“I told you I’d find a way to get here,” he said, grinning. His gaze fell on the blades, and his smile faded. “Not a moment too soon, I guess.”
With his arm still around me, I turned back to the razors, which glittered ominously in the grass. A memory slowly surfaced within me. “I’ve seen those before,” I said, sounding much like Eddie had earlier.
Ms. Terwilliger exhaled a shaking breath. “It’s a nasty spell. Not one to be cast lightly.”
“I know,” I said softly. “I cast it once.”
Everyone turned to me in astonishment. “When?” she asked. “Where?”
“At your house . . . your old house, before it burned down,” I corrected. A thousand memories crushed down on me, and the world swayed a little as I suddenly made connection after connection. I’d thought I didn’t know anyone capable of using this kind of human magic—anyone who’d want to come after me, at least. I’d been wrong. I met my friends’ expectant gazes. “It’s the spell I used to kill Alicia,” I explained.
Chapter 7
ALICIA DEGRAW WAS ALIVE.
It was shocking to me, so I could only imagine how Sydney must feel. She thought she’d killed Alicia. Alicia had been the apprentice of Jackie’s sister, Veronica, but had gone rogue. That was no small thing, seeing as Veronica herself was certainly no role model. She’d been obsessed with stealing youth and power from other witches, effectively leaving them in comas for the rest of their lives. Alicia had turned on her mentor, taken her power, and then gone after Jackie. Sydney and I had been involved in a showdown at Jackie’s house at the end of last year—a showdown that had resulted in said house burning to the ground. We hadn’t known for sure if Alicia had made it out, but now we had our answer.
“I’m kind of torn,” Sydney admitted, stirring the coffee she had yet to drink. We’d left the campground to go discuss matters in a twenty-four-hour restaurant, and it was a sign of her worry that the coffee was untouched. I was pretty sure I’d never seen her pass on caffeine in all our time together. “Part of me’s relieved I didn’t actually kill someone. On the other hand . . . well, this kind of complicates things.”
“You’re certain?” Jackie asked from across the table. “Those are the same ones?”
Sydney held up a golden razor blade, the only one she’d saved from the campsite. The rest had been destroyed. “Positive. You don’t forget something like that. That night I fought her, I transformed some perpetual-motion balls into blades just like these.”
“I remember those,” Jackie murmured, almost wistfully. “They were an end-of-the-year gift from a former student. I think he hoped I’d raise his grade.”
Sydney seemed not to have heard. There was a haunted look in her eyes. “I sent the blades toward Alicia. It was just instinct. She fell down your basement stairs, and I couldn’t stick around to see what had happened—not with everything on fire.”
I put my hand over hers. “You did what you had to do. It was the right thing. She was—is—an evil person.”
“I suppose,” Sydney said with a sigh. “And I guess this answers our questions. We’ve been trying to figure out who would have a vendetta against me and could use human magic. She’s the perfect fit.”
“Now that we know she’s behind this, let’s go after her and get Jill,” growled Eddie. This life on the road had made him shave even less, and he was well on his way to a beard. “She left that clue: She’s in Palm Springs. She needs to be stopped once and for all.”
“Agreed,” Sydney said, snapping out of her earlier malaise. “We need to finish this and get Jill. None of us are going to sleep anytime soon—we might as well hit the road now and go to Palm Springs.”
“Not you,” said Jackie. “I don’t want you anywhere near Palm Springs right now.”
“What?” exclaimed Sydney. Her intensity was a match for Eddie’s. “But that’s the next piece of this! Alicia all but told us.”
“And that’s why we’re not going to rush into this—at least not right away.”
“But Jill—” Eddie began.
Jackie shook her head. “We don’t yet know the extent of Jill’s involvement in this. What we do know is that Alicia is baiting Sydney and wants her to come to Palm Springs, where there’s probably a very neatly laid trap. Alicia’s also following her old pattern of wearing out an enemy first. This ‘scavenger hunt’ wasn’t just for her amusement. It was to weaken Sydney magically. If you run off to Palm Springs now, after the magic you’ve wielded these last few days, you might very well succumb to whatever she has in store. Then we lose you and never find out what’s become of Jill.”
I felt conflicted and tightened my hold on Sydney’s hand. I could understand why Jackie wanted to keep Sydney away from danger. I wanted that too. But I also felt the increasing pressure that everyone else did. Each passing day put Jill at greater risk. How could we not take action when we had a lead?
“But,” continued Jackie, as though reading my mind, “that’s not to say I have any intention of just abandoning Jill. I want to conduct a search in Palm Springs—specifically the Salton Sea area—but I plan on doing it with appropriate backup.”
Eddie and I were both confused, but Sydney, as usual, caught on fastest. “The Stelle,” she said, referring to the coven of witches she’d joined.
Jackie nodded. “Them and others. Alicia isn’t just your problem—she represents a problem for the entire magical community. And so the entire community will deal with her. I’ll get them together, and we’ll conduct a search, using magical and conventional means. You, meanwhile, will stay somewhere safe—somewhere far away.”
“And I’ll stay with you,” I said, feeling a little bit better knowing that Jill wasn’t being abandoned. It was tough, almost like I had to choose between Sydney and Jill, but it sounded like Jackie wouldn’t be sitting around idly.
“I’ll go with you,” Eddie told Jackie. Then he turned to Sydney and me. “That is . . .” The conflict on his face mirrored what I felt inside.
“Go,” I said. “We’ll be okay. No one knows we’re gone yet. We’ll disappear somewhere and be fine.”