Chapter Three: The Stopped Clock

“I am not helping you.” He looked toward the mirror. “I am disobeying you.” The old woman was still there. In her reflection, the table remained whole and the twelve guests remained seated. Future Zhiwei raised a hand and wrote on the misted glass: DO NOT LET GU CHENZHOU SERVE THE FINAL COURSE. Then she mouthed two words that her younger self understood. Kill him. Gu did not turn. “What did she tell you?” “To trust you,” Zhiwei lied. He laughed softly, as if he had heard the same answer before. At the wine rack, he put his eye to the scanner. The brass lock clicked open on a flight of stone stairs. Cold air and the smell of iron rose from below. Twelve lamps lined the walls. Only the first was lit.