Stinky, rotten seconds.
“Breathe,” my reflection told me, and it only worked because I heard my own voice, too. Focused on it. Let the blood and the teeth and the terror fade away, slip off me, just like the dress.
Then, I cleaned myself up and I went back to the room, to that wardrobe that was fancier than anything I’d ever owned, to find clothes inside—both mine and not mine.
Pants and tunics in black and purple, as well as dresses with shimmer, in white and silver and a deep, royal blue. Black leather boots near sneakers that were mine, well worn, though I could have sworn to you I’d never once had them on my feet.
But I must have—they fit me so perfectly, molded onto the shape of my feet like they were made for them, or like they’d been worn inthatmuch.
Sense escaped me. I found no tie for my hair, so I braided it and hoped for the best. Then I made for the door, anxious, my blood rushing, the questions at the tip of my tongue. I was going to demand answers from whoever came before me first. I was going to demand them, and I would not rest until someone explained this madness to me in detail.
But the door opened before I could get to it, and the maid who’d seen me to the room before was in front of me again, carrying a small bag, and a suede suit in a metal hanger.
“Where do you think you’re going inthat?” she said, eyeing my black tunic and pants like she was disgusted.
“I…I….” I had no answer.
The door closed—this time with her inside.
By the time ten minutes had passed, the woman had me looking exactly like I wasn’t myselfagain.
4
The four courts of the Clockrealm surrounded the city of Neverwhen. Beyond them stretched the Spill—the far edge of the realm, where the world ended.
Clockfolk from each court had their own strengths and weaknesses, their own likes and dislikes, but they all served a purpose. They made life possible, and made sure time continued to work as it should, and the two queens that ruled over the people were always chosen by these courts. They ruled together as sisters. They made sure time was distributed evenly to everyone from the Great Clock—and they oversaw the work of the Timekeepers, who kept the Clock working as it should.
Except now it was stuck.
“I don’t understand.” I must have said it over five times now, yet the woman refused to answer me.
She’d put the white suede suit decorated with black and purple on me, had zipped the zippers and tied the laces, had put the Life Clock in my chest pocket designed specifically for it. A chronobank with fifty-eight minutes in it—all formeto use.
It didn’t really feel all that great to be rich at the moment.
The small black pouch she’d brought with her had its own pocket, too, on my side, and it was full of basic tools to fix gears. When I asked her what I needed it for, she said she didn’t know, just that she was supposed to make sure I had it on me. I knew how to use these tools—everyone in the Clockrealm learned how to fix clocks in elementary school. But for some reason carrying that bag made me incredibly uneasy.
“What was your name again?” I asked the maid for the second time as she tied the new braid on my hair with a black leather tie she’d produced from the pocket of her white uniform.
“Lida.I’m Lida, Miss Reese.”
I had never known a Lida in my life. She wasn’t a Timekeeper, or a Spade. If her light brown hair was any indicator, she was a Diamond.
“And you don’t remember me, either,” I asked, just to make sure I’d understood her right.
“Correct. Nobody remembers what happened,” she said—the same thing she’d told me before.
“So, how do they know that any of this isreal?”If nobody remembered, how did they know?
“Because the Great Clock is stuck, of course,” was her answer.
I shook my head. “Why, though—why?”
“Because of the curse. Her Royal Goodness must have told you this—the cursestopped the Clock.” Her cheeks were flushed, and she seemed both nervous and irritated at the same time with every new question I asked her.
“But…how?” The Great Clock never stopped. It gave us time. It made living possible. Without time, there would be no realm. There would be nothing, only chaos.
“It’s only temporary, Miss Reese. It’s stuck only until youunwin. Everything will go back to normal then—everything,you’ll see.”
