The clocks continued counting backward.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Maya stared at the glowing message on the wall.

MIDNIGHT IS NO LONGER TOMORROW.

“Six hours,” Rose whispered.

Eli looked at the nearest clock.

“Five hours and fifty-nine minutes now.”

Maya turned toward him.

“How can you be so calm?”

“I am not calm.”

“You look calm.”

“I am terrified internally.”

Biscuit yawned.

“You’re all very dramatic.”

Maya looked at the cat.

“You’re not scared?”

“I’ve survived seventeen years in a tea shop.”

“What happened?”

“Customers.”

Eli nodded.

“That is terrifying.”

Rose stepped toward Maya.

“We need to get upstairs.”

Maya frowned.

“Why?”

“Because the answer isn’t down here.”

Julian looked at Rose.

“You said the room beneath the clock contained the answer.”

“It contains part of it.”

“Then where is the rest?”

Rose looked toward the ceiling.

“Upstairs.”

Maya remembered the tea shop.

“There isn’t an upstairs.”

Rose smiled.

“There is.”

They followed her through the underground room.

At the end of the corridor was an old wooden staircase.

It appeared to lead upward.

Maya climbed first.

The staircase seemed endless.

They passed doors covered in strange symbols.

One door had a teacup.

Another had a clock.

Another had an eye.

Another had a key.

Finally, they reached a wooden door.

Rose stopped.

“This is it.”

Maya looked at the door.

A small brass sign read:

EMPLOYEES ONLY

Eli laughed.

“After everything we’ve seen, that’s the scary part?”

Maya pushed the door open.

The room beyond was enormous.

Much larger than the entire tea shop should have allowed.

Bookshelves covered every wall.

Thousands of books filled them.

Some were tiny.

Some were enormous.

Some floated in the air.

Others moved by themselves.

Maya stared.

“What is this place?”

Rose whispered:

“The Archive.”

Julian stepped inside.

“I thought it was destroyed.”

“It was.”

“Then how is it here?”

Rose shrugged.

“The tea shop doesn’t follow normal rules.”

Biscuit jumped onto a desk.

“Finally. A library.”

“You can read?” Eli asked.

Biscuit looked offended.

“Of course.”

“What does this say?”

Eli pointed at a book.

Biscuit glanced at it.

“Your handwriting.”

Eli frowned.

“That isn’t a book.”

“Exactly.”

Maya laughed.

Then she noticed something.

At the center of the room was a huge circular table.

On it were seven empty cups.

Each cup had a name.

Maya.

Eli.

Rose.

Julian.

Clementine.

Arthur.

And one final cup.

It said:

THE MAN WHO OWNS TOMORROW.

Maya touched the cup.

It was cold.

“What is this?”

Rose looked frightened.

“The seven people connected to the mystery.”

“Who is Arthur?”

Julian answered.

“Detective Arthur Bell.”

Maya remembered the tea cup on the train.

“Why is he involved?”

“Because he was the first person to investigate Rose’s disappearance.”

Rose shook her head.

“And the last person to remember what happened.”

Eli looked confused.

“Why would he forget?”

“Because someone made him.”

Maya looked toward the shelves.

“Who?”

A book fell from the ceiling.

THUD.

Everyone jumped.

The book opened by itself.

A page turned.

Then another.

Words appeared on the paper.

THE CLOCKMAKER.

Maya stared.

“Who is the Clockmaker?”

Rose’s expression changed.

“He created the first Tomorrow Tea.”

Julian nodded.

“And he was the one who took Rose.”

Maya turned toward him.

“You know who he is?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

Julian hesitated.

Then said:

“My father.”

Silence.

Eli stared at Julian.

“Your father?”

Julian nodded.

“Edmund Vale.”

“But you said you didn’t know where he was.”

“I lied.”

Maya crossed her arms.

“So where is he?”

Julian looked toward the bookshelves.

“Here.”

Suddenly the shelves moved.

Books slid aside.

A hidden door appeared.

The door opened.

A man stepped through.

He wore a gray suit.

His hair was white.

His face looked strangely familiar.

Maya recognized him immediately.

The same man from the photograph.

The face that had been scratched out.

Edmund Vale.

Rose stepped backward.

“Father.”

Edmund looked at her.

“You shouldn’t have returned.”

Rose’s voice trembled.

“You took me.”

