Nadia was fourteen years old and had her own scratched astronomy notebook in her backpack. On Christmas Eve, she would go out into the square to look out for the first star over Reed. That evening the sky was streaked and the lights on the stalls shone restlessly and nervously. There was the smell of poppy seeds, but Nadia only looked up, feeling the silence growing. Her grandfather used to say that the star guides Christmas, otherwise they wander like a rudderless boat. From her coat pocket, her grandfather's long-broken watch suddenly rang out with a single tick. Nadia froze, for the watch had been silent since her grandfather's funeral, and now it ticked persistently, without explanation. She opened the lid, finding a folded scrap of paper with small, hurried writing. "When there is no star, go to the bell that does not ring," she read. The old town hall bell, cracked and forlorn, had long fallen silent in Trzcinowo. "Olek, I need your torch" - she whispered, grabbing the number for her second-floor neighbour. The boy came in five minutes, with a reindeer hat and a curious, attentive gaze. "Where?" - "To the town hall, before anyone notices that the Christmas tree has dimmed in the town square." They took a thermos, a candy bar and a scarf as the wind cut like thin, icy strings from the north. There were footprints in the snow, too narrow for shoes, as if someone had put up light hooves. The old town hall looked out the black windows, and the gate was locked with chain and frost. They squeezed through a fire cage where it smelled of dust, candlelight and orange peel. At the top stood a cracked bell with a green ribbon of stars stuck in its gap. The watch was ticking in an even rhythm when suddenly the wind died down and the inside of the bell shimmered. Something glowed deeper, a quiet melody rang out, and the ribbon moved the cloche. "Do you hear that?" - asked Olek, as the melody sounded like an inverted, strange carol refrain. Nadia raised her hand to the ribbon, but the watch suddenly stopped ticking, as if listening. The beams trembled beneath the floor, and a brief shadow of wings appeared on the wall. A flake of soot fell from above, drew a star, and suddenly there was an uneasy, airless silence. Then something like the first tone sounded in the gap, and the door behind them slammed shut.