“Uh,” Otto said. He was looking behind Eleanor with a pained expression. “That wasn’t like that before, was it?” he asked.

Eleanor turned with a sinking feeling. Otto was staring at the grandfather clock. The clock that ran backward, that warned them when the People Who Look Away had arrived. The glass face of the clock had cracked, and the pendulum was still. The hands weren’t going anywhere—forward or back. And there were too many of them.

“There are nine,” Otto noted. “Three hour hands, three minute hands, three second hands.”

“Halloween, the spring equinox, and the eclipse. Three times, all stacked on top of each other,” Eleanor said.

“Bad,” the kitten mewed once more.

Otto gave a grim nod. “I might be able to fix some of Bartimaeus’s wards. I’ll get the hedgewitch to help.”

“I’ll scout the perimeter. Make sure Katie’s not already sneaking up on us,” Pip said.

“What should I do?” Eleanor asked, a note of panic still in her voice.

“You got us here,” Pip said, giving her arm a friendly squeeze. “Take a breath. We’ve got a few minutes before the world ends.”

“Probably,” Otto added, and Pip elbowed him in the ribs.

Otto and Pip dispersed to their tasks. Eleanor made her way down the stairs. Ben was gone. Jenny was gone. Naomi was gone, with her infectious laugh and perfect dimples. Thea was gone. For good.

She stood at the bottom of the stairs and shut her eyes. She had to stop losing people. She couldn’t bear it any longer.

Cold as glass, Eleanor thought. Wander had warned her not to let her heart be broken. But then, she’d lost Wander, too—and Jack. Except . . .

Ben had said they disappeared through one of Wander’s portals before time broke. That meant they hadn’t been in Eden Eld. Maybe they hadn’t disappeared through the cracks in time like Jenny and the others.

Maybe she could still find them. She’d pulled the hedgewitch into the Pallid Kingdom. Surely she could find her father the same way.

All those bright threads connecting things—some of them connected to her. And she found the two she was looking for. “Can you bring them here?” she asked the Wending. Maybe it was foolish to talk to it like it understood her, but she almost thought she felt a kindness in the Wending as she opened her eyes. A simple path unfurled before her, and she reached, pouring all her aching love and longing into it. The air shimmered—and Jack and Wander appeared on the road, looking bewildered. Then they spotted Eleanor.

Jack let out a cry of relief, and rushed forward to sweep Eleanor up in his arms. “Eleanor, you’re alive!” he said, holding her tight.