Chapter 1 Baz
BAZ brYSDEN WAS MOST AWARE of time when he was running out of it.
The night before a paper was due, for instance, when he realized the days he’d spent procrastinating instead of doing the work meant he now had to forego sleep in order to finish.
Or when he was so engrossed in a book and a strong cup of coffee, he realized with only minutes to spare that he was going to be late for class.
Of course, Baz could make the minutes stretch so that he was never truly late for anything as trivial as papers and classes.
What was it to him, the Timespinner, to make time run in his favor?
He had only to pull on its threads so he could squeeze in a few extra sentences here, that extra bit of research that would earn him full marks there, the basic human tasks that would make him look at least somewhat presentable before leaving the Eclipse commons, like brushing his teeth and throwing on a clean shirt and making sure his hair wasn’t sticking up every which way.
He had done all these things just this morning, scrambling to hand in his final papers and stop by Professor Selandyn’s office to drop off her solstice gift before leaving for the holidays.
And yet here he still was, hurrying across campus to catch his train.
Had anyone else possessed this power to manipulate time, they would not know such things as scrambling and racing against the clock and worrying about missed trains.
But Basil Brysden was a peculiar specimen who preferred to use his power as a last resort—and strictly in the most innocuous ways—which only served to enhance his already anxious nature.
And the pock-faced Regulator that stopped him dead in his tracks made that anxiety spike.
“Mr. Brysden. Heading home for the holidays, I see?”
“Are you following me on campus now?” Baz gritted out in annoyance, adjusting the weight of his travel bag on his shoulder.
“My, my, so defensive.” The smug satisfaction in the Regulator’s beady eyes did not go unnoticed by Baz.
Captain Silas Drutten had been the bane of Baz’s existence for the past two months.
Ever since Baz helped break out his father and Kai from the Institute, Drutten had been on him relentlessly, trying to catch him in a lie and pin their escape on him.
But Baz had gotten very good at lying—or maybe it was just that Drutten had very little evidence to go on.
Either way, it was easy enough for Baz to stick to his story, no matter how many times he had to suffer through one of these pointless interrogations.
Today, it seemed, would be another one of those times.
“This meeting is purely accidental,” Drutten said, adjusting the medals of valor pinned to his Regulator outfit. “I’m here for the donor banquet.”
That explained the full regalia. While the students of Aldryn College were currently getting ready to leave for the weeklong winter solstice break, faculty members were dressing in their best suits and gowns to host their annual donor banquet.
Everyone of note with ties to the college would be in attendance tonight.
from high-ranking Regulators to the mayor of Cadence to families whose names were likely carved on the very foundation of the college.
It was said to be a grand affair, with a catered seven-course meal and an open bar and people full of their own self-importance—Selandyn’s words, not Baz’s.
“Well, then,” Baz said, glancing pointedly at his watch, “if you’ll excuse me, I have a train to catch.”
“I take it that means you are heading to Threnody, then?”
“Obviously.” There was no point denying it. “You of all people know that’s where my mother lives.”
Drutten himself had made it a point to scour every corner of Anise Brysden’s house for signs of her fugitive husband. Of course, he’d come up empty-handed—and yet he kept hounding her and Baz both, making Baz’s blood boil and his mother feel unsafe in her own home. It sickened him to his core.
Drutten fixed him with a hard stare. “I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that harboring fugitives is a crime, even during the holidays.”
“I’m quite aware.”
“But if you were to talk, give up the whereabouts of said fugitives, I might find it in my heart to be lenient. My solstice gift to you.”
Baz wanted to laugh at that. As if he would ever trust the Regulators to show any semblance of leniency toward him in this matter.
“We can keep doing this little dance of ours, Drutten, but my answer hasn’t changed from all the other times you interrogated me.
” Baz held up three fingers, taking one down for each statement he made: “Yes, I was the last person to have seen my father at the Institute. No, I did not help him or Kai escape, and no, I haven’t seen or spoken to either of them since.
