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I picked it up, turning it over in my hands. “It’s blank.”
“That’s why I’m not sure if it’s a clue to Thea’s grimoire. I know this kind of parchment. It’s magic paper. There’s some kind of shifting spell on it. And it’s incomplete.” She pointed at the parchment. “You need to layer multiple pages on top of one another to reveal the message. Until then, we cannot know if this is a clue to Thea’s grimoire, or just a recipe for chocolate-chip cookies.”
“That would be an awful lot of effort to go through to hide a cookie recipe,” I pointed out.
I tried not to think too much about the cookies. It would only make me hungry.
“And yet it’s still possible that this has nothing at all to do with Thea,” Bella said.
“Yes.” I slid my fingertips across the parchment. “It is.” I’d met a few bakers who’d gone to great lengths to keep their recipes secret. “But I’m going to be an optimist and say it’s a clue to Thea’s grimoire.”
Bella smiled at me. “I think so too.” She glanced at Harker and Nero. “The angels do not agree.”
“Why not?” I asked them.
“We never said it wasn’t a clue,” Nero said.
“We simply pointed out that it would be quite a convenient coincidence if it were,” Harker added.
“Someone sent Bella memories of the grimoire,” I told them. “Someone wants her to find Thea, or at least get answers about her past. That doesn’t make it a coincidence; it makes it a well-laid plan.”
“She has a point,” Harker told Nero.
Nero watched me. “She often does.”
I flashed him a little fang—and blew him a kiss. Then I looked some more at the parchment with Bella.
“If someone wants you to find the grimoire, Bella, the other pages might be in town too,” Gin said.
“Yeah, but where?” I wondered.
“We will have to search the town again tomorrow.” Bella’s eyes shone with determination.
“Try the Junk Yard,” Gin suggested.
“And the Bazaar,” Tessa added.
“There are some dilapidated old buildings by the old pond that would make an excellent hiding spot,” Zane said.
Then he grabbed the cherry pie and planted it in front of himself. And he’d accused me of having a sweet tooth.
“People say those old buildings are haunted,” Gin said in a hushed whisper.
Zane laughed. “People say a lot of things. I’ve been there. There’s nothing haunted about them.”
“How do you know?” Gin asked, her eyes still wide.
“Because he liked to bring his dates there to give them a good thrill,” Tessa told her. “Made them want to snuggle up to you, didn’t it, Zane?”
Zane shrugged, looking totally unashamed. “Naturally.”
“Do you have any more snuggling spots in town, Zane?” I asked him.
I figured they’d be pretty out of the way. Pretty secluded.
Zane listed a few of his secret spots, then dug into the pie.
“Ok, well, thanks to Zane’s dalliances, you have a few places to check tomorrow,” I said to Bella.
