Tristan awoke to the sound of his front door opening.

He immediately went into panic mode. Was it the monsters from yesterday? Did the murderer track him down somehow?

He let out a groan when he realized it was just Nicolas and Arlene. “God, don’t scare me like that.”

“Getting your beauty sleep?” Nicolas’s arm was bandaged up and supported by a sling. “It’s already almost noon.”

“Noon?” Tristan sighed, but then jumped up out of his bed. “Wait a minute, how the hell did you get in here?”

“I have my ways,” Nicolas smiled.

Tristan paused. “You didn’t break the door, did you?”

Nicolas laughed.

“We made a copy of your key,” Arlene said, holding it up for him.

“Of… course you did,” Tristan said, then glanced at Nicolas’s injury. “Should you even be walking around like that?”

“It got my arm, not my leg,” Nicolas set a chair down and sat in it.

Tristan felt a wave of relief wash over him. If it weren’t for him, Nicolas might not have been hurt at all. Whatever those things were, the watch didn’t seem to affect them. He sat down on his bed and rested his back on the wall behind him.

“The doctor was against him leaving,” Arlene remained standing, leaning up against the counter of his small kitchen. “That didn’t stop him, of course.”

“Just couldn’t stay put,” Nicolas said.

Tristan looked down at his pajamas and frowned. “Well you could have called me beforehand.”

“Not the way I do things.”

As usual, Tristan supposed that he shouldn’t be surprised.

Nicolas adjusted in his chair. “I trust you’ve already seen the news?”

“Yeah…” Tristan gulped. “The murder, right?”

“Kinda makes you desensitized, don’t you think?” Nicolas asked. “Once you see one time freeze murder, you’ve seen them all.”

“Do you… think it’s the same person?”

Nicolas and Arlene exchanged a glance.

“We are operating under that assumption,” she said, taking out her notebook. “As before, the victim had all valuables removed from their person. No phone, no wallet, no watch.”

No watch. The words hit in the gut. Had another person been targeted because of it?

“And this one’s a big gorilla in his 30’s,” Nicolas groaned. “We’re still looking into him to see if he has any connection to the other victims, but his appearance doesn’t exactly match up with the two kids.”

Tristan knew exactly what matched up. The watches. The same watch sitting in the drawer of his computer desk.

“Is that boy... still in a coma?” Tristan asked.

Arlene nodded. “Yes.”

“More importantly,” Nicolas waved his hand as if to tell Arlene to stop talking. “The newest victim was with someone up until the stop. If the security cameras are to be believed anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Tristan asked.

“They disappeared. Poof. Gone as soon as the cameras came back on,” Nicolas moved forward. “Still trying to figure out exactly who it was, but that should only be a matter of time.”

Tristan’s heart started to race. “Is that… the murderer then?”

“Maybe,” Nicolas leaned back again. “You never know though. He could have been kidnapped by the real murderer and taken somewhere to lead us in the wrong direction. Might even be dead.”

“The stop was rather big,” Arlene said. “It lasted around five minutes as well.”

“Helicopters tried to fly above it to get some footage, but just ended up frozen in place,” Nicolas said with a laugh. “Luckily, the blades started spinning like normal when it stopped. Otherwise we’d be dealing with a crash too.”

Tristan could feel a headache coming on. With every new attack, he felt like he understood less and less.

“Anyway, that’s today’s little treasure hunt,” Nicolas cracked his knuckles. “As soon as we figure out who the two of them are, we’ll snap a piece of the puzzle in place.” He looked satisfied, shaking his head like he was agreeing with himself.

Tristan took another look at Nicolas’s arm.

“I’ve had worse,” Nicolas said, holding it up. “Doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

Tristan tried to avoid eye contact. “What… were those things?”

“People,” Nicolas said. “At least they used to be.”

“What?” Tristan looked for a sign that Nicolas was joking, but his expression was dead serious.

“I called in some of our colleagues to come to the house after we left,” Arlene said. “When they got there, they didn’t find the bodies of those creatures we fought. They found investigators from the magic association.”

“Quite the mess too,” Nicolas added. “The blood and guts practically painted the room.”

The description didn’t help the uneasy feeling Tristan had in his stomach.

“I did what was necessary to save your life,” Arlene said.

