Chapter 25 Romie
WHERE THE WYCHWOOD HAD BEEN damp forests and rotting earth, the Wastes were dry and barren. This came as no surprise to Romie, who by now had memorized most of Song of the Drowned Gods in a way that would make her brother proud.
This world is a forge. Brutal and scorching and full of finely crafted things.
And brutal it was, by the looks of it—though nowhere near as scorching as Romie would have thought.
Perhaps the chill that ran through her was only from the residual effects of whatever Emory had done to her back on the ley line.
But her strength had returned enough now that she could draw herself to her feet and marvel at the world around her.
They were in a strange red-hued desert full of eroded, domed cliffs and rugged mountains as far as the eye could see.
All around them sprouted giant cacti and odd trees with twisted, bristled branches.
The winged beasts that had momentarily blotted out the sun were gone, and so too was the monster who’d worn Keiran’s face.
Still, Romie was left with the eerie impression of being watched.
This place was too open, too wide. And if it was anything like Clover’s book, they could expect more beasts where those came from.
Romie swept a gaze over the others, still catching their breath. Nisha was right beside her. Their eyes locked.
“Are you real?” Romie asked, scared to know the answer. Scared that she might still be under the torture of the umbrae.
Nisha cupped Romie’s cheek, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “I’m real.”
Romie sagged against her with a quiet sob, all the vulnerability she’d never dared to show erupting out of her. She had no fight in her left to hide it. To act the part of the brave Dreamer.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Virgil Dade swallowing Emory in a tight hug. Emory clung to him, her rapid blinks indicating she was trying hard not to cry. Romie couldn’t help but wonder at the bond that had formed between them in her absence.
Virgil held Emory at arm’s length then, looking her over with a somber expression. “Are you all right?”
Emory nodded, though she looked dazed, uncertain.
She glanced down at her hands like she was searching for signs of silver in her veins, the same way Romie was.
But it was just like last time. Emory should have Collapsed—had seemed right on the verge of it, if her silver veins had been any indication—but hadn’t.
Romie left Nisha’s side to kneel over Aspen. The witch was still unconscious, her clothes a torn, bloodied mess around her middle, but the wound was closed in such a way that it almost had Romie wondering if she’d imagined Keiran plunging his hand through her chest.
Romie caught Emory’s gaze. “Will she recover?”
Emory hugged herself. “I think I managed to undo the damage.” She stared at the archway where the door had been, her face white with horror. “Virgil, please tell me that wasn’t really Keiran.”
Virgil sighed. “You’re not going to like this, but yeah, it sort of was.”
“How?”
“Artem Orlov got a Reanimator to bring him back from the dead.” The acidity in Virgil’s voice as he explained the particulars of how that had happened made it clear he was disgusted with such a perverse act of magic.
“I told Artem reanimation would come at a cost. Interfering with death like that, even for someone who’s Collapsed…
A person can’t come back wholly themselves.
That might’ve looked like Keiran, but he came back without his soul intact, that’s for sure. ”
“If he had one to begin with,” Nisha mumbled.
Emory looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t. Romie knew what she was thinking: that whatever had taken hold of Keiran was not human. Those eyes…
They mirrored those of the demon who’d possessed Bryony.
“You said someone who’s Collapsed,” Romie said with a frown. “You mean the Reanimator who brought Keiran back?”
“Yeah.”
“And that kind of unchecked power didn’t kill all of you?” Romie choked out.
The others looked at her as if she’d grown three heads.
Virgil smacked his own head. “Shit, that’s right, they don’t know.”
“Know what?” Romie snapped.
“About Collapsing. Turns out it’s not the curse it’s made out to be, not really.
It gives Eclipse-born limitless power, and most seem to be able to live with it if they can escape the Unhallowed Seal.
” He nudged Emory. “So you don’t need damper cuffs or any of that shit if you Collapse while we’re here.
If Baz and Kai can handle it, so can you. ”
The ground tilted beneath Romie’s feet. “What did you just say?” Her pulse stuttered as Virgil and Nisha exchanged a look. “Did Baz Collapse?”
It was the other girl who answered—Vera, if Romie remembered her name correctly, having met her once before at the Veiled Atlas when she was looking for answers on Adriana Kazan. “He’s been Collapsed ever since that incident at your father’s printing press.”
The words were slow to sink in. “No. That would mean…” Romie took a step back. “My father’s Collapsing got people killed.”
