The Indigo Spell (20 page)

Adrian leaned closer. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re both.”

I knew that look in his eyes. I knew because I’d seen it before. I expected him to
kiss me, but instead, he ran his finger along the side of my neck. “There it is, huh?
Badge of honor.”

It took me a moment to realize he was talking about the hickey. It had faded but wasn’t
entirely gone. I pulled away. “It is not! It was a mistake. You were out of line doing
that to me.”

His eyebrows rose. “Sage, I distinctly remember every part of that night. You didn’t
seem that unwilling. You were practically on top of me.”

“I don’t really remember the details,” I lied.

He moved his hand from my neck and rested a fingertip on my lips. “But I’ll stick
to just kissing these if it makes you feel better. No mark.” He started to lean toward
me, and I jerked away.

“You will not! It’s wrong.”

“What, kissing you, or kissing you in Pies and Stuff?”

I glanced around, suddenly aware that we were creating a dinner show for the senior
citizens, even if they couldn’t hear us. I backed up.

“Both,” I said, feeling my cheeks burn. “If you’re going to attempt something inappropriate—something
you said you wouldn’t do anymore—then you could at least pick a better place.”

He laughed softly, and the look in his eyes confused me further. “Okay,” he said.
“The next time I kiss you, I promise it’ll be in a more romantic place.”

“I—what? No! You shouldn’t try at all!” I began moving toward the door, and he fell
in step with me. “What happened to loving me from a distance? What happened to not,
um, bringing up any of this stuff?” For someone who was allegedly just going to watch
from afar, he wasn’t doing a very good job. And I was doing an even worse job of being
indifferent.

He moved in front of the door and blocked my way. “I said I wouldn’t—if you don’t
want me to. But you’re kind of giving me mixed signals, Sage.”

“I am not,” I said, amazed that I could even say that with a straight face. Even
I didn’t believe it. “You’re presumptuous and arrogant and a whole lot of other things
if you think I’ve changed my mind.”

“You see, that’s just it.” There he was again, moving into my space. “I think you
like the ‘other things.’”

I shook off my daze and pulled away. “I like
humans
.”

Another Alchemist lesson came to mind.
They look like us, but don’t be deceived. The Moroi don’t display the malice of the
Strigoi, but creatures who drink blood and manipulate nature have no place in our
world. Work with them only as you must. We are not the same. Keep your distance as
much as possible. It’s for the good of your soul.

Adrian didn’t look like he believed this either, but he stepped away and headed outside.
I followed a few moments later, thinking I’d played with fire more than once today.

SUNDAY ROLLED AROUND,
and the day started off quietly. We were nearing the point when Veronica might strike
again, and my stomach was in knots over what her next step would be . . . and how
stuck we were on how to stop her. Then I received help from an unexpected source when
my phone rang with an unknown number on the display.

Normally, I wouldn’t answer something like that, but my life was hardly normal these
days. Besides, it was a Los Angeles area code.

“Hello?”

“Hi! Is this Taylor?”

It took me a moment to remember my secret identity. I did not, however, recall giving
my actual number to any of the girls we’d warned about Veronica.

“Yes,” I said warily.

“This is Alicia, from Old World Bed-and-Breakfast.”

“Hi,” I said, still puzzled as to why and how she’d be calling me.

Her voice was as cheery and bright as when we’d met her. “I wanted to know if you’d
thought any more about getting a room for your anniversary.”

“Oh, well . . . that. We’re still deciding. But, uh, probably we’re going to go with
something closer to the coast. You know, romantic beach walks and all that.”

“I can totally understand,” she said, though she sounded disappointed at the loss
of a sale. “If you change your mind, just let me know. We’re running a special this
month, so you could get the Bunny Suite at a really good price. I remember you saying
it reminded you of your pet rabbit. What was his name?”

“Hopper,” I said flatly.

“Hopper! That’s right. Such a sweet name.”

“Yeah, awesome.” I tried to think of a polite way to phrase my next question but simply
chose directness. “Look, Alicia, how did you get this number?”

“Oh, Jet gave it to me.”

“He did?”

“Yup.” She’d apparently gotten over her disappointment and now sounded bright and
chirpy again. “He filled out an info card while you guys were here and put down your
number.”

I nearly groaned. Typical.

“Good to know,” I said. I wondered how often Adrian gave my number out. “Thanks for
following up.”

“Happy to. Oh!” She giggled. “I nearly forgot. Your friend is back.”

I froze. “What?”

“Veronica. She checked back in yesterday.”

My first reaction was excitement. My second one was panic. “Did you tell her we were
asking about her?”

“Oh, no. I remembered you saying you wanted to surprise her.”

I nearly sank in relief. “Thank you. We, uh, wouldn’t to ruin that. We’ll have to
stop by and visit—but don’t tell her.”

“You can count on me!”

We disconnected, and I stared at the phone. Veronica was back. Just when we thought
we’d lost all leads on her. I immediately called Ms. Terwilliger but was sent to voice
mail. I left a message and then followed up with a text, saying I had urgent news.
My phone rang again, just as I was about to call Adrian. I almost hoped Alicia had
more to tell me, but then I saw that it was Stanton’s number. After first taking a
deep breath, I tried to answer in as calm a way as possible.

