Once more, I wondered if I really wanted to know what that entailed.
A moment later, she added, “Oh, and I thought it would be a good idea to obscure your appearance as well.”
I brightened. I couldn’t explain it, but somehow, that made me feel immensely better. “There are a lot of spells for that, right?” I’d seen a number of them in my studies. Even if I had to use magic, it was better to at least look different.
“Yes. . . .” She drummed her fingers against the table. “But the amulet might not be able to hide you wearing an ‘active’ spell, which would then defeat the whole purpose. What I was actually hoping was that your ‘brother’ Adrian might be able to help.”
My legs felt weak, and I sat back down. “Why on earth should Adrian be involved in this?”
“Well, he seems like he’d do anything for you.” I eyed her, wondering if there was a double meaning in that. Her gaze was far away, her thoughts turned inward. She’d meant her words honestly. “Veronica wouldn’t be able to detect vampire magic. His power . . . that spirit element he was telling me about . . . it can confuse the mind, right? Affect what others can see?”
“Yes. . . .”
She focused on me again, nodding in satisfaction. “If he could accompany you, help muddle whoever meets you . . . well, that would offer an extra level of protection.”
I still didn’t know what all I’d be doing to hunt Ms. Terwilliger’s sister, but it sounded like, at the very least, there’d be a drive to Los Angeles in my future. Me, trapped in another small space with Adrian while he continued with that infuriating “loving from afar.” I was so caught up in the emotional turmoil that idea caused that it took me a moment to realize the larger issue I was letting myself get sucked into.
“Do you realize what you’re asking?” I said quietly. I touched the garnet again. “To be a part of this, you’re asking me to expose myself to both human magic and vampire magic. Everything I try to avoid.”
Ms. Terwilliger snorted, and for the first time tonight, I saw a return of her usual amused attitude. “Unless I’m mistaken, you’ve been exposing yourself to both kinds of magic for some time now. So, it can’t go against your beliefs that much.” She paused meaningfully. “If anything, it seems like it goes against the Alchemists’ beliefs.”
“The Alchemists’ beliefs are my beliefs,” I said quickly.
She arched an eyebrow. “Are they? I would hope your beliefs would be your beliefs.”
I’d never thought about it that way before, but I suddenly hoped desperately that her words were true.
CHAPTER 6
I FOLLOWED MS. TERWILLIGER’S instructions diligently. I never took the garnet off, not even when I slept or showered. When school started the next morning, I wore it under my shirt to avoid any questions. It didn’t exactly scream “magical amulet,” but it was certainly conspicuous. To my surprise, Ms. Terwilliger wasn’t in her first-period history class, making me wonder if she was doing some investigating of her own.
“Ms. T on some secret mission?”
I flinched and realized I’d been lost in my own thoughts. I turned and found Trey Juarez kneeling by my desk. Class hadn’t started yet, and a confused-looking substitute teacher was trying to make sense of the chaos of Ms. Terwilliger’s desk. Trey grinned at my surprise.
“Wh-what?” I asked. Had he somehow found out about Veronica? I tried to keep cool. “What makes you say that?”
“I was just joking,” he said. “This is the second year I’ve had her, and she’s never missed a day.” He gave me a puzzled look. “Unless you really do know something I don’t?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I’m just as surprised as you are.”
Trey scrutinized me a few moments. We were good friends here at Amberwood, with only one teeny-tiny problem hanging between us.
His family was tied to the Warriors of Light.
Last month, the Warriors had tried to kill Sonya in a barbaric execution ritual. Trey had been one of the contenders for the “honor” of killing her, though he’d thrown the match at the last minute. I’d tried to appeal to the Warriors to release Sonya, but they hadn’t listened. She and I were both saved when a raiding party of dhampirs showed up and defeated the Warriors. Stanton had helped orchestrate that raid—but hadn’t bothered to fill me in that I was being used as a distraction. It was part of what had fueled my distrust of her and the Alchemists.
Trey had been blamed for getting me involved with the ritual, and the Warriors had ostracized his father and him. Just as I had been pressured by the Alchemists, Trey had had Warrior doctrine drilled into him his whole life. His father was so ashamed of the fallout that he would barely speak to Trey now. I knew how much Trey wanted his father’s approval, so this silence was more painful to him than the Warriors’ treatment.
Our allegiances made things difficult. When I’d once tentatively hinted to Trey that we still had unresolved issues between us, he’d responded with a bitter laugh. “You have nothing to worry about anymore,” he’d told me. “I’m not hiding any secret plans from you—because I don’t know any. They won’t tell us anything. I’m not one of them, as far as they’re concerned. I’ve been cut off forever, and it’d take a miracle for them to ever take us back.” There’d been something in his dark eyes that told me if he ever could find that miracle, he’d jump on it. I’d tried asking about that, but he wouldn’t discuss it any further. “I want to be your friend, Melbourne,” he had said. “I like you. We’re never going to resolve our differences. Might as well ignore them since we have to be together every day.”
Amazingly, our friendship had managed to survive all that drama. The tension was always there, lurking between us, but we tried to ignore it. Although he knew about my involvement in the vampiric world, he had no idea I was taking behind-the-scenes magic lessons with our history teacher, of course.
If he thought I was lying about Ms. Terwilliger’s absence today, he didn’t push the matter. He nodded toward the sub. “This is going to be a blow-off day.”
I dragged my mind away from magical intrigue. After being homeschooled for most of my life, some parts of the “normal” school world were a mystery. “What’s that mean, exactly?”
“Usually teachers leave subs a lesson plan, telling them what to do. I saw the one Ms. Terwilliger left. It said, ‘Distract them.’” Trey shook his head in mock sympathy. “I hope you can handle the wasted academic time. I mean, she’ll probably say something like, ‘Work on homework.’ But no one will.”
He was right. I wasn’t sure if I could handle this. “Why wouldn’t they?”
This seemed to amuse him immensely. “Melbourne, sometimes you’re the only reason I come to class. I saw her sub plan for your independent study, by the way. It said you didn’t even have to stick around. You’re free to run wild.”
Eddie, sitting nearby, overheard and scoffed. “To the library?”
This made both of them laugh, but my mind was already spinning with possibilities. If I really didn’t have to stay for my last class, I’d be free to leave campus early. I could go into Los Angeles to look for Veronica and—no. Adrian wasn’t back. For a moment, I toyed with the idea of investigation without his spirit magic, but Ms. Terwilliger’s warnings echoed through my mind. The hunt would have to wait.
But I could still look for Marcus Finch.
Santa Barbara was two hours away. That meant I had enough time to drive up there, do some investigating of Marcus, and still comfortably make it back by the school’s curfew. I hadn’t intended to go look for him until this weekend but realized now that I shouldn’t waste this opportunity. Ms. Terwilliger’s task weighed heavily on me as well, but I couldn’t do anything about it until Adrian returned tonight.