“You know, the strangeness of their deaths had me looking into the founders again,” Clover said, noticing his stare.
“Oh?”
“The founders didn’t just mysteriously die right before the college opened its doors. They died within thesamemonth, in the exact order of their moon phases—on a day corresponding to their respective lunar phases.”
“There’s no way that’s coincidental.” Baz thought of Travers and Lia and Jordyn, called back through the door—to their deaths—on their respective moon phases. New moon, then waxing, then full. Romie might have been next on the waning moon. There was a connection to be made here.
“There’s something else I wanted to show you,” Clover said. “Now that you’re aware of the Selenic Order, I can tell you the founders were part of it. And not only that—their names appear on a signed agreement by the first eight members of the Order as we know it today, dated the very year Aldryn College was built.”
Clover produced a familiar journal that sent a jolt of excitementthrough Baz. He flipped it open to pages that were blank again… until they weren’t. Ink appeared out of thin air, the pages full of Clover’s tight handwriting.
Clover gave him a crooked smile. “A bit of Wardcrafter magic I built into the pages. To keep unwanted eyes from… sensitive information.”
So Cloverhadstarted writing in his journal—and from the looks of it, it appeared nearly as complete as the one Baz had with him.
Clover pointed to a list of names he’d scrawled in the margins. “See here, the founding members of the Selenic Order: Dunhall, Delaune, de Vruyes, Belesa—the four library founders themselves—plus Dade, Esedenya, Caine, Orlov.”
A chill ran down Baz’s spine at the familiar names. “Do you know if one of them was a Wardcrafter?” If they found the person who’d erected the wards, maybe they could understand how to get past them.
Clover tapped the last name on the list. “Elisava Orlov. Appointed as the first dean of Aldryn. This further proves the Selenic Order is behind the wards, as I suspected.”
Baz frowned. “But how does it explain the deaths of the library founders?”
“That I don’t know yet.”
Baz stared at the journal, a thought crossing his mind. “What exactly has Luce told you about… well,you? The legacy you leave behind.”
Clover leaned back in his chair with a knowing smile. “You mean the famous writer I am to become?” He chuckled. “She didn’t tell me more than that. We both agreed it would be best she keep such information from me. Seeing the future is burden enough as it is without knowing every detail of what my life is to be—or what death has reserved for me. I’d like to retainsomeagency. Besides, if we are to change the future, perhaps my story is meant to be rewritten.”
Clover ran a fond hand over his journal. “Though I must say writing stories has always been a passion of mine.” He smiled at Baz. “Maybe one day.”
“I hope so,” Baz said. “Your stories… they mean a great deal to a lot of people.”
He didn’t know if he could bear a world in whichSong of the Drowned Godsmight never have existed.
“Have you seen Luce and Kai?” Thames appeared at their table as they immersed themselves back in their research. “We’re supposed to meet.”
Clover jerked his chin toward the secret room, barely lifting his head from his book. “They seem to have started without you.”
Baz caught the jealous glint that flashed in Thames’s eyes—the way he hovered as if hoping Clover would say more, or look at him, or acknowledge him in any way at all—before he shuffled his way to the secret room.
Baz leaned in toward Clover. “Wait, ThamesonCaine—his family is part of the Selenic Order?”
Clover nodded. “He would have been, too, were he not Eclipse-born.” He stared after Thames with affection. “I couldn’t bear the thought of being in the Order without him, so I pulled some strings with the Tidal Council—that’s the heads of our Order. Thames may not be anofficialmember, but he is given all the privileges of one. As he rightfully deserves.” He eyed Baz. “I’m guessing the Order’s rules against Eclipse-born members have not changed in your time?”
Baz shook his head. He was in the middle of telling Clover about the spiral marks that the Selenic Order members obtained during their initiation ritual when the library shook with such force, books toppled off their shelves. The trembling came and went in the blink of an eye, leaving students utterly confused.
Baz looked toward the Vault’s entrance, bracing for the worst.But there was nothing there, its marble sentinels unmoved. The disturbance came from farther down, in the alcove that led into the secret room, where shadows emerged from a now cracked painting.
The kind of shadows that only came from nightmares.
49EMORY
THEY SET OFF TOWARD THESunforge the next morning, hiking their way through the hilly desert while Gwenhael took to the skies, keeping a lookout for the Fellowship who had followed them from Heartstone. Their two Golden Helm escorts—Ivayne, the youngest, and Vivyan, her mother—were familiar with these parts and knew how to avoid being seen, by both draconic knights and eldritch beasts who might be roaming around.
Ivayne was relentless in asking them questions about their respective worlds, at first sounding like an interrogator, but eventually succumbing to her curiosity enough that she lost a bit of that hard exterior. Her mother regaled them all with stories throughout the day, tales of the first dragons and the knights-errant that served them.
At one point they came upon a rocky mound thatmoved, the rock itself shifting and groaning until a stony giant was staring at them. Tol brandished his sword, and Emory had her magic atthe ready despite vowing not to use it. But Ivayne and Vivyan told them to stand down.
