Thirty-Nine Times that Quentin Coldwater Failed to Kill the Beast

1

"Jules, it's real! It's all real!"

"I can't believe it either, Q."

The two of them stepped gingerly onto the mossy roots of the tree, hearing the steady ticking of the clock embedded in its trunk.

Jane looked up. "Oh, hello!" she said. "You're early. I didn't think--"

The whirr of wings drowned out the clock, and their screams.