The Ruby Circle

Chapter 3 Adrian

MINUTES FELT LIKE HOURS AFTER SYDNEY’S DEPARTURE. I paced the length of our small suite, a knot in my chest, as I braced myself for the worst. Any second now, I feared, I would get word that the plan had gone awry and guardians had intercepted Sydney trying to escape Court.

“Darling, must you do that?” my mother asked at last. “You’re agitating the animals.”

I paused and glanced down to where Mr. Bojangles was keeping a wary eye on Hopper—the small, enchanted dragon that Sydney had summoned earlier this year. Hopper had become a pet of sorts and was regarding the cat with an excitement that clearly wasn’t reciprocated.

“I don’t think it’s me, Mom. They’re just—”

A chime from my phone interrupted me, and I dove for it, startling both cat and dragon. On my phone’s display, a text message from Eddie was clear and succinct: Made it out of Court. All is well.

I texted back: Am I still married to a cat?

Yes, came the response, followed a moment later by: But Ms. T swears it’s temporary.

Some of my anxiety lessened, but not all. I wrote: Let me know when she’s back.

Twenty minutes later, a new message came in, this one from Sydney herself: Back in human form. Everything seems to be normal.

Everything? I questioned.

Well, aside from a weird urge to chase laser pointers, she responded.

If that’s the worst effect, I’ll take it. Keep me posted. I love you.

I meow you too, she wrote back. It was promptly corrected with: I mean, I love you.

I smiled as I put the phone away but found I was still a long way from feeling as though all was right in the world. I couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren’t entirely settled between Sydney and me, and that wasn’t even taking into consideration the physical threats she now faced. She’d made it outside of Court . . . but was now potentially facing all the same dangers that had driven us to seek sanctuary here.

Only if they know she’s out, Aunt Tatiana’s voice reminded me, in a rare moment of legitimate helpfulness. As long as no one’s looking for her—and she doesn’t get discovered—she’ll be safe. So don’t blow it.

Right, I agreed. And no one will have any reason to think she’s not here. She never leaves our suite, and we don’t really have that many visitors.

Later that day, of course, we had a visitor.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a regiment of guardians demanding to know Sydney’s whereabouts. Instead, I found Sonya Karp Tanner standing outside our door, smiling when she saw me. Whatever relief I found at seeing her was quashed by an anxious Aunt Tatiana.

Don’t let your guard down at any cost! she hissed.

Sonya’s our friend, I silently replied.

Aunt Tatiana disagreed. It doesn’t matter. No one can know Sydney’s gone, no matter how friendly you think they are. All it takes is one little slip, no matter how good the intention. The fewer the people who know a secret, the better.

With a pang, I realized she was right. Meanwhile, Sonya’s congenial expression had turned puzzled as I conducted my mental conversation with a phantom.

“Are you okay, Adrian?” asked Sonya.

“Fine, fine,” I said, beckoning her in. “Just tired. I had kind of a rough morning.” I gestured vaguely at my face, which still bore the signs of scuffling with Wesley and his crew.

As I’d hoped, Sonya was effectively deflected. Concern lit her features. “What happened?”

“Oh, the usual. Just some idiots jealous of me being married to the hottest human around.”

“Where is she?” asked Sonya, glancing around the empty suite. “And your mother?”

“Mom went to bed,” I replied. “And Sydney . . . she’s out for a walk.”

Sonya’s sharp eyes focused back on me. “She’s out after you were attacked this morning?”

“Well, it’s daylight out, so there’s less of a threat. And . . . Neil’s with her.” I nearly said Eddie but wasn’t sure if Sonya might have heard about him leaving Court. Knowing my luck now, Neil would stop by unannounced and ruin the story. “She needed some air,” I added, seeing Sonya’s skeptical look. “Staying cooped up inside is really getting to her.” That, at least, wasn’t a lie.

Sonya held my gaze a few more moments before finally deciding to let the topic go. She could probably tell from my aura and body language that I wasn’t being entirely honest, but it was unlikely she could guess the truth—that Sydney had transformed into a cat and been smuggled out of Court in a far-fetched attempt to find Jill.

