Chapter 2

When I woke up, I had no idea how much time had passed. My mind felt groggy and jumbled. I looked around at my surroundings and discovered I was in my room, lying in bed. I looked over at my clock and realized my alarm was going off. I turned it off the alarm and sat up, but the room spun. As I waited for the dizziness to clear, I tried to remember what happened between me being in school to ending up in my bed. The last thing I could remember was my history teacher blathering on about the Ides of March and what it meant. I also remembered almost falling asleep in that lecture. Other than that, nothing. My mind was blank. There was nothing there to fill the missing time.

I got to school, still trying to figure out what I did yesterday, but when I entered my class, time seemed to freeze. Literally, everything just stopped moving. The few groups of people stood frozen in place. I turned to the clock, but none of the hands were moving. I walked over to the window and saw a soccer player frozen with his foot in the air, preparing to kick the ball. Everyone and everything was frozen…except me. Or so I thought.

I turned back to the classroom and my eyes scanned the room for any sight of movement. This couldn't be real. I was probably just losing it or something…right? I walked up to my classmate, Brian, and his small group of friends and raised my hand to tap him on the shoulder when I saw fast movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned swiftly to see Claudia standing in the direct center of the room, arms crossed, a sly grin on her face.

"Well, looks like someone got her power out of sleep mode. God, am I glad I knocked some sense into you yesterday. You used to be so much better than this." She sighed. "I've been so lonely without you, Vero. No one amuses me the way you used to." Her face turned sad, almost remorseful as she said this, but the sly amusement remained in her eyes.

"What are you talking about? And my name isn't Vero, its Veronica. We aren't close enough for nicknames, Claudia. I've only talked to you once or twice, for crying out loud." I had no idea what she was talking about, but for some reason, something tugged on my brain, begging me to remember something. Did she have something to do with my missing time? I had this strong feeling that she did.

She sighed again. "Look, Vero, we've had part one of this conversation already, and I really don't feel like repeating the whole experience again. How much of yesterday do you remember?"

So she was involved with my missing time. "Why does that matter to you?"

She shrugged. "Just curious. Maybe I can help you remember what you're missing. Doesn't that big crater of lost time bother you? I know it does, so don't bother answering that. Haven't you been wondering why the mystery of the black note no longer interests you? You've already figured out the puzzle. Now you just need to remember how you did that."

Black note? The blank envelope I received a few days ago? It had been on my mind night and day for the past few days, but she had a point. I hadn't thought about it at all since waking up. Did I really figure it out? I looked over to the back of the classroom and saw Paulo, standing alone, staring at the floor, arms crossed. He looked upset about something. If time wasn't frozen, I would go comfort him but…

And then it hit me like a bolt of lightning striking my skull. The impact made me stagger back a step, but I remembered everything about yesterday. Talking to Paulo, talking to Claudia, the blackmail, the evil expression, the searing pain, and then nothing. I had blacked out, and somehow ended up back home for this morning.

I looked up at Claudia, who was once again smiling threateningly. Her expression made my skin crawl. "Looks like someone remembers now. I'm so proud of you. And you didn't even need the clue I gave you! All you had to do was look at that poor sucker over there." She said, pointing back at Paulo.

"Okay, I need to know. What is going on here? Why did time stop? And what could I have possibly done to you for you to target me like this? I haven't even talked to you that much in all the time I've known you!"

Her smile faded and hatred burned in her eyes. "I already told you, you're going to have to figure that out yourself. This conversation is pointless until you figure it out." Her dark expression lightened into one of cruel enjoyment once more. "Time stopped because you made it stop. I had nothing to do with it…this time. Personally, I think you stopped time because you subconsciously really wanted to talk to me. Although, we could talk with time unfrozen, you know. However, I know you've always been one for theatrics, so I'll humor you for a little longer. But I'll tell you this, no matter how much your subconscious wants to know all the answers, no amount of theatrics will make me tell you anything. I'm totally not into spoon-feeding you. You're smarter than you think, Vero. Use that beautifully twisted brain of yours."

I tried to process what she was saying for a minute, but to no avail. She made no sense. "First of all, stop calling me Vero. It's not my name, not even my nickname. Second of all, I can't stop time. It's impossible. Even if it was possible, I would be the last person capable of the supernatural. Thirdly, if you don't tell me what you have against me, how the hell am I going to figure it out on my own?"

"Tsk, tsk, Vero. We can sit here in this pocket of time for as long as you want, but as much as we don't advance on a clock, your brain isn't advancing at all by asking me questions you know you're not getting the answer for. Anyway, I'm figuring you don't know how to resume time, since that takes way more focus than stopping it, so I'm going to help you this one time and do it for you." Her expression turned dark again. "Don't expect it in the future, Vero." She walked toward the door, and I was too stunned to chase after her. As soon as she walked out the doorway, time resumed. The clock ticked, the mindless babble of my classmates resumed, and I heard roars coming from outside, telling me that boy in mid-kick must have gotten a goal. And Claudia was nowhere in sight.