Chapter 3 - The Grandmother Who Never Aged
# Chapter 3 - The Grandmother Who Never Aged
The last person Jack expected to see ordering his execution was the woman who had taught him how to tie his shoes.
Yet there she was.
His grandmother.
Standing inside an eight-hundred-year-old memory, wearing the same brown cardigan she had worn that morning.
Jack stared at the empty space above the throne where the image had disappeared.
"No."
His voice sounded distant.
"No, that wasn't her."
Nobody answered.
He turned toward Sarah.
"Tell me that wasn't Grandma."
Sarah's face had gone frighteningly pale.
"Jack..."
"Tell me!"
She reached for him, but he stepped away.
His grandmother had raised him from infancy. She had packed his lunches, attended every school performance, and sat beside his hospital bed when he broke his arm at nine.
She had never forgotten his birthday.
Every year, she baked the same chocolate cake with too much frosting because he had loved it when he was little.
And every night before bed, she checked that the front door was locked twice.
Jack had always thought she was simply cautious.
Now he remembered something else.
She never allowed photographs of herself.
Whenever Jack pointed a camera at her, she turned away.
And she never celebrated her own birthday.
"How old is she?" Jack whispered.
Sarah looked down.
"Mom. How old is Grandma?"
The king rose slowly from his knees.
"That woman," Edmund said, his voice trembling with restrained fury, "was present when my son died."
Jack turned toward him.
"You knew her?"
"I knew someone who wore her face."
Sarah's head snapped up.
"Edmund, don't."
The king ignored her.
"She called herself Lady Eleanor."
Jack's stomach tightened.
Eleanor.
That was his grandmother's name.
"She served as an adviser to the royal council," Edmund continued. "She arrived shortly before the catastrophe, claiming she could interpret the Hourglass Engine."
Sarah moved between them.
"Enough."
The king's eyes burned.
"She persuaded the council that John was dangerous. She presented the evidence against him. And when I hesitated to sign the execution order, she told me the kingdom would perish if I refused."
Jack could barely breathe.
"Why would Grandma do that?"
The king's expression hardened.
"That is precisely what I intend to discover."
A terrible metallic shriek rose from beneath the throne.
The Hourglass Engine was still moving.
Silver rings rotated inside the shaft, throwing fractured blue light across the walls. The stone lion above the throne turned its head toward Jack.
Then a voice echoed through the chamber.
"PRIMARY MEMORY RESTORATION INTERRUPTED."
Sarah looked sharply toward the machine.
"That's impossible."
"UNAUTHORIZED WITNESS DETECTED."
The lion's eyes flashed crimson.
"IDENTITY: ELEANOR VALE."
Jack froze.
Vale.
His surname.
His grandmother's surname.
The mechanical voice continued.
"STATUS: OUTSIDE CHRONOLOGICAL JURISDICTION."
The king stared at the throne.
"What does that mean?"
Sarah's lips parted.
"It means the Engine cannot locate her."
"Because she's dead?" Jack asked.
Sarah shook her head.
"Because she's somewhere it cannot reach."
A thunderous impact shook the castle.
The doors at the far end of the hall splintered.
An armored soldier staggered inside, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
"Your Majesty! The enemy has breached the eastern courtyard!"
Aldric struggled upright.
His face was grey, and blood trickled from his nose.
"How many?"
"Hundreds. They carry black shields bearing the broken hourglass."
The king went still.
"The same insignia?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Sarah closed her eyes.
"They've come for Jack."
The soldier swallowed.
"And there's something else."
Aldric stepped toward him.
"Speak."
"They aren't killing our men."
The king frowned.
"What?"
"They disarm them. Bind them. But they won't strike a fatal blow."
Aldric exchanged a glance with Sarah.
Jack noticed.
"Why is that strange?"
Sarah looked toward the windows.
"Because whoever commands that army knows what happens when someone dies inside this kingdom."
The king gripped his sword.
"Commander, evacuate the remaining servants through the western passage. Seal the throne room."
Aldric hesitated.
"Your Majesty, I must tell you something."
"Not now."
"It concerns the boy."
Sarah turned.
"Aldric."
The knight ignored her.
"When the Engine spoke through me, I saw something."
Jack stared at him.
"What did you see?"
Aldric's scarred face tightened.
"A chamber beneath the castle. Seven stone doors. Six were sealed."
"And the seventh?" Sarah asked.
Aldric looked directly at Jack.
"It was open."
Sarah's expression changed.
She stepped toward him.
"Are you certain?"
"I saw a woman standing inside."
"Who?"
Aldric swallowed.
"Lady Eleanor."
The entire room fell silent.
Jack felt his pulse hammering.
"Grandma is here?"
Aldric shook his head.
"I don't know. It was a vision. But she spoke to me."
"What did she say?"
The knight hesitated.
Then he answered.
"She said the prince must never remember the seventh door."
Sarah seized Aldric's arm.
