“Maybe because he had no guidance.” I looked at Cook. “Maybe if we help himseeit…”
“Or maybe we can just getoutof here right now and go do what we came here to do—because this is ridiculous,” Levana snapped. “We’re wasting time here. Who cares what the Timekeeper does?!”
Except we did.
Most of us did.
“I think—”I want to try to help him first,I was going to say, but then the Timekeeper suddenly moved.
Not gradually—all at once.
It was so sudden none of us had a chance to prepare ourselves. His eyes snapped open and his body lurched upward like something had yanked him by the spine—so, so strange.
He was on his feet and throwing himself at the wall before March even had time to reach for him. All we could do was move back before he slammed ontous.
The impact was sickening. Time’s Teeth, I couldn’tstandit, yet I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes or turn my head. His shoulder hit first, then his forehead, and the sound of bone against stone madeeverythingin me rebel.
He bounced back, staggered, and went again. Mechanical. Relentless. Like he’d been wound up and set loose with only one instruction inside him—slam against that wall.
March and Seth grabbed him before he could go at it the third time. The Timekeeper thrashed and kicked and groaned, so Russ had to join them, too.
I didn’t understand where he was getting all that strength, but it took three of them to pin his arms, and even then his legs kept pushing toward the wall, his bare feet sliding on the floor.
It was absurd. It wasmadness.
It had to stopnow.
These thoughts were running through my head just before I found myself in front of him with both my hands raised—“CALREN!”I shouted at the top of my lungs. His eyes were still locked on the wall like it was the only thing that existed in his world.
I wasn’t planning to give up, though.
“Calren—stop.STOP!Look at me!”
I was right in front of him now, and March warned me, and others told me to move back, but I grabbed his face in my hands all the same.
It wasn’t even a decision—leaving him behind wasnotan option. No matter what we came here for, no matter who he was, I would not leave him—nor anyone else—behind. If I could help him, I would.
Sparetime save me, Iwantedto, more than I wanted to remember.
By some miracle, the Timekeeper stopped thrashing. Actuallylookedat me. Maybe because I was just in front of his face, the tips of our noses almost touching, but still.
“Iknow,” I said, and I hated that my voice cracked. “I can feel it. I know there’s magic there. I can feel the seal. It’s there.”
There.
When those words left my lips, for a second after, he looked at me.Reallylooked at me like he could see me. Like he could understand me. “Cook and I will help. We’ve got Sparetime—you can use mine. You can unlock the seal with magic—but you can’t keep doingthis. It won’t work. You’re only going to kill yourself—you can’t break that wall by slamming on it.”
He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t thrashing.
I stepped back, eyes locked on his, and I pulled out my chronobank from my pocket. Brought it up so he could see it.
“Sparetime. Sixty minutes are in here. You can use every last one, okay? We’ll guide you.”
A second ticked by, then another.
Seth let go of his right arm first. Then Russ, then March.
“Ora,” he said, his eyes dark with suspicion, with worry. “Are you sure?”
