When Spirit Shows Its Thorns 2

Chapter 1

She was so despondent. I had tried everything. Adrian and I both had used spirit on her to no avail. The problem wasn't the darkness though. The problem was Rose herself was broken. If I had known it would have come to this, I would have searched harder
for a way to break the bond. If only we had stopped to listen to Adrian, this wouldn't have happened. We were too stubborn though. I should have felt something, I should have known myself. I caused this, and I would find a way to fix it.

"Lissa, we need to pack. We leave in an hour." Christian had been trying to coax me away from the window for the last hour. I had sought refuge in the window seat after seeing Dimitri break down. I had only seen him cry once before. With each hour that
passed, it felt like a little more of his soul left him.

He hasn't left her side yet. Meals were brought to them both, but when we would go to get the trays hours later, Roses would be untouched. Dimitri's would only be half eaten. They couldn't go on like this much longer. Tearing my gaze from the moonlit
tree line, I turned to Christian.

"Christian?" my voice was foreign to me. I felt his arms as they wrapped around me, pulling me to his chest as his lips gently brushed the crown of my head.

"I know. I know. It's going to be okay. We will get her through this. We will make it through this." His voice was as hollow as I felt. No one was really sure that we could fix this. "How about, I pack both of our things and you go check on them again?"

Giving him a thankful smile, I left his arms to head down the hall. I stopped outside of Rose's door, wavering whether to knock or just go in. I raised my hand, and then let it fall to my side. Taking a deep breath, I slowly pushed the door open. Rose
still lay in the bed, her unfocused eyes staring upwards. Dimitri lay beside her as he whispered in her ear and caressed her face. Any other time this would have been an intimate moment that no one would have wanted to interrupt. Now though, it was
heart wrenching.

I slowly walked across the room and knelt beside the bed. Dimitri's hand stilled and his eyes met mine before flickering back to Rose. I took her hand in mine and gave my own whispered pleas for her to come back. We needed to head back to Court. We needed
her. I felt the bed shift under my elbows and looked up from Rose to see Dimitri had sat up. He begrudgingly climbed from the bed.

He began gathering her things and tossing them in her bag. I closed my eyes and with spirit, tried once more to let feelings of love travel from my hand and to Rose. Suddenly I was shaken away from my magic to the sound of splintering glass. Jerking my
head up from where it lay beside Rose and towards Dimitri. He stood in front of a now shattered mirror, his fist still bleeding against the wall. His head was bowed down and his shoulders shook with silent sobbing.

Noticing movement near the door, I found Adrian looking at Dimitri with concern. With careful approach he laid his hand over Dimitri's arm healing the bleeding scrapes. "The Guardians are bringing the cars around." He let us know before taking a long
look at Rose and placing a hand on my shoulder. Grabbing her bag, he headed out the door.

I stood to take my own exit of the room but paused looking back at the door. I watched as Dimitri crossed the room, and gently lifted Rose into his arms. The mournful look on his face stripped the last bit of my hope, causing me to turn and flee down
the hall.

Christian, Adrian, and I rode in the second car with two of three Guardians. Abe's last Guardian drove in front of us in the first car that held Dimitri and Rose. It was times like this that I wished the bond worked both ways. If only I could see into
Rose's mind, maybe I could help her.

We had made it halfway back to Court when the car in front of us swiftly pulled over and stopped. Guardian Woods came to a stop behind them, as Guardian Crivelli jumped from the passenger seat and ran to the other car. I heard the blood curdling screams
as soon as his door opened.

"That was Rose." I cried out as I slung my door open. Reaching the other vehicle, I climbed into the backseat. Rose was thrashing around, hear screams growing more anguished. "What happened?" I asked Dimitri.

"She finally fell asleep. It's a nightmare, I can't wake her."

"We need Adrian. Guardian Crivelli, please go tell Adrian to Spirit Dream. He may be able to reach her." Thankfully the Guardian heeded my words and was running before I could finish the last two words. After a few minutes, Rose went limp in Dimitri's
lap. "Do you think he got in?" I whispered, though I don't think Dimitri heard me. He was caressing Rose's hair and whispering words to her in Russian.

