Chapter 19. As __________ is to...

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Now is to then as Havok is to Dean.

            The story was read, explanations made, and here we are again. Now what?

            Draven’s sudden re-emergence into the real, rational world required explanation. And I would have it. I left Toryn where she sat at the table, got my coat, and left. I walked for ages without seeming to go anywhere. But I had purpose, I knew where I had to go. I was looking for Klyde. I wanted answers, and I would have them. Despite the cost. What more could I lose?

            I went back to where Dyre had gone to challenge Klyde. I edged through a door left carelessly ajar. The interior was dark, with light coming in from aged windows. I glanced around casually. A child was curled up in the middle of the room, rocking idly as she sat. I walked over, curious of what she’d be doing here. Her features were dark but fair, the girl seemed from another time or place, lines worn into his still young face. She looked up at me just as I heard the familiar click of a gun.

            “Can we get past the drama already? Christ.”

            “Christ? He can’t hear you.”

            I turned around and faced Klyde. Draven crept out from another shadow and helped the girl to her feet. I looked from one to the other, the truth finally clicking in my mind.   

            “Pandora?” I muttered, but Klyde merely smiled wider. I don’t think he’d aged any, I mean since the day that Damien “died” and Klyde took over. It seemed like half a century ago, it was merely half a decade. He ushered me through the open space and led me to be seated in a chair at the center. He found one himself, spun it around, and sat himself on it backwards, resting his arms on the higher part.

            “So Timekeeper, you want the truth, don’t you?”

            “And you’re going to just give it to me?”     

            He clicked the safety back on the gun, putting it into the folds of his coat somewhere. He shrugged idly.

            “You are the Timekeeper, and what’s a Timekeeper without Time to keep?”

            “Dust.”

            “Good boy,” Klyde replied, seeming satisfied with my compliance. He rested his chin on his arms, bent over the back of the chair. “Well? Let’s make with the questions.”

            “How’s Draven get out, and why?”

            “Hold on, you’re missing the prerequisite to that.”

            “Am I?”

            “You should be asking how he knew exactly what was going on and how he found you...and why you’re still alive...for starters.”

            “Ah. Well, you tell me.”

            “Gladly. He knew what was going on because Pandora told him. I’ve been protecting her, by direct order of the Endless. I keep her with me, she’s seen things that...most children couldn’t even being to pretend to understand. She’s a great companion to me, inquisitive and caring; compassionate - she is the side of myself that died so long ago. When she told me that she wished to meet her father, I was more than happy to oblige; she deserved to see him. He is, after all, her father.”

            “But he murdered all those innocent people!”

            “Which is so much different from what you’ve done in your lifetime?”

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