The Fiery Heart

CHAPTER 22 SYDNEY

ZOE WAS STILL IN BED when I got back from Adrian’s, sullen and curled up with a book she didn’t seem to be reading. For half a second, I thought maybe she just had some normal high school angst problem, like a bad grade or no date for the dance. But from the glare she shot me, it was obvious who was responsible for her bad mood. She hadn’t liked me always being busy, but I realized that was nothing compared to me siding with Mom. To Zoe, that was unforgivable.

“Zoe,” I said pleadingly. “Let’s go out for lunch or something. Get away from cafeteria food.”

“Don’t you do plenty of that already?” she snapped. “Coffee breaks with Ms. Terwilliger. Cupcake runs.” The animosity in her gaze made me wince.

“It’s not about the food. It’s about you. I want us to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.” She rolled over with her book, putting her back to me. “Go away. Go do whatever it is you do.”

The thing was, I actually didn’t have anything pressing for a change, not until the meeting with Marcus later that night. My ink was done, and there was no magical work with Ms. Terwilliger that needed my attention. I really had hoped I might patch things up with Zoe, but that looked like it wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. There was always homework to be done, I supposed, so I packed up my bag and headed to the library. I certainly wasn’t going to stick around with all the hostility in my room.

I was halfway through an acid and base assignment when a shadow fell across my table. Looking up, I saw Trey and Angeline standing over me, hand in hand. I didn’t know why, but I just started laughing. Maybe after all the tension and danger that had suddenly filled my days, their relationship had actually become something refreshing, no matter how complex.

“You okay there, Melbourne?” asked Trey. “You didn’t get hit in the head last night, did you?”

I smiled and gestured for them to sit down. “No, no. Just a little slaphappy, that’s all.”

Angeline yawned. “We had a good time staying out all night. You should’ve come with us. Eddie said you saw Adrian or something?”

“Yeah, I had to go over something with him about Jill.” Another beautiful lie, and from the way neither of them even blinked, I knew they didn’t doubt me for a minute.

“Is everything okay with her?” The sudden seriousness in Angeline almost made me smile again. She really was in this for the long haul.

“Fine, fine,” I said. “Aside from her running off on a dangerous Strigoi hunting trip last night.”

“Crazy stuff last night,” said Trey, a gleam in his eyes. “Crazy but awesome.”

“I had no idea you were so good with a sword. You work on that between chemistry homework and football practice?”

He grinned at me. “Just part of the way I grew up.”

“And how are you going to reconcile that with that?” I looked down meaningfully at where their hands were clasped together.

They both sobered, and Trey squeezed her hand. “This means more. I told you I needed time to figure out what I should do? Well, it turns out I already knew. I’ve known for a long time.”

“It goes against how you were raised,” I reminded him. “Against the beliefs of your group.”

He seemed unconcerned. “Things change. They’re not my beliefs anymore. They’re not even my group anymore. They’ve made that clear.”

I felt the need to keep playing devil’s advocate. “It’s that easy to break away?”

“Am I really breaking away that much? The Warriors’ original purpose was to actively seek out and destroy Strigoi. The leaders just kind of went astray over the years.” That earlier delight returned. “What we did last night . . . I mean, it was terrifying as hell. I was scared, especially when that one had me on the ground. But at the same time, it felt so right. Like that’s what I was born to do, help smite evil from the world.”

“Did you seriously just say ‘smite’?” I asked.

He shook his head in amusement. “The way I see it, I’m not doing that much different from what I was taught. Strigoi are evil. We need to stop them. I can do that in my own way, without the Warriors. I can do it the way it should be done.”

“And I can help,” declared Angeline. They stared into each other’s eyes, and I thought they might start making out then and there. “We’ll start our own group.”

“The guardians have strict rules about what dhampirs do,” I warned.

“I’m not a guardian,” she said simply. “I don’t answer to them. And anyway, wasn’t there talk with the Moroi about going after those monsters?”

“Yes.”

The queen had so many problems right now that I think that one had slipped through. But there had indeed been growing interest in actually doing preemptive strikes against Strigoi—with both guardians and Moroi. For centuries, the Moroi had argued that it was immoral to use magic as a weapon. As time went on, it was becoming more apparent that magic might very well hold the key to their nation’s safety.