I pulled out my phone and texted Christian, asking if Adrian was successful. He answered back with a yes, so I told the Guardians to keep driving. I just hoped Adrian could keep her in the Spirit dream until we made it to Court.

A half hour out, Rose's eyes flew open, their gaze still unfocused and devoid of any emotion. My phone began vibrating against my lap.

Adrian: It was bad. She kept seeing herself in the woods with Christian and Dimitri dead at her feet and she was looking at her blood soaked hands.

Lissa: She knows she didn't really kill them, right?

Adrian: I don't know. I took the dream away though, put her somewhere happy. Is she still sleeping?

Lissa: No, she's like she was back at the cabin. Will she ever come out of this?

I never received another reply. Looking over to my best friend, I couldn't understand why this stuff always happened to her, but then I knew in my heart what the answer was. It was my fault. Why couldn't I be a normal Moroi and have an elemental magic?
Why did I have to be a Spirit user?

If it wasn't for Spirit, Rose would have never taken the Darkness. Then again, if it wasn't for Spirit, I would have lost Rose in the car accident that had taken my family. If only there was a way I could take the Darkness back. Closing my eyes, I pulled
my mother's silver necklace from my neck and wrapping my fist around the delicate metal, began to pour every ounce of Spirit into it as I could.

"Lissa, stop." I heard as a hand surrounded my wrist and shook the chain from my grasp. "Don't, not right now. Don't take the chance that she will take anymore Darkness. I beg you, for Roza's sake, don't"

Looking into Dimitri's broken face; I nodded in agreement with his request. He was right and I realized that every time I had used Spirit since Rose's breakdown, I had just caused even more Darkness.

Pulling up to Abe's house at Court, I gave Rose and Dimitri one last look and exited the car. Christian was waiting and immediately drew me into his arms. Gripping his shirt in my fists, I let my tears fall against the cotton fabric of his t-shirt. He
gently rubbed my back, whispering calming words of love and keeping faith against my hair.

"I've read all I can. It's depressing, the only mention of a bond being broken is if the Moroi or Dhampir effected die." Adrian muttered as he picked up his nearly drained whiskey glass.

"Then try harder, Adrian." I snapped at him. "There has to be a way that won't require Rose or me to die."

"I'm sorry, Lissa, but there is only a few books left to go through. Look around us! There are hundreds of books and they all say the same."

"Then the answer is in one of those books. We've made it this far, why stop now?"

"We have to stop at some point. We can't go on forever. Plus, I am hungry and tired. We've been at this for days."

"How can you be so selfish? Rose is lying in a hospital unresponsive and you want to just stop searching for an answer because everything we found is depressing. How do you think I feel Adrian? She is my bond mate after all." I said giving him a disapproving
glare. "

Adrian slammed his glass down and standing up, he brought his face within inches of mine. "Rose is in that bed because of you, Lissa. You wouldn't listen to me in that cabin, and I am going to make sure you listen to me now." The alcohol on his breath
caused me to flinch backwards. "I'll concede and go through the last three books, but after that I am done. The answers aren't here, and I am not going to sit by and play librarian while Rose wastes away in front of our eyes."

"Then what are you going to do? What plan do you have that is so much better than what we are doing?"

"I don't know." He said as he plopped down into his chair. "Search the world until I find another Spirit user with the answer."

"That could take years, Adrian. Rose doesn't have years!" I gasped. "Please, just finish the books with me and then we can go from there." Adrian gave me a single nod, and picked up another book. Page by page we kept reading until the shrill sound of
Adrian's phone pulled us both from our thoughts and study.

"Hello?" I heard him stutter into his phone. "We're on our way." He said a few minutes later.

"We? You can bail if you want, but I am not leaving until I find what I need." I told him point blankly.

"It's Rose, we need to get to the hospital." It was something in his words that caused me to check the bond.

"Adrian, what's going on? The bond is weakening. Is she, is Rose?" Unable to finish my sentence, I allowed Adrian to help me from my chair and guide me outside to the waiting car.