Read City of Time for Free Online Page B

for damp rubbish and debris. The end opened onto the river five meters above the water. Nor was there any sign of the masonry that had hidden it, or of the fleur-de-lis.
    Then he caught sight of Cati. She was sitting on the riverbank, half hidden by a tree. She got to her feet and called his name, then sat down again, looking hopeless.
    “Cati!” he yelled. She leapt to her feet, looking frantically up and down the river. “Cati! Up here.”
    She looked up. Relief spread across her face. He swung off the lip of the tunnel and dropped onto a pile of fresh seaweed on the ground below. Cati was on her feet now, and he knew what was coming. For severalmoments he stood with his head meekly bowed as she told him off.
    Then he interrupted. “I found it!”
    “Found what?”
    “The entrance! The way to Hadima.”
    “What? You're joking! Where?”
    “Up there, in that drain,” he said. “The earthquake brought the wall down and the water swept me there.” Quickly he told her what he had found. Cati looked up. The entrance was barely visible. You had the impression of a shadow on the wall, nothing more.
    “We have to tell Dr. Diamond,” Cati said.
    “Yes,” Owen said firmly. “But first we need to make sure that the Raggies are all right.” Squelching in wet clothes and shoes, Owen told Cati about the hidden courtyard on their way to the harbor. They could hear the sirens of fire brigades and ambulances in the town, but the river curved away and the sound soon faded. As they walked, Owen noticed that sometimes Cati shimmered and almost dissolved from sight.
    “Are you invisible to other people at the moment?” he asked.
    “I don't think so.” Cati looked worried. “Whatever is happening to time has made me visible to everyone.”
    Owen wanted to ask more but Cati hurried on. They could see a group of what appeared to be derelict warehouses up ahead. But these warehouses were home to the Raggies.
    “Hurry up,” Cati said.
    They ducked under the fence that separated the warehouses from the rest of the harbor area.
    “They are sleeping in the far building,” Cati said. “I checked on them the other day.”
    Owen followed Cati to the farthest warehouse. The buildings were more run-down than he remembered. Last time he'd seen them, they'd been full of children's voices and running feet. At the back of the warehouse a small stone staircase led to a basement.
    The door was small and made of wood studded with nails. Cati took a key from around her neck—the same key that opened the Starry in the Workhouse. She opened the door and pushed Owen inside, closing it quickly behind them.
    Owen found himself in a smaller version of the Resisters' Starry. The ceiling glittered with what seemed like stars on a dark blue background. Small beds stood throughout the room and on each bed a child slept. Owen recognized Uel and Mervin, the brothers who had reluctantly fought for the Raggies when they had sailed forth with Cati and Dr. Diamond. He saw Silkie, the brave, resourceful oldest girl, her features more delicate than he remembered. At the top of the room his friend Wesley slept soundly, a frown on his face.
    “Something's wrong,” Cati said. “Can you smell it?”
    Owen sniffed the air. There
was
something odd, more noticeable than at the Workhouse Starry. There at least the air smelled dry and clean—like sleep, if sleep had a smell. Here there was an odor of decay, sweetishand sickly. Some of the children were breathing rapidly. Others had cold sweat on their brow. Then, in the darkness, someone moaned, the frightened sound of a child having a nightmare.
    “This isn't good,” Cati whispered. “The air is stale.”
    “It's not the air,” Owen said. “I think time itself is stale. Stale and old … I have to wake Wesley!”
    He stumbled through the rows. He found Wesley at last. Wesley looked even thinner and more under nourished in sleep. But Owen knew the great strength Wesley's thin frame concealed. He put his