“That would be the three of us,” Romie said, pointing between her, Aspen, and Tol. There was no reason to hide the truth now.
The older woman put a hand to her heart. “Apologies, then. Ifyou’re keys, we’re at your service.”
“Mother,” Ivayne whispered furiously, clearly unconvinced.
“How do you know about us?” Romie asked.
“The Golden Helm knew of Travelers, once, when the doors between realms were still open and keys were not needed. We’ve been waiting for you ever since. You seek the Forger to save our world from the darkness that has befallen it, yes? It was like this, long ago, after the Forger and the Night Bringer vanished and the doors were shut.”
“Those are but stories,” Ivayne snapped.
“Every story has a morsel of truth,” her mother said. “We’ll bring you to the place where the Forger was rumored to have gone, where the door to another realm once stood. We call it the Sunforge, an old mountain surrounded by rivers of fire, so inaccessible and hostile it has not been visited by any human as far as memory serves.” She studied them, then the dragon. “But if Gwenhael agrees to escort us, we may just find our way.”
I accept, Gwenhael said, lowering its head.
48BAZ
BAZ STARED BLANKLY AT THEdying embers in the Eclipse commons, wondering what in the Tides’ name he’d gotten himself into. He wasn’t sure what was more upsetting: Clover and Luce having visions of Emory bringing about the end of the world, or the four missing students they’d found dead—drowned, from the looks of them. And drained of blood.
These games felt suddenly ludicrous to him. No wonder the Tricentennial had been canceled—and their own Quadri hadn’t fully reinstated the games.
“Say Clover actually brings the Tides and the Shadow back,” Kai mused on the sofa beside him. “What would that mean for us? History would be completely rewritten. The world we knew might no longer be the same.”
Baz ran a hand over the nape of his neck as he pondered all the rules of time travel they did not yet know. So much could go wrong. He didn’t want to believe Emory could do what Clover and Luce had seen. But if theywereright—and if there really was away for them to prevent all of it—Baz couldn’t leave Emory’s fate up to chance.
“I guess it’s just a risk we have to take,” he said at last.
Kai didn’t look so convinced.
“Do you not trust Clover?” Baz asked.
“I have a hard time trusting anyone.”
“We have him to thank for keeping our Karunang cover intact.”
“Which he clearly did to fit his own agenda. But I guess he does make some compelling arguments.” Kai met his gaze. “I know you’re deeply invested in Emory’s fate, but—”
“This isn’t just about Emory,” Baz countered. “If Clover succeeds, it might fixeverything.It would make the world we know a better place for Eclipse-born.”
Baz’s family might still be intact, his father never having gone to the Institute if the world were a safer, fairer place for Eclipse-born. Baz himself might never have Collapsed.
He would never havekilled.
He thought about Cordie’s painting. All that guilt he carried, all the darkness that had followed him since that day at the printing press… If Clover changed the future, they would no longer be his to carry.
When he looked at the embers dying in the hearth, he imagined his guilt burning to ash with them.
If only it were that simple.
News of the students’ deaths swept the college like a grim tide. Over the next few days, Cordie tried to get Clover and Baz to abandon the games as other students had. But they remained undeterred.
“Delia doesn’t know about any of this,” Clover had told Baz and Kai, asking them not to breathe a word to his sister about doors and prophecies and this quest of his to change the future. Baz feltbad about lying to her, but he understood. Clover simply wanted to protect her.
The same way Luce had wanted to protect Emory.
As he and Clover sat in the Decrescens library late one afternoon, he watched Luce and Kai disappear into the secret room to try and map out the sleepscape together. It still hadn’t hit him fully that this was Emory’smother. There had been a moment, upon first meeting Luce, where Baz had hated her at the thought of her leaving an infant Emory behind. But now he understoodwhy.
He was pulled from his thoughts as a couple of Awansi students in bright kaftans passed their table, whispering about the deadly Vault and its victims. Baz glanced at the warded archway and blanched, the image of those four bodies still imprinted on his mind.
