In the world before clocks, everyone knows one simple rule: nothing ticks.
There are no hours. No minutes. No bedtimes. People eat when they're hungry and sleep when they're tired. The sun hangs in the sky, golden and lazy, never really moving. It's pretty great, actually—except nobody can ever agree on when to meet for anything.
Grant lives in this world, and he loves it. No school bells. No grown-ups saying, "Five more minutes!" No rushing. But one afternoon, he finds something strange buried in his garden: a brass gear shaped like a tiny sun with jagged teeth.
He picks it up. It hums in his hand.
"Weird," Grant mutters, and shoves it into his pocket.
That night, the gear starts glowing. It vibrates so hard his whole bed wiggles.
