Callimpsest raises his eyelids. He is back in the Tower, lying on the floor behind the clock. He feels groggy and wonders how long he has been asleep. He sees Theodora is there too, still wearing the school uniform. She looks cut and bruised but she is breathing. Callimpsest is about to wake her and ask her what happened. Yes or no? Then he remembers that he already has a way to know.
In the explosion, Callimpsest's favourite quill and inkwell set - the inkwell was in the shape of a dungeon wellway; the feather was from a talking raven and squawked at him when the ink was running out - had been damaged by a falling rafter. He had kept them and before departing on his quest to the past, had brought them to the Tower of Time. He left them on the far side of the room. If the quest has been successful, if the explosion has been prevented or reversed, his stationery will be restored or maybe even back in the library. He just needs to look over and see. His eyes are still bleary and he cannot focus. He crawls across the room with trembling hands. He gets closer. His heart pounds.
He can see them. The inkwell has a chunk missing and a black stain down the side. The quill is bent into an L shape. Just as always. History has not been rewritten.
Did the potion not spread properly? Did the bottles not break? Did the mixture expire too soon? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how successful or unsuccessful an apothecary Callimpsest was, or a school cook. It was all to be a librarian again, and it's been denied him.
"Well, Ringmasterrob alloneword... I hope you're happy. 'Oh, let me come to the Knightmare Boarding School, with my lickspittle lackey Bob, and my double so that I can impose myself twice as hard, and never mind that a deadly evil is hunting me across the realms, endangerment of the school be damned, old Scumeye can devastate everything around me and I'll still stand tall.'
"Well I am devastated, Rob. I am devastated still. I came to the school to be a librarian. To help, to be needed. And the poison you brought to its door, from your accursed world, took it away from me. But what was I, what were my whims compared with those of a Netherregions power trip? Bob wanted me gone from the moment I arrived, and you made it happen. You made me fail my books, you made me fail the students, you made me fail myself. Forever."
He raises his head from his hands. He has not said half of what he wants to say, half as many times, but this is not the place to say it. If there is any catharsis to be had, he must say it at the library. He will wake Theodora and see if she is willing and well enough to accompany him.
As Callimpsest gets to his feet, he sees Aesandre's device lying on the floor. It is different. Glowing more brightly, it has changed shape. The egg-shaped component is larger and rounder while the protrusion has thickened into a conical formation. Gently, Callimpsest picks it up by the cone.
It looks familiar. He has read about such things, albeit with scepticism. Did Aesandre really create an egg that can hatch into whatever creature has mothered it?
A droplet is running down the sphere. Callimpsest watches as it falls through the air. It splashes to the floor near his foot and spreads outwards. Wider and wider. It shimmers, it swells... it rustles. Seconds later, it is a book.
Callimpsest stares. It all comes together in his mind.
"If it...
"By Eusebius Hieronymous..."
Willing Hermes to his feet, and Chronos onto his side just once more, he bolts from the clock room with the plagiaricer in his grip.
"...Sophronius!"