“Okay,” I continued, surprised to hear myself getting a little combative. “So the Warriors let you go all freelance. But what do you think they’re going to do when they find out you’re involved with a dhampir? You aren’t really keeping it secret.”

He shrugged. “No, but it’s not like they have spies here. Even if they find out, all I have to do is put up with the ranting. They won’t punish me or anything. Why are you so worked up about this? What’s with the twenty questions? Weren’t you helping us?”

“She’s an Alchemist,” said Angeline, looking uncharac-teristically wise. “It’s just how they are.” Even more surprisingly, she suddenly grew hesitant and withdrew her hand from Trey. “Sorry. This is probably like . . . really gross to you. We should’ve been more considerate.”

It was hard to say which was more ludicrous: Angeline actually being conscious of something like this or the fact that it was completely untrue.

Because honestly, the reason I was giving them such a hard time was that I was jealous. That wasn’t an emotion I experienced very often, but here it was, alive and well in me. I was so, so envious that they could do this, be together so openly. No sneaking around. No fears of retribution. Trey had been so casual about being caught by the Warriors. A month ago, their rebuke would’ve been awful for him. Now, having come to terms with his feelings, he saw their wrath as a small thing. After all, it seemed they’d mostly berate and condemn him. For all their savagery, the Warriors weren’t like the Alchemists, who felt a need to eliminate and sanitize their problems. I wanted to cry and scream to the world that this was unfair, but I knew I had no right. Life was unfair to a lot of people. I wasn’t special, and this was the fate I’d been given.

“No,” I said, trying to smile. “I’m happy for you guys. Really.”

After a few moments, they decided to believe me and smile back. My phone buzzed with a text, and I saw it was from Adrian: Everything still a go? I wrote back: As far as I know. After Trey and Angeline left, I tried to use the knowledge that I’d see Adrian tonight as a way to bolster myself. Things could be worse, I supposed. Even if it wasn’t unrestricted, we still got to see each other every day.

And yet . . . I was reaching a point where that wasn’t enough. I wanted to go to bed with him each night, not just for sex, but so that I could wake up with him in the morning. I wanted to have pancakes together. I wanted to go out on double dates with his friends. I wanted a life with him. I wanted a life for myself.

When I returned to my room later, I saw that Zoe was gone. Things were still a mess between us, but I was at least relieved that she’d dragged herself up. I’d seen too much of that depressed behavior with Adrian and didn’t want anyone else to go through it. Zoe and I will fix this. We had to.

About an hour before I was supposed to go to Ms. Terwilliger’s, another text came in from Adrian: Change of plan. We’re meeting at that restaurant that went out of business on Indian Canyon.

The news came as a shock. Marcus got in touch?

Adrian’s answer was slow in coming. Yes.

Well. It wasn’t that out of character. When I’d dealt with Marcus the last time he was in town, he’d constantly switched meeting spots on us, often deciding at the last minute. He believed it was safer. Maybe there was something to this.

That’s a scary place at night, I wrote.

That’s part of the reasoning. Don’t worry. We’ll all be there.

Okay. I need to stop and get the stuff first.

I’ll get it for you.

A realization hit me. We were using the Love Phones. I’d picked mine up without even thinking about it. You found the phone!

Yup.

Happiness and relief flooded me. I should’ve known by now not to doubt Adrian.

I love you, I wrote. See you soon.

I waited for an answer, but when none came, I started getting ready to go. The restaurant was about twenty minutes away, in a pretty remote place off the main road. As I packed up, I began to think more and more about how sketchy the location was. As I’d thought earlier, it was ideal for Marcus, but it wasn’t the kind of place I’d normally go alone. I didn’t fear him, but I did worry about other less noble people. One of Wolfe’s lessons had been to avoid walking into uncertain situations, and although Adrian’s comment about how they’d all be there reassured me, I decided to take an extra precaution for my own peace of mind.

I dialed Eddie.

“Hey,” I said. “You want to run an errand with me?”

“The last time you asked that, we went and met with a bunch of rebel Alchemists.”

“Well, I hope you had fun because that’s what I’m doing tonight.” I’d known him long enough to know exactly how to win him over. “I have to go to some remote place in the middle of nowhere. Neil and Angeline will be here for Jill.”

