“Still. You never know.” I put the vial in my pocket and take out Monarch’s watch. “What if there is a cure—to the vampires, to the Highers. What if I can really fix the world?”

“Then we better hope it’s an easy cure,” he says. “Because, right now, you’re the only person that vampires won’t touch. And how we’re going to get it to the Highers, who knows.”

He’s getting down again, and I don’t like it. I turn the pocket watch over in my hand, the gold shimmering like fire. I run my fingers along the face of the watch. “Do you know what these numbers mean?”

He smiles, his mood suddenly uplifted again. “I do. Do you want me to try and explain it to you?”

“Yes,” I say and he touches the top number with his finger.

“This is a twelve.” He glides his finger down two golden lines. “When both of these point to the twelve it means it’s either twelve o’clock at night or in the afternoon.”

“But they always point it,” I say. “They never change.”

“That’s because the batteries are dead.” He taps the back of the watch. “If it did work, then the hands would move.”

“Hands?”

He laughs and goes into this big speech about numbers and time and what they all mean. I try and pretend I understand what he’s saying, but it’s confusing. And I start to wonder just how long he’s been out in the Old World.

I return the watch to my pocket. “So were we friends when we were young or when we were older?”

He presses his lips together, smothering a smile. It’s a pause, a hint of consideration. “I’ve known you forever,” he finally says.

Our boots crunch the sand and rocks.

“Forever can mean a lot of things.”

He stops so abruptly, I end up stepping on his toes. I take a step back and he places my face in his hands.

“Since your first day in The Colony, Juniper,” he says my name delicately, like he desperately wants me to remember him.

I think of my first day at The Colony, or how I remember it. A little girl in the street, walking amongst the vampires, toward a little boy.

“Oh my God,” I say aloud, without meaning to.

He stares at me, his honey eyes mystified. “What is it?”

“I think I… were you the little boy in the street?”

“You remember that?” He’s shocked, but thrilled. His heart stammers with elation.

“Yeah,” I say. “But not just now. I’ve remembered it forever. Monarch use to tell me that’s not how it happened though.”

“That’s how it happened,” he assures me. “Do you remember what happened after we were saved?”

“So he saved you too?” I ask. “Well, I guess you’re standing here.”