Chapter 3 - The Golden Key
Tears blinded Clara as she dragged Lily across the damp soil of the park's maintenance yard. Behind them, the van sped away, tires shrieking against asphalt before the city traffic swallowed the noise whole. The park had returned to its deceptive morning tranquility, indifferent to the abduction that had unfolded on its stones.
The twins huddled behind a row of rusted compost bins, panting quietly. Lily pulled her knees against her white sundress, dirt smudging the floral embroidery. With shaking fingers, she pried open Julian’s pocket watch. The glass face was cracked, the hands permanently halted at seven minutes past six.
"Look," Lily whispered, her voice hitching.
Inside the rear casing of the watch, nestled where the mechanical gears should have ticked, was a microscopic brass key and a printed memory card. Clara touched the tiny metal teeth. She recognized the design; it was identical to the lock securing the metal cabinet in Julian’s private cellar beneath their house.
A shadow darkened the ground in front of them. The girls stiffened, breath catching in their throats. A pair of worn canvas sneakers stepped into view, followed by the hem of a frayed coat. A woman with silvering hair knelt down, holding a familiar woolen scarf.
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"Your father sent me to watch the perimeter," the woman said quietly. "We have twenty minutes before they trace this grid."
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