She was met with a heavy silence that set her on edge, the hairs on the back of her neck lifting as a ghostly breeze rushed past her.
Only those of us who were first wronged by him can grant such a request,the voices said at last.Those of us who were sacrificed because of him. Those of us whose magic runs in your veins.
“The first Tidecallers?” Emory breathed, eyes going wide. “Is that who you are?”
She knew now why these souls felt so familiar in such a strange way—and where she had heard their voices before.
Emory, Emory. Come find us, Emory.
These were the voices that had called her name in Dovermere all those months ago. All those times last year when she’d heard the Aldersea, the Belly of the Beast, whispering her name both in waking and dreaming, begging her to come find them…
She had thought it was those who’d been trapped beyond the door like Romie, at first. Then she had thought it was the keys calling to her from other worlds.
But it wasthem. The sacrificed souls of the very first Tidecallers, whose blood—whose magic andlife force—had been used to seal shut the doors between worlds.
“Please,” Emory said. “I know Sidraeus had a part to play in your deaths, but if there’s any way for you to unbind him from his prison, to reunite him with his true form and secure his help…”
If you will it, Tidecaller, then we will make it so. But know this: his unbinding will come at a price. To no longer be tied only to the sleeping realm, he must be bound to another sort of prison. One of his own making.
“What does that mean?”
His essence will be tied to us, the souls of the sacrificed Tidecallers. Through us, he will feel the pain he has inflicted, so that when an Eclipse-born is harmed, so too will he be. The pain will be branded into his skin as a reminder of what he has done. This is the bargain we offer, and as the true last remaining Tidecaller, it is yours to make if you wish it.
Emory’s stomach churned at the cruel images that flashed in her mind. She understood now why Sidraeus had wanted her to destroy the syrinx. What these souls proposed… they were after retribution for what Sidraeus had done to them, these first Tidecallers who’d been sacrificed to close the doors between worlds. They wanted his guilt branded into his skin. The pain of his creations forced onto him.
It was a reckoning.
And Emory had the power to decide if she allowed it or not.
She stared at the syrinx still in her hand. If this was the price to be paid for stopping Clover… If this was what it took to save Romie and Aspen and Tol and Orfeyi… she had no choice butto accept. Her stomach was in knots thinking of what this would mean for Sidraeus.Hewould pay the cost of her decision, not her, and the thought made her sick.
But she had to be willing to make tough decisions. She had to be okay with this, or her best friend would die.
Emory squared her jaw, her decision made. “Do it.”
There was a beat of silence before the cyclone of shadows around her spun wildly, pulling stars into its midst as it closed in on her. It felt like death coming to claim her, and all she could do was shield her eyes from it, hugging the syrinx close to her chest.
All at once, the shadows dissipated as if they had never existed at all. Emory was back in the temple, standing in front of a bewildered-looking Clover. It was as if he hadn’t moved while Emory had been with the souls of the dead, and now time had resumed.
Before either of them could react, an impossible bolt of lightning struck the ground between them, sending them both flying as the world erupted in brilliant indigo light.
8BAZ
BAZ HAD NEVER FELT QUITEas nervous as he did marching, invisible, into the Decrescens library next to his past self.
As promised, Kai had kept silent on everything he’d revealed to him, but Baz knew that look in the Nightmare Weaver’s eyes well enough to know he had something planned.
Tonight, they were going to catch Clover on all his lies.
A look at Cordie had Baz’s heart breaking for what she would soon find out about her brother. Luce, too. The sight of Clover and his past self helping each other unravel the wards to the Vault, of their friends watching them with such confidence, left a sour taste in Baz’s mouth.
To think how much they’d all trusted Clover,believedin him… He wanted to wipe the hero worship off his own face, force himself to see the dark, rotten truth hidden beneath Clover’s polished exterior. But he could only watch from the shadows and hope that whatever Kai had planned would achieve just that.
Once the wards were unpicked, he watched as Cordie, then Luce, disappeared down the stairs toward the Vault. As past-Baz followed the two girls, Kai hovered at the top, staring back at Clover.
“Coming?” Kai prompted, an edge to his voice.
Clover was staring at a spot close to where present-Baz stood. “Go on ahead. I’ll join you shortly.”
