“What do you mean you didn’t take it? Someone had to.”

Devynne laughs. “What would I want with your books? I don’t care a whit about your silly village.”

Connor’s fists clench. “It is not a village; it is a lost city. And the book in question is a journal I only got by begging for special permission from Euna, and now it is missing. What did you do with it?”

“What makes you think I’d care about a journal? I’ve got more than enough research on my own plate to want to take any of yours.” She folds her arms across her chest.

Connor begins to look a little squeamish. “Let’s just say our interests may converge slightly in this particular journal.”

Devynne rolls her eyes. “All right, I’ll bite. How?”

“It’s rumored to have been written by a soul summoner. The last one known to exist.”

Devynne stands up straighter. “Well, that is mighty interesting. I wish I had been the one to take it. But I swear to you, I’m not.”

Curious, I peek inside Devynne’s thoughts. She’s telling the truth. But Connor isn’t convinced.

“Who else would be interested in the last remaining record of one of the most powerful talents out there?”

“I have no idea. Maybe Euna decided to put it away. Have you even checked with her?”

Connor’s confidence falters. “Well, no…”

“Why don’t you go do that before accusing me of stealing from you?” Devynne huffs and stomps away down the aisle. We stay low so that she doesn’t glimpse us while we wait for Connor to leave too. His thoughts reveal that he is loath to admit to Euna that he lost this journal. But nothing at all about Maeve or Ida. Not in either of their heads.

And neither of their minds feels like the body walker’s does, much to my dismay.

I’m sorry, Sebastian. I can’t tell for sure.

Maybe you only know how their mind feels when they’re using their talent?

I consider. Yes, that’s possible. And if they’re not using it right now, it would be harder to tell.

Dejected, we return to the reading table and pick up where we left off. But my mind won’t sit still. Maeve wouldn’t leave us willingly, of that I’m certain. Ida, I can’t account for, but she doesn’t seem like the type to just wander off either. When she visited Sebastian’s village, she was all business, and once she determined we weren’t going to be much help, she wasted no time leaving. Both of them missing at the same time is very strange…

Suddenly my limbs freeze and my mouth goes dry.

Ida visited Sebastian’s village the very day I first encountered the body walker. And Rachel reported another incident of a body walker in a village they visited on the way. They would’ve been on the road—possibly the very same road we were on—the day Jemma was overtaken. And Ida was here in the library when Euna was taken by the body walker too.