Janine took the book from Victoria who looked relieved, she really didn't enjoy reading the long chapters.
Seven
WHEN THE FIRST WARNING for curfew came around,
"Aww you're going to have your girlfriend's best friend sleeping in your room," Adrian teased Christian who turned red and glared at him,
the Moroi packed their things up. Adrian took off right away, but Lissa and Christian took their time walking back to the dorm. They held hands and kept their heads close together, whispering about something that I could have "spied" on if I'd gone inside Lissa's head. They were still outraged over the Victor news.
"Well at least their not mad at Rose so that's an upside," Sonja pointed out,
I gave them their privacy and kept my distance, scouting while Eddie walked off to their side. Since there were more Moroi than dhampirs on campus, the Moroi actually had two side-by-side dorms. Lissa and Christian lived in different ones.
"What a drag," Christian pouted.
"We don't need any more little Moroi's running around the school then we already have," Alberta chuckled at Christian.
The two of them stopped when they came to the spot outside the buildings where the path through the quad split. They kissed goodbye, and I did my best to do the guardian seeing-without-actually-seeing thing. Lissa called goodbye to me and then headed off to her dorm with Eddie. I followed Christian to his. If I'd been guarding Adrian or someone like him, I would probably have had to put up with sexual jokes about us sleeping near each other for the next six weeks.
"Thank god she's with Christian and not you," Abe was pleased that Rose had been paired with someone who would respect her.
But Christian treated me in the casual, brusque way one might a sister. He cleared a spot on the floor for me, and by the time he returned from brushing his teeth, I'd made myself a cozy bed out of blankets. He flipped off the lights and climbed into his own bed. After several quiet moments, I asked, "Christian?" "This is the time when we sleep, Rose." I yawned. "Believe me, I want that too. But I have a question." "Is it about Victor? Because I need to sleep, and that's just going to piss me off again." "No, it's about something else." "Okay, shoot." "Why didn't you make fun of me over what happened with Stan?
"Why didn't you?" Abe asked,
"Probably because of what had happened in the previous book," Christian thought about it.
Everyone else is trying to figure out if I messed up or did it on purpose. Lissa gave me a hard time. Adrian did a little.
"Which he had no reason to do," Janine glared at Adrian.
And the guardians … well, never mind about them. But you didn't say anything. I figured you'd be the first one with a snappy comment." More silence fell, and I hoped he was thinking about his answer and not falling asleep. "There was no point in giving you a hard time," he said at last. "I know you didn't do it on purpose." "Why not? I mean, not that I'm contradicting you— because I didn't do it on purpose—but why are you so sure?" "Because of our conversation in culinary science. And because of the way you are. I saw you in Spokane. Anyone who did what you did to save us … well, you wouldn't do something childish like this."
Christian smiled proud of himself, Abe, Janine and Dimitri nodded in thanks to him. Mason and Eddie patted him on the back in thanks.
"Wow. Thanks. I … well, that means a lot." Christian believed me when no one else did.
"And that is a nightmare," Christian chuckled.
"You're like the first person who actually believes I just messed up without any ulterior motives." "Well," he said, "I don't believe that either." "Believe what? That I messed up? Why not?" "Weren't you just listening? I saw you in Spokane. Someone like you doesn't mess up or freeze."
"You saw something that no-one ells saw," Ivan smirked,
"Probably, but I doubte she would tell me," Christian thought about it.
I started to give him the same line I'd given the guardians, that killing Strigoi didn't make me invincible, but he cut me off: "Plus, I saw your face out there." "Out… on the quad?" "Yeah." Several more quiet moments passed. "I don't know what happened, but the way you looked … that wasn't the look of someone trying to get back at a person. It wasn't the look of someone blanking out at Alto's attack either. It was something different…. I don't know. But you were completely consumed by something else—and honestly? Your expression? Kind of scary."
"Well she did see the ghost of dead ex so…" Adrian pointed out,
"Yeah and not a lot of thins scare Rose enough for her to show it," Eddie added.
"Yet…you aren't giving me a hard time over that either." "Not my business. If it was big enough to take you over like that, then it must be serious. But if push comes to shove, I feel safe with you, Rose. I know you'd protect me if there was really a Strigoi there."
