CHAPTER 12

ADRIAN

IT HAD ONLY BEEN A FEW WEEKS, but I felt like I’d been away from Palm Springs for months. I had no idea what to expect when I walked into my apartment and wondered if I’d find Angeline cohabitating with Trey. I should’ve known better, though. For all his swagger, Trey cracked down when push came to shove, and I found him sitting in the living room with textbooks spread out around him. It was so Sydney-like that for a moment, emotion threatened to overcome me. Then, my new resolve took hold, and I pushed any distracting feelings aside.

Trey looked up, surveying me and my suitcase. “You’re back, huh? How was the vacation?”

“Illuminating,” I said. “I got a lead on Sydney. Everyone’s on their way.”

His eyes widened. “You what?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer because I was already halfway down the hall, headed toward my old bedroom. When I stepped inside, I saw that Trey had taken it over, which I supposed was his right in light of my abrupt departure. With a shrug, I toted my suitcase back out to the living room and tossed it in the corner. I was happy to take a spot on the couch for now—if I even ended up staying here. I didn’t really know where the search for Sydney would lead me or how long I’d be hanging out here.

Ten minutes later, a knock at the door heralded the arrival of Jill, Eddie, Angeline, and Neil. They barreled into me with hugs—even stoic Neil—though Jill held on the longest. “I’ve been so worried about you,” she said, looking up at me with shining eyes. “Everything at Court was so crazy—I could only follow half of it—”

“And now it’s done,” I said firmly. “And we’ve got a lead on Sydney.”

“So you said,” Trey remarked. “But you didn’t really elaborate.”

“That’s because I—” Before I could say more, another knock sounded. I opened the door and let Marcus inside. I was so happy to see him that I astonished him with a hug too. “Right on time,” I said.

He’d been the trickiest one to get a hold of. I’d called him as soon as I’d booked my ticket back here and had been relieved to find out he was still in California, up in his old stomping grounds of Santa Barbara. When I’d told him what I’d learned, he promised to drive back and meet me after my flight landed. It was early evening, and the extensive travel had made for a taxing day, but I strangely found myself energized. This was it. We were all together, the people who loved Sydney, and we were going to make this happen.

“Can you catch the rest of us up now?” Trey demanded, once we were all sitting in a circle in the living room. “Where is Sydney? Is she okay?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t know,” I admitted. “I mean, she was okay enough to talk to me in a dream, but she wasn’t very forthcoming about what was going on in that place. She still seemed like herself, though.”

Marcus nodded in approval. “She’s strong-willed. That’ll get her through a lot. The thing is, if that will becomes too noticeable, they’ll try to do something about it. She’s got a dangerous line to walk.”

“She has for a long time now,” I said, thinking of her time here in Palm Springs when she struggled with her friendship with us and the doctrine the others were feeding to her. She’d finally picked a side of the line to stand on—and now she was paying for it. “She doesn’t know where she is either, but she does know that Keith was in the same place, so right now, he’s become our biggest lead.”

“A very difficult one to find,” said Marcus. He leaned back against the couch and sighed. “Admittedly, I was only able to make a couple of calls, but he’s even better hidden than usual for Alchemists. They watch their ‘reformed’ agents pretty closely and don’t want him exposed to much yet. He’s probably locked away behind a desk.”

A dark cloud of dismay started to sweep over me, and I pushed it aside. “But you can keep looking.”

Marcus nodded. “Of course. I’ve also asked some of my other contacts who were in re-education if they remember any details about when they got out, but so far, no hits. Most of them were in there a long time ago. Keith’s the most recent one we know of, so hopefully his memory is the best. I’m asking my sources to look for him. Something may turn up in a few days. But . . . in the meantime, I’ve got a farfetched lead that might give us results sooner. I know where Carly Sage is.”

Eddie frowned. “You think she’d know where Sydney is? I mean, I don’t know much about her, but I thought she was pretty removed from Alchemist affairs.”

“She is,” I said, guessing where Marcus was headed. “But Keith has a, uh, connection to her.” I’d told Marcus about the note Sydney had seen, about Keith telling Carly he was sorry. I hadn’t elaborated on the sordid details of their past, only that he’d done something pretty terrible to her. “You think he might have gotten in touch with her?”

“I don’t know, honestly,” said Marcus. “I’ve never met either of them. But I do know that place plays on guilt and self-worth. If Keith feels like he wronged her, maybe he reached out when he was free.”

“It’d be the first decent thing he’s ever done,” muttered Jill darkly. From her bond with me, she knew what he’d done to Carly.

“I figured it couldn’t hurt to check it out,” said Marcus. “Especially since we’ve got to wait on any more hits with Keith. She’s pretty close. She’s a student at Arizona State University.” He shot me a wry smile. “Up for a road trip?”

“Absolutely. We can leave right now.” I nearly stood then and there, but he waved me down.

“I’d rather we go in the morning—both for the daylight and so you can talk to Sydney again tonight. See if you can get something from her that we can use to get Carly to trust us. I have to imagine if a couple of strange guys showed up asking about your sister and the organization your family’s sworn you to secrecy about, you might not be that forthcoming.”

I relaxed a little. “That’s a good plan. And so long as there’s no more gas drugging her, we should be in sync now. Based on when she was woken up, I think she was in this time zone. I might be wrong, though. Who knows what schedule those freaks have her on?”