“No time,” said Jonah. “Give me the syringe. I’ll fill it with tap in the bathroom if someone’ll block me from the camera.”
I winced. “You have to inject that into your skin. You don’t want tap water.”
“The stuff’s drinkable,” he countered. “And it can’t be any worse than what they’re planning on injecting me with. I’ll take my chances.”
My sanitary sensibilities still resisted. “I wish we had more time.”
“We don’t,” he said bluntly. “You’ve done a lot, and I’m grateful. Now it’s my turn to take the risks. Slip me the syringe on our way out of here. Is there anything special I need to do with it? Aside from the obvious?”
I shook my head, still frustrated but knowing he was right. “Inject small amounts into your tattoo, just like they do with re-inking. You don’t have to be precise. There’ll be enough of it in your system to negate what’s in their compelled ink.”
“What is in your solution?” asked Elsa.
“Don’t answer that,” warned Duncan. “The less we know, the better for all of us—especially Sydney.”
When the meal ended, our tablemates purposely crowded around Jonah and me as we waited to return our trays, allowing me to make the syringe pass. After that, it was literally out of my hands. I had to trust that Jonah would find a way to mix the solution with water on his own and inject himself before they came for him.
The rest of the day crawled, especially art class. He didn’t show up, and worry filled me as I wondered what brainwashing he was enduring. Duncan, who’d treated this as a joke and told me numerous times how foolish I was, shared my tension.
“Jonah’s a good guy,” he said. “I really do hope your plan works. I’ve seen what they can do to people. Some come back pretty bad.”
Remembering Duncan’s long tenure, I was hit by a startling revelation. “Did you ever know a guy named Keith here? With one eye?”
Duncan’s expression darkened. “Yeah, I know him. We weren’t that close when he was here. He was one of those … one who came back pretty bad.”
Reflection time followed, and Jonah returned. He looked cowed and said nothing as our usual session ran its course. Sheridan left him alone and instead drew out the rest of us, who were nearly as subdued, our moods darkened by the knowledge of what had happened to him. I almost hoped she would force him to talk so that I could get a sense of where he was at, but she must have decided he’d more than done his time today. He simply sat and listened with glazed eyes, his expression changing little. My heart sank.
When the session ended, and we were dismissed for dinner, his attitude didn’t change. Duncan ordered him to sit at our table, just as I had when Renee had returned. Jonah said nothing as the rest of us chatted about things we didn’t care about, all of us too nervous to ask what was truly on our minds. This behavior was right in line with what happened after a hardcore dose of compulsion re-inking. The question was, was Jonah faking or not? If he was, interacting with him might draw attention to him. If he wasn’t, he might very well report us.
Dinner wound down quietly at our table, and Duncan finished the last of his dessert, a cherry crumble that looked like it had been microwaved. “That actually tasted better than I expected,” he remarked, more to himself than us.
“You know what else is better than expected?”
All of us looked up, surprised to hear Jonah for the first time since his re-inking. Chimes sounded, signaling the end of dinner and spurring a collective rising of everyone in the room. Jonah stood as well, tray in hand.
“Me,” he said in a soft voice. “I feel great. Not a bit different.” He shot me a smile that was gone as quickly as it came. “You saved my life, Sydney. Thanks.” He strutted past me to join the line by the garbage bins, leaving me gaping.
I followed a few moments later, still stunned. He didn’t say anything to me for the rest of the night, but I’d seen that gleam in his eyes when he smiled. He was still there. His personality and mind were intact. They hadn’t gotten to him—and my formula had helped protect him. That realization stayed with me for the rest of the night, empowering me. For months, my captors had scored victory after victory on me, making me feel as though I could never fight back. Tonight, I had. It was a small victory, but it was real, and I had pulled it off.
