“And what might this thing be?” Baz asked, his curiosity piqued.
“A door.”
Something prickled along Baz’s spine. “A door to where?”
Clover shrugged, but there was something feigned about thenonchalance of the gesture. “That’s what I mean to find out. This is the reason I joined the games despite already having access to the Vault. I believe the only way to unveil this door is by breaking through the wards.”
“How did you know the games would involve breaking in to the Vault to begin with?” Baz asked. “They announced it after you’d signed up.”
“I had it on good authority.”
Pieces started to put themselves together in Baz’s mind. “This group of students you’re part of,” he said slowly, “it’s a secret society, isn’t it?”
Clover lifted a bemused brow. “And why would you think that?”
“Exclusive access to the Vault?” Kai said, picking up on Baz’s train of thought. “The very seat of knowledge hidden behind deadly wards? Sounds like something the Selenic Order would be involved in to me.”
Clover’s eyes sparked at the name, but he said nothing at all.
Kai gave a jerk of his chin to Clover’s hand. “Show us your wrist.”
“What?”
“Your right wrist. Show it to us.”
Clover seemed utterly confused now as he pulled his sleeve up. There was no silver spiral there to mark him as a Selenic, yet he had all the makings of someone who’d be involved in such a secret society. The best connections, the prestige, the grades.
With an unsettling realization, Baz thought Clover had all the same attributes that Keiran had had, even if they were nothing alike—or maybe he was only refusing to see the similarities.
“Say I am part of this secret society,” Clover said as he pulled his sleeve down. “This, of course, would mean I am silence bound. Something I’m sure you understand more than most.”
The meaning behind those words was clear. He knew they were hiding something too.
Baz and Kai exchanged a knowing glance, unsure how to tread here. This door Clover sought had to be the Hourglass. If it was hidden by wards in this time, it would explain why members of the Selenic Order didn’t have spiral marks, because they wouldn’t hold their rituals in Dovermere—might not know the Hourglass existed at all (if it evendidexist in this time). It surely wasn’t accessible through the tunnels of Dovermere. Could there really be another way in through the Vault?
Like the Treasury—the Order’s seat of power, so to speak—that Nisha and Virgil had told them was in a secret grotto carved beneath the Vault.
“I want to be honest with you,” Clover said earnestly. “But I need assurances that this will stay between us. And for that, I think it’s best we drop this veil of secrecy between us, yes? These riddles we speak in are only impeding our trust.”
“Okay.” Kai crossed his arms. “Then talk, Tidecaller.”
A slow smile spread across Clover’s face, as if he were pleased that they’d discovered his utmost secret. “Only if you admit to being from the future.”
“You knew?”
“It was easy enough to guess, once I overheard you talking about time portals, a concept pulled from a book you snuck into my room to find.” There was no accusation in his voice, only mild amusement. “Besides, you’re not exactly the first ones I’ve met.”
Footsteps sounded in the dark, growing louder as they neared.
“Shit,” Baz said. “The librarian.”
He readied his magic, planning to stop time so they could slip out unnoticed, but Clover lifted a hand to stop him. “It’s all right. She won’t tell on us.”
Kai shot daggers at him. “I swear if you Glamoured her—”
“I did not Glamour her. She’s a willing participant in this venture.”His smile grew as the librarian appeared behind them. “There’s my favorite Dreamer.”
“Don’t flatter me, Cornelius.”
