Chapter 44: Baz

After a party, four students—Wulfrid and his friends—are reported missing. Blood is discovered by the Vault’s entrance, the same place an Ilsker girl nearly died before Baz reversed time, sparking campus gossip. Despite fear and uncertainty, Dean de Vruyes keeps the games running, and Baz and Clover return to their research in the busy Decrescens library.

Clover uncovers records of unexplained deaths tied to Aldryn’s libraries, including the founders’ mysterious deaths during construction. Theories suggest students were killed over powerful books later secured in the Vault. Another source reveals Aldryn stands on the ruins of a temple to the Tides and the Shadow and lies atop a ley line, implying the wards may be twisted by lingering sanctity and underlying power.

While puzzling over how non-Wardcrafter founders raised the wards, Cordie arrives and whisks Baz to her studio over the Emerald tavern. There, she explains that her Seer magic often guides her art as visions she can only decipher by painting. She works on a new, unsettling piece she can’t yet interpret.

Louka visits briefly, and after he leaves, Baz glimpses Cordie’s canvas: a young man lying in sea-foam and blood, hands folded over his chest—an image that perfectly mirrors Keiran’s death in Dovermere. Cordie calls it morbid yet peaceful and says painting such visions eases pain for their bearers, leaving Baz uncertain whether she recognizes the memory as his.

Walking back to Aldryn, Baz considers the possibility of peace for Keiran’s memory and his own guilt. He then recalls reading in Dark Tides about ley lines—sea-borne veins of power along which rifts can open—and realizes this could explain the vanished Deep door he and Kai used to enter this time.