Anger filled Eddie’s features, laced with something I felt too: disappointment. I hadn’t known what we’d discover here, but there’d been a secret part of me that had hoped for a miracle and that we’d find Jill herself. Instead, all we had to show for this trip were some cuts and more cryptic clues. I shook the envelope. It felt empty.
“What on earth could this mean?” mused Ms. Terwilliger, taking the map from me.
“It means someone’s playing with us,” growled Eddie. He wiped a hand over his sweaty forehead, smearing blood in the process. “For all we know, Jill isn’t even involved in this, and someone’s just making us think they have her.”
I peered inside the envelope, and my heart sank when I realized it wasn’t empty after all. “I’m afraid not.” I reached into it and pulled out the envelope’s last item. Even in the poor lighting, there was no mistaking what this was: a lock of long, curling, light brown hair. And there was no question to whom it belonged. “Whoever’s doing this, they definitely have Jill.”
IT TOOK EVERY BIT OF MY ALREADY QUESTIONABLE self-control not to constantly text and call Sydney for updates. I hadn’t realized how hard her absence would hit me. It wasn’t just missing her—though that was certainly part of it. I’d gotten used to waking up to her every morning, to seeing her around for meals and other ordinary parts of life. Now, I didn’t just have to pass the time without her; I had to also constantly reassure myself that she wasn’t in the clutches of the Alchemists.
“I shouldn’t have let her go alone,” I told my mom the next day.
She glanced up from her cross-stitching. It was a hobby she’d taken up to pass the time and was only slightly less astonishing than everything else going on in our lives recently. “You worry too much, darling. If there’s one thing I can say about my human daughter-in-law, it’s that she’s shockingly resourceful.”
I stopped my pacing. “You really think so?”
A wry smile played over my mom’s lips. “Are you surprised that I’d have something nice to say about her?”
“A little, yeah,” I admitted. My mother had never openly protested my relationship with Sydney. Really, there’d been no chance. I’d simply shown up at Court with a bride in tow, and no one had been able to put asunder those whom the state of Nevada had brought together. My mom hadn’t exactly embraced Sydney with open arms, but she’d also stood with us when others—including my own father—had turned their backs on us. I’d always assumed my mom didn’t approve but was simply making the best of a bad situation.
“I’d be lying if I said that I’d ever, at any point in my life, wished for you to marry a human,” she said after a moment of consideration. “I do, however, know that the road you walk in life isn’t an easy one. It never has been. It never will be. I’ve realized that since you were a child. And I’ve also known that whomever you end up with would have to be someone very special, someone capable of facing those challenges with you. This girl? Sydney? She’s someone like that. I’ve gathered that much in this last month. And I’d rather you have a worthy partner who’s a human than a Moroi who can’t help you share your burdens.”
My jaw nearly hit the floor. “Mom, I think that’s the most sentimental thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
“Hush,” she said. “And stop worrying. She’s competent and talented. And she’s not alone. She’s got a guardian and that strange human woman with her.”
I managed a faint smile but couldn’t bring myself to tell my mom that Sydney, no matter how competent and talented, hadn’t been able to elude the Alchemists before. In fact, when she’d initially been captured, Eddie had been with her. He’d been deadly and fierce as usual . . . but it hadn’t been enough.
A knock at the door saved me from further rumination but presented a host of other new problems. I’d promised Nina we could go looking for Olive later, but that was still a few hours away. Sonya had assured me the sedative she’d given Nina to help her sleep would last a while, but for all I knew, it had worn off and I’d find Nina outside my door with those crazy eyes, demanding we go dreaming right now.
But when I opened the door, it was Rose I found instead. I wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or be on my guard. Last I’d known, she’d been away from Court.
“Hey,” I said. “What’s up?”
She was clearly off-duty now, dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt as opposed to the black and white suits guardians wore for formal occasions. She tossed her mane of dark brown hair over one shoulder and grinned. “I heard how you’ve been locked away up here, so I thought I’d come spring you guys.”
I tried not to wince at you guys.
“I thought you and Dimitri were away looking for Jill,” I said, hoping to deflect the attention off of us.
Some of her enthusiasm dimmed at that. “We were . . . but we weren’t having much luck. So Lissa had us come back and look into a few royals who’ve always been against her, in case they might have abducted Jill.”
That was news. “You think there’s any truth to it?”
“Probably not,” said Rose. “And Lissa knows it’s a long shot too. But she wants to exhaust every lead.”