“Maybe. But it all started with Clover imbibing the keys. It’s like he shed a piece of his humanity with each one he consumed. If we forced his humanity back onto him, so to speak, it might allow us to take away his godhood, his monstrosity. And if he were just a man again, we could defeat him for good.”
“What are you saying, Brysden?”
“You heard Equilibris. As the last Tidecaller, Emory is the only thing stopping him from resetting the worlds. But if she can defeat Clover, then there would be no need to reset anything. All this madness would end, and everything would go back to normal. But she needs the kind of power that could rival Clover’s. I think that power lies with the original keys.”
“But they’re dead. I saw the bastard kill one of them right in front of me.” Realization seemed to dawn on Kai’s face as his eyes landed on the pocket watch sitting on the bedside table. “You want to turn back time.”
“Yes.”
“And what, bring them all back to life just so Emory can kill them, too?”
“No, of course not!” Baz exclaimed. “That’s not—I don’t think that would be necessary. And you know I won’t mess with death. Ever.”
“You pulledmeout of hell.”
“You weren’t dead.”
“Technically speaking.”
“Look,” Baz said with a sigh, reaching for the pocket watch. He ran his fingers over the familiar grooves of its surface. “I’ve tried to change the past before, and it did absolutely nothing. Then I broke fate so the worlds wouldn’t have to be reset, just for Equilibris to keep threatening to do just that.”
“Asshole,” muttered Kai.
“That, he is,” Baz agreed. But at least Equilibris was unmoored, he thought. As adrift as everyone else now that fate was shattered. The worlds being reset didn’thaveto be the fate they were barreling toward; Baz could feel it, the sheer possibility in the air, all the different outcomes that could now become reality.
“Ever since I broke fate,” Baz said, “my power has grown. Almost like it’s not bound by the same constraints as before. I think I can travel to the past and breathe life into the keys again, so to speak. Notkeysas in people—but the pieces of them that held magic. The bone and the heart and the soul.”
“No blood?”
“Clover never imbibed the blood, did he? Luce is at the Institute. Which means that maybe Clover’s at a disadvantage. He never completely absorbed Atheia’s power, never made himself as limitless as he wanted to. But if Emory were to wield all four of these pieces—make herself master of keys, in a way—then I think she might stand a fighting chance against him.”
He could tell Kai was skeptical about it; knew how wild a theory it was. But his gut had told him to break the hourglass. His gut had him swiping the pocket watch from the god’s workshop. And his gut was telling him this was the path he needed to take now.
It wasn’t just the god’s offhand comment about Emory. When Baz thought of it, it was almost like Equilibris had been leaving crumbs for him to follow. The sketch of fate’s core he’d let Baz see.The teacup he’d shattered, which had then given Baz the idea to break the hourglass of fate. Impossible that this was on purpose, given where Equilibris stood in all of this. Unless he never thought Baz would pick up on these crumbs to begin with. A god who never imagined he might be outsmarted by a human.
Or a god who knew exactly what he was doing, for a purpose Baz couldn’t yet see.
Regardless, it was a risk he had to take. After all, he was the lungs, able to breathe in time and breathe out stories—and stories were a form oflife, weren’t they? They were creation. So he would breathe life into these keys again. Gather them all to him and pray they would serve Emory well when it mattered most.
A stab of guilt went through him at the thought that he wouldn’t play a part in Emory’s rescue. But if there was anyone he trusted to break her and everyone else out of the Institute, it was Kai.
As if reading his thoughts, Kai said, “You plan on doing this now.”
“Yes.”
“Why not wait until we come back from the Institute? None of this will matter if we don’t get Emory out.”
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take me, and, ironically, given my powers, we don’t really have the luxury of time, do we?”
Kai’s throat moved as he swallowed, as if fighting to find the right words. “I don’t want to lose you again,” he whispered at last.
“You won’t.” Baz cupped his cheek. “Besides, I think what we’ve gone through proves we’ll always find each other, don’t you think? Nothing can keep us apart, not hell, not time, not gods.”
“I’m going to hold you to that promise, Brysden.”
“Good.”
They sealed it with a kiss.
