Zavier turned back completely, waiting for Danny to continue.
“Maybe we really should be focusing on the bigger picture. But I’m still not sure what to believe. I know what I saw, but what if Aetas’s power wears off? What if time does Stop in these places you’ve freed?”
“That won’t happen.”
“But how do you know for certain? I want to see Meerut. I want to see that the city is still running. Then I’ll give you my decision.”
Zavier eyed him with that familiar caution. “I can show you Meerut,” he decided. “But only from the air. We’re not landing.”
“That sounds fair. Thank you.”
A rare smile flitted across Zavier’s face before he opened the door and asked for Edmund to escort Danny back to his room. As Danny made to leave, Zavier stopped him.
“Here.” He handed Danny the small cog. “Dae can’t make sense of it. I’m sorry for keeping it from you for so long.”
Danny’s hand trembled as he took it. Touching the cog was almost like touching Colton, and it suddenly gave him all the courage he needed.
“Remember: Meerut,” Danny said.
“Yes. Meerut.”
He should have known.
The pockets of Indian rebellion just before the clock towers fell. The rumors that something was going to happen to the Delhi tower during the New Year’s celebration. Danny had anticipated the terrorists using the celebration as a distraction; he just hadn’t anticipated rebels using the terrorists as a distraction in return.
Both sides benefited, and everyone else lost.
Danny had read about the massacres during the uprising. Indians slaughtering British citizens, British irrigating the Indian plains with rebel blood.
He saw the oppression all around him, the indignation in Meena and Akash’s eyes. He wanted India’s freedom, too.
But not at this cost.
Sacrifice what you want for what is right, Zavier had said. Hypocrite.
The airship had traveled north since the incident at Edava, and now they flew somewhere near Nepal. They could easily hide in the clouds, but they’d had to land twice for fuel. Both times, Danny was kept under tight watch in his room. He hoped that someone would recognize the ship and stop Zavier, but no one ever did.
Christmas came and went. Again, the crew tried to lure Danny into a sense of false security, popping Christmas crackers with colorful crowns, promising cooked goose and rosemary potatoes, but he accepted none of it. His stomach growled in displeasure, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the approaching New Year. He couldn’t let anything distract him.
The crew had given him other clothes, but he insisted on wearing his own outfit the day after Christmas, when Zavier said he would take him to Meerut. It was wrinkled and the cuffs were frayed, but at least someone had washed it.
Zavier came to his room, handcuffs at the ready. He saw the look of disgust Danny gave them and shrugged. “I have to be sure.”
“You don’t trust me?”
The young man raised his eyebrows. “You don’t even trust me yet. You said you would give your answer after you saw Meerut. Until then, you’ll have to bear it.”
Danny held out his arms and Zavier fettered his wrists together. At least Colton’s cog was safe in his pocket, providing some small measure of comfort.
Zavier led Danny to a hangar built in the belly of the ship. It housed a small aircraft, its engine already warm and running, the same one that had carried the water to Edava. Danny looked around, and Zavier seemed to read his mind. “We have none of Aetas’s water left. We could go back for another batch, but that’ll take a few days. It would be much simpler if you just told us your secret about Enfield.”
Danny bristled, but decided not to respond.
Zavier opened the aircraft doors, one on either side. There was room for two people to sit in the cockpit. Danny clambered into the seat without controls, wriggling his hips awkwardly since he didn’t have use of his hands. How the hell was he going to do this?
Zavier slipped in beside him, then shifted so that Danny could see the metal rod at his belt. The threat was clear. Danny still didn’t know what it did, but it was bound to be unpleasant.
The hangar opened. Danny held his breath and stared at the expanding sliver of sunshine that grew into a sheet of crystalline blue. How many feet were they above the ground? How steady was this aircraft, anyway?
Zavier took hold of the controls and urged the plane forward, out of the hangar. Danny bit his lip to conceal a startled noise. They were going to drop. They were going to fall right out of the sky. At least Zavier would die alongside him, a minor consolation.
The aircraft did drop, but only a few feet. A small yelp escaped him.
Zavier glanced over. “Don’t worry, there are parachutes.” He pointed past Danny, to the side of his seat. “I’m a relatively good pilot. My aunt and uncle taught me.”
“You don’t say.” Danny sank down into the seat. The less he could see of the open sky, the better.
“How do you like her? My aunt?”
She’s the only sensible one on that ship. “She’s all right.”
“You know, you should try to get to know the others instead of locking yourself up in your room all the time.”
Danny tried not to laugh. He tested the handcuffs; they only had two inches of give between his wrists.
“Do you honestly think that if enough time passes, I’ll think of you lot as my friends? Sorry to disappoint, but I already have friends, and they’re looking for me as we speak.” At least, he hoped so. “I’m not in the market for new mates.”
Zavier shook his head. “Never mind.”
They flew in painful silence. Danny closed his eyes and listened to the thrum of the aircraft, tensing whenever an air current made it shudder. About forty-five minutes later, Zavier cleared his throat.
“We’re here.”
Danny sat up and looked out the window, and the bottom of his stomach dropped out. There it was—Meerut. Danny’s eyes automatically scanned the city for signs of Aditi’s tower, even though he knew it wouldn’t be there.
“Get closer,” Danny demanded. “I can’t see anything.” He thought he heard Zavier sigh softly before he brought the plane farther down, making circles over Meerut like a vulture.
People walked through the streets. Wares were bought in bazaars. Devout worshippers visited the temples. Life continued without the tower, just as Zavier had promised. Danny’s throat tightened.
“I told you, Danny. We don’t need the towers anymore. Meerut is free now. Imagine if everywhere in the world were like this.”
Danny didn’t respond. He continued to stare out the window, heartsick and defeated, thinking of Colton’s broken tower and what would happen to it when time resumed in Enfield. He leaned his forehead against the window as his vision blurred.