“Actually… yes.” I stopped at a red light and thought back on some of Trey’s weird behaviors. “He knows Jill’s a Moroi, I’m almost certain of it. He didn’t notice right away, but when he did, he kept telling me to keep her hidden. Then after Sonya was attacked, he told me to stay safe.” A horrible realization was dawning on me. “He knew. He knew I was friends with Sonya. He probably knew about the attack and never said anything!”

“Not a surprise if his group’s working counter to yours.” Adrian’s tone softened. “If it makes you feel better, it sounds like he was kind of conflicted if he was trying to warn you.”

“I don’t know that it does. Oh, Adrian.” I pulled up in front of his building and saw the yellow Mustang illuminated in the streetlight. “You left the car out. You’re lucky it didn’t get towed.”

“I’ll move it,” he said. “And don’t look at me like that. It’s within a half-mile radius. I’m not breaking your rules.”

“Just be careful,” I muttered.

He opened Latte’s door and glanced back at me. “You sure you want to go back to the school? You’ll be locked in until morning.”

“Not much I can do until then anyway. I want to be there the instant I can get access to Trey. I’ll trust in Eddie for now.”

Adrian looked reluctant to leave me but finally nodded. “Call if you need anything. I’m going to keep trying to see if I can find Sonya in her dreams. Didn’t have much luck earlier.”

One of spirit’s more disconcerting powers was the user’s ability to intrude on the dreams of other people. “Is she just not asleep?”

“That, or drugged.”

Neither option made me feel any better. He gave me one last, lingering look before leaving. I returned to Amberwood where a sleepy student aide waved me in without comment. Mrs. Weathers had long since gone home, and her overnight coverage didn’t seem particularly concerned about my comings and goings. As I was walking up the stairs, my phone rang. Eddie.

“Well, it took forever, but I finally woke his roommate up,” he told me.

“And?”

“He’s not there. I guess he wasn’t last night either. Some kind of family emergency.”

“No word on when he’ll be back?” I was beginning to think all of Trey’s “family stuff” might be more insidious than I’d guessed. I was also willing to bet he wasn’t the only one with a sun tattoo.

“No.”

I DRIFTED IN AND OUT of sleep that night. My body was exhausted from the magic, but I was too on edge about Sonya to fully give in to the fatigue. I keep waking up and checking my cell phone, afraid I’d missed some call—despite the fact that it was on its loudest setting. I finally gave up and got out of bed a couple of hours before the cafeteria’s breakfast began. By the time I’d showered and dressed—and put my coffee maker into high gear—I was back into open hours on campus. Not that it did me much good.