“She might still be asleep,” I warned. I wouldn’t say so aloud—and I hoped Nina hadn’t been harmed—but a part of me was relieved Adrian hadn’t wielded all the spirit he’d planned. “She’ll probably be fine when she wakes up. And you’ll have a lot to tell her.”
Adrian sighed. “Not sure I will. I mean, I suppose I could tell her the pregnancy part. But the rest? I’m still not sure where she is. She was dressed strangely . . .” He got up and found a pen and some inn stationery. After some quick sketching, he showed me a drawing of a circle filled with abstract designs. “Does this mean anything to you?”
I studied it with a frown. “No. Should it?”
“Olive was wearing it on a necklace. I thought it might mean something.” He sat back beside me and stifled a yawn. “I hope Nina and I haven’t gone through all of this and not found any way to help Olive. Worse, if we don’t get any answers, I’m afraid Nina’s going to keep doing it.” He cast another anxious glance at his cell phone, but there was still no response from Nina.
I put an arm around him and drew him near. “Just hope for the best. That symbol may mean something to her. Be patient until she gets back to you.”
I tried to keep my tone light and hide the fear within me. I wasn’t afraid for Nina. I worried Adrian would help her again, putting her and Olive’s needs above his own, no matter the dangers. My heart clenched at the thought, and conflicting emotions stirred in my chest. I admired Adrian for wanting to help them. But I also loved him and selfishly wanted to protect him.
He tried calling Nina one more time and then finally heeded my words when I said we should try to get some rest while we could. I hated seeing him so worried and worked up, and at last, he managed to put his worries aside and relax. We fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms and were jolted awake a few hours later by a phone ringing. Adrian grabbed for his, nearly falling out of bed in the process, and stared at the screen in dismay. “Crap. My battery died. I forgot to charge it.”
“It’s my phone,” I said, making my way groggily to my purse. A jolt of panic helped push me awake as I braced myself for news from Ms. Terwilliger. But when I picked up the phone, I was surprised to see Sonya’s name on the display. “Hello?”
“Hello, Sydney,” came her familiar voice. “I trust you’re doing well.”
“Yes,” I said cautiously, puzzled as to why she was calling me. We were friendly, but usually she dealt with Adrian. “How about you?”
“I’m fine. I can’t say the same for Nina Sinclair,” she replied, making my heart stop. “I tried calling Adrian, but it went to voice mail.”
“His phone’s dead,” I explained. “What’s wrong with Nina?” At that, Adrian jerked his head up.
“I figured you two would already know, seeing as she was found in your rooms at guest housing.”
“We stepped out,” I said uneasily. “What do you mean, ‘found’?” It was the kind of terminology you used when people died.
“She’s alive,” said Sonya, guessing my thoughts. “She’s been taken to the medical center, but she’s practically comatose. The one time she did come to, she babbled incoherently before lapsing back into unconsciousness. The doctors haven’t been able to rouse her since. Perhaps you’d like to come by and see her.”
“Um, I’ll have to talk to Adrian and see when we can get a chance to—”
“Save the subterfuge, Sydney.” There was something both weary and exasperated in Sonya’s voice. “We know you aren’t here.”
“Well, yeah, like I said, we stepped out—”
“We know you aren’t at Court,” she interrupted. “After Nina’s fit, a Court-wide search was conducted, and then Daniella Ivashkov finally caved and admitted you both were gone. She won’t tell us where you are, though, and I think she’s trying to confuse us by giving us some outlandish story about you turning into a cat.”
I really didn’t know how to respond to any of that.
“A number of people would like to speak to you,” Sonya continued. “Both of you. I don’t suppose you have the means to do a video call?”
My eyes fell on Adrian’s laptop bag, which he’d brought along. “We do . . .” Honestly, I was kind of afraid of what this conference call might entail, but I could see Adrian was having to restrain himself from tearing the phone away from me to get answers about Nina. A group call might be the best solution, especially since our cover was blown. There was also a good chance we could be traced by such a call, but I wasn’t quite as nervous about the Moroi finding us as the Alchemists.
When I disconnected with Sonya, I found Adrian was in agreement. He was dying to know more about Nina, and we decided it’d be worth the risk. We were both still naked, so the first order of business was hastily tossing on some clothes so it wouldn’t be entirely obvious what we’d been doing.
Adrian eyed me wistfully as I searched for my shirt. “If we made sure only our heads were in the shot, I don’t think anyone would notice.” I answered him with a warning look, and after a great deal of dramatic sighing, he reluctantly put on his own clothes too.
We still stayed on the bed, however, opening up the laptop there. Once we had everything set up and connected, we leaned in together over the laptop and found Sonya’s worried face looking back at us. Before Adrian could even ask her about Nina, Sonya moved away, and another face filled the screen.
“Really, Adrian?” Lissa exclaimed, outrage written all over her. “How could you guys do this to me? You begged me to protect you! I risked the wrath of my own people and the Alchemists to take you in, and this is how you repay me?”
She looked truly frustrated, and uneasily, I wondered just how much trouble we might have caused. I forgot sometimes what a precarious position Lissa was in, constantly being pulled in different directions as she worked hard to do the impossible and please everyone. Adrian and I had done what we needed to do for ourselves—but hadn’t considered the fallout for others.
“It was for Jill,” Adrian said resolutely. “We had to go after her.”
Lissa shook her head angrily. “And I told you, as much as it’s appreciated, we don’t need you out there looking for Jill. We’ve already got people on it.”