“Rose!” That was Fleck’s voice.

  They made it.

  I tried to stop, to turn and look, but the dagger was too powerful—devouring the Wall entirely.

  And with every inch of smoke absorbed, the blade grew brighter and brighter until I could no longer see. And then, just when I thought it could take no more—

  Boom.

  I was thrown back, flying through the air.

  Seconds before I struck the Mire, everything went dark.

  THE SMOKE SETTLES

  I gasped, sitting up.

  My heart was beating so fast that it was hard to breathe, and my eyes watered from the bright lights. Was I dead?

  I looked around and realized with relief that I was still in the nurse’s office at school. I could see her back to me at her desk in the front room—she must have just let us sleep when she’d returned to her office and found the two of us on the cots. I flopped back down, exhausted.

  Had I really used the watch like that? My eyes went wide. Oh no, the watch.

  I reached in my pants pockets, felt all along my sweatshirt. It was gone.

  Then all the other memories flooded back.

  Alejandro fell into the Wall! I rushed to him, still lying in the bed opposite me.

  “Alejandro, wake up, please wake up.”

  I slapped his cheek over and over and sighed heavily with relief when his eyes finally flitted open.

  “Rose?” he wheezed.

  I laughed. He was here. He’d made it. That means they all did! I bent down, hugging him tightly, feeling warmed when he hugged me back.

  Then I heard movement up front—Fallon had come into the nurse’s office and was saying something to her. The nurse nodded and pointed to where we were.

  “Rose? Alejan—” She stopped when she saw me sitting on Alejandro’s bed, my arms still around him. We broke apart.

  “Um,” Fallon said, blushing, “Mrs. Lee wanted to make sure you were all right. Lunch is almost over.”

  I smiled at her, jumping up. Now that Alejandro was awake, I felt like a million bucks.

  But before I could say anything to her, Fallon’s phone began to buzz.

  “Oh, it’s my mom—hold on.” She seemed almost afraid to answer. “Hello?”

  I could hear Mrs. Berg’s happy tears through the phone. “Fal, honey, he’s awake! Jeremiah’s awake!”

  “He is?” Fallon gasped.

  I turned to Alejandro with a smile… only to notice that he was sitting there empty-handed. He didn’t have the watch anymore either.

  My smile fell.

  It’s really gone.

  * * *

  The rest of the week flew by. Everything went back to the way it was before—or almost everything. Jeremiah came back to school on Monday with a shaved head.

  That wasn’t the only thing different about him. The new Jeremiah was quiet and wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. That might have been the best thing to come out of the whole week.

  Yup, everything in my life went back to normal—well, except I actually had a friend to sit with now.

  Alejandro and I had been working on our game, which we named The Thirteenth Hour, every day at lunch. He said he thinks we’ll have a prototype by next year, in seventh grade. I told him my father would be very happy about that for my future college career.

  Oh, and Fallon actually started looking at me again. Maybe even more than she looked at Samantha Plank, which thrilled me… mostly because it did not thrill Samantha.

  I guess the biggest change in my life was sleeping. I hadn’t been dreaming lately, not at all. I would stay up late, worried, wondering what had happened to them—Jonquil, Scape, and Fleck. Would I ever see them again?

  It had all been real, I was sure of that, but the lingering memories of it seemed so… I don’t know, fake, you know? Like I could never prove it to anyone or myself as anything more than a handful of very unsettling dreams.

  If only I had Jo to talk to about it all…

  I lay back on my bed, thinking about her for about the hundredth time. She still hadn’t reappeared or even contacted anyone.

  At the knock on my door, I sat up.

  “Rose?”

  “Yeah?”

  It was Mom. She cracked open the door.

  “Something came for you in the mail.”

  “Who’s it from?” I asked, getting up to retrieve the plain white envelope from her.

  “It’s weird, there’s no name on the return address.” Then she winked at me, like she knew something, before shutting the door again behind her.

  Strange.

  But when I looked down at the envelope, my heart nearly stopped.

  That’s Jo’s handwriting.

  I ripped the letter open. At first I thought there was nothing inside.

  Is this some sort of joke?

  But then I turned the envelope upside down and shook it.

  Something small fell out. I bent down to the carpet and scooped it up, holding it up to the light.

