“Sydney,” said Eddie, in a stern-but-trying-to-sound-kind voice, “she’s the one who turned you in the first time! The one who started that whole re-education nightmare.”

“I know, but . . .”

I thought back to Zoe’s face just now, looking so serious and upset about the notion of me being tortured. I thought back also to the day Adrian and I had first arrived at Court, when we’d been hauled in front of the queen and found a group of Alchemists already waiting there to try to get me back. My father and Ian, another Alchemist we knew, had spoken plenty about the wrongness of what I’d done and how I needed to be removed from the Moroi. Zoe had stayed silent, her face stricken, and I’d been too overwhelmed to think much about what she might be feeling. I’d assumed she’d been too outraged by my marriage to speak—not to mention the fact that my dad didn’t really let anyone else get a word in edgewise.

Now I suddenly realized there might have been something I’d missed altogether: regret.

“I really think she was trying to help,” I insisted, knowing how crazy the words sounded—especially to Eddie. He’d been there the night I was taken, the night she’d betrayed me. “Something’s changed.”

He didn’t contradict me but was still on edge. “I wonder if we should change our plans, in case they start scouting the area for us.”

“No,” I said firmly, feeling more and more confident of my suspicions. “She’s not going to turn us in. Unless you see active signs of someone coming after us, we’re pushing on to Ha Ha Tonka.”

I was reeling as the drive continued, still in awe at this new revelation that Zoe might be having doubts—if not about the Alchemists, then at least about what had been done to me. Once I recovered from my initial shock, I found myself feeling an emotion I hadn’t felt about her in a very long time: hope.

Clouds were thinning out when we reached Ha Ha Tonka State Park, and the early morning temperatures were already promising a sweltering day ahead. We parked and stopped by the visitors’ center, clustering around a map of the park. Although there were extensive grounds and trails, we decided the ruins of the massive stone building—which even the park referred to as the “castle”—were the place to start, seeing as that’s what our clue directly connected to.