In a town where the roofs wear red caps and it smells of lime trees in the evening, there was a small bookshop. It was called "The Reading Room at Granny Rose's". Above the bookshop lived Zosia and her cat Piegusek. Freckle had whiskers so white that they looked like threads from a cloud, and three funny dots on his nose. In the corner of the bookshop, right next to a bookcase of atlases and dragon stories, stood a tall clock with a pendulum. Its wooden door was carved with leaves, stars and little curly snails. No one remembered where it came from. The clock ticked quietly: tick, tick, tick, tick. Sometimes, however, when it got very quiet in the shop, you could swear that with each 'yes' a tiny ray flashed through the air. It was raining that day. The droplets sang on the windows and Grandma Rose stacked the books in even piles. Zosia sat on the carpet, flipping through a map book and counting the sails in a picture. Piegus hunted for dust pollen as if they were butterflies. Suddenly Zosia remembered her treasure. In the morning, under a maple tree by the playground, she found a small glass button. It glittered in the sunlight like a raindrop. She took it out of her pocket. It was warm, although it was still drizzling outside the window. Zosia walked over to the clock. She saw a round, smooth spot on the door, as if something had once been inserted here and had now disappeared. She pressed the button against the speck. As soon as she touched the wood, Piegus stopped in a half-jump and the clock's pendulum did a 'tiiiik', as if it had forgotten how to swing. "What was that?" - whispered Zosia. The button slipped out of her fingers and jumped into the spot by itself. She heard a quiet "click". The clock sighed, as if it had woken up from a very long nap. The scent of vanilla, cinnamon and fresh forest after the rain wafted up from the books on the shelves. In the evening, as the streets fell silent and the lights shone in the windows of the houses, Grandma Rose fell asleep in her armchair with an open book in her lap. Zosia, wearing warm striped socks, went downstairs to the bookshop. Piegus followed her, taking her steps so softly that the carpet didn't even budge. The clock stood straight up, as it always did, but its hands showed no known time. They stopped just between twelve and one. The pendulum moved more slowly, with tiny sparks flickering in the air with each movement. The door now had a delicate luminous outline around the edge, just like a frame painted with rays. "Mrau?" - asked Piegus, wagging his tail. "Let's go closer," whispered Zosia, although there was no one she could wake up. She touched the door with her fingertip. The wood was warm, as if lying in the sun. The door vibrated and then swung open very, very slowly. Instead of the gears and wheels inside, a deep blue background was visible, dotted with points of light. It was as if someone had hung a piece of the night sky in the clock. From the haze of light, a stepping stone emerged. They were clear as glass, but held firm, one above the other, leading into the depths. Each step pulsed with a soft glow. A quiet rustling flowed from the books on the shelves, as if the illustrations had moved on the paper and set to be viewed. The little freckle touched the bottom step with its first paw. His whiskers lit up for a split second with a silver light. Sophie laughed quietly, surprised and a little bolder. She put her hands on the edge of the opening and looked inside. Deep inside, something twinkled - like a skylight flapping its wings. "Hello?" - Zosia spoke up, uncertainly. She was answered by a soft sound, similar to a bicycle bell when pressed just a little. At the same moment, the wind stirred the pages of an atlas on the lowest shelf. The pages jumped to a map of the Shining Forest, and a tiny arrow appeared in the corner of the illustration that had not been there before. The arrow flashed straight towards the clock, as if to say: "There." Zosia swallowed her saliva. She felt her heart beating faster. She looked at the steps. The first trembled gently, invitingly. The second glistened like a drop of dew. The third was darker, but sparkles danced on its edge, forming a pattern reminiscent of a cat's whisker. "Freckles... shall we go?" - she asked. The cat answered her with a purr that sounded like a warm blanket. Zosia put her toes on the first step. It was cool, but not cold. It smelled of spruce and something sweet, like freshly baked cake. The light under her sock wavered and murmured quietly, like waves in a bowl of water. The pendulum of the clock slowed down even more. Tick... yes... tiiiik... yes... The hands vibrated, and somewhere very close a single 'bim' sounded, unexpectedly deeper than always. Suddenly, the shelves to the right moved back an inch by themselves. A star-shaped bookmark slipped out of the books and began to sway, just like a lamp on a long ribbon. Its glow flowed over the edge of the steps, as if lubricating them with light to make them smooth and safe. Zosia took in a breath. She lifted her other foot. The pet dog jumped up beside her, softly, and sat on the first step, wagging the tip of his tail. When his tail touched the air in the opening, a tiny silver cloud blossomed over the third step. A whisper came from inside the clock - not spooky, just very curious, like the wind telling gossip to the leaves: "Sophie..." The girl looked around, but there was no one in the bookshop. The door of the clock swung wider and trembled, as if it were about to decide whether to stay open or close after all. The glow inside became more golden, and somewhere beyond the third step something moved like a shadow, which is not a shadow. Sophie tightened her fingers on the railing of the beam that had suddenly sprung up by the steps. The railing was as soft as light through a curtain. Suddenly, very clearly, she heard another 'bim' inside. This time the sound vibrated in her knees and toes. Piegus raised his ears. He looked Zosia straight in the eyes. 'Meow,' he said quietly, clearly, as if it meant 'Already'. Zosia took the first step into the depths of the clock. And then, in that blue interior, at the very end of the glowing steps, a tiny lantern lit up and began to glide towards them, faster and faster....