The Ruby Circle

Chapter 13 Adrian

“WHAT DOES SALMON HAVE TO DO with the Warriors?” I asked.

Sydney shot me a wry look. “Psalms, not salmon. And I don’t know the connection.” She regarded Trey expectantly. “They’re a kind of religious poem, right? From the Bible?”

He nodded. “Yes. Well, that is, the ones the Warriors like to quote all the time aren’t actually in the Bible. They’ve made up a bunch of their own. But they recite them a lot on formal occasions, before meetings . . . stuff like that. If Alicia said Jill was hearing them, she’s probably being held by them somewhere. Believe me, they’d love nothing more than to hold a Moroi captive.”

Eddie turned toward Jackie incredulously and pointed at Alicia. “Unfreeze her like you did me! We need answers, and we need them now! Before it’s too late for Jill!”

I’d never seen him so worked up and was tempted to calm him with compulsion. Jackie remained remarkably unruffled. “I’m certainly not going to release her here—if we do it, it’ll be with a dozen other witches to secure her. And even if we do, don’t expect her to be forthcoming.”

“She’s right,” said Sydney slowly. “Even if we free Alicia, we don’t know that she’ll tell us anything.”

“I’ll make her talk,” insisted Eddie. “Or Adrian could compel her.”

Sydney didn’t look thrilled about that, but in my head, Aunt Tatiana was chomping at the bit. Yes! Yes! We’ll compel her into telling us things she doesn’t even realize she knows!

“There are spells to protect against that, and Alicia’s wily enough to have taken that precaution.” Jackie glanced at one of her witch friends. “What do you think? What time span would weaken her?”

The witch regarded frozen Alicia with a critical eye. “I’d leave her like that for a week, honestly. But if you’re in a rush . . .” She eyed Eddie before turning back to Alicia. “I’d say forty-eight hours.”

“Forty-eight hours!” exclaimed Eddie. “Jill might not have forty-eight hours if the Warriors are holding her! They could be performing some execution ritual as we speak!”

Jackie remained undaunted. “Being in that frozen state strips you of energy. Two days like that, and she’ll be physically and magically burned out. Much easier to question. Even then, I still wouldn’t free her unless we’re in an extremely secure location with extra backup. She’s too unpredictable.”

“Two days is too much,” Eddie reiterated. I couldn’t help but share his dismay. Sydney, however, looked thoughtful.

“Alicia will be less of a threat and maybe easier to interrogate by then,” she said slowly. “And in the meantime, we might be able to get some faster answers about the Warriors.”

“How?” Trey and I asked together.

“From Marcus,” Sydney said. “Or rather, from one of his contacts. She’s undercover in the Warriors. She might be able to uncover something before we could get it out of Alicia anyway. Let me check with her and Marcus. If they can’t dig up anything in twenty-four hours, the witches will release Alicia for questioning.”

No one seemed thrilled by that compromise, but they agreed to it. We all finally dispersed, with Eddie going to stay with Trey while Sydney and I returned to Clarence’s house. Sydney called Marcus along the way to explain the situation, and he promised to get back to her as soon as he could. When we arrived at Clarence’s, Rose and Dimitri were chomping at the bit to know what had happened. I let Sydney fill them in while I went to my mom and Declan. He’d only been in my life for a couple of days, but I was surprised by how much I ached to see him, even though he did little more than sleep. After the turbulent events of the day—and the panic I’d felt upon learning Sydney had faced Alicia alone—Declan’s presence was soothing.

Marcus called Sydney back a couple of hours later, saying he had news and would come to Palm Springs immediately to deliver it in person. Marcus was as much a wanted fugitive as Sydney, though, and in his usual cautious way, he arranged for a meeting away from both Clarence’s and Trey’s the next day.

The place he chose was a Mongolian restaurant outside of town. Rose and Dimitri, after much coaxing, agreed to wait at Clarence’s for an update so as not to create too large a crowd. We had Trey and Eddie join us, though, because Trey had useful insight about the Warriors and because no force on earth could keep Eddie from making plans about Jill. When we walked into the restaurant, Sydney exhaled in relief.

“Good. He brought Sabrina with him.”

I’d met Sabrina briefly but didn’t know her well. She was about my age and had been an undercover member of the Warriors of Light for years. Her first meeting with Sydney had involved holding Sydney at gunpoint, which didn’t thrill me, though we knew now that Sabrina had been trying to protect Marcus. Over time, we’d come to respect her and the important job she did. She didn’t agree with the Warriors’ philosophy, yet she’d remained among them because the intel she provided was so useful to others. I certainly hoped it’d be useful today.