A few seconds passed. “Okay. When are we going?”

“I’ll be right over.”

Eddie was relaxed and upbeat when I picked him up, so I knew that he must have gotten in touch with the other dhampirs in the short time it had taken me to come over. Eddie wasn’t with Jill twenty-four hours a day, but he seemed to feel as though she were particularly vulnerable if he wasn’t on campus. Despite their differences, I knew he felt better having Neil as extra protection.

“Hard to believe everyone’s acting so laid-back after last night,” I remarked, noting his good mood.

“Neil’s not,” said Eddie. “He seems overwhelmed. I mean, not down or anything. He’s happy about the outcome. I think it’s just a big thing to accept you hold the solution to a huge mystery. He was trying to explain it last night when we were out.”

“Sorry I missed it,” I said. I really wasn’t, not when I looked back upon that heated, urgent night with Adrian.

“Sydney . . .” Eddie’s light mood vanished, and even with my eyes on the road, his tone tipped me off that something serious was about to happen. “About that. About you going to Adrian’s . . .”

I felt a tightening of my throat and couldn’t answer immediately. “Don’t talk about that,” I said. “Please.”

“No, we need to.”

Eddie knew. Eddie knew, and if the subject wasn’t so dire, I would’ve laughed. He was oblivious to his own social affairs, but guardians were trained to watch and observe. Eddie did that, and no doubt he’d picked up all sorts of little things between Adrian and me. We tried so hard to hide from the Alchemists, but hiding from our friends, who knew us and loved us, was impossible.

“Are you going to lecture me?” I asked stiffly. “Tell me I’m breaking taboos that have been in place for centuries to preserve the purity of our races?”

“What?” He was aghast. “No, of course not.”

I dared a look. “What do you mean ‘of course not’?”

“Sydney, I’m your friend. I’m his friend. I’d never judge you, and I’d certainly never condemn you.”

“A lot of people think what we’re doing is wrong.” It felt strange and oddly relieving to acknowledge my relationship with Adrian to another person.

“Well, I’m not one of them. If you guys want it . . . that’s your business.”

“Everyone’s suddenly very liberal about this,” I said with wonder. “I just heard a similar thing from Trey and Angeline—about their own relationship, that is. Not about . . . other people’s.”

“I think my ill-fated time with Angeline may be part of it,” he said, with more humor than I expected, considering she’d cheated on him. “She talked enough about her people that after a while, it didn’t seem that weird. And, well, my race exists because humans and Moroi got together and had kids way back when.”

I felt a smile start to grow on my lips. “Adrian says it wouldn’t be fair to the world if he and I had kids, what with the overwhelming power of our collective charm, brains, and good looks.”

Eddie laughed outright, not something I heard very often, and I found myself laughing too. “Yeah, I can see him saying something like that. And that’s the thing, I think . . . the real reason I’m not that weirded out by you two. It goes against all sound logic, but somehow, you two together . . . it just works.”

“‘Against all sound logic,’” I repeated. “Isn’t that the truth.”

A little of his amusement faded. “But that’s not what worries me. Or the morality of it. It’s your own people I’m worried about. How long are you going to be able to go on like this?”

I sighed as I took the exit for the meeting spot. “As long as the center holds.”

The dilapidated restaurant, uncreatively called Bob’s, was easily visible from the freeway in the daytime. Nighttime was a different matter. Large overhead lights had burned out long ago, and most of the gravel parking lot was buried in shadows. The only real light, once I turned off the car, came from a lightbulb near the back of the building. It was the kind of place serial killers, hobos, and Marcus Finch would hang around in, and those first two categories were the reason I had Eddie along.

Clarence’s Porsche wasn’t here yet, but there was a large gray van parked nearby. “Oh God,” I said. “I wonder how many recruits Marcus has with him.”

Eddie said nothing. All romantic musings were gone, and he’d snapped into guardian mode. This was the kind of place that triggered all his alarms, and I knew his training had seized hold and had him looking in every corner. He even walked ahead of me and tried the door first. The windows had been covered over for a while, but I thought I could see a hint of light within. The handle turned in Eddie’s hand, and he pushed the door open and stepped inside—

—into an ambush.

