“Wait!” I called before I realized what I was doing, and he stopped. Looked at me like I’d assaulted him.
“I don’t know anything,” he said in a rush. “I’m just maintenance. I just bring him food, that’s all.”
I could hardly believe my own eyes, but the bearded Timekeeper lookedafraid.
“Do you know why he’s doing this?” Mimi asked.
He shook his head. “Nobody knows. He just does. Nobody can stop him.”
He just does.
That wasn’t even close to the answer I was hoping for.
“How long has he been like this?” March asked.
“I don’t know. Days, or-or weeks—I don’t know.” The Timekeeper moved farther back, half-hid behind the wall.
“Wait, please,” I said, just as Calren slammed against the wall once more, and then he fell.
He fell on his knees in front of the wall, pressed both hands onto the surface, head down as he breathed and breathed…
Then stood up again, his legs barely holding him.
“I don’t know anything. I don’t know anything,” he insisted. “I just bring the food!”
“But you have to—” Mimi started, but March cut her off.
“If you tell anybody about us, wewillfind you.”
Even Calren seemed to pause, to slam against the wall a second too late, breaking his perfect rhythm.
The bearded Timekeeper didn’t say anything else. He just turned the corner and walked away without making a sound.
Calren walked back a couple feet for momentum, but he couldn’t take another step. He fell, on his knees first, then his side, eyes closed, breathing slow.
But his eyes remained open and on the wall.
Missingthings don’t have edges.
That’s all he said, over and over again. It had been at least a few minutes since the guy brought the food, but Calren wouldn’t even look at it. Instead, he lay there on the floor, sometimes with his eyes open, sometimes closed—like he was resting. Like he was preparing for another round.
Days or weeks.
That’s what the bearded Timekeeper said—only something told me it was the latter.
“He’s not going to help us,” Cook said eventually. “And I really don’t think those drawings are the proof.”
Yes. Neither did we.
“I say we stop wasting time and we continue our search, or that Timekeeperwilltell on us,” Levana said.
“We can’t justleavehim here,” Mimi whispered.
“Well, we can’t exactly take him with us, can we?” said Russ.
“Through,” Calren whispered. “Through.” Of course, his eyes never ever moved from the wall.
The others continued to argue, a few insisting that we couldn’t leave yet, others expecting the Timekeeper woman to come find us any second, others sure that we’d find the proof if we just kept searching this place like we’d planned.