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“Yeah,” Nicolas didn’t look over at her. “Magic is quite a handy little thing, isn’t it? Seems like you always have something new in your bag of tricks.”

Nicolas sat silently for a moment, looking straight at him.

“So, it would appear that they were turned into… whatever those were,” Nicolas spoke again. “Kind of hard to report to your job when you’re a horrible monster.”

“What about that family?” Tristan asked. “The one that lives in that house?”

“Nowhere to be found, of course,” he shrugged. “Might be the ones behind it. Might be dead. Might be monsters now.”

Tristan shuttered just thinking about it. “Can magic do that?”

“As far as I know, it can’t,” Nicolas said. “Who knows, though? Doesn’t seem like I understand much anymore. You see, Tristan, there are a lot of things happening that defy what I believed was possible. That’s alright though. I’ll find who did it all the same.”

“I, uh, understand the feeling,” Tristan said, narrowing his eyes. “About things happening that I… never thought were possible.” He meant to refer to the monsters and time stopping, but somehow the image of Yune was the first thing to pop into his mind.

“Tristan, I said it before and I’ll say it again,” Nicolas sighed. “I’ve been where you are right now. Standing on a cliff looking out on an unknown world. I wouldn’t have been able to make it down without help.”

It seemed like Nicolas was trying to open up to him again. This time, however, it didn’t look like Tristan was going to be able to ignore him.

“How did you… end up in my position?” Tristan asked.

“My parents were killed,” he said. “My sisters too.”

The answer caught him so off guard that he just sat there with his mouth hanging open.

“There was a magician. Some kid, really,” he went on. “They thought it’d be a good idea to try and summon a familiar. A giant… uh, millipede.”

“I believe you said it was a centipede,” Arlene said.

“Same thing,” Nicolas dismissed her. “Anyway, it didn’t work out. The kid didn’t have the experience. It didn’t listen to his orders, and he didn’t know how to cut its flow of magic either.”

“I’m… sorry.”

“Anyway, it fucked me up pretty bad,” Nicolas said. “I probably should have died too, hiding in that closet.”

“Someone saved you?” Tristan asked.

“Yes, they did,” Nicolas moved his glance upward. “There was a man. An investigator that came and stopped it.”

Tristan could only imagine the relief he must have felt. Then again, how much relief could someone really feel knowing their entire family was dead?

“He took me under his wing. Treated me like his own son,” Nicolas continued. “He saved me in more ways than I could ever put into words.”

“I see.”

“I thought I might be able to do that for someone too,” he looked back down at Tristan. “After all these years, I thought this might be my chance to repay him for everything he did for me.”

“That’s… very kind of you.”

“Yeah, and no good deed goes unpunished,” Nicolas’s eyes looked as sharp as razors. “Now I see how stupid I’ve been.”

“What… do you mean?” Tristan raised his eyebrow. He glanced over to Arlene, but she was looking down at her notebook.

“I’m saying I let my guard down and I paid for it in blood,” Nicolas held up his arm. “I started to see myself in you, and I got soft.”

Tristan’s mind started racing. What the hell was going on?

“Did you really think I didn’t notice you doing something in the house?” Nicolas stood up. “Did you think I didn’t notice how fast that thing got onto my arm?”

“N-Nicolas, I…”

“Didn’t I tell you that you’d regret lying to me?” Nicolas yelled.

Tristan felt something slam into his cheek, making him almost fall off the bed. Nicolas punched him. It hurt. It was the first time anyone had ever hit him.

Tristan tried to put his hands up to protect himself, but Nicolas was already bearing down on him. Another punch came at his jaw, and he felt his head go light for a second. Then, another one in his stomach sent a surge of adrenaline through his body.

“Stop,” he curled himself into a ball, covering his head. “Please… I’ll tell you everything. Just please stop.”

He clenched his muscles in anticipation of the next blow, but it didn’t come. He looked back up, his body shaking.

“Out with it then,” Nicolas stood up against the side of his bed. He looked down at him, his eyes like a madman’s.

“It’s a watch,” Tristan said. “There’s a watch that can stop time. I… have one.”

“A watch?”

“Y-Yeah,” a few tears escaped from his eyes. “I hid it because I thought that, if you knew, you’d think I was the one that killed Rose.”

