The woman stamped her foot. “So willetbay, Gruwens.” She swept round the platform to the stairs.

I ducked back out of sight, ready to go up again, but the discussion was apparently over.

“Bootdahmuh Boetenneher—” the workman pleaded, following her.

I crept after them, keeping one turn above.

“Gottabovencudna do swich—” the workman said, trailing after her.

I was nearly back to the site of the drop.

“Whattebey thisse?” the woman said.

I cautiously came down one step, and then another, till I could see them. Mary Botoner was pointing at something on the wall.

“Thisse maun bey wroughtengain,” she said, and, above her head, like a halo, I saw a faint shimmer.

Not now, I thought, not after waiting a whole night.

“Bootdahmuh Boetenneher—” the workman said.

“So willet bey,” Mary Botoner said, jabbing her bony finger at the wall.

The shimmer was growing brighter. One of them would look up in a moment and see it.

“Takken under eft!” she said.

Come on, come on. Tell her you’ll fix it, I thought.

“Thisse maun bey takken bylyve,” she said, and started, finally, down the stairs. The workman rolled his eyes, tightened his rope belt round his ample middle, and started after her.

Two steps. Three. Mary Botoner’s coiffed head disappeared round the curve of the tower and then bobbed back into sight. “Youre hyre isse neyquitte till allisse doone.”

I couldn’t wait any longer, even if it meant they saw me. People in the Middle Ages had believed in angels — with luck, they’d think I was one.

The shimmer began to glow. I shot down the steps, jumping over the pigeon, who took off into the air with a wild squawking.

“Guttgottimhaben,” the workman said, and they both turned to look up at me.

Mary Botoner crossed herself. “Holymarr remothre—”

And I dived for the already closing net and sprawled flat onto the blessed tiled floor of the lab.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

And let it be 2057, not 2018. I looked up, and yes, it was. Warder was bending over me, extending a hand to help me up.

When she saw it was me, she stood up and put her hands on her hips.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“What am I doing here?” I said, picking myself up. “What the bloody hell was I doing in 1395? What was I doing in Blackwell’s in 1933? I want to know where Verity is.”

“Get out of the net,” she said, already moving back to the console and beginning to type. The veils on the net began to rise.

“Find out where Verity is,” I said, following her. “She went through yesterday, and something went wrong. She—”

She moved her hand in a gesture of silencing. “Eleven December,” she said into the console’s ear. “Two P.M.”

“You don’t understand,” I said. “Verity’s missing. There’s something wrong with the net.”

“In a minute,” she said, staring at the screen. “Six P.M. Ten P.M. Carruthers is stuck in Coventry,” she said, her eyes never moving from the screen, “and I’m trying to—”

“Verity may be stuck in a dungeon. Or the middle of the Battle of Hastings. Or the lion’s cage at the Zoo.” I pounded on the console. “Find out where she is.”

“In a minute,” she said. “Twelve December. Two AM. Six A.M.—”

“No!” I said, grabbing the ear of the console away from her. “Now!”

She stood up angrily. “If you do anything to jeopardize this rendezvous—”

Mr. Dunworthy and T.J. came in, their heads together worriedly over a handheld. “—another area of increased slippage,” T.J. was saying. “See, here it—”

“Give me that ear,” Warder said furiously, and they both looked up.

“Ned,” Mr. Dunworthy said, hurrying over. “How did Coventry go?”

“It didn’t,” I said.

Warder snatched the ear back and began feeding times into it.

“No Mr. C, no ‘life-changing experience,’ ” I said. “Verity tried to come through to tell you, but she didn’t make it. Tell Warder she’s got to find her.”

“I’m running the accelerated,” Warder said.

“I don’t care what you’re running,” I said. “It can wait. I want you to find out where she is now!”

“In a minute, Ned,” Mr. Dunworthy said quietly. He took my arm. “We’re trying to pull Carruthers out.”

“Carruthers can wait!” I said. “You know where he is, for God’s sake! Verity could be anywhere!”

“Tell me what’s happened,” he said, still calmly.

“The net’s starting to break down,” I said. “That’s what’s happened. Verity went through to tell you we failed at Coventry, and right after she’d gone through, Finch came through and said she hadn’t come through to the lab. So I tried to come through and tell you, but I ended up here in 2018, and then in Blackwell’s in 1933, and then in a—”

“You were in the lab in 2018?” Mr. Dunworthy said, looking at T.J. “That’s where the area of slippage was. What did you see, Ned?”

“—and then in the tower of Coventry Cathedral in 1395,” I said.

“Destination malfunction,” T.J. said worriedly.

“Two P.M. Six P.M.,” Warder said, her eyes on the screen.

“The net’s breaking down,” I said, “and Verity’s out there somewhere. You’ve got to get a fix on her and—”

“Warder,” Mr. Dunworthy said. “Stop the accelerated. We need—”

“Wait, I’m getting something,” she said.

“Now,” Mr. Dunworthy said. “I want a fix on Verity Kindle.”

“In a min—”

And Carruthers appeared in the net.

He was wearing the same thing he’d been wearing last time I’d seen him, his AFS coveralls and nonregulation helmet, except that they weren’t covered with soot. “Well, it’s about time!” he said, taking his tin helmet off.

Warder ran over to the net, pushed through the veils, and flung her arms around his neck. “I was so worried!” she said. “Are you all right?”

“I nearly got arrested for not having an identity card,” Carruthers said, looking slightly taken aback, “and I was this close to being blown up when a delayed HE went off, but otherwise I’m fine.” He disentangled himself from Warder’s arms. “I thought something had gone wrong with the net, and I was going to be stuck there for the duration of the war. Where the bloody hell have you been?”

“Trying to get you out,” Warder said, beaming at him. “We thought something had gone wrong with the net, too. Then I thought of running an accelerated to see if we could get past whatever the block was.” She linked her arm through his. “Are you certain you’re all right? Can I get you anything?”

“You can get me Verity. Now!” I said. “I want you to run a fix right now.”

Mr. Dunworthy nodded.

“All right!” Warder snapped, and stomped over to the console.

“You didn’t have any trouble coming back, did you?” T.J. said to Carruthers.

“Except that the bloody net wouldn’t open for three weeks, no,” Carruthers said.

“I mean, you didn’t go to another destination before you came here?”

Carruthers shook his head.

“And you haven’t any idea why the net wouldn’t open?”

“No,” Carruthers said. “A delayed HE went off a hundred yards from the drop. I thought perhaps it had done something to it.”

I went over to the console. “Anything yet?”