Chapter 9 · The Second Voice in the Watch

The deep-water lantern across the river pulsed once.

Its blue light moved through the rain like a heartbeat beneath skin.

Lin Lan felt the cracked watch answer in her palm.

Tick.

The sound came from inside the metal, too slow to be a clock and too deliberate to be broken machinery. Tavi’s control room trembled around them. Dust sifted from the ceiling. Somewhere beyond the rusted walls, black water dragged itself across the ferry station floor, searching for a door that had not existed in years.

Nara stood near the dead switchboard, one hand pressed to her chest. Her fingers sank slightly into the fabric of her coat, as if her body had forgotten how solid it was.

Lin noticed. She noticed everything now.

The way Nara’s shoulders tightened whenever the watch clicked. The way the rainlight passed through the edge of her hair. The faint smell of river weeds and burnt sugar clinging to her skin.

The smell of the stolen memory.

Red thread. Blue cup.