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.
“Hey,” I said, taking a seat beside him. He actually looked nervous. “Off to study?”
“Meeting with Angeline, actually.”
There was no escaping her today, but at least if she was working on math, it seemed unlikely she’d be staging a coup or committing arson. His troubled expression concerned me, though.
“She . . . she didn’t hit you again?” I didn’t see any noticeable marks, but with her, you could never tell.
“Huh? No, no. Not recently.” He hesitated before speaking again. “Melbourne, how long are you going to need me to do this?”
“I don’t know.” Mostly I’d been focusing on getting her through the present, not the future. One thing at a time. “She’ll have her final coming up before break. If she passes, then I guess you’re home free. Unless you want to keep up with it after break—I mean, provided she doesn’t wear you out.”
This startled him a lot more than I would have expected. “Okay. Good to know.”
He looked so forlorn when he left to go to the library that I wondered if those chemistry answers had really been worth it. I liked Trey. I’d never thought inflicting Angeline on him would so radically alter his life. I guessed that was just the kind of effect she had on the world.