The bell above the shop door tinkled as it swung open, and sunlight spilled into the dim, cluttered room. Tia had been elbow-deep in the gears of a grandfather clock, her fingers filled with grease and dust, when she glanced up to see who had entered. She expected to find one of the usual townsfolk—perhaps Old Mr. Harper with his cracked mantel clock or Mrs. Lyles and her insistence on precision. Instead, it was someone she had never seen before.
The man standing at the door was tall, with a travel-worn coat that looked like it had seen every corner of the realm. His hair was dark, his eyes sharper than the tools Tia kept on her workbench. He didn't look like a farmer or a merchant. He looked like trouble.
"Are you the clockmaker?" he asked, his voice low and smooth, carrying a calm authority that made Tia's stomach twist with unease.
"No," she said, wiping her hands on her apron. "I'm his daughter. The clockmaker's on holiday. I'm filling in."
The man's lips curved into the faintest of smiles. "Good enough," he said, stepping further into the shop. His boots left faint impressions on the dusty floor. He placed a small, peculiar object on the counter between them. "This needs fixing."
Tia looked down at the object. It was a pocket watch, but unlike any she'd ever seen. Its surface shimmered faintly, as though catching light that wasn't there. The hands ticked backward, and instead of numbers, its face was marked with strange, curling symbols that seemed to shift under her gaze.
"It's broken," the man said simply, though there was something in his tone that suggested the word meant more than it seemed.
Tia hesitated, then picked up the watch. It was surprisingly heavy, and the faint hum of energy radiating from it sent a tingling sensation up her arms. "What is it?" she asked, turning it over in her hands.
"A relic," the man replied, his smile disappearing. "From an old world."
Tia frowned, intrigued despite herself. "Well, it's not like anything I've worked on before, but I'll try. No promises."
The man nodded. "That's all I ask."
He stepped back, his sharp eyes watching her every move as she laid the watch on her workbench. The room seemed to grow quieter, the only sound the faint ticking of the other clocks lining the walls. Tia worked carefully, her fingers deft and precise. But as soon as she opened the casing, she realized this was no ordinary mechanism.
Inside, tiny gears floated in place without any visible connections. A shimmer of light hovered at the center, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat. Tia's breath caught. This wasn't just a clock—it was something else entirely.
"Be careful," the man said, his voice breaking the heavy silence.
"I know what I'm doing," Tia replied with defiance, though her confidence wavered as the light within the watch flared slightly under her touch. She adjusted one of the floating gears, and suddenly, images flickered in the air above the watch—a ruined castle, a woman's face, a field of black roses. Tia gasped, nearly dropping the device.
"What is this?" she demanded, looking up at the man.
He didn't answer immediately, his gaze fixed on the images. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet. "It's a door."
Tia blinked. "A door to where?"
The man hesitated, then said, "To places that no longer exist."
Her brow furrowed. "You're not making any sense."
"You don't need to understand it," he said, his expression unreadable. "You just need to fix it."
Tia turned back to the watch, her curiosity burning brighter now. She couldn't walk away from something like this—not when it was so close to revealing its secrets. She adjusted another gear, and the pulse of light quickened. The shop seemed to warp slightly, the edges of the room bending like soft clay. Then, with a soft click, the watch began ticking forward. The images vanished, replaced by a steady glow.
"There," Tia said, holding it up triumphantly. "Fixed."
The man reached for the watch, but before his fingers could touch it, the glow intensified, and a ripple of energy swept through the room. Tia's stomach lurched as the world around her blurred and twisted.
When the dizziness passed, she found herself standing in a vast, gray expanse. The ground beneath her feet shimmered like water, but it felt solid. The air was heavy with an unspoken tension. She turned to see the man standing beside her, his expression calm but suspicious.
"What did you do?" she demanded, clutching the watch tightly.
"What did you do?" he countered, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Tia's grip on the watch tightened. "Where are we?"
"The In-Between," he said. "The space between space."
Her heart pounded. "You brought me here?"
"No," he said, his voice grave. "You brought us here."
Tia stared at him, the weight of his words sinking in. Whatever this place was, it was like nothing she had ever imagined—and she had a feeling there was no simple way back.