“Good news and bad news,” said Marcus, which wasn’t exactly the opening we’d been hoping for. “The good news is that we’re pretty sure the Warriors do have Jill. The bad news is that we don’t know exactly where she is.”

Eddie crossed his arms. “Time to free Alicia and get some answers.”

“Not necessarily,” said Sabrina. Her long blond hair was pulled up into a high ponytail today, and she looked very much like an ordinary girl, not someone posing as a member of a fanatical anti-vampire group. “My guess is that Alicia doesn’t know where Jill is either. She most likely caught Jill and delivered her to the Warriors, then let them hide her away somewhere. I snooped around and found reports of a ‘high-profile Moroi prisoner,’ but they aren’t even revealing her location to members in our own group. They might work with someone like Alicia, but they wouldn’t trust her much.”

The news wasn’t cheering me up, and Eddie shared my frustration. “Then what do we do if your own people don’t know where she is?” he demanded.

“Well,” said Sabrina. “Someone knows. Just not someone at my level.”

Marcus nodded as he swallowed a bite of his stir-fry, which by my estimation seemed to contain entirely meat and no vegetables.

Primitive, sniffed Aunt Tatiana.

Hey, lay off, I told her. Being a dashing fugitive probably requires lots of protein.

“We have some ideas to get to that someone,” Marcus said. “The first is to ask the Alchemists to do it. We know they have ties to the Warriors.”

“For all we know, they’re working with them,” said Eddie. “They have in the past.”

“On some things,” Sydney said slowly. “But not on this. They don’t want to risk the Moroi going into chaos. They want Jill back. They wouldn’t stand by if she was a prisoner.”

“Agreed,” said Marcus. His eyes met mine. “That, and they might intervene simply because they won’t like the Warriors overstepping their bounds. They’re nothing if not control freaks, and they aren’t going to like that the Warriors worked with a witch to interfere with the Moroi. Of course, that means someone has to tell them the Warriors have Jill.”

“It doesn’t have to be one of you,” Eddie said, catching the unspoken message between Marcus and me. “Heck, I’ll do it.”

“They might not believe you,” I said, smiling at his vehemence. “They might not even believe me.”

Trey had been quiet while discussing the group he’d once been a member of, but he finally spoke up now. “There’s also a good chance the Warriors will deny it, even if the Alchemists do come asking about it. They’re kind of obsessed with control too. They might be difficult out of spite.”

“You’re right,” said Sabrina. “Which is why we have one more option.”

There was a warning note in her voice that put me on alert. “Which is?”

She exchanged glances with Marcus and then turned to Sydney. “The Warriors are going to be initiating some new members next week. You could go undercover and then try to infiltrate the higher tiers of power to find out where Jill’s at.” She spoke in a rush, as though that might help reduce the overall absurdity of the suggestion.

“You want me to join the Warriors?” Sydney exclaimed.

“No,” said Eddie and I in unison.

“You’d just be participating in their recruitment,” said Sabrina, as though that were some kind of reassurance. “It’s like an orientation.”

“Or a sorority rush,” said Marcus, which really didn’t improve things.

Trey shook his head in dismay. “I know what you’re talking about, and it’s crazy.” He turned to the rest of us. “They round up a bunch of potential recruits, bring them in secret to a Warrior compound, and make them compete in all kinds of ordeals to prove their worth. Remember when I had to fight my own cousin?”

The Warriors had once held Sonya captive and used her as part of a ceremony meant to “test” its young members. Along with fighting his cousin, Trey had then been expected to kill Sonya. He hadn’t planned on going through with it, and those plans went awry anyway when a group of guardians disrupted the whole ceremony to bust Sonya out. Sydney had also caused a fair amount of chaos, and the Warriors certainly weren’t her fans.

“The Warriors know Sydney’s face,” Eddie reminded us. “She can’t do it. Send me. I wouldn’t mind throwing a few of those freaks around. I’ve already had lots of practice.”

“You have,” agreed Marcus, “but Sydney’s had a bit more practice with breaking and entering to retrieve intel. And they probably know your face too.”

Sydney frowned. “Can we both go? I wouldn’t mind the backup, and I’ve got a few tricks that could disguise us.”

Are you going to sit by and let them go ahead with this? Aunt Tatiana asked me.

I turned to Sydney in amazement. “Are you seriously considering this? I mean, I’m all for crazy plans, but this is out there even for me.”

Sabrina frowned in thought. “The Warriors usually just sponsor one person, but I’ve occasionally seen someone present two. If you could disguise yourselves, I could get you both in.”

“Then send me and Sydney,” I said.

