The voice was coming from somewhere above—from the massive hole in the ceiling over us, completely ruined.
It was the Timekeeper woman who’d stuck out her head from upstairs, her eyes bloodshot, clearly mad.
“Don’tmove!” she shouted again, and…
“Run, run—RUN!” Russ called.
We didn’t need to be told twice. I grabbed March’s hand and pulled him to the left, where everyone was already running to, jumping over the rubble, raising the dust in the air once more.
There was no time to think. There was no time wonder what had happened, how the floor had caved in like that so suddenly, how it had taken us down—onlyus. Only the former Hands, not the Timekeepers or the maids.
Someone screamed and shouted from the floor above.
Someone laughed and cheered as we ran, away from the rubble and down a wide hallway with doors and doorways on either side, until we came to a junction with a large structure in the very middle—a grandfather clock made of polished dark wood and gold.
We stopped running on instinct right there by the doorway—except for Mimi, who continued to walk all the way to the clock, her unblinking eyes glued to it.
“Holy Hour, guys—did you see that? The floor just caved!” Seth whispered.
“How?Did any of you do that?” asked March, his hand still in mine—and it occurred to me that thatwasa possibility, since we all had chronobanks full of Sparetime, but…
No; nope; not me; wouldn’t know how; would love to take creditbut nope; wasn’t me…the others said, speaking at the same time.
“It was the palace.”
We all stopped and looked at Mimi, who was still in front of that grandfather clock, staring at it like it had all the answers she’d ever need.
“What do you mean, it wasthe palace?” asked Levana, and we all slowly went closer to her, to inspect the clock, too.
“Itwas,” the Club said. “It caved the floor to get us away from them.Look.I think I’ve seen this before.” And she reached out her hand, touched the glass of the clock with her fingertips. Shivered visibly.
“I think her gears need a good oiling,” whispered Russ from behind, only to earn an elbow to his side from Anika, who then went around us and to Mimi’s side.
“Mimi, do you…do you remember something?”
We held our breaths again, waited…
Mimi turned to Anika like she was surprised to find her there. “I remember this. I remember it.”
It was like she’d unlocked a door I hadn’t known was locked in my head, and when it opened a little bit, sunlight peeked through.
For a moment there, we were all speechless, lost in our own heads, because we all knew what that meant. If Mimi really remembered this clock, there washope.Maybewewould remember something, too. Maybe we all would remember by the end of this.
“I think I want to lie down now,” Mimi then said, looking around at all of us, and maybe it was just me, but she looked…lighter.Calmer. Still white in most places, but all that running had shaken some of the dust loose.
“Where would we do that?” asked one or the other.
“Third floor.”
The words sprang from my own lips, and they took all ofus by surprise. It was like they’d been tucked right underneath my tongue waiting for that question, relieved to finally be out.
Then Seth said, “This way,” and he started walking toward the third corridor from our left, like he knew exactly where he was going.
We went after him, one after the other, and at that point it had become normal to have my hand in March’s—as natural as walking on my own. I didn’t even consider letting go, even when Seth led us to a stairway, took us to the second floor, and then the third.
None of us was afraid that the Timekeeper woman or a maid would find us. None of us looked behind once as we went, and I couldn’t even put my finger on thewhy.
Mimi claimed that the palace itself had caved that floor, had made us fall—and Kohen’s words still spun around in my mind as we climbed the stairs in silence.
