Author's note: I feel like I promise every time I publish that you won't have to wait again. I'm sorry. The good thing is, this won't be angsty much longer. Also, we're about halfway through it now! YAY! Thank you for sticking with me. Please hold on a bit longer. I'll try harder to publish in less than a month.
Happy reading!
Chapter Eight
Sydney put the last book on the shelf and wheeled the cart back to the front of the library. She liked that there were still so many books in the age of computers. It was a great comfort to her. She looked into her supervisor's door and asked, "What's next?"
The man looked up from typing on the computer. "You already put all those books away?"
"Yes, sir." She looked down, slightly embarrassed that she had performed the task too quickly.
He cleared his throat and then stood. "I need you to get these books and deliver them." He handed her a sheet of paper. "You remember how to get there?"
Sydney looked at the office number on the top. "Yes, sir." She'd delivered some books there the day before. They must be working on some big project. Maybe if she played her card right, she'd be able to help out there too.
He nodded. "Just gather them. I've already checked them out in the system. Once they're delivered, you're free to go."
"Yes, sir." She nodded and turned on her heel. She found the books she needed quickly. It was enough to fill the entire cart with a couple on top. She wheeled it out with a final word to her supervisor.
A young woman—the only one in the room filled with men pouring over ancient books and a couple microfiche machines—directed Sydney toward the corner where the other cart of books she'd brought the day before sat. Needing nothing else, Sydney headed to her room.
They still had her in a more secure section, but they allowed her a few luxuries. She had a small shelf of books (all Alchemist written) and a few odds and ends her sister Zoe gave her. There was a dresser full of clothes and a pole in a corner for her hanging items. It wasn't much, but it was home for the moment. And she didn't want for much else.
Except for sometimes late at night she would dream of emerald eyes. She smelled the faint scent of clove cigarettes sometimes, though she couldn't place just exactly how she knew what a clove cigarette smelled like with such certainty. It was there, though. Emerald eyes and clove cigarettes. It was like a ghost of a memory trying to break through. And a voice, very faintly, whispering, "I love you, Sage."
She had eaten and showered and was just drifting off to that oddly placed memory when the latch gave way on her door. She sat up quickly and pulled the blanket up to her chin.
The face. That dark hair. He was a guardian. One she knew.
"Castile?" She asked uncertainly.
His face, usually stony and resolute, faltered to sympathy. "Eddie. You call me Eddie." He reached out a hand to her and she cringed back. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you, Syd."
"We don't have time for this." Snapped a familiar female voice. Rose Hathaway stepped into view. "Adrian and Jill can only hold the illusion so long."
And that's when she smelled that strangely familiar clove cigarettes. And the vampire stepped into view. Somewhere deep inside her, some instinct kicked in. She held out her hands and said a string of words in an ancient tongue she wasn't aware she knew and a ball of light shot from her hands and into the vampire's chest.
"What the hell was that?" Rose asked as she helped Adrian back to his feet.
"No time to explain." Eddie responded. He grabbed Sydney around the waist and she snapped out of the shock that overtook her in that moment after her magic left her body. She started to weakly struggle. But it was no use. She'd used a great deal of energy in that burst of power.
"She'll need some juice or something." Adrian said as he moved close. "Her sugar will bottom out."
"We have some in the van." Rose assured him. "Whatever you need to do to keep her calm and walking, hurry. And get her to pack a bag."
Adrian stepped in front of her and the smell got stronger. "Sydney, you are fine. You need to dress and gather a suitcase very quickly. We're going on a trip. It's perfectly safe, I promise. Nice and bland. Just get what you might need for a few days."
She felt herself nod. Her head was heavy. She gathered a suitcase. Rose shooed the males outside and helped Sydney dress. Outside, all was relatively calm. Sydney, didn't sense anything different, though she felt it in herself somewhere distantly. She should be scared to death, but she felt nothing except tired. She mentioned this to Rose at her side.
"Just a few more minutes, Sydney. Hold on." Rose assured her.
A commotion started ahead as they came to the front entrance. Rose tugged on Sydney's arm and grabbed Adrian on her way out.
"Get Jill." Adrian called over his shoulder.
Eddie paused in his struggle long enough to see Jill being dragged away by an Alchemist. He gave the person he was fighting one last punch to knock him on his ass and then ran across the room and wrestled Jill away.
They all broke for the door and found Abe waiting for them in the running van.
"Let's go, old man." Rose said before they were all even completely in the car.
As they drove away, Abe lifted a device and started fumbling with a button. Behind them a loud explosion made their van lurch forward. Sydney screamed and pressed her face into Rose's shoulder. Everything was going black around the edges of her vision and she was starting to become terrified.
"Get her some juice or something." Adrian demanded. It seemed so far away.
Something touched her lips and she gulped down the warm apple juice. She opened her eyes. "Where are you taking me?"
"Somewhere safe, Sage." Adrian assured her.
"I was fine where I was. Take me back." Her voice had an edge of hysteria to it.
Adrian moved into her line of vision again. "Finish your juice. Then sleep. You'll be all right, Sydney."
She blinked a few times and then felt herself nod. "Finish the juice and then sleep." She took the bottle from Rose and gulped down the last of the contents. She took the second Rose passed her way and downed it as well. She yawned hugely and then curled up in the seat, not noticing that her head rested on Adrian's lap.
"Will she really be okay?" Jill asked softly.
"She will." Rose said. "We'll all see to it."
"What about Lissa?" Adrian asked.
"She knows how important Sydney is. She's granted me a leave of absence. Dimitri will handle everything while I'm away." She patted Sydney's foot and climbed into the front seat. "Where to, Pops?"
"I would tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Abe grinned. "And I would hate to kill my own daughter."
Rose laughed. "You broke me out of prison. I think killing me would be the last thing on your mind."
"Will there be water this time?" Jill asked from the back.
"Water? I don't see why not." Abe smiled in the mirror. "We will be meeting some of my associates and trading cars. From there it will only be a short ride to our destination. We should be settled before daybreak."
Everyone in the car was silent. Another hiding place. And for how long this time?