“It…might be,” he whispered.
“Wait, wait—hold on a second. Are you saying that if the tea party game doesn’t exist, the Labyrinth will let Reggie go?” asked Mimi. “Am I getting this right?”
I nodded and nodded and nodded. “I’ve seen it. I…saw it, Master Talik. The woman pulled a pin and the man just…stopped.” The scene was still playing in front of my eyes.
“Destroy a game,” said Silas. He, too, was standing now, pacing around just like Master Talik. “I’ve never heard of that before. The Labyrinth saves all games.”
“Notall,” said Master Talik. “There’ve been games that have been shut off. Erased before. When they continued to expand and consume more and more magic even after being shut down. They’regames—not exactly in someone’s full control.”
Nowthatmade no sense to me whatsoever, but I didn’t get the chance to ask how that could be.
“So thenhow? Do you break the mechanism? Or the magic?” Silas stepped in front of Master Talik. “Haveyouseen it being done before?”
The old Timekeeper shook his head. “No. It hasn’t happened since I’ve been here.”
“But youknowhow,” he pressed, and he was right to do so because I could see it in the Timekeeper’s eyes that he did.
He sighed. Closed his eyes. Said, “Every game in the Labyrinth runs on its own clock—a mechanism built into the structure of the game itself, woven into the floor, the walls, the magic. It’s the heartbeat of the trial. As long as that mechanism ticks, the game is alive. It resets and runs and maintains whatever it needs to maintain.”
“Including its players,” Silas said.
“Including its players.” Master Talik nodded slowly. “Themechanism is what tells the Labyrinth that the game still exists. The Labyrinth doesn’tthink—more like it responds. It receives the signal and it responds by continuing to protect it, to feed it magic, as much as it needs, as long as it doesn’t get too…expensive,so to speak.”
“So, if the mechanism stops, does that mean the signal stops?” March asked.
“Theoretically, yes. The Labyrinth no longer receives confirmation that the game exists, so it has no reason to protect or feed it. It has no reason to hold on.” He paused. Looked right at me. “It would simply let go.”
“Of everything?” Mimi whispered.
“Of everything the game is maintaining. The space, the magic, the—” Master Talik swallowed hard. “The roles, too. Most likely.”
The words landed in the room like a stone, and they echoed in my mind for a while after.
“All of this is theoretical,” he added. “I’ve only heard of this—I’ve never seen proof or records. The way the games are built now—we program their ending before the beginning. There’s never a need to shut one off completely. On the contrary—they go to great lengths to make sure the games can be reused and reshaped into whatever they want later.”
“How?” Silas said—more likedemanded.“How would one go about stopping the mechanism of a game, theoretically?”
“One would have to dismantle it from the inside.”
“How, though? Canyoudo it?” Mimi asked.
“I-I-I don’t know! I’d have tofindit first, then take it apart piece by piece, in the correct order—but it’s dangerous!” He moved back, started pacing again, hands on his head. “It’s-it’s-it’s like taking apart a time-bomb—except the bomb is also trying to rebuild itself while you work.”
“Butcanyou do it?” March insisted, and we were bothsitting up straighter now, and I no longer needed support to hold myself.
In fact, the more we spoke, the more I breathed, the more I felt like myself. Like my body actually belonged to me now.
“I’ve never seen the tea party’s mechanism. I don’t know what it looks like, where it’s housed, or how many components it has.” Master Talik closed his eyes. “But…I suppose the principle is the same for every game…” His voice trailed off, and he didn’t finish speaking, though we waited.
Eventually, Seth said, “That’s not a no.”
Master Talik opened his eyes. Looked at each of us in turn.
“No,” he said quietly. “It’s not a no.”
Then the door far in the left opened fast.
Since my soul didn’t slip right out of me in those moments, it never would. A million scenarios crossed my mind, and it almost felt like going stillward again—but when it was over, it was over all at once.
