Borrowed Time

tion was n

a flash, maybe some nausea. Instead, it felt like drowni

ky above him twisted in hues that didn't belong together-purple bleeding into gold, then s

felt...

and ther

ing beneath a tree that gre

," she said quietly, b

e contract,"

There's a

s gravity with rules. We borrow, but we return. Tha

n died because I blinked. One moment, and he was gone. And you gave

Renn curiously. In

eneath the surface of everything. T

res in time. People are losing parts of themselves. Fo

h. "Is it really worse than forgettin

ld answer, th

nder. F

figure emerged-shifting, faceless, cloaked in th

Coll

Time, when cheated, sent so

nd the woman, though he knew it was useless. The

ight it," sh

aid, eyes still on the Collec

used. It tilted

rusted gears grinding th

ust re

dn't he

ke

asped. "No!

opened this door. I shoul

ddenly and hugged him

llecto

n stepped forward

N

the world what this place is. Make it rig

lector

me had stopp

t her. "Are

led. Sa

more time tha

ed. The field

enn was ba

the

ent. The machine co

ght-only now, the boy's face was tur

ry rew

fice ac

now, was

than to believe it

as still

ti

ever f