  It was a single gold petal from the watch. I flipped it over and saw the carving of a fairy-tale castle on the other side.

  Could it be?

  I held the petal to my chest, and sure enough, it was still warm. She had given the world back to me.

  I couldn’t stop the smile from bursting across my cheeks.

  Then I paused, a worry burning a hole in the pit of my stomach.

  But the watch isn’t mine. It never was. I remembered what Alejandro had said. What my great-great-grandfather had done.

  This was his watch.

  I felt the hole repaired by something: the excitement of returning the world to him. He could go on adventures of his own. Maybe he’d even take me to Eleven to see my friends, or Ten to see if that furry orange animal was still around.

  As I picked up the envelope again, ready to drop the petal inside, a tiny scrap of paper peeked out.

  With shaking fingers, I pulled it out and read what was on it:

  You won’t find me in the Thirteenth Hour anymore, Rose. Come and find me in another.

  Yeah, I thought, lying back in bed again, giddy, magic does exist, and we can still reach it.

  Acknowledgments

  So, I told you all about Mrs. Spracher, right? Well, I only had so much room up there. I ought to tell you something else; two years later, my grandma Gayle, my mom, and I were sitting in a diner. Grandma Gayle said this: “Quinnie, if you become an author, you have to dedicate your first book to your mama, but you have to dedicate the second book to me.”

  Now, unfortunately, as lovely as Grandma Gayle is, she was two years too late, and I have but one second book to dedicate. That said, I acknowledge you instead… which, okay, isn’t as good, but I did also put Globe, Arizona, in there (did you notice?). That’s where Grandma Gayle lived my whole childhood, see, so now this book is for you, too, Grandma… even if you are a bit too slow.

  But I should probably acknowledge some other folks: John Cusick and Liz Kossnar, for helping me cobble The Thirteenth Hour together, and Amanda Ramirez, for breathing life into it. I also would like to thank everyone who put their time into making this story into a real book, they are phantom hands working magic behind the scenes.

  I can never forget Todd and Max, without whom I don’t think I’d be writing at all.

  And last of all, you. Thank you for dreaming with me and Rose for a while. We’ll always be here should you need us.

  (Also, remember that deal we made earlier. You have to write at least two books, because this is our contract and I will be waiting.)

  More from the Author

  The Remarkable Inventions of Walter Mortinson

  About the Author

  QUINN SOSNA-SPEAR was named a California Young Playwright at seventeen and went on to study at the University of Southern California. She has since written films, comics, and books, including The Remarkable Inventions of Walter Mortinson. Her novels are inspired by her childhood and the untimely death of her own mother. Quinn hopes to share with all readers—particularly those struggling with loss—the humor, poignancy, and adventure in such things… as dreary and impossible as they may seem.

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Quinn-Sosna-Spear

  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  ALSO BY QUINN SOSNA-SPEAR

  The Remarkable Inventions of Walter Mortinson

  SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Text © 2021 by Quinn Sosna-Spear

  Jacket illustration © 2021 by Arthus Pilorget

  Jacket design by Krista Vossen © 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS and related marks are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

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  For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Interior design by Hilary Zarycky

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Sosna-Spear, Quinn, author.

  Title: The thirteenth hour / Quinn Sosna-Spear.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2021] | Audience: Ages 8-12. | Audience: Grades 4-6. | Summary: When her dying aunt gives her a magical pocket watch, twelve-year-old Rosemary, as she begins to dream, enters a fantastical place where each hour of the watch takes her to a different world--until the class bully steals the watch, and Rosemary must gather the magic from all twelve worlds to rescue a boy she does not even like.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2021009637 (print) | LCCN 2021009638 (ebook) | ISBN 9781534451889 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534451902 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Magic—Juvenile fiction. | Dreams—Juvenile fiction. | Pocket watches—Juvenile fiction. | Aunts—Juvenile fiction. | Friendship—Juvenile fiction. | Rescues—Juvenile fiction. | Adventure stories. | CYAC: Magic—Fiction. | Dreams—Fiction. | Clocks and watches—Fiction. | Aunts—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | LCGFT: Action and adventure fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S682 Th 2021 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.S682 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021009637

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021009638

 

 

  Quinn Sosna-Spear, The Thirteenth Hour

 

 

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