Between Then & Now // Hugh Jackman

10 // Ice Hale

A few days have passed since I last saw the repairman. To see him I had to stay behind instead of going with Hugh and Alana to rehearsals. Hugh understood. Alana seemed the most ecstatic than she had since I got here.

I, on the other hand, was anxious to know if the repairman had been able to fix the wristwatch, if anything was in fact wrong with it.

When I got to the Markets, my heart raced with anticipation. I was surrounded by the same vibrant energy from before, but this time my senses were heightened. Everything seemed louder, brighter. Until I got to the small and cramped stall the repairman was at. Like before, he was hunched over his work area, deep in concentration. I had to clear my throat to get to his attention.

"Hi," I greeted with a nervous smile. "I came to check on the watch I left with you. Have you had any luck figuring out what's wrong with it?"

He looked up from his workbench and wiped his hands on some bluish cloth beside him. His wired glasses perched on the top of his nose as his eyes widened in recognition.

"Ah, yes, the unusual one. I've had a good looks at it. You've got something quite rare on your hands."

The repairman stood up and turned around, grabbing what I assume was the watch I had left with him. I heard him open a drawer. When he pivoted back to face me, he held the clock in his hands with caution. He gently set it down in front of me then took a step back.

That didn't seem like a good sign.

The wristwatch appeared to be the same, almost exactly like how I left it, but for some reason, something about it feels different. Did he manage to get it working?

"I tried to fix it, but this isn't an ordinary timepiece." He sounded puzzled by it's mechanics, and my heart sunk. Because if he didn't know, then who else would I get to take a look at it?

The watch gleamed in the dim light of the stall, as if it was mockingly glaring at me for even trying to find answers.

"I've never worked on anything like this before," he continued thoughtfully. "The gears are all wrong for its age. Like something out of a time I can't quite place."

My brows pinched together. "What do you mean?"

"It's almost like the mechanisms are too advanced for when it was made." He pointed to the hidden button on the back. "I pressed it again, but nothing happened. At least, not that I could see."

So, it was still broken, but what he had said took me by surprise. If the watch wasn't as old as I thought, then what was it doing in an antique shop? Was I looking at this all wrong?

If it didn't come from the past, had it been made in the future? If not the watch itself, then the machinery that made it possible to time travel?

A shiver ran down my spine.

"I'd be careful." He took another step back in warning. "Something about this watch feels off. It doesn't just keep time."

Now that I knew. It could control it too, which was how I got here in the first place. Guess he didn't figure that out.

"I've worked with enough devices to know when something's more than what it seems. I would mess with it lightly, Miss."

The weight of his words settled as I contemplated what he spoke. The button was the key to me returning to my own time, but if didn't know how it did, and soon, I was risking more than I was sure was allowed.

I couldn't stay here forever.

It was obvious this wristwatch was more than an antique, and if what I read in that book the other day was true, I had come to this time because whoever it had belonged to made a profound emotional connection with it. So strong that I traveled to this precise moment.