Timekeepers: Number 2 in Series (27 page)

I’m not going far. We won’t be alone, you and I. We just won’t be together. Never alone.
 

Now you see me, now you don’t
…
 

And at the end, there was just the silence.

T
here was a small flat above a newsagent in Clerkenwell. It could have been quite comfortable, and over the years had increased hugely in value as the city around woke up not only to what a pleasant, central location this was, but to what a fortune it might represent as a ‘new and exciting development’ or – the owner’s worst nightmare – ‘a dazzling, new concept-design penthouse’.

This, however, wasn’t important.

There was a table in a sitting room, on which a strange and disparate collection of goods had been dumped. A battered old leather satchel that looked like it had been from a twenty-four-hour-sunlight desert to Siberia and back here again. A silver crown that looked pathetically dull and pale. A short silver sword, carefully cleaned. A shorter silver dagger, all the more sinister for being so plain – there could be no doubt, looking at this weapon, that it served any purpose other than killing. A copy of last week’s
Time Out
. A pile of unread newspapers. A battered-looking chocolate-bar wrapper. An empty bowl stained with a substance that might have been baked beans
avec une sauce chimique
– this last object scraped clean by someone who obviously enjoyed the spicy tang of E numbers.

This, however, wasn’t important.

There was a sofa. It looked like it had seen better days and may or may not have been at one time the residence of a polar bear on vacation. It had a rather forlorn flowery pattern on it and had been worn so thin and colourless that it was little more than a few tattered bits of string with some feathers stuffed inside. The owner claimed it was a family heirloom.

This, however, wasn’t important.

There was a man lying on the sofa. He had pure white hair and his hands were folded over a tartan blanket. His eyes were closed.

This, thought Adam as he crept into the room, was important.

‘Hi,’ he said, sitting down on the edge of the sofa.

‘Hello,’ said the man, not opening his eyes.

‘You survived, then?’

‘Kinda.’ Sam opened his eyes. They were pale grey, so pale they might almost have been white.

‘You were rather clever.’

‘Thanks.’

Adam shrugged uneasily. ‘How’d you do it?’ he asked, in a terribly disinterested voice.

Sam smiled, a tightening of his lips at not-so-distant memories. ‘Time wanted me to give him my soul. When I refused he tried to take it. But I’m not one person, you see? I’m so many different people now, it’s all quite confusing. How could he take my soul when it’s so scattered? But he – he is one person. I could take his, if I wished it. He tried to tear me open. I tore him open instead.’

‘You could have destroyed him.’

‘No. No point. I needed him in order to hide. I hid inside his soul. I wrote my own soul on to his instead of his on to mine. So that when my mind was scattered to a thousand directions, there’d be a place to come crawling back to. Jehovah was simply the catalyst. I possess Time, Time possesses him, he gives me the link through which I could pass back from Time to me. And live. Time didn’t take me over, I took him over. He is, after all, only a One. And We are a Many.’

‘You’re not mad, are you?’

‘As in angry?’

‘No. As in stark raving bonkers.’

Sam considered. ‘Don’t think so.’

‘What was it like?’

‘Not as bad as it could have been. I didn’t fight, this time. I knew there wasn’t any point. So I just dived in. It was quite peaceful, in a way. The Light channelled everything, you see. Everything, not fear or anger or hate or anything like that – it channelled everything that makes up life. There was nothing else, you see, no discord in the music. It was… almost… beautiful.’

‘Almost?’

‘Right up to the point where I touched Time’s mind and saw myself hidden inside him, like he hid inside Freya. I touched Time’s mind last, you see. When I did, I touched my own soul too, and for a second I heard my own voice standing out among the others. And my own voice was screaming denials against the Light, trying to break free.’ He shrugged. ‘But it was quickly drowned out, so that was okay.’

‘I have a question. What was Time’s mind like?’

‘Surprisingly small, actually. He wasn’t nearly as interesting as I thought he’d be. Just another Incarnate created by life, a tiny part of the Many. Admittedly a rather raucous member, but still only a One. I remember he was surprised. When I tore him open a second time so that I could use the imprint of my soul inside his to get me back home in one piece, I heard his thoughts. And he was surprised.’

‘What’d he say?’

Sam smiled and folded his fingers together. ‘He said, “Shit, I didn’t see that coming.”’

When Adam was gone he lay studying the ceiling. It wasn’t a particularly impressive ceiling, and he quickly got bored with it. He heard a creak on the staircase.

Dad? I know you can hear me.
 

But of course. You are inside my soul, as I am inside yours, in a small way. How can we not hear each other? You joined yourself irrevocably to me.
 

Why’d you let me do it, Dad? You could have stopped me joining to you.
 

No, I couldn’t. Besides, I might have a use for you in the future.
 

Dad?
 

Yes?
 

I don’t think I like you.
 

Things change. At least you’ll not be alone any more.
 

Not alone, just not together. Never alone. Not any more.
 

You’re not slipping, are you? You’re well and truly afloat.
 

I was afloat from the start, Dad. I got caught in some tricky currents, that’s all. Dad?
 

Yes?
 

I don’t think I like you. You’re small-minded and selfish.
 

Things change.
 

Poisons in the blood?
 

I could be profound. I could say ‘What is Time?’, but you’re not in the mood. I can feel that you’re not in the mood. You’re part of me
…
 

…
and I’m a part of you. And hell, you weren’t expecting it, were you?

Can’t say.
 

Dad?
 

Yes?
 

Go away.
 

Not alone.
 

No. Not alone. Maybe not together, but never alone.
 

He heard another creak behind him and half turned, smiling, to look up at Freya.

Maybe, he thought, it had been worth it after all.