The Second Day (Cont.)

Adrian only hugged me for a few seconds before he pulled back and looked into my eyes.

"Sydney," he said, much softer than before though still tense. "Are you alright? Jill said you collapsed."

I nodded, realizing that I did feel OK here. "I'm fine. I just cast one spell too many."

He hugged me again. This time, I pushed a little, and he got the message and pulled back again.

"You need to call Eddie," I said. "We got separated from him, and he needs to know that we're OK."

"Fine," he agreed. "Tell me where you are, and I'll send him there."

I shook my head. "No, Adrian. Just tell him that we're OK, then ask him what happened. Ask him if they figured out everything and caught…whoever."

I was getting frustrated. I could see that he couldn't believe what I was saying.

"Sydney," he said, "Castile needs to get to Jill."

I shook my head again. "Not yet. I need to know what's happening before I risk Jill and Zoe going back to them."

I couldn't really read his face, maybe shock. "Sydney, Jill trusts Castile, so do I. Hell, you trust him."

"I do," I responded, starting to feel a little desperate. "I know he would do anything to protect Jill, or me, but I know he won't always tell me everything. I just need to make sure I know what's happening. And you should call Jill, too. Tell her not to talk to anyone except you or me."

I don't know if he started to agree with me, but his expression changed. "Sydney…"

"Trust me, Adrian," I implored, and added "Please" for good measure.

He stared at me, but only briefly. He turned and walked away. "He'll go ballistic," he muttered as he disappeared.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to do anything, so I just sat down. It was only then that I realized I was in Adrian's bedroom. I was sitting on his bed.

I thought about getting up – going somewhere else to wait for him, but laid down instead. My body didn't really feel tired in the dream, but I was emotionally exhausted. I closed my eyes and lay there until he spoke softly, until he said my name. "Sydney."

I could tell he was a few feet away from me. His tone was gentle, almost amused, so I didn't think I was in too much trouble with him.

I reluctantly sat up and looked at him. His expression was amused as well.

"What?" was all I could ask.

"I talked to Castile. He's gone ballistic." I looked down and bit my lip as he continued. "He's ballistic, and he's in awe."

I jerked my head back up. "Awe?"

"It seems that he saw you in the restroom, then watched the door close behind you. A minute later, one of the people they were fighting managed to break away and went into that restroom, trying to get to you and Jill. When Castile and Angeline broke away and followed, all they found was an enraged human who was trying to figure out how you got through a window that was much too high and didn't look like it had been opened in years."

He was grinning now, but I wasn't ready to laugh about it yet. "Human? They were fighting humans?"

"Mostly," He said. "There may have been a dhampir or two – they're not sure."

Now I was just mad. "How could they not be sure? Does that mean that they got away?"

"Not all of them. They caught the human that was in the restroom, but the others left. The new guardian got a license plate number but that was all. The human isn't talking."

I sighed. "Then it's not safe. They'll still be after Jill."

"Which is why you need to let Castile get to …"

I interrupted him. "Did you talk to Jill."

His face darkened suddenly. "Yes. Wherever you are, there are two 15 year olds who are scared to death, not only because of what happened in the restaurant, but for you. You haven't moved in hours."

"Hours?" I had to rub my head. "You told her that I'm alright, didn't you?"

"By the time I called her, she knew we had been talking. But she's scared, and your sister is about to bolt."

I shuddered. "Zoe hasn't called anyone, has she?"

He shook his head. "Yours is the only phone in the room."

"What have I done?" I asked myself under my breath.

Adrian sat down beside me and put his arm around me. "From what I understand, you saved Jill."

"For now," I whispered.

He kept his arm around me but used put his other hand under my chin and pulled it so that I would meet his eyes. "Which is what was needed, but now you need go back to the guardians. Now you need to figure out how to do it."

I bit my lip and nodded my head. "I don't know what to do, and I don't know how to wake up."

He kissed me briefly, then stood up. "I'll let you go. There are guardians looking for you now."

