Instructor Valerius stood over me. Her eyes were hard. They moved from my face to the watch in my hand. The watch was still ticking. It sounded very loud in the quiet room.
The monster lay on the floor behind her. It was wrapped in a blue net. It made soft crying sounds. The other guards were helping the hurt men. No one looked at us.
"Why are you holding the one artifact that was not stolen?" she asked again. Her voice was low and cold.
I did not know what to say. My mind was empty. I could not think of a good lie.
"I... I found it," I said. It was a stupid thing to say.
"You found it," she repeated. She did not believe me. "You found it in a locked storage room. With a dead guard. And a time monster. And you just... found it."
I looked at the floor. My clothes were dirty from the sticky stuff. I could still smell the monster. My hands were shaking.
"The watch called me," I whispered. I did not mean to say it. The words just came out.
She was quiet for a moment. Then she knelt down. Now her face was close to mine. I could see the tired lines around her eyes.
"Talk," she said. "Now. And do not lie to me."
So I talked. My voice was shaky. I told her about waking up. About my arm being dead. About the watch fixing it. I told her about the alarm. About the pull I felt. How I came down here. I told her about the monster. About falling. About the watch flying away.
I did not tell her about the voice. That felt too private. Too strange.
When I finished, she was still looking at me. Her face did not change.
"Stand up," she said.
I stood up. My legs felt weak.
She pointed at the watch. "Show me."
"Show you what?"
"Make it do something," she said. "Something only you can make it do."
I shook my head. "I don't know how. It just... happens."
"Try," she said. Her voice was firm.
I looked at the watch in my hand. It was warm. It was ticking normally. I did not know what to do. I thought about the monster. About time stopping.
"Please," I whispered to the watch. "Do something."
Nothing happened. The watch just kept ticking. I felt stupid.
Instructor Valerius watched me. She did not look angry. She looked... interested.
Then she did something strange. She took a small knife from her belt. It was sharp and shiny. Before I could move, she grabbed my hand and cut my arm. It was a small cut, but it hurt. Blood came out.
"What are you doing?" I yelled.
"Watch," she said, pointing at the cut.
I looked. The blood was red. It ran down my arm. Then something amazing happened. The watch in my hand grew warmer. The ticking got a little louder. The cut on my arm... it started to close. The skin came together. In a few seconds, the cut was gone. Only a little blood remained.
I stared at my arm. I could not believe it.
"The watch heals you," Instructor Valerius said. "But only you. It chooses you."
She looked around the room. The other guards were not watching us. They were busy with the monster and the hurt men.
"Listen to me, Kaelen," she said, her voice very low. "This is important. You cannot tell anyone about this. Not your friends. Not other instructors. No one."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because people will want to take it from you," she said. "And they will do bad things to you to get it. Do you understand?"
I nodded. I felt cold.
"This watch is very powerful," she said. "And your power... it is not what we thought. You are not what we thought."
She looked at the watch in my hand. "You need to hide it. Keep it safe. And you need to be careful. Very careful."
I put the watch in my pocket. It felt heavy there.
"What about the monster?" I asked. "What about the dead guard?"
"I will take care of it," she said. "I will say you came down because you heard noise. You were brave. You tried to help. Then you hid. Do you understand the story?"
I nodded again.
"Good," she said. "Now go back to your room. Clean yourself. Act normal. I will come for you later."
I turned to go. My legs were still shaky.
"And Kaelen," she said behind me.
I turned back.
"Do not trust anyone," she said. "Not even me."
I walked back to my room. The halls were still empty. The alarm had stopped. My mind was full of questions.
Why did the watch choose me?
What was the voice?
Who was the lonely man?
Why did Instructor Valerius help me?
When I got to my room, I took the watch out of my pocket. It was still warm. It ticked softly.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
For a long time, nothing. Then, very soft, I heard it.
...friend... the voice whispered. ...I am your friend...
"Are you really in there?" I asked. "Inside the watch?"
...yes... came the reply. ...trapped... help me...
"How?" I asked. "How can I help you?"
...find the key... the voice said. ...the key to my cage...
"What key?" I asked. "Where is it?"
But the voice was gone. The watch just ticked.
I lay on my bed. I was so tired. I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, the room was dark. Someone was knocking on my door.
I sat up quickly. "Who is it?"
"It's Leo. Open up."
I opened the door. Leo stood there. His face was worried.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "I heard what happened. They said there was a break-in. Someone said they saw you there."
"I'm fine," I said. "I just... heard noise. I went to look. Then I hid."
Leo looked at me closely. "You don't look fine. You look like you saw a ghost."
"Something like that," I said.
He came in and sat on my bed. "They're saying weird things, Kaelen. They say only one thing was taken. Some special artifact from the Frozen Market. And they say... they say it was an inside job. That someone here helped the thieves."
My blood went cold. "What kind of artifact?"
"Some kind of container," he said. "A box or something. They say it holds something very dangerous. Something that should never be opened."
I thought about the voice in the watch. About the lonely man. About the key.
"Hey," Leo said, looking at my desk. "What's that?"
I followed his eyes. There was a piece of paper on my desk. I did not put it there. It was folded neatly.
I walked over and picked it up. I opened it.
The words were written in neat, careful letters.
"I KNOW ABOUT THE WATCH," it said. "MEET ME AT THE OLD TRAINING GROUND. MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE. OR I TELL EVERYONE."
I felt like I couldn't breathe.
"What is it?" Leo asked. "You look pale."
"Nothing," I said, crumpling the paper in my hand. "It's nothing."
But it wasn't nothing. Someone knew. And they wanted to meet me.
The watch in my pocket felt heavy. It ticked against my leg.
I was in trouble. Deep trouble.
And I had no idea what to do.