Thanks to BriEva who consulted with me on this. This is better because of her…
Adrian
"I could see a little," Jackie told me after she came back into where I waited, "but not very much. I don't have enough power right now. I'll definitely have enough at the new moon, but not yet."
"But that's a month away!" I said. I was desperate, and knew it. I'm sure Jaclyn Terwilliger knew it as well.
"25 days," she corrected, as she rose to answer the door. I had barely heard the knock.
I had taken the advice Jill gave me the last time I was here – I had gotten a couple of days of sleep. Not that anyone would be able to tell by looking at me. As I glanced down at what I was wearing, I suspected that it was what I had worn yesterday, maybe the day before. Really, it wasn't even something I would normally wear in public. It was wrinkled, too – something I would not have even considered letting happen normally. I'm not sure when I had last looked into a mirror, it just didn't seem important. Sydney was what was important.
I knew from Marcus and Jackie that Sydney was alive, but not much else. Whatever she faced, there was no way I was going to make her endure it for long. She had already been enduring it for weeks. So I had made finding her my main priority again. Spirit was better, I was better, and I was hopeful.
It was only a few days after Jackie had cast her last spell that I was able to reach Sydney. I had come to Jackie's home almost immediately after finally finding her, not even considering my appearance. All I could think of was that they had finally let the drugs run out of her system. I didn't like that it was apparently so she would feel more pain while they tried to reeducate her, but at least she was reachable.
Though I knew Jackie had expended a lot of power in the previous spells, I didn't want to wait, couldn't stand the thought that Sydney might have to endure what they were doing to her for another day, so I had come here hoping Jackie might be able to find her immediately. I knew Jackie was a powerful witch – I had seen it and Sydney had said so. Their connection was strong, so I thought – or hoped - that, with the drugs gone, Jackie might be able to do it. Apparently something – their connection, Jackie, whatever – was not strong enough…
"Adrian?" Jill asked. I hadn't even realized that my eyes were closed, but opened them to see her and Eddie standing by Jackie. Jill looked shocked, concerned and upset. Maybe it was my appearance, maybe my despair was seeping into her, I wasn't sure.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. It probably came out more as a growl than as a question. It was a stupid question, anyway. I knew what she was doing. I hadn't thought about Jill and the bond, only about Sydney.
"I'm sorry," she said. It took me a few seconds to realize what she meant – she had seen everything, including Jackie's failed attempt at the spell. At least, that's what I thought she meant. It could have been my appearance, the darkness that I felt and was passing to her though the bond, maybe something else.
Even with Jill right in front of me, I could only think of Sydney. I turned to Jackie, ignoring the others. "What did you see? You said you saw a little, what was it?"
Jackie was upset – I think from the failure of the spell – and was drinking something, probably to get her blood sugar back up. She answered me between sips. "I saw a girl – I think it was Sydney. She was curled up in a corner of a dark room, and she was…"
"Naked?" I asked when Jackie let her words drop off.
Jackie glanced briefly at Jill, then looked down. "I think she felt me, knew I was there, but I couldn't get the vision clearer. I tried to leave the room and see if I could see anything about where she was. It was light outside, and I saw a highway."
I sat up straight at that, though a little too quickly – it made me feel a little sick. Highways have numbers I realized, but she quickly extinguished the glimmer of hope that I felt when she said, "I couldn't tell which one – just that it was an interstate highway. I didn't see the number before I lost the vision."
I sank back into the couch. We were so close…
"It's something." Jill offered, trying to give me a glimmer of hope. "Maybe it's unique enough that Marcus would know…"
"Marcus." I repeated softly to myself. I had interrupted her, which I hadn't intended, but Marcus - the know-it-all who almost took Sydney away from us? How could I stand it if he turned out to be right?
"We should call Abe Mazur," Jill said, startling me. As I looked at her, I realized that she would have heard Sydney's last request as clearly as I had.
"Stay away from him." I told her automatically. I knew that somehow Abe was involved in all of this, he seemed to be helping Jill; but I was sure he wanted something from it all. He always did.
"It's what Sydney wanted." Jill insisted.
I glanced at Eddie, who looked as upset at the idea as I felt. Yes, it was what Sydney wanted, but why would Abe help? Why would he even take my call? "He has no reason to help me," I said.
"If you mention Sydney…" Jill began.
"He wouldn't even take my call." I said, giving a voice to the despair I felt as I shook my head. I still thought Jackie could find her, or at least I hoped she could. I didn't have to rely on Abe, who would only try to use Sydney some more, or Marcus – who probably wanted to do the same.
