Dials, Springs & Pendulums

“We’ve already checked down that alley, we need to go this way.”

“We just came from that way! It’s over here somewhere, it has to be.”

“Why don’t we just ask someone for directions?”

“Because the first thing they’re going to ask us is where our parents are, use your head Wenny.”

The twins had been wandering around the narrow streets of The Rocks for nearly half an hour now, and their nerves were dangerously on edge. They kept glancing at the people around them, afraid that their dad would pop up at any second. They knew they were in more trouble than they’d ever been in. By now Tony must have figured out they were the ones who destroyed the T-Rex skull. They had to find Mika and get some answers before he found them, or it would have all been for nothing.

They turned down another street and Leura spotted an archway off to the left that looked like it led to another little alley.

“Over there,” she said excitedly, and they ducked through the archway. “Yes, this is it, look!” On the brick wall that ran down the entire right hand side of the alley was a faded sign that read Greenway Lane. The twins walked slowly down it, passing a few doors that seemed to lead into the backs of other buildings, and some that looked like they hadn’t been opened in years. Right at the end of the lane was a small group of shops all packed in next to each other in one of the oldest looking buildings they’d seen yet. There was a rustic looking barbershop, a deli that smelled like it kept its food on display for much too long, and off to the left was a shop with a display window showing dozens of different clocks and watches. A sign over the dark brown door read Dials, Springs & Pendulums - quality clockmakers - established in London, 1602.

“I’m not sure about this Leura,” whispered Wentworth.

“It’s too late to back out now, after everything we’ve done to get here,” said Leura, stepping up to the brown door and gently pushing it open. It creaked all the way, coming to a stop with a muffled thud against the wall.

Inside was dark and smelled like it hadn’t been aired out properly in years. But covering every inch of the walls were shelves upon shelves of the most interesting looking clocks the twins had ever seen. There were wristwatches like the ones only adults in fancy clothes seemed to wear, and gold pocket watches like something straight out of a movie. There were clocks of all different shapes and sizes, and some that didn’t even seem to tell the time at all, instead they were covered in strange symbols, or had a singular hand swinging back and forth like a metronome.

At the back of the room was a narrow desk, and behind that was a door leading to the back of the shop. There was only one thing on the desk. It looked a bit like a bicycle bell, with a rounded top and a small red button right in the centre.

“I guess we need to let him know we’re here,” said Leura. She crossed the small room in three steps and hit the button. Nothing happened. It made no sound or gave any sign that it had been pressed at all.

“Maybe it’s broken,” said Wentworth. Then a noise that filled the twins with fear rang out from the back of the shop. A sound they’d heard only once before, that day in the insect room. The sound of heavy things smashing together, like rock crushing rock. Then it was over, and through the back door walked Mika, still wearing his red robes and an easy smile.

“Welcome,” he said in his booming voice with his hands held out to either side of him. “Sorry about the state of the shop, it doesn’t get a lot of use these days.” His smile faltered a little as he looked from the twins to the shop door, wide open and showing the empty lane beyond. “And where is Tony?”

“We… we came without him,” said Leura, glancing nervously at Wentworth. “He didn’t much like your gift, and… well… we wanted to ask you some questions about it.”

Mika was looking concerned now. “I think it’s best if I answer your questions when your dad’s here as well. I thought if he had some time to think… that he’d want to come… want to know more. Maybe the gift wasn’t such a good idea…”

“But he won’t come! And he won’t tell us anything. Please Mika.” But Mika was already taking out a very old looking phone from behind the desk, brushing off the thick layer of dust that covered it.

“I hope it still works, to be honest I’m not sure it’s ever been used before. What’s your dad’s number? I’ll call him and let him know where to find us.”

Leura could feel herself begin to panic. “Please, can’t we just talk first and then we’ll tell him all about it later, we swear.” She crossed her fingers behind her back as she said this, but it was no use.

“I’m sorry Leura but that’s not how this works, now what’s his number, the sooner he gets here the sooner we can talk.”

Leura fell silent, and Wentworth rattled off Tony’s mobile number in a strained voice. Then the twins hung their heads and braced themselves while Mika made the call. “Hi Tony, it’s Mika, the twins have just come by the shop and… yes they’re here… no, no, perfectly fine… well of course we won’t be going anywhere, we’re… I never would have thought they’d just up and run… yes the shop, from the gift box… Dials, Springs & Pendulums, at Greenway Lane in The Rocks… just calm down, I promise they’re perfectly… yes, we’ll be right here, I promise…”

Mika hung up the phone looking more than a little shocked. “So, you ran away from the museum.” It wasn’t a question, but the twins nodded anyway.

