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“You’re nothing but skin and bones.”
    At first, Jesse resented the comment, but as soon as he tore off a piece of the roll and put it in his mouth, any annoyance melted away. “Honey rolls,” she whispered to him. “Secret recipe, you know.”
    Right then, Jesse decided that Ira and Telemachus were on their side. No one would let their enemies eat these rolls. They would keep them all for themselves.
    Parvel nodded politely and took a roll. “I take it, Ira, your Patrol uniform isn’t a costume?”
    â€œOf course not,” Ira said, beaming at his own cleverness. “After I dyed my hair and grew this beard, I joined up.”
    â€œHow could you do that?” Rae demanded, looking at him with disgust. “After what you know about the king?”
    Ira shrugged. He tore off half of a roll and stuffed it into his mouth, talking through the crumbs. “I can do my work with a clear conscience. Patrol members are supposed to uphold order and make sure justice is done.”
    Rae laughed bitterly. She hadn’t touched her roll. “Not from what I’ve seen.”
    â€œAll the more reason to have one who does,” Ira said, letting her harsh words go. “Besides, you must admit it’s an excellent disguise. I’ve never had my identity challenged in the whole of these fifteen years.”
    â€œNor I in five years,” Telemachus added.
    â€œFive years,” Parvel repeated, his face suddenly animated. The roll in his hand was forgotten. “Then you were part of the same Guard as my brother.”
    â€œI knew you looked familiar,” Telemachus said, studying Parvel carefully. “Lighter hair, rounder face, that sort of thing, but the resemblance is there. Yes, I knew your brother—only by sight, of course. There were one hundred of us, and he was not part of my squad. I can’t quite recall what his mission was.”
    â€œWhat happened to him?” Parvel pressed. Jesse had never seen him so focused.
    â€œAsk Chancellor Doran,” Willa grumbled, setting the plate of rolls on the table with a thunk. “If you ask me, the Guard is unlucky that he’s the one keeping their records. Very unlucky indeed.”
    They all stared at her. “Explain,” Silas said, saying what they were all thinking.
    Instead, she turned to her husband. “Ira?”
    â€œNot again,” Telemachus moaned. “Ira, I beg you, do not fill their ears with baseless tales.”
    â€œYou let them decide for themselves, Telemachus,” Ira snapped. He rolled his eyes. “Baseless indeed. Working on the Patrol so close to the capitol, I hear rumors, and I listen for anything related to the Youth Guard.”
    â€œIt’s called the Forbidden Book,” Telemachus interrupted, leaning toward the center of the table and making his voice melodramatic. “No one knows where it’s kept, you understand. It’s all very secretive.”
    â€œBut what is it?” Rae asked impatiently.
    â€œA record,” Ira said. Unlike Telemachus, he was perfectly serious. “With the names, missions, and fates of every Youth Guard member ever sent out.”
    â€œPoor dears,” Willa added.
    For a moment, Jesse almost stopped breathing. He could hardly imagine such a book. Hundreds of names, so many have died…. He pictured the last several pages, where Silas, Rae, and Parvel’s names would be written. And Eli’s.
    All during his journeys, Jesse had wondered what had happened to Eli. If we could see the book somehow, I could know for sure .
    â€œRumor is that Chancellor Doran, the governor’s right hand man, keeps the book as his service to the king,” Ira said. “This is all hearsay, you understand, pieced together from fragments of rumors and the like.”
    â€œYes, and the book is cursed,” Telemachus added, “so they say. And I say that the entire thing is legend.”
    â€œYou