Hello my loyal readers! Really, y'all are super loyal if you're still sticking with me through my many unplanned hiatuses. I'm done with college, with a degree in creative writing (go me!) and I think that getting back into my pre-existing stories will be a great way to get things moving with my writing career! (Btw, I'd like opinions – if I wrote a book would you guys actually be willing to read it? Leave a review or shoot me a message and let me know!) You all know the drill by now – read, review, and enjoy!
I stood in the back of Nick's history class, trying to remember everything I'd been taught in my training. Periodically I checked the doors, windows, and even vent grates for potential entry by intruders, and I scoped out the other people in the room, to ensure that nobody was pulling a hidden weapon. I was fairly certain that nobody here was a threat, but after hearing stories of my mother and a Moroi student named Natalie Dashkov… well, I wasn't going to take any chances with Nick's life. I needed to be prepared for anything, even an attack from the meekest student here.
There were eight other novices here, spaced evenly around the room – there were more Moroi students than dhampir, so not all of the Moroi had been paired in this task, and most students in this class had not been part of it. Eve stood to my left, looking as vigilant as I was trying to be. Emmett stood closer to the classroom door, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. He was still bitter about his "fair Moroi maiden" being his cousin.
He'd begged me to trade with him – "I'd rather guard a guy than spend an hour and a half every morning guarding my cousin from her curling iron" – but I had reminded him, rather severely, that she was his assignment. My mother had been there for part of it, and she agreed with him, explaining how she'd been assigned to the queen's consort, Lord Ozera, while Emmett's father Eddie had been assigned to Queen Lissa – before she had been queen, obviously.
The bell rang, cutting off my train of thought. Nick rose along with his classmates, preparing to leave. He and Sabrina filed out of the classroom, with Emmett and I on their heels. Valerie was a few students behind them, and from the sharpness of her glare I was surprised that Nick's hair didn't burst into flames then and there. Eve looked as annoyed as Emmett had a few minutes ago, and I knew she wasn't having an easy time with Valerie.
"Lunch?" Sabrina asked Nick, who nodded. Emmett and I fell into the practice of near guard and far guard that I had often seen my mother and father use while accompanying Queen Lissa and Christian. My eyes swept across the courtyard constantly, looking out for threats.
As if on cue, three shadows sprang from different places, making a beeline for Nick and Sabrina. Immediately I gripped my stake, but as I prepared to fight, my nightmare flashed before my eyes. The nameless Moroi in my dreams had changed last night – to Nick. The mental image of Nick laying dead in the snow flashed before my eyes, and suddenly a hard blow to my chest knocked me down to the ground.
I came to my senses to see Guardian Alto – the head guardian – narrowing his eyes at me. "You're dead, Belikov. If there was any question of your heritage, it's gone now – Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov's child would never freeze in a Strigoi attack."
His words were like a stab in the gut, and I was horrified to feel tears come to my eyes. It was no secret that I was adopted – it never had been – but for someone to throw it in my face like that was too far.
"Alto!" barked another voice. My parents both stood there, having been the other two shadows attacking us. Emmett, too, had been "killed", and stood sullenly beside Sabrina.
"May I have a word with you?" my father asked Guardian Alto in a hard voice.
Guardian Alto followed my father from the courtyard, while my mother approached me. "Nick, Sabrina, go have your lunch. Claire will join you in a few minutes."
I sighed as I followed her in the opposite direction from the cafeteria. She let me into the guardians' lounge, where many relaxed while off duty. Since all the guardians were participating in the exercise, it was empty. "Claire, what happened?" She didn't sound angry, much to my surprise. The fact that my mother was here might have seemed like special treatment to me, but the truth was that she was just as hard, if not harder, on me than other novices – she knew that I'd been trained well, and knew that I could hold my own in a fight, even against a trained guardian.
"I don't know," I lied, looking down as I sat on one of the plush velvet sofas.
"That's a load of bullshit, Claire," she said, evenly. "The same thing happened to me when I was guarding Christian during this exercise. I froze because I saw the ghost of a recently murdered friend. Since you are not shadow kissed, I know you have seen no ghosts – so what made you pause? You can be open with me, Claire, I want to help you if I can."
I sighed. "I've been having nightmares. About being a guardian."
"What kind of nightmares?" she asked, sitting down beside me.
"Nightmares about… about messing up during an attack… about my Moroi dying. Since the exercise started, they're nightmares about Nick dying."
She nodded her head in understanding. "It's a reasonable thing to worry about – expected, to be honest. But you mustn't let fear prevent you from doing what needs to be done." She hugged me, stroking my hair. "It's okay to be afraid. But it's not okay to let fear win." She pulled back, looking at me. "All right?"
I nodded. "Everyone says I'm not a real guardian though… I don't look like the other dhampirs, I don't act like them, I'm not like them. And I don't know why."
She chuckled. "People said things about me too when I was your age. They called me a blood whore, and a slut, and said that I'd never be a guardian."
"But you are a guardian… You're not a blood whore or a slut."
"Because I didn't listen to them," she said softly. "I believed in myself – just as I believe in you now. And, as you know well, I'm always right." She shot me a grin and I couldn't help but smile in return. "Not always, but you're right, Mom. You're right a lot."
"What's that? 'You're right, Mom'? I wish I had a recorder for that!" she laughed. She smiled fondly at me. "I love you, Claire. And I believe in you. You'll be the best guardian the academy has ever seen."
"Except you and Dad," I replied.
She smiled one last time. "You're competitive… I bet you can give us a run for our money. Now come on… go have lunch with your friends."
I left the guardians' lounge, feeling better about things. I could do this – I just had to have the faith in myself that my mother did. With new confidence, I headed off to the cafeteria to do my job – to be a guardian.