Breathing Spirit

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Liam fluttered open his eyes once again. His head pounding. He realised there was a clanking of clockwork around him. He sat up noticing Roan had not yet awoken. He wondered if they did this every time, and he wondered how long he had been out for. He crawled over to her and lay her flat on her back. One hand was resting on her stomach and she looked peaceful. Sam smiled as he looked at her. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked straight at him.

"Hello." She spoke weakly, but smiled.

"I didn't want to wake you." Liam explained.

"Understandable." She joked and let him help her to her feet. She then looked around. "Wow." Was all she said. Around them were a lot of clocks. A lot meaning thousands. Everywhere clocks ticked and clogs turned making a real racket.

"Yep. Wow." Liam repeated. They both walked forward and down a clear pathway made of wooden floorboards. The walls, that weren't occupied by clocks, were also made of the same laminated wood as the tiles. The clocks were in all sorts of shapes and size. Big clocks, small clocks, but all of them were wall clocks. There were clocks with little figures that came out and kissed on the hour. There were clocks that chimed and clocks with cuckoos. It was an incredible place to be.

"Where are we going to find a small key in this place?" Roan asked Liam.

"No idea." He answered truthfully. She nodded her head in agreement and kept walking. They realised the whole place was in one large circle. The only way out was the portal.

"We are back where we started." She said.

"With no key."

"With no key." She repeated looking around her and again walked forward. When she was halfway round she noticed a very big clock, that had not been there before. Or at least she hadn't noticed it. "Liam look at this."

"That's huge." He agreed looking at the clock from every angle. He then brushed his fingers across his lips.

"What?" Roan asked.

"What?" Liam asked.

"You only do that when you are figuring out something." Roan said.

"Well by the looks of things, this clock is a cuckoo clock." He said.

"Yeah so?" She asked confused.

"Well if it's a big clock, it must be a big..." Liam pushed her back as the cuckoo bird reached out and cawed. It had red eyes and a very sharp beak. It cuckooed in a horrid screechy voice as it reached it's full length. Roan looked at something glittering round it's neck. Realising what it was she reached out, but the bird shot back into hiding.

"The key was round it's neck." She said.

"Well I guess we have to wait another hour then." Liam sighed.

"Not necessarily." She went over to the clock and turned the hands to one minute to nine. She moved back just out of range when the cuckoo shot out once more. She grabbed the key from around it's neck and pulled. It wasn't coming off. The bird was starting to move back in, but Roan was resisting against it.

"Roan let it go!" Liam shouted. She ignored him and pulled harder. The leather necklace gave way with the key attached and the cuckoo disappeared back inside. Liam breathed out and Roan just smiled. "Don't scare me like that!"

"I'm too stubborn not to scare people!" Roan smiled. She swung the key from side to side. "Onward?" She asked.

"Onward." Liam confirmed. She slipped the key into the lock and turned it soundlessly.