“That was very brave of him,” she admitted.

I looked up from a shirt. “Why, Zoe, I think you just said nice things about dhampirs twice in the last five minutes.”

“Don’t get any ideas.” But she was smiling. “But . . . yeah, maybe they aren’t that bad. I mean, they’re not us, but they aren’t so bad to be around. It actually makes things easier, not hating them.”

“It certainly does,” I agreed. A spot of hope blossomed in me. Living with Zoe and her harsh Alchemist attitudes had been agonizing this last month or so. But could I blame her? Hadn’t I been the same? It had taken me a long time to come around . . . could she? Maybe in time, she’d get over trying to impress our dad and realize Moroi and dhampirs were just ordinary people. It was a heady thought, that we could actually be like sisters again and share the same rebel Alchemist philosophy. Maybe Marcus would eventually break her tattoo.

I kept those thoughts to myself, knowing I couldn’t jump ahead of myself. But it was hard not to be hopeful later when we ate dinner with the others and I saw that she no longer looked like she wanted to jump up and run away. Everyone was in good spirits until Jill’s eyes focused on something behind me, and she sighed heavily. I turned and saw two girls hanging a sign for the Valentine’s Dance.

“I wish I could go,” she said mournfully.

“Me too,” said Angeline.

“Well, why don’t you?” I asked.

Jill gave Neil a sidelong look. He was off in his own world. “There’s no one to go with,” she said. Angeline nodded in agreement.

“I’m sure you can find someone.” I glanced at Zoe. “So could you.”

Her eyes widened. “What? A dance?”

“Sure. It’s what the rest of the world does. You should try it.”

“Would you try it?” she asked. “Seems frivolous in our line of work.”

“I have tried it.” For a few seconds, I couldn’t continue, as the memory of my one and only dance sucked me in. Adrian had shown up, drunk, and I’d ended up taking him back to his place, where we’d been caught in a blackout. “Sometimes frivolity isn’t a bad thing.”

Eddie, who didn’t seem put out about the dance, grinned. “Sydney, when we first met, I never would’ve thought those words could come out of your mouth. What happened to you?”

Everything, I thought.

I met his grin with one of my own. “We all need some fun. We should forget that dance and go out and see a movie that night. When was the last time we all did that?”

“I think the answer is ‘never,’” said Jill.

“Well, there we go. We’ll get tickets and bring Adrian along.” I gave Angeline a scrutinizing look she didn’t notice. “Maybe some other people too.” I was feeling a little guilty about having promised Trey to keep Angeline away from Neil, seeing as Neil himself was taking care of that. I felt I owed Trey more for being my test subject, and maybe bringing him along on a group movie outing would help speed along his “figuring things out” process.

Life soon fell into its normal rhythm. I resumed my pattern of quick visits to Adrian after school, though the level of what we did now had definitely been kicked up. I missed those long, languid stretches of time from the inn, but we certainly made the most of what we had. I continued “making up for lost time” and even went so far as to start reading sex how-to books. I felt nerdy until the day I earned an impressed “Where did you learn that, Sage?”

The new developments with Adrian gave me even more motivation to protect us, meaning I went out of my way to pacify Zoe. We still didn’t spend enough time together to make her happy, but I did other things she liked, like letting her drive the car once in a while. I also encouraged non-threatening activities with the rest of the gang and continued to watch as she grew more comfortable with them.

The only thing marring our relationship was the threat of our parents’ divorce. Zoe continued to assume I was on our dad’s side. Whatever uncertainty I’d possessed about the matter had vanished after that lunch/dinner with him. I intended to testify in favor of my mom, even though I knew that could have serious ramifications for the comfortable life I was carving out. The hearing was still a month away, and I did my best to keep reminding Zoe about how much our mom loved us and that she really wasn’t a bad person. I even once suggested that if the court granted joint custody, Zoe might truly be able to split her time between our parents, rather than be one hundred percent committed to Alchemist work, as my mom had feared. Zoe had momentarily brightened at that idea and then shook her head. “Dad wouldn’t like it,” she’d said. Her fear of him was too great.

One of the stranger things to happen to me was that I learned to use a tattooing apparatus. My triumph at returning with bona fide Alchemist ink had vanished when I realized I couldn’t have Wolfe tattoo Trey with it. Not only would it blow our cover story about tattoo removal, it would also mean Wolfe would witness the activation of the charm. So I got Ms. Terwilliger to convince Wolfe to leave the machine at her place, in case we needed him again. In the meantime, I looked up the model and read everything I could about how to use it. When I told Trey the news, he wasn’t thrilled.

“How am I scarier than a one-eyed man?” I demanded, when we met up at Ms. Terwilliger’s place.

“At least he’s been doing tattoos for years. How many have you done?”

“None,” I said. “But I bet I know more about it than he does.”

One thing I did feel bad about, though, was that, unlike the salt ink, the blood ink had color. It was going to leave a mark. Since my understanding was that the two tattoos had to be done pretty much on top of each other, I had to do this one on top of the one Wolfe had done—which was in turn over Trey’s Warrior sun. My hope was that I could just trace the sun’s lines, but I didn’t know how skilled my hands would be.

“If I mess it up, I’ll pay for you to get it redone,” I assured him.

That mollified him, but as he lay down on the workbench, I heard him grumble, “Remind me why I agreed to do this.”