“You don’t understand - he won’t listen to you - he thinks you’re dangerous - like maybe you’re the reason mum’s gone,” said Leura in a single breath. She could feel her heart beating in her chest, blood rushing through her body making her head spin.

“I knew it’d be bad but not this bad,” said Mika quietly to himself. “Can’t change it now, just got to explain as best I can. Yes, that’s all there is to it.”

The twins looked at each other. The plan had been going so well, just to fall apart at the last moment. Leura was certain that Tony would ruin this, just like he ruined everything else. Bitterly furious, but with no other choice, they waited silently while Mika paced along the back wall of the shop, muttering to himself like he was rehearsing what to say to Tony inside his head.

A short while later, the twins heard someone running down the laneway behind them. Mika stepped out from behind the desk and joined the twins in the middle of the room, trying to look welcoming as Tony burst through the open door, red faced, and eyes wild.

“You stay away from my kids! They’re not going anywhere with you, do you hear me!” Tony grabbed the twins by the arms and pulled them to his side.

“I understand you’re upset,” said Mika as softly as he could, “but it’s very important that we talk about this Tony. That’s why I thought it was best to introduce myself at the museum, somewhere safe and familiar. The last thing I wanted to do was turn up at your house unannounced after what happened with Ra -”

“Don’t you dare say her name!” spat Tony, his voice shaking.

Mika raised his hands up to his wide chest, “please, just calm down Tony, hear me out and then I promise I’ll leave you alone. I had nothing to do with… what happened. This is about what’s best for the twins.”

“What’s best for -” Tony was so furious he choked on the words and had to stop. Leura took advantage of the brief silence.

“Please dad, we want to know. He just wants to talk to us.” Tony swivelled his head in her direction, his wild, tired eyes making him look deranged.

“You always tell people on your tours to never be afraid to ask questions,” said Wentworth softly from Tony’s other side. “Well, we’ve got questions dad, loads of them.”

Tony was glancing between the twins and Mika in erratic bursts and in no particular order, so fast it was making Leura feel dizzy just looking at him. But there was something in the way he looked at Mika that Leura recognised. Suddenly she understood why he’d never told them what happened to their mother. All this time Leura thought he was keeping the truth from them, but there was never any truth to keep… Tony didn’t know what happened to her any more than she did.

“You’ve got questions too dad, don’t you?” She spoke to him with more kindness in her voice than she’d used in a very long time.

Tony looked down at his daughter, and she could see her words had struck a nerve. He levelled his eyes on Mika. “Right, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to answer our questions and then we’re leaving, and that’s it!”

Mika nodded slowly. It was clear he hadn’t expected such a bad reaction from Tony, and was trying to think of the best way to begin.

“I know you weren’t told much about what happened to Raya, or why.”

“I was told nothing,” said Tony, still tense from head to toe and gripping the twins tightly.

“Then what is it you’d like to ask me first?” said Mika, as calmly as he could.

Tony opened his mouth but no words came out. Leura couldn’t help herself, she blurted out, “what happened to our mum!” much louder than she meant to.

Mika nodded at her, “I suppose that’s the right place to start.” He paused then, and took a deep breath before continuing. “Your mother was arrested, and imprisoned -”

“But what did she do!” yelled Tony, “was there even any proof before your lot came and attacked us in our own home? Before you took a mother away from her children!”

“I had nothing to do with that, neither did anyone else I work with,” said Mika quickly, his face softening into a look of deep regret. “That was a decision made by the head of our intelligence agency, I believe you met her that night, Frey Thorisdottir. You should know many of us were horrified by what she did, about how she handled the whole thing to be honest. But to answer your question, Raya was caught trying to break one of the most important rules of our world.” Mika sighed, like he was preparing himself for something very unpleasant.

“I think I should start from the beginning.” He looked down at the twins, “I wasn’t lying when I said I’m a Librarian, but the library I work at has a much bigger purpose than collecting knowledge. We also teach it. Your mother is part of a very special group of people who are allowed to learn what we know, and she was brilliant, one of the best.” He gave the twins one of his infectious smiles and Leura couldn’t help but smile back.

“You see, we aren’t like normal people, who have to live their lives from one moment in time to the next, like a character in a book. We’re more like the person reading the book. We can go to any page - any time - we want, whenever we want.”

“What are you saying?” said Tony, his face scrunched up like he was trying to see through a heavy fog, “that you can time travel? That Raya can time travel?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” answered Mika, as if they were discussing an interesting fact about one of the clocks on the wall beside them, “and the twins can too.” He beamed at them again, like he’d just told them they’d won a lifetime’s supply of candy. The twins weren’t smiling back though, their mouths were too busy hanging open in shock.

