Tristan: “Just when you think things can’t get any weirder…”
Emily: “Are we being robbed?”
Tristan: “Not in any traditional sense.”
Charlie: “Your watch, boy! We need it back.”

Tristan: “This watch was bought back fair and square. I’m not just going to hand it over to you.”
Azrael: “You remember who we are then?”
Tristan: “I remember you very well. I just don’t understand is what you could possibly want with my watch again.”
Emily: “Tristan, who are these guys?”
Tristan: “They’re OK, Emily. Just some people I worked with once.”

Charlie: “Pah! I’d hardly say you worked with us, more like against!”
Azrael: “Charlie…”
Charlie: “What? That one was trouble from the moment I first seen him! Trying to get away with payin’ a measly two cents… and things didn’t get better!”
Azrael: “I didn’t much want to see them so soon, either, but what’s done is done and now we have to set things right.”

Tristan: “What exactly does my watch have to do with anything?”
Azrael: “It’s the only thing that can be used to send them back.”
Charlie: “Personally I think it’s a load of hogwash and nothin’ but busy work. You can’t have me believe a silly piece of novelty clockwork is needed to seal the rift. ‘Something that spent time in both worlds’, my tuckis.”
Tristan: “Seal the rift? Is that why some people were coming back from the dead?”
Azrael: “It is indeed. Of course, as far as they’re concerned not a thing has changed for them.”
Charlie: “It’s not like we wanted them out wandering around. Some damn fool went messing with things, again.”

The old man narrowed his eyes even and leveled his gaze directly at him. Though Tristan wasn’t entirely sure he could even see anything anymore, the look still gave him a decidedly uncomfortable sensation at the base of his skull.

Tristan: “Will that also send everyone back?”
Azrael: “That’s why I’m here. Once we get that rift closed up I’ll have to collect the souls that were pulled through.”
Tristan: “Why is he here? I thought you worked alone.”
Azrael: “He came along because he’s the one who sold the watch back to your friend and had a general idea of where to find her.”
Emily: “Mary?! Is she OK? You didn’t hurt her, did you?”

Azrael: “My dear, aside from not wanting to endure your wrath a second time, I’ve never hurt anyone. She and her friend are both fine.”
Emily: “A second time…?”
Azrael: “We’ve met before, and will no doubt meet again.”

Azrael’s words sent a chill like ice water down Tristan’s spine, and he moved protective step closer to Emily.

Emily: “Why did only a handful of people come back?”
Azrael: “So far the first to be pulled through the rift have been those with very strong ties to someone on this side, something chaotic and powerful that linked the departed soul to the living. That one’s parents, for instance. They didn’t want to let him go at all; I had to make up quite the elaborate reality to get them away.”
Emily: “Will they remember seeing him when you… um… recover everyone?”
Azrael: “Maybe, maybe not. One can always hope they’ll remember at least a little something and be able to move on in the afterlife. At the very least, we’re very grateful that this all seems to be very narrowly focused to this area. That makes our job just a little bit easier.”
Tristan: “Strange things seem to be drawn here.”

Charlie: “Enough with the chitchat! We’re wasting time! I need that watch.”
Tristan: “Far be it for me to stand in the way of the balance of the cosmos more than once. You can have it.”
Charlie: “It was your watch or your entire self.”
Tristan: “Any chance I can get it back when you’re done?”
Azrael: “If there’s anything left of it.”

Tristan deftly removed the watch from his wrist, slipping it out from under his sleeve and handing it over to Charlie’s waiting hands. As soon as the timepiece was transferred, there was a startling flash of light.

The two men were instantly gone.

Emily: “What exactly just happened here?”
Tristan: “I’ll let you read all about it when we get back to my house. At any rate, I think we can take Jacob straight home now.”
Emily: “Are you still trying to avoid your mother?”
Tristan: “No, I just think they’ve probably already gotten everyone back.”
Emily: “That quickly?”
Tristan: “Given how they just vanished into thin air a second ago, I don’t think they have to do much driving in order to get from one end of town to the other.”
Emily: “I still think we should at least check to make sure.”

Tristan sighed heavily.

Tristan: “You’re probably right. Let’s get going, then.”