Page 103 - DivineSparkRisingFinal

Nicholas Boothman
Henry pulled the card Jinji had given him, spoke
the words aloud. Nothing.
Jinji stepped forward. “It’s not just the phrase.
It’s the intonation.”
She lowered her voice, slow and hypnotic, and
repeated it. A click. The door opened.
Inside was a gallery unlike anything they’d
seen. Hundreds of clocks filled the walls, ticking in
every rhythm except the correct one. Some spun
forward, some reversed. One sagged and dripped
down its face like melting wax.
In the center sat a man with a white beard
trailing to his chest, hands bent over brass gears.
He didn’t look up.
“You’re early,” he said.
Carolina blinked. “You expected us?”
Bento smiled. “Every moment contains all
moments. But few contain the right one.”
Jinji muttered, “Okay, he’s either a genius or a
fortune cookie on mushrooms.”
Bento lifted his eyes, clear, unsettlingly young.
“I built the loop. Of course I knew you’d come.”
They sat for tea that tasted faintly of mint and
old wood. Bento struck a tuning fork; vibrations
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