It made as little sense to Ms. Terwilliger as it had to me, and she gave a great sigh, exchanging glances with some of the other witches. They didn’t look thrilled about releasing Alicia either. “Well, once the fire department’s finished, we’ll have to create a secure circle and release her to get some answers.”

Trey, who’d been standing off on the sidelines, suddenly cleared his throat. “You might not have to. I think I know where she’s at—or, well, at least who’s holding her.” All eyes shifted to him in astonishment, but he didn’t flinch under the scrutiny. “I think the Warriors of Light have her.”

CHAPTER 13: ADRIAN

CHAPTER 13

ADRIAN

“WHAT DOES SALMON HAVE TO DO with the Warriors?” I asked.

Sydney shot me a wry look. “Psalms, not salmon. And I don’t know the connection.” She regarded Trey expectantly. “They’re a kind of religious poem, right? From the Bible?”

He nodded. “Yes. Well, that is, the ones the Warriors like to quote all the time aren’t actually in the Bible. They’ve made up a bunch of their own. But they recite them a lot on formal occasions, before meetings . . . stuff like that. If Alicia said Jill was hearing them, she’s probably being held by them somewhere. Believe me, they’d love nothing more than to hold a Moroi captive.”

Eddie turned toward Jackie incredulously and pointed at Alicia. “Unfreeze her like you did me! We need answers, and we need them now! Before it’s too late for Jill!”

I’d never seen him so worked up and was tempted to calm him with compulsion. Jackie remained remarkably unruffled. “I’m certainly not going to release her here—if we do it, it’ll be with a dozen other witches to secure her. And even if we do, don’t expect her to be forthcoming.”

“She’s right,” said Sydney slowly. “Even if we free Alicia, we don’t know that she’ll tell us anything.”

“I’ll make her talk,” insisted Eddie. “Or Adrian could compel her.”

Sydney didn’t look thrilled about that, but in my head, Aunt Tatiana was chomping at the bit. Yes! Yes! We’ll compel her into telling us things she doesn’t even realize she knows!

“There are spells to protect against that, and Alicia’s wily enough to have taken that precaution.” Jackie glanced at one of her witch friends. “What do you think? What time span would weaken her?”

The witch regarded frozen Alicia with a critical eye. “I’d leave her like that for a week, honestly. But if you’re in a rush . . .” She eyed Eddie before turning back to Alicia. “I’d say forty-eight hours.”

“Forty-eight hours!” exclaimed Eddie. “Jill might not have forty-eight hours if the Warriors are holding her! They could be performing some execution ritual as we speak!”