“Look! Footprints.” He points to a boot mark left in the mud at the entrance to the cave.

“It could easily belong to Maeve or Ida,” I say. “It’s not alone either.”

The mud at the entrance is littered with tracks in various sizes. My spine goes rigid, and all trace of sleep falls away as though someone threw a bucket of ice over my head.

This is it. We’ve found the body walker’s lair.

One glance at Sebastian’s face makes it clear he understands this all too well.

I pull two candles out of my bag and light them with a match to keep the darkness at bay. Then I hand one to Sebastian. Are you ready?

He takes the candle and twines the fingers of his free hand with mine. As I’ll ever be.

We press onward into the cave, leaving the moonlit forest behind. The walls are damp to the touch and coated with moss, making the floors slippery. But there are also fresh footprints left by Maeve and Ida. All we have to do is follow them when confronted with a choice of tunnels. In a few places, the going is steep and rocky, but we manage as best we can.

Then the tunnel begins to widen until we stand at the mouth of a huge cavern full of stalactites and stalagmites on one side, which taper off to a giant pool on the far side of the cavern.

On the bank of the pool stands Maeve.

I reach out with my mind, but I don’t sense Ida anywhere in the cavern, or nearby out of sight. My talent wanders all the way back to the entrance, but I can’t find any trace of her. She must have stepped out, perhaps for more provisions or to return to the library with some sort of cover story. Or maybe she’s out hunting us. Whatever the reason, she isn’t here, and that is good news.

But still we must be cautious. We flatten against the moss-covered cave wall and peek around the corner. Maeve can’t see us, but we can just make out her expression. It isn’t what I expected, but it is what I feared. She looks angry and frustrated, just as Jemma did when the body walker had her under their control. If Maeve were free, she’d be running for the exits to return to us, I have no doubt. At the very least, she’d look bewildered.

I let my talent reach into Maeve’s mind to confirm what I already know.

But this time I don’t find what I’m looking for.

I stand at the edge of the cavern in shocked confusion. Horror trickles upward, working its way from my toes until it reaches the reeling, panicked thoughts in my brain. I sink to the ground.

I can’t feel Ida’s mind in Maeve’s head. There’s no hint of her own consciousness being shoved aside as I’ve seen and experienced myself so many times.

There’s only her. Just her.