This chapter is very short, and I updated this now because I'm in a writing craze. I assure you that the next chapter I'm going to update will be very long. Like 5k words long. Anyway, I hope you'll like this small teaser chapter.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the plot and other people that weren't in VA. I assure you that I'm not gaining any profit from this story, and nothing will be copied from this without my express permission. The plot is original, and so are the other characters. If you stumble upon an Odessa Alvarico in a local dental clinic, then she may be my dentist. Some characters are real-life people, and I have their permission to use their name and identity, so no need to sue me.

Chapter Twenty-five

1654 T hours

04:54 PM; Late Afternoon Light, St. Vladimir's Academy

When I finally made my way out of the woods with my plan almost in motion, I was nearly run over by a couple of werebeings. One of them was, I noticed, Ara, the lynx. I couldn't speak or understand therion language, but I was sure that their tones were annoyed.

One of the wolves howled, and it didn't take Jean Paul, the giant of a man he is, to dash out of the bushes, his eyes a scary shade of pale green and fangs out. I didn't know what kind of therion he was, but he was undoubtedly shit-ass scary. He looked like the Hulk without the green skin. He was shirtless, exposing every bit of his skin over pure muscle. I would have been impressed by his show of prowess if he didn't look so goddamn frightening.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I stepped back from him before he could run over me.

He looked at me, and, for a moment, I saw the intensity of animal glare there before recognition flashed on his face.

"Hardaway," he said through his fangs, and his eyes lightened into the normal light brown of his eyes.

"It's Hathaway, not Hardaway," I said, more annoyed than scared now. How could he not get my name right?

Before I could protest, he enveloped me in a hug so tight I had to punch him on the back before he let me go.

"What the hell?" I yelled at him, and regretted it when a hurt look crossed his face. "Ugh, I'm sorry, but I'm just not used to PDA." I apologized, and he smiled, all the hurt gone.

"Where have you been?" I recognized Ara's voice. I looked at her and expected my eyes to burn at her nudity, but she had a dirty rag of a towel wrapped around her skinny form. Her russet-colored eyes scrutinized me relentlessly. "We've been looking for you everywhere! We thought you've been kidnapped. Bitch, we nearly went out that fucking Camouflage to find you!"

I shot her a funny look at the way the words went out of her mouth awkwardly. "Grandma, what accent you have." I commented with a grimace-like smile.

"This is no time for jokes, Hathaway," she snarled, her sharp teeth bared at me.

Jean Paul, the nice guy he was, calmed Ara down with just one hush. Ara held her ground by just glaring at me with her menacing eyes. Jean Paul said something about me being kidnapped and that almost all Academists were in supposed "panic" because of my disappearance.

I shot him an apologetic look. "I wasn't kidnapped." No shit, Sherlock. "I just got lost in the woods."

Ara snorted from behind me, but said nothing.

"Really?" Jean looked perplexed at this. "Because my team swore that they searched every nook and cranny in those woods." He frowned, looking confused.

I shrugged, trying to look convincing at my lie. "Who would have seen me? The forest is a really big place, let alone the whole Academy."

For a moment, I swear I saw suspicion flash before his eyes, but it was gone just as soon as it appeared. He shrugged and, with a smile, announced that he'd tell everybody that my disappearance was a false alarm. He bounded off and disappeared.

"Jean might take your shit, but I don't." Ara said all of a sudden, the venom in her voice as evident as the hostility in her eyes was when I looked back at her.

I didn't faze. "What are you talking about?" The annoyed tone came with its own accord.

She stepped toward me in a menacing way. Oh, geez, was it "Be Mean to Rose Hathaway Day" today? What's up with people wanting to rough me up?

"I might not know that you have something to do with these kidnappings, but I know that you're holding information back from us." She stepped toward me again, and when I didn't step back, we were nearly nose to nose. I was a taller than her, so her eyes were leveled with my nose.

"If ever I'll discover that you have something to do with these kidnappings, I swear to God that I'd be the first one to rip you apart." I wouldn't have doubted that she could if she wasn't so skinny and small to tear a three-inch wood, let alone a person. But despite the incredulity that I felt at her threat, something in her eyes told me that she was capable of much more than that. Somehow, I didn't doubt her power.

"My family has been through enough, and I'm not just going to let anyone waltz around to destroy everything we've created." With one last dirty look for me, she changed into lynx form and disappeared the way Jean had been.

It took me more than a minute to realize that by "family," she meant the Academists.

Wow, Ara is so mean. But so nice. :D

What's a filler chapter? I'm really quite ignorant at this stuff.

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