“That’s not possible,” said Wentworth, “I mean, surely we’d know if…” he trailed off, and Leura knew he was thinking the exact same thing she was. About that day they’d disappeared from the insect room, like hours had just vanished into thin air, like they’d jumped forward in time.

“Of course you can,” continued Mika, “it can only be passed down from a parent, and Raya was one of the most gifted time travellers I’ve ever met. You see, many years from now, a group of exceptionally clever people will discover that time isn’t what it appears to be, like an arrow, only moving in one direction. It’s more like an ocean. Everything floating around in no real order. The past, present, and future mixed together like drops of water. Our brains just can’t see it that way. So they changed them. They gave themselves a way to see time for what it really is. Then they could move in any direction they wanted. Live in any time they wanted.”

“And our mum was one of these clever people?” asked Leura in awe.

“Well no,” said Mika rather awkwardly, “they lived many generations ago. We’re their descendants. There are thousands of us, hundreds of thousands, I don’t know the exact number but the Board of Chronologers keeps track of that sort of thing. They’re our leaders, a bit like your government.”

“You keep avoiding the question,” cut in Tony with frustration. “You said Raya broke a rule, but what rule? Why was she arrested?”

Mika spoke carefully, “I’m sorry, but the only people who know exactly what Raya did were the ones that took part in her arrest and trial.” He paused and Leura could see him struggling with what to say next. “We have rules, important rules, it’s necessary, as I’m sure you can imagine. All we know for certain was that Raya tried to break one of them, and they decided to make an example out of her.” There was genuine anger in his voice now. “Like I said, it was… controversial. Many of us disagreed with it.”

A silence fell between them. Leura’s head was spinning, as she tried to come to grips with what Mika was saying. But it wasn’t the revelation that time travellers were real, or even the fact that she was one. It was the idea that her mother could’ve done something so wrong she was put in prison that she couldn’t accept. There must have been some mistake, some misunderstanding. All she had to do was find out the whole truth, then they’d let her mum go… let her be with her family again. She turned her attention back to Mika, feeling like she had ten times more questions now than when they started. But before she’d had time to pick one, Wentworth asked one first.

“Why are you here, telling us all this stuff now?”

Mika looked him straight in the eyes, “I’m here to bring you back with me, to start your training. You’re at the age now where your abilities are only just developing, you’d barely be able to travel more than a few hours, but that’ll change quickly. It’ll become very dangerous for you without the proper training. I mean, it already is very dangerous. It’s common for young time travellers to lose control. They can end up lost in far away places, or travel to somewhere that is no longer empty - or no longer exists at all - getting themselves buried underground, or falling from a great height. The world changes dramatically over the years, you have no idea.”

“So, you want us to come to your library?” asked Leura, hardly believing what she was hearing.

“No, not my library. The library. The Great Library of Alexandria.”

“Enough!” Tony tightened his grip on the twins’ arms, “you’re not taking my children anywhere! You think I’ll just let them go with a complete stranger? Talking about time travel and libraries… this is insane, they’re just kids!” Tony started pulling them towards the door.

“Tony, please try to listen. I know you just want to protect them, but the longer you keep them from us the more danger they’ll be in. I don’t expect any of you to just take my word for it, so when you’re ready to see the proof for yourself, come back here and I’ll show it to you.”

Tony hesitated at the door, but whether that was because he was tempted by Mika’s offer or simply because Leura and Wentworth were resisting as hard as they could, it was difficult to tell.

With a final grimace at Mika and a mighty tug on the twins’ arms, Tony led them out of the shop and down the narrow lane. He marched them straight to the car a few blocks away without a word, and they sped off in the direction of home.

The twins stared miserably out of the window as they drove. Leura replayed their conversation with Mika over and over again in her mind, always returning to the one thought that mattered above all else. Mum is alive. Mum is alive… Mum is alive, and she needs our help. A burning desire took hold of her, and she knew what she had to do. She also knew that the only thing standing in her way was her father. She looked at him now, and felt familiar anger, but she also felt something new. A feeling of disgust, that this man was told the woman he loves is out there, in trouble, and all he wanted to do was run away. Leura might have forgiven her father for always trying to control their lives, because deep down she thought he was just trying to protect them. But now she knew the truth. Tony was only trying to protect himself, from his own fear and pain.

Leura looked over at Wentworth, and was relieved to see a look of determination on his face as well. They nodded to each other in silent agreement.

One way or another, they were going to find their mother.

A few weeks passed, and the twins were starting to get desperate.

