Silver Shadows (Bloodlines #5)(43)
Author: Richelle Mead

When the session ended, and we were dismissed for dinner, his attitude didn’t change. Duncan ordered him to sit at our table, just as I had when Renee had returned. Jonah said nothing as the rest of us chatted about things we didn’t care about, all of us too nervous to ask what was truly on our minds. This behavior was right in line with what happened after a hardcore dose of compulsion re-inking. The question was, was Jonah faking or not? If he was, interacting with him might draw attention to him. If he wasn’t, he might very well report us.

Dinner wound down quietly at our table, and Duncan finished the last of his dessert, a cherry crumble that looked like it had been microwaved. “That actually tasted better than I expected,” he remarked, more to himself than us.

“You know what else is better than expected?”

All of us looked up, surprised to hear Jonah for the first time since his re-inking. Chimes sounded, signaling the end of dinner and spurring a collective rising of everyone in the room. Jonah stood as well, tray in hand.

“Me,” he said in a soft voice. “I feel great. Not a bit different.” He shot me a smile that was gone as quickly as it came. “You saved my life, Sydney. Thanks.” He strutted past me to join the line by the garbage bins, leaving me gaping.

I followed a few moments later, still stunned. He didn’t say anything to me for the rest of the night, but I’d seen that gleam in his eyes when he smiled. He was still there. His personality and mind were intact. They hadn’t gotten to him—and my formula had helped protect him. That realization stayed with me for the rest of the night, empowering me. For months, my captors had scored victory after victory on me, making me feel as though I could never fight back. Tonight, I had. It was a small victory, but it was real, and I had pulled it off.

I was so proud of my own cunning that I wasn’t paying attention to much else when I got ready for bed later on. I was in the girls’ bathroom, with a handful of others, still patting myself on the back. I was too oblivious to see Emma coming or make any defense when she slammed me into a corner of the wall. For a moment, I couldn’t believe she’d dare do it under surveillance. Then, I realized she’d positioned me under the camera, out of its view. Amelia and a couple of their other friends started talking loudly, drowning out Emma’s low and menacing voice as she kept me pinned in the corner and leaned forward.

“Jonah was re-inked today,” she said. “A major one—the kind that can make people forget their own name. And yet people are saying it didn’t affect him. And they’re saying it’s because of something you did to him.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snapped back. “He seemed out of it to me.”

She pushed me harder than I expected her capable of since she was smaller than I was. “Did you or didn’t you do something to him?”

I glared. “Why? So you can report me and get out early for good behavior?”

“No,” she said. “Because I want you to do it to me too.”

CHAPTER 12

ADRIAN

IT HAD ONLY BEEN A FEW WEEKS, but I felt like I’d been away from Palm Springs for months. I had no idea what to expect when I walked into my apartment and wondered if I’d find Angeline cohabitating with Trey. I should’ve known better, though. For all his swagger, Trey cracked down when push came to shove, and I found him sitting in the living room with textbooks spread out around him. It was so Sydney-like that for a moment, emotion threatened to overcome me. Then, my new resolve took hold, and I pushed any distracting feelings aside.

Trey looked up, surveying me and my suitcase. “You’re back, huh? How was the vacation?”

“Illuminating,” I said. “I got a lead on Sydney. Everyone’s on their way.”

His eyes widened. “You what?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer because I was already halfway down the hall, headed toward my old bedroom. When I stepped inside, I saw that Trey had taken it over, which I supposed was his right in light of my abrupt departure. With a shrug, I toted my suitcase back out to the living room and tossed it in the corner. I was happy to take a spot on the couch for now—if I even ended up staying here. I didn’t really know where the search for Sydney would lead me or how long I’d be hanging out here.

Ten minutes later, a knock at the door heralded the arrival of Jill, Eddie, Angeline, and Neil. They barreled into me with hugs—even stoic Neil—though Jill held on the longest. “I’ve been so worried about you,” she said, looking up at me with shining eyes. “Everything at Court was so crazy—I could only follow half of it—”

“And now it’s done,” I said firmly. “And we’ve got a lead on Sydney.”

“So you said,” Trey remarked. “But you didn’t really elaborate.”

“That’s because I—” Before I could say more, another knock sounded. I opened the door and let Marcus inside. I was so happy to see him that I astonished him with a hug too. “Right on time,” I said.

He’d been the trickiest one to get a hold of. I’d called him as soon as I’d booked my ticket back here and had been relieved to find out he was still in California, up in his old stomping grounds of Santa Barbara. When I’d told him what I’d learned, he promised to drive back and meet me after my flight landed. It was early evening, and the extensive travel had made for a taxing day, but I strangely found myself energized. This was it. We were all together, the people who loved Sydney, and we were going to make this happen.

“Can you catch the rest of us up now?” Trey demanded, once we were all sitting in a circle in the living room. “Where is Sydney? Is she okay?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t know,” I admitted. “I mean, she was okay enough to talk to me in a dream, but she wasn’t very forthcoming about what was going on in that place. She still seemed like herself, though.”

Marcus nodded in approval. “She’s strong-willed. That’ll get her through a lot. The thing is, if that will becomes too noticeable, they’ll try to do something about it. She’s got a dangerous line to walk.”

“She has for a long time now,” I said, thinking of her time here in Palm Springs when she struggled with her friendship with us and the doctrine the others were feeding to her. She’d finally picked a side of the line to stand on—and now she was paying for it. “She doesn’t know where she is either, but she does know that Keith was in the same place, so right now, he’s become our biggest lead.”