The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

hoped—some other magic user was doing it. Not that I’d wish this on anyone. Your scrying
     spell confirmed she was in the area, however, which means it’s my responsibility to
     deal with her.”
    I dared a look down at the article again and felt that nausea well up again. The girl
     was nineteen. What would it be like to have the life sucked out of you at so young
     an age? Maybe the coma was a blessing. And how corrupt and twisted would you have
     to be to do that to someone?
    I didn’t know how exactly Ms. Terwilliger would “deal with” her sister and wasn’t
     sure I wanted to find out. And yet, if Veronica really was doing things like this
     to innocents, then yes, someone like Ms. Terwilliger needed to stop her. A magical
     attack of this magnitude was one of the most terrible things I could imagine. It brought
     back all my ingrained fears about the wrongness of magic. How could I justify using
     it when it was capable of such horror? Old Alchemist lessons came back to me:
Part of what makes the Moroi particularly dangerous is their ability to work magic.
     No one should be able to twist the world in that way. It’s wrong and can easily run
     out of control.
    I tuned back into the present. “How do I fit into this, ma’am? I already figured out
     where she is. Why am I in danger?”
    “Sydney,” Mrs. Terwilliger said, looking at me strangely. “There are few young women
     out there with your abilities. Along with youth and beauty, she intends to suck someone’s
     magic away and use it to make herself that much more powerful. You, my dear, would
     be the ultimate coup for her.”
    “She’s like Strigoi,” I murmured, unable to repress a shiver. Although those undead
     vampires could feast on anyone, they preferred Moroi because they had magic in their
     blood. Drinking Moroi blood made Strigoi more powerful, and a chilling thought suddenly
     hit me. “Practically a human vampire.”
    “Something like that,” Ms. Terwilliger agreed. “This amulet should hide your power,
     even from someone as strong as her. She shouldn’t be able to find you.”
    A calico cat jumped up on the table, and I ran a hand over her sleek fur, taking comfort
     in the small contact. “The fact that you keep saying ‘should’ makes me a little nervous.
     Why would she even come looking in Palm Springs? Does she know about me yet?”
    “No. But she knows
I’m
here, and she may check on me once in a while—so I need to hide you in case she does.
     I’m in a bind, however, because I need to find her but can’t actively do the hunting.
     If she finds out I’m investigating, she’ll know that I know she’s here. I can’t alert
     her. If I have the element of surprise on my side, I’m more likely to stop her.”
     She frowned. “I’m honestly surprised she would come so close to me in California at
     all. Regardless, I need to keep a low profile until it’s time to strike.”
    Ms. Terwilliger looked at me meaningfully, and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach
     as I began to put together what she was saying. “You want me to hunt her.”
    “It’s not hunting so much as gathering some data. You’re the only one I can trust
     to do this. She and I can sense each other if we’re close, no matter how much we try
     to hide our magic. I know this is going to sound shocking, but I actually think it’d
     be best if you hunted her—even if you’re the one she’s after. You’re one of the few
     I can trust completely, and you’re resourceful enough to pull something like this
     off.”
    “But I’d be putting myself out there. You just said I’d be a big catch for her.” The
     twists and turns here were mindboggling.
    “Yes. Which is why I gave you the amulet. She won’t sense your magic, and if you’re
     cautious in your investigation, she should have no reason to notice you.”
    I still wasn’t following the logic here. “But why
me
? You have a coven. If you can’t do it yourself, then there must be