Tony had taken time off work. Once word spread that the twins had been the ones who destroyed the T-Rex, Tony was told in no uncertain terms that if he wanted to keep his job he couldn’t bring them into the museum anymore. This meant that their world had now shrunk to just their school and home, so escaping again was beginning to seem impossible.

“I think I can feel my brain melting,” said Leura in a flat voice one afternoon while lying on their bedroom floor staring up at the ceiling.

“You’ve got to keep yourself busy Leura, do some reading with me.” Wentworth tossed over one of the books on their bookshelf and it hit Leura on the side of her head with a thud. She didn’t even flinch, and left it propped up against the side of her face while she continued to stare at the ceiling.

It was easier for Wentworth. He’d always been happy to disappear into books, games, and his own imagination. But Leura needed action. She liked doing and seeing new things, and the boredom was beginning to feel like torture.

“Maybe, we should try to do it again. You know… time travel.”

Wentworth’s head snapped up from his book. “You heard Mika, it’s dangerous! We could end up lost, or buried alive, or, or…”

“Mika said we wouldn’t be able to travel very far, right, so what’s the worst that can happen? We could disappear on dad again, it’s not like he can punish us any more than he already has. It’ll be fun Wenny, please can we just try?”

“Are you really bored enough to risk both our lives just for something to do?”

“Yesss,” said Leura in a drawn out groan, “I never thought I’d say this but I miss the museum.”

Wentworth shook his head at her, but had to admit he felt the exact same way. Now that they’d lost it, it was painfully obvious that the museum, with its endless amount of things to see and do, was the only thing that made life bearable for them. Without it, even Wentworth was slowly going crazy.

“Do you even have the slightest idea how you did it last time?”

Leura jumped up from the floor like it had just turned into lava. “Of course! I’ve been thinking about it loads, and I remember I was feeling really really angry. Then I just sort of…” and she hunched her body forward, tensing as hard as she could from head to toe. “And then everything sort of collapsed on us with a crunching sound, remember?”

Wentworth remembered alright. He still had nightmares about the world falling on top of him, and that awful sound, like the very air itself was being crushed, right down to the smallest atom.

“So, we need to make you angry? Well that part’s easy, you’re always angry.”

“I am not!” said Leura with a scowl.

“Perfect, step one complete,” said Wentworth, trying to stifle a laugh. “Try to do it then, go on.”

Leura glared at him, then closed her eyes and tried to make the room collapse. Nothing happened.

“Maybe you’re not angry enough,” said Wentworth, crossing his arms and placing a hand on his chin. “Why don’t you think about how Polly McKensey always teases you for having a big nose and huge feet, that usually gets you going.”

Leura wanted to hit Wentworth but managed to hold herself back. Use it, she ordered herself, trying hard to focus. Come on, use it… time travel. Then suddenly the room was filled with popping and cracking noises, like someone was letting off tiny invisible fireworks all around her.

“Wow,” said Leura with a start, the shock snapping her out of it. The noises stopped just as suddenly as they’d started.

“You were doing it,” said Wentworth in disbelief.

“Yeah,” said Leura, a smile creeping over her face for the first time in weeks. Then the sound of heavy feet running up the hallway towards their room made them both retreat to the far wall. Seconds later the door burst open and Tony stood in the doorway, breathing hard and looking terrified.

“What was that noise? All that cracking?” His eyes darted around the room looking for any sign of something out of place.

“It was nothing dad, just a game,” said Leura, rather more aggressively than she meant to.

“It didn’t sound like a game,” said Tony, looking them up and down with narrowed eyes.

“What would you know about it? When’s the last time you played a game with us?” muttered Leura, forcing herself to keep her eyes locked on his.

“Now that’s not… my job is to keep you safe, not play games, you have each other for that.”

“Keep us safe from what? Having fun for once in our lives?” Leura couldn’t help herself. Her rage had been building up for weeks, and their little experiment had opened the floodgates. “No wonder mum didn’t tell you anything, she probably knew you couldn’t handle it.”

Tony’s face shifted into a grimace that made Wentworth’s knees weak and set off alarm bells in what little of Leura’s mind was still thinking clearly. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. They took your mum from me. From us. And now you’re angry because I won’t let them take you too? Maybe it’s a good thing your mum’s not here because she would be ashamed of you.”

Leura’s ears were ringing and the edges of her vision began to blur. “Did you even try to stop them? Did you even go looking for her? No! Because you’re just scared! That’s all you are. Scared of everything!”

“YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE NEAR THEM AND THAT’S FINAL!” roared Tony, stamping a foot down hard. But his last words were drowned out by a terrible crushing sound.