“No way,” said Eddie. “I’m in much better condition to beat those freaks up. No offense, Adrian.” I started to say I could protect her with spirit but knew she wouldn’t like that.

“You should stay behind, Adrian,” agreed Sydney. “You could try to compel answers out of Alicia when the witches unfreeze her. No one but you can do that.”

I opened my mouth to protest but couldn’t think of anything to say. Sydney had me cornered and knew it. I wanted to go with her, but not because I had a concrete plan for dealing with the Warriors—I only had a gut instinct to protect her. But she was right about Alicia. We could give the witches their two days while Sydney went undercover with the Warriors. Hopefully that would weaken whatever compulsion protection Alicia had put upon herself.

“You’re endorsing me using spirit?” I asked in amazement.

“No,” she admitted. “I’m hoping they can get answers out of her through other means. But if they can’t, I have a feeling you’ll use compulsion regardless.”

“You’re a wise woman, as usual,” I told Sydney.

She smiled at that, but I could tell she wasn’t happy with the idea at all. With a sigh, she turned back to Sabrina. “How much trouble will you get in for this? For bringing two spies in? Because obviously we aren’t really going to stay with the Warriors.”

Sydney had a point. What she and Eddie were volunteering for—infiltrating some barbaric initiation ritual—was dangerous, but we couldn’t forget Sabrina’s role in this. She was playing a game with a very volatile group and could ultimately face more risk.

“Depends on if you guys get caught or not.” Sabrina offered a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “So don’t get caught, okay?”

Trey looked grimmer and grimmer as the planning progressed. “But this only happens if you can’t convince the Alchemists that the Warriors are holding Jill. If you can convince them, they can hopefully do the heavy lifting so you don’t have to get involved with any of this madness.”

“Hopefully,” agreed Marcus. “But in the meantime, we should prep Sydney and Eddie on what to expect if they do go with Sabrina.”

Sabrina proceeded to give us a rundown on how she planned to sneak Sydney and Eddie in. The whole thing sounded awful the more she described it, and I again wanted to ask Sydney not to go. I realized me wanting to protect her from those dangers was akin to her asking me to hold back on spirit. Both were dangerous courses of action . . . yet how could we not, when Jill’s life was at risk?

There’s no good answer, declared Aunt Tatiana morosely. And no good will come of any of this.

Lunch wound down with plans being finalized and Sydney intending to get some magical disguise help from her witch connections. Sabrina got a call summoning her back to the Warriors earlier than she’d expected. She grimaced and stood up. “I’ll be in touch soon, when I get a few more details about the recruitment. Can one of you drop Marcus off at his safe house?”

“We’ll do it,” Sydney said, preempting Eddie and Trey. “We’ll talk to you guys later.”

Our group dispersed, and Sydney and I led Marcus to the rental car we’d been driving since coming back to Palm Springs. It was a convertible, a bonus upgrade given to us by the company, even though we hadn’t asked for it.

“Nice,” said Marcus. “Great day to have the top down.” He glanced over at me. “Er, maybe not.”

After yesterday’s gray, Palm Springs was back to its sweltering summer conditions, ones I certainly didn’t want to expose myself to. Sunlight didn’t kill Moroi, the way it did Strigoi, but it could certainly be uncomfortable for us if we were out in it long enough. Moments like this reminded me of the differences between Sydney and me. She loved the sun, and a life with me kept her from it.

“You can put the top down if you want,” I said casually, tossing Sydney the keys.

She gave me a weak smile, guessing my thoughts. “Nah, I’d rather have air conditioning.”

I smiled back, knowing she was lying. Sometimes, lounging in bed, she and I would discuss plans for a future dream house. We’d decided we’d build a screened-in porch, airy enough for me to still enjoy the heat but covered enough to block the worst of the light. I always teased her I’d serve her lemonade out there. It would be the perfect place for us—the meeting of worlds. But at the moment, it was hard to imagine a future like that.

Marcus gave her directions to an apartment complex that actually wasn’t that far from where I used to go to school at Carlton on the other side of town. As she drove us onto the highway, I dialed someone that few Moroi were lucky enough to have in their phone’s memory. I was even more surprised when she answered on the first ring.

“Hello, Adrian,” said Lissa.

“Were you waiting by the phone for me?” I teased.

“I was waiting for Christian to call me, actually. But I’d rather hear from you—at least if you’re calling to say you’ve got Jill.”

“Afraid not,” I said, feeling a pang at the loss. “But I’ve got some news that might be of use. We have good evidence that the Warriors of Light are holding Jill.”

