Timekeeper (Timekeeper #1)(93)

“You’re the clock,” she breathed. It wasn’t a question. “The spirit, I mean. I’ve seen someone like you before. In Dover, there was a little girl …” She glanced at Danny. “When the clockwork exploded, she started flickering. She almost disappeared entirely.”

They both knew without having to say it: Colton was fading, becoming more and more transparent. If he disappeared, Enfield would be trapped forever.

And Colton …

“I’m sorry about your mum,” Danny said. “I’ll help in any way I can, since I know this is my fault. But keeping the cog won’t do any good. You can see that for yourself.”

Daphne looked down at the cog. Danny crouched before her, ready to wrestle it from her hands if he needed to, but eventually she gave a shuddering sigh and nodded. Her hair swung forward to hide her face.

“I’m sorry,” she said, holding the cog out to Colton. The spirit lifted pale, blurred hands to take it. “I’m so sorry. I—”

A commotion on the stairs made Danny turn. Brandon slid down the wall, groaning, as a hulking shape lunged toward Daphne.

“Matthias!” she screamed, jumping back. “Wait! You can’t do this.”

He came to a jarring halt. “Give me the cog.”

“You can’t put the Maldon spirit in the Enfield tower,” Daphne said. “It won’t work.”

Danny and Matthias looked at her. Daphne’s face was grave, her voice even. But Danny knew that she was bluffing. They didn’t understand the complexities of the clock spirits, didn’t have the right data to come to this sort of conclusion.

But she was Matthias’s old apprentice, and the top of her class. She was appealing to his sense. Or what was left of it.

“Think about it,” she went on breathlessly. “Nothing like this has ever been done in the history of the clock towers. There’s no guarantee that installing the Maldon spirit’s central cog will create the same area of time. It would all have been for nothing if it doesn’t work. Both spirits will die.”

Matthias paused to think, and Danny shifted slightly, ready to attack at the slightest motion. Colton held onto his elbow, keeping him back. He met Danny’s eyes and shook his head.

“You don’t know that,” Matthias said.

“But do you really want to risk it?” Daphne asked.

There was a pregnant silence in the small tower room, time everywhere and nowhere at once, making the moment stretch. Danny’s muscles coiled with tension.

When Matthias finally moved, Danny jumped to his feet and grabbed a handful of the man’s shirt. Matthias grabbed the cog from Daphne’s hands, knocking her to the ground. He turned and shoved Danny into Colton. Heavy feet thudded down the tower stairs.

Danny scrambled up and turned to the others. “Brandon! Take Colton and Daphne to the clock tower and stay there, no matter what.”

“What, you’re going after him?” Brandon demanded with a hand pressed dramatically to his injured head. “Are you mad?”

“I have to. Daphne, I swear, any funny business—”

“No,” she insisted, crouching protectively over Colton. “Not from me.”

“All right. Get him to the tower and—”

“Danny!”

He knelt beside Colton, who reached for him. Danny took the spirit’s hand in his own and something scraped against his palm: the little cog. Danny leaned over and kissed him hard, refusing to believe it would be the last time.

“Go,” Colton whispered against his lips.

Danny thundered down the stairs. When he burst from the church he saw a few townspeople on the green, still searching. But down the street he spotted someone running full speed toward the barrier.

Danny gave chase. A runner he might not be, but suddenly the buildings blurred and the shape of the man grew closer—time was warping him forward. Matthias turned to look for the source of pounding feet just as Danny barreled into him, sending them crashing to the ground.

The central cog flew out of Matthias’s arms. Danny struggled to go after it, but the man pulled him back down.

“No you don’t, Danny,” Matthias panted above him. “I’ve waited too long for this chance.”

“You’re a murderer!” Danny yelled past his dust-clogged throat. “You’ll be killing Colton and my father. You’ve already killed Lucas!”

Matthias paused, his grip loosening. “Danny … I didn’t …”

“Matthias, no!”

Evaline’s voice. Of course, she had to be here for Matthias to have crossed the barrier. Danny twisted his head around to find her standing a short distance away, pale as a ghost.

Matthias let him go and grabbed the cog. Evaline kept her gaze on Matthias, who pretended not to notice her horror.

Danny lurched to his feet. A drop of sweat rolled down his forehead and dripped off his eyebrow. Time warped, and the drop rolled back up his face.

“I’m sorry, Danny,” Evaline said. “I tried to stop him. He won’t listen.”

“You don’t know what I’ve sacrificed for us,” Matthias said. “I’m through living with so little hope. If I have to get my hands dirty, so be it.” His chest was heaving as he faced Danny. “Even if it means going through you.”