Chapter 29 - The Fall of the Architect
"Help me!" Evelyn shrieked, the manic rage instantly evaporating, replaced by pure, primal terror as the velvet fabric tightened around her ankle, hauling her toward the massive, rotating gears that could crush human bone into powder in seconds.
The knife slipped from her fingers, clattering into the darkness below.
Daniel stood up, Clara held securely against his chest with his left arm. He saw the horror in Evelyn’s eyes. Despite everything—despite the poison, the fire, the bomb, the madness—he couldn't watch a human being be pulled into the machinery.
"Hannah, take Clara!" Daniel shouted, thrusting his daughter into Hannah’s arms. "Get her out of the room! Now!"
Hannah took the crying child and scrambled back through the shattered doorway onto the landing.
Daniel turned back to Evelyn. The heavy gear was pulling her leg upward. "Grab my hand!" Daniel roared, bracing his boots against the concrete frame of the door, extending his right arm toward her.
Evelyn reached out desperately, her fingers clawing at the air. Her bloody fingers locked around Daniel’s wrist.
Daniel pulled with every ounce of muscle he had left, his veins bulging against his neck, his fractured ribs screaming in agony. For a split second, he managed to arrest her momentum.
"Hold on!" he yelled through gritted teeth.
"Daniel..." Evelyn whispered, looking up at him through her matted auburn hair. The resemblance to the woman he had once loved was heartbreakingly complete. Her eyes were suddenly clear, devoid of madness, filled only with an unbearable, tragic sorrow. "Tell Eleanor... she was always the smart one."
"Stop talking! Pull yourself up!" Daniel grunted, his grip slipping against the rain and sweat slicking their skin.
"It’s too late, Daniel," she whispered with a mournful smile. "The architect never leaves his maze alive."
With her free hand, Evelyn reached down to her collar. She didn't grab the chain to help him pull. Instead, she deliberately unbuckled the heavy steel cuff of her velvet sleeve.
The fabric tore.
Daniel’s fingers lost their grip as the sleeve gave way.
"NO!" Daniel lunged forward, but it was too late.
The massive counterweight of the clock dropped with a booming resonance. Evelyn was swept through the outer louvers of the belfry into the raging storm outside.
A split second later, a distant splash echoed from the raging, swollen waters of the Blackwood River hundreds of feet below the cliffside estate.
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Then, there was only the sound of pouring rain and the steady, indifferent ticking of the clock: *CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.*
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