"Speaking from experience," Ivan smiled.
"Defiantly," Christian smiled.
He yawned. "Okay. Now that I've bared my soul, can we please go to bed? Maybe you don't need beauty sleep, but some of us aren't that lucky."
"Did you just call her beautiful?" Mason asked trying to hold in his laughter.
I let him sleep and soon gave into exhaustion myself. I'd had a long day and was still short on rest from the previous night. Once heavily asleep, I began to dream. As I did, I felt the telltale signs of one of Adrian's contrived dreams.
"Let her sleep in piece," Abe and Dimitri said at the same time, Adrian just smiled.
"Oh no," I groaned. I stood in a garden in the middle of summer. The air was heavy and humid, and sunshine beat down on me in golden waves. Flowers of every color bloomed around me, and the air was heavy with the scent of lilacs and roses. Bees and butterflies danced from blossom to blossom.
"that sounds pretty," Olena smiled, if Adrian was going to bother her in her sleep might as well give her a lovely place where she could easily ignore him.
I wore jeans and a linen tank top. My nazar, a small blue eye made of glass that allegedly warded off evil, hung around my neck. I also wore a beaded bracelet with a cross, called a chotki, on my wrist. It was a Dragomir heirloom Lissa had given me. I rarely wore jewelry in my daily duties, but it always showed up in these dreams.
"Because they are a part of who she believes she is," Adrian said with a soft smile.
"Where are you?" I called. "I know you're here." Adrian stepped around from behind an apple tree that was thick with pink and white flowers. He wore jeans—something I'd never seen him in before. They looked good and were undoubtedly a designer brand. A dark green cotton T-shirt— also very simple—covered his upper body,
"Good idea,' Adrian smirked.
and the sunlight brought out highlights of gold and chestnut in his brown hair. "I told you to stay out of my dreams," I said, putting my hands on my hips. He gave me his lazy smile. "But how else are we supposed to talk? You didn't seem very friendly earlier." "Maybe if you didn't use compulsion on people, you'd have more friends."
"She's not wrong," Victoria pointed out
"Who said that I wanted to be her friend," Adrian asked back at her.
"We do," Janine and Abe said while Dimitri and Ivan thought it.
"I had to save you from yourself. Your aura was like a storm cloud." "Okay, for once, can we please not talk about auras and my impending doom?"
"Please," Janine all but begged, she just wanted Rose's last few months to be simple.
The look in his eyes told me he was actually really interested in that, but he let it go. "Okay. We can talk about other things." "But I don't want to talk at all! I want to sleep." "You are sleeping." Adrian smiled
"Don't get smart," Abe shook his head,
"You think if she hit him in a dream he will feel it when he was awake," Mason asked Eddie.
"Let hope we find out," Eddie replied.
and walked over to study a flowering vine that was winding up a post. It had orange and yellow flowers shaped like trumpets. He gently ran his fingers over one of the flowers' edges. "This was my grandmother's garden." "Great," I said, making myself comfortable against the apple tree. It looked like we could be here for a while. "Now I get to hear your family history."
"One dream is not going to be long enough for that," Ivan shook his head.
"Hey she was a cool lady." "I'm sure she was. Can I go yet?" His eyes were still on the vine's blossoms. "You shouldn't knock Moroi family trees. You don't know anything about your father. For all you know, we could be related."
"Most defiantly not," Abe answered, he couldn't imagine being related to Tatiana.
"Would that mean you'd leave me alone?" Strolling back over to me, he switched subjects as though there'd been no interruption. "Nah, don't worry. I think we come from different trees. Isn't your dad some Turkish guy anyway?" "Yeah, according to my— Hey, are you staring at my chest?" He was studying me closely, but his eyes were no longer on my face.
That got him a few glares.
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared. "I'm staring at your shirt," he said. "The color is all wrong." Reaching out, he touched the strap. Like ink spreading across paper, the ivory fabric turned the same shade of rich indigo as the vine's blossoms. He narrowed his eyes like an expert artist studying his work. "How'd you do that?" I exclaimed. "It's my dream. Hmm. You're not a blue person. Well, at least not in the color sense. Let's try this."
