“I think he was a friend,” said Mimi, and for a second, nobody spoke.
“Yes. I think so, too,” said Cook.
“I think he was…smart.” Russ scratched his head. “I’m not sure why, though. It’s just…a feeling.”
Yes,a feeling.
Silas was smart, and a friend, and a Spade and a Timekeeper.
He wassad,so sad in the eyes, and he was…hiding. This was the impression I got when I thought about his portrait, the way I’d drawn him.
Probably just a silly thought.
“I wonder what he did when he washere.I wonder what we all did, how we broke those hourglasses.Why,when we could just pull them out,” Erith said. “I wonder why.”
“I wonder what Reggie did, too,” Mimi whispered.
There it was, that gnawing feeling in my gut. The one that brought tears to my eyes that took me by surprise all over again. I didn’t understand it. I didn’t getwhymy body would want to break apart this way at the thought of them. Yes, they were the two Hands who’d died, but I didn’t actuallyknowthem, did I?
What exactly had they done when they were here?
A memory—no.
The echo of a memory that wasn’t there anymore.
A headache was developing behind my eyes so fast that I had to quit the drawing and rest back against the platform, close them, focus on breathing.
The others talked. They threw ideas around. Names. Complained about hunger. Considered we should start accepting that we were never going to make it out, and asked if someone was willing to be the first to sacrifice themselves so that the rest of us could eat.
More death.
It raised the skin on my forearms, the idea.
“Maybe we should try again. Maybe the hourglasses will behave now,” said Erith.
“They won’t,” said two or three at the same time.
“But theymustat some point!” Anika cried.
“Theywon’tbehave. As soon as everything’s in place, the Thirteenth Hour will be activated, and we’ll have to undo the whole thing all over again.No, thank you,” said Seth, throwing something in the air and catching it again. It was asmall object, like the mushroom that I’d put in my pocket just to have with me, though I hadn’t thought to take it out.
But…something about what he said.
“So, I guess we’ll die here. Together. Starved to death. How neat,” said Russ, his voice dull, his eyes closed like he was willing himself to forget where he was.
I looked at the drawing of the Eighth Hour in the dust. I could have done a much better job, but you could clearly make out the platform, and the bulb, and the timesand inside.
What was it that Seth said again?
“We’re not going to die. They wouldn’t let us just…die.” Silence followed Anika’s words. “Right?”
As soon as everything’s in place…
“Don’t be a late minute, Anika. We all saw Reggie,” said Erith.
Yes, that’s what Seth said.As soon as everything fell in place, the Thirteenth Hour was activated.
“And we all know Silas is dead,” Cook said.