I couldn’t make out any identifying features. They were all in black and wore black ski masks. I think they were just expecting me because only one reached for Eddie, and the guy’s eyes went wide when Eddie not only eluded him but also grabbed and threw him across the room, into someone else.

“Sydney, run!” Eddie yelled.

My immediate instinct was that I couldn’t leave Eddie, but as he shoved me out the door, I realized he was coming with me. We tore out into the parking lot, only to see two more figures in black getting out of the van, cutting us off from my car. Eddie grabbed my hand and steered me in the opposite direction, behind the building and into a dark, sandy field that stretched as far as I could see.

I was a good runner, but I knew Eddie had to slow down for me. I also knew any attempts to tell him to go off without me would be foolish. The grass in the field was scraggly and scant, and there was only a handful of trees. For long moments, there was no sound except the thud of our feet and our heavy breathing. Then, from behind us, I heard shouts . . . and a gunshot.

Eddie managed to glance over his shoulder without breaking stride. “They’re coming,” he said. “About seven of them. With flashlights. And apparently guns.”

“Look,” I gasped out. In front of us, I could see two more flashlights approaching from the direction we were headed.

He said nothing and then suddenly jerked me to our right and down to the ground, into a ditch his superior eyes had seen. He threw me to my stomach and hovered protectively over me. The way the ditch was carved out offered partial coverage, and a thin, sad tree clinging to the side offered a little more. My heart was pounding, and I tried to calm down, lest my breathing give us away. Above me, Eddie was perfectly still, every muscle tense and ready to pounce if needed.

The shouts grew closer, mostly our attackers calling directions to one another and speculating over where Eddie and I were. As I lay there, hoping they’d walk by us, I wondered frantically who they were. Not Marcus and his Merry Men, obviously. But it was someone who cared enough about seizing us—or, well, me—to have set up a very organized trap, and there was only one group of people I could think of that fit that description.

The Alchemists.

It was what I’d lived in fear of so long; I just hadn’t expected it to go down like this. A million questions raced through my head. How long had the Alchemists been here? Had they caught Adrian and Marcus too?

“Sydney!”

The familiar voice made my breath catch. My dad.

“Sydney, I know you’re here somewhere. If you have any common sense or decency left, come out and surrender.”

A skilled negotiator might have delivered that speech in a kind, beseeching way. Not my dad. He was as harsh and unfeeling as usual, managing to make every word sound like an insult.

“It’ll be a lot easier on you if you do,” my dad continued. “And as for that that . . . boy. We don’t need him. He can just go if you come with us.” In a lower voice, I heard him ask, “Is that him?”

A young female voice answered. “No, he’s not the one.”

I could tell from a slight stiffening in Eddie’s posture that he recognized Zoe’s voice too.

“This is for your own good,” my dad growled, not sounding altruistic in the least. “It’s for your soul. For your humanity. We know everything. We found the phone. Come with us so that we can save you from further damnation and defilement.”

The phone. Adrian’s missing phone. I’d been so afraid it would come back to haunt us, despite Adrian’s flippant comment that it would mean nothing unless someone knew it was his. He was right because apparently, someone had known. Someone had known it wasn’t a lovesick random stranger’s phone. How? Had someone followed him at school and stolen it there? It was a mystery I had no time to ponder.

Silence fell as they all waited for me to give myself up. Eddie and I barely breathed. Suddenly, a light shone into our hideout. Eddie sprang up before the guy could even shout for help. Eddie punched him with a force that knocked him to the ground, and then seized hold of me without a moment’s hesitation. Another guy was right there and actually managed to land a hit on Eddie’s face. Eddie knocked him aside and kept going with almost no delay, dragging my stumbling self along. He must have assessed the least surrounded route because I saw no lights ahead of us. A gun went off again, and I heard my dad yell, “Hold on, or you might shoot her! Don’t fire unless you have a clear shot on him.”

My eyes weren’t much use out here, and I had to trust in Eddie’s. “I think this area just gives way to foothills and more wilderness,” he said. “We’ll lose them and hide out there as long as we need to.” For Eddie, surviving off the land for a few days was probably easy work. “Then we’ll go home and figure out something.”