"Don't go and mess around with her clothing, even if it's just a dream," Janine glared at Adrian. Ivan was just hoping that Dimitri didn't' deck him, Adrian's only saving grace was that all this was a dream now.
The blue lit up into a brilliant crimson. "Yes, that's it. Red's your color. Red like a rose, like a sweet, sweet Rose."
"You're not as smooth as you think you are," Christian said looking at Adrian.
"Like you would know," Adrian shot back.
"Oh man," I said. "I didn't know you could kick into crazy mode even in dreams." He never got as dark and depressed as Lissa had last year, but spirit definitely made him weird sometimes. He stepped back and threw his arms out. "I'm always crazy around you, Rose. Here, I'm going to write an impromptu poem for you."
"Please don't," Alberta begged this time.
He tipped his head back and shouted to the sky: "Rose is in red But never in blue Sharp as a thorn Fights like one too." Adrian dropped his arms and looked at me expectantly.
Everyone laughed at that.
"How can a thorn fight?" I asked. He shook his head. "Art doesn't have to make sense, little dhampir. Besides, I'm supposed to be crazy, right?"
"I hate it that you're actually right," Mark shook his head chuckling.
"Not the craziest I've ever seen." "Well," he said, pacing over to study some hydrangeas, "I'll work on that." I started to ask again about when I could go "back" to sleep, but our exchange brought something to my mind. "Adrian … how do you know if you're crazy or not?" He turned from the flowers, a smile on his face. I could tell he was about to make a joke, but then he looked at me more closely. The smile faded, and he turned unusually serious. "Do you think you're crazy?" he asked.
"Well she is seeing ghosts and she doesn't know it has to do with her powers so," Mark did point out,
"But Adrian was the wrong person to ask if you think you're going crazy," Eddie added.
"I don't know," I said, looking down at the ground. I was barefoot, and sharp blades of grass tickled my feet. "I've been … seeing things." "People who are crazy rarely question whether they're crazy," he said wisely.
"You are no help," Dimitri told Adrian
"Like all you're Zen lessons work so much better," Adrian shot back.
I sighed and looked back up at him. "That doesn't really help me."
"Rose agrees," Dimitri smiled like he had won something. Adrian just rolled his eyes.
He walked back over to me and rested a hand on my shoulder. "I don't think you're crazy, Rose. I think you've been through a lot, though." I frowned. "What's that mean?" "It means I don't think you're crazy." "Thanks. That clears things up. You know, these dreams are really starting to bug me." "Lissa doesn't mind them," he said.
"Hey let my girlfriend sleep in peace," Christian glared at him,
"You visit hers too? Do you seriously have no boundaries?" "Nah, hers are instructional. She wants to learn how to do this."
"Not a good enough reason," Christian glared at Adrian.
"Relaxed, I don't like Lissa that way," was all Adrian said.
"Great. So I'm just the lucky one who gets to put up with your sexual harassment." He actually looked hurt. "I really wish you wouldn't act like I'm evil incarnate."
"Well you are keeping her out of her normal dreams so she is going to be moody with you," Paul explained, glaring at Adrian. Ivan nodded proudly at Paul.
"Sorry. I just haven't had much reason to believe you can do anything useful." "Right. As opposed to your cradle-robbing mentor.
"Cradle-robbing?" Dimitri and Ivan asked at the same time.
"He is," Adrian shrugged.
"I'm only six years older than her," Dimitri raised his eyebrow.
I don't really see you making much progress with him." I took a step back and narrowed my eyes. "Leave Dimitri out of this." "I will when you stop acting like he's perfect.
"Uncle Dimka is perfect," Paul defended Dimitri, who rubbed his head affectionately.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's one of the people who hid the trial from you, right?" I looked away.
"Yes but he told her in the end, so shut it," Ivan shook his head, "Plus it was not his job to tell her about the trial,"
"That's not important right now. Besides, he had his reasons." "Yeah, which apparently didn't involve being open with you or fighting to get you there. Whereas me…" He shrugged.
"Oh you are a real piece of work," Dimitri and Abe said at the same time.
"Should we be worried that you two seemed to have the same mind," Adrian asked. Abe and Dimitri just looked at each other before glaring at Adrian who just smirked.
