Tick tock. Tick. Tock. Time was running out. He'd done all he could for now. It was up to her to move forward and take the routes necessary to save them both. Drifting from the vessel, the spirit of the watch hovered over the taunt but lovely face of the woman in the bed.
Soon.
Soon, his plan would come to fruition. Soon his task would be complete. Soon he would be one-step closer to freedom-from the watch, and the enchantment binding him. Gathering together bits of his dwindling power, he acted.
***
"Wake up..." A tickling, now familiar disembodied voice woke Haven with a warm, intimate whisper against her ear. Startled, she sat up.
"Dammit," she exclaimed, and glared at the watch on the floor. She'd spent the night curled into a tight ball on her bed, as far away as she could get without crawling into a wall crevice like a rat.