The Ruby Circle Read online

  One of the witches from a coven I didn’t know produced some dried flowers that she spread over Eddie as she chanted a Latin spell. Moments later, Eddie came to life again, still in mid-jump. He stumbled as he landed, looking around in surprise when he wasn’t where he expected. Adrian and I astonished him further by sweeping him into a group hug.

  “You’ll have to unfreeze Alicia too,” I said in dismay. “We need to find Jill.”

  Ms. Terwilliger frowned. “That’s unfortunate. This is actually a very neat way to deal with her. You didn’t get any indication where Jill was beforehand?”

  I shook my head and released Eddie. “No. She admitted Jill was alive ‘for now’ but didn’t elaborate.” I thought back, trying to replay each word amid the chaos. Although it had been nice to hear Alicia confirm Jill was alive, we’d already gotten a sense of that through our spells. It wasn’t as useful as I’d hoped. “And she said something about Jill listening to psalms.”

  It made as little sense to Ms. Terwilliger as it had to me, and she gave a great sigh, exchanging glances with some of the other witches. They didn’t look thrilled about releasing Alicia either. “Well, once the fire department’s finished, we’ll have to create a secure circle and release her to get some answers.”

  Trey, who’d been standing off on the sidelines, suddenly cleared his throat. “You might not have to. I think I know where she’s at—or, well, at least who’s holding her.” All eyes shifted to him in astonishment, but he didn’t flinch under the scrutiny. “I think the Warriors of Light have her.”

  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 re
quires 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 pro-gressed. “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 plan
s 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?”