“The escapement’s out of order,” Brandon reported. “Had a peek while I was waiting for you.”
Danny had only visited the pendulum room briefly, but now it was his destination. They walked through the door leading to a wooden platform that hugged the sides of the tower, forming a square around the enclosed, windproof space where the pendulum hung. The pendulum was about three meters long, a dark bronze color, swinging side to side. But the swinging had become erratic. Something in the mechanism above was catching.
The clock tower, like Big Ben, contained a double three-legged gravity escapement that separated the pendulum from the clockwork. It looked skeletal and sinister, the gears making up the body where the pendulum clung. Danny examined it, running his eyes over the gear train. The escapement adjusted the weight attached to the pendulum, and therefore managed the pendulum’s speed, preventing the clock from running too fast or too slow.
But with every swing, the gears and escapement caught and the weight dropped. As he watched, the slow tick tocks that filled the air increased with sudden and alarming speed. Ticktockticktockticktock.
“Why’s it doing that?” Brandon demanded.
Danny knew why. “Let’s get the mechanism properly wound. We might have to take the gears off and reinstall them.”
A platform had been built above the clockwork to allow mechanics easy access, so he and Brandon climbed up and laid out their tools. Danny reminded him how to handle the gears. Another apprentice would have rolled his eyes, but Brandon just nodded.
They worked in silence unless Brandon had a question. Danny removed the smallest gear from the train and rewound the clock, one of the only technical duties the town’s maintenance crew had; it was too much of a bother to call a mechanic every time a clock needed winding. Danny used a wrench and pulled until the weight was where he wanted it to sit.
His forehead was soon dotted with sweat. He removed each gear, checked it was sound, cleaned it to make sure, and reinstalled it. Brandon took apart the escapement and did the same. As they worked, Danny sensed time shift and grow tense around them. The tick tocks ceased. Even the timepiece in his pocket stilled.
For a moment, he couldn’t breathe. He thought of the mechanic who told his class about the jerky movement of time, the gray barrier of a town Stopped.
But once everything had been replaced, the pendulum swung freely again, and the ticking resumed. Danny let out a long breath, but couldn’t get his hands to stop shaking.
Just to be certain, Danny checked the very top of the pendulum. A few pennies had been put there to adjust the time. Adding a penny would lift the pendulum’s center of mass, increasing the speed with which it swung, just as removing a penny would decrease the speed. Danny was not surprised to see several coins there now. He removed the unnecessary ones until it felt just right.
They climbed the stairs to the clock room to repair the scratches on the face. As Danny approached the scaffolding, he caught a glimpse of white.
Colton stood across the room, a glower on his clawed face. Danny’s heart tripped at the sight of him, whether from anger or excitement, he couldn’t tell. Colton shone like a lighthouse, his beacon both a welcome and a warning, drawing Danny to his shores even though he knew he would be dashed upon the rocks.
Danny turned away, but he felt the spirit’s eyes follow him.
Outside, the sun had returned to its correct position in the early afternoon sky. Time was still a little off, but the fibers would take or add time as they saw fit until the tower stabilized itself. Danny and Brandon used resin and cleaning rags to buff the scratches from the face, Brandon wondering aloud if there was any clock in all of England in such miserable disrepair as this one.
By the time they were finished, the sun was well and truly setting. Danny made sure they checked the clockwork again, just to be sure, but everything seemed to be running smoothly. Both mechanic and apprentice were exhausted, so Danny told Brandon to get a pint. The thought of driving home now seemed agonizing.
With Brandon gone, Danny’s face hardened into a determined mask and he took the stairs to the clock room. There was still one thing left to do.
As he expected, Colton stood there waiting for him, his skin now unmarked. His amber eyes gleamed in a silent challenge, a fringe of blond hair falling carelessly over his forehead. He was brilliant in his fury, golden and untouchable.
Danny glared at him a moment, too furious to speak. He dropped his bag and coat on the floor.
“Are you a spirit or a child?” he demanded at last. “I asked you not to do this anymore, and then you turn around and make the town suffer because you don’t get to have your way.”
Colton looked away, but not from guilt. Instead, he looked self-justified. “You don’t know what it’s like here.”
“What, to be alone and have no one give a damn?”