The Time Fetch (14 page)

“And, remind me, what exactly is it that we know?” Aunt Kit asked.

“Well, now we have telescopes. We can see that the seasons are changing because of the way the earth is tilted as it goes around the sun.”

“I have nothing against telescopes, Edward. They are wonderful inventions. But the best telescope is useless to a blind man.”

What was the point? The day could hardly get any worse. He made no further attempt to argue with her.

“But enough talking,” Aunt Kit declared. “There are things to be done! It’s supposed to snow, did you hear? Edward, would you hang these branches over the fireplace? I don’t want anything coming down the chimney in the night.” She lifted the branches so she could hand them to Edward. Then she stopped.

She had uncovered the stone lying on the green granite counter. “What—?” She stood there staring at it. She leaned down and peered at it more closely.

She looked up at the young people. “Where on earth—?” She gazed back down at the stone. “Is this—?” She shook her head. His aunt appeared shaken. This was a rare thing for his aunt. She reached out slowly, but at the last moment seemed to think better of it and drew her hand back.

She lifted her head. “Who brought that in here?”

Everybody looked at Feenix.

“Yes—well, I did,” she said uncomfortably.

“And where exactly did you get it from?”

“I got it from him,” she said, pointing at Edward.

“Edward? You got it from Edward?”

Before Edward could make a retort, a high, thin wailing came winding down the alleyway. Aunt Kit turned sharply toward the window. They all turned with her. There wasn’t anything there that anybody could see, but she quickly stepped over and closed the curtains.

“It’s just the wind,” she said. “Pick that dirty thing up off my clean counter and put it in your pocket.”

Not very happily, Edward picked the stone up and stuck it in his pocket.

She watched him closely as he did it, then said, “Well, there isn’t much time then, is there?”

“What do you mean, Kit?’ Feenix asked.

“Speak softly. If there is to be a celebration tomorrow, what needs to be done must be done.” The way she had fixed them all with her steely gaze seemed to imply that they all ought to know exactly what she was talking about.

“You’re going to have to go down to the grocery store for me.”

“What?!” Edward protested. “You want us to go back out there in the cold?”

“You must keep your voice down!” she hissed at him glancing at the window. “You want the whole neighborhood to hear you?”

“What difference does it make who hears—”

But she had turned on him The Gaze That Freezes Blood to Ice. “I’ve forgotten a couple of indispensable items,” she said softly. “You will go quickly and quietly and stay close together. If the supermarket is closed, find an open fruit and vegetable store. They stay open late and with luck they’ll have what we need. You don’t mind, do you?” she asked the others.

“We’ll be happy to go to the store for you,” Danton said. “Just write down what you need.” He gave Edward a look while she quickly scribbled her list.

“Thank you,” Aunt Kit said. She didn’t smile. “Tomorrow, if time keeps ticking and the sun returns, we will celebrate together. Now, there’s not a moment to waste. You must all dress very warmly. It’s getting cold. If you don’t have gloves and scarves, I will lend you some.”

No one dared to object. She watched them closely as they put on their coats and hats and buttoned themselves up.

“Edward, where are your gloves?”

Before he could answer, she had slid her hand into his coat pocket, not the one that had the stone in it, the other one. He thought he would die of embarrassment. “Hey!” he protested loudly, but she fumbled around in there until she brought out a pair of gloves. She handed them to him with a weird look of satisfaction.

“I could have done that myself, you know,” he said angrily, but she had already turned away and was now looking at Brigit.

Brigit, without blushing, met her gaze steadily. She was all buttoned up, and she was wearing a bright green wool hat that stood out in contrast to her red hair. Edward braced himself for whatever weird advice Aunt Kit would now deliver, but she merely said, “Your hood is stuck inside your coat. May I?”

Brigit nodded and Aunt Kit gently, with a little fumbling, pulled the hood out. “If it gets too cold, put it on.”

Brigit nodded again. Aunt Kit handed her the shopping list. “Take care of one another and hurry!” she said. “If the warp and the woof hold true, I expect all of you at the celebration tomorrow. Bring anyone you want. And whatever you do, stay clear of the Unraveler.”