“Well, it’s you I came to see,” Sonya said at last. “I need to discuss something with you. Or rather—someone.”

I sat down at our kitchen table and nodded for her to do the same. Discuss someone? I could do that, as long as it wasn’t Sydney. “Who do you have in mind?” I asked.

Sonya laced her fingers together and took a deep breath. “Nina Sinclair.”

I winced. Perhaps not as problematic as Sydney right now, but Nina was by no means a welcome topic. She was a spirit user, like me, one I’d been pretty good friends with while Sydney had been in captivity. Unfortunately, Nina had wanted to be much better friends and had been reading more into our relationship than there was. She’d taken my rejection badly—and had responded even worse when she found out I’d married a human. On the rare times I’d passed her since returning to Court, I was constantly reminded of the old “if looks could kill” adage.

“What about Nina?” I asked carefully. “Is she still working for you?”

Sonya was the leader on a project attempting to use spirit to prevent people from turning Strigoi. Nina had inadvertently helped with this initially when she’d restored her sister, Olive, from being a Strigoi. With several of us working together, we’d managed to transfer that spirit magic to Neil’s blood, effectively creating a vaccine that protected Neil from ever being forcibly turned. Sonya’s victory had been short-lived, however, as she was unable to replicate that effect in anyone else. But she was still tirelessly working toward that goal.

“Technically, yes, but it’s been a while since she truly offered anything of value.” Sonya’s expression darkened. “Nina’s been a little . . . off lately.”

I couldn’t help a small laugh at that. “We’re spirit users. We’re all a little off.”

Sonya didn’t return my smile. “Not like this. If you could see her . . . well, you’d understand. I sent her home yesterday because she wasn’t making any sense. She also looked as though she hadn’t slept in weeks. The only spirit user I’ve seen in such bad shape was . . . well, the time I interviewed Avery Lazar.”

That drew me up short. Avery, another spirit user, was currently in the mental facility of a Moroi prison. “Avery used ridiculous amounts of spirit,” I reminded her. “I mean, ridiculous. And on a regular basis.” Bringing back Jill had taken its toll on me, temporarily draining me of spirit, but it had been a one-time thing. Avery had attempted a number of high-power feats, over and over, landing her in her current state when her mind finally couldn’t take any more. “Nina would have to be doing some pretty serious magic to end up like that.”

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” said Sonya grimly.

I gasped, thinking of Avery. “That she’s trying to acquire shadow-kissed bondmates?”

“No, not that . . . but something that takes almost as much power and is being done on a regular basis. Whenever I try to get an answer out of her, she evades me or just starts babbling nonsense.” Sonya sighed. “I’m worried about her, Adrian. She needs help, but she won’t talk to me.”

As the pointed silence grew, I suddenly caught on to what Sonya was getting at. “What? You think she’ll talk to me?”

Sonya shrugged. “I don’t know who else to ask.”

“Well, not me!” I exclaimed. “She was furious when I turned her down. If she’s got something going on and needs help, I’m not the one she’s going to turn to. You need to ask someone else.”

“There is no one else! Her sister’s still missing. And did you know Nina quit her office job? Or . . . actually, I think she was fired, but it’s hard to get a straight answer out of her. As far as I know, you and I are the only ones around who care about what she’s doing to herself—and we need to step up and help her.”

“She won’t talk to me,” I reiterated.

Sonya raked a hand through her dark red hair. “You might be surprised. Even though things . . . fell out . . . between you, she clearly still felt as though there was some connection. Please, Adrian. Please just try. If she sends you away, fine. So be it. I won’t ask you again.”

I started to say no once more, but a closer look at Sonya stopped me. She truly was agitated by this. It was in her voice and eyes . . . even in the colors of her aura. I knew Sonya wasn’t the type to overreact. I also knew she wouldn’t ask this of me if she wasn’t truly concerned, especially since she was the one who’d advised me to stay away from Nina to protect her feelings.

I glanced at the time. It was growing late by our standards. Most Moroi would be going to bed. “Okay if I wait to see her until tomorrow?”

