Chapter 24 Timey-Wimey Gibberish

Louise Demain seemed to materialize from the shadows. Her violet eyes narrowed as she took in the customer and judged him wanting. Scarlett stood by the doorway waiting her turn.

"What eldritch abomination hast thou brought before me?" Her voice was a chilling contralto with just a hint of French accent along the edges. "Another pitiful millennial's broken toy?"

"Um, yeah, well . . ." the actor stammered, "I thought you might be able to fix it?"

Louise let out a sharp, mean laugh. "Fix it? Why would I deign to mend such a trifling bauble?"

"You . . . run a clock repair store? And this is a—"

"This is the flotsam of a society consumed by its own hubris. This abomination of plastic and lithium shall endure long after the great cosmic beast has ground your name to dust in the eternal void. Begone from my sight, lest your insignificance offend me further. Go sing an elegy to Siri."

The man turned and looked to Scarlett for help, but she could only shrug. You're on your own, pal . He stormed out of the store. The bell tinkled a mocking goodbye.

"And you?" Louise's voice dripped with condescension. "What worthless specks of dust have you dragged in for my inspection?"

"Well, you know, the philosophers in the band Kansas teach us that we all amount to dust in the wind, ultimately. But . . . I'm assuming . . . you . . . probably don't know that song. Anyway. I'm Scarlett Melrose? I saw you briefly at the town meeting."

Louise arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Ahh, yes. Another scion of the accursed Melrose lineage. Come to prostrate yourself before me, I assume? Seek thou absolution for your family's ineptitude? Though I doubt even the most abject apologies could hope to mend the shattered fragments of my irreplaceable relics."

"Not exactly. I'm looking for information."

"Oh, so you've finally realized the gravity of the situation. How typical of the Melroses, always a step behind."

Scarlett ignored the jab. "My sister translated a page from the Myrmex Arcana ." She related Luna's discovery of the dragonflies' Egyptian origins.

Louise listened intently, her expression turning to fury when Scarlett mentioned what Luna had said about the sorcerers Jannes and Jambres. "Idiots!" she barked. "They were idiots! They dared to meddle with forces beyond their feeble comprehension. I bore witness to their pathetic attempts to stand against the inexorable flow of time. I saw them stand athwart the march of history yelling stop, and history's laughter mocked them eternally."

"Wait . . ." Scarlett was taken aback by Louise's firsthand account. "You were there? During . . . Exodus?!"

Louise laughed. "Child, I have borne witness to the birth of galaxies and the heat death of the universe itself. Your insect infestation is but a fleeting annoyance in the grand tapestry of cosmic events."

"Well, that's good news, then. If you find the insects to be no big deal, you can tell me how to get rid of them."

Louise tilted her head, studying Scarlett with an unnerving intensity. "The answer lies not in fighting the flies, but in understanding their purpose. They are scavengers of chaos, drawn to the frayed edges of time. To banish them, you must restore the balance."

Scarlett's frustration began to bubble over. "But how? We don't know where to begin, and you're giving me gibberish about the frayed edges of time?!"

A cryptic smile played on Louise's lips. She circled Scarlett, her robe swishing like the whisper of eldritch secrets. The only sound was the discordant tick-tick-tick of a hundred clocks, each a cacophonous herald of different moments in time. "The answer lies shrouded in plain sight, yet your mortal perceptions are too limited to grasp its true nature. The flies were manifested by magic, and only by magic will they be undone."

"Okay, I'm with you so far. Magic such as . . .?"

Louise leaned in close, her breath a searing whisper against Scarlett's ear. "Riddle me this, Scarlett Melrose: what eldritch equation balances the scales of morality? How many acts of virtue shall erase a single transgression?"

Scarlett slowly turned. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean what I say. Can a bad deed be undone by good?"

Just then, a cuckoo clock struck thirteen, and a little wooden bird exploded out of the clock's tiny wooden door with a loud screech, over and over.

Scarlett felt suddenly as though the floor had dropped out from under her—as though the first part of this conversation had been the "upward" part of the rollercoaster and she was now plunging down at inexorable speed. She backed away from Louise. "What do you mean a bad deed? Why would you say that to me?"

"Oh, the Great Tomes of Time lay bare the secrets of your soul, child. You are no mystery to me."

Staring into the eyes of the time witch was like gazing into the most hateful mirror imaginable. Memories of her father began to flood her mind. "It was an accident . . . I just made a mistake. I would never intentionally hurt Papa."

Louise stepped back, a wicked grin on her face. "Did I suggest otherwise?"

"Lady . . ." Scarlett could feel tears pricking her eyes, but no way was she giving this witch the satisfaction. "I don't know what you want from me!"

"From you? What could I possibly gain from one so insignificant? But for your audacity in crossing the threshold of my sanctum, I shall impart upon you a single truth: the key to unraveling this infestation lies within your very being. Quite literally, I might add."

"I don't understand."

"In due course, the revelation shall make itself known to you." Her eyes glittered with a hint of malice. "Of course . . . a sacrifice may be required. A ritual that embodies both unity and transformation. But heed my warning, Scarlett Melrose. The road ahead is fraught with unspeakable peril, and the consequences of failure are higher than you can possibly imagine."

With that, Louise retreated into her back room, leaving Scarlett standing alone in a pile of timey-wimey gibberish.

As Scarlett departed the shop, the grandfather clock chimed the hour.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she muttered. "Time's a tickin'. I get it."

***

Scarlett hurried away from Tout le Temps, hoping to put as much distance between herself and the creeptastic Louise Demain as possible. But she only made it to the corner before she had to pause and gather herself. She pressed a hand to her chest; her heart was pounding frantically. She took a deep breath, then another. The crisp autumn air filled her lungs, but it did little to calm her racing thoughts.

There on the street, her mind kept circling back to Louise's cryptic words. The time witch seemed to know Scarlett's worst secret—the guilt she carried over her father's death. It was as if she had peered directly into Scarlett's soul.

How could she possibly know? She's never met me before . . . barely even heard of me. She didn't even live in Oak Haven when it happened.

Scarlett felt horribly exposed and vulnerable. The pain of that fateful night was suddenly so raw, the wound still fresh, despite all the time that had passed.

Oh, she realized. Maybe that's it. To a time witch, no time has passed at all. To her, I'm still the eighteen-year-old who just killed my dad.

Shaking her head, Scarlett tried to push her guilt away and focus on the clues Louise had offered. The answer to the infestation lay "literally" within her. What the hell does that mean? And the idea of a sacrifice being required? That sent a chill down her spine. What more could she possibly give?

Lost in thought, Scarlett almost didn't notice the two figures passing by on the far side of the street. But when she saw them, her eyes widened in surprise. It was Violet and Maximillian, walking along, side by side.

Max seemed to be playing the role of kindly professor lecturing a favorite student. Violet hung on to Max's every word, nodding away like a bobblehead in a joke shop.

What the hell? Scarlett thought. Violet doesn't listen to anybody .

Seeing Violet in the company of a magician sent alarm bells ringing in Scarlett's head. Magicians can't be trusted, she thought, but does Violet understand that?

She knew she had to follow them. Scarlett crossed the street, keeping a safe distance behind the unlikely pair. She ducked behind trees and mailboxes, but she wasn't going to let them get away. Her heart pounded in her chest as she drew closer.

Violet and Max turned a corner. Scarlett quickened her pace, ready to confront them and demand answers. But as she rounded the same corner, she skidded to a halt.

Her eyes searched an empty street.

No sign of them anywhere—they'd simply disappeared. Scarlett spun around, checking every direction, but to no avail. They were gone.