“One more thing. Some tools went missing from the Mason training room last night. I certainly hope they turn up before an investigation is launched.” And with that she stalks out of the room.

Niklas goes rigid. Color drains from his face and his hands ball into fists at his sides. “I’ll be expelled. My father will be furious.”

“No,” Bram says. “If she were going to expel you, she would have done it already.”

But Niklas doesn’t look convinced. I feel terrible for putting him in this position, but what choice did I have? If we hadn’t gone into the city, I never would have found Gran’s bones and never would have realized what Latham was intending to do.

Later that night the six of us are gathered in the library, huddled around a table in the corner. Rasmus leans against the wall on the other side of the room, his gaze glued to me. But at least he’s far enough away that he can’t overhear our conversation.

“I don’t understand,” Jacey says. My voice is raw from all the hours I’ve spent trying to explain what I saw in my reading at the shop and what it means. I’ve told them everything. Everything except my history with Bram. “Why do the different versions of the same event convince you that Latham is trying to change the past? Maybe he was just trying to understand what happened back then.”

I lean forward and rest my elbows on the table. “Before Latham killed my mother, he complained about the Grand Council. He thought they exerted too much control over magic, hoarded too much power. And when we visited Avalina, she mentioned how angry Latham was with his father and the other members of the council for keeping the two of them apart. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I think he’s trying to choose a path that remakes the Grand Council in a way that benefits him.”

Niklas worries his bottom lip with his teeth. “So why can’t we just take all the bones from the shop? If we destroy them, he won’t be able to change the past.”

I sigh. “We can’t destroy them. After Gran’s bone broke at my kenning, my mother said that if it didn’t heal, all of my potential futures would disappear.”

“But that was a reading of your future,” Tessa says. “This is a reading of Latham’s past. Maybe if this bone doesn’t heal, all of his paths will disappear. Wouldn’t that be the perfect solution?”

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” I say. “I haven’t read all of the bones. We can’t be sure he didn’t use them to do readings of other people. In which case, they would disappear too.”