Sonya considered and then gave a small nod. “I’m sure that’ll be fine. Of course, I’m also sure she probably won’t be asleep anytime soon. But it may be best if you wait for Sydney to get back before leaving, so that Neil can accompany you.”

For a moment, I nearly said that Eddie was with Sydney, not Neil, and then I remembered the cover story. I’d have to get in touch with Neil to make sure he backed up what I said. If I wasn’t careful, things could get very complicated very quickly. It was what I hated most about lying: It rarely stayed simple.

“Sounds good,” I said, standing as Sonya did. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“Thank you. I know this isn’t—” She bit her words off as Mr. Bojangles came tearing through the room, with Hopper in hot pursuit. Sonya turned to me, startled. “When did you get a cat?”

“Uh, today, actually. Jackie Terwilliger—Sydney’s old teacher?—left it when she visited.”

That was obviously news to Sonya. “She was here? At Court? How long did she stay?”

“Not long,” I said, immediately wishing I hadn’t mentioned it at all. “Just checking up on Sydney.”

“That’s a lot of effort just to check up on someone. A phone call would’ve been simpler.”

I hoped I looked guileless. “Yeah, but then she wouldn’t have been able to give us the cat. Belated wedding gift.”

“Adrian,” said Sonya, using the voice she must have used to chastise countless students when she was a high school biology teacher, “what aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing, nothing,” I said, steering her to the door. “Relax, we’re all fine. The only thing you need to worry about is how fast Nina’s going to send me packing.”

“Adrian—”

“Everything’s fine,” I said cheerily. I opened the door for her. “Thanks for stopping by. Say hi to Mikhail for me.”

It was clear from her expression that I’d completely failed in convincing her of my innocence, but at least she looked like she wasn’t going to compel me to tell her what was really going on—for now. We made our farewells, and I breathed a sigh of relief when she was gone, hoping no one else would come by and force me to fumble for another excuse about why Sydney wasn’t around.

I went to bed soon thereafter and was awakened midday by a new text message from Sydney. She reported that she, Eddie, and Jackie had made it to Pittsburgh but wouldn’t be truly investigating the museum until nightfall. She assured me everything was fine, and I assured her of the same, deciding it was probably best if she didn’t know I’d agreed to go talk to a potentially crazy girl who was either in love with me or despised everything about me. Sydney had enough to worry about.

When the Moroi Court began waking up later in the day, I managed to get Neil to come back and walk me over to Nina’s. It was early enough that not too many people were out, but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Neil, driven by duty, was happy to help me regardless, but I knew he had an ulterior interest in going with me to see Nina. Months ago, he and her sister, Olive, had had the beginnings of a romance blossoming. None of us were entirely sure how far it had gone, but things had ended abruptly when Olive had taken off with little contact with Nina and none with Neil. I doubted Nina had any new details on her sister’s whereabouts, but Neil was probably hoping for some scrap of info.

The late summer sun was still well above the horizon, even around six, when we reached Nina’s door. She lived in a section of bare-bones apartments inhabited by other Court employees (or ex-employees, as it turned out), far from the much more posh lodgings that royals like my father lived in. I took a deep breath as I stared at that door, summoning my courage.

“It won’t get any easier if you put it off,” Neil told me, unhelpfully.

“I know.” Resolved, I gave two short raps to the door, secretly hoping Nina was asleep or not at home. Then I could honestly tell Sonya I’d tried and leave it at that. Unfortunately, Nina opened the door almost immediately, as though she’d been waiting right by it.

“Hello, Adrian,” she said warily. Her gray eyes lifted beyond me. “Neil.”

He gave a nod of greeting, but I was momentarily stunned. Nina didn’t come from a rich or royal background, but that had never affected her beauty, and she’d always presented herself in an immaculate manner.

At least, she used to.

That Nina I’d known was nowhere in sight. Her dark, curly hair looked as though it hadn’t been brushed recently. In fact, I wasn’t sure it had been washed in a while either. A rumpled blue plaid skirt clashed with an orange T-shirt, over which she wore an inside-out gray cardigan. One of her feet was covered with a white ankle sock. Her other sock—adorned with red and white stripes—came up to her knee.

