Aria didn't move.
"More than… a hundred times?"
Kael nodded once.
"The same day."
Her voice dropped.
"You watched me for a hundred days?"
"Yes."
"Without saying anything?"
"Yes."
Aria stepped back.
"That's not normal."
"I know."
"Then why didn't you stop it before?"
Kael's jaw tightened.
"Because the day kept resetting."
The word hung in the air.
Reset.
Aria frowned.
"What do you mean reset?"
"Every night at midnight."
He looked toward the frozen sky.
"The world restarts."
Aria shook her head slowly.
"That's impossible."
Kael gave a quiet breath.
"Every morning you wake up."
"Eat toast."
"Burn it slightly."
Aria blinked.
"Then you leave the house at 7:10."
Her chest tightened.
"You walk past the bakery."
The smell of bread suddenly appeared in her memory.
"You cross Pine Street."
Kael's voice became softer.
"And at 7:42 PM…"
Aria whispered,
"The car."
Kael nodded.
"The day ends."
Aria felt cold.
"So the whole world just keeps repeating the day I die?"
"Yes."
"And you remember it?"
"Yes."
"How?"
Kael looked down at his coat again.
"The watch protects me."
Aria crossed her arms tightly.
"So you're the only one who knows."
"No."
Her eyes lifted quickly.
"Who else?"
Kael's face changed.
Serious.
"There are others who watch time."
"Who?"
"Keepers."
Aria frowned.
"Keepers of what?"
"Time."
The word barely left his lips before —
A sound cracked across the frozen city.
Like glass breaking.
Both of them turned.
Across the street,
the air itself
split.
A thin black line opened in the sky.
Aria's breath stopped.
"What is that?"
Kael whispered,
"They found us."
"Who?"
The black line widened.
Dark shapes moved inside it.
Watching.
Waiting.
"The Keepers."