Slowly they watched London freeze into a dull and grey portrait of people, traffic, and amazing architecture caught under inanimate drops of rain, now hanging in midair.
Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock couldn’t be happier. No one had the power to do this but them. After all, they were working for Mr Time himself, and they had been unhappily married since the beginning of… well… time itself.
Prologue Part Two
STREETS OF LONDON
Now that the time on Big Ben had frozen at six o’clock, Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock descended to the streets. It was so much fun with everyone stuck in their place and position.
A man talking on the phone, his mouth left agape.
A woman strolling a shopping cart, still bent over it, one leg up behind her.
A speeding car stopped with an aura of its shadow stretching behind it, like in Road Runner cartoon.
“What now, Mrs. Tock?”
“I’m enjoying this. Look at those people frozen, unaware of what’s happening to them. Do you want to slap a few people on the face?”
“Not fun enough.”
“Empty their pockets and leave them broke when they wake up?”
“Still not fun enough.”
“You could lift me up so I poke their noses.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh,” Mrs. Tock said. “I think I know what you will consider fun enough.” She smirked.
“You nasty little short Tock.” His eyes widened. “You always know how to please me.”
Mrs. Tock’s cheeks reddened. She shrugged her shoulders and walked the streets. The first thing she did was push a car near the edge of the bridge, so when they brought time back the driver would have no time to veer it back, and would splash into the River Thames.
Mr. Tick caught the idea and started manipulating people’s positions. Now two strangers, man and woman, were kissing. Another two, one slapped the other. Then there was this businessman — Mr. Tick took his clothes off. Now he’d wake up naked in public.
On and on, they spent the next few minutes preparing the world for chaos. They even pulled a couple of news reporters from their desks and placed them ready with their microphones and cameras on the streets, so the news would go viral on the spot.
“Oh, fantastic!” Mrs. Tock knocked her cane on the ground.
“I can’t wait to watch what happens,” Mr. Tick said, fiddling with his time-stopping watch again. “Ready?”
“So eager to see the world in chaos.”
But right before Mr. Tick could bring back time, his phone buzzed. An old banana cell phone that hadn’t beeped since about fifteen years ago — who’d call time, anyways?
“Someone’s calling me?” Mr. Tick said.
“It’s a message,” Mrs. Tock corrected him. “Why haven’t I received one too?”
Then her phone buzzed.
“You’re Mrs. Tock. You’re always late, that’s why.” Mr. Tick glanced at his phone and read the message. Mrs. Tock struggled with opening hers, as she wasn’t tech savvy.
“What does it say?” she asked.
“It’s an offer,” Mr. Tick said. “Someone knows we’re bored to death.”
“What kind of offer?”
“An offer from a Wonderland Monster.” Mr. Tick’s eyes met hers.
“Oh.” She considered this. “Well, we love chaos, but we’re not quite Wonderland Monsters.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking. We don’t belong to either Black Chess or the Inklings. I think we should decline the offer.”
“But what’s it about?”
“It’s an offer to hurt someone.” Mr. Tick shrugged. “Really hurt someone.”
“Why would a Wonderland Monster think we’d accept that?”
“Because we’re bored. And honestly, as time, we’re known to be cruel.”
“That’s it?”
“And because it’s about Alice.”
“Alice?”
“Yes, Alice.”
“Alice who?”
“Alice. Alice.”
“The Real Alice?”
“Just Alice.”
“Did they find her?”
“Not sure yet, but they think we’re supposed to do something to her to confirm she is the Real Alice.”
“Alice is dead.”
“That’s not what the message says.”
“Hmm…” Mrs. Tock said. “Wouldn’t it be frabjous if Alice is alive. What else does the message say?”
Mr. Tick neared Mrs. Tock and whispered in her ear. Mrs. Tock’s eyes bulged. She almost lost balance with her cane. “Really?”
“I think we should do it,” Mr. Tick said. “I’m curious – and very, very bored.”
“Of course we should do it.” She sneered all of a sudden. “I never thought so much fun was possible. But first…”
“I know,” Mr. Tick said, rubbing his watch. “Let’s first bring back time and watch this beautiful chaos in the streets of London.”
Chapter 1
LECTURE HALL , OXFORD UNIVERSITY
Hi, my name is Alice. Could be Mary Ann. Who knows? What matters is that I am a person who saves lives. I really exist.