Part Three

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The Green Man

A minute later they were all standing breathlessly on the sidewalk in front of the house. Nobody was quite sure how they had gotten there, it had all happened so fast. When they turned to look back they found the front door firmly shut. There was no sign of Aunt Kit.

“She’s a pistol,” Danton said admiringly. “But what was she talking about? What’s an Unraveler?”

Edward muttered, “Sorry about that. Pay no attention. She’s not all there.”

“Don’t be such a pea brain,” Feenix said to him. “She’s obviously got way more going on than most grown-ups. I’m sure she recognized the stone. Didn’t you see? She was totally blown away. And she was worried somebody was going to see it. That’s why she made you put it in your pocket. And all that stuff about keeping our voices down. She was afraid somebody was going to hear. I think she wanted to tell us something, but she couldn’t come right out and say it.”

“You’re right,” Danton said, lowering his voice nervously. “That stuff about the ‘warp’and the ‘woof.’ What did that mean? Does anybody have a clue?”

Brigit nodded eagerly. She took a pen out of her pocket, and standing under the street lamp, she drew a little picture on the back of Aunt Kit’s shopping list. It looked sort of like a tic-tac-toe board, only with lots more up and down lines.

“Oh, of course!” Feenix exploded.

“Shhh!”
Danton warned.

“Right, right. Sorry.” Feenix brought her voice down. “The woof and the warp are what’s on a loom. You know, like when you’re weaving something. One is the threads that go up and down. The other is the threads that go across. I forget which is which.”

“Like Mr. Ross’s space-time fabric!” Danton whispered excitedly. “Maybe Eddie’s aunt thinks the woof and the warp are unraveling and she’s sending us out to do something about it?”

“You’re right!” agreed Feenix. “That’s got to be it. She’s sent us on a mission. But what is it, what does she want us to do?”

They all looked at Edward.

“What? You think I have some special insight into the way her mind works? Don’t you understand I pay as little attention to her as possible?”

For a long minute, they all just stood there looking at each other and now each of them noticed how much colder it had gotten and how the wind was going up and down the alleys, hunting and crying. The air tasted like snow, but there was no snow yet.

Finally, Brigit gave a little start and held up the piece of paper with the shopping list on it.

“Right!” said Danton. “Of course. The first thing we’ve got to do is go to the store.”

Since nobody else had any better ideas, they started down the hill. Danton hurried them. The other people on the sidewalk were in a big rush, too. Everyone was huddled inside their coats, intent on getting done whatever it was they thought they needed to get done. Nobody paid any attention to anybody else. Then Feenix stopped abruptly.

“What’s with the library?” she said staring.

Everybody followed her gaze. The library was a brick building that had been old to begin with, but now it looked
really
old. Its windows were broken and its front steps were crumbling.

“What happened to it?” Feenix said. “I was in there just the other day.”

“You read books?” Edward asked.

Feenix looked at him with disgust. “Don’t be pathetic. As it happens, I love reading.”

“Holy tamales!” cried Danton. He lowerd his voice to a hoarse whisper. “Get back, get back. Look what’s coming through the window.”

Everyone looked where he pointed. Streaming out of the broken window into the night was a cloud of the glittering electric bees.

“Get back! Get back!” Danton whispered again. He dragged them down a narrow alley. They peered out fearfully. The cloud of sparkling things paused at the entrance to the alley. None of the young people dared to breathe. In the silence they heard a sound like a million soda bubbles popping and fizzing.

A stray cat slid out from behind a garbage can a few yards down by the entrance to the alley, heading toward the sidewalk. The cat’s ears were pricked alertly. Maybe it, too, had heard the sound of the bees. The cat looked around, sensing danger, but before it could turn, the bees were upon it. The animal let out a single yowl of protest and then was swallowed up by the hungry swarm. When the swarm finally lifted and disappeared into the darkness, Danton wasted no time, but unfolded himself and slipped silently over to where the cat had been. Now there was just a small heap of dust. A gust of wind sent this dust scattering in a hundred directions.

