The Golden Lily Page 0,18

we'd only agreed to let Jill walk in Lia's fashion show because all the models wore Venetian masks. Lia had been on me ever since to let Jill model again. It was hard because I knew Jill wanted to, but she understood as well as I did that her safety came first. Claiming we were part of some obscure religion had often explained away our weird behaviors to others, so I'd figured it would get Lia off my back. It hadn't.

"I never hear from these parents of yours," Lia said. "I've watched your family. I see how it is. You're the authority. You're the one I have to go through. I have the chance to do a major magazine spread for my scarves and hats, and Jill was born to do it. What's it going to take to get her? You want a cut of the pay?"

I sighed. "It's not about the money. We can't show her face. If you want to put her in a Venetian mask again, then be my guest."

Lia scowled. "I can't do that."

"Then we're at an impasse."

"There must be something. Everyone has a price."

"Sorry." There was no price in the world she could offer to get me to shirk my duty to Jill and the Alchemists.

A restaurant clerk stuck his head outside and called that our order was ready, mercifully freeing us from Lia. Sonya chuckled as we loaded up on our bags and headed back down the street to make the walk to Adrian's. The sky was still purple with the last of the day's light, and street lamps made whimsical patterns on the sidewalk as they cast their light through the leaves of palm trees.

"Did you ever imagine your job here would involve dodging aggressive fashion designers?" Sonya asked.

"No," I admitted. "Honestly, I never foresaw half the stuff this job has - "

"Sonya?"

A young man appeared seemingly out of nowhere, blocking our path. He was no one I knew and looked to be a little older than me. He wore his black hair in a buzz cut and was staring curiously at Sonya.

She came to a halt and frowned. "Do I know you?"

He brightened. "Sure. Jeff Eubanks. Remember?"

"No," she said politely, after a few moments of study. "You must have me mistaken for someone else. I'm sorry."

"No, no," he said. "I know it's you. Sonya Karp, right? We met in Kentucky last year." Sonya stiffened. She'd made Kentucky her home while she was a Strigoi. I knew those couldn't be pleasant memories.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, voice strained. "I don't know what you're talking about." The guy was undaunted, still smiling as though they were best friends. "You've come a long ways from Kentucky. What brings you out here? I just transferred for work."

"There's some mistake," I told him sternly, nudging Sonya forward. I didn't know what that mistake could be exactly, but Sonya's attitude was all I needed. "We have to go." The guy didn't follow us, but Sonya remained silent for most of the walk home.

"Must be hard," I said, feeling like I should say something. "Meeting people from your past."

She shook her head. "He's not. I'm certain of it. I've never met him." I'd figured she just wanted to avoid all associations with being a Strigoi. "You're sure? He wasn't just some casual acquaintance?"

She shot me a wry look. "Strigoi don't have casual acquaintances with humans. They have them for dinner. That guy shouldn't have known who I was."

"He was human? Not dhampir?" I couldn't tell the difference, but Moroi could.

"Definitely."

Sonya had stopped again and was glancing back at the guy's retreating figure. I followed her gaze. "There must be some reason he recognized you. He seems pretty harmless." That got me another smile. "Come now, Sydney. I figured you'd been around us long enough to know."

"Know what?"

"Nothing's ever as harmless as it seems."

Chapter 4

SONYA DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING about the mysterious encounter to the rest of the gang at Adrian's, so I respected her silence. Everyone else was too preoccupied with dinner and the experiments to notice much else. And once they conducted the second wave of experiments, even I grew too distracted to give much thought to the guy on the street.

Sonya had said she wanted to see how Eddie and Dimitri responded to direct spirit. This was accomplished by her and Adrian focusing their magic at the dhampirs one at a time.

"It's sort of like what we'd do if we were trying to heal them or make something