I took my time getting off the plane. I was in no hurry. No hurry to lie. Because that was exactly what I was going to do. I knew for sure that I would not rattle Rose out.

My van was still back in Portland, along with my bags. I had only brought with me what I would need for a short day: my passport, money, the key to the van, and a few other things. No need for anything else; I knew for sure that I was coming back to Portland, no matter what happened. I'm talking the walk; now I just need to walk the talk.

And when I did get back… I hadn't been able to witness the rest of their date, but I would make sure to keep extra tabs on Rose now. I would try to be there whenever she was with Jared. What I would do about their relationship, I didn't know. Yet. Still, I would figure something out.

But I was worried. Afraid that they would assign me somewhere else. I had already told Alberta that I hadn't found them. And I'd spent three days there. Shouldn't that have been enough to uncover all of Portland's secrets? I just wasn't ready to leave the town. I wasn't ready to leave Rose… Oh, and of course, Vasilisa. She was my number one priority. Or so I told myself.

Through the midst of my thought process, I'd checked out of the airport. I knew that there would have been a guardian from the Academy waiting for me outside, as we had planned beforehand.

Jean, another guardian, was indeed leaning up against the driver's side of one of the Academy's SUVs. I waved to catch her attention as I walked over.

"Dimitri, how are you?" she asked, as I opened the passenger side's door. We both entered the vehicle.

"I'm okay. How about you?" So far so good.

"Pretty good." Please don't ask, please don't ask. "No such luck, eh?"

Uh-oh. This was where I would have to start lying to people's faces. Jean was the first in line.

"Nope. That Rose girl must be pretty skilled," Literally, "you know, to have escaped the guardians for some while now."

"You're right. Rose is a feisty one. She used to be at the top of her class before they ran away." Ah, just as I had thought. "It's a shame that all that is going to go to waste. I doubt Headmistress Kirova will keep her around. She'll probably kick her out as soon as they find her. No exceptions."

I froze. They couldn't kick her out. Not her. She didn't deserve to be thrown away like some animal! I wouldn't allow it.

My mind started wandering off to Rose… on the streets. Or even worse: in one of those dhampir communes. I guess you could say that my mother and three sisters lived in that type of environment. My family was amazing. I loved them so deeply. To me, they were the greatest people in the world. But in spite of their love and compassion, I'd watched my mother growing up. I'd even met my father. And… he wasn't always the friendliest and gentlest with her. I despised him for what he had done to her and in no way wished this kind of life on Rose. Never could I wish something like that to someone so wonderful. At least in my eyes.

The silence in our van was loud. I figured though that silence wasn't the best way to get answers. So I began questioning the Headmistress's intentions to Jean. "What are you talking about? Why would they kick Rose out? Where on Earth would they send her?" Well, I doubted Rose would go to a dhampir commune nor stay anywhere they intended on shipping her off to. She was a brave girl, and despite my earlier worries, could probably survive on her own. After all, she had persisted through the difficulties of the past two years.

"She broke the rules, Dimitri. Because of her," she said bitterly, like as if "her" implied an evil person, "Vasilisa is wandering the world, unprotected."

I felt the immediate urge to defend Rose. "How do you know the Princess isn't being well protected? You don't know for sure." Take the hint, I wanted to add.

"Yeah, and neither do you," she shot back. She wasn't being mean about it; just smart.

"Look, all I'm saying is that there's no point in taking extreme measures for something so-"

"You know what they say. Desperate times call for desperate measures."

Okay. Fine. Two could play at that game.

"Yeah, but we're not desperate to expel her. And I said they are taking extreme measures, not desperate ones."

"Same thing," she replied a little too smugly for my liking.

"No, it's not. And besides, what would be the point of expelling her? You said so yourself: it would be a shame."

She fell silent, not knowing what to say. I half-smiled. I'm in the wrong profession. Maybe I should have gone into law.

I thought I was safe for the remainder of the drive. I rested back in my seat. Does peace ever really last though?

As expected, she started back up again. It was like as if she had needed a moment to recharge herself, and now she was ready to really tear me to pieces with her comebacks, full blast.

The conversation in our van wasn't as terrible as I'd thought it would be however. Until she asked the million dollar question that even I couldn't answer.

