Sabrina proceeded to give us a rundown on how she planned to sneak Sydney and Eddie in. The whole thing sounded awful the more she described it, and I again wanted to ask Sydney not to go. I realized me wanting to protect her from those dangers was akin to her asking me to hold back on spirit. Both were dangerous courses of action . . . yet how could we not, when Jill’s life was at risk?

There’s no good answer, declared Aunt Tatiana morosely. And no good will come of any of this.

Lunch wound down with plans being finalized and Sydney intending to get some magical disguise help from her witch connections. Sabrina got a call summoning her back to the Warriors earlier than she’d expected. She grimaced and stood up. “I’ll be in touch soon, when I get a few more details about the recruitment. Can one of you drop Marcus off at his safe house?”

“We’ll do it,” Sydney said, preempting Eddie and Trey. “We’ll talk to you guys later.”

Our group dispersed, and Sydney and I led Marcus to the rental car we’d been driving since coming back to Palm Springs. It was a convertible, a bonus upgrade given to us by the company, even though we hadn’t asked for it.

“Nice,” said Marcus. “Great day to have the top down.” He glanced over at me. “Er, maybe not.”

After yesterday’s gray, Palm Springs was back to its sweltering summer conditions, ones I certainly didn’t want to expose myself to. Sunlight didn’t kill Moroi, the way it did Strigoi, but it could certainly be uncomfortable for us if we were out in it long enough. Moments like this reminded me of the differences between Sydney and me. She loved the sun, and a life with me kept her from it.

“You can put the top down if you want,” I said casually, tossing Sydney the keys.

She gave me a weak smile, guessing my thoughts. “Nah, I’d rather have air conditioning.”

I smiled back, knowing she was lying. Sometimes, lounging in bed, she and I would discuss plans for a future dream house. We’d decided we’d build a screened-in porch, airy enough for me to still enjoy the heat but covered enough to block the worst of the light. I always teased her I’d serve her lemonade out there. It would be the perfect place for us—the meeting of worlds. But at the moment, it was hard to imagine a future like that.

Marcus gave her directions to an apartment complex that actually wasn’t that far from where I used to go to school at Carlton on the other side of town. As she drove us onto the highway, I dialed someone that few Moroi were lucky enough to have in their phone’s memory. I was even more surprised when she answered on the first ring.