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Chapter 12

"What is your relationship with this man?" Adrian looks at me very pensively.

"He's my father." I said, looking at the ground. "Abe Mauzer is my father. I've only met him a few times, but the first three months I wasn't aware that he was my father."

I felt Dimitri's eyes on me, but I didn't look up, instead I kept my eyes on the ground. Kicking the dirt around me. When I finally had the nerve to look up both Dimitri and Adrian were looking at me with their jaws on the ground.

"Close your mouths, you look rather stupid. Don't look so surprised. Seriously, you guys, come on. It really isn't that much of a surprise!" I said. "I wasn't that surprised when I found out that you were Lissa's cousin, Adrian. And Dimitri, I wasn't surprised that you were that only male in your family. Then again it was rather obvious. However, you guys knew, you knew, that there was something different about me."

Glaring at both of them, I became irate again. Growling in frustration, I started pacing back and forth. As I paced, I thought about how to begin to explain it all to them. About the mazes, the connection, how I knew this whole thing is a test for us. Finally figuring out how to explain it to them, I found a low branch on a near-by tree and sat down.

"Ok, look, Abe is not the only one, Janine Hathaway and Vasilissa Dragomir are there. It's hard to explain why they are there. All I know is that this is all a kind of test, a survival test. A test to make us more 'durable' would be the better term to use." I rolled my eyes when they continued to stare.

"You guys, its not the worst thing that could have happened to us. We could have been put in a tank with strigoi! And believe me I am serious, they wanted to do that at first. However, thanks to Lissa, they didn't, otherwise we would be dead, or worse. Dimitri, you recall what it was like to be one of them? Imagine our own people making us become that.

Its bad enough that they stuck us in here, their best people, but they weren't about to throw away their best fighters and guardians. No, instead they decided to test us in the most inhumane way. The maze is to test our endurance, the grievers to test our fighting skills and protection instincts. And finally, sending Adrian in here was to test our loyalty. Our willingness and instinct to put them first. They thrive, we thrive. Its what has been drilled into us since we were born."

When I was done explaining, it was almost sunset. The doors were about to close. Before I had a chance to say anything else, Adrian took off. For a Moroi who was drunk and a smoker, he was fast. However, he wasn't faster than me. I trained and ran every day. Tearing off after him, I quickly started closing the distance, yelling after him.

"Adrian, WAIT!" I heard Dimitri yell out from behind me.

He had looked rather torn about the fact that he had been used as bait for us, that he was being used as a pawn. The worst part of it was that none of us had known about it. Not until I had finally been able to piece the puzzle together. I had only just finished piecing it together, everything finally made sense.

It was hard on me to find out that Lissa and my parents were behind it all. My mind buzzed at the fact that Lissa had agreed to have me sent in here for trials when there were threats on the outside and she was left unprotected. I was in here, and needed to find a way out.

Just before we caught him, he took off into the maze. Mother-F! the doors were closing and I wasn't fast enough. I was just about to close my fingers around his jacket, but I was jerked back.

"ROSE! NO!" it was a commanding voice, the only one that would make me stop. It was Dimitri.

"He's putting himself in danger and there was no way for me to protect him. No way for him to protect himself. Adrian is not a fire user like Christian is, or water like Mia. He's a spirit user and rare enough as it is. When you were being a total ass and ignoring me, he was there for me. In a way that no one else was."

By the time I was done, I was in Dimitri's arms and pressed against his chest. My face suddenly felt wet. I was crying. There was a very heavy thing weighing on me, I felt guilty for not telling him yet, but I needed to figure the rest of this all out. What I really needed was to compel Lissa to show me the cameras for the other mazes. To see if Mason Ashford, the boy I had seen killed was really and truly alive.

Fixing myself, I pulled away from Dimitri.

"Hey, I need to tune Lissa and see if I can get her to show me something. If I'm right, I will need to talk to you once im done. Is there a way for me to ask you to make sure that no one bothers me while im in there?" I looked at him with a look that makes most guys melt.

"Yes, Roza, I will do this for you. As I can assume, it would be something I would have done for you before this all happened." His composure melted like a popsicle in the middle of the summer on a hot day.

"Thank you, Dimitri." I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and headed for the Homestead.

Once I was in our room, I settled on the bed and laid back. Closing my eyes and focusing on Lissa, I thought about the bond that connects us together. It worked again. I was quickly pulled into her mind.

She was in the control room and I felt a surge happiness. Getting ahold of myself, I thought quickly and strongly, I pushed a surge of need to look at the servers for the other mazes. More specifically the one of which Mason was in. Surprisingly, it worked.

I watched the screens through her eyes, and sure enough, Mason Ashford was alive.

I let her go and pulled myself out of her head.

Looking at Dimitri, I drew a deep breath.

"There is something I need to tell you."

He nodded. Sitting up, I swung my legs off the bed.

"Mason Ashford is alive, and in a different maze."