Lily Pondwhisper's Arc

Chapter 10 of 12

Lily stopped under the trees to catch her breath. The caster leaned against a trunk, spent. Lily pulled the heart-shaped clock from her chest to check it. Cold diamond caught the wand's glow. Then she saw the small hands twitch. The minute hand slid off its frozen mark. A tick sounded, soft and wrong. Her stomach dropped. The caster grabbed her wrist. "It's starting again," she whispered. "The hour has to stay still. If it moves, the curse moves with it. Your kin change back." Lily gripped the clock harder. The tick came again. She pressed her thumb against the hands to hold them. They pushed under her skin like something alive. She could not force them still. If the hour ran out, her grandmother and the others would shrink once more, and this time no lake could undo it. A voice came from the reeds behind her. "Cover it." Lily spun. Moon Child stepped from the wet grass. Leaves clung to her damp skin. Lily's chest tightened. This was the pale fairy Mothman had taken. She had not escaped. She had come after Lily instead. In her thin hands she held a folded cloth, almost clear, warm at the edges. "You got away," Lily said. "For now." Moon Child held out the veil. "His clock hates being wrapped. Warmth stops the ticking. Do it fast." Lily took the cloth. It weighed nothing. The tick sounded a third time, faster. She threw the veil over the clock and folded it tight. Warmth spread through the cloth into her palms. The ticking slowed. She waited, breath held. The hands dragged back toward their old mark. Then they stopped. The hour froze again. Lily let out her breath. The clock sat still in the warm cloth, silent. Her kin were safe. The proof held. "Thank you," Lily said. She looked up. "How did you get free?" Moon Child did not answer that. "He'll come for both," she said. "The clock. And me." She glanced back toward the reeds. Her jaw was tight. "He never lets a thing go twice." A shape moved past the far trees. Red eyes opened low in the dark. Mothman had followed after all. He stood at the edge of the treeline, wings folded, watching the wrapped clock in Lily's hands. "You wrapped it," he said. Flat. "Clever fairy." "It's staying wrapped," Lily said. Mothman took one slow step. "Then I take the one who told you how." His eyes shifted to Moon Child. Moon Child did not run. She moved in front of Lily, arms loose at her sides, facing him. "Go," she told Lily, without turning. "Keep it warm." Lily held the wrapped clock to her chest and backed toward the caster. The hour was still. Her kin were safe. But Moon Child stood alone between her and Mothman again, and the path home still ran through his watch.