Chapter One: The Watch in the Attic

The attic was dusty and full of forgotten things—trunks with broken hinges, a rocking horse missing an ear, and boxes of faded photographs. Eleven-year-old Leo was only up there because his grandmother had asked for a winter coat, the one with the blue buttons.

Instead, he found a velvet box tucked under a pile of newspapers from the 1950s.

Inside was a gold pocket watch, its surface smooth but oddly warm to the touch. The second hand ticked, though Leo hadn’t wound it.

The lid popped open on its own. Inside, etched in silver script, were the words: "Return to where time stood still."

He asked his grandmother about it. She froze when she saw the watch. “That belonged to Mr. Calder,” she whispered. “The old clockmaker. They said he vanished fifty years ago. Took his secrets with him.”

Leo couldn’t stop thinking about it. That night, he hid the watch under his pillow. At exactly 2:37 AM, it began to glow.