The Golden Lily Page 0,76

I could accept the idea of vampire hunters, but I could no longer rule out their possibility.

I could see Adrian studying me out of the corner of my eye. "Why the sigh?"

"Because this is all stuff I should have put together sooner." He seemed very pleased at the acknowledgment. "Well, you don't believe in vampire hunters. Makes it hard to really consider them an actual threat when you operate in a world of facts and data, huh? But then... how would they have stayed under your radar for so long?" Now that Adrian had given me the seeds, my mind was already working out the idea.

"Because they're only killing Strigoi - if these hunters exist. If some group were taking out Moroi, your people would notice. The Strigoi aren't organized the same way, and even if they noticed, it's not like they're going to report killings to us. Plus, Strigoi are killed all the time by Moroi and dhampirs. A few dead ones would just be written off to you guys - if anyone even found them. Toss a Strigoi out in the sun, and you'd never even know they'd been there." Relief poured through me at my conclusion. If a group like this did exist, they couldn't be killing Moroi. Strigoi-hunting was still dangerous, however. Only Alchemists could be trusted to deal with those fiends' deaths and keep them secret from average humans.

"Could you ask other Alchemists about hunters?" Adrian asked.

"No, not yet. I might be able to dig through some records, but I could never bring this up officially. They'd stick to my dad's theory - that it was just some random, weird group of humans.

Then they'd laugh me away."

"You know who wouldn't laugh you away?"

"Clarence," we both said in unison.

"Not a conversation I look forward to," I said wearily. "But he might really know something after all. And all his paranoia might pay off. All that home security? If this group really has it in their heads to come after Sonya, then she might be in even more danger than we realized."

"We need to tell Belikov. He excels at that protection thing. He won't sleep if we convince him she's in trouble - which seems likely after the sword attack." I noticed that this was the first time Adrian had ever spoken about Dimitri without bitterness. In fact, Adrian's words and praise sounded legitimate. He did believe in Dimitri's skill. I said nothing about my observation, though. If Adrian was going to get over his hatred of Dimitri, it needed to come gradually and without any outside "help."

I dropped Adrian off with plans to talk later. When I got back to Amberwood, I was immediately flagged down by Mrs. Weathers. What now? I was ready to hear that Angeline had set something on fire. Instead, Mrs. Weathers's face looked calm - pleasant, even - and I dared to hope for the best.

"Some things came for you, dear," she said. From a small office behind her desk, she produced two hangers with zipped garment bags on them. "A short, energetic woman dropped these off."

"Lia." I took the hangers, wondering what contents I'd find inside. "Thank you." I started to turn away, but Mrs. Weathers spoke again. "One more thing. Ms. Terwilliger left something for you too."

I tried to keep my face neutral. I was already drowning in Ms. Terwilliger's latest assignments.

What now? Mrs. Weathers handed me a large envelope that felt like it had a book in it.

Scrawled on the outer side was: Not classwork. Maybe you won't hate this. I thanked Mrs.

Weathers again and took my haul up to my room. After depositing the costumes on my bed unopened, I promptly tore into the envelope. Something about her note made me feel uneasy.

I wasn't entirely surprised to see it was another spell book. What did surprise me was that unlike the others I pored over for her, this one was new. Modern. There was no publisher listed on it, so it was probably someone's home project, but it had clearly been printed and bound within the last few years. That was startling. I'd pointedly never asked Ms. Terwilliger about her magic-using pals and their lifestyle but had always assumed they were reading the dusty old volumes she had me translate and copy. That they might be working from their own, new, and updated books hadn't even crossed my mind - though it should have.

I had no time to beat myself up, though, not once I got a