After Daniel died, I thought the strange discoveries around his house were nothing more than grief making ordinary things seem mysterious. Then one winter morning, I found a block of ice sitting on my porch. I had no idea who had left it there or why. I brought it inside, expecting it to melt into nothing, but something dark appeared at its center as the ice softened. It was an old black watch. I recognized it immediately because Daniel had once shown it to me, though he had never explained why it mattered so much. When I asked his friend Owen about it, he became unusually quiet. Eventually, he admitted that Daniel had given him the watch before his death and told him to keep it safe. That answer only raised more questions. Why would Daniel hide a watch inside ice? Why had Owen waited until now to tell me? And what was Daniel trying to make me discover?

Owen finally agreed to explain, but before he could finish, he reached into his coat and handed me a small notebook Daniel had left behind. One page contained a strange drawing of the watch and a sentence I had never seen before. I read it twice, then looked at Owen. His expression told me the secret was much bigger than a missing watch.