Yes, why hadn’t Matthias told her? He had been questioned extensively, had said he knew nothing about Maldon Stopping. And yet for three years, he had hidden the spirit of Evaline Tower in his own home.
“How could you not know the town Stopped when you left?” Danny asked. “Didn’t you feel it happening?”
“I thought they would install another central cog, and another spirit could live in the tower. That’s what Matthias told me.”
“We tried that, in a way,” Danny said, thinking of the new Maldon tower. “It didn’t work. There was no spirit in the tower.” Who would ever think a tower would need a figure believed to only exist in fairy tales?
She opened her mouth, then closed it, thinking something over. “Being outside of my tower has weakened me,” she said eventually. “So, for the last three years, Matthias has been trying to find a new one for me. He’s been exiled from Maldon; there’s no chance of going back there. But if he installs me in another tower, then we could be together without hiding. The search hasn’t been going well, though.”
Danny frowned, trying to make sense of the idea. It didn’t seem possible. There were no abandoned clock towers, only broken ones, and those were locked within Stopped towns. If Matthias wanted to install her somewhere else …
A cold realization yawned open within him.
No.
And yet, Danny could see the effect of those three years before him. Evaline was vulnerable without her tower, and likely getting weaker every day. Her grayish skin, her slow voice, the weariness in her eyes—all rungs in the ladder that could lead to Matthias’s desperation.
Don’t look at it now. I can’t.
This time he let her pull her hands away. Danny leaned against the armchair as Evaline covered her face with her hands. She could have been a statue for Lucas’s grave. Danny was just wondering how long they would stay like this when Evaline stood and slowly left the room, as if sleepwalking. It all felt like a dream, like a twisting nightmare that wouldn’t let them wake up.
Danny paced the room, his breath deafening in his ears. Matthias had held the key to freeing his father all this time. This entire time.
Three.
Whole.
Years.
How could he? How could he?
Danny snatched a teacup from the table and hurled it against the wall, where it shattered into a dozen pieces. The second one joined it, splashing tea against the sun-bleached wallpaper. Danny choked on his fury, throwing books off the shelves, barely looking at the things he broke before they joined the mess.
He slumped against the wall and covered his mouth with a shaking hand. When Evaline returned, she paused, taking in the damage. She was carrying a cog. Her central cog.
“He lied to you as well,” she said. Danny nodded. Looking down, Evaline lifted the cog before her. “I took this when I left. It’s the only thing keeping me stable. This, and the energy of the London clock tower. If I walk into Maldon holding this, the town will be restored?”
Danny dropped his hand. “I believe so. Humans can’t pass through the barrier, but you did. The central cog needs to be reinstalled, and you can bring it back. The clock has to run for the town’s time to restart. My father will be able to help.” He moved toward her. “Please, you have to go. We all thought you were destroyed, but you’re here, and—and something can be done. Please, I’m begging you.”
Her eyes widened, as if amazed by the rawness in his voice, and perhaps at her own ignorance. She looked at the cog in her hands.
“I’ll speak to Matthias when he returns,” she said. “I don’t know why he would let those people suffer, but there has to be a reason. I can’t just leave without saying a word. We’ll figure this out together.”
Danny didn’t want words, he wanted action—to push her out the door, steal the cog, throw her over his shoulder and run to Maldon. But he could do nothing except shake in the shadow of three long years of despair and guilt.
“When Matthias returns,” she repeated, almost to herself. “Then we’ll sort this out.”
Danny went to the office. He had to. He felt outside himself, existing above his skin, mouth dry and heart made of paper. Nothing seemed real, even when he touched his fingertips to the wall. Every breath etched hairline cracks into his lungs.
The secretary told him the Lead wasn’t in.
The air blew out of him and his paper heart crumpled.
What was he supposed to do now?
Danny searched the building top to bottom, hoping to find the Lead, Matthias … someone. But no one was there. No one he could trust.
Which was how he ended up at the Winchester, nursing a drink.
He rested his forehead on the sticky tabletop and moaned quietly to himself. Twitches had taken over his body, his legs jumping up and down. He needed to do something, but what? He couldn’t go to Enfield; Cassie had his auto at the shop overnight. She wanted to install her new safety device, some sort of seat holster.
He could try going back to the office and camping in front of the Lead’s door until the man showed up. But maybe he shouldn’t, not until Matthias spoke to his …