Page 218 of Keldori By Daybreak

“Listen to him,” I said to Ciarán through the tether.

I thought he might disobey, but then his shoulders dropped and he raised his hands over his head to join me in the workshop.

“Why are you here, Titus?” I drawled his Nightmare name, but if Stanley picked up on any disrespect, he ignored it.

“My lucidity, it’s slipping.” Stanley’s voice shook, presumably hyped up on adrenaline. His time in Mom’s strange rock had left him sweaty and weak, but it didn’t take much to pull a trigger. “When I go to Skalterra, it’s not the same as it was anymore. I’m there sometimes, but other times—”

He cut off to lick his lips, and I remembered the way he’d become emotionless and empty on Tamora’s steamcart.

“Now, Stanley, your own inability to perform isn’t a reason to hold a woman at gunpoint,” I hissed.

“It’s Titus!” Stanley roared.

Mom gave me an admonishing look. I’d missed that. I hoped we survived long enough for her to tell me off properly.

“I overheard you telling the Eldguard about the chickens on the steamcart, how they’re the reason I’m Lucid in Skalterra, and how they’re the reason I’m losing that.”

“You’re threatening to kill my mother over porcelain chickens?” I balked. “Did you not see the shelf full of them by the front door?”

“I did.” He licked his lips again. “The whole town’s been closed for weeks. I was so stupid to not put it together until I got here. This was where the Saergrim lived and worked, so what if, what if, this was where the Rift lets out in Keldori?”

Still holding the gun to Mom’s head, he reached back to open the supply closet behind him with a free hand. It swung open, and a gust of frigid air rolled out.

A tunnel carved of glowing ice twisted out of sight beyond the doorway. My knees shook and my heart hammered in my ears.

Gams was through there.

“Your mother was in the shop, but luckily, I was armed. I forced her to bring me down here,” Stanley continued. “When we got here, she did something. We’ve been in that rock for days.”

“It was more of a chrysalis.” Mom shrugged. “Only Saergrim magick or a big enough explosion could’ve broken it. I figured, if you were coming, you’d make it through, Wren. And if not, well, it would’ve been another barrier to slow down Ferrin.”

“To slow down the Baron!” Stanley corrected her. “Ferrin is nothing compared to her, and Tamora is the one who will lay claim to Keldori!”

“Wren?” Orla’s voice called from upstairs. “There was an earthquake, and when we came out, the rock was gone. Are you in here?”

“Come on down!” Stanley yelled. “The fun’s just getting started! And keep your hands up if you want your friends to remain in one piece!”

Orla, Iseult, and Fana appeared at the top of the staircase where my father was still frozen and listening.

I turned back to Stanley as they came down the steps. “Think about what you’re doing. What’s your end goal? You have to know this doesn’t end well for you.”

“This ends with me as the Baron’s righthand man as she takes both worlds for herself,” Stanley snarled. “I’m the one who will stop the storm, just in time for her ships to come into harbor. I’m the one who will open the door for her into Keldori. I’m the one who she will keep by her side when she remakes Keldori into something greater.”

“You’re delusional if you think any of that is going to happen.”

“Wren, darling, you know I love you, but please stop antagonizing the man with a gun held to my head,” Mom sighed.

“What’s going on?” Orla asked as she, Iseult, and Fana joined us in the basement. “Who is that?”

“I said hands up!” Stanley pressed his gun harder against Mom’s head, but Orla cocked her own head in confusion.

“I don’t understand. What is he holding?” she whispered.

“They don’t even know what guns are, Stanley!” I said. “The Baron isn’t taking Keldori because the Baron has no idea what she’s dealing with!”

“She has me to help her,” Stanley growled, “and I told you not to call me that!”

He dragged Mom backwards through the supply closet door.