Figure out something. What exactly would that be? An attempt to negotiate with people trying to abduct me and kill Eddie? He made an abrupt turn left, and I understood why when I caught sight of a light in the direction we’d been headed. There was no telling how far their net extended. The next gunshot we heard was closer, far closer than I would have expected. It meant that someone had gotten a sight on Eddie and was catching up to us. That was remarkable, since it wasn’t easy overtaking a dhampir on foot.

No, not a dhampir. Me. Eddie wasn’t running at his normal pace. He was going at mine. Maybe on his own, he could have eluded them and run off to the wilderness, but not while I was with him. I was human, and one of my feet still ached from my ungraceful landing in the alley last night.

Eddie won’t leave me, I thought frantically. He’ll never leave me. They want me, but they don’t care about him. He can live or die, and it won’t matter to them. But if he’s what’s keeping them away, they’ll shoot him and destroy his body.

“Eddie,” I said, panting. “We need to split up.”

“Never.”

That answer wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was that out of all the things rattling around in my mind, Abe Mazur’s words popped up in the forefront:. Don’t think for an instant that I wouldn’t do terrible, unspeakable things if it could save someone I love. Because it was Abe, I’d naturally assumed he was talking about doing terrible, unspeakable things to other people. But as Eddie and I held on to each other, the words took on a whole different meaning. In that moment, I knew I would do anything to save Eddie—my friend—whom I loved.

Even if it meant doing something terrible and unspeakable to myself.

I could hear shouts and feet pounding on the earth. They were getting closer. So were the guns. And even in the throes of terror, with my heart ready to explode in my chest, I managed an effortless Alchemist lie.

“You saw what I did with the fire? I can do another spell like that. Not the same but just as good. I have an object—a charm—but it has to be used from a distance. If we split up and I distract them, you can cast it. It’s a sleep spell. It’ll knock everyone out, except me because I’m protected.”

“I can’t cast a spell,” he said. “Why don’t you do it, and I’ll distract them?”

“Because it’d knock you out too if you’re in its path. You can do it. The magic’s in the artifact. You just say the words to make it work.”

With my free hand, I managed to fumble in my purse while still running. I pulled out Hopper, in inert form, and handed him to Eddie, along with my keys. “Take the keys since you can start the car faster when we escape. For the spell, hold up the dragon,” I panted. “And say centrum permanebit.”

“Cen—what?”

“Centrum permanebit,” I said firmly. “Say it three times, and face toward us, but make sure you’ve got some distance. If someone catches you and interrupts, the spell will backfire.”

“I can’t! I can’t leave you. We’ll find a different way.”

“No, we won’t.” I could feel myself tiring, and my foot ached even more. If Eddie found out, I knew he’d try to carry me, and it’d only make things worse. “This is our chance. There are too many, but we can take them out in one blow. Please, Eddie. You said you’re my friend. I’m your friend. Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

Another gunshot, and dirt kicked up only a foot away where the bullet struck the earth. “I’ll go over there,” Eddie said, gesturing with Hopper. “You go left. None of them seem to be there. If you try to draw their attention, they won’t have time to get to you before I cast the spell . . . right?”

“Right.” I squeezed his hand and had to try not to choke up. “You can do this. And remember, I’m your friend.”

“Centrum permanebit.”

“Centrum permanebit,” I repeated. He let go, and we split off. He ran at an angle to our right, but instead of heading in the opposite direction, I turned around and ran straight back the way I’d come from. I hit my captors almost immediately.

“I won’t fight you,” I said in a low voice as they grabbed me by the arms. “But you have to take me to my dad right now. Get me out of here. I’ll only talk to him.”

I prayed they’d listen and that we’d cover enough distance before Eddie realized I’d lied to him and walked right back into danger. My captors practically dragged me but listened to my request and ended up making good time. It was part of that Alchemist efficiency. They had a mission. They wanted to complete it quickly and thoroughly.

My dad and Zoe, unmasked, stood near where the field met the parking lot. I was so exhausted, I wanted to fall over, but I held myself straight, even when my escorts let go and pushed me forward. I met my dad squarely in the eye.

“Eddie’s off calling for help,” I said coolly. “If you want to avoid a major bloodbath with the guardians, you’ll leave right now.”

He grunted. “At least you have some sense.” He jerked his head toward the van. “Take her there.”

