while Adrian and Ms. Terwilliger waited patiently. It was only when I’d practically licked the plate clean that I realized what I’d just consumed.
“Havarti and orange juice?” I groaned. “That’s too much fat and sugar for this time of night.”
Adrian scoffed. “Glad to see there’s no lasting damage.”
“Get used to it if you’re going to be using magic a lot,” said Ms. Terwilliger. “Spells can deplete you. Not unusual at all to have your blood sugar drop afterward. Orange juice will become your best friend.”
“I’ll never get used to it, seeing as I’m not going to-” I gasped, as the images I’d seen in the silver plate came tumbling back to me. “Sonya! I think I saw where she’s at.” I described what I’d seen, though none of us had any clue about where or what this place might be.
“You’re sure it was like a regular sun? With rays?” asked Adrian. “Because I thought the hunters used that old Alchemist one-the circle and dot.”
“They do, but this was definitely-oh God.” I looked up at Adrian. “We have to get back to Amberwood. Right now.”
“Not after that,” said Ms. Terwilliger. She was using her stern teacher voice. “That took more from you than I expected. Sleep here, and I’ll make sure everything’s cleared up with Desiree and the school tomorrow.”
“No.” I stood up and felt my legs start to buckle, but in the end, they held. Adrian put a supportive arm around me, clearly not believing in my body’s recovery. “I have to get back there. I think I know how we can find out where this place is.”
Adrian was right that the sun I’d just described wasn’t the design that had been on the sword or brochure. Both of those had used the ancient symbol. The one in my vision was a more modern adaptation-and this wasn’t the first time I’d seen it.
The sun in my vision was an exact match for Trey’s tattoo.
CHAPTER 20
GETTING TO TREY was easier said than done. A girl getting into the guys’ dorm at normal hours would’ve been difficult enough. But after curfew? In the middle of the night? Nearly impossible. I had to resort to creative options and called Eddie while I was driving Adrian home. One thing I never had to feel guilty about was calling Eddie at any hour. He kept his ringer on (much to Micah’s delight, no doubt), and I suspected he slept with the phone next to his pillow.
“Yes?” Eddie’s voice was alert and ready, as though he hadn’t been asleep at all. That was just how he was.
“I need you to go see if you can wake up Trey,” I told him. “Sonya’s been kidnapped and is being held at some weird compound with a logo like Trey’s tattoo. We need to find out what he knows.”
This was the first time Eddie was hearing about Sonya’s kidnapping, but he didn’t ask for further information-or how I’d known her location. He knew she’d been in danger recently, and this quick message was enough to get him going. I didn’t exactly know what would happen when Eddie did find Trey, seeing as there was no way I’d be able to talk to Trey myself until morning. Still, we had to start somewhere.
“Okay,” said Eddie. “I’m on it. I’ll call you back.”
We disconnected, and I stifled a yawn. “Well, here goes nothing. Let’s hope Eddie can find out something.”
“Preferably without beating up Trey in the process,” said Adrian. He snuggled against the passenger seat, the only sign that he too was feeling tired from our late night. He’d long since converted from a vampire’s nocturnal schedule. “Since that might limit how much we can find out.”
I made a face. “If Trey’s somehow involved with this, I’m not sure I want to take it easy on him. And yet… I just can’t believe he is.”
“People fool each other all the time. Look at you. You think Trey knows you’re part of a secret society helping to keep vampires hidden from the world?”
“Actually… yes.” I stopped at a red light and thought back on some of Trey’s weird behaviors. “He knows Jill’s a Moroi, I’m almost certain of it. He didn’t notice right away, but when he did, he kept telling me to keep her hidden. Then after Sonya was attacked, he told
“Not a surprise if his group’s working counter to yours.” Adrian’s tone softened. “If it makes you feel better, it sounds like he was kind of conflicted if he was trying to warn you.”
“I don’t know that it does. Oh, Adrian.” I pulled up in front of his building and saw the yellow Mustang illuminated in the streetlight. “You left the car out. You’re lucky it didn’t get towed.”
“I’ll move it,” he said. “And don’t look at me like that. It’s within a half-mile radius. I’m not breaking your rules.”
“Just be careful,” I muttered.
He opened Latte’s door and glanced back at me. “You sure you want to go back to the school? You’ll be locked in until morning.”
“Not much I can do until then anyway. I want to be there the instant I can get access to Trey. I’ll trust in Eddie for now.”
Adrian looked reluctant to leave me but finally nodded. “Call if you need anything. I’m going to keep trying to see if I can find Sonya in her dreams. Didn’t have much luck earlier.”
One of spirit’s more disconcerting powers was the user’s ability to intrude on the dreams of other people. “Is she just not asleep?”
“That, or drugged.”
Neither option made me feel any better. He gave me one last, lingering look before leaving. I returned to Amberwood where a sleepy student aide waved me in without comment. Mrs. Weathers had long since gone home, and her overnight coverage didn’t seem particularly concerned about my comings and goings. As I was walking up the stairs, my phone rang. Eddie.
“Well, it took forever, but I finally woke his roommate up,” he told me.
“And?”
“He’s not there. I guess he wasn’t last night either. Some kind of family emergency.”
“No word on when he’ll be back?” I was beginning to think all of Trey’s “family stuff” might be more insidious than I’d guessed. I was also willing to bet he wasn’t the only one with a sun tattoo.
“No.”
I DRIFTED IN AND OUT of sleep that night. My body was exhausted from the magic, but I was too on edge about Sonya to fully give in to the fatigue. I keep waking up and checking my cell phone, afraid I’d missed some call-despite the fact that it was on its loudest setting. I finally gave up and got out of bed a couple of hours before the cafeteria’s breakfast began. By the time I’d showered and dressed-and put my coffee maker into high gear-I was back into open hours on campus. Not that it did me much good.
I made two more calls after that, first to Spencer’s to see if Trey was working. I didn’t expect him to be, but it was a good excuse to see if he’d been there in the last couple of days. He hadn’t been. My next call was to Stanton, reporting Sonya’s disappearance. I told her we had a lead that connected one of my classmates to the vampire hunters and that Sonya was likely being held at a compound outside of town. I didn’t elaborate on how I knew, and Stanton was distracted enough by the kidnapping in general to ask much more.
At breakfast, I found my “family” sitting with Micah over at West’s cafeteria. Eddie, Angeline, and Jill’s troubled faces told me they all knew about Sonya. Micah was cheerfully chatting about something, and I had a feeling his presence was preventing the others from discussing what they really wanted to. When Micah turned to ask Eddie something, I leaned over and murmured to Jill, “Get him out of here.”
“Tell him to go?” she whispered back.
“If you need to. Or go with him.”
“But I want to-”
She bit her lip as Micah’s attention returned to her. She looked unhappy about what she had to do, but soon put