"At least one of which is ballistic," I murmured.

Adrian started to smile again. "He is, but he knows what you did, he knows that Jill is safe while she's with you. I could tell him some stores about that, too. Just make sure he finds you before the other guys do."

"Like I want to be interrogated by…" then I saw he was leaving. "Adrian! I need your help. I want your help."

"So use your phone, Sage," he smirked. "Wake up, and call me."

I sighed and laid back down, closing my eyes as I wondered how I could wake myself up.

The Third Night

I was shaken awake. When I opened my eyes, I could see that both girls were shaking me.

"Sydney," Jill said. "Adrian said we need to try to wake you up."

I tried to push them off. "Okay, okay." I said, sitting up.

I looked at them both, first at Jill, then at Zoe. Jill looked concerned, but Adrian was right about Zoe. She looked terrified, and I suppose that being stuck in a room with a vampire, and me having collapsed, didn't help any. I turned my full attention to her and tried to speak calmly.

"Zoe, I need you to help me. We need to get Jill back to where she'll be safe."

Zoe didn't speak, which concerned me, she just bit her lip and nodded.

"Did anyone try to get in while I was asleep?" I asked my sister.

"No," she answered, shaking her head. "A few people passed by the door, but they just walked by."

"Mostly they sounded drunk," Jill said, then added, "nice place you picked for us."

"So let's leave," I said. "Give me my phone."

I checked the battery as I turned it on and was relieved to see that it still had more than 50% left. I really didn't want to call Eddie. If nothing else he would ask how I had gotten us out of the restaurant. Only Adrian and Jill knew that I had started using magic, and I wanted to keep it that way. They would keep my secret, but I didn't want to have to answer to the guardians, or have anything about it passed on to the alchemists.

Still, Adrian was right. I trusted Eddie, and Jill needed to be protected by guardians, not an exhausted witch and a junior alchemist.

"Sydney, where are you?" Eddie was tense and to the point when he answered. I understood, but was still a little annoyed. No 'how are you?' No 'how is Jill?'

"Uh, fine." I said, answering the question he didn't asked. Then I started to given him the address. "We're…" I was cut off by shrieking.

It took me a few seconds to figure out that it was Hopper. I quickly said the spell to make him inanimate again, and moved my head to ask Jill to put him in the bag.

After the shrieking, the silence in the room was deafening. Then I heard Eddie asking if we were all right. When I assured him we were, he asked where we were again. As I gave him the address I heard Jill shush me. Zoe had her finger to her lips, too.

Then I heard them – a couple of guys somewhere outside our door. They were knocking on doors and demanding to let in to check for a 'fugitive'.

"Eddie," I whispered into the phone, "are there guardians here?"

"Not there, not at the address you gave me," he said.

"Damn," I said. I got up quickly and went to my bag. I'm sure I heard him say "Sydney" as I dropped my phone back in the bag, put the necklace on again, and thought about what else I could use to escape.

Both Jill and Zoe were alarmed as we heard the knocking right next door to us.

The bag went onto my shoulder as I managed to catch Jill's attention. There was a small, empty ice container near the sink. I motioned for Jill to fill it with water, which she did.

"Come on," I said to both, and we all went to the door. The knock and demand for entry came as I drew in a breath and thought of the spell.

"Open the door, but keep back," I whispered to Zoe. She did it, and we were soon looking into the eyes of two men I could only describe as thugs. Their eyes seemed to flare at the sight of us, but they quickly backed away as a flash of light and tiny fireball moved towards them.

"Hold on," I told both girls as I took their hands. Then I said to Jill, "the water – can you freeze it?"

She nodded and dropped the container of water behind us as we ran. I didn't turn back, but heard some cursing, so I hoped the ice had caught the thugs unawares.

We were invisible as we rounded the corner. I went into the parking lot and only then noted that it was after sunset. I had been out for hours.

