“It’s not a game. Believe me or not, it’s the truth.” He’d left with her staring after him, bewildered.
Matthias was to be tried, and likely had a long, hard imprisonment ahead of him. Danny ought to have felt sorry for him, but he didn’t. Not really. He was only sorry to have lost the man he had admired for so long.
At least Matthias hadn’t told anyone about Colton. Danny supposed he should be grateful for that.
When Danny wrapped up his account, taking care not to mention his more intimate involvement with Colton or how he’d connected to time—the latter he still didn’t know how to explain—the Lead stared at his desk. Danny began fidgeting again, pulling at his too-tight collar.
“I’m sorry to have lost such a valuable mechanic,” the Lead finally said, his words weighted. “He was a fine man, or so I thought. I never would have believed that all this time …” He shook his head. “Daniel, I’m truly sorry. I know the two of you were close.”
Danny nodded, but said nothing.
“Maldon, of course, will be freed. You must be pleased.”
“Sir,” Danny said, “why don’t you just tell me why I’m here?”
“Very well, then. After what’s happened, I’ve done some thinking. Specifically, thinking about your future as a mechanic.”
Danny gripped his knees. His fingernails pricked the skin underneath the fabric of his trousers. “Please tell me, sir.”
And he was told. Danny sat for a moment and weakly asked for the words to be repeated. After a few questions, he left the office with his cap and his coat, neither of which he could remember how to wear. By the time he stood outside in the winter air, thoughts were flooding his mind all at once.
Danny looked across the square at Big Ben. And smiled.
“Oh, hell, get on with it!” his mother snapped at his side.
“Mum, stop it. You’re drawing attention.”
“I’ll draw as much bloody attention as I please!” Leila took a final drag from her shortened cigarette and dropped it to the grass, stamping it out with a high-heeled boot. Twin plumes of smoke steamed from her nostrils. “They’re taking forever.”
They stood milling within the crowd that had come to witness the freeing of Maldon. It was rather a difficult thing to witness, as so many had come, and Maldon’s time zone extended quite a ways from the actual town. The authorities hadn’t even brought Evaline to the site yet.
Danny looked at all the eager faces, some smiling like this was a treat, others as solemn and anxious as his mother. Many here also had family trapped in Maldon, had waited three years for this day to arrive. Danny’s heart did an excited little turn of its own, but he would not breathe properly until Evaline walked through the barrier.
They weren’t close to the ruins of the other tower. Danny still knew it was there, a landmark of their failure and of Matthias’s betrayal.
He glanced again at his mother, wringing her hands like the mayor of Enfield had. He took one of them in his own and she looked up, startled.
“Don’t worry, Mum. It’ll be all right.”
She smiled faintly and focused again on the barrier. Danny watched it with her, though there was nothing much to see. His eyes bored into the gray sheet that stretched across Maldon, hoping to sense his father beyond the dome.
“Oh!”
A train of autos headed for the crowd. The people cheered, and Evaline, in the front seat of the lead auto, looked around in surprise at the noise.
The guards helped the clock spirit out and escorted her toward the time barrier. Everyone backed away quickly. The ring of guards around Evaline glared at anyone who even looked her way. Evaline walked past the crowd, her head held high, but Danny could see it was not pride; she was facing her own humility.
Leila’s hand nearly crushed his.
Evaline paused at the barrier, then scanned the crowd for Danny. When she spotted him she gave a small nod, grief still lingering in her eyes. It would fade, he hoped, in time. But what was time to one who breathed never-ending seconds, minutes, hours?
Evaline walked through the barrier. The grayness wavered and the people murmured, expecting it to fall, but it didn’t. Danny knew they still had a long wait ahead.
“Come on, Christopher,” Leila whispered. “You can do it.”
Many sat, or spread out blankets as if to watch a fireworks show. Danny paced and bit his thumbnail for at least half an hour. Leila stood in the same spot as if transfixed.
Just as he was worrying that it might take hours or even days, suddenly the barrier wavered again. Then, in an instant, it fell. The field was finally exposed.
And beyond it, Maldon.
“He did it!” Leila screamed. “He did it, Danny!”
The crowd’s cheers were deafening. Several people ran toward the town, even as the police tried to maintain order. Leila was one of them, Danny not far behind.