"Did she see you?"
"I believe so."
"Did she touch you?"
"No."
Sarah released him.
For a moment, relief crossed her face.
Then Aldric added quietly, "But she knew my name."
The relief vanished.
Sarah turned toward Jack.
"We're leaving. Now."
Jack did not move.
"Not until you explain why Grandma was there."
"Jack, please."
"She raised me!"
Sarah's expression softened.
"I know."
"She loved me."
"I know."
"Then why would she want me dead?"
Sarah looked away.
And Jack understood.
She knew something.
Something she had been hiding.
"Mom."
Sarah closed her eyes.
"Tell me."
The king stepped closer.
"Sarah, if you conceal the truth again—"
She spun toward him.
"Do not lecture me about truth!"
Her voice cracked with years of suppressed anger.
"You signed the order. You stood there while they dragged a frightened child to the execution chamber. And afterward, you let the council tell the kingdom he had betrayed you!"
Edmund recoiled.
"I was trying to save millions."
"You were trying to save your throne!"
The accusation struck like a physical blow.
For a moment, the king looked ready to retaliate.
Instead, he lowered his gaze.
"Perhaps," he whispered.
Jack stared at him.
He had expected denial.
The king's admission was somehow worse.
Sarah turned back toward Jack.
"Eleanor was not always your grandmother."
Jack frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"She was assigned to protect you."
"By who?"
Sarah hesitated.
"By me."
Jack stepped backward.
"You?"
"After the execution, I found a way to send you into another time. But I couldn't follow immediately. The passage was unstable, and I needed someone to keep you safe."
"So you chose Grandma?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I trusted her."
Jack's voice grew quieter.
"And now?"
Sarah said nothing.
Jack felt a cold emptiness spreading through him.
"You don't trust her anymore."
"I don't know what she is anymore."
Before he could answer, the king approached the throne.
The mechanical lion followed his movement.
"Sarah," Edmund said, "you told me Eleanor vanished after John's death."
"She did."
"You told me she was beyond the Engine's reach."
"She was."
"Then how could she have appeared in Aldric's vision?"
Sarah stared into the spiraling shaft.
"Because someone has opened a path."
Aldric's face darkened.
"The seventh door."
Sarah nodded.
Jack looked between them.
"What is behind it?"
Nobody answered.
He gave a bitter laugh.
"Of course. Another secret."
Then his smartwatch vibrated.
The crimson countdown had disappeared.
In its place was a single message.
INCOMING TRANSMISSION.
Jack stared at the screen.
A tiny speaker crackled.
Then he heard a familiar voice.
"Jack?"
His knees nearly buckled.
"Grandma?"
Sarah turned sharply.
"What?"
The voice came again.
"Jack, sweetheart, can you hear me?"
It was Eleanor.
Not a recording.
Not a memory.
Her voice sounded exactly as it had that morning when she reminded him to take his umbrella.
Jack grabbed the watch.
"Grandma! Where are you?"
A pause.
Then a soft, trembling breath.
"Oh, thank God."
Jack's eyes filled with tears.
"What's happening? Where am I?"
"I know where you are, sweetheart."
He looked toward Sarah.
"Grandma, there's a woman here. She says she's my mother."
The line went silent.
Then Eleanor spoke.
"Is she wearing a silver necklace?"
Jack swallowed.
"Yes."
"Listen to me very carefully."
Her voice changed.
The warmth disappeared.
"Do not let her take you through any doorway."
Sarah went rigid.
Jack stared at her.
"Why?"
Eleanor hesitated.
"Because the woman standing beside you is not the Sarah I sent to find you."
Sarah's face drained of color.
"That's a lie."
Eleanor heard her.
"Sarah."
The single word carried an emotion Jack could not identify.
Grief.
Recognition.
Perhaps fear.
Sarah stepped closer to the watch.
"Eleanor, where are you?"
"Somewhere you cannot follow."
"You promised me he would be safe!"
"And he was. For fourteen years."
"Then why did you bring him back?"
Eleanor's voice hardened.
"I didn't."
Jack felt the air leave his lungs.
"What?"
"Jack, I need you to remember exactly what happened before the sky opened."
He closed his eyes.
The alley.
The rain.
The strange vibration.
The blue fracture.
And the voice.
"Someone called my name."
"Whose voice?"
Jack hesitated.
He had thought it sounded like his mother.
But now, listening to Eleanor, he remembered something different.
The voice had been younger.
Male.
Almost identical to his own.
"I don't know."
Eleanor's breathing quickened.
"Did the voice tell you not to let them do something?"
Jack nodded instinctively.
"Yes."
"What?"
He tried to remember.
The words returned in fragments.
Jack, don't let them—
Then the lightning.
"I couldn't hear the rest."
Eleanor cursed under her breath.
Jack had never heard her use that word before.
"Grandma?"
"Listen carefully. The watch was never supposed to activate on your birthday."
Sarah whispered, "Eleanor, stop."
