Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

Alan rose slowly to his feet, pointing a finger at Wallace. “You really
shouldn’t have—”
And then he stopped.
Wallace blinked.
He waited for Alan to finish his threat.
He didn’t.
He seemed … frozen in place.
“Um,” Wallace said. “What happened?”
No one answered him.
He turned his head to the left.
Mei had been in the process of pushing herself up off the ground, her hair
hanging in her face.
She wasn’t moving.
Wallace looked forward. Nelson had started to prop himself up with his
cane, but only made it halfway before he too just … stopped.
Wallace turned his head to the right.
Apollo stood in front of Hugo, teeth bared in a silent snarl. Hugo himself
was propping himself up against the wall, a look of anger mingled with
despair on his face.
Wallace pushed himself off the display case, surprised when he did so
without resistance.
“Guys?” he said, voice echoing flatly in the dark tea shop. “What’s going
on?”
No one answered him.
It was only then that he realized the second hand of the clock wasn’t
moving. It wasn’t even twitching.
It’d stopped.
Everything had stopped.
“Oh no,” Wallace whispered.
He didn’t know what was happening. The only time the clock stopped was
when a new ghost arrived at Charon’s Crossing, but time hadn’t stopped
inside the tea shop.
“Hugo?” he whispered, taking a step toward him. “Are you—”
He raised his hand to shield his eyes as a bright blue light flashed from
outside the tea shop. It filled the windows brilliantly, casting shadows that