“I saved you.”

“You trapped me.”

“I protected you.”

“From what?”

Edmund looked at Maya.

“From her.”

Maya froze.

“Me?”

Edmund nodded.

“You were never supposed to drink Tomorrow Tea.”

Maya looked at the empty cup.

“What happens if I do?”

Edmund smiled.

“You become part of tomorrow.”

“What does that mean?”

“You will no longer belong to the present.”

Eli stepped forward.

“That’s impossible.”

Edmund looked at him.

“You already drank it.”

Eli froze.

Maya looked at him.

“When?”

Eli slowly remembered.

“The first day.”

Maya’s eyes widened.

At the tea shop, Eli had tasted the Moonflower tea.

The same tea that Maya had been warned not to drink.

“Oh no.”

Eli looked horrified.

“What?”

“You drank the tea.”

“So?”

“You might already be part of tomorrow.”

Eli stared at his hands.

“I feel normal.”

Biscuit sniffed him.

“You smell weird.”

“That doesn’t help!”

Edmund smiled.

“The tea doesn’t change you immediately.”

“How long?”

“Until midnight.”

Maya looked at the clocks.

Less than six hours remained.

“So that’s why midnight matters.”

“Yes.”

“If Eli becomes part of tomorrow, what happens?”

“He disappears from everyone’s memories.”

Eli’s face went pale.

Maya stepped forward.

“You’re not taking him.”

Edmund shook his head.

“I don’t want him.”

“Then who?”

“You.”

Maya froze.

Edmund continued.

“You are the key to Tomorrow Tea.”

“Why me?”

“Because your memory was altered seventeen years ago.”

Maya looked at Rose.

“What happened seventeen years ago?”

Rose looked at the floor.

“I made a mistake.”

“What mistake?”

“I trusted Edmund.”

Julian stepped between them.

“Enough.”

Edmund looked at his son.

“You always were protective.”

“Where is Mother?”

Edmund’s face became cold.

“Gone.”

“Because of you?”

“She chose her fate.”

Julian clenched his fists.

Maya suddenly noticed something on the table.

A photograph.

It showed a young Maya.

Beside her was a woman.

Maya recognized her immediately.

Her mother.

But there was something strange.

Her mother was holding a cup of Tomorrow Tea.

Maya picked up the photograph.

“What is this?”

Edmund stared at it.

“That is the day everything began.”

Maya turned the photograph over.

There was a message written on the back.

SHE DID NOT DRINK IT.

Maya frowned.

“Then who did?”

Edmund’s expression changed.

For the first time, he looked frightened.

Nobody spoke.

Then Biscuit jumped onto the table.

He sniffed the photograph.

“Oh.”

Maya looked at him.

“What?”

The cat pointed toward the seven cups.

“The wrong person has been blamed.”

“Who?”

Biscuit looked directly at Julian.

Everyone turned.

Julian stared at the cat.

“You can’t be serious.”

Biscuit’s eyes narrowed.

“You know what you did.”

Julian stepped backward.

“I don’t.”

Rose looked confused.

“Julian?”

Maya noticed his hands trembling.

“Tell us.”

Julian shook his head.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because if I tell you…”

The clocks throughout the Archive began ringing.

DONG!

DONG!

DONG!

The room shook.

Julian whispered:

“Tomorrow will remember me.”

Edmund suddenly shouted:

“RUN!”

The lights exploded.

Books flew from the shelves.

The seven cups shattered.

And the entire Archive began collapsing.

Maya grabbed Eli.

Rose grabbed Julian.

Biscuit jumped onto Maya’s shoulder.

They ran toward the staircase.

Behind them, Edmund shouted:

“You have to find the original cup!”

Maya shouted back:

“Where is it?”

His voice echoed through the collapsing room.

“UNDER THE TEA SHOP!”

The floor cracked.

Maya jumped across the gap.

Eli barely made it.

They reached the staircase.

But Rose stopped.

“Wait.”

“What?”

Rose pointed upward.

Someone was standing at the top.

A man in a black coat.

Maya recognized the pale eyes.

The same eyes from her vision.

The man who owned tomorrow.

He smiled.

“Hello, Maya.”

The staircase vanished beneath their feet.

Everyone began falling.

And the last thing Maya heard was Biscuit shouting:

“THIS IS WHY I HATE ADVENTURES!”