“Miss Sage,” she said. “I received your message yesterday.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you for calling me back.”

I’d called her yesterday, just before meeting up with Adrian. Ms. Terwilliger’s magical
training had taken priority at the time, but I hadn’t forgotten my deal with Marcus.

“I have a, um, favor to ask,” I continued.

Stanton, who was rarely surprised, was clearly surprised now. “You’re certainly entitled
to ask . . . but you’re just not usually the type who does.”

“I know, and I feel bad. So, if you have to say no, I understand.” In truth, if she
said no, I would have a number of problems on my hands, but it was best not to sound
too eager. “Well, I’ve been thinking about how I have to spend Christmas here—with
the Moroi. And I definitely understand that, ma’am. It’s part of the mission, but . . .
well, I’d be lying if I said that didn’t bother me. So, I was wondering if there’s
any way at all I’d be allowed to go to one of the big holiday services. It would make
me feel . . . oh, I don’t know. More connected. Purified, even. I’m just always surrounded
by them here, by that taint, you know? I feel like I can’t even breathe half the time.
That probably sounds ridiculous.”

I cut my rambling off. When Marcus had first suggested taking advantage of knowing
someone in St. Louis, I’d immediately thought of Ian. Then I realized that wasn’t
enough. Alchemists on assignment couldn’t just ask for casual time off to visit friends.
Time off for something more spiritual and group-oriented—say, the Alchemists’ annual
holiday services—was a different matter. Lots of Alchemists were given clearance to
travel and attend those services. They were tied to our faith and group unity. In
fact, Ian had even brought it up at the wedding in the hopes of luring me to visit
him. Little had he known his trick would pay off. Kind of.

“It doesn’t sound that ridiculous,” Stanton said. That was promising, and I tried
to unclench my fist and relax.

“I was thinking maybe I could go before we’re out for winter break,” I added. “Jill
can stay within the confines of the school, so there shouldn’t be too much risk. And
Eddie and Angeline are always with her. I could just hop over to St. Louis for a quick
weekend trip.”

“St. Louis?” I could almost see her frown through the phone. “There are services in
Phoenix as well. That would be much closer.”

“I know, ma’am. It’s just. . . .” I hoped being genuinely nervous would help me sound
convincing. “I, uh, was hoping I could also see Ian again.”

“Ah. I see.” There was a long pause. “I find that more surprising than you wanting
to attend services. From what I saw at the wedding, you didn’t seem to be that charmed
by Mr. Jansen.”

So. I’d been right that Stanton had noticed his crush on me. However, she’d also noticed
I didn’t return his affection. She was observant, even to little details, which brought
Marcus’s warnings back to me, about how the Alchemists paid attention to everything
we did. I started to understand his fears and why he pulled his recruits out of the
Alchemists so quickly. Was I already attracting attention? Were all the little things
I did—even asking for this—slowly building a case against me?

Again, I hoped my anxiety simply made me sound like a flustered, love-struck girl,
one Stanton would feel sorry for and shake her head over. St. Louis wasn’t that much
farther away by plane, and the end result was the same. “Well, that was business,
ma’am. I didn’t want to get distracted from our goal.”

“Of course.” Her next pause was only a few seconds long, but it felt like an hour.
“Well, I see no reason why you can’t go. You’ve done an admirable job in your work,
and—from a personal point of view—I can understand why you’d want to be with familiar
faces again. You’ve spent more time with the Moroi than many Alchemists ever will
in their lives, and you didn’t hesitate when that Ivashkov pushed himself onto you
at the wedding.”

I didn’t really hesitate when he pushed himself onto me at the sorority, either. Or
did I push myself on him?

“Thank you, ma’am.”

She authorized me to go next weekend and said I could use Alchemist funds to book
my travel arrangements. When we got off the phone, I contemplated calling Ian but
then decided on a more impersonal approach. I jotted out a quick email telling him
that I’d be in town and that I hoped we could meet up. After a few moments of thought,
I then texted Marcus
: Arrangements made
.

Lunchtime came around, and Eddie texted to ask if I could meet Jill and him in my
dorm’s cafeteria. I headed downstairs at the appropriate time and found a glum Eddie
sitting by himself at a table. I wondered where Angeline was and noted he hadn’t mentioned
her in his text. Rather than bring that up, I focused on who he had mentioned.

“Where’s Jill?”

He nodded toward the opposite side of the cafeteria. I followed his gaze and saw Jill
standing near a table, laughing and talking. She held a tray and looked as though
she’d been stopped on her way back from the food line. Micah and some other guys were
at the table, and I was happy to see he did indeed seem comfortable with being her
friend again.

“That’s nice,” I said, turning back to my own food. “I’m glad she’s getting along
with everyone.”

Eddie stared at me in amazement. “Don’t you see what’s going on?”

