Chapter 66: Baz

Baz reflects on the Vault’s indefinite closure and the permanent failure of its wards after Thames’s devastating Collapsing. Cleared of blame as foreign students depart, Baz faces having nowhere to go. The Hourglass spurns him, leaving Kai unreachable and presumably trapped beyond with a killer. Torn between returning via Harebell Cove’s time rift and waiting for Kai, Baz lingers at Aldryn.

Baz visits Cordie and finds her studio packed. Shaken by Cornus Clover’s crimes and disappearance, Cordie decides to leave Aldryn, abandon the Clover name, and take Louka’s surname, Kazan. She intends to start anew in Trevel and sever herself from her brother’s legacy.

Cordie produces Clover’s journal—its private wards now inert—and shows Baz pages tied to Song of the Drowned Gods. She reveals she has seen these specific character images in Baz’s past through her magic and has drawn the original illustrations herself. Baz explains Clover’s supposed authorship and the book’s future fame.

The revelation reframes everything: Baz realizes Clover—not Emory—is the Tidecaller who brings ruin, matching Thames’s nightmare and the sea of ash. If Clover remains lost two centuries hence, he likely never writes the book, threatening to unravel the chain that brought Baz, Kai, and Luce to this time.

Fearing the epilogue may fail and erase them from this era, Baz rejects passivity. He resolves to step up, accept responsibility, and confront the looming threat before history erases their efforts and the worlds remain unsaved.