And yet, it wasn’t the bizarre wardrobe choice that was most alarming; instead, it was the look on her face that told me Sonya hadn’t been exaggerating. Dark circles hung under Nina’s eyes, though the eyes themselves were bright and almost too alert, glittering feverishly. It was a look I’d seen before in spirit users pushed to the edge. It was a look I’d seen on Avery Lazar’s face.

I swallowed. “Hello, Nina. Can we come in?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why? So you can tell me again how totally unsuitable we are? So you can tell me how we can never, ever possibly work out—seeing as I’m not human and you apparently only hook up with people who double as dinner?”

My temper started to flare at the slight, but then I reminded myself that she wasn’t well. “I’m sorry for what I said last time—I mean it. I’d met Sydney long before I met you. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Please—can we come in?”

Nina stared at me wordlessly for a long time, and I used the opportunity to call on spirit and sneak a glimpse of her aura. Like Lissa’s yesterday, Nina’s aura was filled with the pale gold of a spirit user. Unlike Lissa’s, however, Nina’s gold had a weak, almost watery quality to it. It didn’t burn like a flame. The other colors were equally frail, flickering in and out.

“Okay,” she said at last.

She stepped aside and let us pass. What I found inside was nearly as disconcerting as her appearance. I’d been to her place before, back when she and I had done a lot of party-hopping together. The tiny apartment was actually more of a studio, with bedroom and living room merged into one. Despite the small size, Nina had always gone to great pains to keep her home tidy and well decorated. Much like the care given to her physical exterior, though, that upkeep seemed to be a thing of the past.

Crusty, smelly dishes were piled high in the kitchen sink, where a couple of flies buzzed lazily. Laundry, books, and cans of energy drink were piled everywhere—tables, floor, even the bed. Weirdest of all was a stack of magazines on the floor with a pile of shredded paper next to them.

“How do you sleep?” I asked, unable to help myself.

“I don’t,” she said, clasping her hands behind her back. “I don’t. There’s no time. I can’t risk it.”

“You have to sleep sometime,” said Neil pragmatically.

She shook her head frantically. “I can’t! I have to keep trying to find Olive. I mean, I’ve found her. Kind of. Depends on how you look at it. But I can’t get to her, you see? That’s the problem. That’s why I have to keep trying. Why I can’t sleep. Understand?”

I didn’t understand at all, but Neil’s breath had caught at the mention of Olive’s name. “You’ve found her? You know where she is?”

“No,” said Nina, sounding slightly irritated. “I just told you that.”

Without warning, she flounced down on the floor beside the magazine pile. She picked a magazine up at random and began tearing it, page by page, into tiny little pieces, building up the pile of shreddings.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Thinking,” she replied.

“No, I mean with the magazines.”

“This helps me think,” she explained.

Neil and I exchanged glances. “Nina,” I said carefully, “I think maybe you should go visit a doctor. Neil and I can go with you, if you’d like.”

“I can’t,” she protested, still methodically shredding the magazine. “Not until I reach Olive.”

I crouched down beside her, wishing I had a better idea of how to talk to someone so clearly unstable. You’d think I’d be an expert. “How are you trying to reach her? By phone?”

“By dream,” said Nina. “I succeeded. A couple of times. But then she blocked me. She turned the dream against me. I’m trying to fight through it, but I can’t.”

I could tell from Neil’s expression that he was hoping that had made sense to me, but I was more confused than ever. A particularly resistant person could make it difficult for a spirit user to form a dream connection, but the rest made no sense. “Olive’s not a spirit user,” I told her. “She can’t do anything to the dream without your permission. You wield the ultimate control.”

“She can, she can, she can.” Nina began tearing up the magazine with renewed energy. “Each time I try to talk to her, she throws up some obstacle! Things I never even thought of. Her nightmares, my nightmares. Someone’s. I fight them. I do. Really, I do. But it takes so much spirit.” She abruptly stopped the shredding and stared off into space bleakly. “It’s exhausting. And by the time I get through, she’s slipped away. She wakes herself up, and I can’t talk to her. Can’t ask her why she left me. Do you know?” Nina’s eyes flitted from me to Neil. “Do you know why she left?”

