trouble.”
CHAPTER 24
I FELT PRETTY BAD about burning down my teacher’s house.
Ms. Terwilliger, for obvious reasons, seemed to think that was the least of her problems. She wasn’t sure if her insurance would cover the damage, but her company was pretty speedy in sending someone out to investigate the cause. We were still waiting to hear their verdict on coverage, but one thing they didn’t report finding was any sign of human remains. Part of me was relieved that I hadn’t actually killed anyone. Another part of me feared we hadn’t seen the last of Alicia. What silly comparison had Adrian made?
A little investigation eventually turned up Veronica at a Los Angeles hospital, checked in as Jane Doe. Visiting her comatose sister became the greatest of Ms. Terwilliger’s priorities, and she harbored hopes of possibly finding a way to undo the spell. Despite how busy she now was, my teacher still managed to urge me to meet her coven, and I agreed for a few different reasons. One was that it was kind of impossible for me to act like I didn’t want to wield magic anymore.
The other reason was that I didn’t plan on being around.
I was still resolved to go with Marcus to Mexico, and the week flew by. Winter finals were a breeze, and before I knew it, it was Friday, the day before our trip to Mexico. I took a risk by telling my friends goodbye. The safest thing would’ve been to disappear without a trace, but I trusted them all—even Angeline—to keep my secret and feign ignorance once the Alchemists discovered they had a runaway. I told Trey as well. No matter what had gone down between us, he was still my friend, and I would miss him.
As the day wore on, the dorm grew quieter and quieter—aside from unending Christmas music playing in the lobby. Not wanting to exclude other religions, Mrs. Weathers had also set out a menorah and “Happy Kwanzaa” banner. Tomorrow was officially the last day before everyone had to be out, and a number of people had already left for winter break. I’d finished my own packing, which was light. I didn’t want to be burdened down with excess luggage since I really had no idea what to expect in Mexico.
I still had two people I needed to say goodbye to: Adrian and Jill. I’d avoided them both for very different reasons, but time was running out. I knew Jill was just a flight of stairs away, but Adrian was more difficult. We’d been in touch a couple times after the fire, simply to sort out some details, but he’d soon gone silent. No calls, no texts, no dreams. Maybe I should’ve been glad. Maybe I should’ve welcomed the chance to leave without any painful goodbyes . . . but I couldn’t. My chest ached with the thought of not seeing him again. Even though he was the reason I was leaving, I still felt like I needed some closure.
Finally, I took the plunge and called him. It took me so long to work up the nerve that I could hardly believe it when he didn’t answer. I resisted the urge to immediately try again. No. I could wait. There would still be time tomorrow, and surely . . . surely he wasn’t avoiding me?
I decided to hold off on talking to Jill until the next day. Telling her goodbye was just as difficult—and not just because of what she saw through the bond. I knew she’d think I was abandoning her. In truth, if I stayed and ended up with Adrian, I’d possibly be caught and never be able to help her at all. At least if I was away and free, I could try to help her from the outside. I hoped she’d understand.
Waiting on her gave me the opportunity to take care of an unwelcome errand: returning Malachi Wolfe’s gun. I’d never gone to his home without Adrian, and even though I knew I had nothing to fear from Wolfe, there was still something a little unsettling about going to the compound alone.
To my complete and utter astonishment, Wolfe let me into the house when I arrived. All was quiet. “Where are the dogs?” I asked.
“At training,” he said. “I have a friend who’s an expert dog trainer, and he’s giving them some stealth lessons. He used to work for a local K-9 unit.”
I didn’t think it was in the Chihuahua genetic code to ever be stealthy. I kept that to myself and instead stared around in amazement at Wolfe’s kitchen. I’d expected something like a ship’s galley. Instead, I found an astonishingly cheery room, with blue-checkered wallpaper and a squirrel cookie jar. If someone had asked me to describe the most unlikely Wolfe kitchen out there, it would’ve looked something like this. No—wait. On the refrigerator, he had some magnets that looked like ninja throwing stars. That, at least, was in character.
“So what do you need?” asked Wolfe. Peering at him, I suddenly had a strange feeling the eye patch really was on a different eye from last time. I should’ve paid more attention. “Another gun?”
I returned to the task at hand. “No, sir. I didn’t even need the first one, but thanks for lending it to me.” I removed it from the bag and handed it to him.
He gave the gun a once-over and then set it inside a drawer. “Fixed your problem? You can still hang on to it if you want.”
“I’m leaving the country. Bringing it over the border might cause me some trouble.”
“Fair enough,” he said. He grabbed the cookie jar and took off the lid, leaning it toward me. An amazing scent drifted out. “Want one? I just made them.”
I was really regretting not being able to tell Adrian about this. “No thanks, sir. I’ve had more than enough sugar these last few weeks.” I felt like I should have a frequent customer card for Pies and Stuff.
“I thought you looked better. Not all skin and bones anymore.” He nodded in approval, which felt really weird and slightly creepy. “So where are you two kids going?”
“Mexi—oh, Adrian’s not going with me. I’m going with someone else.”
“Really?” He slid the squirrel back across the counter. “I’m surprised. I always figured when you two left here, you went home and had your own private ‘training sessions.’”
I felt myself turning bright red. “No! It’s not like—I mean, we’re just friends, sir.”
“I had a friend like that once. Silver Tooth Sally.” He got that faraway expression that always came on when he had an anecdote to share.
“I’m sorry, did you say—”
“Never met a woman like Sally,” he interrupted. “We fought our way across Switzerland together, always watching each other’s backs. We finally got out alive—just barely—and she wanted to come back to the States and settle down. Not me. I had dreams, you see. I was a young man then, drawn to danger and glory. I left her and went off to live with an Orcadian shaman. It took two years and a lot of vision quests to realize my mistake, but when I got back, I couldn’t find her. When I close my eye at night, I can still see that tooth sparkle like a star. It haunts me, girl. It haunts me.”
I frowned. “I don’t think the Orcadians have vision quests, sir. Or shamans.”
Wolfe leaned forward and shook a finger at me, his eye wide. “Learn from my mistakes, girl. Don’t go to the Orkneys. You don’t need some mystical vision to see what’s in front of you, you hear me?”
I gulped. “Yes, sir.”
I hurried out after that, thinking that being in a different country from Malachi Wolfe might be a good thing.
The next morning, I prepared to tell Jill goodbye, but she beat me to it and showed up at my door. It was the first time we’d truly spoken since the morning after that last dream with Adrian.
She walked into my room and frowned when she saw the suitcase. “You’re really going?”
“Yes. And I’m sure you know why.”
She crossed her arms and looked me straight in the eye, without any of the reservation she’d shown last time. I had trouble holding that stare. “Sydney, don’t leave Adrian because of me.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” I said automatically.
“It’s really not,” she said. “From everything I’ve seen and heard, you’re just afraid. You’ve always controlled