"I could get you into the trial." "You?" I asked with a harsh laugh. "How are you going to pull that off? Have a smoke break with the judge? Use compulsion on the queen and half the royals at court?"
"Most likely," Karolina said raising her eye brow, at that moment you could see that Dimitri and she were siblings.
"You shouldn't be so quick to slam people who can help you. Just wait." He placed a light kiss on my forehead that I tried to wiggle away from. "But for now, go get some rest." The garden faded, and I fell back into the normal blackness of sleep.
Janine closed the book and glared at Adrian
~~~~
Abe took the book from Janine, she cuddled onto his side.
Eight
FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS, I followed Christian around without incident.
"That is good," Alberta smiled pleased that Rose had not gotten into any more trouble.
And as I did, I found myself growing more and more impatient. For one thing, I was discovering that a lot of being a guardian was waiting around. I'd always known that, but the reality was harder than I'd realized.
All the guardians nodded,
Guardians were absolutely essential for when Strigoi decided to attack. But those Strigoi attacks? They were generally rare. Time could pass—years could pass—without a guardian ever having to engage in any sort of conflict.
"True, but things were changings, so how knew how long till they attack the school or the court," Christian was worried, no one wanted to think about the possibility of them attacking the school or court. And if that was going to happen they would have been completely unprepared,
While my instructors certainly wouldn't make us wait that long during this exercise, they nonetheless wanted to teach us patience and how important it was not to slack just because there'd been no danger in a while.
"That is a more lessons for the kids to learn," Dimitri nodded at Mason and Eddie, he also thought that Christian could do good with one or two of those lessons.
We were also being held to the strictest conditions a guardian could be in: always standing and always being formal. More often than not, guardians who lived with Moroi families behaved casually in their homes and did ordinary things like reading or watching TV—while still staying perfectly aware of any threats.
Ivan and Abe nodded thinking about their respected guardians.
We couldn't always expect that, though, so we had to practice the hard way while in school. My patience level didn't do so well with all this waiting,
"And that was why she and many more needed to learn that lesson," Ivan chuckled he could already see how Dimitri was going to try and drill that into Rose's head.
but my frustration was more than just restlessness. I was desperate to prove myself, to make amends for not having reacted when Stan attacked. I'd had no further Mason sightings and had decided that what I'd seen really had been fatigue- and stress-induced.
"Well at least ghost you was still nice," Eddie pointed out. Mason was not sure how to respond to that.
That made me happy, because those were much better reasons than being crazy or inept. But certain things were not making me happy. When Christian and I met up with Lissa after class one day, I could feel worry and fear and anger radiating off of her. It was only the bond that clued me in, though. To all outside appearances, she looked fine. Eddie and Christian, who were talking about something with each other, didn't notice a thing.
Eddie and Christian smiled sheepishly at that, while the girls just rolled their eyes and shook their heads.
I moved close and put an arm around her as we walked. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay." I knew what was bothering her. Victor. We'd decided that Christian—despite his willingness to "take care of things"—probably wasn't the best choice to go see about us getting into Victor's trial.
"Yeah," Christian was not sure how book him thought he would be able to get the girls there.
So Lissa had played diplomat the other day and very politely spoken to Alberta about the possibility of us testifying. Alberta had told her, equally politely, that it was out of the question. "I figured if we just explained things—why it was so important—they'd let us go," she murmured to me.
"It is never so simple," Alberta shook her head, neither she nor Janine or Abe wanted the girls near Victor. While the Belikov just wanted him to rot in hell for the whole lust charm incident.
"Rose, I can't sleep. … I just keep thinking about it. What if he gets loose? What if they really set him free?" Her voice trembled, and there was an old vulnerability there that I hadn't seen in a long time.
"Then we'll take care of him," Ivan smiled at Christina who nodded agreeing with him.
That sort of thing usually set off my warning bells, but this time, it triggered a weird rush of memories, of times past when Lissa had depended on me so much. I was happy to see how strong she'd become and wanted to make sure she stayed that way. I tightened my arm, hard to do while still walking. "He won't get loose," I said fiercely. "We'll get to court. I'll make sure of it. You know I'd never let anything happen to you."
