“What do you mean, ‘something weird’? Why would anyone care about them?” Rose, like my mom, was beginning to suspect something odd was happening.

“I can’t tell you,” I said. “Just trust me—it’s important. At least one of you needs to stay with them at all times. If there’s a way you can safely meet me when I talk to Alicia, we’ll make it happen. But in the meantime, promise me you’ll take care of them.”

A long silence followed, and I could guess why. Rose, like everyone else, wanted to find Jill. With so many potential leads, it was understandable that she’d much rather be involved with that mission than literal babysitting. But Rose had seen enough at the commune—and was enough of my friend—to finally accede. “Okay. We’ll keep an eye on them. But if there’s anything we can do to find Jill—anything at all—”

“I’ll let you know,” I promised. I disconnected and looked around. “Is this it?”

We’d left the urban sprawl of Palm Springs, going off into the desert to a place that made Wolfe’s compound look downright civilized. A small, lone cabin sat alone on a scrubby landscape, and the car’s tires kicked up clouds of dust as we turned toward it on a sandy dirt road.

“Yup,” said Marcus.

“Well, it’s certainly remote,” noted Sydney. “But is it safe?”

“Safe as we’ll get for now,” Marcus assured us, pulling the car up to a stop outside the house. “No one followed us here. No one knows of my connection to these people.”

We got out of the car and followed Marcus to the door. He had to knock three times—getting progressively louder—before the door finally opened. A fifty-something guy with scraggly hair and round-lensed glasses peered up at us, squinting at the sunlight like a Moroi might have. His face brightened with recognition. “Marcus, man, been a while!”

“Good to see you too, Howie,” Marcus replied. “My friends and I need a place to stay. Is it okay if we crash here?”

“Totally, totally.” Howie stepped aside so we could enter. “Come on in, man.”

“Howie and his wife, Patty, grow and sell all sorts of herbs,” explained Marcus.

I inhaled deeply as I walked around the living room, which could have come straight out of 1971. “Especially one herb in particular,” I added.

“Don’t worry,” said Marcus, his lips quirking into a smile. “They’re good people.”

Sydney wrinkled her nose. “Not going to do us any good to evade the Alchemists if we then get arrested in a drug raid.”

Marcus was unconcerned. “That’s the least of our worries. They’ll give us a place to stay. And their kitchen’s always well stocked.”

That was true, at least. So long as we could survive on junk food, we’d be in no danger of going hungry anytime soon. I’d never seen so many boxes of Twinkies in my life. Patty was as dazedly friendly as her husband, assuring us we could make ourselves at home and stay as long we liked. The two of them probably spent most of their time in the basement or in the garden outside, growing the various plants they then consumed or sold. Once we were settled, they disappeared downstairs, leaving us to make plans. I learned then that while I’d talked to Rose and my mom, Marcus and Sydney had been gathering other info.

“Sabrina got back to Marcus. She’s going to take Eddie and me to the Warriors late tonight,” Sydney said. “Very late. We apparently have to arrive at dawn. Ms. Terwilliger’s going to come out beforehand with Eddie to help with some spells and prepare us.”

“I hope it goes without saying that Eddie will be careful in coming here,” said Marcus. “By now, the Alchemists probably have eyes on everyone you know in the area.”

“He’ll be careful,” she said confidently. “He knows how to avoid being followed.” She turned back to me. “Ms. Terwilliger will then take you with her, for when the witches unfreeze Alicia. Promise me you’ll be careful, Adrian. Go easy on her. Only use as little compulsion as necessary. Remember, the odds are good she may not even know where the Alchemists are holding Jill.”

Go easy on her? Even though I knew Sydney had meant that as a way of looking out for me, it was impossible to imagine. How could I go easy on the woman who’d kidnapped Jill? Who was the reason Jill might very well be suffering at the hands of those madmen? Sonya had been in bad shape when she’d been rescued from the Warriors, and they’d had Jill much, much longer.

Alicia will pay, Aunt Tatiana promised in my head.

To Sydney, I said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

My phone rang, and I felt a dry sort of amusement at the display. “Not many people can claim to talk to the Moroi queen twice in one day. Hello?”

“Adrian?” came Lissa’s voice. “What have you done?”

“Why do you assume I’ve done anything?” I asked.

Lissa sighed. “Because an angry Alchemist bureaucrat just called, pretty worked up about how you and Sydney are at large in Palm Springs! They made it very clear they aren’t going to pull any punches in trying to get her back. I thought you guys were lying low.”

“We were, we were,” I said. “It was kind of an accident. But we’re safe for the time being.”

“Well, try to stay that way. On the bright side, I was able to get through to someone to ask about the Alchemists possibly putting pressure on the Warriors.”

Hope filled me. It would save Sydney from infiltrating the Warriors and me from interrogating Alicia if the Alchemists could just rescue Jill for us. “And?” I asked.

“It’s what I feared—they want more proof. I mean, the person I talked to made some vague comments about making ‘inquiries,’ but I didn’t really feel like he was taking me seriously. I think he thinks I was using it to deflect from you and Sydney being outside of Court.”

My hopes fell as I looked at Sydney across the room. She was trying to sit in an overstuffed beanbag chair. The thought of her going off to sneak around the Warriors’ compound made me ill. It had been one thing when she’d left with Eddie and Ms. Terwilliger, but now she was walking right into the hands of some of our enemies. What if she was found out? What if the Warriors tried to renew their friendship with the Alchemists by using her as a bargaining chip? What if the Warriors decided to make an example of the woman who’d married a vampire?