Kuba and Lena discover a strange watch in their grandfather Antoni's attic. When Kuba turns the tiny dial, the siblings are swept into a city that should not exist.
On a stormy evening, Kuba and Lena were rummaging through the attic of their grandfather Antoni's old house, half-expecting to find nothing but dust and cobwebs. Instead, tucked inside a battered wooden box between rusty coins and postcards browned with age, they found a silver pocket watch.
It was colder than it should have been. Strange symbols were carved into the lid, so fine they almost looked like scratches. Kuba, who loved taking things apart just to see how they worked, flipped open the watch and found a tiny button hidden along the edge.
He pressed it.
Blue light burst through the attic, bright as lightning. The floor vanished under their feet. Kuba caught one dizzy glimpse of spinning images: knights with raised swords, sails billowing on wild seas, enormous beasts moving through mist. Lena grabbed his arm so hard it hurt.
Then everything stopped.
They were standing in the middle of a cobbled square under a sky that was no longer stormy but pale and bright. The city around them was unlike anything they had ever seen. People hurried past in long, colourful tunics. Wooden carts rattled over the stones. Above the rooftops rose a clock tower with a face so huge it seemed to watch them back. Its hands were moving in a way that made no sense at all, jerking forward, then back, then forward again.
Kuba stared at the watch in his hand. The hands were spinning faster now, blurring silver. Lena was about to ask where they were when she noticed someone watching them from the edge of the square.
An old man in round glasses stood very still, holding a watch just like Kuba's.
He met their eyes, gave a small, knowing smile, and turned toward a narrow alley between two dark buildings. Kuba took one step forward. Lena heard her own heartbeat thudding in her ears.
The man looked back once, as if to make sure they were following.