I think the museum of art was my favorite. I wasn’t paying attention to what its proper title was, but I figured out the gist of it. Every lost work of art had found its way into the massive building. We didn’t actually go see all of the floors, but we checked out a few.
The main floor had the more powerfully popular items: the arms from Venus de Milo and what looked like an original Da Vinci were just two of the items. I thought the floor of refrigerator art was adorable. The entire floor was covered with every kind of fridge imaginable and papers of all shapes and sizes with things from crayons to finger paints haphazardly held up by magnets. Occasionally a worker would come in and add more child masterpieces.
Whenever we entered a new place, Chaz was stand still for several moments. The first time I thought he was zoning out, but then I realized he was looking for hours. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing, but every time he would just shrug and then we would look at the place. My guess, though, was that he couldn’t pinpoint exact location. Otherwise we wouldn’t have to go hunting for the hours every time.
“We should probably get you home,” Chaz observed after I sneezed three times in a row.
“One more place?” I begged.
I was enjoying this way too much. I was starting to realize just how little I knew about the Realm even though I was supposedly saving it from near disaster by finding Christmas. I had just thought the Realm was a place for sock tunnels, fiery luggage and freak snowstorms. It was actually a lot like the World, except for the sock tunnels and fiery luggage thing.
We left the museum and wandered through the streets a little. The blizzard had faded to only a few flakes softly floating down. Various people and creatures moved through the streets just like you would expect in any large city. They seemed to be just as excited for the Christmas season as the World.
Chaz was no longer next to me and I turned around frantically. For all I knew I could have ditched him five blocks away. Luckily, I didn’t. It took a little bit of looking, but I noticed the slight warp of my vision not far behind me. The glass specter took a few steps back and forth and then he rushed past me. I followed for a few steps, but then waited for him to return.
“There’s an hour somewhere near,” Chaz said quietly.
“Where?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’m not sure how close or what direction. One’s just near.”
I looked around, trying to find some crazy thing that would indicate an hour like what we had dealt with before. I saw nothing out of the ordinary for what I thought a typical downtown should look like. Then, just like before, my feet chose a direction.
“Come on,” I told Chaz, grabbing his arm.
We dodged traffic and got honked at as we raced across the street. It wasn’t until we had reached the other side that I realized I had jaywalked only ten feet away from a street light. I just committed one of my biggest pet peeves. Well, embarrassment could wait. According to Chaz, hours could move without warning.
I grabbed the door handle of a hardware store and we stepped inside. Doors, and more doors were on display on various levels and extending farther back than the building should have been able to reach. Shadows and shoppers wandered among the models, but there were definitely more shadows.
I stopped in front of a sliding glass door and gave it a tug. The view through the open door was vastly different from the closed. A scene played before my eyes, like Reality TV in the doorway. A school choir was holding solo tryouts and a person wavered uncertainly next to the try out board.
The person was about to turn away when I reached through the open sliding door and grabbed the small hourglass that clung to the door jamb. When I pulled my hand back, the glass door vanished and was replaced by a barn door. I turned to face Chaz and held up the hour glass. For a while, the sand ran backwards, defying gravity no matter how many times I flipped it. Then, I felt the shape of the hour glass slowly change back to its ornate and original self.
“Another one down,” I grinned, feeling a little light headed.
“Nineteen to go,” Chaz said as he took the hour glass and it vanished into his hand.
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