“Down with the eclipse!”
“To the Deep with the Shadow!”
“Drop by drop, the Tidethief we will stop!”
“You should go,” Penelope said, face blanching. She’d taken off her own Shadow mask. “It’s not safe for you here.”
Baz couldn’t disagree. And with the remaining protesters fleeing and the other Eclipse-born he’d come here with nowhere in sight…
Penelope seemed to read the fear on his face. “Those assholes over there are only a fraction of who was here earlier. Most people saw just how vicious the Tides were with Emory and anyone who stood with her. And those pockets of darkness? Thispandemonium? Everyone is left wondering why any of this is happening if the Tides are in our midst, when they were supposed to be our saviors.”
Baz exchanged a glance with Kai. They both knew this had nothing to do with Atheia and all to do with Clover. And if the Tides were losing favor among some of the lunar mages, he could only wonder if they might start blaming the Shadow—and Eclipse-born—more intently.
His gaze drifted to the door to Obscura Hall, feeling torn. He had to make sure the rest of the Eclipse-born were all right before he even thought of helping Emory and the others.
He started toward Obscura Hall, but Penelope stopped him. “I saw Regulators rushing over there after you all left,” she warned. “Be careful.”
Baz nodded in thanks. They’d most likely find Regulators guarding the elevator. And if the Eclipse-born had managed to reclaim Obscura Hall, maybe the Regulators were trying to break past newly erected wards. Whatever the case, Baz wasn’t scared of them. And neither was Kai.
But when they stepped through the doors, the small hall that led to the lone elevator was empty—except for the bodies of Regulators strewn over the floor.
Lights flickered ominously overhead. The hall was a bloodbath, as if the Regulators had imploded, as if their every blood vessel had burst. A single pair of bloodied footprints wove a path through the mutilated bodies toward the elevator, where they disappeared.
Someone had gone down to Obscura Hall after this gruesome scene had taken place. Either an innocent bystander, a survivor… or the person responsible.
All Baz could think of was his father and Professor Selandyn and the other Eclipse-born who’d gone to Obscura Hall. Had the samething happened to them? He hurried into the elevator after Kai, not even taking the time to reach for the pocket watch that could let him see who or what had done this. The elevator jerked downward, and Baz could only hope against all hope that they weren’t too late—that they wouldn’t find such carnage at the bottom.
When the door creaked open, Baz felt the floor slip out from under him. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected: the usual illusioned field of tall grass bowing toward the sea, or perhaps just a long, foreboding stone hallway, since the illusion magic must have shattered after the Regulators took over Obscura Hall.
The reality was neither.
Gone was the willow tree behind which stood the Eclipse commons. It was as if someone had blown open a wall, revealing the inside of the commons, like entrails spilling from an open stomach. The place they’d called home was eviscerated. The threadbare sofas and chairs were overturned, the fireplace was a mess of crumbled stone. The stairs leading up to the rooms stood precariously, as if they could topple at any second. Part of the ceiling had come down, along with the entire wall where the window had overlooked the cove and the secret passageway door had stood. The whole place was now open to the night sky above, the sea beyond.
Everything seemed to have been pushed aside by the appearance of objects that were entirely out of place. An ominous stone chamber, torches casting long shadows over its contents: some kind of alchemical workshop or laboratory, full of vials and jars, most of them empty, though some contained golden flames. Rusted metal chains were fastened to the wall, too big to be meant for humans. People were scrambling around, dressed in curious clothes that seemed plucked from a fairy tale, red robes and chain mail and gold-threaded doublets.
There was not a single Eclipse-born in sight, and Baz could only hope they’d gotten out safely before the commons got destroyed. There was, though, a man standing with his back to them, watching the scene with the same quiet stillness that Baz and Kai had been. He turned to them as if he’d sensed their coming. Baz wasn’t surprised to see Clover’s face. He braced himself, ready to reach for his magic, but something about Clover’s demeanor made him hesitant to do so.
He looked almost… resigned. The wildness of the man he’d seen on the path between abyss and godsworld was gone, and what was left was raw, uncertain. Baz could almost imagine they were back in time, reminded of the Clover he’d spent long hours in the library with, the Clover who’d cared about his sister and his friends and his fellow Eclipse-born.
Baz might have believed this was that Clover if it weren’t for his eyes—a shade of turquoise so luminous, there was no doubt it came from his unnatural godhood.
“You know,” Clover said, a wistful note in his tone, “I never got a chance to step foot in Obscura Hall before. Doomed to the secrecy of being a Tidecaller, denied a chance to be my true self. Now here I stand a god.”
“A monster, you mean,” Kai seethed. “You’ve destroyed everything.”
“Not destroyed,” Clover said. “Remade into something viable for all. A new world order.”
“What about those Regulators you killed up there?” Baz shook with barely leashed anger. “Is that the kind oforderwe can expect from our new god?”
Clover’s nostrils flared angrily. “ThoseRegulators,” he nearly spat the word, “had it coming for how they treat people like us, the Eclipse-born they deem too different to fit into their sacredlunar system. Enough with their tyranny. What I’m proposing is a world where no one is better than others, where everything and everyone work in balance with each other. Under my rule, everyone will be safe.”
Kai laughed darkly. “Tell that to the people you hurt to get here, and everyone watching the literal black holes swallowing up the world right before their eyes. Was that part of the plan,Cornelius?”
Doubt seemed to flicker in Clover’s unnatural eyes.
“I’ll tell you what I think,” Kai pressed further. “I think you’re too absorbed in your own godhood to see your downfall coming. You think you’re invincible, but you have no idea, do you?”
“No idea about what?” Clover said with a note of disdain, as if trying to mask his own ignorance.