I was so proud of my own cunning that I wasn’t paying attention to much else when I got ready for bed later on. I was in the girls’ bathroom, with a handful of others, still patting myself on the back. I was too oblivious to see Emma coming or make any defense when she slammed me into a corner of the wall. For a moment, I couldn’t believe she’d dare do it under surveillance. Then, I realized she’d positioned me under the camera, out of its view. Amelia and a couple of their other friends started talking loudly, drowning out Emma’s low and menacing voice as she kept me pinned in the corner and leaned forward.
“Jonah was re-inked today,” she said. “A major one—the kind that can make people forget their own name. And yet people are saying it didn’t affect him. And they’re saying it’s because of something you did to him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snapped back. “He seemed out of it to me.”
She pushed me harder than I expected her capable of since she was smaller than I was. “Did you or didn’t you do something to him?”
I glared. “Why? So you can report me and get out early for good behavior?”
“No,” she said. “Because I want you to do it to me too.”
CHAPTER 12
Adrian
IT HAD ONLY BEEN A FEW WEEKS, but I felt like I’d been away from Palm Springs for months. I had no idea what to expect when I walked into my apartment and wondered if I’d find Angeline cohabitating with Trey. I should’ve known better, though. For all his swagger, Trey cracked down when push came to shove, and I found him sitting in the living room with textbooks spread out around him. It was so Sydney-like that for a moment, emotion threatened to overcome me. Then, my new resolve took hold, and I pushed any distracting feelings aside.
Trey looked up, surveying me and my suitcase. “You’re back, huh? How was the vacation?”
“Illuminating,” I said. “I got a lead on Sydney. Everyone’s on their way.”
His eyes widened. “You what?”
I didn’t get a chance to answer because I was already halfway down the hall, headed toward my old bedroom. When I stepped inside, I saw that Trey had taken it over, which I supposed was his right in light of my abrupt departure. With a shrug, I toted my suitcase back out to the living room and tossed it in the corner. I was happy to take a spot on the couch for now—if I even ended up staying here. I didn’t really know where the search for Sydney would lead me or how long I’d be hanging out here.
Ten minutes later, a knock at the door heralded the arrival of Jill, Eddie, Angeline, and Neil. They barreled into me with hugs—even stoic Neil—though Jill held on the longest. “I’ve been so worried about you,” she said, looking up at me with shining eyes. “Everything at Court was so crazy—I could only follow half of it—”
“And now it’s done,” I said firmly. “And we’ve got a lead on Sydney.”
“So you said,” Trey remarked. “But you didn’t really elaborate.”
“That’s because I—” Before I could say more, another knock sounded. I opened the door and let Marcus inside. I was so happy to see him that I astonished him with a hug too. “Right on time,” I said.
He’d been the trickiest one to get a hold of. I’d called him as soon as I’d booked my ticket back here and had been relieved to find out he was still in California, up in his old stomping grounds of Santa Barbara. When I’d told him what I’d learned, he promised to drive back and meet me after my flight landed. It was early evening, and the extensive travel had made for a taxing day, but I strangely found myself energized. This was it. We were all together, the people who loved Sydney, and we were going to make this happen.
“Can you
catch the rest of us up now?” Trey demanded, once we were all sitting in a circle in the living room. “Where is Sydney? Is she okay?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t know,” I admitted. “I mean, she was okay enough to talk to me in a dream, but she wasn’t very forthcoming about what was going on in that place. She still seemed like herself, though.”
Marcus nodded in approval. “She’s strong-willed. That’ll get her through a lot. The thing is, if that will becomes too noticeable, they’ll try to do something about it. She’s got a dangerous line to walk.”
“She has for a long time now,” I said, thinking of her time here in Palm Springs when she struggled with her friendship with us and the doctrine the others were feeding to her. She’d finally picked a side of the line to stand on—and now she was paying for it. “She doesn’t know where she is either, but she does know that Keith was in the same place, so right now, he’s become our biggest lead.”
“A very difficult one to find,” said Marcus. He leaned back against the couch and sighed. “Admittedly, I was only able to make a couple of calls, but he’s even better hidden than usual for Alchemists. They watch their ‘reformed’ agents pretty closely and don’t want him exposed to much yet. He’s probably locked away behind a desk.”
