He led the way to the tower’s back entrance, the one reserved for mechanics. Two guards were stationed there. Danny broke out in a sweat as they approached. He could pass Colton off as an apprentice, but Evaline was another matter. She looked older, like a mechanic, but had no badge.
Danny glanced over his shoulder. Colton was still a little unsteady, but his excitement gave Danny hope. He focused on what to say. “Hello there, lovely night. No? Well, I suppose it is a bit nippy. Oh, them? Yes, they’re with me, not to worry. I’ve been called over to give a quick demonstration, orders straight from the Lead. The boy wants to be an apprentice, but his mother’s not so sure. Mind letting us in?”
But when he stood before the guards, the words flew from his mind. They blinked owlishly at him.
“I need to get in,” he said simply, showing his badge. They peered at it, gave a glance at the two figures behind him, and waved them through.
“That was easier than I expected,” Danny murmured as they climbed the stairs to the belfry. The Lead must not have filed his dismissal paperwork yet. “Don’t let your guard down. There may be mechanics up here.”
As it turned out, there were none. The tower was empty.
The echoes of the tower’s ticks and tocks were as soothing as the patter of rain on a quiet night. In the belfry, four quarter bells hung ready to chime the next hour. Danny spotted the Great Bell, or rather, the true Big Ben.
He was afraid Colton would have a difficult time climbing the stone steps, but the tower gave the spirit strength. His legs propelled him forward, the faintest hint of gold returning to his body. Colton gazed around in wide-eyed wonder. Danny felt a twinge of sadness, and wasn’t sure why until he saw the longing on Colton’s face.
The clock room was more spacious than Colton’s. There were no abandoned, empty boxes here, no dust building up in the corners. The clock faces surrounding them were a marvel. Danny remembered standing up here for the first time, simultaneously terrified by the height and awed by the spectacle. The faces glowed in the nighttime darkness, a reminder that that the city was safe.
The people of Enfield did not have that luxury.
Clenching his jaw, Danny directed Colton toward the middle of the room where he could best absorb the natural energy that flooded the space.
“Feel it?” Danny murmured, squeezing Colton’s upper arms. The spirit nodded, his eyes brighter, more like their familiar amber shade.
“How can I not? It’s everywhere. It’s … life.” Danny watched Colton walk from clock face to clock face, taking in the sight he had only dreamed of seeing. Evaline looked around, her face a little less grave.
“You’ve never been here, have you?” Danny asked her. “Even though Matthias has kept you in London for so long.”
“I haven’t been out much, no,” she replied. “He’s terrified of someone realizing. Too late for that, though.” She gazed up where the ceiling arched. “It’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? This tower. Mine seems so insignificant in comparison.”
“So does mine,” Colton agreed sadly.
Danny bristled. “Don’t say that. You both have fine towers with fine mechanics looking after them.”
Colton smiled. “Sorry, Danny. It’s just so grand.”
“It can be grand all it likes, but it doesn’t make your towers any less impressive. You’re important to so many people. Both of you are.”
At the reminder, their smiles slipped and they each turned away, their relief short-lived. Danny could have kicked himself.
“We’ll get this sorted out, don’t worry.”
“How?” asked Evaline.
“I …” There was a terrifying blankness within him, feeding on his thoughts and making them disappear like a magician’s trick. As soon as he began to muster up an idea, it dispersed into smoke. “I don’t know.”
The words were small, but affected them all in some way. Colton lowered his head, Evaline closed her eyes, and Danny stood with buzzing fingertips and a creeping sense of failure.
“Would switching towers work?” Colton eventually asked.
Danny made an effort to catch and hold onto that thought, but it led down a dark road. “There’s no record of it ever happening, and I’d rather not risk finding out. Even if it were possible, I’m not going to settle for that. Matthias is a criminal.” He traced his scar. “He shouldn’t live a carefree life in Enfield. And you wouldn’t want to give up your town, would you?”
Colton shook his head.
Danny paced around the clock room, sometimes meeting Colton’s eyes. Every so often the spirit rubbed at his chest. That worried Danny even more.
I’m going to lose him.
It was a whisper at first, then thunder. Bringing Colton here was only a temporary solution, the same as running cool water over a burn and knowing that as soon as you took it away, the pain would come rushing back. Unavoidable.
The longer he stayed here, the less chance they had of making it through this.
Finally, Colton came to Danny’s side and took his hand. “Stand still a moment. You’ll get dizzy.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Danny whispered, not bothering to hide the way his voice trembled. “Colton, I don’t know what to do.”