So unless you have solid proof to dispute all of this—which I know you don’t—I’ll be going now. Enjoy your banquet.”
Baz walked past Drutten without a second glance, surprised at his own brazenness.
This blatant disregard for authority was still unfamiliar to him, despite everything he’d gone through these past few months.
He felt a bit like a child about to be scolded by his mother for reaching for the cookie jar before supper, though the stakes were much higher.
But Drutten did not reprimand him. He only called after him with a falsely cheery “Give your parents my best.”
Baz only dared to throw a look over his shoulder when he was about to round a bend farther down the corridor.
Drutten’s attention was no longer on him; the Regulator was shaking hands with Dean Fulton, who wore her usual tweed suit, evidently not yet ready for this evening’s banquet.
She had a friendly smile for Drutten, but it wavered when two more people joined them.
Baz’s stomach dropped as he recognized Artem Orlov, dressed in an expensive fur-trimmed coat, red hair blazing like a torch.
At his side was Virgil Dade, another member of the Selenic Order, who had been close to Artem’s sister, Lizaveta, before she died.
Virgil was also dressed to impress, which reminded Baz that a select few students were always invited to the donor banquet.
It was the school’s attempt to show off its best and brightest.
Virgil, it seemed, had all but replaced Keiran as Aldryn’s golden boy—as well as Artem’s lapdog.
Before either of them could spot Baz, he disappeared down the hall. Another look at his watch told him he would just barely make it to the station on time. Though trains to Threnody left every hour, he needed to be on this one specifically.
Magic thrummed at his fingertips, eager to be used. Not yet, Baz thought as he picked up the pace. He would reach for it only as a last resort.
Give your parents my best.
His blood boiled at Drutten’s lingering threat, his hollow offer of leniency.
Once, Baz might have been naive enough to believe Drutten had his best intentions at heart.
But Drutten was like every other Regulator, upholding a legal system that made it a point to spit on justice when it came to the Eclipse-born.
Something Baz had been forced to come to terms with after he and Jae had taken their case to a trusted attorney, who’d presented their accusations against Keiran Dunhall Thornby, Artem Orlov, the Selenic Order, and the Institute at large to the courts of Elegy.
The only hard evidence Baz and Jae had had was what little they’d managed to take from Artem Orlov’s office the day they helped Kai and Theodore escape from the Institute: ledgers that detailed how both Artem and Keiran had used the former’s status as a Regulator to harness silver blood from Eclipse-born who’d Collapsed—blood they then used to create synthetic magic wielded by the corrupt secret society known as the Selenic Order, of which they were both members.
But as incriminating as their evidence was, the Institute’s corruption—and the Order’s power—ran deeper than they could have imagined. All that proof was written off as inadmissible. The case got thrown out before it could even go to trial.
All that planning, all that hope that they would finally get justice for the Eclipse-born, and it had amounted to nothing.
Artem walked away with his head held high and his job as a Regulator intact.
Keiran’s name remained unsullied, and his and Lizaveta Orlov’s deaths were ruled as tragic drownings—the same way Emory’s disappearance was declared a casualty of Dovermere.
Three more souls lost to the Belly of the Beast, nothing more.
As if one had not disappeared through a mythical door to other worlds after the other two had all but tried to kill her for her Tidecaller blood.
Baz nearly collided with a group of students gathered in the cloisters.
They were exchanging last-minute gifts and farewell hugs before leaving for the holidays.
A feeling of yearning smacked him like a tidal wave.
Once, Baz would have given anything to be as alone as he felt now, with the Eclipse commons all to himself and no one to disturb his peace.
A ghost meandering about, flittering unseen between the shelves of Aldryn’s many libraries.
But things had changed. The Eclipse commons were like a crypt without Kai, unsettlingly quiet.
The Decrescens library felt like it was missing a vital piece of its soul whenever he looked up at the empty spot Emory would have sat in.
Even Romie’s greenhouse had lost all its appeal after a Sower professor cleaned it out and repurposed it for her first-year students.
For the first time, Baz was well and truly alone. And so very starved for connection.