Again, I hoped my anxiety simply made me sound like a flustered, love-struck girl, one Stanton would feel sorry for and shake her head over. St. Louis wasn't that much farther away by plane, and the end result was the same. "Well, that was business, ma'am. I didn't want to get distracted from our goal."
"Of course." Her next pause was only a few seconds long, but it felt like an hour. "Well, I see no reason why you can't go. You've done an admirable job in your work, and - from a personal point of view - I can understand why you'd want to be with familiar faces again. You've spent more time with the Moroi than many Alchemists ever will in their lives, and you didn't hesitate when that Ivashkov pushed himself onto you at the wedding."
I didn't really hesitate when he pushed himself onto me at the sorority, either. Or did I push myself on him?
"Thank you, ma'am."
She authorized me to go next weekend and said I could use Alchemist funds to book my travel arrangements. When we got off the phone, I contemplated calling Ian but then decided on a more impersonal approach. I jotted out a quick email telling him that I'd be in town and that I hoped we could meet up. After a few moments of thought, I then texted Marcus: Arrangements made.
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.
I watched him walk away for a few more seconds and then turned toward the science building. One of the teachers, Ms. Whittaker, was an amateur botanist who was always happy to supply Ms. Terwilliger with various plants and herbs. She thought Ms. Terwilliger used them for home craft projects, like potpourri and candles, and I frequently had to pick up the latest supplies. When I walked into her classroom today, Ms. Whittaker was grading exams at her desk.
"Hi, Sydney," she said, barely looking up. "I set it all over there, on the far counter."
"Thanks, ma'am."
I walked over and was surprised to practically find a spice cabinet. Ms. Terwilliger had requested all sorts of leaves, stems, and clippings. It was the most I'd ever had to pick up for her.
"She sure had a big order this time," Ms. Whittaker remarked, as though sensing my thoughts. "Is she really using garlic in potpourri?"
"Oh, that's for some, um, cooking she's doing. You know, holidays and all."
She nodded and returned to her work. One thing that often helped in Alchemist affairs (and witch ones) was that people rarely expected supernatural reasons for weird behaviors and phenomena.
I almost considered visiting Trey and Angeline at the library, just to assess her behavior myself, but decided it'd be better to not get involved. Eddie and Jill would handle it. With nothing else to do, I dared to hope I might actually just be able to stay inside and read today. But, when I returned to my dorm, I was greeted with the astonishing sight of Marcus sitting outside on a bench, playing an acoustic guitar. A group of four girls stood around, listening in awe. I walked up to the circle, my arms crossed over my chest.
"Really?" I asked.
Marcus glanced up and shot me a grin. One of the girls actually cooed.
"Hey, Sydney."
Four sets of eyes turned to me, displaying a mix of both disbelief and jealousy. "Hey," I said. "You're the last person I expected to see here."
"I never do what's predictable." He tossed his hair back and started to put his guitar back in its case. "Sorry, girls. Sydney and I have to talk."
I got more of those stares, which kind of annoyed me. Was it really that unbelievable that a good-looking guy would want to talk to me? His followers dispersed reluctantly, and Marcus and I strolled around the grounds.
"Aren't you supposed to be in hiding?" I asked. "Not panhandling with your guitar?"
"I never asked them for money. Besides, I'm incognito today." He tapped his cheek, and I noticed the tattoo was barely noticeable.
"Are you wearing makeup?" I asked.
"Don't judge," he said. "It lets me move around more freely. Sabrina helped color match me."
We came to a halt in a relatively private copse of trees. "So why are you here? Why didn't you call or text?"
"Because I have a delivery." He reached into his shirt pocket and handed me a folded piece of paper that looked like it had traveled around the world before reaching me. When I opened it and managed to smooth it out, I saw several painstakingly drawn diagrams. I jerked my gaze back to him.
"Wade's floor plans."
"As promised." A little of that self-satisfaction faded, and he actually looked impressed. "You've really got a way to get to St. Louis?"
"Sanctioned and everything," I said. "I mean, aside from the part where I break into their servers. But I've got a few ideas on how to pull that off."
He laughed. "Of course you do. I won't bother asking. Every girl's got her secrets. Maybe someday you'll share yours." From the tone of his voice, he might have been talking about non-professional secrets. "Once this is all over."
"Is it ever over?" I asked. I meant it as a joke, but it came out sounding a bit more melancholy than I would've liked.
He gave me a long, level look. "No, not really. But getting the tattoo sealed in Mexico is kind of fun. I hope you'll go with us. At the very least, we can take in some beaches and margaritas while undoing insidious magic. Do you own a bikini?"
"No. And I don't drink."
"Well, maybe one of these days we could go out for coffee. I know you drink that."
"I'm pretty busy," I said, thinking of everything weighing on me. "And you know, I also haven't decided if I'm going to do the first phase of tattoo breaking."
"You should, Sydney." He was all business again and tapped my cheek. "If nothing else, do that. Don't let them have any more control over you than they have to. I know you think we're a little out there, but this is one thing we're absolutely serious about."