The candle that lit her room was burning low. With a sigh, she got up and blew it out. But she only lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, her mind spinning.

Three hours. That was how long Dorothy spent trying to fall asleep. But it was no use, she knew it was no use, and so she climbed out of bed and grabbed her cloak. She needed to do something. Anything.

She eased the door to her small room open and peered out into the hallway. Distant voices and nothing else. Being careful to keep the door from creaking behind her, she eased it shut and was off.

Moonlight glimmered off the black water. Dorothy was careful to keep to the back alleys and side docks, her hood pulled low over her face, terrified at every turn that someone might see her. Every boat that passed sent a jitter of fear up her neck, every passerby had her heart racing . . .

All it took was one. One person catching a glimpse of her hair. One person recognizing her cloak, her face. She had to be careful, now more than ever.

After a while, the Fairmont rose up above her, bright and glittering as always. Dorothy slowed as she approached, her breath catching in her throat. It was lovely even in its debilitated state, but Dorothy still remembered the way it had looked when she and Roman had seen it in the future, when all of New Seattle had been destroyed.

Then, it had been a black husk protruding from the ice, a skeleton of the building it once was. She couldn’t help shivering, thinking of it. If things continued as they were now, New Seattle was going to fall to ruin. The Fairmont, along with everything and everyone else this close to the coast, would be destroyed.

“One problem at a time,” she muttered to herself. “You can save the future after you figure out what happened to Ash.”

Shuddering, Dorothy hurried forward, through a back door.

During her time in the Black Cirkus, she’d discovered every secret doorway and staircase inside the Fairmont. She used that knowledge now, sneaking like a shadow into the depths of the hotel and down the back stairs to the door that led to the parking garage. She knew, of course, that there was little chance that the Cirkus would keep the Black Crow unguarded. Even so, she was unprepared for what she saw when she pushed the garage door open.

Spotlights glared from all four corners of the parking garage, lighting the space up like a carnival. Dorothy blinked and took a step backward. It seemed as though the entire Black Cirkus was surrounding the time machine, shouting and catcalling. The din was enough to make her ears ring.

What is happening here?