In the heart of Chronotown, the great clock tower chimed. Its brass gears turned with a happy click-clack rhythm. Everything ran on time.
Tick wound his toy car and let it zoom across the stones. It went vroom-vroom-vroom! But the clocks still needed winding.
'Tick! The clocks need winding!' called the clockwork townsfolk. But Tick just giggled and zoomed his car even faster.
The townsfolk sighed and wound the clocks themselves. Tick raced his toy car in happy little circles. He did not notice the sky turning gray.
A furious storm swept into Chronotown! Thunder cracked like shattering glass. Every clock — big and small — exploded into a hundred ticking pieces.
The hourglass flipped upside-down. Sand began to flow upward — back, back, backward into the sky.
Tick grabbed a handful of the strange sand, but it slipped through his fingers like cold rain. 'I have to fix this,' he thought. He reached for the broken gear.
Tick zoomed through town collecting gears, but time sneezed them all backward! A loaf of bread hopped back into the oven. His toy car rewound across the stones.
Tick groaned and kicked a pebble. What was the point of trying if everything just went backward?
Then Tick spotted it — a small golden hourglass, untouched in the rubble. Its sand still flowed forward. 'This one is still working!' he thought.
Tick held the golden hourglass against the broken clock face and turned the great key. It clicked into place with a deep, resonant TOCK.
The clocks began to tick again! The townsfolk emerged, gasping as time ran forward. Mrs. Pendulum placed a shiny brass trophy in Tick's palm. Tick's chest gleamed in the sun.