Monarch says, his voice a whisper, so far away. “This is important. Are you listening?” “Yes,” I reply in a hollow tone as fog dances around me. “Good, now I need you to remember, when the time is right,” he rushes his words, fearful of not having enough time. “I need you to remember that the answers are in the watch.” “What watch?” I ask. “The watch I gave you.” He sighs. “Everything happens for a reason, Kayla. And when the time comes, I need you to put everything together. I need you to fix all of this.” “Fix all of what?” I ask. “Fix the world, Kayla. Fix it back to what it was. Fix my mistakes,” he says. “You’re the only one who can.” “What mistakes?” I question. “And how will I know when the time is right?” I get no reply as the fog surrounds me. My eyelids thunder open like zaps of lightning bolts. I need the watch—Monarch’s pocket watch. My cheek is pressed to a cold brick floor, my wrists and ankles adjoined by chains again, and a lantern sparks above my head.