"Is it wrong that I feel bad for Victor, if he ever gets out?" Victoria asked
"If he got out, he deserves whatever is coming to him," Abe answered. Abe was not impressed with Tatiana, he had not been for some time but he never saw any reason to do anything to her but he was now starting to see more and more reason to either remove her or get her under control.
She leaned her head against my shoulder, a small smile on her face. "That's what I love about you. You have no idea how you'll get us to court, but you still push forward anyway to make me feel better." "Is it working?" "Yes." The worry still lurked in her, but her amusement dampened its effects a little. Plus, despite her teasing me about my bold promise, my words really had reassured her.
"She would defiantly get them there, how I wouldn't know. But it would be interesting to watch," Ivan thought about it.
Unfortunately, we soon found out that Lissa had other reasons to be frustrated. She was waiting for the medication to fade from her system and allow her full access to her magic. It was there—we could both sense it—but she was having trouble touching it.
"Well it was pushed down for a while," Oksana said," but it will come. She just needs to give it time,"
Three days had passed, and nothing had changed for her. I felt for her, but my biggest concern was her mental state—which thus far had stayed clear.
Everyone was relieved at that, they didn't want her to turn into Adrian or worst have her harm herself. No amount of Magic was worth anyone's mental state.
"I don't know what's going on," she complained. We had almost reached the commons. Lissa and Christian had plans to watch a movie. I half-wondered how difficult it would be for me to watch the movie and be on alert.
"Depends on the movie," Janine and Dimitri said at the same time.
"It seems like I should be able to do something, but I still can't. I'm stuck." "That might not be a bad thing," I pointed out, moving away from Lissa so I could scan the path ahead. She shot me a rueful look. "You're such a worrier. I thought that was my job."
"Ironic enough Rose is always worrying about Lissa," Eddie shook his head. He wonder sometimes why Lissa didn't see how much Rose worried about her.
"Hey, it's my job to look out for you." "Actually, it's my job," said Eddie, in a rare show of joking. "Neither of you should be worrying," she argued.
"Yeah that is not going to happen," Mason shook his head.
"Not about this." Christian slipped his arm around her waist. "You're more impatient than Rose here. All you need to do is—" It was déjà vu. Stan leapt out from a copse of trees and reached for Lissa, wrapping his arm around her torso and jerking her toward him.
"Please don't show up," Abe begged, looking at Mason.
My body responded instantly, no hesitation whatsoever as I moved to "save" her. The only problem was that Eddie had responded instantly too, and he was closer, which put him there ahead of me. I circled, trying to get in on the action, but the way the two were squaring off blocked me from being effective.
"Well that is just her luck," Ivan wanted her to prove them all wrong, but he didn't want her to force the matter.
Eddie came at Stan from the side, fierce and swift, pulling Stan's arm away from Lissa with a strength nearly powerful enough to rip it out of the socket. Eddie's wiry frame often hid how muscular he really was. Stan's hand caught the side of Eddie's face, nails digging in, but it was enough so that Lissa could wriggle free and run to join Christian behind me. With her out of the way, I moved off to the side, hoping to assist Eddie—but there was no need.
"She'll get her chance," Janine was so sure. Yeva smiled, she had a feeling that Rose's chance would have to do with her grandson. And now that was going to be a fun part of the book.
Without missing a beat, he grabbed Stan and threw him down to the ground. Half a breath later, Eddie's practice stake was poised right above Stan's heart. Stan laughed, genuinely pleased.
"Not what is a terrifying idea," Eddie didn't know how he felt about the idea of Stan laughing because one of them did something right.
"Nice job, Castile." Eddie withdrew the stake and helped his instructor up. With the action gone, I could now see how bruised and blotched Stan's face was. Attacks for us novices might be few and far between, but our guardians were picking fights daily during this exercise.
"Serves him right," Abe nodded. Alberta and Janine just shook their heads at Abe not believing that a grown man could be so childish.
All of them were taking a lot of abuse, but they handled it with grace and good humor. "Thank you, sir," said Eddie. He looked pleased but not conceited. "I'd be faster and stronger if I were Strigoi, of course, but I swear, you could have rivaled one with your speed there."
"High praise," Alberta nodded proudly at Eddie.
Stan glanced at Lissa. "You okay?" "Fine," she said, face aglow. I could sense that she'd actually enjoyed the excitement. Her adrenaline was running high.
