Chapter 2

Another chapter hurray. When I was writing this it sounded very sentimental (mainly because of the music I was listening to at the time). I don't know if it's as sentimental when you read it, so, just in case I want you to listen to the same music while you read it. Before you do anything, play Skyfall by Adele. Got it? Good, now you can start reading. If you don't like that song, just play anything else that's sentimental. I mean it.

Cass woke up in a black room. Well, room isn't really the right word to describe it. It was just black space. And woke isn't really the word either. She materialized. Just like when she went back in time with SeƱor Hugo's chocolate. How curious. I must be dreaming this.

Then she noticed a light coming from a distance. She squinted. Yes, it was definitely light. She started walking towards it. Even though everything was black, Cass could perceive where she was; it was as if she could see herself and everything around her. But there was nothing there. This is even more confusing than the time-travel chocolate, she thought, annoyed.

After walking for kilometers, or maybe after no time at all, she reached the source of the light. There were five hourglasses, each taller than a tree, filled with shining light. The first one was slowly letting the sand through the minuscule hole. The other four weren't letting any sand through. It was as if they were timers on pause. Something about the hourglasses, beautiful as they were, sent shivers down Cass' back.


Max-Ernest got out of the elevator marked PICU. Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. It brought back a wave of memories. He remembered all the times he had been there before. Both for his own emergencies and for when Cass went into comma three years before. But this was different. He had no idea why this happened. It was out of his control. Last time she knew the risks. She agreed to go to her past. There had been a way to get her back. And if there was something that Max-Ernest disliked more than something illogical, it was something out of his control. Something he couldn't do anything about.

The doctors had found traces of poison. Very slow-acting venom. It could have entered her body up to five years previously. But they had no antidote. They had no idea where one could be found. And without an antidote, Cass would die in five days, no more, no less.

If Cass' mother had gone into hysterics the first time, she had almost fainted when she heard this. She wouldn't eat. She wouldn't do anything. She just stayed at home, immobile, sitting in the same chair in the living room. Grandpa Larry and grandpa Wayne had done all they could for her. But they were also devastated. Why did everything happen to this family, this one girl, all the neighbors wondered. Cass' mother wondered this too. Why did everything happen to her little girl?

Well, this was nothing compared to what Max-Ernest felt. Cass had been his first friend. His only friend. She had opened the door to the Terces Society. To the Secret. To a meaningful life. And now she was gone. She was going to die. There was nothing he could do about it. But he wouldn't give up without a fight.

By the time he got to Cass' room at the hospital, he couldn't get himself to open the door. He just stood at the door, motionless, silent. Silent for the second time in his life. After five minutes, he turned back. Moping about wouldn't help him. He would go give the circus a visit. He couldn't find the mysterious antidote on his own.