All I could think of was to run again, but I knew we wouldn't get far. The thugs may not see us now, but I had no idea if I could keep the invisibility up long enough to get away on foot. So, I did the next best thing.

There were actually several old hotels and motels in a row. I didn't stay in the parking lot of the place I had rented the room, but went to the next one, and started looking for a car.

I love cars, my mom had taught me everything about them – including how to get into them when locked, and how to start them without keys. Of course I hated it. .I knew how I would feel if someone had taken mine, but I had no choice.

I picked out a plain, older sedan – something I knew I could get into and drive. I had to let the spell go to pull the needed tools out of the bags, but the job was quickly done, and we were on the road.

We were driving east, away from Palm Springs, probably away from Eddie. I couldn't go too fast under the circumstances, but it was just as well. I was tiring quickly again. Using the spell the second time in the same day, having barely recovered from the first, was taking its toll on me.

We were still diving in the city when I noticed that there wasn't much gas left in the car. I felt even guiltier, if that was possible. Not only had I taken some poor person's car, but I had run it down to empty. I finally pulled into a McDonald's parking lot, and we left it there. I got rid of the fingerprints – I had been trained to get rid of fingerprints in such situations. Well not situations where I had done the stealing, but the training came in handy.

As tired as I was, not to mention Jill and Zoe, I didn't want to stay too near the car. I made us walk for awhile, though I didn't use any spells. I was looking for someplace I thought we could stop and rest, maybe check to see if we were followed. Maybe call Eddie.

It took Zoe's whisper of "I'm hungry," to make me realize we hadn't eaten anything all day. I could see the sign for an Applebee's nearby, so we went there. I wasn't comfortable as we waited to be seated, but felt better when we were in a corner booth out of sight of the entrance. Another bribe to get us that booth - good thing I had plenty of cash with me.

I didn't think this would be the place to try to sleep, but I wanted to talk to Adrian.

"Jill?" He sounded a little worried when he answered. "Did something happen to Sydney again."

"Yes, something happened to Sydney," I answered.

"Are you safe?" he asked quickly. "Castile's been calling me so much that I've been ignoring him for the last half hour."

"We're safe for now," I said. "You need to call Eddie back and tell him to come to the Applebee's on…" I hesitated as I recalled the address I had been given, "South Alma School in Mesa."

"You're at some school on a mesa?" he asked.

"No," I laughed. I knew we weren't safe yet, but talking to Adrian did things to me. "It's an address - an address for an Applebee's Restaurant. Just tell him were waiting for him here."

"Why didn't you just call him," Adrian asked.

"He would just yell at me. You, however, will call him, tell him where I am, take the grief he's dishing out, then call me back and tell me how much you love me and miss me."

"Well I'll be damned," he said. I could almost hear his smirk. "You do know me better than anyone else."

"I do," I said, finally sobering a little. "But make it fast. Someone's still looking for us."

"Back in a sec, Sage," he said as he disconnected.

I sat with my back to the wall, between the vampire princess and my sister, finally sipping some coffee. My bag was next to me, supplies at hand, just in case. Zoe studied the menu, occasionally stealing glances at me. Jill seemed to be nervously looking at the people around us. She still wore the sunglasses when we entered, but they had been pulled above her eyes. She was exposed, she might be recognized as what she was, if someone entered and knew what to look for.

It even occurred to me that, since it was after dark, Strigoi would be a threat. Maybe the threat was small – I wish I had checked into that before bringing Jill here. I started to think I should have just sent her to Clarence's, as was originally planned. But she had wanted to go somewhere else so badly, if only for a few days. I realized she had done so well for so long, that I finally had to give in. I was able to get approval for this trip, but it was turning into a disaster – despite the extra guardian and alchemist.

Still, right now we had to stop, eat, and rest for a bit. I knew Eddie would be on his way within minutes, and with any luck we would soon be surrounded by guardians.

I found myself smiling as I heard my ringtone. I didn't know much about what was going on around us, but I knew that – even though he was hundreds of miles away – Adrian would help us get through it.