He looked at me. Blinked. “Why, what?”
“Why was your father raised by Timekeepers? Where did he come from?” He must have been from the Court of Spades, if he was a Spade.
But then there were plenty of Spades who lived in Neverwhen, too, so…
To my surprise, Silas was quiet for a long time. His gray eyes drifted from my face to the floor, to the spinning mechanism, to his own hands resting on the cane.
He turned the question over in his head—I could see it happening, could see the gears turning in his mind. I’d even say he was a little surprised, as if the question had never occurred to him before.
Then he shrugged his shoulders, just a small, almost helpless gesture.
“I don’t know.”
22
The minutes stretched. The clock spun. The hand above the door crawled past ten, inching toward eleven with agonizing slowness. The mechanical pieces on the floor had settled into a steady pattern, rotating in place, clicking softly.
It was Seth who lost his patience first.
“Enough of this,” he muttered suddenly.
Nobody saw it coming, the way we were all lost still in that story Silas told us. Nobody even considered a way to stop him before he jumped off his table and ran for the far door.
Just like that.
He ran and hit it shoulder-first, full speed, all his weight behind it. The sound of it was deafening to me.
But the door didn’t budge.
No, something way worse happened.
A flash of light came from the lock—bright white, sharp as a blade—and then Seth wasflyingbackward. His body left the ground, and he sailed three feet before crashing into one of the tables.
He hit the floor on his side and didn’t move.
Screams and shouts.
We were all off our tables in an instant, clock pieces crunching under our shoes, scrambling toward him. March got there first, rolled him over. Seth’s eyes were open—dazed, unfocused, but open. His right arm was pressed against his chest, and even in the dim light I could see the way it hung wrong. Not broken—at least I hoped not, but probably badly bruised.
“I’m fine,” Seth groaned, which was clearly a lie. “I’m fine, I just?—”
“You’rean idiot,” Levana spat, but she was already kneeling beside him, pulling his sleeve back to inspect the damage.
“I’m just tired of waiting. I’mtired of being trapped!” he argued, and I knew exactly how he felt, and I knew hewasn’ttalking only about this room.
Still, I was just glad that he was okay.
“There’s a high chance that Timekeepers are alerted,” Silas then said as he used his cane for support to come closer. He looked at the mess of things all over the floor, shifting, trying to assemble again because Seth had ruined the clock they’d made.
And the hand of the door clock was no longer moving because of it. It was no longer getting closer to twelve—ifthat would even get the door open.
I wanted to smack Seth in the face myself now.
“What? What do you mean?” said March, standing up to face him as Levana and Cook inspected Seth’s arm and pulled him to sit up higher.
“The Labyrinth’s protection layers are active. The door throwing Seth off is proof of that, and whenever protection layers are tested, they send a signal to Maintenance, who areTimekeepers,” Silas said, and his cheeks were flushed, and he was breathing heavier, too. Clearly worried.
Which then made all of us worry, too.
