I smiled, despite a pang of jealousy. Trey was going to college soon, something I’d been denied initially because I was part of the Alchemists. Now, being constantly on the run from them, it seemed unlikely I’d go anytime soon. “Look at you, setting a good example for others,” I teased.

“Hey,” he said, “I meant all of it. And we are going to get Jill back, right? Explain this lead you’ve got. Eddie said it’s some girl you fought before?”

The light mood instantly shifted as we got down to business. “Her name’s Alicia DeGraw,” I explained, getting out my phone. “We don’t entirely know where or how she’s holding Jill, but it seems pretty clear now she’s doing it as a way to get back at me. Her last clue led to the Salton Sea, and that’s where Ms. Terwilliger’s friends are going to help us search today.” I showed him Alicia’s picture, which Ms. Terwilliger had obtained from a friend of hers who’d known Alicia back when she was Veronica’s apprentice. It had been taken a couple of years before I met Alicia, but she looked the same: hipster glasses, excessive accessories, and bobbed, pale blond hair.

Trey’s eyes widened. “I know this girl.” Seeing our astonished looks, he hastily amended: “That is, I’ve seen her. She came here looking for you and Adrian. I told you guys . . . but I never caught her name.”

Vaguely, I recalled Trey mentioning a girl who’d come by asking for Adrian and me during the time I’d been held captive by the Alchemists. We’d been so preoccupied by other things—like escaping with our lives from the Alchemists—that the incident had slipped our minds.

“She was here?” exclaimed Eddie.

“Only long enough to ask for Sydney and Adrian,” Trey said. “And use the bathroom.”

Realization hit me. “And I bet I left a comb or brush in there. That’s how she got my hair to key that spell to me.”

Many of our friends only knew bits and pieces of the story and the chase Alicia had led us on, so I took a moment to catch everyone up and give a full rundown. Eddie was glowering by the time I finished.

“It’s been driving me crazy being in town, knowing I might be so close to Alicia and not able to do anything,” he said. “But Ms. Terwilliger insisted we search with the other witches.”

“You could’ve shaved in your downtime,” suggested Adrian helpfully.

“I understand,” I told Eddie, ignoring Adrian’s snark. “I haven’t liked the delay either, but getting them to help us will give us an extra layer of protection against Alicia. There’s no telling what magical traps she might have laid.”