Chapter 21: Chapter 21: The Escape

They raced through the tunnels. Will’s shoulders ached as they took most of Chleo’s weight. He glanced back to check on the others. Mr. Mathews looked grim as Eelock hauled him on his back. Merk trailed steps behind watching their rear. Blood dripped from Mr. Mathews’ mouth, and he had yet to open his eyes. At least Chleo was conscious and walking.

Will spun and twisted them through the towers, tumbling through side rooms and sprinting across corridors. They nearly trampled a servant weighed down with laundry packs in the east tower. A few guards tailed behind until he ducked them into a hidden passage he and Mops had used to avoid the butler for years. They didn’t see another soul until an old steam vent spit them out into the garages.

Dai’s laugh led them to the back, her and Mops lounging in an old modeled wagon. Her face fell when she saw them.

“Oh, Jack.” She rushed to Eelock, helping unload Chleo’s dad into the wagon bed. Will helped Chleo up.

She looked better. Color was returning to her face as her eyes focused. She turned to Dai as the woman joined her.

“Can I see your ID wristlet?” she asked. Dai gave her a strange look as Eelock muttered instructions to Mops in the background. Still, she raised her sleeve. Chleo ran her fingers across the strange glass sitting in place of a badge. Instead of the view Merk used to see through walls, it displayed a simple blue seven point star with Dai Meadows scrawled in the middle.

“Has my dad ever seen this?” she asked. Will shared a look with Dai.

“Sure, sweetie,” she said gently. “Except for the color, I suppose. I had to change it for Luna when we went through customs.”

Will watched as Chleo sagged. She closed her eyes pressing a thumb to the bridge of her nose.

“This is real,” he heard her mutter. He tucked her under an arm, exchanging another worried look with Dai.

Mops pulled the wagon cover up and started the engine.

“Eelock,” Chleo said as the wagon started forward, “the king… He was after something.” She let out a shaky breath. “He said mom took it… some kind of book.”

Will watched the man’s body tense. “Does he know where it is?”

Chleo shook her head slowly. “I don’t…. I don’t think so,” she said. “The only answer I heard dad give was, I don’t know.”

Will narrowed his eyes in thought, reaching in his pocket to hold his watch.

“And you?” Eelock asked, taking care with his tone. “Do you know where it is?”

Chleo’s head snapped up, suspicion clouding her face. Her eyes flicked to Dai’s wristlet. She swallowed, relaxing a touch.

“No,” she said, “I don’t even know what it is.”

“History,” Eelock muttered, then louder. “It’s our history, a gift to the seven point star meant only for the head.” Will’s skin crawled.

“Why would my mom have it?” Chleo asked, leaning her head back on Will’s shoulder. They heard a commotion outside the wagon’s cover and fell silent.

They rolled to a stop. Steam hissed as the motor bubbled and whirred. The soft rumbling of Mop’s voice weaved between the sounds. There was a pause. The wagon jolted forward, the shadow of the palace’s wall passing across the top of the wagon bed’s fabric.

Street performers and merchants shouted in the distance. They grew louder as Mops drove. Once the noises of the street surrounded them, Eelock turned to Chleo.

“The Star only has one head, though the other points like to forget. They think they’re owed the knowledge the book provides. They turned on their leader and imprisoned his family.” He sighed glancing away. “I would imagine your mother wished to act as a steward until the new head emerged. She and the queen were old friends.” His eyes closed, pain crinkling the edges. “Much like the rest of us.”

Will’s throat tightened. He ran his thumb over his watch, wishing Mrs. Mathews were there with them. The royals weren’t kind to thieves. He hoped they weren’t the ones who took her.

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“If Luna’s king is looking for the book,” Eelock continued with a new urgency. “We can’t leave without it. Melody was protecting it for a reason. If one of the other Points finds it…” He looked at Mr. Mathews lying next to him, hesitation written across his face.

“No, Eelock,” Dai said, studying him. “We can’t.”

He looked up. “We have to. Melody would have told him how to find it. We need to wake him up.”

“What if he really doesn’t know? What if it kills him instead?” she argued. Chleo straightened in Will’s arms.

What if Mr. Mathews didn’t know? Will pulled his watch out. Except, Will was almost certain he did know. He flipped the clock open and studied the inside of the cover, trying to imagine the half formed etching that gave them away in the throne room.

“What do you mean, if it kills him?” Chleo asked.

Dai narrowed her eyes in concern, placing a comforting hand on Chleo’s forearm. She shot a look at Eelock. He ignored her.

“Mic, I need a shot,” he said. The floating ball shocked into focus.

Will ignored them, his eyes glued to his watch cover. He thought he could remember a collection of gears at the top of the etch, maybe a tube running below.

“Are you sure that’s a good ide-”

“Mic,” Eelock cut in, brokering no room for refusal. The voice emanating from the bird cleared its throat.

“Right.” He hesitated. “See the thing is… Dai was fading… and we sort of… kind of… used the last one on her…”

“What?” Eelock stared in disbelief.

Will added more detail to the half finished etch in his mind. A few valves dotted the left side with something like a catapult mixed in. It seemed familiar.

“They’ve been restricting it more,” Mic said sounding defensive. “They’re worried about more incidents, and the Market is double sometimes triple the normal rate. I haven’t been able to restock. Maybe if you would raise my budget-”

Will closed his eyes and focused. The pieces became clearer. It was definitely familiar, like something Mrs. Mathews would make.

“All right, I get it,” Eelock said.

Exactly like what Mrs. Mathews would make. The half-finished sketch solidified in Will’s mind. He’d seen it before.

“Timekeepers,” Will muttered. Chleo glanced up at him.

“We need a way to wake him,” Eelock continued. “It’s the only way to find the book.”

“No,” Will said louder. Everyone turned to look at him. Mic’s bird spun in his direction. He faltered. “Uh, I mean… I think.” He straightened, falling back on his lessons, and forced his voice level. “I know where it is.”

Will watched Eelock raise an eyebrow.

“We need to go to Timekeepers.”

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