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Chapter 11

Much to Rose's dismay, Sydney burst out laughing.

I was also struggling to keep a straight face as Rose's face just stared blankly at Angeline's glum one.

Hours later, the three of us were back in our room after Rose had spent the majority of the time attempting to convince people that she was not engaged to Joshua.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" She said angrily to Sydney, who was sitting on her bed still laughinh.

"You,re right," she replied. "It's not funny. It's hilarious."

"Stop that," she snapped at me. I found the whole thing hilarious. It was funny how Rose always seemed to get caught up in drama.

"I told you not to encourage him," I said, knowing that an 'I told you so' from me would only add to her annoyance.

"Whatever." She said, rubbing her cheek. "You didn't see this coming. You just didn't want me to –" she cut herself off and stopped massaging her sore cheek. I found myself wanting to know what she had been going to say. "Did you know about this custom?" she demanded, looking at Sydney.

"No," she said, letting her laughter die down. "But I'm not surprised. I told you they're savage. A lot of ordinary problems are settled by fights like that."

"It's stupid," Rose grumbled and touched the top of her head, feeling her hair and combing it gently. "Although...she wasn't bad," she admitted grudgingly. "Unpolished, but not bad. Are they all that tough? The humans and Moroi too?" she asked Sydney.

"That's my understanding," Sydney answered.

"And that's why Strigoi don't bother them," Rose said quietly to herself.7

My mood dropped straight back down at the mention of Strigoi. It reminded me of the task I had left Boris.

I should check in with Boris again and see what he's found." I told them. I turned to Sydney, who was now looking my way. "It won't take long. We don't all need to go. Should I just take your car since I only have to go a little ways?"

She shrugged and trusted me enough to hand me her car keys.

"You should go," Rose said suddenly. "I need to check in on Lissa. I can usually still keep track of what's going on around me at the same time, but it might be better if you're away – especially in case the Alchemist's do show up."

I could see that this was not to truth. There was some reason that Rose was lying, but I didn't call her out on it.

"I doubt they'd come while it's dark," Sydney replied. "But I don't really want to hang out if you're just going to stare into space."

After a little arguing, Sydney and I left Rose alone with the Keepers. I knew after the night we had had that I didn't have to worry about Rose being hurt; she had proved to them all that she was more than capable of defending herself.

Sydney and I didn't have to drive for long. We slipped into Sydney's car and drove about fifteen minutes away until Sydney told me her phone had picked up signal. Pulling in at the side of the road, I took the phone out of her extended hand and stood outside the car.

I dialled Boris's number and he answered a lot faster than he had last time.

"Did you get it?" I growled at him.

"Ye- Yes, sir." He replied and read me out the address of Dracis.

I threatened him a little and then said goodbye to him without as much as a 'thank you'. After, I noticed Sydney had also stood outside the car and was watching me. I felt a little comfort from her being there for some reason; it was probably the fact that she hadn't known me when I had been changed, and therefore wasn't reliving any horrible memories like Rose would when she heard me impersonating my Strigoi voice.

Sydney and I didn't speak much on the drive home. When we arrived back, everyone had gone to bed so we walked as silently as we could back to our bedroom.

When we got inside and had closed the door gently behind us, I saw Rose was in the same place we had left her, just staring blankly ahead.

"Rose?" I said. No reaction.

"Rose?" I asked her again, as loud as I could without waking up our fellow residents.

There was still no movement from her.

"God, that's creepy," Sydney whispered, looking at Rose's face, clear of any expression.

I didn't answer her and moved towards Rose gently and calmly, not wanting to scare her. A touch her arm gently.

"Rose?"

She blinked and looked almost surprised to see us standing before her.

She blinked a few more times and got her bearings.

"Hey," she said. "You're back. You called the Strigoi?"

More pain hit me at the mention of Strigoi.

"Yes," I answered her, managing to bear it and answer her.

"Crazy conversation. Some of it was in English. It was even scarier than before."

"But did you find out anything?"

"Boris gave me the name of a Strigoi who knows Sonya and probably knows where she is," I told her. "It's actually someone I've met. But phone calls only go so far with Strigoi. There's no way to contact him – except go in person. Boris only had his address."

"Where is it?" Rose asked me.

"Lexington, Kentucky," I answered her.

"Oh for God's sake," she moaned. "Why not the Bahamas? Or the Corn Palace?"

I struggled to hold in a smile. I would now always think of Rose when I heard of Corn Palace.

"If we leave right now," I said. "We can reach him before morning."

Rose looked around her exaggeratedly.

"Tough choice. Leave all this for electricity and plumbing?" she said sarcastically.

"And no more marriage proposals." Sydney said, grinning at her.

"And we'll probably have to fight Strigoi," I added, knowing that she had already made up her mind.

She stood up quickly from the bed.

"How soon can we go?"