Maks and Lena follow a strange silver watch into Mr Botwinka's house and are hurled into a different era before a cloaked figure spots them.
Maks and Lena were sure their street had run out of surprises. Then Mr Botwinka moved into the old yellow house on the corner, and the whole place seemed to tilt a little off balance.
He was impossible to miss. He wore a long beard, hummed odd little tunes to himself, and every morning he marched down the pavement leading a potted cactus on a leash, as if that were the most ordinary thing in the world. The neighbours whispered about him over fences and hedges. Maks and Lena whispered too, but mostly because they wanted to find out whether any of the stories were true.
One heavy afternoon, with thunder grumbling somewhere beyond the rooftops, they spotted Mr Botwinka hurrying along the pavement. Something flashed at his feet. He had dropped an old silver watch on a chain. Maks bent down, lifted it carefully, and he and Lena ran after him across the gate and up to the front door.
Before they could knock, the door swung inward by itself. A draft rushed out, smelling faintly of dust and lightning. The children stepped inside, and the door slammed shut behind them with a bang that made the walls shiver.
The hallway was not a hallway at all. Clocks stood everywhere, tall and small, round and square, ticking in different rhythms. Some chimed. Some beeped. One clock’s hands were spinning backwards so fast they blurred. In the centre of the room, Mr Botwinka was opening a huge book filled with pictures of pyramids, castles, steam trains, and gleaming sky ships.
He looked up, smiling as if he had been expecting them.
"Ah," he said. "Just in time. You brought my watch."
Maks tightened his fingers around the chain. Lena took one step back.
Mr Botwinka pointed to a giant golden clock in the corner. Its hands were twitching like they wanted to run.
"If you are brave," he said softly, "we can use it."
The floor gave a sudden, sharp jolt. Every clock in the room began to race at once. The silver watch in Maks’s hand turned icy cold. Lena gasped as the air around them folded and spun, and the house vanished into a roaring blur of light.
When it stopped, they were standing in the middle of a busy square under a sky the colour of brass. People in strange clothes hurried past with baskets, parcels, and wide-eyed looks. The air smelled of spices, smoke, and rain on stone. Mr Botwinka straightened his coat as if nothing unusual had happened.
Then a tall figure in a dark cloak turned the corner and froze.
The stranger stared straight at them, and started walking closer.