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Gaia spoke to Kristen that morning.

Mum, where do you go to stop the passing of time?

Dear, I do not think there is such a place.

It is somewhere very large to fit a whole missing month every year.

Why should it be there?

Because there is a thirteen month, but it is well hidden.

I never heard of it. Are you sure there is a thirteen month at all?

Gaia opened her arms wide, her palms open, as she saw Mark do, as if the gesture could confirm the existence of the hidden month.

Who spoke to you about it?

Mark, the woodman.

The artist, yes, I know him. If he says so then there must be a thirteenth month but I have never heard about it. I’ll ask around and let you know if I discover anything.

Gaia was not satisfied. She had to know where to look for the missing month. She had to know right away.

Let me go down to him and ask him for more details.

She left the apartment, run to the store and saw Mark sculpting a very large insect. She waved and run again, crossed the Bridge of Tears, run along Calle degli Antiquari, saw something but immediately forgot about it, turned right into Calle degli Ulivi and towards the end of it, when her chest was ready to burst, stopped in front of the Archilab. She waited and waited and finally Julia came out.

Gaia! Did you come here by yourself?

I asked mum about the missing month, but she knew nothing. Did you discover anything?

Yes. Whole buildings have been erected in the past in a single night, which is impossible.

Who told you that?

I found a book, I have it here with me, we can read it together.