Clever Abe. Nothing slipped past him.

“Is it charmed?” I asked.

“No. You didn’t leave any other directions, so I simply obtained a plain sample. Again, since we weren’t making standard ink, I didn’t think it was necessary. I wouldn’t have known what kind of compulsion you wanted anyway.”

“Have you ever done it?” Here it was. No way would Abe think this was a hypothetical. “Done a compulsion charm for the Alchemists?”

Silence. Yes, he knew something was up, but he hadn’t put it together. “No, I haven’t. I understand the principles, though. A fairly straightforward compulsion spell encouraging discretion and group loyalty.”

“Fairly straightforward,” I repeated. That was an under‑statement.

He chuckled. “For an earth user, yes.”

“So you could do it, even though you haven’t? You could do it to these samples?”

“I could . . .” My building was in sight, and he came to a halt. “Miss Sage, let me make sure I’m following correctly. You’re asking me to put a compulsion spell on the blood samples you have. And what you aren’t  explicitly asking–but are wishing–is that I not tell the other Alchemists.”

I kicked at a tree branch with my boot. A recent storm must have knocked a number of them down because they were strewn about the quads and walkways. “You’re too smart for your own good.”

“So are you. Which is what makes this completely and utterly fascinating. And let me guess. You aren’t carting off the extra ingredients simply to make sure they return to righteous Alchemist hands.” His eyes were dark and foreboding in the dim lighting. “Who are you trying to compel? Some boy? Love compulsions almost never work.”

“No! It’s nothing like that. I just need an all‑purpose, off‑the‑rack compulsion charm on it like you’d do for standard ink. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“You’ll take care of ‘the rest,’” he said, clearly amused. “The rest being where you activate the magic as it’s injected and are able to imprint your command on someone.”

“Can you do it or not?” I asked. The wind stirred, lightly scattering snowflakes down upon us from a nearby tree.

“Oh, I can do it right now,” he said cheerfully. “The question is, what do I get in return?”

I sighed. “I knew it’d come to this. Does there always  have to be something? Can’t you do things just to be nice?”

“My dear, I do plenty of things to be nice. What I don’t do is let an advantage slip through my fingers. Do you think I’ve gotten where I am today by heedlessly giving away things that can result in power and knowledge?”

“Power and knowledge?” I shook my head. “You might be asking for more than I’m capable of giving you.”

“Explain to me why you’re interested in an off‑the‑record tattoo, and that’ll be knowledge. More than enough payment.”

I hesitated. Abe wasn’t going to sell me out to the Alchemists, but no way was I going to get into the backstory of Marcus’s rebel movement. This was a tightly guarded secret. “I’m not trying to control anyone. This is part of an experiment–purely scientific. That’s the truth. Beyond that, though, I can’t tell you. That’s the extent of the knowledge you can have. But if you want to haggle for some other payment, be my guest. Let’s just do it somewhere warmer.”

I shivered and tugged my coat around me as Abe deliberated. At last, he said quietly, “I’ve already gotten more knowledge than you might think. I know that Sydney Sage, do‑gooder and darling of the Alchemists, is working on clandestine affairs that go against her order’s directives. That’s more than payment enough. Give me your blood. The samples, I mean.”

I knelt down on the ground and opened the crate. “What are you going to do with that knowledge?”

“I’m not going to announce it to the world, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He paused and laughed to himself. “But of course you aren’t. You never would’ve asked for this charm if you thought I’d give you away.”

I found the two capped vials of Moroi blood and handed them over. I needed only one but didn’t want the other to go to waste.

“No,” I agreed. “I didn’t think you’d tell on me. I didn’t even think you’d be shocked.”

“I’m not. Surprised, but not shocked.” He held up one of the vials, and I could see lines of concentration deepening on his face as he focused on it. I sensed nothing with my human skills, and this type of earth magic spoke directly to the substance of the blood, meaning there was no flashy burst of fire or water like you’d get with one of the other elements. “There.” He handed it back to me and focused on the other.

“You didn’t answer my question,” I reminded him.

“Because I don’t know,” he said several moments later. I accepted the second vial from him. “Ultimately, I imagine it’ll go toward serving the same thing it always does.”

“Yourself?”

“My loved ones.”

I fell speechless. That certainly wasn’t the answer I’d expected from Abe “Zmey” Mazur. He took a step closer so that he could look me more squarely in the eye.

“You think I’m so manipulative and scheming, Miss Sage? It’s all for them. For my loved ones first. My people second. And yes, I suppose I’m in the mix there too, but don’t think for an instant I wouldn’t sacrifice myself if it could save someone I love. And don’t think for an instant that I wouldn’t do terrible, unspeakable things if it could save someone I love.” When he backed up, I noticed I’d been holding my breath. “Good luck with your experiment. Let me know if I can be of any more assistance.”

I watched him walk off into the night, his words replaying in my mind. When he’d disappeared into the darkness, I returned to my room with the crate. And there, the ominous meeting with Abe vanished from my mind because I amazingly had bigger problems that came crashing back down on me.

Adrian.

Adrian, who’d withheld the knowledge that he’d taken advantage of a human girl.

Adrian, whom I’d trusted.

I threw myself on my bed and waited for the tears to come. They didn’t. The storm of emotions I’d felt earlier had simply gone numb. I was left with a cold, empty hole inside my heart and the gears of reason turning in my brain. Was Adrian right? Was it wrong to hold him responsible for something he’d done so long ago? We both were different people, and who was I to judge others when I’d orchestrated an act of revenge that had cost Keith his eye? I was no saint.

But Keith had committed a terrible crime, and the girl Adrian had drank from had done nothing except be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why did it have to be that? Why the blood? The thing that played the most upon my fears?

He texted me three times on the Love Phone, asking me if he could come over and talk. I didn’t answer. At least he had the sense not to barge on in. I spent my entire break lying on the bed like that, with Hopper curled to my chest in statue form.

When I returned to the palace later, I felt more in control, mostly because I’d shut down almost all my feelings. The scene I walked into was similar, though a few people had left for the break. Adrian and Nina were sitting and talking together. She looked radiant, and although he was smiling, I knew him well enough to recognize when he was faking it. Our eyes locked for a few brief moments and then I marched back up to my table.

The rest of the procedure was simple: adding the blood to the suspension I’d created. The liquid turned silver, earning a surprised grunt from Abe.

“Shouldn’t it be gold?”

I hesitated. “That’s the one part I changed. Silver’s more in tune with Moroi magic. I thought it’d be better.”

Sonya’s eyes widened in alarm. “The spirit’s leaking out now that it’s out of the case! Help me!”

Nina and Lissa hurried beside her, looks of concentration on their faces. They were using their magic to try to protect the vial, I realized. I didn’t know how successful they were, but I knew enough to realize we couldn’t waste time. “Hurry up,” I told Horace the tattooist.