As I thought about it all, I could feel the desperation. I couldn't see any good option. I knew the darkness was starting to move in on me and I was trying to fight it, when I heard Jill speak again.
"He'll talk to Lissa."
"Jill?" I asked as she turned from me and spoke quietly into her phone.
I began to rise to go to her, but sat back down. My head wasn't clear yet, and I knew that my recent use of Spirit was getting to me, I was exhausted. Maybe my mind cleared a little, because I began to think Jill had a point – Abe would talk to Lissa, or Rose. I pushed myself up, slowly, and went to her. She had her phone against her ear, and appeared to be waiting for someone to speak.
"Let me talk to her," Jill whispered. "She doesn't know about you and Sydney."
"Does it matter?" I asked. Who was there left to hide from, they had taken her. "The Alchemists know…"
"The Moroi don't," Jill whispered emphatically. "We need to keep it that way."
I stared at Jill. It was true, but did it really matter? Would it cause more problems for Lissa? Would the Alchemists tell the Moroi anyway?
Jill started talking into the phone again, so I said, "At lease put it on speaker."
Jill glared at me, but complied.
"Jill, are you alright?" came from the phone. It was Lissa. She and Jill had been pretty uncomfortable around each other at first, but grown closer. Lissa knew that there was a new Alchemist in Palm Springs, and had tried to find something out about Sydney. Despite being Queen of the Moroi, she hadn't come up with anything. The Alchemists didn't owe her anything and weren't answering her questions.
Jill took a breath before she spoke. She moved her eyes to me, then to Eddie. "I'm fine. You should know that Adrian and Eddie are with me." Jackie was still nearby, but was not mentioned. "Thanks for talking to us."
"Christian, Rose and Dimitri are with me," Lissa said. "Are you sure you want to do this out in the open like this?"
"Yeah. They can hear this." Jill said.
"Well, OK," the queen responded. "You're lucky you caught me. I have to be in a meeting in 15 minutes."
"I think they'll wait for you." I said. I couldn't stop myself.
Jill glared at me again. I was sure the darkness I felt was seeping through to her, and my attempt at a snarky remark wasn't helping; but Lissa, at least, sounded a little amused. "I'd rather not make them. Hello Adrian."
"Ah, you remember me, cousin," I said. "That should make what we're going to talk about easier."
"Adrian!" Jill said to me sharply, almost sounding like Sydney when she was exasperated with me. "We need your help, Lissa. We need Sydney back, we need her to be here again."
I could almost see the queen looking at the others in the room. "Jill, I've talked to Adrian about this. The Alchemists control where she goes. They won't tell me. There's a new Alchemist there."
"I can't do it!" Jill said sharply. I didn't think this was a tone she would usually use with Lissa, it was probably the darkness coming from me. Or maybe she was upset about it all on her own. "I can't work with the new one, Mora, or whatever. She doesn't even want to be around us."
"That's normal," Lissa said, sounding like she was trying to be reasonable. "Sydney was that way too, wasn't she?"
"A little," Jill admitted. "But she still did things for us. She helped me, made things easier for me."
"Maybe you need to learn to do more on your own…" Lissa began, but I decided this was taking too long.
"They're hurting her!" I interrupted. I couldn't help it. Maybe it was a good try for Jill to say that the new Alchemist wasn't helpful, but I knew Lissa well enough to know that it wasn't working. Sydney was hurting, and we had to get to the point.
Lissa was obviously confused. "They…wouldn't…why would they?"
Jill shook her head at me again, and said "Because she got too close to us. That's why they took her away."
"Surely they just reassigned her." Lissa said. "Why would they hurt her?"
Eddie spoke for the first time. "Because they think it's wrong for her to like us enough to help us. When they took her, they were saying things like they were going to save her from damnation, make her see things right."
"You were with her when she left?" This was Dimitri. "You think she wasn't willing to go?"
"I was with her when she was taken," Eddie said adamantly. He seemed to be offended by the question. I already knew he thought he had failed in his duty to protect Sydney. "Yes. But there were so many of them, and she tricked me. She made me leave her. I was so stu…"
"No." I interrupted. "I told you, it was what she wanted…"
"Adrian found her in a dream," Jill said, interrupting us. She was obviously upset as she added, "They were hurting her, trying to break her."
"What?" Lissa gasped. "But…"
"We owe her," Eddie said. "She's helped Jill at school. She got rid of a rogue Alchemist who was taking Clarence's blood and selling it. She's helped Jill and other Moroi."