I’d been about to bite into an apple and stopped. I hated these kinds of loaded questions.
They meant I’d missed out on some social subtlety—something that wasn’t my strong
suit. Glancing back at Jill, I tried to make my best guess.

“Is Micah trying to get back together with her?”

“Of course not,” said Eddie, like I should’ve known. “He’s going out with Claire Cipriano
now.”

“Sorry. I can’t keep track of everyone’s dating lives. I’ll add it to my to-do list
after, you know, busting Alchemist conspiracies and finding out whether the Warriors
are after Jill.”

Eddie’s gaze was locked on Jill, and he nodded, making me think he hadn’t actually
heard a word I’d said. “Travis and Juan want to ask her out.”

“So? She learned her lesson about human and vampire dating.” I wished I had. “She’ll
tell them no.”

“They still shouldn’t be bothering her,” he growled.

Jill didn’t seem to be particularly bothered by their attention. In fact, I liked
seeing her bright and smiling for a change. Confidence suited her and emphasized her
royal status, and she clearly was enjoying whatever banter was going on. One thing
I’d learned in my social education was that flirting wasn’t the same thing as going
out with someone. My friend Julia was an expert at the difference. If it made Jill
happy, I certainly had no problems with it.

Honestly, it looked like the person who was most bothered by Jill’s suitors was Eddie.
He theoretically had the excuse of wanting to protect her, but this seemed pretty
personal. I decided to bring him back to his own romantic life, the one he should
actually be concerned about.

“Where’s Angeline?”

Jill began walking toward us. Looking relieved, Eddie turned back to me. “Well, that’s
what we wanted to talk to you about.”

Whenever anyone wanted to talk to me, it meant something weird was about to happen.
Actual emergency issues were never given an introduction. They were just delivered
immediately. This premeditated stuff was a wild card.

“What’s going on?” I asked once Jill sat down. “With Angeline?”

She exchanged a knowing glance with Eddie. “We think Angeline’s up to something,”
she said. A moment later, she clarified, “Something bad.”

Not this again. I turned to Eddie. “Is she still being distant?”

“Yeah. She had lunch with us yesterday.” He frowned. “But she was acting weird. She
wouldn’t explain why she’s been so busy.”

Jill concurred. “She actually got really upset the more we kept questioning her. It
was strange. I think she’s in some kind of trouble.”

I leaned back in my chair. “The kind of trouble Angeline gets into is usually spontaneous
and unexpected. You’re talking like she’s masterminding something in secret. That’s
not her style. At worst, she’s harboring an illicit wardrobe.”

Eddie looked like he wanted to smile but couldn’t quite manage it. “True.”

Jill apparently wasn’t convinced. “You have to talk to her. Find out what’s going
on.”

“Can’t
you
talk to her?” I asked, looking between their faces. “You live with her.”

“We tried,” protested Jill. “I told you. She just got mad the more we talked.”

“Well, I can understand that,” I snapped. “Look, I’m sorry something weird is going
on with her. And I don’t want her in trouble, believe me. But there’s only so much
hand-holding I can do with her. I fixed her math problem. My job is to make sure she
stays in school and doesn’t blow your cover. Everything else is extraneous, and I
just don’t have time for that. And if she wouldn’t talk to you, why on earth do you
think she’d talk to me?”

I’d spoken a bit more harshly than I intended. I really did care about them all. I
also didn’t want trouble in the group. Nonetheless, it was always a little frustrating
when they came to me with dramas like this, as though I were their mother. They were
some of the smartest, most competent people I knew. They didn’t need me, and Angeline
was no criminal genius. Figuring out her motives couldn’t be that difficult.

Neither one of them had an immediate response for me. “You just always seem to get
through to people,” Jill said at last. “You’re good at communication.”

That certainly wasn’t a compliment I heard very often. “I don’t do anything special.
I’m just persistent. Keep trying, and maybe you’ll get through.” Seeing Jill start
to protest, I added, “Please. Don’t ask me to do this right now. You both know I’ve
got a lot going on.”

I gave each of them a meaningful look. Both knew about Marcus, and Jill also knew
about Ms. Terwilliger’s sister. After a few moments, that knowledge set in, and they
both looked a little embarrassed.

Eddie gave Jill a gentle nudge. “She’s right. We should keep working on Angeline ourselves.”

“Okay,” said Jill. My relief was short-lived. “We’ll try a little more. Then, if it
still doesn’t work, Sydney can step in.”

I groaned.

When I parted ways from them later, I couldn’t help but think again about Marcus’s
comments in San Bernardino about how Alchemists got caught up in menial tasks. I tried
to reassure myself that Jill and Eddie would take care of this on their own, meaning
I wouldn’t actually have to intervene. Presuming, of course, Angeline really wasn’t
planning something catastrophic.

Unfortunately, those doubts were soon shaken when I got on the shuttle that would
take me to main campus. On weekends, there was only one bus that looped between all
buildings, and this one had just picked up at the boys’ dorm. I found Trey sitting
in it, staring out the window with a happy expression. When he saw me, his smile vanished.