Clockwork

Chapter Three

"I think the best place to start would be to explain why Abir had to leave in the first place." Cas began. Akil sat forward in anticipation. Finally, he could get some real answers, they may be difficult to process, but they were answers nonetheless.

"Abir discovered fairies when he was still in Israel, he was a young kid and I guess they could sense that he wouldn't hurt them so they let him see them and study them. He noticed that they would sometimes disappear and when they got back they would have these old artifacts, some of them hundreds of years old. He wanted to figure out where they were getting all this stuff so he watched them and studied them for months and what he discovered was that they were capable of time travel." Cas explained. Akil sat silently in awe of everything he was hearing. His father told him all this as if it was a bedtime story, he said none of it was real. The only way Cas could know any of this was if he knew Akil's father, and it was all true.

"He spent countless years after that trying to harness the power of fairies. He finally found that the source of their power was from their heart. So he designed a pocket watch to hold a fairy heart, making it possible for him to travel through time." Cas was being very matter-of-factly with his tone which made Akil believe that Cas has probably been dreaming about telling someone all these secrets for a very long time.

"Okay, but why did he have to leave?" Akil asked.

"When Abir came to England with your mother he met an Italian man on the boat who was also immigrating here. They became very close friends and eventually Abir told him about the watch." Cas began to explain. Cas stood up and went back to the secret safe in the wall, he pulled out an old photo and handed it to Akil. The photo was of his father with his arm wrapped around a smiling man. Immediately Akil recognized the man. It was the man who had shoved him with his cane outside the shop when his father disappeared.

"His name was Ricardo Corrocto, once they got to this country Ricardo became very interested in the Italian Mafia. Abir tried to help him but Ricardo wanted money and power, it's why he came to England in the first place, to get away from his poverty in Italy. Ricardo quickly made his way up the food chain and became the top mobster in London. But that wasn't enough, he wanted to control time, so he threatened Abir. He wanted to keep you and your mother safe. So he hid all his work and disappeared into 1889. That's where he found me. I was an orphan who lived off the streets, I asked your father for money and instead he bought me some bread and cheese from a nearby market. I followed him around like a lost puppy dog hoping for more scrapes, I told him about the conditions I lived in at the orphanage and how horrible it was, he took some pity on me and decided he couldn't leave me. From then on out I was traveling through time with Abir Najib." Cas finished. Akil sat silently for a moment.

"How could Ricardo betray him like that?" Akil asked. Cas leaned against the wall and put his hands in his pockets.

"I don't know, the man is a total arse." Cas said. "I want to know more about you, the great son of Abir." Cas said standing in front of Akil.

"Uh, I'm Akil and I lost my father nineteen years ago because a mobster wanted to steal his fairy magic." Akil snarked. Cas laughed.

"You've got a sense of humour, I can admire that." Akil stood and walked over to the window.

"What about you? I mean my father practically raised you." Akil asked. There was a hint of aggression in his tone, honestly how could his father pick up a different child to raise and love while his own child was at home, alone, scared, and lost without him. Cas didn't pick up on his tone.

"Casanova Brigham Blakesley at your service, I enjoy making snide comments on everything and kicking Italian arse." Cas replied, bowing at Akil.

"I take it back, my father didn't raise you." He said.

"I think we'll get along just fine. But I think we should get out of here." Akil put all the stuff back in the safe and locked it up, doubling checking to make sure it still looked inconspicuous.

"I guess you can stay at my home till we figure out how to find where in time my father is." Akil offered.

"I mean I usually don't go home with people on the first date but I'll make an exception." Cas teased. Cas punched Akil's arm lightly and walked out of the shop. Akil had met some rambunctious people in his life but Cas was even more. As they left the shop and walked down the street Cas asked Akil more questions.

"What do you do when you're not getting told that time travel is real?" Cas asked.

"I read a lot. I'm very good at research." Akil told him.

"An academic. So I'm guessing you probably know a lot of useless information."

"It's not useless, but yes I know a lot about a lot." Akil said defensively. Cas nodded.

"Okay, so tell me what you remember about your father."

"Everything. The way he talked, the way he laughed, how he kissed my mother on the cheek. He was a kind man. Everything that I wanted to be." Akil answered.

"That sounds about right. You know as I was traveling through time with him he would teach me something new about each time period. So I know a lot about history." Cas told him.

"What was the most interesting time period to you?" Akil asked.

"The American civil war." Cas said confidently. They got to the apartment and Akil unlocked the door and held it open for Cas.

"What a gentleman." Cas said with his hand on his heart. Akil walked in behind him and closed the door. Cas was looking at the pictures on the wall.

"Where is your mother?" Cas asked.

"She died last year. She was sick for a while, then she just gave out." Akil answered.

"I'm sorry, Akil."

"It's alright, everyone has a last day." Cas nodded in understanding.

"There's an extra bedroom upstairs that you can stay in until we can figure out how to find my father." Akil told Cas.

"Thanks, and don't worry, we'll get your father back." Cas looked Akil in the eyes as he said this so he knew he meant it. Akil liked Cas, he was funny and energetic but there was also a twinge of envy. Cas had gotten to spend nineteen years with Abir. Akil only got six years before he disappeared. All of a sudden Akil felt distant from his father, almost like he didn't know him at all, which was the scariest and most horrible thing he had felt since his father first disappeared. Akil showed Cas to his room and then he went to his own room, he was emotionally exhausted but nothing was going to stop him from finding his father, he was finally getting answers. After nineteen years.