For his part, the crazy man still struggled and screamed as though he were being burned alive. Curtis had him from behind, and was trying to pull him by his bound arms, but his face was contorted in pain.
Then at last, John Wald arrived. He leaped from the dresser directly to the bed, grabbed the spitting wild man by the back of his collar, and lifted him bodily off me and out from underneath Curtis.
Just as Lilly followed him through the mirror, Mrs. Hollerith burst into the room. “Curtis, what on—”
We all froze. Even Prince Harming stilled in Wald’s grasp, his head turned toward the newest arrival. Lilly slowly withdrew her arm from the mirror. Neither Curtis nor I, half hidden by the bed, moved a muscle. We must have looked like a bunch of kids caught fighting by a teacher.
It was me she looked at first. The stern expression on her face melted.
“It can’t be,” she said. “You’re that boy.” Then she looked at Lilly. “And you. The one who helped. Ten years gone and you haven’t aged a day.”
Two
Truth and wisdom deeply walled.
Lilly was the fastest-thinking of all of us. “What was wrong?” she said to Mrs. Hollerith. “I’m going to her now. Tell me. Ten years ago—what was wrong? Why was the delivery so hard?”
Mrs. Hollerith’s hand went to her mouth. “It can’t—you can’t blame—I didn’t know.”
Lilly stepped down from the dresser and toward the woman. “Tell me,” she said. “What was wrong? I can go and help her, but only if you tell me.”
“B-breech,” the woman stammered. “Early. That and—and—”
And with that, she fainted dead away. Lilly caught her, easing her fall.
“Kenny, what’s going on?” said Curtis. He was looking at the man in Wald’s grip, and for once, the crazy man’s eyes were off me as he returned the stare. “Is this the bad man?” said Curtis.
“Curtis, maybe you should—”
“Rose told me,” said Curtis. He was almost hypnotized, unable to take his eyes of the filthy, unshaven face. The wild man had stopped struggling against Wald. He let out a whimper under his gag. “Prince Harming. She said all the mirror children had to watch for him. Like a curse. Is that it? Is that why it hurt to touch him?” He looked at Wald. “Does it hurt you to touch him?”
“Nay, lad,” said Wald. Despite holding up his prey steadily in one hand, he spoke as calmly as if we were all sitting under a tree on a shady hill. “These deepnesses are past our wits. Leave off for now.” He pointed with his chin to where Lilly was placing a pillow under Mrs. Hollerith’s head. “Look to who needs thee, and we must through the glass.”
Lilly spoke up in support. “Come help her, Curtis. Here, she’s just fainted. You’re going to sit with her and stroke her arm. When she wakes up, you’ll tell her we’re gone and you don’t know what happened. It’s okay.”
“It’s you, isn’t it?” said Curtis. “Lillian.”
“Yes. A long time since I saw you, Curtis.” There were tears in her eyes. “You look good. Can you be strong for—for your mother now?”
His lips set in a determined line. “I’ll take care of her. I will, Lillian.”
“I believe you,” said Lillian with a smile. Then she turned to Wald. “Maybe you should leave that man up in 1947,” she said. “We’re going to help a girl give birth. If he gets free … ”
Wald shook his head. “He is too deep a danger to let loose. I’ll curb him better this time. My culpis, Kenny. I didna mean for that.”
“It’s okay,” I said.
“Then let’s go,” said Lilly. “Breech means the baby is coming out backward. It’s dangerous for Mother and child. This isn’t going to be easy.”
Wald went first this time after I opened the mirror. He dragged the crazy man after him. Lilly and I gave him a moment to get down off the dresser in 1917 and followed.
The first thing we heard was a cry of pain from Rose.
Wald had thrown his captive to the floor and, with a warning foot on the man’s stomach, was lifting Rose in a blood-stained gown onto her bed.
Seeing the blood, Lilly immediately took charge. “I’m sure you’ve seen some births,” Lilly said to Wald, “so you’re going to have to help me.”
Within a few minutes, Wald had tied Prince Harming, now docile, but still shooting fiery glares at me, to a chair downstairs, and set me to watching him from a distance.
“That’s good,” said Lilly to me. “You might have orchestrated this, but the birth of a baby is no place for a boy. Call John if that man so much as blinks the wrong way.”
She didn’t talk to me much after that, just busied herself with trying to save Rose’s life.
I spent the next few hours listening to Rose’s groans and sobs, and to Lilly’s directions to both Wald and Rose. All the while, I never took my eyes off the prisoner. He eventually dozed, though he’d wake up now and then to glare at me.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” I said at one point. “And I’m not going to.”
I don’t know why I felt it necessary to justify myself. He looked even crazier than he had two months ago when he shot me. His hair was matted and dirty, his sunken cheeks covered in a scrubby beard, and his skin burned by sun and wind.
“You’ve got it wrong,” I said. “I never killed anyone. You’re the one all the kids tell stories about. You smashed kids’ heads in. There was some kid you brain-damaged. You sent them into comas. Not me. You.”
He looked away, as though my words held no interest. Or maybe he just didn’t understand. When his eyes locked on mine, it was like there was fogged glass between us, like his madness kept him isolated from the world.
“Is your name Beckett?” I said, wanting something to take me away from the groans upstairs and my own cluttered thoughts.
His eyes narrowed, then he shook his head. Saying no? In disgust? I couldn’t tell. He grunted, champed his jaws on the wide gag John Wald had put in his mouth, then looked at me questioningly. I had been thinking of removing it anyway. It seemed cruel to keep it in, and what harm was there to let him speak?
“Okay,” I said, “I’ll take it off. But no tricks. You don’t know what I can do with that mirror. I know all the rules now. If I want to, I can toss you into a million years ago, and forget you existed.”
His reaction to my ridiculous lie was strange. His eyes widened and his brows contracted as though in surprise and a kind of deep sadness all at once, then he lapsed back into dull hatred.
Swallowing my fear, I stepped forward. His hands and feet were still bound together, and the rope that tied him to the chair hadn’t moved. The gag was disgusting. I couldn’t even tell what sort of garment the stained, spit-soaked rag had once been part of.
He snapped at my fingers when I removed it, but I think it was more instinct than intention. I dropped the gag and retreated to my chair.
I was halfway through asking him his name, when he interrupted me, almost spitting out his words. “Kill yourself. Now.”
The boldness of the command took me aback momentarily. “Why—why should I do that?”
His lip curled in disgust. “Said you were my friend. Wanted all to work out for everyone. This is the way. Kill yourself.” He shook his head. “You won’t, will you? Even if I could show you it’s the only way.” I opened my mouth to reply, but he cut me off. “Go on, tell me you can’t. Tell me what happened has already happened, even if it’s still to come. Go on.” He spat beside himself. “I thought you were some kind of hero. Now I’d as soon kill you as look at you.”
At that, he lapsed into a silence of hours, most of which he spent staring fire at me.