“Your father was never the one who Collapsed,” Nisha said gently. “Baz was. Your father took the fall for him.”
Romie breathed out a disbelieving laugh. “We’re talking about Baz. My recluse of a brother. The guy who’s afraid of using even the tiniest speck of magic.”
“You’ve been gone for quite a while, dream girl,” Virgil said. “Your brother’s kind of a badass now.”
“Tides, that’s how he was able to stop my Collapsing,” Emory said suddenly, staring off into the middle distance. “Back in Dovermere, when we were fighting against Jordyn-turned-umbra… That kind of power…”
“It could only come from someone who’s Collapsed,” Virgil finished for her. “If you want more proof, take the magic Kai used in Dovermere to fight the umbrae. I mean, we were passed out around the Hourglass at the time and didn’t see it, but from what we heard, it was pretty incredible.”
Emory frowned. “I kept wondering if I’d imagined it, but… How did Kai even have access to his magic? He had the Unhallowed Seal.”
“Baz took it off,” Vera said. “He used his own Collapsed magic to revert time, make it so that Kai never got the Unhallowed Seal. Which means Kai now also has limitless magic.”
Limitless magic.
Romie locked eyes with Emory. A silent exchange passed between them. This could explain Emory’s apparent inability to Collapse, because maybe she already had. But Emory shook her head and said, “That’s not what this is. I haven’t Collapsed.”
“What if you did?” Romie pushed back. “If Baz never knew he Collapsed, maybe it’s the same for you.” To the others, she asked, “After they’ve Collapsed, does their blood run silver every time they use magic in really big ways?”
“No,” Nisha said. “The silver only stays for the duration of the Collapsing itself, a few days tops. Then it’s back to red.”
Emory gave her a look as if to say See? But Romie couldn’t shake this feeling that something was off. She wanted to trust Emory’s grasp on her magic, but she couldn’t deny the kernel of fear that had taken root inside her ever since that night in the Wychwood with Bryony—maybe even before then.
It wasn’t only the silver she’d seen running along Emory’s arms as she used her magic.
It was the way Romie had felt when Emory used all that power to cast the demon out of Bryony, and again in the grotto to unmake the umbrae—as if a conduit had been opened between them, and Emory were siphoning all of Romie’s power to her.
Emory couldn’t be limitless if she was stealing power from someone else.
Romie turned away from Emory, shutting out that awful word—Tidethief. “If Baz and Kai have this limitless magic, why are they not here? In fact, better question: How are any of you here?”
“We came to get you,” Nisha said. “Both of you.”
“But mostly you,” Vera added matter-of-factly to Emory.
Emory’s brows shot up. “Me? Why?”
“Things are really bad back home,” Virgil said. “The tides have been all out of whack for months now, coastlines are flooded—”
“Wait—months?” Emory interrupted. “We were only in the Wychwood for a few days.”
“That can’t be right. You went through the door months ago. We just celebrated the solstice.”
“But… I swear, it’s only been eleven days for us. How is that possible?”
Romie felt just as puzzled as everyone else looked. Could it be that time flowed differently in each world? If so, how much more time would elapse back home while they kept going toward the sea of ash?
“Best we not open that can of worms, I think,” Virgil said with a forced, frenetic laugh.
“Point is, the Regulators think the Eclipse-born are rising against the world at your request, Em. I know, ridiculous, right? They think you’re the Shadow reborn.
So we need you to come back and show them you’re not, well, evil. ”
“How did they even find out I’m a Tidecaller?”
“Someone in the Order must have talked,” Nisha said. “Artem, most likely.”
“The bastard,” Virgil muttered darkly.
“But how are you all here?” Romie pressed, ignoring the little voice in her head that wondered if Emory actually was the Shadow reborn. “How did you even get the Hourglass to open?”
They shouldn’t have been able to cross through worlds, not without Emory’s Tidecaller blood. Not without being themselves a key—which they were decidedly not.
“Baz reversed time back to when the door was open,” Nisha explained. “Limitless power, remember?”
“As for how we survived the journey across worlds and didn’t end up like those students who washed ashore last year…” Vera produced a compass that hung from her neck. “My theory is we have this thing to thank for that.”
“Where did you get that?” Emory exclaimed. “That’s—that was my mother’s.”
“Yeah.” Vera shifted uncomfortably. “Adriana Kazan, right?”
“How do you—”
“A long story for another time. The important thing is, I think this compass grants those of us who aren’t keys safe passage through worlds.”
“We don’t know that,” Nisha said.