Eli appears next to Corbin. ‘Come on, you two, we’ve got to go,’ he says as he steps over him. Corbin reaches out, grabbing Eli’s ankle. Weakened by the serum, the fight with Vaughn and Jay’s Air Warping, Eli easily shakes him off and quickly walks to us.
I take Eli’s hand. ‘Would you two say it’s time to go?’ he asks jauntily.
‘No you can’t go! I need you.’ We look over at Corbin, crawling towards us.
As he reaches for our hands, I say, ‘Wait.’ I lean in close to Duncan. His green eyes are frozen in anger and it delights me his fury will be all he has long after I am gone and he is unfrozen. I unfreeze him, smiling into his eyes.
His impotent rage is the last thing I see before Eli takes us away.
Still holding Eli and Jay’s hands, my eyes adjust to the darkness. There is no one on the street and no lights shine from the houses of the East Quarter, which lies ahead of us. It must be some hours before the sun will rise.
‘Gotcha out, sis,’ Eli says.
I smile at him, then at Jay on my other side, who looks healthier now we’re out of the Chamber and away from Corbin.
In the distance, Casteel is silhouetted in the moonlight. Twenty metres away I see the figures of my father, Darcy, Bennet and another person.
‘Move it to the engine, Darcy!’ Dawn Grayson says.
‘I’m trying, Mum!’
I rush over to Vaughn, concern written on my face.
Hunched over, clutching his side, he says reassuringly, ‘I’m fine, darling. Don’t worry.’ I squirm inside. Duncan always called me darling.
Bennet is staring at his brother and mother, who work in tandem, moving their left hands from the buildings and houses towards the car that sits in the middle of the road. The same, mismatched, much-repaired car from outside the Graysons’ house. The car that has never run, not for three hundred years. Little specks of light travel from the buildings to the car. Thankfully there is plenty of electricity to be taken from the East Quarter.
I watch, fascinated as the flecks of light flutter through the air. ‘What’s the plan, Benny?’
Bennet mimics his brother’s movements but to no avail – he has no verve left tonight. ‘We get enough electricity going into this car and then we are leaving!’ His tone conveys excitement but I can hear tiredness dragging at his throat.
I, too, feel weary and sluggish. The burning on my forearm has gone, leaving only the sting of my wrist.
‘How are we going to get this car going?’
‘It’s an electric car, remember?’ Bennet says.
I don’t like waiting in open ground, the backs of the last block of East Quarter overlooking us. Surely the sentinels are closing in. They will always be closing in. We need to move fast.
‘This can’t be worse than your last plan, Time Catcher,’ Jay says. His smirk is present and there is a glint in his eyes.
I realise he’s talking about the kiss. ‘It worked, didn’t it?’
I can’t quite read his expression in the dimness. ‘Yeah, I suppose it did.’
For a moment I see Corbin’s face overlaying Jay’s, but I shake my head. It’s Jay in front of me.
Grunting distracts me from his black eyes and I turn to see Eli supporting Vaughn to the car. Jay and I run to help, assisting him into the back seat. Beside me, Darcy collapses to the ground, exhausted. He tries to get up but his legs wobble beneath him. I loop my arm with his and help him to the front passenger seat.
‘Ah, not to ruin this brilliant plan, but how are we all going to fit in the car?’ Bennet makes a good point.
‘Like this.’ Jay grabs Bennet and pushes him onto the same seat as his brother.
‘Argh, Benny! That’s my face!’
‘Well then, move it, Darce!’
Dawn sweeps one more round of electricity into the car, clearly more experienced at Electric Ignition than her sons. At a sound behind me I whirl to inspect the shadows, waiting for a sentinel to charge out. I see nothing but the back of the East Quarter buildings. It is only shadows jumping in the wind.
‘C’mon, Princess, I think it’s time for you to leave the castle.’
Jay guides me back to the car. While I jumped at shadows, Dawn took her place in the driver’s seat. She moves her hand back and forth, working her Ability to start the car. I hop in next to Eli and my father in the back seat and Jay squeezes in after me. It’s a tight fit but no one complains.
We wait tensely, no one speaking as Dawn struggles to ignite the engine. A motorised whining fills the small confines, a sound I’ve never heard before – the engine straining to start. The engine coughs and growls, bursting to life after so many lifeless years. There is a synchronised release of breath and we all smile at each other, relieved.
‘I’m surprised at how well the car has held up,’ I say.
‘I’m surprised how well Mum’s holding up,’ Bennet says. ‘Mum, do you even know how to drive this thing?’
‘Be quiet, Bennet! I am trying to remember what your father taught me!’
The engine sputters and we all jolt forward, then stop.
‘Useless rust bucket, move it,’ Dawn mutters.
She ignites the engine again and the car putters along the dusty road, with only a few jolts. I turn my head and watch Casteel and the city drift into the distance. I imagine sentinels hiding in the shadows. I won’t be fully at ease until I am over the horizon, out of the Kingdom of Cardiff ’s grasp.
‘You’ve done well, Thee.’
I look at Eli and smile.
He smiles back before turning to Vaughn, dabbing at our father’s bloody face with his jacket.
Dawn is focused on driving, and keeping her verve in the car, while the twins are battling for more seat space, earning occasional glares from their mother. Eli is focused on Vaughn while Jay looks down at his Token, smiling.
I think I understand what he’s feeling. He had his identity stolen from him. He has it back now, just as I have mine. I look down at my wrist see a faint mark on my skin. Two lines run parallel along my wrist, with a half moon at each end. I wonder what it will be. I turn it over, not wanting anyone else to see – yet.
I twist my way out of the tight space between Jay and Eli’s shoulders and shuffle over the back seat into the luggage space in the rear of the car. My back against the seat, I have a clear view out of the rear window. Finn and Tahan are back there. Even though she betrayed me, I hope Tahan is still alive. We make an eastward turn and I know the Rampart is somewhere up ahead. Sanctuary lies beyond it.
Darcy speaks, ‘Where are we going?’
Dawn grunts and Vaughn replies, ‘We will head as far east as we can until we hit the Rampart. From there, we will have to find a way through it.’
The conversation continues but I am distracted by my wrist, and rub it gently. As the minutes pass I watch my Token becoming clearer. My mind buzzes with what it might be. Perhaps a clock? But it doesn’t look like one.
When it finally evokes, black and permanent, I smile. The parallel lines border a figure-of-eight shape. Each sphere is half filled with black; the black seemingly spilling from the top teardrop-shape into the bottom.
An hourglass.
Time Catcher Page 27
