“The trials happened—twice. The curse you were told about is real.We found that notebook in the Labyrinth, among your things that the help took from your rooms to be discarded. It’s the reason why we brought you here,” he said calmly.
“That doesn’t answer the most important question—why?” said the Heart and it was like the gears in my stomach turned twice as fast at the sound of him.
Whatever he was doing to me, it could not be normal.This situation required all of my focus—I’d beenkidnapped,for Time’s sake—yet he spoke and I lost my head completely.
“Isn’t it obvious?” the Timekeeper said, eyes on the notebook in Mimi’s hand. “You read the vow you wrote. Youknew.Even before your memories were gone, you knew someone was responsible for…well, everything that happened to you.”
A tick passed by slowly.
“Which is?” said one or the other, and even my heart didn’t beat as we waited and waited, and…
“I can’t tell you that, I’m afraid.”
The disappointment could have been a mountain suddenly resting its weight over my shoulders—as if I hadn’t been met by those same words since this madness began. As if I wasn’t used to it by now.
“Right. The decree,” said the girl standing next to me. If I thought hard enough, I would remember which name was hers, too.
Maybe.
“No, young lady—notthe decree,” said the Timekeeper, and this time, when he stepped into the room and came close to the table, we didn’t move away. We were plenty uncomfortable, but the table between us was wide, and most of us were holding our chronobanks, too, as if we’d know what to do with them. I doubted it—not a single one of the former Hands looked older than eighteen.
“If we may sit down so we can talk properly.” The Timekeeper didn’t wait for a reply this time, and when he started walking and we all leaned away at the same time, he and his friend didn’t even look at us.
Instead, they went all the way to the chairs where we’d woken up and sat with their backs turned to the stairs. Kohen then waved his hand at the chairs across to tell us to sit down.
I didn’t want to sit down. Time knew I’d rather be somewhere out in the open right now,breathingfreely—but I also knew that these men here had the thing I wanted the most, which wasanswers.So, I inhaled deeply, locked eyes with the others for just one second, lest I let their fear and doubt hold me back. Then I walked all around them.
A hand on my arm.
The Heart boy’s hand.
He’d stopped me, pulled me back, and now he was looking at me like he, too, was surprised to find himself touching me. Just the way he stared at his hand around my arm…
The others were already talking,whisperingas if they had hopes that the Timekeepers wouldn’t hear them when they were less than ten feet away.
What are you doing—they could kill you—they’re lying, of course they’re lying—I’m not going anywhere near them—they’re Timekeepers!—we need to use these minutes we were given, does anybody know how?!
On and on they went, all in the three seconds that the Heart boy and I looked at one another, his hand still around my arm.
Then he let go.
Such a strange feeling took over my chest, something like…disappointment. Which made no sense—but what really did in my life lately?
“If they wanted to hurt us, they would have. They obviouslycould,”I said in half a voice. The others stopped talking. “They could have kept us chained or roped. They could have hurt us while we were still unconscious.”
Wide eyes, shaking heads, flinches.
“They haveanswers.”I whispered the last word like it was more precious to me right now than all the time in the world. “And I havea lotof questions.”
“Even my questions have questions,” said the Club boy.
“We can be careful,” said Mimi. “There’s two of them, and nine of us.”
“They’reTimekeepers,” the Heart girl hissed with a roll of her eyes—and her name, too, was at the tip of my tongue. Was she Anika, or Erith, or…Levana.
She was Levana—I was eleven-hours certain of it.
“Which means wecan’tleave if they don’t want us to, even if we try, so…”
