The hourglass pact

ed shut a decade ago. Standing here now, in the wreckage of Vane's Time Repai

ed, only a hunted wariness. Rainwater dripped from her hair, mingling with the sweat on her neck, cold aga

he charts emanating from below him. Contain or terminate. Her starlight blade

at, raw and accusing, echoing in the sudden, awful silence broken only by t

breach came from below.He clutched a dented lantern, his knuckles white. Dust coated his coa

gaze flickered past her to the shattered window, the overturned ben

a physical pressure against her skin, a thousand tiny needles. It felt ancient. Wrong. And beneath it, faint but undenia

ak him stolen pastries from the Upper Tier markets? Or the Warden sent to silence

Said names. Said they were coming. Wardens." He swallowed hard, his gaze fixing on t

here for him. The hourglass had *told* him. What kind of artifact possessed that power? Panic

sed, her voice ti

nch. "It said they broke it. My father tried to mend it... and they killed him for it." There was acc

, whispered only in the highest, most secure levels of the Chronos Guard. Hearing them on Elias'

dded, his voice dropping lower, almost

dgment from superiors who thought her broken after... after what happened. A name *no one outsid

en proximity alarm. Her comm rune vibrated violently against her skull, a silent, urgent pulse.

strophic temporal energy, spilling forbidden knowledge,was the contaminant. Her blade was half-free, starlight casting jag

e his father tinkered above. Saw the echo of the man she'd once thought she'd... *Stop

te if n

ed her boot down on the edge of the open trapdoor, forcing it shut with

Now! Unless you want to explain that," she jerked her chin towards the sealed t

error on his face. "But

ve! Or we both end up chrono-locked!" She yanked him towards the shop's grimy back door, the one leading into the perpetually damp alley behind the laundromat. T