If she was right, the fate of the most famous fantasy writer in the world now rested in the hands of a seventeen-year-old girl.

Bridget picked up her laptop. The only thing she could think to do was to scour Bob’s email again for clues.

She clicked on her inbox. Her heart sped up. There was a new email from Bob.

Hey Bridget—

Please ignore my previous message. I’m traveling in Europe for research and the eight-hour time difference has really messed me up. As a result, I’ve been awake when I should be asleep and vice versa. Before I sent you my last email, I took an Ambien. When that didn’t work, I was so desperate to sleep I took another one. And then I finally broke down and had a couple of those little vodka bottles from the hotel mini-fridge.

And all those things together finally worked. A little too well, as you already know. I had no idea I had written you until I got your concerned reply. Sorry for confusing you. That email even confuses me!

I’ll be back in touch soon with some clearer questions. But until then, you don’t need to worry.

Have a great Christmas,

Bob

Bridget knew she should sigh with relief. Instead, she heard herself say, “Huh.”

On the surface, Bob’s explanation made sense. He raised all the points Joanne and Ajay had.

But to Bridget, the second email seemed as stilted as the earlier one. Both felt wrong, just in different ways. In the first, he’d called her parents by the wrong names. And in the second, after supposedly sobering up, Bob didn’t say one word about that. Didn’t apologize for speaking about her mother as if she were still alive. And while Bob was gruff, and lived in his own little world, Bridget thought even he would have known how much pain his mistake would cause her. But he didn’t mention it at all.

Was Bob really even in Flanders? All he said in the email was Europe. Had Joanne lied to them? Or had Bob lied to Joanne? And how could Bridget figure out the truth?

And then it came to her. Reddit. Even as someone who only visited the internet for research, she knew that one of the most popular subreddits was devoted to Swords and Shadows. But what she found on r/swordsandshadows left Bridget both more confused and more certain than ever.

A user named Rickard claimed chapters of Eyes of the Forest were being posted on the dark web and encouraged people to check them out. Was that even legal? Wouldn’t Bob’s publisher mind? Although if it was the dark web, maybe they didn’t even know. And why would anyone pay a hundred dollars a chapter?

Only it sounded like some superfans had. She kept scrolling. The upvoted replies all agreed they really were written by Bob.