A dark cloud of dismay started to sweep over me, and I pushed it aside. “But you can keep looking.”
Marcus nodded. “Of course. I’ve also asked some of my other contacts who were in re-education if they remember any details about when they got out, but so far, no hits. Most of them were in there a long time ago. Keith’s the most recent one we know of, so hopefully his memory is the best. I’m asking my sources to look for him. Something may turn up in a few days. But … in the meantime, I’ve got a farfetched lead that might give us results sooner. I know where Carly Sage is.”
Eddie frowned. “You think she’d know where Sydney is? I mean, I don’t know much about her, but I thought she was pretty removed from Alchemist affairs.”
“She is,” I said, guessing where Marcus was headed. “But Keith has a, uh, connection to her.” I’d told Marcus about the note Sydney had seen, about Keith telling Carly he was sorry. I hadn’t elaborated on the sordid details of their past, only that he’d done something pretty terrible to her. “You think he might have gotten in touch with her?”
“I don’t know, honestly,” said Marcus. “I’ve never met either of them. But I do know that place plays on guilt and self-worth. If Keith feels like he wronged her, maybe he reached out when he was free.”
“It’d be the first decent thing he’s ever done,” muttered Jill darkly. From her bond with me, she knew what he’d done to Carly.
“I figured it couldn’t hurt to check it out,” said Marcus. “Especially since we’ve got to wait on any more hits with Keith. She’s pretty close. She’s a student at Arizona State University.” He shot me a wry smile. “Up for a road trip?”
“Absolutely. We can leave right now.” I nearly stood then and there, but he waved me down.
“I’d rather we go in the morning—both for the daylight and so you can talk to Sydney again tonight. See if you can get something from her that we can use to get Carly to trust us. I have to imagine if a couple of strange guys showed up asking about your sister and the organization your family’s sworn you to secrecy about, you might not be that forthcoming.”
I relaxed a little. “That’s a good plan. And so long as there’s no more gas drugging her, we should be in sync now. Based on when she was woken up, I think she was in this time zone. I might be wrong, though. Who knows what schedule those freaks have her on?”
“Probably a typical human one, even if they’re underground.” Marcus rolled his eyes. “Heaven forbid they get on anything that might seem remotely vampiric.”
Neil leaned forward. “Back up a moment. Did you say gas?”
Now that there was a tentative plan in place to find Carly Sage, I was able to calm down a little and tell the others exactly what I knew. My dream with Sydney had been short, but I gave what details I could, including how she’d been drugged and her vague references to punishment.
Angeline rested her head on Trey’s shoulder. “They better not be hurting her. Otherwise, I’m going to hurt them when we all go in and bust her out.”
“‘We all?’” asked Marcus with amusement.
Eddie had on his fiercest mini-Dimitri expression. “You don’t think we’re letting you two do all this alone, do you?”
I tried not to smile. “I think school’s still in session and that your first priority is to Jailbait.”
“Only for another week or so,” said Jill. “And we’re just doing finals now. You should take one of the dhampirs. Two of them, actually. Angeline can stay with me.”
“Hey,” Angeline exclaimed. “How come I don’t get to go kick Alchemist ass?”
“Because you’re the only one of us who hasn’t actually finished high school,” Eddie told her.
“But all of you are assigned to protect Jill,” I warned. “And you’re staying with her, at least for now. Marcus and I don’t need bodyguards to go visit some partying kids at ASU.”
Conflict warred over Eddie’s features. “But what happens after that? What about when you find where Sydney is?” I could guess his worries. He was torn. His assignment—and his heart—bound him to Jill. But Sydney was his friend too, and he still felt guilty for her loss in the first place.
“We don’t know when that’ll be. School might be done then, and we’ll all be back at Court.” I patted his shoulder. “Let us worry about Carly and even Keith. When we get to the next phase … well, we’ll figure it out.”
