The Book of Lost Hours

Over the next few months, Ernest falls in love with Lisavet. He visits every day, traveling through memories. He lies to Jack, insisting that he is struggling to find her.

One day after returning home, Ernest checks his notes. He has been trying to track down what happened to Lisavet in the real world. He knows that Ezekiel and his son died, but there is no record of Lisavet. He also found letters from Ezekiel in his father’s papers. After Ernest’s father received watches from Ezekiel for the newly founded TRP, he offered him a job and asylum in the United States. Before Ezekiel could make it, he was killed.

Ernest has also been researching what is happening to Lisavet in the time space. Physicists have theorized that time is the fourth dimension, existing on its own plane. Theoretically, the mind could travel to this plane, which is likely what happens in the time space. Although timekeepers physically go there briefly, they all return to the “real world,” except for Lisavet. He is worried that her physical body has spent too much time in the time space, causing her to exist only in the fourth dimension. He wants to help her leave but isn’t sure how her consciousness would handle it.

Nevertheless, when Ernest returns the next day, he suggests that Lisavet leave. She insists that she is happy, and Ernest acknowledges that she lives a fuller life than he does. However, he questions whether any of it is “real.” When he quotes a poem by Robert Frost, Lisavet expresses her confusion about what poetry is. He explains and, the next day, brings her a book of poetry.

Lisavet realizes that she is in love with Ernest. She plans a night for them together where she first discovered love—in the memory of the couple in a field in Spain. However, as she makes her way to him, she spots a Russian timekeeper. She saves a memory that he burned but realizes too late that it is a trap. The timekeeper who shot Ernest ambushes her. She manages to knock him unconscious with a book.

Ten minutes later, Ernest finds Lisavet crying and covered in blood. She explains what happened. He blames himself, as he informed the CIA of Lisavet’s existence. Although Lisavet is still upset, Ernest takes her into one of his memories for the first time. They go to a nightclub, where they dance together to swing music, Ernest noting his love of the song “Blue Moon.” When he tries to kiss her, she stops him but then takes him to the field in Spain. Their kissing escalates to sex as they travel through different memories, eventually ending up in the hotel in Geneva.

Afterward, Lisavet lies next to Ernest, watching him sleep. She realizes that he has memories floating above his head, similar to how memories appear in the sky of the time space. She touches them and gets flashes of the images in her mind. She hesitates and then enters his memory.

When Ernest wakes up, Lisavet is out of bed. She angrily throws his clothes at him before thrusting the book at him, insisting that he can take it to make his boss happy. Based on what she heard in his memories, she accuses him of lying to her and pretending to love her. Ernest insists that what she saw was him lying. He is adamant that he loves her and promises to find a way to pacify his boss. Eventually, she relents, promising to see him tomorrow.

Ernest goes home. He realizes that it is morning and that he has a meeting with Jack. He decides to lie about the Russian attack, saying that Lisavet was killed.

A few months later, Ernest gives Lisavet her father’s old pocket watch, which he was finally able to track down. He confirms that it still works, opening a wooden door by winding it. Lisavet has the urge to go through but fights against it.

By 1950, Lisavet begins to experiment. Ernest has told her his theory about “temporal departure,” the thing he believes has happened to her, so she realizes that she is essentially outside of time. She is able to begin entering memories without even reading books, just by using her mind.

One day, Lisavet is in a memory belonging to a Greek shepherd. As she eats fruit beneath a tree, one of the sheep comes up to her and licks her hand. It shocks her, as she has never been able to interact with living things. The shepherd’s son then comes up and speaks to her. It startles Lisavet, so she quickly leaves. When she returns to the time space, the pages of the memory she is holding turn to ash. This happens two more times. She realizes that she is changing time itself and, in turn, destroying events; she vows never to do it again.

Ernest thinks that his lie to Jack has worked. The TRP brings in the Russian timekeeper and tortures him, and he admits to attacking Lisavet. At the same time, Ernest begins to question his work even more. Sometimes Lisavet will mention an event that he didn’t know happened or is slightly different than history as he knows it. He realizes that the alterations the timekeepers make affect him more than he wants to admit. He begins taking some of the pages he is supposed to destroy and instead gives them to Lisavet to keep.

One evening, Ernest comes home from a date with Lisavet and finds Jack waiting in his apartment. He tells him that they have been tracking his movements and know that he is still seeing Lisavet. He warns Ernest that, if he doesn’t bring Lisavet out of the time space, he will be dismissed from the CIA and charged with treason. Ernest initially considers resigning but knows Lisavet will be harmed either way. Instead, he agrees to get her to give himself more time.

The next day, Ernest and Lisavet go back to the Geneva hotel. Ernest begs her to leave with him, asking her to marry him. She is hesitant, but he insists that it will be safer for them both and that they can start a life together. After Ernest falls asleep in the hotel bed, Lisavet sees his memories above his head. When she looks into him, she finds memories of his childhood, his family, and his friends; none of them include her. She realizes that Ernest would be giving up too much if he ran away with her. Heartbroken, she decides to remove the memories of herself from his head. She places them on blank pages and then hides them in her book of stolen memories. She takes his conversation with Jack, too, hoping that Jack will figure out what Lisavet did to Ernest and realize that Ernest truly doesn’t remember.

The day after meeting James, Amelia returns to the time space. She is determined to find Ernest’s memories, even if it means seeing his death. She brings a knife with her for protection.

When she enters the time space, Amelia immediately comes face to face with the same ethereal man from before. He introduces himself as Azrael. He implies that he has knowledge of both Lisavet’s book and Ernest’s memories, but he doesn’t give Amelia any help. Instead, he tells her to “listen” for Lisavet’s memories, as they will talk to her.

Amelia walks through the shelves, following the whispers as they grow louder. She spots Anton, wrapping the book with the blue flower in cloth and hiding it on a shelf. She waits until he leaves before grabbing it. However, he spots her as she does so, having heard her and waited for her. Although Anton tries to be friendly with her, she flees, running through the shelves. He yells after her, warning her, but she ignores him. Too late, she realizes that there is a chasm in the floor and that the shelves are crumbling around her. She starts to fall into the chasm, dropping the book and knife, but Anton catches her.

Anton asks Amelia what she is doing. She responds angrily, grabbing the knife, accusing him of killing her uncle, and trying to stab him. As Anton grabs her wrist to stop her, he realizes who she is. He tries to talk to her, but Amelia kicks him and flees. She opens a door and escapes the time space back into her home.

Moira hears Amelia return and comes to her side, comforting her. Amelia is grateful for her embrace, something she has not had since her mother died. As Moira swears to protect her, Amelia realizes that Moira is the only person she can trust. A while later, after Amelia has told Moira the entire story, Amelia asks about the chasm in the time space. Moira speculates that it is “a hole in the space-time continuum” (159). It is rumored to have started after Lisavet disappeared.