Time stood still in the workshop adorned with broken clocks. The rhythmic sway of a metronome clicked away aimlessly passing the time. The object held it. It created it. Small candle flames flickered lighting the dark. The moon peaked through the window inviting the clock worker out to play. His picks were drawn placing small cogs into the body of a coat watch. His hands moved slowly, yet precisely fitting the forked wheel with pristine accuracy.

A soft crack splintered the melodic ticking and the older man set down his tools on his work desk. His hand stopped the metronome. He went down cold stone steps towards the source of the crack he had heard. In the center of a room with even more clocks draped across the walls stood a man in a dark coat dusting off his top hat. His dark hair fell over his eyes and his golden cuff-links flickered like maddened fireflies.

"Gerard," the darker man said. "How good to see you."

The older clock worker, Gerard, nodded. "Nice to see you as well, Damien. What news do you have from the Ministry?"

"Business already? Not even a cup of tea anymore, old friend?"

"Times have changed Damien. You should know that above anyone else."

Damien brushed back his hair revealing haunting emerald green eyes which followed Gerard as he ascended the stairs back to his workshop. Damien strutted forward following him. Gerard sat in his leather chair close to a fire. His leg was crossed over the other and his hands tightly knit near his mouth awaiting the news.

Damien pulled up a stool after searching for a seat for a moment.

"You're not going to like this one bit, Gerard," said Damien.

Gerard only nodded and Damien proceeded huffing the air out of his lungs.

"Your readings about the electro-fields are accurate. The other makers will give you that, but they want more evidence."

"But what more can I provide? I've shown them the charts, my work. All of it, yet they still don't want to believe me?"

"Gerard, you of all people should know how this works. How they work."

Gerard looked to the fire trying to find an answer, anything that would help him. His amber eyes were aflame like the fire and Damien couldn't help but smirk at that fire inside his old friend.

"But the traveler, Damien. We both saw her bending those fields to her will. She manipulates them unlike anything I have seen before. Better than you I'd say, but she didn't even need a time piece to do so."

"And that is why they don't want to pay attention to it. She's a ghost. She comes and goes as she pleases, when she pleases. The ministry isn't about to send good men out on a ghost hunt."

"This is more dangerous than any of us can imagine. With someone like that out there..."

Damien stood up from his stool sliding the seat back where he had found it.

"I have my hands tied, Gerard, but I'll see what I can do. For us."

Gerard only sat staring at the fire while Damien left with a resounding crack. In an instant his friend was gone and the old watch maker was left to his humble home with only the fire to talk to. His gaze shifted to a picture above the fire place off to the side. He got up from his seat and stretched his arm out to pick it up. When he did, he held it close examining the three people of the photo. One had dark hair and a dark cloak. The same now as he had been in his youth. Another glowed while the color of his eyes matched his flame. The one between them was more vibrant than both of the others combined. Her white hair trailed in the wind. All of them were smiling and Gerard somberly rested the piece back onto the mantle.

He went back downstairs to the room full of clocks taking a moment while standing in the center. He walked up to one and spun the minute hand in different direction in different intervals like unlocking a safe. He stopped the minute hand on the '6' and locks unhinged as the stone of the wall retracted like curtains. A small space, but big enough for Gerard to slide through appeared. He made his way through and the stone wall shifted back to its original appearance.

It was dark at first, yet Gerard walked with a surety of coming down here hundreds of times. The vibrant glow of roses aflame radiated hues of soft greens and blues across the mossy corridor. He followed the hall until it ended at a wooden door which looked out of place. Iron hinges clasped the wood to the stone, yet arced up the wood ending with the number '12' at the top and the number '6' at the bottom. A slot big enough for a hand was placed where the keyhole should have been. Gerard withdrew a pocket watch and inserted it into the door like a key. The '12' shifted to where the '6' was while the '6' spun to where the '12' had been. He took his hand out, replacing his watch in his vest pocket. The door moved open slowly revealing a wider room with higher ceilings. Moonlight poured in from an opening in the natural rock that made up the ceiling. Its orange glow bounced off the numerous tubes which lined the way to one that stood in the center.

A woman stood suspended inside, floating in the holds of water. Her hair waved around in the subtle currents like millions of small, white tendrils prodding at the glass encasing. Gerard touched his hand to the glass, tracing her cheek as a small tear trickled down his.

"I'll find a way to get you back, my love. I swear it to you."

Faint whispers of a voice he clutched onto in his dreams swirled around him as he left the chamber. The whispers grew louder turning into a cry. The cry morphed into a shout, yet he moved as surely as he had in the beginning. He came to the door and as he was about to close it the shouting stopped.

Don't leave me here, the voice said. Gerard closed the door locking it. All that trailed him was the soft whimpered sound of a woman crying.

Thank you for reading!!!