March chuckled first, and the sound was like warm tea on a winter morning going down my throat. We laughed, too, and the queen smiled like she was suddenly accomplished. Her eyes glistened as she looked at us. I considered it safe to say she likedus—and I liked her, too. I liked her a lot.
Then the White Queen called for her, and for the rest of us to gather around for a picture. We were all to stand in the front—the tallest of us to the sides, of course—while the queens and Calren stood behind us. The light-catcher in the hands of a brunette woman dressed in green velvet was more sophisticated than the ones I’d seen before. They took our picture at school every couple years, but their light-catcher had looked different. This one was smaller, with more gears on the top of the rectangular shape, and a bigger lens in the front.
“All right, everyone! Eyes on the lens—and hold your breath for one second,” the White Queen instructed.
We did.
The sound of it when the woman clicked the button, even though she was far away, echoed in my mind. I was standing in between Cook and Mimi, smiling, breath held and eyes wide open so that the light-catcher didn’t catch them closed.That was all it took to immortalize the moment, to prove to however many years came after ours that we had beenhereat this point.
We had all been here and we’d smiled and held our breaths at exactly the same second.
That was where our story truly began.
5
Aknock on the door pulled my lids open like I’d been awake for hours. Sleep left me all at once, as if it was suddenly afraid of the sound, and it ran on all fours, far away from me.
Another knock and I was sitting up on a bed that wasn’t mine, taking in my surroundings, completely disoriented, about ready to believe I’d been taken and brought here against my will.
But I hadn’t.
I was in The Ever, the palace of the Labyrinth that was going to be our living quarters for the duration of the Turning Trials, and I’d come here of my own free will. I’d gotten into that carriage and I’d come to Neverwhen. I’d met the other Hands, and I’d metthe queensin person—and I’d even been given the Life Clock.
I reached under the pillow, terrified for a moment that I wouldn’t find it where I left it, but my hand closed around it immediately. Holy Hour, it looked even more impressive under the sunlight slipping through the windows than it had the night before.
I could just see the gears and cogs turning in the very middle, before the face of the clock spread out to indicate the hours and minutes of both the time and the Sparetime. Ordinary chronobanks were so much simpler, and smaller, too. This almost looked like a Timekeeper Clock. Those were powerful, able to hold hours and hours’ worth of Sparetime, capable of magics we couldn’t even imagine, but they could only be used by Timekeepers.
“Miss Reese, may I come in?”
The door.
Someone had been knocking on the door twice now, and I had yet to respond. Whoever was on the other side was a woman I doubted I’d met before. Her voice was unfamiliar—but what if I was hearing wrong, and it was one of the queens?
I was on my feet before I knew it. “Yes, yes—come in!”
The door opened. A woman with a round face and big brown eyes came through the door with a hesitant but genuine smile.
“Oh, good—you’re up.”
It was not one of the queens.
Suddenly, I realized I was standing there in the only nightgown I’d taken with me—a black one Mother had bought me the year before for my birthday. She’d caught me staring at it on the display of a boutique downtown—it was a gorgeous piece made of black velvet and lace, but it wasn’t something I wanted to be seen in by other people.
Suddenly mortified, I threw the Life Clock on the bed and grabbed the silk sheets to cover myself as well as I could.
“Um…hello.” My cheeks were so flushed I was twelve-hours sure all my blood was currently in them.
“There’s no need for that, Miss Reese,” the woman said—and judging by her white uniform, she was with the help. Her dress was loose and it fell below her knees. Her apron wasthreaded with red, and her light brown hair was wrapped in a low bun behind her head. “I’m Lida, and I’ve been assigned to help you throughout your stay in the palace by Her Royal Goodness.”
“Oh.” I was at a loss for a moment because the concept of someone beingassignedto help me with anything was very foreign to me. “I don’t…I don’t really need help, to be honest.”
The woman smiled, no hesitation this time. “That’s okay. You can still enjoy it.” And she moved to the other side of the room, to the only door on the right of the bed, which led to the bathroom. Small but perfectly clean, and it had served my bladder a great deal the night before when Calren first showed me to this room he calledmine.
“I’ll prepare a bath for you, Miss Reese. Breakfast will be served in less than an hour. We don’t have much time.”
Breakfast.
As if on cue, at the thought of food my stomach growled like the gears inside it needed a good oiling. I looked at the two clocks on the nightstands beside the bed—it was indeed after eight s.b.
