Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson

hands and knees under the chair; nothing! She wriggled on her tummy under the bed; nothing!
    Micah and Balthazar exchanged glances, then went to work searching the room. Silver knew the pin had been in her pocket. She knew that someone had taken it. Sniveller? Abel Darkwater? Not Mrs Rokabye, she was too stupid to know anything …
    She put on her duffle coat, stuffing her trainers into her pockets. She left the case of clean clothes. Somehow they didn’t seem to matter any more.
    Softly, the three of them retraced their steps downstairs towards Mrs Rokabye’s room. Impulsively, and before Micah could grab her arm as he read her thoughts, Silver opened the door.
    The room was empty. Mrs Rokabye’s latest Murder Mystery and her pink earmuffs were on the bed, but she was not.
    Micah and Balthazar glanced at each other uneasily. They would have to search the whole house, and that included Abel Darkwater’s study. If he had found the pin, he would certainly have taken it there to examine it.
    The first floor of the house had three interconnecting rooms that Darkwater used as a bedroom, sitting room and study. Silver motioned to the Throwbacks to open the door into the bedroom and begin that way. No one wanted to go straight into the study.
    Abel Darkwater’s four-poster bed was tidy and not slept in. Quietly, they opened the cupboards filled with clothes, and Silver noticed that his clothes were not from one century or one time, but a jumble of breeches, frock-coats, top hats and tweed suits, like a dressing-up box or costumes for a play.
    In the sitting room were the remains of a meal on the table, and a candle that had recently burned out, spilling wax on the cloth.
    Now they were outside the study door. It was a panelled door covered over with green baize, like the kind on a snooker table, and the green baize was held on the door with shiny brass tacks that caught the firelight and the candlelight and reflected your face like tiny distorting mirrors. Silver looked at herself and her new-found friends, and they all listened to the absolute silence.
    There was nothing else to do; they had to open the study door.
    Silver heard Micah breathe in as he stepped forward and walked firmly into the room.
    Then she heard a low cry like a whipped animal.
    Abel Darkwater was waiting for them.
    ‘You have not found what you were looking for, I think,’ he said to Micah, without smiling. ‘I sympathise. I am in the same sorry situation myself.’
    Silver rushed into the room, forgetting what she had been told about keeping quiet.
    ‘You don’t know what we were looking for!’
    ‘Ah well, that tells me you were looking for something!’
    Silver fell silent, caught in her own trap. Abel Darkwater smiled at her. ‘I wonder what it was?’
    ‘I’ll never tell you anything! Not ever never!’
    She stepped forward, brave and defiant. Abel Darkwater raised his hand to slap her. Micah stepped in between the two of them. Darkwater looked surprised, and then angry.
    ‘So, John Harrison’s man, as you used to be known, would you stand against your Master?’
    ‘Thee be neither my Master nor my Better,’ said Micah.
    ‘Wretch, have you forgotten who ruled over you? Have you forgotten this?’
    Abel Darkwater turned to one of his cabinets and took out what looked like a short leather truncheon. Silver saw Micah wince. Darkwater laughed.
    ‘Have you forgotten this already?’ With a sudden swing, Darkwater hit Micah on the side of his head. Blood spurted out on the carpet as Micah fell on to his knees. Silver dived at Abel Darkwater, who grabbed her wrist. She bit him. He pushed her away, nursing his hand.
    ‘Foolish child! None of you can stand against me. I will bide my time, oh yes, for I have more of it than you, Silver. You will lead me to the Timekeeper, whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not.’
    Micah stood up unsteadily, mopping his face. He said to Abel Darkwater, ‘Be she the Child with the Golden