Lissa clearly hadn’t expected that. “What? I thought it was some witch who hated Sydney. If the Warriors have her, then this isn’t just about some vendetta anymore. Those people like to kill vampires for fun.”

“It sounds like Alicia gave Jill to them for holding. Now Sydney has a convoluted plan to try to find out where Jill’s being held, but if the Alchemists could put some pressure on the Warriors instead, it’d save us a lot of trouble,” I told her. “The only problem is, Sydney can’t exactly call them up and ask.”

“But I can,” guessed Lissa.

“You’re very charming and persuasive,” I told her. “Plus you’ve got a little bit more influence than we do.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she replied, sounding exhausted at the thought. I didn’t blame her. Diplomacy would exhaust me too, especially when dealing with assholes like the Alchemists. “They’re going to want to know what ‘good evidence’ we’ve got.”

I hesitated, thinking of Sabrina. “We can’t exactly give our source up. Can you just tell them it’s an anonymous tip and have them look into that?”

“I’ll try,” said Lissa. “But you know how they are.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “I certainly do. Good luck—and thanks.”

“Nothing to thank me for. Jill’s my sister.”

I disconnected and was just in time to see Sydney drive right past the apartment complex Marcus had indicated. “Hey,” I said, recognizing it from my Carlton days. “You missed it.”

Her expression had darkened. “I didn’t miss the guys in suits snooping around the side of the building.” Her eyes lifted to the rearview mirror, and she sighed. “Or the black car that just peeled out of the building’s lot and is now following us.”

“Damn it,” said Marcus. “They found out I came to town. I thought that place was secure.”

I turned in my seat, craning my neck to see what Sydney had. Sure enough, a black Escalade was doing some pretty aggressive maneuvering to get into our lane. Sydney made an abrupt turn that caused me to grip the door, and the Escalade followed suit. The precious, fragile sense of freedom I’d allowed myself to enjoy since leaving Court dissipated like smoke on the wind.

“Sorry, you guys,” said Marcus. “They must have spotted me when I came in this morning.”

Sydney made another surprise turn, one that the Escalade got honked at for copying. Her face was filled with tension, and I knew she had to be working hard to remain as calm as she looked. This was the nightmare she’d lived with for so long: the Alchemists finding her again. “Don’t feel so bad,” she told Marcus. “After everything that’s gone down in Palm Springs, they probably keep eyes and ears here regularly. For all we know, you weren’t even spotted. Someone could’ve seen Eddie and decided to do some snooping. He’s a person of interest to them too.” She shook her head. “The real issue is how to lose them.”

“Get back on the highway and take the first downtown exit,” Marcus said.

Going back into a congested area makes no sense, hissed Aunt Tatiana. They’ll take Sydney again!

“Shouldn’t we get on the open highway and try to outrun them?” I asked.

“We’d never be able to do it,” he said. “Besides, they’d probably get backup, and we’d find a few more of those coming after us.”

Sydney exited as directed, pointing us toward the city center. Ahead of us, I could see some of the most crowded corridors of downtown, narrow streets packed with cars while pedestrians and outdoor tables filled the sidewalks.

“I’m guessing you’re playing on the fact that the Alchemists don’t like to make a scene,” Sydney remarked. “But remember, they did chase us—quite openly—down the Strip in Las Vegas.” She’d been in a wedding dress at the time, making us stand out that much more. “They’ll do what they’ve got to do.”

Marcus nodded. “I know. But they’ll still avoid too much of a show if they can. Really, my main goal is getting to my escape car.”

“Your escape car?” I stared, dumbfounded. “You have an escape car?”

He flashed me a smile. “I’m Marcus Finch. Of course I have an escape car. It’s accessed by an underground tunnel that comes out of Miguel’s Taqueria.”

“Underground—” Sydney shook her head. “Never mind. That’s six blocks from here, and we’re about to get stuck because of lights and slow cars.” The cars in front of us came to a stop as the traffic signal turned red.

“Correction,” said Marcus, suddenly unbuckling his seat belt. “They’re about to get stuck because of lights and a stopped car. Everyone get out.” Immediately, I realized what was about to happen, and he confirmed it when he put his hand on the door’s handle. “You guys know how to be evasive. Meet me at Miguel’s—but don’t let them follow you there.”

He was out of the car in a flash, and a couple of seconds later, so were we, once Sydney had shifted the car into park. He tore off down one side of the street, losing himself in the crowds of tourists and lunchgoers without looking back. Some might have considered it abandonment, but Marcus knew us well enough by now to trust we knew what to do in situations like this. Be unpredictable. Hide among crowds and businesses. Meet back up when we’d lost them.