She began, "Dimitri, I don't get it. Why do you even care?"

Good question, I thought silently. Why did I even care? It's not like I had ever even had one conversation with this girl. Yet, I somehow needed to protect her. I wanted to remain faithful and loyal… to her. Even though I had known the guardians longer; we were a team. But why her?

Jean continued, "You've never even met her. Let alone seen her with your own two eyes." Others, say myself, might argue otherwise on that.

I could feel the tension in our closed-up space. How could I have answered her though when I didn't even know the answer to her question? All I could do was sit there dumbstruck, processing her question that ate at me too.

Luckily, I was never given the chance to reply to her question because we reached the Academy. The guards let us through without a second thought.

Jean drove the SUV up to the parking lot and parked. Personally, I thought it was a lousy park, crooked and all-

"Dimitri, are you coming?" Jean pressed up against the outside of the passenger side of the vehicle. I hadn't realized, but I was still sitting in the van, even though she had already parked.

She moved out of the way, and I stepped out nonchalantly, even though I was troubled on the inside. I wouldn't show weakness. I would walk into that building calm, cool and collectively, not showing fear. I would protect Ro-

"Dimitri, are you okay? You seem spaced out today." Ugh. Jean again.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be okay?" Really, what had I done wrong again without knowing?

"I asked you what your thoughts were on this whole meeting thing three times, and you didn't answer," she replied annoyed.

"Oh, sorry," I said, even though I shouldn't have, really. They were the ones causing trouble. They were the ones spreading rumours about an innocent girl. I was the only one who could see reason. I was the only one who really cared. I continued, "I'm out of it today." Still, I couldn't talk back to a guardian.

"I can see that," she answered curtly. And my first impression of her had been that she was a kind person. I certainly had been wrong.

I opened the doors to the guardian building for the both of us, even though she didn't really merit my courtesy. Some guardians were initially there to begin with, before us. Others either arrived at the same time as us or later. And a few would remain in, or around, the school for safety reasons.

No matter when the arrival, shortly after, the meeting began. We all sat around a long, rectangular table, Alberta and the Headmistress at the front. I tried putting on a straight face to hide every emotion that would pass through me.

Alberta began, "We are here today to discuss the evasion of Princess Vasilisa Dragomir and previous novice Rosemarie Hathaway." I noted the word 'previous' in her sentence and sighed quietly.

She carried on, "Some of you aren't part of this mission and stay inside the gates of the school. Nevertheless, you are all needed here for ideas and plans. As for the guardians who have been on the search, today, we will discuss new assigned areas." Oh, no. I couldn't leave my post… Rose.

Another guardian asked, "So, all of us are changing areas?"

She replied, "Not all, but most of you. Some of you have a lot more territory to cover on your search, while others have nothing else new to discover. It all depends." She paused for a moment. "The Queen is very infuriated about the disappearance of the Princess. We need to discuss strategy and everything that could be useful. As I call your name, please share with us any bit of information or any techniques that could help us. Then, I will give you your location assignment."

This was the part where I cringed. Frankly, I hated lying. I didn't like being dishonest; it wasn't part of my nature. Rose, you have no idea what I'm going through for you…

And so it began. The guardians were called upon one by one, all giving out useless information, because really, I was the only one who knew everything. Well, almost everything.

I was doing fine keeping my nerves down. Up until Alto began his protests, "So, we're talking strategy and clues, and all that. But what I would really like to know is what is in store for her, Hathaway, once we find them."

All that was heard in the room were silent whispers and murmurs. I stayed quiet, growing even more anxious as the silence dragged on.

Out of nowhere, Headmistress Kirova, who had allowed Alberta to take charge of this entire meeting, said, "We are not completely sure what will be done at the moment, but we have our ideas. Actually, I'm glad you mentioned this Guardian Alto. Maybe this is something that can be decided among the guardians." Not good, not good.

"Before manipulating Vasilisa into this wild goose chase of hers, Rosemarie was at the top of her class, but-"

"Before manipulating Vasilisa?" I interjected questioningly. "What are you saying?"

Kirova directed a pointed look in my direction. "As I was saying, prior to this reckless escape of hers, she was a very troublesome girl. I am positive you all remember her and her disrespectful attitude perfectly."

Nobody said anything. I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were all thinking back to past memories.

