We push aside the vines and enter the cave, keeping our footsteps soft and candles aloft. But we quickly discover that Maeve has prepared for intruders. We’ve barely gone two yards into the dark tunnel when a terrible roar echoes through the corridor.

Rachel’s voice quivers. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else here in the caves?”

“Positive,” I say.

“What do you sense now?”

Before I can respond, a dark shadow blocks the path up ahead and the sound resonates again, making my hair stand on end. The shape coalesces into the form of a giant snakelike beast, with a horned head and gaping mouth filled with row upon row of wicked-looking teeth.

Rachel screams and stumbles back, but I begin to laugh. “Don’t be afraid. That’s just Natasha.”

My companion’s expression is shocked. “You know this monster?”

“No, but I do know the person who created this illusion of a monster. Natasha is an illusion crafter. She can make illusions of both sight and sound, just not touch. It may look and sound fierce, but really it’s nothing at all. She used to entertain us with her talent when the Lady wasn’t using us.”

Rachel looks back and forth between me and the menacing beast as it inches closer and closer. “This is an illusion? You’re absolutely certain?”

“Definitely. If it was real, I’d be able to sense its mind. There’s nothing there.” I walk straight up to the beast and stick my hand right where its snout appears to be.

Nothing but dead air.

Rachel still looks uneasy, but she inches forward around the beast. When it lunges at her a second time, she manages not to scream.

It roars as we pass it by. I wonder if Natasha can sense what her illusions do when she’s not nearby. If the roaring echoed back to them, that alone would give our presence away. This is an alarm for Maeve to know someone has entered her domain.

And we just set it off.

“That’s quite a talent,” Rachel mutters, and I snort.

“Wait until you see Melanthe’s. Now she’s actually dangerous.”

Rachel’s brows knit. “What can she do?”

“Move things with her mind.”

“Anything?”

“Anything that isn’t tied down. We definitely need to watch out for her.”

“Now that’s one talent I’d prefer to have on our side.”

I laugh again, despite the circumstances. I like Rachel. She’s funny and doesn’t treat me like I can’t understand simply because I’m younger or smaller than everyone else. She takes me seriously. That I appreciate the most. I wish she was my mother, not a monstrous body walker.

And Lady Aisling knew all along. This is what she meant when I visited her. She told me if I ever discovered who the body walker is, I’d regret it. I hadn’t understood at the time. In fact, I brushed it off and had all but forgotten about it until now.

Even without her powers, the Lady still delights in finding new ways to hurt other comet-blessed people. She was right; I do regret it. And somehow that makes everything worse.