“I’m fine. I can’t say the same for Nina Sinclair,” she replied, making my heart stop. “I tried calling Adrian, but it went to voice mail.”
“His phone’s dead,” I explained. “What’s wrong with Nina?” At that, Adrian jerked his head up.
“I figured you two would already know, seeing as she was found in your rooms at guest housing.”
“We stepped out,” I said uneasily. “What do you mean, ‘found’?” It was the kind of terminology you used when people died.
“She’s alive,” said Sonya, guessing my thoughts. “She’s been taken to the medical center, but she’s practically comatose. The one time she did come to, she babbled incoherently before lapsing back into unconsciousness. The doctors haven’t been able to rouse her since. Perhaps you’d like to come by and see her.”
“Um, I’ll have to talk to Adrian and see when we can get a chance to—”
“Save the subterfuge, Sydney.” There was something both weary and exasperated in Sonya’s voice. “We know you aren’t here.”
“Well, yeah, like I said, we stepped out—”
“We know you aren’t at Court,” she interrupted. “After Nina’s fit, a Court-wide search was conducted, and then Daniella Ivashkov finally caved and admitted you both were gone. She won’t tell us where you are, though, and I think she’s trying to confuse us by giving us some outlandish story about you turning into a cat.”
I really didn’t know how to respond to any of that.
“A number of people would like to speak to you,” Sonya continued. “Both of you. I don’t suppose you have the means to do a video call?”
My eyes fell on Adrian’s laptop bag, which he’d brought along. “We do . . .” Honestly, I was kind of afraid of what this conference call might entail, but I could see Adrian was having to restrain himself from tearing the phone away from me to get answers about Nina. A group call might be the best solution, especially since our cover was blown. There was also a good chance we could be traced by such a call, but I wasn’t quite as nervous about the Moroi finding us as the Alchemists.
When I disconnected with Sonya, I found Adrian was in agreement. He was dying to know more about Nina, and we decided it’d be worth the risk. We were both still naked, so the first order of business was hastily tossing on some clothes so it wouldn’t be entirely obvious what we’d been doing.
Adrian eyed me wistfully as I searched for my shirt. “If we made sure only our heads were in the shot, I don’t think anyone would notice.” I answered him with a warning look, and after a great deal of dramatic sighing, he reluctantly put on his own clothes too.
We still stayed on the bed, however, opening up the laptop there. Once we had everything set up and connected, we leaned in together over the laptop and found Sonya’s worried face looking back at us. Before Adrian could even ask her about Nina, Sonya moved away, and another face filled the screen.
“Really, Adrian?” Lissa exclaimed, outrage written all over her. “How could you guys do this to me? You begged me to protect you! I risked the wrath of my own people and the Alchemists to take you in, and this is how you repay me?”
She looked truly frustrated, and uneasily, I wondered just how much trouble we might have caused. I forgot sometimes what a precarious position Lissa was in, constantly being pulled in different directions as she worked hard to do the impossible and please everyone. Adrian and I had done what we needed to do for ourselves—but hadn’t considered the fallout for others.
“It was for Jill,” Adrian said resolutely. “We had to go after her.”
Lissa shook her head angrily. “And I told you, as much as it’s appreciated, we don’t need you out there looking for Jill. We’ve already got people on it.”
“No, no . . . it’s not like that,” Adrian protested. “It wasn’t just some impulsive trip. Sydney had a real lead.”
Lissa’s green eyes focused on me expectantly. I launched into a retelling of what I knew so far, about how Alicia was behind Jill’s disappearance and how my contacts in Palm Springs were currently looking for leads. As I spoke, I saw Lissa’s expression grow more and more incredulous.
“How am I just learning about this? You guys should have told me immediately!”
“We didn’t know all the facts then,” said Adrian. Despite his outward confidence, I could tell he too was second-guessing our actions. “Still don’t. But Jackie Terwilliger’s good. She’ll turn up something.” He hesitated. “Who knows we’re gone?”
“The Alchemists don’t, if that’s what you’re worried about,” said Lissa. “So far, only a handful of people here at Court know, and you’d better hope it stays that way. The Alchemists have made it very clear to me that Sydney won’t be returned to us if they catch her.” I flinched at the words.
“Enough, Liss.” Rose suddenly pushed her way into the picture, wriggling in beside her friend, like Lissa wasn’t the ruler of all Moroi. “They get it. They screwed up.”
“We didn’t screw up,” said Adrian obstinately. “Finding Jill is the most important thing we can do right now.”
Lissa’s anger diminished a bit. “It is. And I want to find her too. Why didn’t you come to me once you had that box?”
Adrian shrugged. “We only know about the connection to Jill and Alicia now, after going through all those hoops. At the time, it didn’t seem certain, and we honestly didn’t know if you’d let us go. We felt the most important thing was to get Sydney out of Court to go after the lead. Me joining her was an afterthought.”
Surprisingly, Lissa nodded and conceded the point. “You’re right. I probably would’ve wanted more proof if all you’d had was the box with Jill’s picture. And no one I sent would’ve learned what you uncovered, Sydney.”
It wasn’t exactly an apology, but Adrian still took it as such. “Thank you,” he said.
“You still should’ve told me afterward,” she warned.
“Or me,” piped in Rose.
“Now that you’re done scolding me,” Adrian said, “will someone please tell me more about Nina?”
“They can catch you up,” said Lissa, gesturing to those beside her. “I need to go make sure your secret escape from Court stays a secret. Unless you guys plan on coming back and letting Eddie and your human friend handle things? It’s not too late to return to the way things were.”
Adrian and I exchanged glances briefly before turning back to Lissa. We both shook our heads.
“I didn’t think so,” Lissa said, with a small, rueful laugh. “Let me go see what I can do to keep this quiet. In the meantime, please, don’t you guys do anything that’ll get yourselves caught.”
She left the screen, and a moment later, Sonya moved in beside Rose. “There’s not much more to tell than what I already did. Maybe you could help by telling me what happened.”
“It was from spirit use,” Adrian said, casting me an apologetic glance. “I joined her in a dream and helped her blast down the barriers Olive had put up.”
“I suspected as much,” said Sonya grimly.
“Do you know when Nina will wake up?” Adrian demanded. “Will she be okay?”
“It depends on how you define ‘okay,’” Sonya replied. “The doctor thinks her difficulties with waking up are due to exhaustion. She’ll hopefully come around with a little more rest. But as for what state she’ll be in . . .”
“If she’s so worn out, that would explain why she’s not making any sense,” Adrian said quickly. I could tell he very, very badly wanted to believe that. “Hell, you should see me after pulling an all-nighter. I make her sound totally articulate and lucid.”
Sonya didn’t laugh at the joke. “It’s possible . . . but I don’t think it’s that simple. I’ve seen her aura. That tells its own tale, and it’s not a good one. Plus, I’ve spent a lot of time with Avery Lazar, Adrian. I’ve seen what spirit did to her—and this has a very similar feel.”
“So what are you saying?” I asked, surprised at the lump in my throat. I didn’t even know Nina that well, but there was something chilling in listening to this grim prognosis—maybe because I feared one day, we’d be talking about Adrian.