Since no one else would, I decided to take a stand. I needed to stop this nonsense immediately. "Look, I'm sure she had her reasons. And if not, well, she assuredly must have changed. Two years can make an immense difference in one's life."

"You've never even met her. You don't have a clue of how she works," another guardian said to me.

I responded confidently, "You're right; I haven't met her. But you, we," I thought to add quickly, "don't know how she is as a person now. What I am trying to say is that we shouldn't make any rash decisions now."

They all pondered this, but Alberta seemed to be the most affected by my speech. "Dimitri may have a point. And perhaps we shouldn't be deliberating about this openly with every guardian. It is a personal matter that should be entitled to some privately." Thank you, Alberta, for being the only compassionate one.

Most everyone seemed to agree, which I was somewhat appreciative of. I was relatively tranquil, when Kirova pushed me to face my most dreaded fears. "Dimitri, what have you to say of this topic matter? You seem awfully offensive when anything negative is said against Miss Hathaway."

Now I'd dug myself into a hole. What would I say? What lie would I tell this time?

I struggled for the right words. "Honestly, Headmistress Kirova, I haven't seen anything unusual. I've been searching Portland, and well, there's nothing out of the ordinary." Momentarily, I thought better of that. I had to add something that would make them keep me at watch over Portland. "However, I haven't explored everything. There still might be a chance…" I let that hang, allowing everyone in the room to make their own assumptions. "And personally, I don't think we should be so antagonizing against Miss Hathaway. She might surprise us all. I mean, we all make mistakes, don't we? And it's more likely for a teen to be less… thoughtful over something than an adult. So we can't blame her entirely for one mistake. Surely she had reasons for her actions." Yeah, I can already think of some of those reasons. This place is pathetic and so judgmental towards her. I would grow sick and tired of it too.

Kirova, the woman who I had no more respect for, was about to talk, but Alberta cut her off. "Let us take Dimitri's words into consideration." Huh. I had a feeling Alberta actually liked Rose. She was pretty much the only one on board with what I was saying. "Now let's move on. I will call your name and give you your assigned area." Alberta was carrying a clipboard- I indicated handwriting- which undoubtedly held a variety of important information. I wish I could just see the information on that clipboard I needed beforehand, instead of waiting who knows how long for my name to be called out.

She started calling out names, one by one, giving each person their individual, or group, assignment. Most guardians switched posts, but some did stay the same. I had a bad feeling about mine.

You would think they would have called out the names alphabetically, and I would have been one of the first names called out. But it wasn't like that. I could tell just by listening that it went in order, from the most important search territory to the least. Due to this, I was last, which wasn't a good sign to me. Were they implying that my stay in Portland was useless? I didn't know.

Alberta's news shocked me, yet made me ecstatic all the same. She turned to me and said, "Dimitri Belikov, you will remain in Portland." Rose, here I come! "You will search that area, and then you will pay notice to the towns around there. It shouldn't be too much trouble, and I have all the confidence in the world that you are capable in fulfilling this task on your own. Unless you think otherwise-"

I cut in before she could finish her sentence, or even change her mind on my placement. "No, no. I'll be okay. Don't worry," I said a little too enthusiastically for my liking. I had tried to answer in a deadpan manner; it just hadn't worked out so well for me.

Fortunately for me, no suspicions rose. If they did, they mounted to nothing.

All in all, the meeting concluded with a few extra futile words on teamwork and strategy. Nothing out of the blue. I was delighted when Alberta conclusively finished with the word 'dismissed'. Everyone got up from their seats and either stayed around to talk, or made a beeline for the door. I, subjectively, was one of those people who had no problem making it to the exit within less than thirty seconds.

I weighed the day's events down in my head as I restarted my mission, if you could even call it that, since it wasn't like I had previously been really doing anything that I had been supposed to do. But I had done something very brave today. I had faced my fears and to my dismay, lied, but things had turned out decently okay. And due to my mad lying skills, I was now able to return to Portland and see Rose… and Vasilisa, indubitably.

Outside, I saw quite a large commotion of guardians, all getting ready to resume their mission, either picking up their vans or waiting for private planes. I, on the hand, strode right past the crowd of people, making my way to the gates at the edge of campus.

I would take a taxi to the local airport in Montana.

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