The Timekeeper's Watch

Chapter Eight - A Revelation and an Offer

Thom knocked on the polished, bare door. He felt a zing through his stomach as a gruff, muffled voice called for him to come in.

Lutwyche's office was on the second floor of Norwood House and overlooked the front of the building and the cobbled street below.

Thom had barely ever had need to set foot in Lutwyche's office. He remembered back to his first year, when he had come to seek clarification on an assignment and Lutwyche had chewed his ear off about talking in class and not utilising the timeframe to ask appropriate questions. Since then, Thom had avoided his office like overripe fruit.

Thom's feet padded quietly across the dark, plush carpet as Lutwyche motioned him with a wave of the hand towards an armchair. He could see bits of curling green ivy around the rim of the windows outside.

'Take a seat, boy.'

Lutwyche stood by the window, looking out at the slowly growing dusk. The large street lamps outside cast a faint glow through the windows. His silver glasses and silver hair seemed to sheen in the light.

Thom took the moment to look around. The room was tidy with bookshelves lining every windowless wall. Countless ornaments and books lined each shelf and surface and were surprisingly dustless. Dark leather chairs crouched before a red-stained timber desk which was stacked with neat piles of papers and folders.

When Lutwyche finally spoke, his voice was muffled and dry, like he hadn't spoken for hours. 'Do you understand what happened today?'

Thom shook his head slowly. 'Not entirely, Professor.'

'Did you see... anything?' Lutwyche's grey eyes seem to twinkle with anxiousness and Thom sensed a charged, energetic feel to the room.

He shuffled his weight on the armchair and hesitated. 'What do you mean, Professor?'

'Did you see anything? After young Mr. Rigby made his sudden return?' said Lutwyche insistently. 'What did you see?'

Thom shook his head. 'Nothing, Sir. Just Artie?' Thom brought his brows together in thorough confusion by this point. What exactly was the professor talking about?

Lutwyche eyed the boy in front of him in silence, for more than a few moments. Thom was beginning to feel uncomfortable, sure that his cheeks were starting to go red with heat from the old professors contemplative gaze, when Lutwyche sighed and took a step forward. He ambled to the large black leather chair behind his desk and took a seat. His posture seemed to ease somewhat with the unverbalized decision he seemed to come to.

'Thomas, I've been deliberating all afternoon on whether or not to take a gamble in confiding in you,' he said slowly. His eyes met Thom's over the rim of his glasses. 'I've decided it's worth the risk. There are things you need to know.'

'Is this,' Thom began quietly, 'something to do with the Fracture?'

Lutwyche raised a single, thick brow. 'What do you know of Fractures?'

'I understand that the whale pod came through the Fracture,' Thom furrowed his brow. 'I don't understand how the Fracture came to be there. And how Artie got out of it.'

Lutwyche nodded his head slowly, took his glasses off the brim of his nose and began polishing them with a piece of soft cloth. 'Two very good questions, Thomas. Where did you learn about Fractures?'

Thom hesitated. Would he get Artie in trouble if he spoke further? Before he could reply, Lutwyche made a nasal snuffle that sounded very similar to a laugh. Although Thom had never heard the professor laugh before, much less crack a smile.

'It's alright, Thomas. That Rigby boy is a bright spark,' he met Thom's gaze knowingly. 'You see, Thomas, Fractures have been around a long time. Though they very infrequently ever occur. Some are infinitesimally small. Some are quite large... But do you know why they occur?'

Thom shook his head.

'They occur as a result of a fault in a Watch. Whether accidental, or purposeful interference... The Timekeeper's Society are here to protect the Watches, are we not? In whatever means necessary. Which is what we have been trying to instil in you at Norwood House for the last three years. When something happens to a Watch, the curtain of Time cracks... and that is a Fracture.'

'So, when you say accidental or purposeful faults...'

Lutwyche eyed him sternly. 'Thomas, there are only one thousand Watches in the world. There used to be eleven hundred, but that was a very long time ago. Some of the Watches were destroyed accidently as a result of negligence, some by more purposeful hands...'

Thom realised a thought like a slow crawl along his skin. 'Professor, what caused this Fracture then?'

Lutwyche placed his glasses back on the brim of his nose, his grey eyes sharp and clear. 'I cannot be certain what caused it. Which is why I have sent word to the rest of the Society. And as for your other question...'

Thom thought back to the other question he had posed earlier. Artie.

'Thomas, the reason I was asking what you had seen this afternoon, I thought you might have seen yourself. I couldn't be certain that you had, but either way, you needed to know what you'd done. Or rather, will do.'

Thom was once again lost. 'What are you talking about, Professor?'

'Do you remember the lesson I gave on Resetting Time?' said Lutwyche. When Thom nodded, he continued. 'The reason Artie got back, is you brought him back. When Artie first appeared, you were standing over him. I thought you might have seen yourself.'

Thom blanched at the professor's words. 'I brought him back? Professor, how is that possible?'

'It was your future self, Thomas. You looked...' he hesitated, before clearing his throat and continuing, 'different. But it was you nonetheless.'

'But I don't even know the first thing about time travelling!'

Lutwyche stood and walked over to the bookshelf, reaching up to pluck an old yellow leather-bound book from the highest shelf.

He turned, levelly met Thom's gaze and said, 'Well then, I suppose I'd better start teaching you.'