“Let’s get out of here before they come back,” Danton urged, but Feenix didn’t seem to have even heard him. She stood staring at where the cat had been.

Danton grabbed her arm. “Come on!” he urged.

“What are
you
looking at?” Feenix snapped at Edward as she wiped at her eyes.

They went along as fast as they could, nobody speaking. Any people they passed on the street paid no attention to them, they were all in such a hurry.

“Look at that traffic light,” Danton whispered sharply, pointing to the next intersection. The light blinked red, green, yellow, red. It was blinking much too quickly, going through its cycle with hardly seconds between one color and the next.

The traffic light drew their eyes farther down Ninth Street. They saw now how many places had been visited by the insects. The work they were doing was weirdly uneven. Things that were still moving, moved way too fast. Cars went past as if their accelerator pedals were stuck to their floors. Up ahead, on the elevated tracks, the brightly lit windows of a train shot by like the streak of a meteor. A bundled-up mother pushed a stroller in front of her like she was being chased by a pack of wild wolves. She did not seem to notice that the face of the baby in the stroller was ancient and wrinkled. Things that stood still, stone steps and sidewalks, buildings and chimneys, were in various stages of crumbling and disrepair. In some places the aging was hardly noticeable. In others, the work was nearly done.

When they reached the supermarket they saw that the cheerful red awning was torn and tattered. There were no posters advertising the not-to-be-missed specials on pork chops and paper towels. The windows were broken. It didn’t look as if the store had been in operation for years.

Even as they stood staring, they could see the building aging before their eyes. The bricks crumbled. Rust grew over the metal doors. They heard a great crash as part of the roof gave way. Then another thing began to happen. A thin tear ran up the front of the wall facing the street, like a dark flame racing up a curtain. The tear grew taller and wider. They all watched in horrified fascination. Whatever was inside of it was neither dark nor light, solid nor gas, up nor down.

“What is that?” Feenix whispered. “It’s making me dizzy.”

“Look away! Look away!” Danton ordered everyone. “The bees must have eaten away everything that’s in there. It’s like a rip in the time fabric.”

Before he could finish, they all saw what he meant. The flickering cloud of bees came swarming and humming out through the horrible crack.

Danton didn’t need to tell them to run.

They raced after him down to the next corner where he made them turn right. They kept going for a few blocks along Fifth Avenue. Then Danton turned right again up a side street.

“This way! This way!” he urged. By the time he stopped, they were all panting.

“Where are we?” Feenix demanded.

“I think we’re on Sixth Street,” Danton said. “I just wanted to get us away from those things.”

They all looked around nervously. “Listen,” Edward said. “I think we should all go home. It’s not safe wandering around out here.”

“I know how you feel, Eddie, but I don’t see how that’s really an option,” Danton replied.

“Of course it’s not an option,” Feenix replied. “Everything’s crumbling into dust and the time fabric is starting to rip just like we saw back there at the supermarket. Who knows if any of our houses will even be there if we go home? Your aunt sent us out here to stop the bees. There’s something we have to do. But what is it?”

Brigit held up the shopping list.

“Right,” said Danton. “She wanted us to go shopping. Let’s start with that. The supermarket is obviously out of the question. Is there a fruit and vegetable store around here?”

Edward stared at him grumpily. “I’m not even sure where we are, you’ve been so busy dragging us around in circles.” Brigit held up her hand as if she were asking for quiet.

She seemed to be listening.

“What is it?” Danton asked her.

They all watched her under the streetlamp. She was concentrating very hard, frowning and looking around herself. At last, she appeared to make up her mind about something. She nodded at them, and then crossed the street and started walking quickly up toward the next corner.

“Wait!” Danton called. “What’s up? Where you going?” He hurried after her, and the other two followed.

They hadn’t gone far when they all heard it.

There was music coming from somewhere, a little melody, silvery and beckoning, like someone was playing on a flute or a recorder.

“There!” Feenix cried. “It’s coming from up there. Do you ever remember seeing that before? It looks like a little bodega.”

When they caught up with Brigit, she was waiting for them at the entrance to the store.