Eddie didn’t look happy about that, but really, there was no outcome that he would’ve been okay with. If he came with us tomorrow, he would be eaten with guilt for abandoning Jill. No part of this situation was going to be easy on him.
Marcus left early, once he and I had our arrangements in place for the trip to Tempe. The others lingered, wanting to catch up and share what had happened over the last few weeks. I blurred the details on my descent into decadence at Court, too ashamed to let them know I’d nearly lost Sydney. Only Jill knew the truth, and she’d never give me up. She did, however, give up something else.
“Hey, Trey,” she said, eyes full of mischief. “Maybe you should give Adrian that very important piece of mail.”
A matching grin lit Trey’s face as he jumped up and hurried to the kitchen. When he returned, he handed over a business-sized envelope that had been opened. It was from Carlton College, addressed to me.
“You opened my mail?” I exclaimed.
“I told him to,” Jill said, as though she had some kind of authorization. “Check it out.”
Puzzled, I lifted a single piece of paper and found myself staring at my first college report card. Even more amazing than that, I saw that I had passed all my classes. C, C-, and B-. That last one made me raise an eyebrow.
“How the hell did I pull off a B- in oils? What did you turn in for my final project?” I asked them incredulously.
“I picked it,” Trey said proudly. “It was that tall one you had leaning in the corner, the kind of weird yellow-and-purple-cloud thing.”
A lump formed in my throat. “Sydney’s aura,” I murmured. I set the report card down and hugged Jill and Trey. “You guys saved me. I wouldn’t have passed without you.”
“You saved you,” Jill murmured in my ear. “And now you’re going to save her.”
She and the others left soon thereafter, as Amberwood’s curfew loomed. Neil lingered after the rest had walked out the door and strolled back to me. “Adrian,” he said, unable to meet my eyes, “I don’t suppose Olive was at Court, was she?”
I was sympathetic to everyone in love, and my heart went out to him. “No, but Nina was. Olive’s been out of touch with her too, but Nina’s checked in dreams, and Olive’s okay. She just wants some time on her own to think things through. It can’t be easy having come back fro
m being a Strigoi.”
Relief flooded Neil’s angular features. “Really? That’s great. I mean … it’s not great that she’s troubled, but I thought it was something to do with me. We’d gotten along so well, stayed in touch … then nothing.”
“Nope,” I assured him. “Nina says Olive cut off everyone. Give her time. She’ll come around. From what I briefly saw, she was pretty crazy for you.”
Neil actually turned red at that, and I laughingly sent him on to join the others. Trey returned to his homework, and I began regular checks of trying to find Sydney asleep. At one point, Trey offered to give me the bedroom back, but I told him I’d be up off and on anyway. Better for him to be rested for exams and his scholarship prospects.
That eventually left me alone in the living room, and around midnight, I finally connected to Sydney. We met in the Getty Villa, and I swept her to my arms, not fully realizing until that moment how afraid I’d been that last night’s dream encounter had been a fluke. “Before I start kissing you and forget everything reasonable, tell me how long you’ve been asleep.”
She rested her golden head against my chest. “I don’t know. Less than an hour.”
“Hmm.” I brushed that beautiful hair back as I crunched numbers. “I thought you were on Pacific time, based on when you woke up. That would’ve been around, oh, five here. But that’s not very much sleep. Six hours. Maybe seven.”
“Actually, that’s about perfect for them,” she said. “It’s one of the things they do to keep us on edge. We get enough sleep to function, but we never quite feel rested enough. It makes us agitated, more susceptible to what they do and tell us.”
I nearly let the comment slide, but the word choice caught me. “What do you mean ‘one of the things?’” I asked her. “What else do they do?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “We have other—”
“It does matter,” I insisted, leaning closer to her. I’d tried bringing this up before, and she kept evading the topic. “You said yourself that place pushed Keith over the edge, and I see the way Marcus looks whenever he talks about re-education.”