I thought that this was a good approach, so I began to try to think of a way to tell how she had helped me, to think of a way to say it without betraying our relationship. Jill spoke again before I had come up with anything.
"It's not just that. I'm related to Sonya, I've talked to her; and I've heard you and Rose talk about what happened. I know she helped Rose and Dimitri clear themselves, helped them find me."
Lissa hesitated. Dimitri finally spoke. "It was Sydney who convinced Sonya to take us to Jill. Sydney found a way for Sonya to keep her promise to Jill's mother and to still let us find her."
"Sydney helped you with that?" Lissa asked.
"In fact, Sydney helped us find Sonya," Dimitri continued. "She went into Donovan's place alone and lured out the three Stragoi inside so we could ambush and interrogate them."
"What?" seemed to come from me, Eddie and Lissa all at the same time. They had used her as bait?
After a brief silence, Rose said, "She was really brave, she did everything we asked of her. In fact, it was Sydney that talked another Alchemist into describing Queen Tatiana's murderer. We couldn't get him to do it. Sydney did it."
"See?" Jill proclaimed triumphantly. "You never would have found the murderer, Rose and Dimtri would not be free and you would not be queen. We owe her."
"What do you want me to do?" Lissa asked, sounding a little unsure. "I can't just send a Guardian army into an Alchemist facility."
"Well," I began - I had finally heard enough. I was tired of hearing what could not be done. "I can go to the Alchemist bitch here, get into her head, find her boss, go to her boss, get into the boss' head, find that boss' boss…"
"Adrian!" Jill interrupted.
"Why would you…" Lissa began, apparently wondering why I would make such a threat for an Alchemist. Was I betraying the relationship I had with Sydney?
"She's helped Adrian, too," Jill answered quickly. "She got him into school, which he loves, she got Dimitri and Sonya to ask you to talk to his dad. She's helped him, which, because of the bond, helps me. We owe her."
"I've already talked to the Alchemists," Lissa said carefully.
"Ask Abe Mazur to help her," Jill said, finally getting to the point. I didn't like it, but if Jackie couldn't find her Abe was probably our best bet. It was what Sydney had asked for anyway.
"Stay away from him," Lissa and Rose said at the same time.
Jill rolled her eyes, which made me smile a little. "I barely know him, you know that. But he can help her…"
"I'm not sure she wants anything to do with Abe," Rose quickly told Lissa.
"She already has 'something to do' with him," I said, "You know that. I don't like it any more than you do, but he can help her, and she asked me ask him to find her. I don't know that he'll talk to me, but he'll talk to you." I didn't specify whether I meant Lissa or Rose, I thought he would talk to either.
They hesitated before responding, prompting Jill to repeat, "We owe her. You owe her, all of you."
"I was afraid of this when she helped us," Dimitri said after a few seconds of silence. "She seemed to be fine while I was there, but…"
"But not anymore," Rose finished. "They're right. I felt bad about having to leave her after what she had done for us. She's done more than we can repay. We should help her."
"Okay," Lissa finally said, sighing a little. "We'll talk to Abe, tell him to get in touch with you."
"Tell him to hurry," I said, "or I will go to the Alchemist here and see what spirit can do to that useless, 'we don't need to have any contact' brain of hers."
"I believe you," Lissa said quickly. "We'll tell him."
Jill quickly picked up the phone, turned speaker off, and said, "Thanks" before disconnecting. The she turned to me, a sad smile on her face.
"Good job," I told her.
"Nice threat," she countered.
"It was a promise," I said.
Jill nodded. "I know. And I know you'll try to reach her again, but Adrian, get some rest first. You need it, we both need it."
"I will. Some rest." Everything I felt affected Jill. If I let myself slip farther into darkness or despair, she would feel it – I knew that. But I could only think about Sydney, about what she might be going through. And now, I was convinced that Jill needed Sydney back as much as I did.
"Maybe comb your hair, take a shower…" Eddie added.
"I'll try again, too," Jackie said quickly, "once I get some of my strength back."
"I'll call Marcus," Eddie said, "see if he can do anything with what we've learned."
"You can rest here, if you want," Jackie offered, speaking to me.
"I do, thanks," I said as I collapsed back into the couch. If I didn't have to drive, I could try to reach Sydney right now, then again, and again, and again - with a little rest in between. And when I reached her, I would tell her that we're coming for her. I'm not sure where we'll have to go or who will be with us, but we'll be coming for her. She just needs to hold on…