“As far as I’m concerned, you’ve just moved up to the top of the suspect list,” any trace of friendliness was completely gone from Nicolas’s voice. “You almost got me killed.”

“I was… I was just trying to stop those m-monsters,” Tristan was crying now. “But… it didn’t work on them. I swear, I… I never meant for you to get hurt.”

“Where is it now?”

“It’s… it’s in my desk,” Tristan pointed over to it. “The top drawer.”

Nicolas took a few steps back without looking away from him. He reached into the drawer and fumbled around for a moment. Finally, he stopped on something, then pulled the watch out.

“A fucking watch,” Nicolas held it up. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“It’s true,” Tristan said. “The killer must have one of those too.”

“And where, pray tell, did you get something like this?”

“It came in the mail,” Tristan made no attempt to wipe the tears pouring down his face. “Someone sent it to me. I don’t know why, I swear.”

Nicolas’s mouth contorted into a smile. “Wonderful,” he said. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Please… I didn’t kill anyone.”

“We’ll see about that,” Nicolas said. “Arlene?”

Arlene closed her notebook and straightened up. “Would you like me to restrain him?”

“That can wait,” Nicolas let his good arm drop. “I’m not finished with my interrogation yet.”

“I’ll tell you… everything you need to know,” Tristan said. “Please… I’m not going to go to jail, am I?”

“Shut up for a second,” Nicolas pointed at him but kept his eyes on Arlene. “I’m not talking about interrogating you.”

“Excuse me?” Arlene asked in her usual emotionless manner.

“Who the fuck was the girl, Arlene?” Nicolas rose his voice again.

Arlene’s eyes went wide.

“You think I didn’t hear your little conversation with Tristan?” he smirked. “You’ve never had any talent for wind magic. You can’t even lift a child into the air with it. Did you expect me to believe you were capable of ripping those things apart like that?”

“I knew it…” Tristan whispered. “There was a girl in the window.”

“You think you can hide something from me? Do you have any idea what kind of position you’re in?”

Arlene looked furious, but she didn’t answer.

“Not in a talkative mood huh?” Nicolas turned back to Tristan. “I suppose we’ll have two suspects to bring back to station then, won’t we?”

It all happened at once. Arlene took a step forward, gun drawn. She pulled the trigger.

It was the loudest sound Tristan had ever heard. Nicolas toppled to the floor, landing on his back. His eyes were still wide open. Blood oozed from a bullet hole on his forehead.

“Oh my god,” Tristan pushed himself up against the wall as hard as he could. “You… you killed him.”

Arlene turned the gun on him.

“Wait,” Tristan yelled, waving his hands in front of him. “I-If you kill me, you might never know about how the watch works.”

Arlene didn’t lower her weapon, but she didn’t shoot either. That meant she didn’t already know about the watches. It meant she wasn’t the murderer.

No, he couldn’t just assume she’d let him live if he talked. She might not have been the murderer, but she was a murderer now. If he didn’t do something, he was going to end up like Nicolas.

He had to put everything on the line.

“I don’t… I don’t know who that girl was but I can tell that keeping her a secret is important to you,” Tristan spoke slowly.

“Talk,” she said. “The watches.”

“O-Okay,” Tristan said, slightly adjusting his legs and lowering his arms so that his hands were flat against the wall behind him. “The… the watches work by pressing… some buttons.”

“Go on,” she said, her eyes drifting down toward Nicolas’s body for a moment.

This was it. Tristan used his hands to push himself off the wall and dove off his bed. Another shot rang out, and he felt his stomach erupt with pain.

But it didn’t stop him. His hand met with Nicolas’s and he found the watch. He pressed the first button his finger touched.

Silence. He held his breath, looking up to see Arlene frozen in place. He was alive.

He looked down at his shirt. He was bleeding, but it looked like the bullet might have just grazed his side.

No time to think. He needed to get out of there. With two gunshots, he was sure someone in the complex would be calling the police any minute. He jumped up, grabbed a jacket and ran out the door, leaving Arlene motionless behind him.

It looked like he had pressed the lowest setting, meaning only the room was frozen. As he walked past the neighbors peeking out into the hallway, he could only think of one place to go.

He just hoped that Bridget would help him.