And then I realize, with a sick feeling, what else is different. The old clock in the corner of the room has stopped. I climb out of bed and look at Germ’s watch on her wrist; it’s stopped too.

A moment later I see the shadow, sitting in the corner, hummingbirds whirring in the air around her.

Her powder-blue eyes stare at me in the dark.

She smiles at me with razor-sharp teeth, and eyes as empty as the eyes of a fish.

I shrink back into the corner of the room. I look at my flashlight across the room on my nightstand, but I don’t dare move.

“Shhh,” the Time Witch whispers. “Don’t wake your mother. She’s so harmless, I’d rather let her be for now.” She gazes at me a long moment. “Did you think I didn’t know? That I wouldn’t know where to find you? Did you think I’d forgotten that you’ve killed my friend?”

I’m silent. I am petrified and frozen.

She seems to rethink her words. “We witches… we don’t exactly have friends. Still, it angers me. Who are you to kill a witch?” Her teeth glint in the darkness as she smiles at me again. “No, Rosie Oaks, I haven’t forgotten you. I’ve watched you. I’ve learned. I know what power you have, and what powers you don’t.

“Oh, that reminds me. I brought something for you.” She lays a tiny paper square on the table next to her chair, and beside it, a tiny hourglass. She looks at my flashlight in the corner. “You’re welcome to bring your toy, too. It’s nothing either way to me. Consider this my gift, to make up for your friend, the ghost. Turns out he’s not very good at keeping watch after all.”

It’s as if a rock has thudded into my chest. I look toward the window for Ebb outside it. I already know I’m not going to see him.

“What did you do to him?” I whisper suddenly, in a panic. My stomach flops over sickly.

The Time Witch smiles.

“He did try to fight… poor, helpless thing. Seems to have a bit of a vendetta against me.”

Seems, I think frantically, not “seemed.” Not past tense. He might still be okay. It’s a tiny detail and an uncertain one. But I cling to it.

“Perhaps you’ve heard that I’m quite fond of games. Things get boring when the world is at your mercy.” She grins. “Well, I’ve got a game for you. The game is, if you want him, come and get him.”

“Come for Ebb?” I whisper, but she only smiles as if at some private joke.

“Of course, you’ll have to go through them to get to me. I think you may have heard that there are twelve of us left. Well, eleven now.”