Sending us straight to class after our meeting seemed beyond cruel. It was heartless, but that's exactly what Kirova did. I was honestly expecting that. It was the way Kirova rolled. Hateful Bitch. Lissa and Ela were led away, and I watched Ela go, relieved that the bond would allow me to keep reading her emotional temperature. I was totally surprised when they sent me and Rose to the guidance councillors first. It seemed weird, but well weird doesn't even begin to describe our lives. My person was this old Moroi woman who seemed like a gazillion years old. Okay, I may have exaggerated, but she was old. Most Moroi lived till they were a hundred or around about there. She looked like she was well passed that. She had a bit of trouble hearing so the entire visit took around ten minuets. She mentioned nothing of my return, which I was grateful for, but asked about the classes I took. Ela and I took numerous classes but her favourite had always been creative writing. I must admit I liked that class but I enjoyed Music the most. She compared this to my old schedule and quickly gave me a new one. I walked outside and saw Rose waiting for me. I grinned.
"Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques?" Rose asked. My grin grew even more as I nodded. We saw the guardians watching us curiously. I rolled my eyes as I shook my head.
"Don't worry, we aren't bonded," I said. Rose laughed as we started to walk away.
Rose and I smiled even more as we saw we had the same classes. Ugh. I'd forgotten how long the Academy's school day was. Novices and Moroi took separate classes during the first half of the day, which meant I wouldn't see Lissa and Ela until after lunch—if we had any afternoon classes together. Most of them were standard senior classes, so I felt my odds were pretty good. Slavic art struck me as the kind of elective no one signed up for, so hopefully they'd stuck them in there too.
"You'd think they'd separate us wouldn't you?" Rose asked.
"I would." We reached the gym and opened it. I lost my smug feeling. Dhampiers were every where. When Alberta walked straight past us, I saw how Alberta wore her hair in a short, pixie cut that showed her promise mark and Molnija marks. A lot of female guardians did this. It didn't matter so much for me now, since my neck had no tattoos yet, but I didn't want to ever cut my hair. Damion and Dimitri soon followed her, but all I could see was my peer's eyes on us. I couldn't decide if I felt like a rock star or a circus freak. I looked at Rose who was watching me. We were waiting for each other to make the first move. I sighed. All right, then. If I was going to be stuck here for a while, I wasn't going to act afraid of them all anymore. The four of us once held the schools respect. I saw Rose scan the room. I guessed who she was watching when her grin appeared.
"Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time." A few snorts and snickers broke the awed silence, and Mason Ashford snapped out of his haze, giving Rose a lopsided smile. I couldn't help but snicker myself. With red hair that stuck up everywhere and a smattering of freckles, it usually made a few Moroi girls swoon, but we all know who he is after. Rose, of course. Rose and I walked over to him and I found that one of his best friends move closer to me.
"James, same applies to you," I said shaking my head slightly. More snickers and snorts went around as James disappeared next to Mason.
"This is my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."
"Oh yeah?" I retorted. "Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think about her naked, then."
"It's always a good a time to think about both of you naked," added someone nearby, breaking the tension further. Eddie Castile. Another friend of ours. I looked away and saw from a distance that the brothers were talking in Russian and shaking their heads. Damion met my gaze and I looked away.
The class engulfed shortly afterwards, and I found myself catching up with old classmates. Everyone wanted to know where we'd been; apparently Lissa, Ela, Rose and I had become legends. I couldn't tell them why we'd left, of course, so I offered up a lot of taunts and wouldn't-you-like-to-knows that served just as well. The happy reunion lasted a few more minutes before the adult guardian who oversaw the training came over and scolded Mason for neglecting his duties. Still grinning, he barked out orders to everyone, explaining what exercises to start with. Uneasily I realized I didn't know most of them. Rose got paired with Mason when James came over.
"Come on Lancia; let's see what you two have been up to."
As an hour passed, Jason had his answer. I moaned as he put me on my ass. Again. "Not practicing, huh?"
"Ow," I groaned, momentarily incapable of normal speech. He extended a hand and helped me up from the mat he'd knocked me down on—about fifty times. "I hate you," I told him, rubbing a spot on my thigh that was going to have a wicked bruise tomorrow. Just think. I have to do the same thing again tomorrow. Ugh.
"You'd hate me more if I held back."
"Yeah, that's true," I agreed, staggering along as the class put the equipment back.
"You actually did okay."
"What? I just the shit knocked out of me."
"Well, of course you did. It's been two years. But hey, you're still walking. That's something." He grinned mockingly. I rolled me eyes.
"Did I mention I hate you?" He flashed me another smile, which quickly faded to something more serious.
"Don't take this the wrong way…I mean, you really are a scrapper, but there's no way you'll be able to take your trials in the spring—"
"They're making me take extra practice sessions," I explained. Not that it mattered. I planned on getting Ela and me out of here. I know Rose would do the same. Looks like another breakout from the four of us. Yippee. I was hopping to have this done these practices really became an issue. "I'll be ready."
"Extra sessions with who?"