“No,” I said gently. “All I know is that you need some serious rest.” I started to put a hand on her shoulder, and she jerked away, anger glinting in her eyes.

“Don’t torment me,” she said in a low voice. “Don’t come here and act like you’re my friend.”

“I am your friend, Nina. No matter what happened—or didn’t happen—between us, I’m your friend. I want to help you.”

Her anger instantly flipped to despair. “No one can help me. No one can—Wait.” Unexpectedly, she grabbed my arm, her fingers digging in with astonishing—and uncomfortable—strength. “Maybe you can help me. You’re the best dreamer. Come with me the next time I visit Olive. Then you’ll see—you’ll see how she’s controlling the dream! If we combine our powers, maybe we’ll be strong enough to stop her! Then we can talk to her!”

I shook my head. “Nina, there’s no way she can—”

Those fingers bit deeper into my arm. “She is, Adrian! Join me, and you’ll see.”

I thought carefully before responding. Nina was right about me being the best spirit dreamer (that we knew of), and I’d never seen any sign of a non–spirit user being able to take control of a dream. Nina clearly believed that was the case and that it was preventing her from making contact with Olive. I didn’t dare say it, but I wondered if Nina had been using so much spirit lately that her control was faltering. That would explain why she was having difficulty forging a dream connection, and in her addled state, she’d come up with the idea that Olive was interfering.

Yes, but what has she been using so much spirit on? asked Aunt Tatiana.

It was a good question. Looking over Nina and her state of disarray, I found myself at a loss. Even if she tried to form a spirit dream connection with Olive every day, there was no way that alone could’ve driven Nina to this state. What else was she using magic on? Or was her mental deterioration being accelerated by something more than the magic? Was it a culmination of that and personal stress—like Olive’s disappearance and my rejection?

“Adrian?” asked Neil tentatively. “Isn’t there any way you’d consider helping?”

Not knowing my thoughts, he believed my hesitation was over a refusal to offer assistance. The truth was, I just didn’t know how. And honestly, Nina needed a lot more than help with a spirit dream. She needed help with her life.

“Okay,” I said at last. “I’ll help you connect to her in a dream—but only if you get some sleep.”

Immediately, Nina began shaking her head. “I can’t. I’m too excited. I have to keep looking. I have to—”

“You will get some sleep,” I ordered. “I’m getting Sonya here, and she’s going to bring you a sedative. You will take it. And you will sleep.”

“Later I will. Right now, we need to reach Olive. She’s on a human schedule. She’ll go to bed soon, and I can’t be asleep. We’ll reach her first and—”

“No. No deal.” I made my voice as firm and harsh as I could. “If she’s waited this long, she’ll keep waiting. Sleep first. For God’s sake, Nina! Look at yourself. You’re—”

“What? What?” she demanded, that earlier feverish look returning. “A mess? Ugly? Not good enough for you?”

“Exhausted.” I sighed. “Now, please. Let me call Sonya. You’ll sleep today, and we’ll look for Olive tomorrow. If you’re rested, you’ll be better able to, uh, fight her control.” I still didn’t buy that, but Nina did, and she finally conceded.

“Okay,” she said. “You can call Sonya.”

I did, and Sonya was relieved to hear I’d made progress, small though it was. She promised to come over with something to help Nina sleep, and I promised to hang around until then. When I disconnected, Nina returned to her shredding and began humming what sounded like “Sweet Caroline.”

“It’s really nice of you to help her,” Neil murmured, coming to stand beside me across the room. “Sleep will do her good. And for my own selfish reasons . . . well, I admit I’m eager for you to have contact with Olive too. Not that that’s your primary reason for doing this.”

“Hey, it’s a good enough reason. They all are.” I tried to keep my voice light, not letting on just how bothered I was by Nina’s state. Because if I had to be honest, I wasn’t doing this just for Neil, Sonya, or Nina. Watching Nina as she sat there humming, so clearly out of her mind . . . well, the truth was, it wasn’t that hard to imagine myself in that state someday. And if it came to that, I hoped desperately that someone would help me too.