In front of the store two wooden display stands were piled high with glistening mounds of apples, pears, and grapes.

“You’d think they’d take them inside in weather like this,” remarked Danton.

The silvery piping music came floating out the door, curling around them like invisible tendrils, tugging on them. Brigit stepped up the little incline and walked inside, not looking to see if they followed.

Inside, there was hardly room to turn around. Buckets full of daffodils and tulips, pots of primroses and hyacinths crowded every inch of floor space. Arranged in the display stands along the wall were all the green-leafed things you could and couldn’t name—lettuces, spinach, dill, scallions, basil—dozens more. It must have been these that gave the room its moist green light. There wasn’t anybody standing behind the front counter.

The music went curling and winding through the aisles.

“But where’s it coming from?” Danton whispered.

“Must be a radio or something,” Edward said.

“Where are your ears?” Feenix retorted. “There’s somebody playing in here somewhere.”

Before they could start arguing again, Brigit pulled out the shopping list. They watched her as she stood there reading it.

“Well?” Feenix demanded. “What does it say?” When Brigit didn’t answer, Feenix tugged it out of her hand.

“One red apple, vanilla beans, and anchovy paste,” Feenix read. She turned to Edward. “What does she do with anchovy paste?”

He shrugged. “Haven’t a clue. It’s not even vegetarian.”

“Is she a vegetarian?” Danton asked.

“Generally,” Edward replied. “Though with her, you never know.”

“All right,” Danton said. “It’s all we’ve got to go on. Let’s find the stuff.”

They all stuck close together, nobody wanting to be left alone. There were several cramped and mazelike aisles. Feenix found the apples and chose a nice shiny red one. Edward discovered the spices and found a thin plastic container with two vanilla beans rattling around inside. They went deeper toward the back of the store, and then Brigit stopped abruptly and picked up a toothpastelike tube from one of the shelves. She held it aloft.
ANCHOVY PASTE
was printed on its gaily colored side.

“Okay,” Danton said. “I guess that’s it. But now what?”

There was silence and they all realized that the music had stopped.

A voice spoke from somewhere over their heads. “I had nearly given up hope.”

The man was sitting at the top of a ladder. It was one of those ladders that slide along a track. The man was very pale and very old, and he held a strangely shaped instrument of some kind. It looked like several wooden pipes of different lengths tied together. His coat had been sewn together out of patches of different colored green silks. Since each patch caught or reflected the light in a different way, the coat looked almost alive like a snakeskin or like the leaves on a tree. The man pointed at Edward. “Step forward,” he commanded.

Edward looked around nervously.

“Yes, you. Step forward.”

With great reluctance Edward stepped forward.

“You don’t recognize me.”

Edward frowned and peered up at him more closely. The others watched.

Edward hesitated. “You’re not the guy who—?”

“Yes, and you can see how my strength has waned. Now, it falls to you to carry what I would gladly have carried. How did you find your way to me?”

“Well, uh, Aunt Kit sent us,” he answered. “She needed anchovy paste and some other stuff.”

The man stared at Edward. Edward squirmed beneath his piercing gaze. At last the green man nodded. “I see. This would be Aunt Kit, the baker, I presume. You understand that if I leave this place unprotected now, it will be destroyed. There will be nothing green to arise again. What must be done is up to you.” The man’s eyes burned fiercely. His skin was still creepily pale, like marble that was trying with only half success to come alive.

“You have the Fetch upon you?” he asked

Danton was the first to speak. “Yes. Show it to him, Eddie.”

Edward took the stone from his pocket and held it up for inspection.

The green man did not move from his perch. He leaned forward to look at it hungrily. Then he said with a sigh, “You do realize that if you’d given it to me when I offered to take it for you, none of this would have happened.”

“What’s he mean, Eddie?” Danton asked. “What’s he talking about?”

Edward said defensively, “I met him on the street, on my way to school last week. I thought he was—uh—I didn’t understand what he wanted.” He waited for Feenix to say something sarcastic, but she remained quiet.

“And I offered to carry it for you, as well, did I not?” said the green man, turning to her.