Chapter 9 Baz #2
With a grunt, Baz moved toward the line of cabs. Someone grabbed him roughly by the arm, but it wasn’t the man stalking him.
“You and I aren’t done, Timespinner,” Virgil Dade said in a menacing tone. He was alone, Artem and the Regulators nowhere in sight. The Reaper dragged Baz toward a car with tinted windows that hinted at money, pulling the back door open for him and gesturing inside. “Time we had a little chat.”
Baz gulped—and got in, settling on the smooth leather upholstery.
Virgil slammed the door after him and got in on the other side.
As the driver pulled away from the train station, Baz threw a nervous glance out the back window.
The strange man was still standing there, watching their car driving away.
Virgil punched him on the shoulder, abandoning the hostile mask as a lazy smile split his face. “How’ve you been, Brysden?”
Baz rubbed at his shoulder. “I’ve been better.” He winced as he breathed in painfully. “I think your friend bruised my ribs.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Virgil’s face scrunched up with genuine consternation. “Can’t you do your freaky time shit to reverse the damage?”
Why had the thought not crossed Baz’s mind? “Yeah, maybe later.” He didn’t want to experiment with his magic here, in a moving car, in front of Virgil and this driver he didn’t know. “Don’t you think it’s a bit risky, being seen getting in a car together?”
“What, you don’t think I played my part well? And you! The fear in your eyes! Face as white as a sheet!” Virgil laughed. “Tides, it’s like you thought I was actually going to hurt you.”
“I thought a Regulator was following me,” Baz muttered defensively. “He was on my train. Might have seen through…” He cut himself off, giving a furtive look to the driver.
“Relax, we can talk plainly in here,” Virgil said. “Hector’s my private driver. Won’t say a word.”
Baz still lowered his voice. “Whoever was following me might have seen through Jae’s plan.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Artem doesn’t seem to suspect, at least.”
Baz forced a tight smile at the reassurance in Virgil’s voice. He trusted Virgil implicitly—had to, considering Virgil was their eyes and ears within the Selenic Order.
It was one of the first things Baz had thought of after what had transpired at Dovermere, to get those of the Selenic Order who’d been in the caves on their side.
Virgil hadn’t wanted to hear anything at first, too broken up over Keiran’s and Lizaveta’s deaths to care, too torn over what to believe.
It was Nisha Zenara who’d come around first. She’d wanted to trust Baz, and perhaps it was easier for her to do so than the others because of how close she’d been to Romie.
When Baz told her the whole truth—about Artem, Keiran, and the silver blood they took from Eclipse-born—the revulsion on her face could not have been feigned.
“I swear we didn’t know about the blood,” Nisha had said to him, and Baz believed her. “Artem and Keiran were the ones to develop this new type of synth. If I had known they were made with stolen Eclipse blood…”
She’d vowed then and there to do everything in her power to help them take the Order and the Institute down.
Virgil had soon followed suit after Nisha showed him what proof they had.
Since then the two of them had been playing double agents within the Selenic Order.
With Keiran gone, Nisha had been appointed as the new leader of the Order’s current cohort, and Virgil had stepped up as Artem’s confidant, his right-hand man, bonding with him over the deaths of Keiran and Lizaveta. Using that bond to gain Artem’s trust.
The rest of the Order’s current cohort of students was kept in the dark as to what Nisha and Virgil were doing with Baz; the fewer people who knew the truth, they agreed, the better.
“Listen,” Virgil said now with uncharacteristic somberness. “Something did happen back there, though.”
Dread filled him at those words. “What?”
“The Regulators got wind of a high-profile fugitive setting foot in Threnody. Apparently they’ve just captured an Eclipse-born—a Reanimator called Freyia Lündt.”
Relief flooded through Baz. For a second, he’d thought Virgil would tell him something happened to Theodore and Kai—that the Regulators found them at the lighthouse, despite how careful they’d been.
But his relief was short-lived as Jae flashed in his mind.
Jae—who’d been on their way to meet up with Freyia today.
If Jae had been caught with Freyia, if their involvement with the Eclipse-born came to light…
“Shit,” Baz muttered in defeat.
“Shit indeed.” Virgil ran a hand over his short-clipped hair.
“You saw how Artem was when he got the news back there. He was almost… gleeful about it. He didn’t tell me what he’s planning, but I know the Order’s up to something, and I think the Reanimator is the piece of the puzzle they’ve been waiting for. ”
“What would they need a Reanimator for?”
“I don’t know. From what I overheard, it didn’t sound like they were planning on branding her with the seal. At least not yet. Which I’m thinking means they’re planning on studying her or something.”
Baz swore as it all came together in his mind. “They’re going to use her against us.”
The Regulators would indeed study her. They’d push to see how her magic had been influenced after she’d Collapsed, and they’d use their findings to fit their own agenda.
To show the world that it was the Shadow’s curse that made her kill all those people and do such unspeakable things to their corpses.
They’d say, Look, this is why the Unhallowed Seal is so important.
If she’d been branded, she’d never have committed such crimes.
“No Eclipse-born will be safe,” Baz muttered, feeling all hope dwindle in his chest. Everything they’d been working for, all the planning on how to show the world that the Shadow’s curse was a falsehood, that those who Collapsed could live with their abilities intact, as Baz and Jae and Kai were proof of—all of it would be for nothing if the Regulators decided to weaponize the Reanimator against them.
