"I am willing to part with my body", Alice said to the guards near the front gate.

You can think, if you want, that she agreed so easily simply because she did not realize how serious this actually was, but I can assure you that even if Alive completely understood this idea, she would still say yes.

Soul in a goat mask held out a hand and it went straight through Alice as if she was made of water. There was no pain. It came later, when the hand squeezed something inside her chest and started tearing it out.

All her life Alice was honing her abilities to be calm and patient, to hold back sadness and bitterness, to ignore ache and soreness, but at that moment she lost her grip and burst into tears. Even after she was reduced to but a thin, bare, trembling thing (the guard carelessly tossed her body on the shore), this thing continued to cry, though its tears were neither wet nor hot.

Despite losing her body, Alice still held the sword in her ghostly arms. It was a very unusual sword that could cut anything from flesh to soul, and it belonged to both the world of the living and the world of the dead. Strange as it may seem, she also kept the silver key from a double-headed Cat. So it must have been similar to the sword in that regard. But the black horn fell on the ground, pressed into a cold hand of an empty body, lifeless and void, as a cicada shell. Alice glanced at it, and a few more ghostly tears trickled down her face. She wiped them with her spectral hand, straightened and stepped firmly through the gate.

Carefully looking around the city of the dead and asking for directions, Alice quickly made her way to the beetle hideout's soul. It was not glowing anymore and became as ashy pale and fragile as everything in this place. Alice looked at the rope the gravediggers used to bring the poor creature here. She gently took it off and wrapped around the wings. They could break and crumble to dust from the lightest of touches, like burnt-out embers in the fire.

Apart from searching for wings, Alice had another objective in this place, no less important.

"Can I find Lady Autumn's soul?" she asked the city dwellers.

They immediately made way for a woman with floor-length hair covered in the white dust of demise, but still with traces of red tresses. Her clothes and skin were as ashy pale as everything in this city. A simple round mask, all white, covered her face.

"I knew one of you would come. Hello", the woman said casually, as if she knew Alice all her life.

"You... you were killed by the Beast?" Alice stuttered.

"Is that what you wanted to ask?"

Alice felt the woman smiling.

"I wanted to ask where to find it. The Beast".

"Oh, and here I thought you already figured that out". The woman pointed at the wings Alice was dragging behind her, holding the thin ropes.

"No, no, that is... the wings are for flying over the Wall in Amber City".

The woman shook her head.

"There is no flying over that Wall. But you will find them useful. One of you will have to descend into the deepest and darkest of places, and another must ascend in the sky since the Beast lives in the highest tower imaginable. It becomes visible as you rise over the clouds".

Alice thought of another question, the one very important to her.

"I want to be with my sister. Is it possible?"

Lady Autumn frowned.

"Are you sure you need this? Both of you? Nothing good will come from trying to keep something that is your complete opposite always at your side. Here is a good example — what happened between me and your father".

"My father?.. the Wizard of Amber City? Are you two — enemies?"

"Yes, Alice. We are. But I swear, I did not wish for that."

"But... what happened between you?"

"Ask him", Lady Autumn suggested. "Do I look like a book? You can not expect to open me on the last page and get all the answers."

For a moment they were both silent. Suddenly the quietness of the Island of Souls started to seem sinister to Alice. Embarrassed, she stared at the ground, unsure of what to say. Then Lady Autumn added a bit more warmly:

"It is a pity, really — you would surely learn more from a book than from a woman who is long dead... Books are like mirrors — we can see what we could become, and we also can go over the threshold. He invented them, and I am not fond of these creations, but if you ever find yourself at a loss — remember about the books."

Alice was quite confused by this answer but felt she had no right to ask further. She thanked Lady Autumn and left the city.

At the shore, though, Alice found out she could not get back into Kira's boat-nest. It was as if some invisible force was preventing her from doing that. Alice figured she lost the right to leave the Island of Souls when she gave up her body. After all, who would want to stay here if there was a way to escape? It was by no means a bright place...

So was it all for nought? They will not be able to kill the Beast or flee from Amber City? She and Kira will never meet?

Kira! Alice wanted to yell, but her throat felt tight and closed up from despair, and the only sound that left her lips was a half sigh half sob. She thought there was no point in calling for Kira, that her sister will never hear this plea and would not be able to see Alice anyway, since Alice was left with nothing but grief and the softest of voices, resembling a rustle of dried leaves.

But at this moment she glanced at the water and saw her sister's face, troubled but soothing. Kira did not leave her, even in the hardest of moments.

"Please, touch my hand", Kira asked. "I know you lost your body, but we still can switch places, just as before."

"What am I to do in Amber City?" Alice thought woefully. "No one will see me as I am now!"

But Kira continued.

"I came up with something. Don't worry."

Alice had no choice but to put her trust into Kira. That is what she was doing all her life anyway.

Her weightless lucid hand touched the dark green surface of the ocean.

Instantly Kira appeared on the shore of the Island of Souls, alive and breathing, and incorporeal Alice — in Amber City.

Incorporeal... or?..

She brought a palm to her eyes — with a sudden creak — and saw a metallic hand on a ball joint.

*

Let us turn back time a little.

While Alice was exploring the city of souls and talking to Lady Autumn, Kira was looking for the creator of Amber City clock.

When she finally found his workshop, it became clear why Alice called this man odd. He was unlike any other resident of Amber City: nondescript, aged, tired and sad...

"Is it you who built the clock?" Kira asked.

"Yes, it is."

The man seemed unfazed neither by her visit nor by her question like he was waiting for this for a long time.

"You look old", Kira noted, straightforward as usual.

"I am old. I still remember the times when our city was bursting with life. There were monsters, wonders and secrets, woes and triumphs, birth and burials. There was a starry sky with cold pink dawns and snow, and fallen leaves. But then, after..."

"After Autumn... passed away?" Kira asked softly.

The man nodded.

"When she died, your father tried to wipe all his subjects' memories of her. He is a great wizard, but even for him, it was an impossible task. There is a piece of her soul even in me — not as much as you got, but still... That is why, no matter how hard he tried, the Wizard could not write another life story for me. I kept getting confused — who am I, why am I here, how I was born... and inevitably remembered everything. Each and every time. But he tried again and again, and I started wishing for death, but there is no death in his world, as you most definitely know, as there is no sorrow or uncertainty. At last, he stopped trying and ordered me to make this clock. To stop time would mean to get rid of all the remaining memories, freeing from them both the city and the citizens."

"If you are a creation of the Wizard and Lady Autumn, then you must be a prince?" Kira wondered.

Mechanic chuckled ruefully.

"Please, I am no prince. A prince should be charming and brave, but look at me — I am rather plain and full of fears. I am afraid of everything. Who would call me a hero? The only thing I am good for is mending broken things. That is all." He was silent for a moment, and then added sadly: "But there are too many broken things in this city. I can not possibly fix them all. And that is not taking into account what is in the dungeons."

"You think you are no hero, but that is not true", Kira protested. "Only those who have fear in their hearts can be brave. If you are always courageous and are not scared of anything, heroical deeds are meaningless."

She looked around the workshop and noticed a lot of mechanical toys. That gave her an idea.

"May I ask you for a favour?" Kira pleaded. "I wanted a flying machine that could grant us freedom, but there is something even more important I need you to build. My sister urgently needs your help. She gave up her body... I take it you are very skillful when it comes to mechanics. Could you please make a new body for her?"

The man sighed.

"Believe me, it is a terrible fate for a living soul to be trapped in a doll body, but if you are so desperate..."