Matt stiffened. He glared at Payne with icy, calculating ferocity. Payne was too far away for Matt to leap out and knock the gun out of his hand. When Eddie had shot him, Matt had been close enough to stop Eddie firing again, and I'd been able to place his watch in his hand as he lay dying. But Payne was no fool. He stayed at a distance. I doubted Matt's watch had enough magic left to save him now anyway, and I was certain Matt didn't have the strength to survive a gunshot long enough for the magic to try.

"Hands where I can see them, Glass." Payne adjusted his jacket over his gun to hide it from onlookers who might be peering from windows. "You try and play the hero and I'll shoot you. You too," he said to our coachman. "Matter of fact, I should shoot you anyway, Glass. I don't need you."

He cocked the gun and aimed at Matt.

I shouldered Matt out of the way, using my entire weight in the confined space, and angled myself in front of him.

"India," he growled.

"This is madness!" I said to Payne. "It's the middle of the day. There will be witnesses. You'll risk your own life for revenge? Don't you see the folly?"

"Not revenge. Once, yes, when I first came to England. But the more I watched you, Glass, the more I realized you had something of extraordinary value. Something I can sell to the highest bidder. And believe me, the bids will be extraordinarily high for your device. Now hand over your watch."

"An ordinary timepiece?" I scoffed. "Very well."

"Don't play me for a fool, Miss Steele," Payne drawled in his American accent. "You know the watch I mean. I want the magic one. The one that keeps him alive. The one that's going to make me a fortune."

"You don't understand what you're talking about. The watch is useless to anyone but Matt."

His jaw worked and his gaze flicked between us. So he didn't know. It was a point in our favor, but I wasn't yet sure if it would be useful in saving us.

"She's right." Matt's voice sounded strained, his breaths ragged. "My watch's magic only works on me. So we're back to revenge. I'll come quietly with you if you let India go."

"No!" I cried.

"Nice try, Glass," Payne said. "But I can't believe a word either of you say. I'll just have Miss Steele and Dr. Seaford combine their magic into your watch and see, won't I?"

"Don't touch her." Matt circled his arm around my waist, ready to push me out of the way.

"Your watch isn't working very well, isn't it, Glass? That's why you're here. To get the magical doctor to combine his magic with Miss Steele's and fix the damned thing. Don't try to pretend I'm wrong," he said when I opened my mouth to protest. "I know I'm right. I've asked all the same questions you have, of all the same people, and I've read Mr. Barratt's articles in fine detail. I know what your grandfather tried to do many years ago, Miss Steele, and I know the doctor who lives here is a magical doctor."

"Then you'll also know my grandfather failed," I said. "Nobody alive knows the correct spell."

His thin mouth stretched into a gruesome slash. "You wouldn't be here if you believed that." He nodded at Matt. "He's dying, Miss Steele. From the look of him, he'll be dead before the day is out if he can't use his watch."

"You underestimate me, Payne," Matt said. "You always have."

The door to number ten opened and a sleepy eyed man blinked at us. "What's all this then?" He swept his dark brown hair from his forehead and stifled a yawn. "My landlady's in a right state. She thinks someone has a gun."

"Come here, Dr. Seaford," Payne said without turning around, "or I shoot Mr. Glass."

The doctor went very still, and his eyes sharpened. "What the devil is going on here?"

"You threatened his poor mother to find out where he lived and what we wanted with him, didn't you?" I hissed at Payne.

"She wouldn't give up her son so I threatened the housekeeper. She knew everything I needed. Come here slowly," he said to Dr. Seaford behind him. "And nobody will get hurt."

Dr. Seaford took a step down then stopped. "Does he have a gun?"

"Yes," I said. "And he will shoot. We're so sorry."

He looked as if he would ask why I was sorry but Payne's barked order had him closing his mouth and coming to stand near the coach.

"You two, get out and stand with Seaford."

Matt and I did as ordered. I hazarded a glance at our coachman, only to realize he wasn't even there. He'd run off, thank God, hopefully to get help.

"Will someone tell me what's going on?" Dr. Seaford asked.

"I'll explain soon," Payne said. "But first, hand over your watch, Glass."

Matt put up his hands. "Come and get it."

Payne smirked. "Seaford, retrieve every watch you find on Mr. Glass's person. If you do not, I shoot him."

"But it's useless to you," I wailed. "It only works for Matt. Let him keep it, please."

