Limitless magic.
Romie locked eyes with Emory. A silent exchange passed between them. This could explain Emory’s apparent inability to Collapse, because maybe she already had. But Emory shook her head and said, “That’s not what this is. I haven’t Collapsed.”
“What if you did?” Romie pushed back. “If Baz never knew he Collapsed, maybe it’s the same for you.” To the others, she asked, “After they’ve Collapsed, does their blood run silver every time they use magic in really big ways?”
“No,” Nisha said. “The silver only stays for the duration of the Collapsing itself, a few days tops. Then it’s back to red.”
Emory gave her a look as if to saySee?But Romie couldn’t shake this feeling that something was off. She wanted to trust Emory’s grasp on her magic, but she couldn’t deny the kernel of fear that had taken root inside her ever since that night in the Wychwood with Bryony—maybe even before then.
It wasn’t only the silver she’d seen running along Emory’s arms as she used her magic. It was the way Romie hadfeltwhen Emory used all that power to cast the demon out of Bryony, and again in the grotto to unmake the umbrae—as if a conduit had been opened between them, and Emory were siphoning all of Romie’s power to her.
Emory couldn’t be limitless if she was stealing power from someone else.
Romie turned away from Emory, shutting out that awful word—Tidethief. “If Baz and Kai have this limitless magic, why are they not here? In fact, better question: How areanyof you here?”
“We came to get you,” Nisha said. “Both of you.”
“But mostly you,” Vera added matter-of-factly to Emory.
Emory’s brows shot up. “Me? Why?”
“Things are really bad back home,” Virgil said. “The tides havebeen all out of whack for months now, coastlines are flooded—”
“Wait—months?” Emory interrupted. “We were only in the Wychwood for a few days.”
“That can’t be right. You went through the door months ago. We just celebrated the solstice.”
“But… I swear, it’s only been eleven days for us. How is that possible?”
Romie felt just as puzzled as everyone else looked. Could it be that time flowed differently in each world? If so, how much more time would elapse back home while they kept going toward the sea of ash?
“Best we not open that can of worms, I think,” Virgil said with a forced, frenetic laugh. “Point is, the Regulators think the Eclipse-born are rising against the world atyourrequest, Em. I know, ridiculous, right? They think you’re the Shadow reborn. So we need you to come back and show them you’re not, well, evil.”
“How did they even find out I’m a Tidecaller?”
“Someone in the Order must have talked,” Nisha said. “Artem, most likely.”
“The bastard,” Virgil muttered darkly.
“But how are you allhere?” Romie pressed, ignoring the little voice in her head that wondered if Emory actuallywasthe Shadow reborn. “How did you even get the Hourglass to open?”
They shouldn’t have been able to cross through worlds, not without Emory’s Tidecaller blood. Not without being themselves a key—which they were decidedly not.
“Baz reversed time back to when the door was open,” Nisha explained. “Limitless power, remember?”
“As for how we survived the journey across worlds and didn’t end up like those students who washed ashore last year…” Vera produced a compass that hung from her neck. “My theory is we have this thing to thank for that.”
“Where did you get that?” Emory exclaimed. “That’s—that was my mother’s.”
“Yeah.” Vera shifted uncomfortably. “Adriana Kazan, right?”
“How do you—”
“A long story for another time. The important thing is, I think this compass grants those of us whoaren’tkeys safe passage through worlds.”
“We don’t know that,” Nisha said.
“How else do you explain us three still being alive? Those students last year died because they didn’t have what it takes to travel through the sleepscape: Emory’s Tidecaller blood.”
