“Okay,” I told Eddie. “I’ll make it happen.”

I did, but as I’d warned him, it was ugly.

Zoe was in a bad mood when she got back from parking practice, and I prayed she hadn’t hit something. When school got out the next day, her mood was still in full effect, killing any fleeting chance that I might get away unscathed. There was nothing to do but push forward and give her the bad news that my birthday was being postponed again. She was nearly in tears by the end of our “discussion.”

“How can you keep doing this?” she yelled. “What’s wrong with you? I thought when I came here . . . I thought things would be great. I thought we’d be a team.”

“We are,” I said. “We’re getting so much done, and I thought . . . well, I thought you were making good progress in getting along with the Moroi and dhampirs.”

“Yes, but they’re not the ones I want to spend time with. You are, Sydney. My sister! Why is everything else more important than me?”

I walked over to put my arm around her, but she pushed me away. “Zoe, you are important. I love you. But there’s just a lot I have to deal with. It’s how our job works. Sometimes we get cut off from our families for a while.”

“We aren’t cut off! I’m right here.” She wiped furiously at her eyes. “You said that thing for Ms. Terwilliger was done!” Once again, I’d relied on my old excuse, simply because it was one of the few things she couldn’t fight against.

“It was supposed to be, but then we found out about a library in Pasadena that has something we need. Remember that crazy guy I told you she’s dating?” I managed a hollow laugh. “They’re going to a dog show during the day, so she isn’t free until tonight. Good thing the library’s open until–”

“I don’t care about your stupid library!” A coldness filled Zoe’s eyes as she stared at me. There was an almost tangible quality to it. “I want to know something, Sydney. And don’t lie or dodge the question. What are you going to say at the hearing?”

It hit me out of left field. A story was ready on my lips, but as I met the intensity of her gaze, I couldn’t bring myself to lie. “I’m going to tell the truth,” I said.

“What truth is that?”

“That both Mom and Dad have good things to offer. Mom’s not an evil person, Zoe. You know that.”

Zoe’s face was impassive. “And if they ask you who you think should have me, who will you say?”

I stared into her eyes, so like my own. “Mom.”

She sank back into her bed as though I’d punched her. “How could you do that to me?”

“Because Mom loves you,” I said simply. “And you should have a normal life before swearing to this one.”

“I’ve already sworn to this one,” she reminded me, touching the tattoo on her cheek.

“It’s not too late.” I wished I could tell her about the salt ink, but obviously, she wasn’t ready for that. “Zoe, since coming here, I’ve had the first chance in my life to do what other people do. To have normal relationships.”

“Yeah,” she said bitterly. “I know.”

“It’s not frivolous. It’s amazing. I love it. I want you to have that kind of life.”

“That doesn’t sound like any Alchemist belief I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s not–because I’m talking to you like a sister now, not just another Alchemist.”

“You sure do flip between those pretty randomly. How do you know which one to be at any given time?”

I shrugged. “It’s in my gut.”

Zoe stood up, her hard expression showing me she was unmoved. “I’m going out. See you for Clarence’s.”

Her words reminded me that it was a feeding night, and as I collapsed onto my own bed, dejected, I wished we were already at Clarence’s. I got out the Love Phone and texted Adrian. Can’t wait to see you tonight. I wish you were here. I need you right now.  No immediate answer came, probably because he was working on something for class. I kept writing anyway because it felt good to vent. I love you. The center will hold, and someday, we’ll get away from all this.

When we picked him up for Clarence’s later, I had to fight the urge to get out of the car and run into his arms. Too much was weighing on me. Zoe. The trip to Los Angeles. I didn’t expect Adrian to fight my battles for me, but I just wished he could give me courage before them.

He did without even knowing it, when we got a brief moment alone later. I’d gone to put our leftovers away in the kitchen, and he followed me after a minute or so. “Hey,” I said. My hand twitched with the need to touch him.

“Everything okay?” he asked. I could see the same longing in him. “You didn’t look so great back there. I mean you always look great, but . . . you know what I mean.”

“I do. Big fight with Zoe. Details don’t matter. The short version is she hates me right now.” I shrugged. “Welcome to my life. Did you get the car back? Did you get my texts?”

“Ah.” He averted his eyes. “Yes to the first question. As for the second . . . I, uh, kind of lost the Love Phone.”

“What?”  My whole world reeled. “Adrian! That phone’s a record of everything that’s gone on between us. Please tell me you’ve been deleting everything after it comes in.”

His guilty expression told me he hadn’t. “Relax. I didn’t lose it at Alchemist HQ or anything. I’m pretty sure I lost it at a coffee shop with Rowena yesterday. My name’s not on it or anything. Clarence is going to let me borrow his car, so I’ll go back and get it.”

I still couldn’t stop the sick feeling rising in my stomach. “This could be a disaster.”

“How? If anyone even finds it–and it’s not just sitting under a table right now–they’ll just have a good laugh at our sappy talk. No one’s going to be like, ‘Aha! Proof of an illicit human‑and‑vampire affair.’”

He made me smile, just like always, but I was still worried. Jill came into the kitchen just then and grinned when she saw us. She no longer had the inside track into our relationship, but I was pretty sure she knew it had hit the next level.

“Good news,” she said in a low voice. “You’ve probably thrown Angeline off your trail. She’s been trying to get me on board about you, Neil, and Eddie doing covert things. She probably thinks you’re dating one of them.”

I laughed at the joke, glad that Jill was thrown off the trail of our LA trip too. “Yeah, because that totally wouldn’t be a problem.”

Whatever else she was going to say was interrupted as more people came in to put away their dishes. It also ended any further conversation between Adrian and me, and the most I could do was exchange a long, meaningful look with him when I prepared to leave. I hoped I’d survive this night and see him again.

Eddie, Neil, and I took my car to Los Angeles. The only time anyone spoke on the two‑hour drive was to go over the plan, which we did about a hundred times. Both of them were armed with silver stakes, and I’d practiced my fire spell as much as I could. Once I’d needed physical materials and a lot of concentration to do it. Now, I could practically do it in my sleep.

We can do this, I kept telling myself. It’s as good a plan as any.

We found the night club our Strigoi liked to frequent. Immediately, I understood its appeal. It was loud and crowded, and the bouncers didn’t do a good job checking IDs, meaning lots of young and naive people showed up. The club was surrounded by dark, winding alleys, mostly deserted except for drunken clubbers stumbling home. There were a lot of corners and shadows to hide in.

“Here,” said Eddie. We’d done a circuit of the club and found a blind alley beside a building in severe disrepair. Marcus would’ve felt right at home. A second‑story window had been broken, and when Eddie climbed up to it via a dumpster, he found a trashed, empty apartment. “This is where we’ll wait.” He helped me get up there, and we took up a position that mostly hid us in darkness while giving us a vantage on the pavement below. Neil waited down there, hoping he could be the bait he’d proposed. He’d done a lot of vigorous exercise before we left, leaving him sweaty so that the Strigoi would have an easier time smelling him. Strigoi loved drinking from dhampirs more than humans, and they loved Moroi most of all–which was another reason I hadn’t wanted Adrian to know about this. If our guy caught Neil’s scent, it’d be an irresistible lure. Our assumption was that if the Strigoi smelled Eddie, he’d just blend in with Neil. I would blend with the other humans in the area.