She turned to look again.
Nothing.
She heaved a sigh—annoyed, because, once again, something weird happened, and she didn’t have an explanation for it.
Maybe you fell on your way out of the lawyer’s office and everything that happened after that has been from a brain hemorrhage….
Again, she turned to leave, but a pull akin to the gravitational force of Jupiter turned her around and dragged her back toward the box on the table.
Tremors of unease rippled through her.
She stood right above the open box and peered at the contents. Her whole body tingled, and a wave of electricity charged through her. She bent closer and witnessed the timepiece at the center of the velvet row glow.
“Ha, I didn’t imagine it,” she exclaimed to no one, because she was still alone in the strange black tent, in the middle of a strange fever dream.
Bolstered by her newfound sanity,or insanity, she bent lower for a closer look.
She gasped.
Something—a something she couldn’t see--was etching swirling, scrolling patterns into its lid. Were the invisible hands of a master jeweler crafting a treasure before her eyes?
The watch hummed, a low steady throbbing. The hum grew stronger as the watch glinted, the glow pulsing as if it were a heartbeat.
It felt like the watch was…coming to life.
It was so beautiful, mesmerizing.
She was so enthralled it didn’t even register that she’d grabbed the watch by its chain and was dangling it inches from her ensorcelled gaze.
Chapter Five
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.
She clutched the watch in her palm, shuddering.
It grew warm in her hand, as if its gears were quickening, slowly gaining life as if thawing after centuries frozen in the dark and quiet. As if blood and flesh rather than metal made up the mechanism whirring inside it. Like the warmth of a slumbering body beginning to stir.
Her gaze, hypnotized, mesmerized, couldn’t look away from the scrolling, swirling etchings dancing elegantly over its golden lid. Her breath caught, her hands trembling. How could anyonenotbe nervous while holding an enchanted watch?
“This is some seriously crazy shit,” she muttered, her voice unfamiliar, thick with something weighty. Trapped. Waiting.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and her knees knocked together in time to her erratic heartbeat.
“What is going on?” she asked no one in particular, but the watch thrummed in response. “Am I dreaming?” Once again, it seemed to answer by glowing and pulsing, but she had no way of deciphering its miraculous attempts at communication. There wasn’t aComplete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Your Magical Pocket Watchshe could use for reference.
Breathe in.“I’m not crazy.”Breathe out.“Not crazy.”
It glowed brighter.
She took that to mean, “No.” At least she hoped that’s what it meant. Learning the language of a mystical watch would be a serious undertaking.
“Wait,” she blurted. “Why am I thinking about this like I’m going to talk to a watch—as if it can communicate?”
Before she even finished the question, the answer came: because she was going to steal it and take it with her. Urgency resurfaced with a vengeance.
She’d walked into a dangerous, supernatural situation, but she couldn’t just drop the watch and walk away.
Why the hell not?