Payne simply smiled that ratty smile of his. "Check every pocket, every seam, Seaford. He'll have more than one watch."

"All this for a robbery?" Dr. Seaford shook his head.

"Just do it!"

Dr. Seaford turned to Matt and apologized. He found Matt's first watch, the one we recently bought from the Masons', and held it up for Payne to see.

"Where was it made?" Payne asked.

Dr. Seaford opened the case and read the inscription. "Here in London."

"That's not the one. Keep checking."

Dr. Seaford returned the watch to Matt and Matt pocketed it. It didn't take Dr. Seaford long to find Matt's second watch in his hidden pocket.

My stomach dropped. My blood turned to ice in my veins.

"Where was it made?" Payne asked.

Again, Dr. Seaford opened the case and read the inscription. "New York."

"I believe that's the one. Throw it here."

"No!" I cried. "Dr. Seaford, that watch is keeping Matt alive. If you give it to him, he'll destroy it and Matt will slowly die."

"Keeping him alive?" Dr. Seaford asked in wonder. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"Magic," Payne told him. "You are a magician, she is a magician…and that watch is mine, now. Throw it here or I'll shoot Glass and he'll die immediately. It's your choice. A slow death or a quick one? One gives hope that Glass can overpower me and retrieve the watch. The other…well." He cocked the gun.

"It's all right," Matt told the doctor. "Give him the watch. It doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters!" I shouted.

Dr. Seaford drew in a breath. "I don't quite understand what this is all about." He held up Matt's watch. "But I do know that he has a gun and that it's pointed at Mr. Glass, here. I can't let him shoot you over a watch, sir."

"I understand," Matt said.

Dr. Seaford threw the watch.

"No!" I cried.

Matt grabbed my arm, stopping me from charging forward. But he could not stop me from throwing my own watch. It sailed through the air and I willed it to wrap itself around Payne's wrist and shock him as it had done on more than one occasion to save me.

But it hit him in the shoulder and fell to the pavement where it lay unmoving and silent. It only worked when my life was in danger and it hadn't chimed since Payne stopped pointing the gun at me.

Payne lifted his foot to crush it.

"Don't!" Matt barked. "It was given to her by her parents."

"You know I'm not one for sentimentality, Glass." Payne brought down his boot heel and twisted and twisted and twisted.

The metal case splintered, the glass inside cracked. My watch gave a single, plaintive chime before falling silent. Payne removed his boot to reveal a pile of pieces so broken they could never be fixed.

Tears burned my eyes. My father had made that watch and I had pulled it apart hundreds of times. I knew the inner workings by heart and could put it back together with my eyes closed. It had saved my life. It was beyond repair now.

Matt's hand found mine and grasped tightly. It was an attempt to comfort me, but the tremble wracking him did nothing to ease the ache in my chest. I met his gaze and saw his heart swimming in his eyes, and his pain. So much pain.

The sheriff smirked. Then he pocketed Matt's magic watch.

I closed my eyes. Every sound was amplified in the dark. The click clack as one of the horses took a step, Payne's low chuckle, Matt's labored breaths. I slumped against the coach as hot tears slipped down my cheeks.

"India, my love," Matt purred, his lips very close to my ear. I suspected he was about to say something else so when he'd didn't, I opened my eyes.

Payne pointed the gun at Matt's head. "Don't move, Glass," he said. "Miss Steele, Dr. Seaford, come with me. I have work for you both."

"Me?" Dr. Seaford blurted out. "What do you want me for? What work?"

"Magic work."

Dr. Seaford's nostrils flared and the muscles in his jaw pulsed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you do. There's no time to discuss it now. Come with me. Walk ahead of me with Miss Steele. Now, Miss Steele," he pressed. "You know what will happen if you don't."

I squeezed Matt's hand then let it go. I took one glance at his face and wished I hadn't. There was real fear and helplessness, and bone-shattering pain carved into the hollows of his cheeks and eyes.

I joined Dr. Seaford and together we walked off with Payne at our backs, his gun still obscured by his jacket. I resisted the urge to glance over my shoulder at Matt. I couldn't bear to see his distress.

"Hell," Payne suddenly muttered. "I want to see him die."

"No!" I screamed, spinning around.

But I could not reach him in time. He pulled the trigger and fired. Matt reacted but not fast enough. His body jerked from the impact of the bullet and he fell to the ground.

He didn't move.