The old man shook his head in disapproval and held the door open for her so she could quickly scurry down the little oak staircase.

They had made it only across the attic space when the clockworks began to creak and groan. The gears turned with a resounding boom, and the space was suddenly filled with a deafening, polyphonic cacophony of bells ringing.

Heloise and Bobo covered their ears as they ran down the whitewashed spiral staircase, which was so narrow that Heloise scraped one of her elbows on a little nail jutting out of the wall.

When they had made it down to a safe distance from the noise, the old man put his hand on her arm.

“You’re bleeding,” he said.

Heloise turned her arm and looked down at the wound. It was just a scratch, but the blood was running down her forearm and dripping onto the white stone floor.

“Come,” he said, waving her closer. “Come in here.”

He pulled a tapestry aside, and Heloise followed him through a door in the wall into a small chamber.

“I … I’ve never been in here before!” she said, blinking a couple of times.

“No,” he said as he rooted around in a little dresser drawer. “There are still areas of the church you haven’t seen.”

“Really?” Heloise was astounded. “I thought I’d been everywhere there was to go.”

Bobo shook his head secretively. Then he smiled. “No, not everywhere.”

“But …” She glanced around. “What else is there? Can’t I see the other rooms I don’t know about?”

Heloise felt like she had just heard a secret about a trusted friend she had thought she knew inside and out. She didn’t like the feeling.

Bobo pointed and said, “Sit down, Heloise.”

She sat down on a chair upholstered in moss-green velvet next to an old mahogany desk.

“Hold out your arm,” he ordered kindly.

Heloise held out her arm.

With the yellowish crowns on his teeth, Bobo bit the corner of a little square plastic envelope and then pulled a moist towelette out of it. He carefully wiped away the blood. Then he stuck a bandage over the scrape and gently patted it a couple of times.

“There!” he said. “Good as new.”

Heloise thanked him mechanically, even though her arm hadn’t bothered her at all.

“So, what rooms haven’t I seen in this place?”

“Why so curious?” Bobo chuckled softly.

Heloise shook her head gently. “Just because.”

“Why?”

Heloise didn’t answer.

Bobo peered at her with eyes that were completely cloudy with cataracts. His one eye was so white that Heloise wondered if he could see out of it at all.

“What is it with you and the dome?”

Heloise shrugged. “It feels safe.”

“Most people are afraid of heights and feel dizzy when they go up there.”

“Not me,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s my place.”