The Indigo Spell Page 0,42

been compromised." He cast a wistful glance around the studio. Honestly, I thought he should be grateful I'd given him a reason to leave.

Sabrina rose as well, her face hardening. "I'll make sure the secondary location is ready."

"You're an angel, as always," he told her.

"Hey, how did you know I was coming?" I asked. "You had time to hide and call her." What I really wanted to know was how he'd seen me through the invisibility spell. I'd felt the magic fill me. I was certain I'd cast the spell correctly, but he'd discovered me. The spell wouldn't work if someone knew to look for you, so maybe he'd happened to glance out the window when I was scaling the fire escape? Worst timing ever.

"Tony warned me." Marcus flashed me another of those dazzling grins. I think he was trying to make me smile back. "Good kid."

Tony? Then I knew. The boy in the parking lot. He'd pretended to help me and then sold me out. He must have spoken to Marcus while I climbed the fire escape. Maybe Marcus only answered to some secret knock. At least I had the comfort of knowing I'd cast the spell correctly. It simply hadn't worked because Marcus had advance warning that some girl was coming after him.

He began packing up his meager belongings into a backpack. "The Catcher in the Rye is a great book, by the way." He winked. "Maybe someday we'll have a literary discussion."

I wasn't interested in that. Watching him, I saw that he kept favoring his uninjured wrist. I couldn't believe I'd caused damage like that and felt a little guilty, despite everything that had happened. "You should get that taken care of," I said. Sabrina nodded in agreement.

He sighed. "I can't. At least, not through conventional means. The Alchemists have eyes everywhere."

Conventional means.

"I, uh, might be able to help you get it healed through unconventional means," I said.

"You know some off-the-grid doctor?" asked Sabrina hopefully.

"No. But I know a Moroi spirit user."

Marcus froze, and I kind of liked that I'd thrown him off guard. "Seriously? We've heard of them but never met one. That woman they had - Sonya? She was one, right? She was gone before we could find out more."

Talking about Adrian made me nervous, but Sabrina probably already knew he existed if they'd been watching me. "Yeah, she was one, and there's another in Palm Springs. I could take you to him and let him heal you."

Excitement lit Marcus's features. Sabrina looked at him in horror. "You can't just go off with her." Was that concern or jealousy in her voice?

"Why not?" he asked. "She's taking a leap of faith with us. We can't do any less. Besides, I'm dying to meet a spirit user. The safe house isn't that far from Palm Springs. You make sure everything's in order and then come pick me up later."

Sabrina didn't like that, not at all. Maybe I didn't understand the dynamics of their group yet, but it was obvious she regarded him as a leader and was insanely protective. In fact, I suspected her feelings for him were more than professional. They went back and forth on whether he'd be safe or not, and I listened without a word. All the while, I wondered if I'd be safe heading off with some unknown guy. Clarence trusted him, I reminded myself. And he's pretty paranoid. Besides, with Marcus's wrist out of commission, I could probably take him.

He finally convinced Sabrina to let him go but not before she snarled, "If anything happens to him, I'm coming after you." Apparently her hard-core character in the arena hadn't been entirely faked.

We parted ways from her, and before long, Marcus and I were on the road to Palm Springs. I tried to get more information out of him, but he wouldn't bite. Instead, he kept complimenting me and saying things that were only one step away from pickup lines. Judging from the way he'd bantered with Sabrina too, I didn't think there was anything particularly special about me. I thought he was just used to women fawning all over him. He was cute, I'd give him that, but it took a lot more than that to win me over.

It was sunset when we pulled up to Adrian's apartment, and I belatedly wondered if I should've given him some advance warning. Too late now.

We walked up to the door, and I knocked three times. "It's open," a voice called from within.