, swaying. Danny hurried forward to steady his shoulders.

  “Evaline,” Colton called out. She looked at them with regret, but there was something in her eyes like the substance of her tower, stone-like. It held them dangling over the pit of despair, not quite yet falling in.

  “Go home to your mother, Danny,” Matthias said, wrapping an arm around Evaline’s waist. She clutched her satchel tightly. “She’ll worry.”

  Danny watched them leave. In his mind, he ran after them. In his mind, he was racing off to Enfield to beat them there. He tightened his arm around Colton’s shoulders. The spirit’s head sagged onto Danny’s chest.

  “What do we do?” Colton asked softly.

  Something winked in the corner of his vision and he turned to see Big Ben standing in front of one of his clock faces.

  “You spoke about the threads attached to us,” Danny said. “Can you see how many of those possibilities are still attached to me?” The spirit nodded. “How many have severed in the last five minutes?”

/>   “Half.”

  Danny shuddered and pressed his lips to the crown of Colton’s head. “We’re going back to Enfield,” he said.

  The auto wouldn’t start. Danny swore and opened the bonnet, poked around, slammed it back down, and tried again. It gave to eventually, and after he fumbled with Cassie’s ridiculous holster, they sped off into the freezing night.

  Colton lay in the backseat. He’d been awake as they were leaving Big Ben, but when Danny turned to check on him now, his eyes were closed. At least the small cog was still nestled in his palm, a tether to his tower.

  It began to snow when they broke past London. Danny could hardly make out a thing in the dark, but he squinted into the pale moonlight, using familiar signs and landmarks to guide his way. Snowflakes met his face in icy kisses, gathering on his clothes and in his hair. They coated Colton’s unmoving body.

  “Hold on,” Danny called to him. “Nearly there.”

  The auto sputtered and whined. Smoke belched from under the bonnet and the interior mechanism shuddered. Danny felt it pass through his seat and cursed again.

  “Not now, you stupid old thing!”

  But now seemed the perfect time, and another shudder rolled through the auto like a gasping, hiccupping wheeze. They were so close to Enfield, within ten minutes of the outskirts. Danny could see the dark gray dome up ahead, standing still and silent like a brooding sentinel.

  He didn’t see the bump in the road. Danny had always managed to narrowly avoid it, but with his attention elsewhere, they hit it full-on and the auto’s center of gravity shifted.

  Danny cried out. The auto toppled sideways and he felt as if he were flying through space, the small white pinpricks of snow like cold, empty stars. Then he landed painfully on his side and blacked out.

  He came to seconds later and groaned. A squeaking sound came from one of the tires rolling uselessly on its axle. The boiler under the bonnet began leaking, smoke rising as if from an infuriated dragon. Danny shifted himself and winced. He had hit his head, and when he touched the spot above his right eyebrow, his fingers came away bloody.

  He tried to get up, but the holster around his chest kept him strapped to the seat. Danny fumbled with the metal clasp and breathed a quiet thanks to Cassie. If it hadn’t been for this, he might have been thrown from the auto completely.

  He kicked at the door above him until it gaped open into the night, then crawled out and fell to the ground below. Danny rubbed his arms and legs to restore circulation through his aching body before he forced himself to stand. He opened the back door and reached for Colton, dragging him away from the wreckage. The spirit hardly stirred, though he was still clinging to the cog.

  Danny sank to his knees and shook him. “Colton? Colton!”

  “Danny,” he whispered. “All right?”

  “Yes, I’m all right. We’re fine. We’re near Enfield. Can you feel it?”

  Colton nodded.

  “I’ll have to carry you. Just hold on.”

  He gathered Colton in his arms. Pausing for a moment, Danny gazed sadly at the smoldering auto. No amount of repair work could fix it now. Maybe it was for the best. When his legs stopped shaking, he turned toward Enfield and ran without looking back.

  Danny had never been a fast runner, and even in matters of life and death he was mediocre at best. He soon developed a stitch in his side and was gasping for breath. His head pounded and his vision swam. Matthias was probably just behind him, racing toward Enfield with Evaline in his faster, newer auto. They would overtake him at any moment. And since Matthias had a spirit with him, they would be able to walk through the barrier before Danny and Colton could.

  Danny stumbled, then stopped. His breath hitched. They were alone out here, a tiny speck in an endless night.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, unsure whether Colton could hear him or not.

  As if in reply, a hand grabbed his shirt. Colton met Danny’s gaze, though he was struggling to keep his own eyes open.

  “Don’t give up.” His voice fell upon the syllables like a slow-swinging pendulum. “You can’t. You’re Achilles and Perseus and Heracles.” He struggled to smile. “You’re the prince who saves the day, remember?”

  Danny would have laughed had he been able to, but instead, his eyes began to sting. “Oh, hell,” he muttered, and picked up the pace.