That was assuming, of course, that they even followed us. There’d been two cars between them and us on the road, so there was a chance they might not have seen us ditch our car. When the light turned green and traffic didn’t move, they would figure out that something had gone wrong. The question was how far Sydney and I could get before then and whether they’d follow Marcus or us.

They followed us, of course.

“Faster,” I said, clutching her hand as we tore off down the sidewalk.

A series of honks let me know when the light turned green, as angry drivers found themselves unable to get around our abandoned car. Shouts behind us were a tip-off that something else was awry, and when I glanced back, I saw a man and woman in beige suits barreling down the sidewalk toward us, oblivious to the pedestrians in their way. So much for not making a scene.

Ahead of us, the sidewalk looked even more packed than usual as people clustered around something. Great. Not the slowdown we needed. Another quick look behind me showed the Alchemist man—who was nearly as tall as me—gaining ground. I approached the crowd and saw they had stopped to admire displays of clothing that a shop had set out on the sidewalk as part of some sort of promotion. Dresses, gauzy scarves, and more created a brightly colored display that made even the most indifferent passerby stop and admire it. Sydney and I squeezed our way into a group of women admiring a purple silk dress and saw the Alchemists mere feet behind me.

Sydney glanced around, and a smile unexpectedly crossed her lips. She spoke a magical incantation that was lost in the noise of the street, but the power it invoked had an immediate effect. All of that beautiful clothing around us exploded into rainbow-colored wisps of fabric. It rained down around us, making it nearly impossible to see. Chaos ensued as people cried out in wonder, unsure if it was an attack or some sort of publicity stunt.

“Come on,” she said, picking up the pace again.

As we ran away, I also heard an especially loud cry of dismay from someone I recognized—Lia DiStefano. This was her shop, which explained Sydney’s sly smile. I felt a little bad . . . but also kind of not. Lia had made a gorgeous dress for Sydney once, a red gown inspired by ancient Greek styles. Sydney had been so beautiful in it, I’d thought I was dreaming. I had to give Lia credit for that. On the other hand, Lia had been so desperate to have Jill model for her that she’d covertly published an ad with Jill—the one that Alicia had included in the box Jackie had brought to Sydney. I didn’t entirely know the relationship between Alicia, the Warriors, and how that ad had connected them to Jill, but there was no question that the ad had put Jill at risk.

“Sorry, Lia,” I muttered as I raced past her shop. “Next time, don’t recruit models you aren’t supposed to use.”

A block away was a florist’s shop I’d been in once before. Without checking to see if we’d been followed, we quickly darted in through its door, which was propped open to enjoy the afternoon heat. Immediately, the overwhelming fragrance of roses and lilies surrounded us. Bouquets of every color filled the shop, but I looked past all of that for what I’d remembered seeing the last time I was here: a back door. The shop had two entrances, one that faced the main thoroughfare out front and this second one that led to parking in the alley behind the businesses. I nodded and smiled at the surprised florist, then hurried Sydney through to the back door as though what we were doing was perfectly normal.

In the alley, I paused and dared a peek through the door’s window, waiting to see if an Alchemist came bursting into the shop. No one did, so I crossed my fingers that destroying Lia’s display had caused enough confusion to cover the rest of our journey. Sydney and I ran down the back alley, past the doors of more businesses, some of which were public and some weren’t. When we reached the back door for Miguel’s Taqueria, it read DELIVERIES ONLY. I knocked anyway, wondering how we would explain my presence to whoever answered.

The guy who opened the door, however, didn’t seem surprised at all to see us. He waved us inside. “You must be Marcus’s friends.”

We entered and found ourselves in the entryway to the kitchen, which smelled delicious. A cook flipping a quesadilla glanced up, nodded like our presence was totally normal, and returned to his work. Meanwhile, our guide led us to a nearby storage room lined with shelves of food. There was a bona fide trapdoor in the floor. He opened it up, and down below, holding a flashlight, was Marcus. He waved up at us.

“How do you know Marcus?” I asked as I started to climb the rungs down.

My guide shrugged. “He did me a favor once.”

That seemed to be the story of Marcus’s life. We thanked the guy and then made our way down. Just as Marcus had said, there really was a tunnel. We hurried through it with little conversation, emerging into a utility shed in a park a few blocks away. We saw no signs of pursuit in the tunnel or up above, and Marcus felt secure enough to lead us to a parked blue Chevy. He produced some keys from his pocket and unlocked the door.

It wasn’t until we were on the road that he finally spoke. “Well,” he said. “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that you don’t have to keep making the Alchemists think you’re at Court. The bad news is, the Alchemists know you aren’t there anymore.”