My heart jumped and I froze in place. Master Talik opened his eyes and straightened up on the chair instantly.
When he saw me standing there, he narrowed his gray brows in surprise, like he hadn’t heard me coming in at all.
“Hello,” I breathed with an awkward wave.
“Miss Reese.” The Timekeeper looked around the workshop as if to make sure that nobody else was there with me.
Then his eyes fell on the table in front of him.
The panic that went through him was evident. He grabbed the device and slipped it in the pocket of his apron, and stood up. Wiped his forehead with the heel of his hand.
“What are you doing here at this hour? The workshop is closed. The lectures start again tomorrow,” he told me, and his voice was so different from usual. So…sharp.
“Nothing, I…” I looked behind me at the door and considered mentioning Reggie, but Master Talik already looked out of it.
The way he’d been sitting there with his eyes closed. The way he hid that device from me, whatever it was.
“I just came to talk to you, if you have a moment. I only have a question.”
He turned to the side, ran his hands through his hair, shook his head. “No time,” he whispered. “I have no time I’m afraid, Miss Reese. I’m, uh…expecting someone.”
I raised a brow. “It’s eight o’clock.”
“And I’m already late,” he said, and moved all around the table, came to me. “Come, now. Go to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“I just want to know about the Labyrinth, Master Talik,” I said, but he was already pushing me gently toward the door.Time’s Teeth, I’dneverseen him acting like this before. He was always so friendly.
And maybe it was just me, but his hands were slightly shaking, too. His skin was at least two shades paler than usual.
“We all do, we all do,” he muttered, rushing me forward.
“The memories that we gave, Master Talik,” I said anyway. “The…the versions of us we had to forsake in the trials.”
We were already by the door, and he opened it, put his hands over my shoulders, and basically pushed me out into the hallway.
I turned, put my hands on the door frame, angrier by the second. “I just want to know when the Labyrinth will give them back, that’s all. Please, just tell me. That’s all I want to know.”
I didn’t plan to leave here without an answer. Because hehadto know. If not him, who?
For a second there, Master Talik’s eyes softened a little. He smiled—not a pleasant or unpleasant one. Just a smile. I thought for sure he’d tell me—two weeks, a month, a year. I’d take anything, really. Any answer would do.
Instead the Timekeeper said, “Goodnight, Miss Reese.” And he closed the door in my face.
27
By the time I made it back to the dorms, the others were already gathering close to the third door on the right—now Silas’s room, since he’d switched with Reggie.
Reggie wasn’t there, though, but the others were. All of them whispering, telling me to keep quiet with their fingers in front of their mouths, before they waved for me to follow them away from the dorms again.
It seemed Calren was already gone.
I considered telling them I wanted to rest, but then what would I do alone in my room, except stare at the ceiling or sketch? March was with them, and I wasn’t even sure if Iwantedhim in my room again, not after the way I’d behaved toward him all day. It was honestly a little embarrassing. If I couldn’t control myself, I might as well just stay away from him altogether.
Staying away would be better if I was out here with everyone else—so I followed.
March, of course, stayed behind and waited for me, fell into step with me, but he didn’t say a single word while theothers led us down to the ground floor, through one door and another.
They took us straight to the kitchen.
