Chapter V

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  • Dedicated to Andrea Cornett
                                    

Lana lay still on the cold, polished floor. Her head ached more than she remembered, and she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes.

            Maybe the cold floor was really her bed and if she opened her eyes she'd see her Aunt Valeria and Uncle Rodger glaring at her.

            Or even worse, maybe the cold floor really was the cold floor and she'd open her eyes to find herself in the hall of snow globes.

            With a groan, Lana lifted herself into a sitting position, rubbing her head but still not opening her eyes. She hadn't heard the creaking of bedsprings, and her hands felt the smoothness of the floor.

            Sadly, she opened one eye and saw the shelves of odd glowing snow globes.

            Biting her lip, Lana put a hand on the lowest shelf and pushed herself off the floor, wobbling a bit. She wasn't sure what time it was or how long she'd been out. All she knew was that something had happened right in front of her... something she couldn't explain.

            Then she remembered something. When she'd fallen, she'd hit her head on one of the shelves. So, shouldn't there've been some broken snow globes on the ground around her?

            Lana looked down at her feet, but there was nothing on the polished black floor.

            "Well that's different," she muttered to herself, rubbing her aching head. She stared around, hoping for a sign of the strange man. Maybe he'd seen her fall and was waiting for her among the other shelves.

            But there was no one else in the entire hall. Lana was completely alone.

            Walking slowly, her feet dragging on the tile, she made her way into the aisle and looked down both ways. "Hello?" she called. Her voice echoed and bounced off the walls, but no one responded.

            Lana eyed the door and made her way towards it. Her hand on the knob, she looked back at the hall one last time and shouted, "Hello?"

            There was no response other than her own voice calling back to her.

            With a worried look, she opened the door and stepped into the room with all the clocks. It was amazing as it had been the first time she'd seen it, the hummingbird still in its endless loop in time.

            Having walked through the room, Lana pulled open the other door and found herself in the circular room with the twelve doors.

            She remembered specifically going to the door straight across when she'd entered the time room. So the exit must've been the door straight across.

            Lana closed the door behind her carefully and walked to the door opposite her. She pulled it open and looked out to see the small hallway that led to the lifts.

            With a satisfactory smile, she closed the door and waited for a lift to arrive.

            After waiting for a few long minutes, finally a lift opened a few down. She stepped in front of it and was shocked to find a man who was dressed like a bellhop waiting in the corner.

            He looked maybe seventeen, and he nodded to her. "Where to, ma'am?"

            "Um..." she said, stepping inside, "The floor below this one?"

            "The Atrium," he said, and the doors closed behind her.

            "Could you tell me the time?" Lana asked as the lift lunged forward. She caught herself on his arm, but he seemed completely unaffected.

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