“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.