“Don’t worry about it,” she interrupted. “You were right about me being pushy and also that we need to focus on Dimitri first. Besides, we might be making some headway with getting Alchemist help.”
“Really?” Stanton had seemed pretty against it when we spoke. “They said yes?”
“No, but they said they’d get back to us.”
I laughed. “With them, that’s a pretty positive answer.”
I fell silent for a moment, wondering if this meant everyone would forget about my blood. Between the Warriors and the potential of Alchemist aid, surely my blood was no longer important. After all, initial study had found nothing special. No one had any reason to worry about my blood anymore. Except, the thing was…
Sonya’s earlier mention of auras reminded me of another burning question. “Sonya, what does purple mean in someone’s aura? Adrian says he saw it in mine but won’t tell me what it is.”
“Typical,” she said with a chuckle. “Purple… well, let’s see. From what I’ve observed, it’s a complex color. It’s a spiritual but passionate color, tied to those who love deeply and also seek a higher calling. It’s interesting in that it has such depth. White and true gold tend to be the colors associated with higher powers and metaphysics, just as red and orange are linked to love and baser instincts. Purple kind of has the best of all of those. I wish I could explain it more clearly.”
“No, that makes sense,” I said, pulling into the airport’s circle driveway. “Kind of. It doesn’t exactly sound like me, though.”
“Well, it’s hardly an exact science. And he’s right-it’s there in you. The thing is…” We’d stopped at the curb, and I saw her studying me carefully. “I’ve never noticed it before. I mean, I’m sure it’s always been there, but whenever I looked at you, I just saw the yellow of most intellects. Adrian isn’t as adept at reading auras as I am, so I’m surprised he noticed what I missed.”
She wasn’t the only one. Spiritual, passionate… was I really those things? Did Adrian believe I was those things? The thought made me feel warm all over. Elated… and confused.
Sonya seemed like she was about to say more on the matter and then changed her mind. She cleared her throat. “Well, then. Here we are. Thank you again for the ride.”
“No problem,” I said, my mind still swimming with visions of purple. “Have a safe trip.”
She opened the car door and then paused. “Oh, I have something for you. Clarence asked me to give it to you.”
“Clarence?”
Sonya rustled through her purse and found an envelope. “Here you are. He was pretty adamant you get it-you know how he is when he gets worked up about something.”
“I do. Thanks.”
Sonya left with her luggage, and curiosity made me open the envelope before I drove away. Inside was a photograph, showing Clarence and a young guy, close to my age, who looked human. The two of them had their arms around each other and were smiling at the camera. The unknown guy had straight blond hair that just barely brushed his chin and stunning blue eyes that stood out against suntanned features. He was extremely handsome, and although his eyes mirrored his smile, I thought there was a little sadness too.
I was so caught up in his good looks that I didn’t notice his tattoo right away. It was on his left cheek, an abstract design made of clustered crescents of various sizes and orientations, lying together so that they almost looked like a vine. It was exotic and beautiful; the rich indigo ink a near match for his eyes. Studying the design more closely, I noticed something familiar about its shape and swore I could see a faint glimmer of gold edging the blue lines. I nearly dropped the picture in shock. The crescents had been tattooed over an Alchemist lily. I flipped the picture over. One word was scrawled on it:
Marcus Finch, whom the Warriors had claimed was an ex-Alchemist. Marcus Finch, whom the Alchemists had claimed didn’t exist. The crazy thing was, unless someone locked away like Keith counted, there were no “ex- Alchemists.” You were in it for life. You couldn’t walk away. Yet, that obscured lily spoke for itself. Unless Marcus had had a name change that somehow eluded the Alchemists, Stanton and the others were lying to me about knowing who he was. But why? Had there been some rift? A week ago, I would have said it was impossible that Stanton wouldn’t tell me the truth about him, but now, knowing how carefully information was parceled out-or not-I had to wonder.
I stared at the picture a few more moments, caught up in those haunting blue eyes. Then, I tucked it away and returned to Amberwood, resolved to keep the photograph a secret. If the Alchemists wanted to deny Marcus Finch’s existence to me, I would let them continue until I figured out why. That meant my only lead was Clarence and the absent Warriors. Still, it was a start.
Somehow, sometime, I was going to find Marcus Finch and get my answers.
I was surprised to see Jill sitting outside our dorm when I walked in. She was in the shade, of course, still able to enjoy the nice weather without the sun’s full force. We’d finally moved into a sort of autumn around here, not that eighty was what I usually associated with brisk fall weather. Jill’s face was pensive, but she brightened a little when she saw me.
“Hey, Sydney. I was hoping to catch you. Can’t find you anymore without your phone.”
I made a face. “Yeah, I need to replace that. It’s been a huge pain.”
She nodded in commiseration. “Did you drop Sonya off?”
“She’s on her way back to Court and Mikhail-and hopefully a much more peaceful life.”
“That’s good,” said Jill. She glanced away and bit her lower lip.
I knew her well enough by now to recognize the signs of when she was bracing to tell me something. I also knew better than to push the matter, so I waited patiently.
“I did it,” she said at last. “I told Micah it’s over… really over.”
Relief flooded me. One less thing to worry about. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I know that must have been hard.”
She brushed curly hair away from her face as she considered. “Yes. And no. I like him. And I’d like to keep hanging out with him-as friends-if he wants to. I don’t know, though. He took it kind of hard… and our mutual friends? Well… they’re not very happy with me right now.” I tried not to groan. Jill had made such headway with her status here, and now it could be shattered. “But it’s for the best. Micah and I live in different worlds, and there’d be no real future with a human anyway. Besides, I’ve been thinking a lot about love… like, epic love…” She looked up at me for a moment, her gaze softening. “And that wasn’t what we had. Seems like if I’m with someone, that’s what I should feel.”
I thought epic love was kind of a stretch for someone her age but didn’t say so. “Are you going to be okay?”
She snapped back to reality. “Yeah, I think so.” A small smile played over her lips. “And once this has passed, maybe Eddie will want to go out sometime-away from campus, of course. Seeing as we’re ‘related.’”
Her words were almost a repeat of what I’d heard the other night at Clarence’s, and I stared in surprise as realization dawned on me. “You don’t know… I thought you would since Angeline’s your roommate…”
Jill frowned. “What are you talking about? What don’t I know?”
Oh God. Why, oh why, did I have to be the one to deliver this news? Why couldn’t I be locked away in my room or the library doing something enjoyable, like homework?
“Eddie’s, um, asked Angeline out. I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but he decided to give her a chance.” He hadn’t borrowed my car, so presumably there’d been no date yet.
Jill looked stricken. “W-what? Eddie and Angeline? But… he can’t stand her…”
“Something changed,” I said lamely. “I’m not sure what. It’s not like, er, epic love, but they’ve gotten closer these last few weeks. I’m sorry.” Jill seemed more devastated by this than breaking up with Micah.
She looked away and blinked back tears. “It’s okay. I mean, I never encouraged him. He probably still thinks I’m dating Micah. Why should he have waited around? He should have someone.”
“Jill-”
“It’s okay. I’ll be okay.” She looked so sad and then, amazingly, her face grew even darker. “Oh, Sydney. You’re going to be so mad at me.”
I was still thinking of Micah and felt totally confused at the topic change. “Why?”
She reached into her backpack and pulled out a glossy magazine. It was some kind of southern California tourism one, with articles and ads highlighting the area. One of the pages was marked, and I turned to it. It was a
