As Jake listened, a picture popped into his head. He again stood inside the Astromicon atop the castle of Kalakryss in Calypsos, staring into the mechanism that filled the dome overhead. As the watch ticked in his ear, the copper gears in the Astromicon dome turned, and a parade of crystals orbited around. Sunlight drove the movement. Powered by solar energy, it was a clockwork masterpiece.

Suddenly Jake lowered the watch, twisted around, and reached under his bed where he kept a backpack always prepped. He yanked it free and unpinned a square badge fixed to the outside.

“What are you doing?” Kady asked.

“Let me think,” he said, teetering on a realization.

The silver badge was the size of his thumb, with four crystals mounted on it. In the center rested a white crystal as bright as a diamond. Positioned around it in the shape of a triangle were three other stones: a ruby, an emerald, and an icy blue sapphire. They represented the four main crystals of Pangaea, the four cornerstones of that land’s alchemy.

He turned to Kady. “Do you remember when I placed my flashlight in the Astromicon along with a blue crystal, and they fused together?

“Yeah, you created some sort of freeze ray.”

Jake picked up his father’s timepiece. “Watches like Dad’s also have crystals in them. Jewels, actually. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires, diamonds. What if Dad put his watch inside something like the Astromicon? Maybe that’s what gave his watch the power to open the gateway back here. If so, Dad’s watch may be a key to other portals.”

Kady scrunched up her brow. “But we’ve tried everything with it. Nothing’s worked.”

“I said it’s a key. Before we can use it, we have to find the lock that it fits.”

Jake stared down at the open watch. On the inside of the case, someone had inscribed a picture.

An ankh, the Egyptian symbol for “life.”

Both of them knew this must be an important clue, another bread crumb on the path to discovering the true fate of their parents. It was why Jake had been researching Egyptian history, mythology, and writings so heavily. Now he realized that the symbol was more than a clue to their parents’ fate. It was a signpost to that lock.

Jake felt pieces falling into place in his head. He didn’t have all of them yet. It was like a half-completed jigsaw puzzle. A part of him recognized the danger of acting without that complete picture, but he pushed such reservations aside in his excitement.

“Someone must know that Dad’s watch can act like a key,” Jake said, swinging off the bed and standing. “That’s why they came for it.”

“But why now?” Kady asked, parroting his earlier question.

Jake pointed at her. “Exactly!”

Kady frowned her confusion.

“Why now?” Jake stalked the room, barely able to hold back his excitement. “Haven’t you sensed this strange feeling building over the last couple of days, like a freight train’s barreling toward you?”