“Because I’m keeping Angeline away from other people. Although . . . I don’t suppose you want to, uh, go to a movie with her on Valentine’s Day. With all of us, that is.”

He groaned. “I’m supposed to stay away from her.”

“Well, you don’t have to sit by her. And it’s not like you’ll be alone.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said reluctantly.

I didn’t know if this movie plan would result in anything. I didn’t have much practice at matchmaking, but Trey and Angeline obviously weren’t having success getting over each other. And it occurred to me that if they started going out again, surely he’d have to break his ties to the Warriors. Wouldn’t that be an accomplishment for the greater good? Or was I just complicating things?

Regardless, it was a problem for later. For now, my focus was on being an amateur tattooist—which I actually pulled off pretty well. I reinforced the sun design and didn’t stray from the lines too badly. Trey wanted to check it in a mirror, but before he could, I had to finish the spell. Earth compulsion charms could be time delayed, triggered by a certain event. Abe had put an urge to obey in the blood, but it didn’t have a specific focus. That was where I came in. Once the blood was delivered into the subject, the magic was unlocked and ready to be directed. Trey sat up, and I leaned forward, looking him in the eye.

In the Alchemist ritual, after the blood was delivered, a hierophant would give the new recruit a standard set of instructions: “Our words are your words, our goals are your goals, our beliefs are your beliefs.” I’d never thought much about those words. They had a ritualistic feel, and until recently, I hadn’t realized how literally the charm worked them into the person. After that, the hierophant would add, “Never shall you speak of the supernatural to those who aren’t part of it. You will guard its secrets.” That was about all the charm could handle. You couldn’t give infinite commands. The Moroi had enough hang-ups about compulsion that they’d give the blood only a low level of magic. Or, well, at least most Moroi would. Apparently, since some Alchemists were being programmed with stronger commands, there were Moroi willing to bend the rules and power up the blood.

I didn’t bother with any of that with Trey. All I needed to do was give him a command while the charm was active in the blood and ready to receive.

“You will not speak of your feelings for Angeline to anyone,” I told him sternly.

Trey met my gaze, and I saw his dark eyes start to glaze over in obeisance. My heart sank. I’d seen this in other Alchemists being tattooed. I’d experienced it myself. It was the compulsion taking hold. We’d failed. The magic was still able to work and—

He suddenly blinked rapidly, as though he were shaking off a dream. “Why not?” he asked.

“Why not what?”

“Why can’t I talk about Angeline?”

“Do you want to?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes.”

“You know, the other day at lunch, we were all talking about spring break plans, and she suddenly started going off about how meerkats aren’t cats at all and how zoologists should really rename them because it could cause a lot of trouble if someone took one home as a pet.” I eyed Trey carefully. “What do you think of that?”

His expression softened as a smile filled his face. “It cracks me up. No, I love it. I know this stuff sounds so crazy, but it’s just because everything is so new to her, you know? We take everything for granted, but when I’m with her, I see the world through new eyes. She makes my world better. It’s why she’s so great.” He suddenly snapped to attention. “Why do you have such a big grin on your face?”

“Because you’re talking about how you feel about Angeline.”

“So?” he asked suspiciously.

“I asked you not to.”

“You did?”

The door to the garage opened, and Adrian appeared. He’d had to stay on campus late and was only just now able to join us. “You still giving out tattoos, Sage? You up for my skeleton pirate?” He glanced between our faces. “What’s going on?”

I laughed and clasped my hands together in front of my chest. “It worked. The salt ink negated the other ink. It undid the compulsion! The human magic triumphed.”

Trey arched an eyebrow. “Do I really want to know the details here?”

I surprised him with a quick hug. “The details are that you just helped prove a major discovery. One that’s going to help a lot of people.”

He still looked understandably puzzled. “Just as long as you didn’t do any lasting damage.”

“You’re free and clear to go to the movie with us,” I said.

“We’re all friends, though,” said Trey quickly.

“Absolutely,” I said.

He had a shift soon and was able to talk to us only a little while longer. Once he was gone, I threw myself into Adrian’s arms and he spun me around.

“My brilliant girl,” he said. “You did it.”

I brushed my lips against his cheek. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Me? I’m not the one who conned her way into getting illicit ingredients, scored a test subject, and learned to use a tattoo machine in a week.”

“You were moral support,” I said. “The most important job of all. And now that I know it works, I’ve got to go make more ink for when Marcus shows up. Keep me company.”

Marcus had sent word to Adrian via Sabrina that he’d be in town next week. I’d been making extra ink whenever I could get a free moment and wasn’t going to waste this one. I had to give Marcus his best fighting chance. Ms. Terwilliger was working in her kitchen when we came back into the house. She waved and assured me I could use her workroom. Although she didn’t understand my project exactly, she had no problem sharing her space and letting me store things. Adrian had come by a number of times in the past, and like tonight, he sat near me and quietly did his own work while I did mine. It was warm and comfortable and almost normal.

“Isn’t it weird?” he said, glancing up as I measured salt. “All the variety that life offers? Here we sit, me reading expressions of creativity.” He held up the poetry book, which to my dismay, was now worn and dog-eared. “And you doing scientific and magical calculations. We’re thinking, cerebral beings one minute . . . and the next, completely given over to physical acts of passion. How do we do that? Back and forth, mind and body? How can creatures like us go from extreme to extreme?”