Free Julius and the Soulcatcher by Tim Hehir Page A

looked down at them from the polished wood panels. Six months earlier, Julius and Mr Flynn had locked the pocketwatch in a secret drawer in the stairs behind the organ. Julius felt its tick-tock in his heartbeat again. He followed Mr Flynn up the stairs. At the fourteenth step Mr Flynn sat down and took a small, golden key from his waistcoat pocket. He ran his fingers across the grain of the wood at the back of the organ, feeling for the keyhole.
    ‘Here you are, my little beauty,’ he whispered.
    He slid the key in and the lock clicked open.
    This is it, Higgins.
    A tiny drawer sprang out from the wood panelling. There was the pocketwatch, its face like a full moon in the night.
    The ticking was already pulsing through Julius’s veins.
    Go on, Higgins.
    As soon as his fingertips touched it he felt a wave of warmth run through his body. He lifted the watch from the drawer. It fitted perfectly into his hand; itsweight was just right. Julius held its face close to his. It glowed quietly, like a smile.
    The hands told the correct time—half past one. The second hand swept across the Roman numerals. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
    Mr Flynn locked the drawer.
    Julius held the pocketwatch close to his candle and studied the engraved design on the back. He found the tiny letters J. H. among the swirls—the initials of John Harrison, the man who had made the pocketwatch that could travel through time.
    The face was a plain, white film of porcelain, thinner than onion paper and webbed with tiny almost-invisible cracks where the face opened up as it prepared to jump through time.
    Julius ran his finger around the side, feeling for the tiny compartment that contained a strand of his hair. It flicked open like a secret on a spring. With this hair inside the pocketwatch it was his , in a way the professor had not fully explained. Julius felt the belonging, but he couldn’t explain it either.
    The pocketwatch was growing warmer in his hand. Was he imagining it or was it glowing a little brighter? He looked up to Mr Flynn sitting on the step above him.
    ‘Time to summon the Watchmakers, Julius,’ said Mr Flynn.
    They climbed down the stairs and stood under thedome of the cathedral. It was as if they were standing inside an elaborately carved and decorated cave with a ceiling as high as the stars. Shafts of gossamer moonlight fell through the dome windows, making the space above their heads seem liquid and alive. The air crackled with the cold.
    Julius thought about the last time he had held the pocketwatch in the cathedral. It was six months ago. He had managed, with the help of Emily and her gang, to outwit the time-criminal Jack Springheel and put an end to his plans to help the Grackacks invade London. When it was all over, Professor Fox tapped three times on the pocketwatch, and then once again, to summon his ten compatriots. Green light reached out and separated into ten strands, forming a circle. Ten gentleman in frockcoats, top hats and canes had appeared in flashes of light—the time travellers who called themselves the Guild of Watchmakers. They put right the mess that Jack Springheel had caused. Now, their help was needed again.
    Julius spun the pocketwatch in the air just as the professor had done. But as soon as he let go, it fell back into his hand.
    ‘Try again. Concentrate,’ said Mr Flynn.
    Julius stared at the pocketwatch.
    What’s wrong, Higgins?
    He tried to make it the only thought in his mind, tried to feel the spinning cogs and wheels on the palmof his hand, tried to believe that he could make it happen. He willed the pocketwatch to understand what he needed.
    He spun it again.
    Nothing happened. The pocketwatch lay in the palm of his hand. He could feel its warmth, feel the ticking of the mechanism.
    Mr Flynn appeared to be thinking.
    Julius peered at the pocketwatch. What had he missed? What had he done wrong? Perhaps it needed a little time after it came out of the drawer?
    The answer might be in