Chapter 29 #4
Wasn’t it funny how I nodded right away without needing to even think a second longer, and said, “Me, too.”
“Me, three,” said Mimi.
“And me,” said Seth.
“You’re mad, all of you,” Master Talik whispered, shaking his head as he fell back in the chair.
“Count me in,” said Erith.
“They don’t get to just steal from us and not suffer the consequences,” said Anika. “Yes, I’m in, too.”
“I guess I should consider myself lucky to even be in a position to do something about it…” Cook looked up at Master Talik. “Right, Master Talik?”
The question hung in the air like smoke.
The old Timekeeper looked like he was about to explode. His eyes were bloodshot, his hands in tight fists.
“Right, young man,” Kohen answered. “And it is brave of all of you to offer, but unless Master Talik allows it, nobody will go near the Great Clock.”
“Sure, we can,” Levana said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “I’ve admired those women my whole life. I wanted to be them—and they are stealing from my home? No. We’re going.”
“You can’t,” said Kohen. “Without a Royal Timekeeper, you wouldn’t be able to get through the first locked door.”
“Are you a Royal Timekeeper?” I asked, but Kohen shook his head.
“Not for a long time now, no.”
“Calren is,” Silas said.
“Calren is unconscious,” said Master Talik, then looked like the words slipped from him involuntarily.
“Then we’ll wait for him to wake up,” Silas said.
“And when he does, he’ll need time—” the Timekeeper started, but I was no longer as patient as I’d have liked to be, so I said, “Then you will come with us. You will help us. It’s your duty, isn’t it?”
The way he stood up made March step a little closer to me—but I wasn’t afraid. Not in the least.
“Don’t talk to me about duty, young lady,” he said.
“But I will. This is our chance. We’re all here already, and—”
“This is not the right time! The whole realm is looking for you, and you showed your face all throughout the Court of Hearts so recklessly—”
Heat on my cheeks and my chest and my gut.
“Actually, my friend, this might be exactly the right time because of that,” Kohen cut him off this time.
Master Talik stopped. Turned to the other Timekeeper. Blinked.
“Everyone’s looking for them, and nobody will think to look for them in the tower of the Great Clock. And if someone spotted a suspicious couple in the Court of Hearts, even better. They’ll be looking for them there, not here.”
“And it will be three o’clock at night,” Silas said. “No search party will be looking for us then.”
“Fifty-seven minutes, Master Talik,” I said. “Less than an hour, and it will be over.”
“Everything will be over. All this misery…” Kohen’s voice trailed off.
“Changes. Real changes will happen,” Mimi said.
“So, you’re all willing to die for this—is that what you’re telling me? You’re willing to lose everything for this?” Master Talik sounded in disbelief. “Because the chance that we’ll make it out is very, very low. They will either catch us and kill us—or the Great Clock will.”
Die, he said, and I didn’t bat an eye.
Instead, I said, “Well, isn’t that why we’re here, Master Talik?
” He looked at me like he didn’t understand what I was saying, so I explained, “Time’s sentinels that He sent to the realm to make sure His time was never stolen again.
The Club and the Diamond, the Heart and the Spade.
That’s us. That’s literally why we’re here. ”
It made sense in my mind, it really did. When the Great White Rabbit stole from Time, and He sent His sentinels to watch after the realm—this was what He meant.
“She’s right,” Silas whispered. “And as much as I hate the Turning Trials, they brought us all together. All four courts. One or two alone couldn’t do it. It would have to be all courts.” The way he smiled said he almost hated the idea just as much as he was thankful for it.
“Holy Hour, that makes sense,” Cook said.
“When you put it like that, it makes this our duty now.” Seth.
“Our job. The reason we exist.” Mimi. Exactly my thoughts.
“So, yes, Master Talik,” I said. “I am willing to die for this. Are you?”
The Timekeeper laughed.
He stood up and threw his head back and laughed his heart out like I’d said the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
“Twenty years, Talik,” Kohen said over the laughter. “We’ve watched and we’ve measured and we’ve waited. Now it’s time to act.”
For another minute or two, the man laughed.
Eventually, he stopped.
Eventually, he sat back down in his chair, his oil-stained hands flat on the table.
We waited with hearts in our throats, watching his lined face caught in the amber light of the lanterns on the walls. We waited and we prayed and we all thought we knew exactly what he’d say, but…
Then Master Talik drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes.
“We’ll leave by two thirty m.b. to reach the tower in time.” His eyes opened. “That gives us about six hours to prepare.”
Silas exhaled. March grabbed my hand over the table. Mimi covered her face with both hands.
“You’ll also need your tools. All of them,” a grinning Kohen said.
And that was that.