The paper pulsed in my hand, sending out a shock wave that traveled through the darkness and temporarily pushed back the black clouds.
A moment later, the woman appeared next to me. A small smile rested on her wrinkled face as she hobbled down the street. A cane in her left hand clacked against the street as she walked while she squinted at a letter she held close to her face with her other hand.
I followed beside her, the world unfolding around me. Black clouds gave way to cobbled streets in the Ninth Chime, similar to the streets in the area where we’d found the body. Maybe she hadn’t been moved after being killed like the others.
The woman looked up from the letter and smiled. She dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief, then placed both the letter and the handkerchief into her pocket.
The letter thumped again. My time in this memory would be short.
I scanned the letter to see if it was anything important, but it just appeared to be a message from one of her children. Maybe this memory had nothing to do with her murder. The letter could just be a strong emotion related to a loved one.
The woman stopped and turned to stare at something. Seconds later, it materialized as well, revealing a clock shop—the same clock shop with the imposing grandfather clock. The top opened and a tiny, metal bird popped out and chirped before it hid inside the clock once more.
Noon.
That meant I was only forty minutes or so in the past.
My heart jumped to my throat, and I watched the woman, waiting for some sign that this memory was related to her death or not. With how close it was to the time she was discovered, it was unlikely for it not to be.
She sighed wistfully as she looked up at the clock, then kept walking. Her hand dropped into her pocket, and a rustle told me she was holding the letter again.
As the clock shop melted back into the writhing shadows behind us, the woman continued forward.
I increased my pace to keep up with her and the letter’s incessant thumping. Disappointment settled in my chest as we continued for another uneventful block.
The woman pulled the letter out again, and another smile creased her wrinkled face. A moment later, her lips twisted into a frown a second before I became aware of a strange buzzing noise filling the air. She must’ve noticed it too for me to hear it.
She lurched forward and caught herself on a wall, then slid to the ground. The space further developed around me, revealing that we were in an alley.
“Are you all right?” Unsure of what had happened, the words tumbled from my lips before I could stop them.
The woman looked down, revealing the wound I’d seen earlier. She pressed a trembling hand to the bloodstain spreading across her chest.
Swearing, I scanned the area. All I could make out besides the alley wall and stone floor was black smoke but no sign of a weapon.
The letter thumped incessantly in my hand.
I was running out of time, and even though I’d come to the right time, I’d discovered nothing.
The woman stared at some fixed point in the distance. I followed her gaze, and a man came into view from the other end of the alley.
He had the same slender build as the first killer, but his scruffy low hat and pair of gray coveralls made it hard to tell for sure if it was him. He also had on a pair of black gloves and held some sort of smoking device that he hid in his jacket.
“Help...please.” The woman said in a breathy, gurgling voice as she tried to scoot away.
“Now, now. Fear not. Your sacrifice won’t be in vain.” The man leaned down and placed a hand on the side of her face, as if he thought he really were comforting her.
His voice slithered across my skin. It was the same man, but in disguise.
“Why did you...?” Her gasping breath failed her, and her face paled further.
“If we want to keep the city from being ruled by hypocrites who will only guide us into further chaos, some must die for the greater good.”
“I don’t...understand.” Her breath came in wheezing pants.
“You don’t have to. Just know that I won’t let those who use the misfortunes of others for their own gain rule our city.” He eyed her for a moment, as if deciding to finish her off, but then turned and strolled away. “Thank you for your service,” he said as his form grew blurry.
I rushed over and knelt down and pressed my hand not holding the letter against the wound. Of course, it went through her.
The woman’s attention fell on the form of the retreating man.
Thump.
He was about to disappear into the darkness.
Even if there was nothing I could do, I had to try.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to the woman before jumping to my feet and sprinting after him. Already the world was fracturing around me, cracks tearing through the sky and across the ground while the cobbled streets collapsed. I sprinted faster.
I needed more information. What I had now wasn’t enough to save anybody.
The man reached into his jacket, possibly readjusting his weapon, and a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. It shone brilliantly white against the encroaching darkness.
I reached, fingers spread to snatch the fluttering paper. The pebbled road beneath me cracked as darkness bled into the corners of my vision.
“No!” I brushed the edge of the paper and forced one more step against the disappearing ground, then plunged into darkness as I hurtled through time.
Tears pricked my eyes. It wasn’t enough. Nothing I saw would solve the case. I curled my hands into fists, and something crinkled between my fingers.
Endless moments later, my soul snapped back into my body like a recoiling spring and my eyes popped open.
“Kyra, are you all right?” Hiram shook me gently by one shoulder.
“Yes.” I clenched my fists and sucked in a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart.
“What’s that?” Hiram looked down at my hand where a bit of white peeked from between my fingers.
I gaped down at it. I’d actually brought the paper back from the past. I’d never taken anything from a memory before—hadn’t even known it was possible—but I didn’t stop to give myself time to think of what that meant.
Uncurling my fingers revealed a corner of a piece of paper with the scribbled words Debate. One o’clock.
The man had said the woman was a sacrifice. He must’ve killed her as a distraction, meaning his real target was elsewhere. If his target was at today’s debate, only a handful of people were guaranteed to be there. Only a handful of people were confirmed to attend, like the Prime Meridian and the three candidates.
My entire body stiffened like aether coursed through my veins as the pieces fell into place. “Oh no.”
“What’s wrong?” Hiram asked, but I could barely hear him over the echo of the man’s words in my head.
I won’t let those who use the misfortunes of others for their own gain rule our city.
Papá, who had adjusted his platform the last week on trying to improve the lives of those in the Lower Chimes because of me, was the man’s target. Papá, whom I’d been worried about from the moment that man snuck into my engagement party.
“This was just a distraction,” I said faintly as I struggled to my feet, despite a wave of dizziness that swamped me. Though I wasn’t Slipping anymore, the floor still felt like it was about to fall away. “The killer is going after Papá.”