Theodore gaped at him. “How is any of this possible?”
Baz went on to explain what had happened—how Clover had risen as a god and fused together all the worlds. When he mentioned that Atheia had brought Emory and the others to the Institute, the boy’s head snapped up, his eyes going as big as saucers.
“Did you say Emory? Emory Ainsleif, the Tidecaller?”
“You know her?”
“Yes, I—wait here a second.”
The boy sprang off, and Kai had half a mind to follow him, but the others seemed to trust him.
“We need to get out of here,” Rusli said. “Go back to the safe house, regroup there. Obscura Hall’s useless to us now that it’s in shambles. And if they’ve captured some of our own, we need to get them back.”
Purpose sang within Kai. “Count me in.”
The Institute had kept him locked up, had tried to tear his magic from him. He wouldn’t stand idly by as others were subjected to the same harrowing imprisonment.
“How do we get to the safe house?” Baz asked. “And what about Jae and the others? It’s not like we can just jump on a train back to Threnody. The Regulators will be looking for all of us.”
“I could change our appearance with an illusion,” Rusli suggested. “And maybe everyone will be too busy worrying over what’s going on to even notice us…”
“With everything that’s happened, I doubt the trains will be running,” Theodore said grimly. “Maybe there are no tracks anymore, if the worlds have all been rearranged.”
Before despair sent them spiraling further, the boy came running back with two other people in tow. Two women with umber skin, armed to the teeth, dressed in the same rust surcoat as the boy, though the crest on theirs was more visible. It depicted a gold dragon and a black winged beast all twisted up together, forming a perfect circle.
“You’re Emory’s friends?” asked the younger of the two.
They all nodded. The two women exchanged a glance. The older one said, “Any friend of Emory’s is a friend of ours.”
“You’re Ivayne and Vivyan, aren’t you?” Baz said with recognition. “Knights-errant of the Golden Helm.”
The two women bowed in confirmation.
The younger knight clasped the young boy on the shoulder. “Caius here told us Emory’s been captured. Whatever you’ve got planned to set her free, you can count us in.” She winked at the boy. “You’re proving yourself useful, page. I’m glad the Golden Helm took a chance on you when you left the Fellowship.”
The boy flushed, a smile on his lips.
“What we need is a way out of here,” Baz urged. “We have friends down on the beach below, others at the Institute a few miles from here, and the people of our world are going to be after us. We have a safe house, but it’s too far to get there on foot, and we don’t know if the trains are still up and running.”
“I don’t know what atrainis,” the older one said, throwing a glance behind her, “but we do have someone that could help.”
As if on cue, a massive, winged beast appeared in the night sky behind her, talons digging into masonry as it clung to what remained of the torn-down wall that overlooked the cove. Its roar split the night.
It was a Tides-damneddragon.
46ROMIE
THE VESSEL KEPT SCREAMING, DEEPin the recesses of her own mind, but Atheia was getting good at ignoring her. She wouldn’t make the mistake of allowing Romie to share space with her anymore, not when she was so close to achieving her goal.
As her feet led her past the part of the Institute where dissident lunar mages were held—where Emory’s friends were to be bled of their magic—Atheia stopped at a narrow window where a handful of Regulators were stationed, whispering to themselves at whatever they were watching outside. One of them saw her and beckoned her over.
“There’s a—adragonout there.”
The Regulators parted to let her through. Outside, dawn was lightening the skies, making the pockets of sleepscape more evident. A magnificent dragon flew low over the woods that bordered the Institute.
“Should we do something about it?” asked a Regulator.
“No,” Atheia breathed. “Leave it be.”
