“Tools,” he croaked to Brandon. The apprentice ran to fetch them.
It took barely any time. Danny’s body still hummed with hyper-awareness from the fibers, and the thread between him and Colton grew stronger, brighter. He slipped the central cog back into its proper place and nodded to Brandon, who ran to the pendulum room below. The clock was wound—he and Daphne heard the chattering turn of gears—and Danny placed his hand on the central cog.
Calling in the fibers, time compressed all around them. A gear turned, and then another, until the cogs and gears rolled back into one large, functioning unit.
Time was released like the first gasp of life.
Colton’s eyes flew open. He shuddered and sat up, his edges filled in, the golden glow returning to his body. He looked down at himself in amazement. Then he looked straight at Danny with a smile so bright it flooded the tower.
“You did it!”
Danny fell to his knees beside him. He grabbed Colton and they both toppled over onto the dusty floor.
“We did it.” He took the cog from his pocket and pressed it to Colton’s chest.
THE BOY AND THE TOWER
There was once a golden boy who lived in a golden tower.
The tower was wrapped with threads of time, so meshed and measured that the boy had to care for them lest they become tangled. The boy stayed in his golden tower as time ticked around him, as he felt the days end and the nights stretch on forever, the earth tremble and fall silent, baked by sun and blanketed by snow.
One day, a lost boy came to the golden tower. He was alone, and had felt the gentle tug of time. He followed it to the golden boy, and saw the future as he never had before.
Through this golden boy he saw the sun and the moon and the galaxies that had given birth to everything, the beginning of creation and the end of time. He saw how the world was supposed to be, hanging on every breath, every flutter of a heartbeat, as stars were born and died and born again. He saw the shutter of the sun falling and the whisper of the moon rising. Over and over, until gold and silver blended into a veil through which the world was perfect. A world that was ancient and new.
A world that was theirs.
Danny watched the metal balls of the kinetic toy bounce back and forth, back and forth, click-clacking incessantly while he twisted a handkerchief in his hands. The window beyond the Lead’s desk glinted with rare winter sunshine. Papers were scattered across the desk’s surface. Danny tried to read them upside down, but it proved too much for his jumbled mind, and he returned to watching the toy.
The Lead had kept him waiting again. Danny couldn’t help but think he did this to be dramatic. It was not appreciated.
Danny began chewing on the end of his handkerchief. He was dressed in his best suit, the silver chain of his timepiece creating a foil against the black waistcoat and trousers. His mother had even applied Macassar oil to his hair in order to make it lie flat, with little success. The battle with the comb had nearly made him late this morning. Not that it mattered now.
The door opened and he swung around. The Lead saw the handkerchief in his mouth and raised an eyebrow. Danny quickly stuffed it back into his pocket.
“Daniel,” the Lead sighed, slapping a file onto his desk. “What are we to do with you?”
Danny swallowed. Although he had been fired from the London Union, there was still the possibility of applying to other cities. One word from the Lead, however, and no one would hire him again.
“Here you are, my boy. You’ll need it.”
A cup of tea was set down before him. He hadn’t even noticed the Lead carrying it. He blinked at this offering and peered up uncertainly.
“Sir?”
“Drink, Daniel.”
So he drank. The Lead looked through a few papers, signed a couple of memos. Finally, he reached out and stopped the kinetic toy.
“Tell me in your own words what happened.”
Danny had already done this several times, even once to the London authorities. When they showed up at Enfield, they had driven him, along with Brandon and Daphne, back to the city. Another auto had taken Matthias and Evaline. At the station, they had given their witness statements while Evaline was put under close watch.
Daphne had been let off with a fine after Danny and Brandon vouched for her, and Matthias admitted to tricking her into stealing the cog. There was even a possibility of letting her back into the Union on a probationary period, so long as she kept her head down from now on. Danny had pulled her aside and said he would pay the fine for her, as he’d dragged her into this mess in the first place, even if it meant depleting the rest of his new auto savings.
She had demanded the full story from him, about how he’d defeated Matthias. “I felt something pass through the time fibers,” she said, blue eyes glinting. “What did you do?”
He was tired of lying, so he said, “I controlled time.”
Daphne sighed. “No more games, Danny.”