This Isn't What It Looks Like by Pseudonymous Bosch

tell me where that creature went, you’ll spend the rest of your days in here, I swear it!” he shouted to the
     cell’s inhabitant; then he started striding away in Cass’s direction.
    “I know not where your monkey went,” came the reply from the door. “I know only where you’re going. And my advice is not to
     bring that cloak. You’ll be much too warm. In fact, you’ll be burning!”
    Cass slunk back against the wall—but not in time. Lord Pharaoh brushed against her, jarring her arm and causing her to drop
     the monocle.
    Luckily, the glass did not break, but it hit the stone floor with a loud enough clink to catch Lord Pharaoh’s attention. “What’s
     that?”
    Cass stood frozen, her heart beating in her chest. The monocle glinted in the torchlight.
    Lord Pharaoh picked up the monocle and turned it over in his hand. “How curious, a
Double Monocle
…”
    And then it happened. He put the monocle to his eye and looked straight at her. “Curious, indeed,” he said with a sinister
     smile.
    He reached out and grabbed her arm. She tried to push him off, but he was too strong. “I thought for a second you were just
     a trick of the eye. But now I see you have the trick of touch as well.”
    Cass stared back at the man staring at her. Enlarged by the Double Monocle, his dark green eye looked ominous and reptilian.
     She wanted to make a retort—to say something smart and stinging to this awful man—but she found she was too afraid.
    “Why is it when I look at you, I think I see the future?” mused Lord Pharaoh. “You are not of this time, am I right?”
    “What is it?” asked the guard nervously. “A ghost?”
    Lord Pharaoh snickered. “If she is a ghost, she is but a sniveling girl ghost. There is no need to fear her.”
    He tightened his grip on Cass. “This is a very intriguing glass you have…. What else do you bring from your invisible world?
     Empty your pockets. Now. Or I will have the guard do it.”
    Cass obeyed, but there was nothing in her pockets, save for a crumpled wrapper. Lord Pharaoh unfolded it, revealing a tiny
     triangle of chocolate.
    Cass let out a little gasp—it was the last uneaten bit of Señor Hugo’s special time-traveling recipe. She’d forgotten that
     there was any left.
    Lord Pharaoh sniffed the chocolate, then touched it with his tongue. “What is this? Some kind of spice?”
    “It’s chocolate,” Cass answered, surprise momentarily overcoming her fear. Then she remembered that the New World treat had
     yet to be imported to Europe.
    “It is vile. But unique. I shall have to study it further,” said Lord Pharaoh, rewrapping the remains.
    Cass looked for signs that Señor Hugo’s chocolate was having an effect on him—with any luck, Lord Pharaoh would fall to the
     ground unconscious—butapparently the one taste had been too small to make a difference.
    “As for you—let’s throw you in with the Jester for now. Later we shall learn how best to kill a ghost.”
    He lowered the monocle and inspected it briefly. “I have a distinct feeling the future will be much brighter without you,”
     he concluded, replacing the monocle—this time with an expression so satisfied one might have expected him never to remove
     the monocle again.
    Cass choked back a sob. Without the monocle, she’d never be able to escape.
    The bells on the Jester’s hat jingled in defiance of the darkness.
    “Who’s there?” he asked. “Though I cannot see your face, I wouldst know what unlucky soul has entered this gloomy place.”
    Cass peered around the cell, trying to make out the form of her fellow prisoner. The only light came from the small opening
     in the cell door.
    There was a glimmer that she thought might be one of the bells on the Jester’s hat. She crawled toward it.
    “Um, hi. My name is Cassandra, but everybody calls me Cass.”
    “Cass?” the Jester repeated in surprise. “You are but a lass if my ears do not lie. Why is such a child as you in a place