Time's Mouth

it happened gradually and then all once,

Even if she might never understand why or how it worked, or why she of all people could do it, she did know that she had to relax her body to properly find the hem of time. It was like feeling for a doorknob in the dark. She figured out that access to the past got stronger the more time had passed. She couldn’t reach anything that happened in the l

A child required something beyond mere presence and attention. What Opal needed, Cherry decided, was more complicated than a clean diaper or a lullaby. Her needs went deeper, unfathomably deeper, because that’s what a child was: a vast network of unending and connected needs. A child needed to take you for granted. They needed you to be there in th

She experienced everything anew. The past was present. It felt so good.

They felt lighter because they could still recall what it felt like to be unburdened by time.

Ursa refused. “It should only be me if absolutely necessary.” Another rule.

She thought she’d never be so happy again, and she was right.

The eastern wing wasn’t high above, it was rooted to the ground, its beauty a secret. It was an underestimated place, and that’s what made it spectacular.

The hormones—they were a possession all their own.