Leura was hunched over and trembling violently. The whole room seemed to be collapsing in on itself. Tony saw Wentworth grab onto Leura’s shoulder in panic and a horrible fear like he hadn’t experienced since the night Raya was taken devoured him whole.

“NOOOO,” Tony screamed as he threw himself across the room, arms outstretched, hands grasping for Leura. But they never touched her. He came crashing down onto the floor, the air knocked from his lungs and pain flaring across his shoulder.

But he was the only one left in the room. The twins were gone.

When the room sprang back into place, it was dark. Leura could hear Wentworth breathing heavily behind her, and feel his fingers digging painfully into her shoulder, but she was just glad she wasn’t alone.

“We must’ve travelled a few hours, look, it’s past dinner time,” said Leura, pointing at the alarm clock on their bedside table.

“We should go find dad,” said Wentworth in a whisper. Something about the darkness and silence that seemed to cover the entire house was unsettling. Leura found herself whispering as well.

“He’s going to be really angry, even more than before.”

“Well the longer we’re gone, the worse it’s going to be, so let’s just get it over with.”

Leura made her way over to the bedroom door, stepping as lightly as she could. The hallway was also dark. Cold shivers crept up her spine and she began to feel like something was wrong. They passed the living room and peered inside, but it was dark and looked empty, so they carried on into the kitchen.

It was a mess. Unwashed dishes covered the entire sink. The bin was overflowing, and the whole place smelled of mouldy food. The twins stood there, still as stone, taking it all in.

“How long were we gone?” asked Wentworth, his voice numb with shock.

“It can’t have been long… Mika said we can’t travel far yet,” said Leura, wanting desperately to believe it, but the proof was screaming at them from every inch of the messy kitchen. It would take days to get into this state, maybe longer.

A muffled groan coming from the living room made the twins jump and huddle together.

“What was that,” breathed Wentworth.

“Come on.” Leura pulled him along with her as she crossed the kitchen and entered the living room through the adjoining door. The curtains were drawn so it was too dark to see anything. Her hands were shaking so much she fumbled on the light switch a few times before finally flicking it on.

Something half buried under pillows and blankets gave a hoarse cry of alarm and fell off the couch, while Wentworth let out a sharp scream in response.

The room was almost as messy as the kitchen, with dirty plates and cups covering the small coffee table, along with a few empty bottles and cans. Tangled up in the blanket on the floor was Tony, and as he staggered to his feet, Leura couldn’t help but gasp.

His eyes were bloodshot, and ringed with dark bags. His hair was sticking up at odd angles, and his usually clean shaven face had a thick layer of stubble. He looked like he hadn’t showered in days, and his clothes had stains all down the front of them.

They stared at each other for a few moments, everyone too shocked to think. Then the worst thing Leura could’ve possibly imagined happened, far worse than getting yelled at again. Tony fell to his knees, buried his face in his hands and began to cry. His whole body trembled, and with each gasping breath that broke through the sobs, Leura felt like someone was stabbing shards of ice through her heart.

“Dad, we… we didn’t mean… we’re sorry…” Leura couldn’t finish. She’d gotten exactly what she’d wanted. To hurt Tony. To make him suffer for his cowardice. But the reality of hurting someone is not the same thing as wanting it. The pain she’d caused found its way back to her, and she could feel the full weight of what she’d done, like she was the one trembling on her knees.

Tony lifted his face and looked at the twins, tears still running continuously down his cheeks. “I - thought you were - gone - that I’d lost you,” his words were broken by sobs and he was struggling to get in enough air. “It’s been - over a week - I didn’t know - what to do - I didn’t know,” and he collapsed back into uncontrollable sobs.

Before Leura could fully process what was happening, both her and Wentworth were kneeling beside Tony and hugging him tightly, tears of their own running heavily down their faces, and repeating over and over how sorry they were, as if saying it enough times could erase the pain and heartbreak they’d caused.

For the first time in her life, Leura felt pity for her father. She finally knew why he never talked about Raya, and why he was so afraid of letting them out of his sight. Leura had always felt the absence of her mother, but Tony was the one who had truly lost her, and he was clearly not capable of surviving a loss like that again.

Leura’s memories of the rest of that night were a bit of a blur. She didn’t know how long they all huddled together on the living room floor, or when it stopped. She remembered doing some tidying up in the kitchen while Tony cleaned himself up, and that they all slept in Tony’s large bed because no one wanted to be separated again.

As far as she could recall, they talked very little, but one thing Tony said did stick with her. It was, perhaps, the last words any of them spoke that night.

“It’s… not safe… I promised her… we need to go back.”