"That tall guy. Damion." That had rendered James speechless before he started up again. That didn't surprise me.
"You're putting in extra time with a Belikov?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"So? SO?" James looked hurt. I smiled more. "The man is a total fucking god."
"Exaggerate much?" I asked.
"No, I'm serious. I mean, he's all quiet and antisocial usually, but when he fights…wow. If you think you're hurting now, you're going to be dead when he's done with you." Great. Something else to improve my already fantastic day. I glared at James as I elbowed him in the ribs and went on to second period.
That class covered the essentials of being a bodyguard and was required for all seniors. Actually, it was the third in a series that had started junior year. That meant I was behind in this class too, but I hoped protecting Ela in the real world had given me some insight on this subject.
Our instructor was Stan Alto, whom we referred to simply as "Stan" behind his back and "Guardian Alto" in formal settings. He was a little older than Dimitri and Damion, but not nearly as tall, and he always looked pissed off. Today, that look intensified when he walked into the classroom and saw me along as Rose sitting there. His eyes widened in mock surprise as he circled the room and came to stand beside our desks seeing that they were next to each other.
"What's this? No one told me we had guest speakers here today. Rose Hathaway and Jasmine Lancia. What a privilege! How very generous of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us. Jasmine can go first" I felt my cheeks burning, but in a great show of self-control, I stopped myself from telling him to fuck off. I'm pretty sure my face must have delivered that message, however, because his sneer increased. He gestured for me to stand up. This was fucking perfect. "Well, come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class."
I sank into my seat. "You don't really mean—"
The taunting smile dried up. "I mean exactly what I say, Lancia. Go to the front of the class."
A thick silence enveloped the room. Stan was a scary instructor, and most of the class was too awed to laugh at my disgrace quite yet. Refusing to crack, I strode up to the front of the room and turned to face the class. I gave them a bold look and tossed my hair over my shoulders, earning a few sympathetic smiles from my friends, including Rose. I then noticed I had a larger audience than expected. A few guardians—including Dimitri and Damion—lingered in the back of the room. Outside the Academy, guardians focused on one-on-one protection. Here, guardians had a lot more people to protect and they had to train the novices. So rather than follow any one person around, they worked shifts guarding the school as a whole and monitoring classes.
"Enlighten us about your protective techniques Lancia," Stan said with this smug look on his face.
"My…techniques?"
"Of course. Because presumably you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took an underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats." It was the Kirova lecture all over again, except with more witnesses. I was not going to let this guy push me around and be cruel. He is not Kirova. I can actually punch him, although I will still get in trouble but not as much as if I punch the bitch.
"We never ran into any Strigoi," I replied stiffly.
"Obviously," he said with a snicker. "I already figured that out, seeing as how you're still alive."
I wanted to shout that maybe I could have defeated a Strigoi, but after getting beat up in the last class, I now suspected I couldn't have survived an attack by Jason, let alone an actual Strigoi.
When I didn't say anything, Stan started pacing in front of the class.
"So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?"
"Sometimes." That was true—especially when we'd first run away. We'd relaxed a little after months went by with no attacks. He gave me this look.
"Sometimes," he repeated in a high-pitched voice, making my answer sound incredibly stupid. "Well then, I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night."
I shook my head. "Er…no."
"No? But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know that because you weren't here." I swallowed back more swear words.
"I watched the area whenever we went out," I said, needing to defend myself.
"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?" I didn't say anything.
"Ah. I'm guessing you used the Lancia/Hathaway Glance-Around-When-You-Remember-To Method."
"No!" I exclaimed angrily. "That's not true. I watched her. They're still alive, aren't they?"
He walked back up to me and leaned toward my face. "Because you both got lucky."
"Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there," I shot back. "It's not like what we've been taught. It's safer than you guys make it sound."
"Safer? Safer? We are at war with the Strigoi!" he yelled. I could smell coffee on his breath, he was so close. "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him—and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, nothing, compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"
No way was I going to let this asshole/jerk make me cry. Looking away from him, I tried to focus on something else. My eyes rested on Damion and the other guardians. They were watching my humiliation, stone-faced.
"Moroi blood," I whispered.
"What was that?" asked Stan loudly. "I didn't catch it."
I spun back around to face him. "Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger." I practically yelled at him. He was getting on my last nerve. So help me, if he didn't stop soon, Rose would have to come out here and hold me back. I looked at her and saw she thought the same thing.
He nodded in satisfaction and took a few steps back. "Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality, and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality. Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And that is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough—even with guardians—to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear…"
"…so do the dhampirs," I finished.
"Well," he said, licking sprayed spit off his lips. "It looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester." Ouch. I spent the rest of that horrible class—in my seat, thankfully—replaying those last words in my mind. The senior-year field experience was the best part of a novice's education. We'd have no classes for half a semester. Instead, we'd each be assigned a Moroi student to guard and follow around. The adult guardians would monitor us and test us with staged attacks and other threats. How a novice passed that field experience was almost as important as all the rest of her grades combined. It could influence which Moroi she got assigned to after graduation. And me? There was only one Moroi I wanted.