I agreed somewhat. I’d been breathing and functioning so many times without actually feeling alive.
Nevertheless, it made no difference to me, and it made no difference to the others, either. Mimi was already pulling on her boots. Cook had uncrossed his arms and was checking the Sparetime in his chronobank. Seth cracked his knuckles. Even Levana who complained about everything, who had argued against every decision since the moment we were taken, was looking at that open hatch with something on her face that wasn’t reluctance for once.
“It doesn’t matter whether Reggie is alive or not. We have to go for Silas. Heisalive—that we know for sure.” And it was enough.
“If you get caught—” Kohen started.
“The more time they have to prepare, the easier it will be for them to find us. I say we act now,” March said—and I agreed.
Kohen seemed to agree, too.
He looked at us for a long time. Nine faces. Nine sets of eyes looking back at him.
Then the old Timekeeper sighed deep and long, like he was exhaling the last of his resistance.
He said, “The queens. They most likely know, too.”
The queens.
The White Queen who’d created this whole mess with her counter-curse that had forced time to move backward for two whole weeks. The dangers of stopping the Great Clock. Risking the entire world.
The Red Queen, who, according to Kohen’s best guess, was the reason why our memories were gone.
The queens of the Clockrealm, who were supposed to protect their people at all costs, had done this. They were thieves, lying and stealing, then wiping the memories of the witnesses, too.
All the while the realm was none the wiser.
According to these Timekeepers, of course. According to Silas.
Suddenly it was getting really difficult to breathe, like all that information was finally catching up to me. Finally dawning on me. Finally starting to make sense.
“Then all the more reason to find Silas,” Seth said. “Now—beforetheyfind him.”
“Let’s go.” There would be time to think and make sense of things. I made for the hatch—it was right there, it was open, and it was going to lead us to Silas so we could get him back.
“Wait!”
A hand in front of my chest—Damon, but it was Kohen who’d called.
“Wait. Do not go in there,” he said. “There’s no telling what you’ll find. That tunnel was closed decades ago for a reason!”
“Well, Silas apparently opened it,” Erith said.
“And why don’tyougo find him? You’re Timekeepers. You can do magic, can’t you?” said Levana.
“We can’t. The Labyrinth would never allow us,” Kohen said. “I’ve tried—many times.”
I believed him, if only because of how earnest he looked.
“Thenwe’ll go,” I said. “We found him once.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Kohen insisted. “The queens know—theywillcatch you.” With every word he said, he became more and more anxious.
“We can’t just leavehim to fend for himself,” March said. “What if they catchhim?”
Just the idea sent ice-cold shivers down my spine.
“If the story you told us is true, the White Queenwillkill him,” said Levana.
