"Mr. Gladstone and Ms. Voss never even talk about them," Venus says to the ground, barely acknowledging Neal now as she walks forward at a steady pace. She doesn't know anything about any of the other people they worked with, only that they'd existed. Even the information Liam and Zinnia had gotten out of Ms. Voss for the interview had been vague.

And Joss, who had been the right age at the right time, had just disappeared. With his friends. Right when the Rifts had closed last. Plenty of people probably left town after all that, but Mrs. Ruskin had thought something was wrong all these years, and she'd been right. Venus feels sick to her stomach and shakes her head no as she walks. "I don't like this, Neal."