There would be no convincing anyone then.
Fear of Eclipse-born would burn brighter than ever, spreading like wildfire through the town, the island, the world at large.
“What about Artem?” Baz asked, holding out a bit of hope as he remembered Virgil had spent the solstice at Artem’s holiday home. “Did you find anything that could help us?”
“Other than Artie’s weakness for whiskey?
No. I swear, the guy can’t hold his liquor.
Thought he’d surely slip up at some point, but all he did was reminisce about Liza and Keiran and the good old days, getting so drunk he made me feel sorry for him.
Then he’d spend hours locked away in a room he didn’t want me going in.
” Virgil cleared his throat. “Pretty sure I heard him crying in there.”
Baz’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I’m sorry, Brysden.” The car came to a stop halfway up the hill that led to Aldryn. “You should get out here so we’re not seen together.”
“Right. Okay.”
“I’ll let you know if I can dig up some more.”
Baz got out of the car, hand on his chest at the pain his movements elicited. Before he could close the door, Virgil added, “And for Tides’ sake, get that fixed before the Quadri. No one wants to see you hurt.”
“Someone does,” Baz muttered as he started walking up the hill.
The empty corridor that led to Obscura Hall was a welcome reprieve from the bustling campus—that is, until Baz spotted the man from the train hiding in the shadows. He detached himself from the wall he’d been leaning against. Baz held his luggage up, wielding it like a weapon, and screamed.
“Tides, calm down, it’s only me.” The man threw his hands up in the air in a show of surrender. He still had that hat tucked low, hiding his face, but that voice…
That Tides-damned, impossible voice.
“Kai?”
The Nightmare Weaver laughed as he took off the hat. He tugged his hair out of the bun he’d tied it up in, running a hand through the long dark strands. “Guess I nailed the disguise, huh?”
He looked absolutely ridiculous in that tweed suit and tie and that too-large coat, his fine golden chains hidden away somewhere beneath the stuffy collar. Even without the hat, Baz might have had a hard time recognizing him. Except maybe for that smug grin he wore.
“What in the Tides’ name are you—ow.” Baz winced as the pain in his chest knocked the breath out of him.
Kai was at his side in a flash. “You okay?”
“Fine,” Baz grunted, though he was anything but. He should have turned back time to heal himself before walking up the hill, but instead he’d let the pain fuel his fire, his determination to make Artem and every single Regulator pay.
Kai swore. “It’s that piece of shit Artem, isn’t it?”
Baz couldn’t believe he was here. He didn’t know what to say, so he shoved past him to call the elevator, and didn’t deign to speak to or look at Kai even as the metal gates opened and they stepped inside and the gates closed again, drowning them in silence.
The elevator jerked into motion. Baz could feel Kai’s gaze on him, but he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of speaking first.
“Come on, Brysden,” Kai said at last, voice low and soft against the metallic grating around them. “I told you I had to get away from that lighthouse. I know being here’s a risk, but after what happened the other night… I couldn’t stay there anymore. I have to figure this out.”
The elevator came to a stop. The doors opened onto the illusioned fields of Obscura Hall, the tall grass heavy with snow, the skies above a muted gray. Baz couldn’t get out fast enough.
“Baz.”
Kai gripped a fistful of his coat to stop him.
Baz whirled on him. “Did you ever consider it’s not just your life you’re putting at risk here?
If they find you, that might as well mean the end for my dad, too.
And what about the consequences for me and Jae and everyone else who’s been helping?
I guess you don’t care about the risk to us, either. ”
Hurt flashed in Kai’s eyes. Before he could say anything, a familiar voice sounded behind Baz.
“All valid questions.”
Professor Selandyn stared at the two of them with her hands on her hips, looking sterner and more displeased than Baz had ever seen her. He was glad not to be on the receiving end of that displeasure.
Kai averted his gaze, kicking at the ground. “Look, I won’t stay long, just—”
“Kai Salonga,” the aging Eclipse professor interrupted, “you do realize this campus is about to be crawling with students from all over the world? Including Eclipse-born students who’ll be staying with us for the duration of the Quadricentennial.
Here. In Obscura Hall. Which is now home to a fugitive.
” She huffed, then looked at Baz. “And you, Basil. Of all people, you let him come here?”
“I didn’t—”
“It was all me,” Kai interjected. “He didn’t know I was coming. No one did.”
Professor Selandyn clucked her tongue. “Have you no sense, boy? Especially given what happened today.”
Kai frowned. “What happened?”
“You heard about the Reanimator they captured?” Baz asked Selandyn.
“What?” Kai exclaimed.
Professor Selandyn nodded grimly. “That’s what I was coming down here to tell you. I just spoke to Jae—they’re all right. They got to the location where they were supposed to meet the Reanimator, but she never showed.”
Baz filled them both in on what Virgil had told him. Kai swore, running a hand through his hair. He had the decency to at least look sorry about coming here at the worst-opportune time.
Professor Selandyn looked older than ever as she said, “Things are about to get bad for us, I’m afraid.” She fixed Kai with a hard stare. “So whatever it is you came here for, you’d best have it done quickly and leave before anyone finds you.”