  The gray dome loomed before them. Danny nearly toppled over with fatigue, but he pressed forward, drawing Colton’s body close to his as they passed through the barrier. The sea of gray swallowed him, muted all his senses, until they sprawled painfully on the soil of Enfield and Danny earned a mouthful of grass.

  “How can you be back already? You’ve only just left!”

  Danny squinted up at Brandon’s face. The sky overhead was bright, considerably brighter than the night Danny had just left. Of course—time was frozen. It would be the exact moment the thief had removed Colton’s cog, 11:14 in the morning.

  “How long was I gone?” he rasped, sitting up.

  “I can’t tell, can I?” Brandon said irritably.

  “The cog?”

  “We’ve only just started looking. Why are you wearing different clothes?”

  Danny hid his face in his hands and laughed. He laughed until there was no more air in his lungs and he started to cough. When he regained his composure, Brandon was gaping at him.

  “It’s been more than a day.”

  “What? How?”

  “The town’s Stopped, Brandon.”

  Brandon helped put Colton in Danny’s arms. The spirit’s hair was tousled, and Danny smoothed it down.

  “No time for grooming, mate,” Brandon said. “What’s the news?”

  Danny explained what had happened as they walked toward the green. In his hurry, he forgot to hide Colton. By the time he realized his mistake, they were already in view of the searching townspeople.

  They saw Danny immediately and rushed forward when they noticed the body in his arms, perhaps believing he’d found the thief. The back of Danny’s neck prickled and his breath caught.

  The people began to crowd around, chattering over one another, demanding answers. But then he saw the flash of understanding in their eyes, first in a woman near the front, then in a man with a worker’s cap, on and on until the same thought ran across everyone’s faces: this wasn’t a normal boy Danny held.

  The crowd hushed around him, a few figures winking out here and there as time looped.

  Brandon shifted uneasily at his side, looking to Danny for a cue to do something. But Danny had to face them himself.

  He took a deep breath. “Enfield,” he said, “this is your clock.”

  There were gasps and murmurs as all attention shifted to the limp form of Colton. The spirit opened his eyes, saw what was going on, and squirmed in Danny’s arms.

  “Danny—no—”

  “Let them see you,” he whispered, then raised his voice for the others to hear. “This boy is responsible for your town. He’s watched over you, mourned with you, laughed with you. He loves this town, and its people, and would protect it with his life. If you honor that, then help us find his missing cog and restore Enfield to what it was.”

  Danny wondered if he had done the right thing. Nobody moved or said a word. He almost preferred their questions.

  Then one person broke from the crowd and approached him. Harland. Danny tensed, but Harland stopped just before him. He wore an expression of disbelief, but when he met Danny’s eyes, there was also wonder.

  Slowly, carefully, Harland touched Colton’s arm. Colton allowed him to, staring up in his own wide-eyed amazement. Harland exhaled in surprise.

  “He’s real.” Harland turned to the others. “He’s real!”

  The townspeople shouted and rushed forward, reaching for Colton in a shy, sacred way, like a religious ritual. Like they might have reached out to touch the shrine of Aetas hidden in the hedge. Colton could only stare at them, his lips parted.

  “Hold on, lad, we�
�ll find your missing piece.”

  “Hang in there!”

  “Let’s check the manor house.”

  The crowd broke apart and renewed the search with tripled effort. Danny was trembling, but he smiled. Colton still looked as if he’d been struck on the head.

  “Who do you suppose could have done it?” Brandon asked.

  “Someone in the town, maybe? Matthias could have bribed them. I don’t think any of the other mechanics would do something like this, but none of the apprentices would be experienced enough. Besides, Matthias loves the apprentices. He wouldn’t put one in danger.”

  Then again, he had killed Lucas. Maybe not on purpose, but it was something Danny couldn’t look past.

  As the people of Enfield searched the gardens, the houses, the hedge, Danny focused on Colton, trying to use him as a compass. It kept them near the village green, but he soon grew as frustrated as a dog sniffing the same spot only to find nothing new or remarkable about it. Time warped them out of

  Danny closed his eyes and focused harder. He tried to see the time threads stretching between him, Colton, and Brandon. What tied them together? What decision would set them on the right path?

  Danny looked around. His eyes fell on the church.

  “Has someone checked there?”

  “I think so, but I haven’t gone in yet.”

  “Let’s see.”

  They walked across the green to the parish church. The nave and tower were formed from the random bits of rubble that workers had taken for good materials back in whatever long-ago century it had been built.

  Danny walked inside with Brandon. The church was empty, the pastor out searching with the others. Colton stirred the farther in they went, restless.

  “It’s close, I think,” Danny murmured. Colton’s head tilted toward the steps leading to the church tower. “Come on.”

  They climbed the spiral staircase until they reached the tower room. Slats of gray light leaked through the window shutters and striped the floor.

  Danny peered into the gloom and heard the scuff of a boot. He tensed, then set Colton on the floor with his back against the wall, out of harm’s way. Danny exchanged a nod with Brandon and they advanced quietly.