The Stone House at the Edge

José kicked a pebble down the cobblestone path, watching it bounce against the ancient stones. The afternoon sun cast long shadows between the whitewashed houses of Granada, and somewhere in the distance, a guitar played a lonely melody.

His grandmother's voice called from the doorway of their small stone house. "José! Come help me with these boxes from the attic."

He trudged inside, where Doña Rosa stood surrounded by dusty cardboard boxes and wooden crates. Her silver hair was pulled back in a neat bun, and flour still dusted her apron from the morning's bread-making.

"Your father left so many things," she said softly, lifting the lid of a particularly heavy wooden box. "I thought it was time we looked through them together."

José peered inside. Tools, wood shavings, and metal pieces filled the container. But at the very bottom, something caught his eye—the corner of what looked like an enormous clock face, its brass surface tarnished with age.

The Heavy Discovery

Together, José and his grandmother lifted the enormous clock from the box. It was much heavier than it looked, and José nearly dropped his end when they set it on the wooden table.

"Your father was working on this before he died," Doña Rosa said, running her fingers along its intricate brass gears. "He said it was special, but I never understood what he meant."

José examined the clock face. Roman numerals marked the hours, but something was wrong. The hands pointed in impossible directions, and behind the glass, gears spun slowly even though the clock wasn't wound.

"Abuela, look at this," José whispered, pointing to a small compartment behind the pendulum. Inside, three tiny gears glowed with a soft blue light. They didn't match the brass ones at all—these looked like they were made from some kind of crystal.

Doña Rosa gasped. "I've never seen those before."

The mysterious gears pulsed brighter, and suddenly the clock chimed thirteen times. But it was only three in the afternoon. José felt a strange tingling in his fingers where he touched the clock's frame.