My captors hauled me over and shoved me inside, onto a long seat. The van had a weird orientation, and the back of my seat touched the back of the driver and passenger seats so that I faced the van’s rear. Another Alchemist sat beside me, and two others took the front, out of my sight. Moments later, my dad and Zoe slid in and sat in the seats opposite me, allowing me to see their faces. I had the impression there were other vehicles for the other raiders hidden on the property. I’d barely fastened my seat belt when the Alchemist beside me grabbed my hands and zip-tied them behind my back. The van started, and we peeled away in a storm of gravel and dust. I prayed the other Alchemists would hightail it out of there before Eddie came calling. I wanted no confrontation that might endanger him.

Silence hung heavy in the van. Only my dad and Zoe kept their faces uncovered, and I turned my gaze on her. “You sold me out.”

She hadn’t been prepared for the hardness in my voice and eyes. She swallowed. “Y-you sold yourself out. You’ve done horrible things. You’ve let them corrupt your mind.”

“Is that what this is really about?” I asked. “Or is it because I was going to testify for Mom?”

My dad flinched. “This is about us showing you what family really means. I take responsibility, of course. I should’ve known when you ran off with that dhampir girl that this would happen. I should’ve intervened then, but I was blinded by sentiment.”

I gave a harsh laugh. “Really? Sentiment? I can’t believe you said that with a straight face.” I turned back to Zoe. “Did you steal the phone?”

She shook her head. “I found it in the car when I was practicing those turns.”

Any other laughter, mirthless or otherwise, withered inside of me. Of course. Adrian had noticed the phone was missing the day after my birthday. It must have fallen out of his pants when we’d strewn our clothes all over the backseat.

No, I realized with a start. It hadn’t fallen out. It had been taken out. By me. When I read Adrian the William Morris quote, I grabbed the first phone I could find, which wasn’t hard since we had four of them between us. I hadn’t paid much attention to whose it was, and I certainly hadn’t been careful when I tossed it back into the pile of clothes so that I could go back to being naked with Adrian.

“But there were other things too,” Zoe was saying, her eyes glittering with tears. “Just the way you talked and laughed around them. The way you always disappeared. The cupcakes.”

My defiance faltered, mostly due to confusion. “The cupcakes?”

“You said you bought them. But in the cafeteria that one day, when Angeline was complaining about the cake, she started going off about the chocolate-peppermint cupcakes Adrian had made. Something about waiting until they’re cool to frost them.”

It was another horrible yet almost laughable moment. Cupcakes and birthday car sex had been my undoing.

No, Sydney, I thought. Don’t think too highly of yourself. You slipped up long before this.

Her voice was tremulous. “We’re going to save you.”

“I don’t need saving,” I said. “There’s nothing wrong with me. You should’ve come to me first before unleashing all of this.” I tried to wave my hand for effect, but it was stuck. “We could’ve talked. I’m your sister.”

“No, Sydney.” The hard, flat look on her face was frighteningly close to our dad’s. “You’re just another Alchemist, and I’m treating you like one—just like you told me to.”

Her words struck me deeply, and my dad was quick to jump on my moment of weakness.

“You’ve been brainwashed, and we’re going to undo it,” he said. “This’ll be a lot easier if you cooperate.”

“I told you, there’s nothing wrong with me!” Anger I hadn’t known I held burst out, shoving aside my fear and sadness. “You’re the ones deluded by centuries of bigotry and superstition. The Moroi and dhampirs are just like us—well, except they’ve got more honor and decency.”

I didn’t see the slap coming. For all his faults, my dad had never struck us, but the blow he delivered then made me painfully aware that he had no moral qualms about that kind of discipline. My head snapped back, and I bit my tongue.

“You don’t know the sacrifices I’m making here for you,” he hissed, his eyes cold. Keith’s glass one had more feeling. “You have no idea how lucky you are that we’re doing this for you. The darkness has corrupted you so much that I don’t know how long it’ll take to fix. But we will. No matter how long or how difficult, we will undo whatever that Moroi boy has done to you.”

I managed a wavering smile, tasting blood in my mouth. “You sure about that, Dad? Because he’s done everything to me.”

My dad’s eyes flicked to someone in the seat behind me. I flinched as I felt the sting of a needle in my neck. The world spun, and I felt light and tingly all over. His and Zoe’s faces swam in my vision for a few moments, and then I fell into darkness.