“What is wrong?” she asks.

“Maeve is missing!” I cry. Rachel places a firm hand on my shoulder.

“No one has seen Ida today either. Her disappearance is a mystery, but we have two theories about Maeve,” Rachel says. “She may have gotten lost in the woods when she went for a walk late last night, or—”

“Or the body walker has returned and taken her!” I can’t contain myself. Panic has become a physical thing crawling out of my throat and over my skin.

Euna swallows hard. “Send out a search party immediately.” Rachel ducks away to do as Euna instructed. We move to follow her, desperate to do something to help find Maeve, but Euna stops us. “Now, please sit, both of you. Tell me why you think it might be the body walker.”

We confess everything to Euna—from our fear of the body walking talent as used by Lady Aisling to my first glimpse of it in use by the real owner of the talent in Sebastian’s village to Jemma’s predicament. When we finish, she folds her hands in her lap. Her face has grown sallow and bears a green tinge now.

“That’s how you knew a body walker had taken control of me.”

“I could feel their mind shoving yours down,” I say. “It was as if you weren’t even there.”

Her hands quiver, though she tries to conceal it from us. “Bits and pieces of that night have begun to come back to me. It was the strangest feeling. Like I was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings. I thought I was sleepwalking at first, but my body didn’t respond. It wouldn’t stop. And I swear I could hear a soft voice echoing inside my head. But mostly I was just confused. It was as though my eyes could only half allow me to see what I was doing. It was the most terrifying experience of my life. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”

My back grows cold. “Then you understand why we must find Maeve. If the body walker has her…”

“It’s unthinkable. And you feel responsible. For Ida, too, I’m sure.” She gives us a watery smile. “That does you both credit. I know you care for Maeve, and she cares for you. But body walkers are dangerous. You must stay here, safe in our library, until they are found.”

My jaw drops. “No! We must search for her too.”

“We can’t sit here and do nothing!” Sebastian moans.

Euna expression hardens. “You must. If the body walker is after your talents, we must protect you at all costs. No one wants to see the two of you captured again.”

The meaning that slips between her nice words is that no one wants to see a body walker abusing powers like ours. Not after Lady Aisling.

I shudder. We don’t want that either. But it’s one thing to worry on my own; it’s another to hear the same from an adult. That makes it seem all the more real.