"It was supposed to activate when he was ready."
The king stepped forward.
"Lady Eleanor."
Silence.
Then Eleanor laughed softly.
"Edmund."
The king's expression became murderous.
"After eight centuries, you dare speak my name?"
"I warned you not to sign that order."
"You placed the evidence before me!"
"And you believed it."
The king's hand tightened around his sword.
"You condemned my son."
Eleanor's voice turned icy.
"No, Edmund. I gave you a choice."
The king froze.
Jack looked between the watch and the throne.
"What choice?"
Neither answered.
Then Eleanor said something that made Sarah stagger.
"Ask him what happened to the first prince."
Jack frowned.
"The first prince?"
Sarah whispered, "No."
Eleanor continued.
"Ask the king why the portrait says John died at fourteen when his first son died at twelve."
The silence that followed was unbearable.
Jack slowly turned toward Edmund.
"You had another son?"
The king's face had gone ashen.
Sarah covered her mouth.
Aldric dropped to one knee.
Jack looked at the portrait lying on the table.
The face was his.
The inscription had changed.
The execution date had appeared.
But now he noticed something he had missed before.
Beneath the painted boy's collar was a faint mark.
A small black hourglass.
Jack instinctively touched the back of his own neck.
He had a birthmark there.
His grandmother had always called it a little butterfly.
He had never been able to see it clearly.
"Mom," he whispered.
Sarah looked at him.
"Do I have an hourglass on my neck?"
Her expression collapsed.
"Jack..."
"Answer me."
"Yes."
He turned toward the king.
"Did your son have one?"
Edmund looked as though he might faint.
"The first one did."
Jack's heart pounded.
"The first one?"
The king's voice broke.
"My first son was named Jonathan."
Sarah began crying silently.
Edmund continued.
"He died when he was twelve."
Jack stared at him.
"And John?"
The king looked toward the portrait.
"John was born two years later."
Eleanor's voice emerged from the watch.
"No, Edmund."
The king closed his eyes.
"Please."
"He was not born."
Sarah shook her head violently.
"Eleanor, don't."
"He was made."
Jack felt the room tilt.
"What does that mean?"
Eleanor's voice softened.
"Oh, Jack."
A terrible sadness filled her words.
"You were never supposed to find out this way."
The mechanical lion suddenly roared.
Blue lightning erupted from the throne.
The watch speaker crackled.
Eleanor shouted, "Get away from the Engine!"
But Jack could no longer move.
A flood of images slammed into his mind.
A small boy lying motionless on a stone table.
A woman sobbing beside him.
A king kneeling in blood.
Seven figures standing around an enormous hourglass.
And a voice announcing:
The first vessel has failed.
The images changed.
A second boy opened his eyes.
Then a third.
A fourth.
A fifth.
Each had the same face.
Each died.
Each was replaced.
Jack screamed.
Sarah caught him before he fell.
The watch flashed crimson.
MEMORY ARCHIVE UNLOCKED.
A list appeared on the screen.
ROYAL MEMORY ARCHIVE
PRINCE JONATHAN
DECEASED
PRINCE JOHN I
DECEASED
PRINCE JOHN II
DECEASED
PRINCE JOHN III
DECEASED
PRINCE JOHN IV
DECEASED
PRINCE JOHN V
DECEASED
PRINCE JOHN VI — JACK VALE
ACTIVE
Jack stared at the names.
Six dead boys.
Six versions of himself.
He looked at Sarah.
"Which one am I?"
She couldn't answer.
"Which one did you save?"
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Jack, please..."
He pulled away.
"WHICH ONE?"
The king stepped forward.
"John, listen—"
"My name is Jack!"
His scream echoed through the chamber.
Then Eleanor spoke again.
"Jack, there is something else."
He stared at the watch.
Her voice was trembling now.
"The woman beside you believes she is your mother. And the king believes you are his son."
Sarah went still.
Edmund slowly raised his head.
Eleanor continued.
"But neither of them knows what happened after the sixth prince was created."
Jack's throat tightened.
"What happened?"
A long silence followed.
Then Eleanor whispered:
"The Engine created two children."
Sarah stopped breathing.
Jack looked at her.
"Two?"
"One was sent into the future."
The watch emitted a sharp warning tone.
"One remained in the kingdom."
The throne began shaking violently.
Somewhere deep beneath the castle, a door slammed open.
And from the darkness below, a boy's voice called out.
"Jack?"
It was his own voice.
Perfectly identical.
Jack turned toward the open shaft.
A figure emerged from the blue light.
Fourteen years old.
Messy dark hair.
The same face.
The same scar above the left eyebrow.
But he wore a black royal uniform, and a silver crown rested on his head.
The boy smiled.
Not warmly.
Not kindly.
He looked at Jack the way a hunter looks at trapped prey.
"You're late," he said.
Then he drew a sword.
"Grandmother promised me you'd be dead before midnight."