Frank is a clock mechanic, set out to replace a broken loop in 2018, but when Luz, the friend he shouldn't have made sees more than she should've, the simple tasks he was given turns into a mission to save the world.
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The world doesn't live on beca...
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A portal appears before Luz and me, but it doesn't outlook the streets outside the building. The view is different, sunny, warm and beautiful. I struggle to stand as rays of sunlight push through the open dimensional doorway. Luz presses herself against me to keep me steady.
I am at a loss for words.
"Franklin, your father didn't neglect the planet. I lied to you," Leader Mikel says, his voice calm in my ear. "He remained there, on Earth, as a doting father and husband to your mother. He cared for that world as if it were his own."
What? My breath hitches in my throat. I turn my head to look down at Luz, searching for the natural light in her eyes. I see it instantly, but in a different hue. The sunlight from the portal has changed them, making them golden. Red, even. Like a topaz lost in sand.
I slide my hand along her shoulder to keep her close to me as I walk forward with her.
"You don't remember it because you were so young. But he refused to leave until he knew your mother was safe from punishment. And I made sure of it."
We stop right before the portal. The clockwork machine continues to click behind us. It's stars and spiritual dust hum as they circle above our heads. I listen to Leader Mikel as he speaks, but parts of it makes little sense to me. "Why are you lying to me? My father," I whisper. "You're saying my father lived on Earth with my mother. But I grew up on Brigond. I'm a Brigon. My mother—"
"Is human, Franklin. Born and raised on Earth," Leader Mikel says. "Your father, once he knew she could leave that planet, took her home with him. To hide her. And you."
I can feel Luz's hand grip my shirt. Closing my eyes, I take in a pained breath. "My father wasn't there," I say. "He passed through in between missions. He spent a night or so with us during his travels, but never... after I was twelve, he..."
I barely remember my father. My memories of him were slim, reoccurring in my mind like passing glances. I didn't know his face because I looked like my mother. I knew his eyes because mine were the same. But him—his presence, his voice, his life—was nothing more than a story to me.
"Your father hated Earth, yes, that part is true. And I, too, because your father is my closest friend."
"Is?" As I listen, I step one foot through the portal. Next to me, Luz hesitates, but one look in my eyes calms her enough to make her move. Together, we step through the open doorway. "You say is like he's—"
"Alive?" Leader Mikel laughs. "Because he is Franklin. I spent twenty-seven years ensuring his safety. And three years ago, I reunited him with your mother."
"But my mother..." My mother is dead. I want to say it because it is the truth, but it pained me to do it. Saying it out loud brought back the pained memories of when she left our home to travel with one of her closest friends, only to have news that her dimensional ship was crushed during a loop. Unlike a Cog, there was nothing they could bring me of hers to remember her by. All I have are photos left home, her clothes, and memories.
