Rachel puts an arm around me as she locks the door behind us. “What’s the matter? What happened?” She frowns. “Where’s Sebastian?”

When I begin to cry harder, sobs racking my shoulders, she understands without words. “Oh dear… Come, you’re safe now.”

She picks me up and carries me back to my quarters, but she doesn’t leave. She sets me on the bed and hands me a kerchief, then settles into the chair nearby.

“When you’re ready, tell me everything.”

And I do. I don’t leave anything out. Not how we took the obsidian, not Maeve’s true nature, not that Ida and Jemma are nearby, not even our old friends, the other shells. When I finish, Rachel’s skin has taken on a sickly green tinge.

“You’re certain Maeve really is the body walker?”

I nod. “I wish I was wrong. More than anything.”

Rachel gives me a sad smile. “Of course you do. It was clear how attached you and Sebastian had become to her.” She shakes her head, her expression hardening. “What a terrible woman. And to take Jemma and Ida too. We’ll help Sebastian and get all of them back. Even if Euna says no to officially helping, I’ll do it anyway. It isn’t right. You’ve already been through so much.”

“Thank you,” I say.

Rachel leaves to let me rest while she informs Euna of all I’ve told her.

I remain still, curled up on the bed, haunted by my circling thoughts. I failed my best friend. Now, I really have no one. Eventually I fall into a dreamless sleep.

When Rachel returns the next morning, she tells me that Euna is glad I’m back and has tasked Rachel with finding a way to save Sebastian, his sister, and Ida and to stop Maeve’s plans. I’m so relieved I could cry all over again. The first thing we do is head for the stacks. Rachel believes there might be more about body walkers in some of the older documents that we haven’t searched yet.

When we get to the first level of the library, though, I pause. “Rachel? Can we go in here first?”

“Of course. What do you need?”

“I just wanted to see Maeve’s research desk.” She collected numerous texts over the last few weeks and kept them on a particular desk on this level. There might be something in her papers that would give a clue to how she plans to find the soul summoner.

“Good idea,” Rachel says. When we reach the alcove with Maeve’s desk, we’re startled to find Connor shuffling through her papers.

Rachel puts her hands on her hips. “Do you need something?”

He whirls around with a guilty expression on his face. “Oh, I… No, I just thought I saw something of mine here, but I was mistaken.”

I frown, not trusting him. I don’t feel even a little guilty when I peek into his mind as he ducks away.

I could have sworn I saw her with that journal in her hand the other day, even though she denied it. Maybe she hid it somewhere. No respect…