Gertrude led me into a large room at the back of the hall.

It was a strange, almost impossible space: beds, desks, and tables in the foreground, and beyond them an expanse of bookshelves that seemed to go on forever. 

Shelves climbed the walls, folded over the ceiling and sank into the floor in innumerable layers, and hundreds—no, thousands—of books lined them. 

I pulled one down and opened it, but the same kind of colorful, mysterious characters and pictures that had circled the seal earlier lifted up from the page like images through 3D glasses. 

They hovered and shimmered; I couldn’t read a single word.

“You can’t make any sense of it, can you?” Gertrude said. “These books record the histories and stories we Time-guardians have followed for nearly a thousand years. Maybe one day your story and mine will be written here too.”

As he spoke, a black cat slipped out from the empty back of a shelf. It blinked once, then in an instant shifted into the shape of a girl about my age.

“Dad—you really came back?” she said.

She wore a black hoodie and ripped jeans, her short hair a tumble of red curls. 

Her eyes were a clear, striking green. With her hands shoved into her hoodie pockets she looked me up and down.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Anthony. I—uh—friends with Gertrude,” I stammered, more nervous than I expected to be.

She stared at me until I felt I might melt under her gaze, then held out her right hand.

“I’m Ximena. Gertrude’s daughter—no blood relation, though.”

When I asked, “Oh—really?” she nodded.

“I live here now. It’s complicated. I’m training to be a Time-Keeper,” she said.

“You can turn into animals?” I blurted.

“Yeah. I’m no good at aging up or down, but I’m good at shifting into animals. I like cats best, so I usually go black-cat.” She grinned. 

“Come on—let me show you my room.”

She took my hand and vanished into the bookshelves; I followed. 

Her room was all glass, built like the inside of a cockpit, and outside it stretched what looked like space—a vast, star-swept vista.

“This room is amazing!” I said, breathless.

“Right? Dad did it for me. He’s good at things like this,” she said, proud.

“Your dad’s genius.”

“Sort of. So—how did you meet him?” She listened with a serious expression as I told her about the meeting in the park and about my brother.

“Oh… I see. Your brother—must be tough,” she said softly.

“It is. I keep thinking it shouldn’t have been him who got sick. I wish it had been anyone else.” 

I hadn’t meant to spill so much to a girl I’d just met, but the words came out like water. 

Ximena watched me steadily, and for the first time I felt like telling someone was something I needed to do.

“Evan’s always looking out for everyone. He never wants us to worry, so he hides how bad it is. I know he’s the one hurting most—he won’t let himself break down in front of us. But I’m terrified he’ll just… disappear. If he dies, we can’t play games together anymore, trade stupid jokes… ” I started to cry.

I wanted, if Evan ever found someone special, to be the one he could come to for advice. 

When his treatment ended and he was free from the pain, I wanted to be the man standing closest to him. 

But what were the chances? Thinking about the future filled me with dread. 

That’s why, in the park, I begged Gertrude for something ridiculous: for today to last. 

It was a selfish, foolish wish, and now I’d dragged Gertrude—and myself—into danger. I felt ashamed.

Ximena stepped close and held me. Her arms were gentle in a way that seemed to understand even the thoughts I hadn’t spoken. 

It was the first time a girl had hugged me like that; my heart thumped, but her warmth was comforting.

“It’s okay, Anthony,” she said. “People say time heals, but that’s a careless thing to say. Some things don’t get fixed. Still—belief matters. Evan isn’t as weak as you think.”

She was right. Evan might be far stronger than I imagined, stronger than he allowed himself to feel. 

He faced pain I couldn’t begin to imagine and still cared for our family.

“I’m a child of the Time Thieves,” Ximena said after a moment, her voice small.

 “My parents loved each other. They did something wrong because they wanted any time they could have together. Gertrude’s father—he killed them. I was five and left alone, wandering and crying, until Gertrude found me. I hated the Time-guardian who’d killed my parents. I wanted revenge with my own hands. But Gertrude… he was kind. He raised me like a real child. He said children aren’t to blame for their parents’ sins.”

She smiled then, and it wasn’t bitter.

 “Family can be made without blood. Family is powerful. Because you’re there for him, Evan has the strength to fight. Don’t ever forget that."