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Arthur kept watching Sneezer rearranged his gloves, then aimlessly shifted the bottles and the decanter After a minute of this, Arthur crept closer, while Sneezer’s back was turned When he was only a few feet away, he could s
‘Not ame Hoas I to know that the Will would crawl up ht to look in a handkerchief Who would? Used that handkerchief since Ti in it before I sneezed Not ive the best service Never had the training Not my fault I mean, a handkerchief? Not my fault, ulp –’
Sneezer stopped in ainst his throat and whispered, ‘Freeze!’
Arthur was quite unprepared for what happened next Sneezer did freeze, but it was a literal freeze Ice flowed fro swiftly down Sneezer’s body and arms and up over his head In a few seconds, the butler was completely encased in shiny blue ice Frozen solid
Arthur slowly pulled the Key back While he hadn’t expected it, this was a good result But would the ice last in this incredible heat? Just to be sure, he touched Sneezer with the Key again and said, ‘Double freeze!’
More ice gushed fro steadily till it wasn’t so much Sneezer that stood in front of Arthur, but a man-sized icicle, the ice so thick that the butler was just a dim shape at its core
Arthur inspected the icicle There were a few drops of water sliding off it already, but it should hold for a few hours Hopefully Arthur would only need a fraction of that time to do what he had to
Arthur left the platform and trod as quietly as he could down the steps to the low bridge It was barely above themud flowed across it Protected by the Key, Arthur had no trouble walking through it
The steam was even thicker this close to the surface Arthur slowed down even more and waved the Key in front of hi apart so he could see Mister Monday had to be somewhere close, surely?
He was Steae stopped Ahead there was a pool of bubblingbetween the posts was a hammock of silver rope, and in the hammock was Mister Monday
Arthur stopped, his mouth dry despite the steam Monday looked asleep He rapped in a thick white bathrobe and had soht they were slices of cucumber like his mother used soed closer, right up to the end of the bridge The top rungs of an iron ladder went down from there into the ain What was that glint in his pocket on the right-hand side? Was it the Hour Hand, the Greater Key?
Monday htly Arthur flinched, then calmed himself It was only a small movement, and Monday’s chest continued to rise and fall with the steady motion of a sleeper
Recite the incantation The Hour Hand will fly to you The words of the Will echoed in Arthur’s head Recite the incantation
Arthur raised his own Key and pointed it at Monday Then he sice and in a soft voice, little more than a whisper, spoke
‘Minute by ether the power!’
Twenty-five
THE GOLD COINS screarab for his pocket, but it was too late The Hour Hand rocketed away, flying across the old-and-silver streak alht it One moment it was a flash in the air, then it was in his left hand, the Minute Key in the right He held both Keys, the attraction between the them apart Now all he had to do was prick his thuust of wind knocked hie, alet up he saw Mister Monday hovering above his stained with rust spread from his shoulders, and he used the the boy rolling along the bridge
‘Foolish mortal! Corip as it tried to return to Mister Monday He clenched his fist, but his fingers slowly opened and the Hour Hand began to slip free To stop it, Arthur pressed the Minute Hand against it and pushed both Keys against his chest At the sa the bridge
‘Coain, and he flew up above Arthur, into the steaot free, but at the last second Arthur pushed the point of the Minute Hand through the circle of the Hour Hand and held the as he shouted If he could just get outside, then the Will could help him, hold Mister Monday off somehow so Arthur could prick his thu to break free, and then Arthur found hi up to where Mister Monday flew above – and was lifting up Arthur with it!
‘Key, make me heavy!’ shouted Arthur as he lifted off and only his toes were touching the ground He could hear Monday shouting so down again, crashing so hard that his feet dented the iron bridge He felt the jar through his bones and knew that ordinarily they would have broken
Making himself heavy worked for a few minutes Arthur sprinted like he had never sprinted before, holding both Keys tight The Hour Hand kept pulling up, but Arthur could hold it down
At least till it tugged suddenly to the left Surprised, and going full tilt, Arthur hit the railing of the bridge and went straight over As he fell, he took a death grip on the two Keys and shouted, ‘Key, make me fly!’
The last word came out as he hit theinto a river Mud exploded everywhere around theht down Mud covered his eyes and filled his nose and mouth But he didn’t breathe it in and he didn’t see for a few seconds, but even as he sank, he felt a strange itching in his back Then the ot pins and needles It re and in that sas Noon had s expanded in the th Arthur burst out of theMonday Arthur’s wings were pure, pearly white They shed the ht up – up and up and up into the writhing steae followed Arthur’s cli hi missile
Arthur didn’t wait At the apex of his clireater speed Though he couldn’t see, soht at it, the stea before him as he swooped down