Christian smiled at that, oh how much fun Lissa was going to be,
Stan's smiling face disappeared as he turned his attention on me.
"Oh not again," Abe shook his head annoyed.
"And you—what were you doing?" I stared, aghast at his harsh tone. It was what he'd said last time too. "What do you mean?" I exclaimed. "I didn't freeze or anything this time! I was ready to back him up, looking for a chance to join in." "Yes," he agreed. "That's exactly the problem. You were so eager to get a punch in that you forgot that you had two Moroi behind you. They might as well have not existed as far as you were concerned. You're out in the open, and you had your back to them."
"He is right, but he could have stated that better," Alberta was not sure who she was trying to please, Abe who thought that Rose needed a break or Janine who thought that she needed to learn the lessons the hard way or Dimitri who seemed to be in between those two.
I strode forward and glared at him, unconcerned about propriety. "That is not fair. If we were in the real world and a Strigoi attacked, you cannot tell me that another guardian wouldn't jump in and do everything they could to take that Strigoi down as quickly possible." "You're probably right," Stan said.
"No she's right," Alberta and Janine said at the same time.
"But you weren't thinking about eliminating the threat efficiently. You weren't thinking about your exposed Moroi. You were thinking about how quickly you could do something exciting and redeem yourself." "Wh-what? Aren't you making a few leaps there? You're grading me on what you think was my motivation. How can you be sure what I'm thinking?"
"Again she was right," Dimitri was liking Stan less and less.
I didn't even know half the time. "Instinct," he replied mysteriously. He took out a small pad of paper and made some notes on it. I narrowed my eyes, wishing I could see through the notepad and discern what he was writing about me. When he finished, he slipped the pad back in his coat and nodded at all of us. "See you later." We watched him walk across the snowy grounds toward the gym where dhampirs trained.
"Oh he should be glad that she had not gone for his throat," Ivan wished he could just slap Stan, yes he knew that it most probably wouldn't hurt but it would make him feel better.
My mouth was hanging open, and I couldn't even get any words out at first. When did it end with these people? I was getting burned again and again on stupid technicalities that had nothing to do with how I'd actually perform in the real world.
"That is the problem with the school systems," Dimitri remarked.
"That was not even fair. How can he judge me on what he thinks I was thinking?" Eddie shrugged as we continued our journey toward the dorm. "He can think whatever he wants. He's our instructor." "Yeah, but he's going to give me another bad mark! Field experience is pointless if it can't really show how we'd do against Strigoi. I can't believe this. I'm good—I'm really good. How on earth can I be failing this?"
"Because she is too good, she has been in a real life situation and after that any school test would not be able to compare," Dimitri pointed out.
"And yet Eddie seems to be doing fine," Victoria pointed out,
"Yes but he was high on strigoi venom," Dimitri remarked.
Nobody had an actual answer for that, but Lissa noted uncomfortably, "Well… whether he was fair or unfair, he had one thing right: You were great, Eddie." I glanced over at Eddie and felt bad that I was letting my own drama take away from his success. I was pissed off—really pissed off—but Stan's wrongness was my problem to deal with. Eddie had performed brilliantly,
Eddie blushed at that, he looked at Victoria who was smiling at him proudly. He tried to hide his face but everyone had already seen that his blush had gotten worst.
and everyone praised him so much on the walk back that I could see a blush creeping over his cheeks. Or maybe that was just the cold.
"Defiantly the cold," Eddie mumbled shaking his head.
Regardless, I was happy for him. We settled into the lounge, pleased to find no one else had claimed it—and that it was warm and toasty. Each of the dorms had a few of these lounges, and all were stocked with movies and games and lots of comfy chairs and couches. They were only available for student use at certain times.
"Same," Victoria nodded, a little happy to see that their schools were more alike than they thought.
On weekends, they were pretty much open the whole time, but on weekdays, they had limited hours—presumably to encourage us to do our homework.
"Yeah that didn't work," Mason and Eddie said looking at Alberta
"Oh we know, but we have done our part," Alberta smirked at them.
Eddie and I assessed the room and made a plan, then took up our positions. Standing against the wall, I eyed the couch Lissa and Christian were sprawled out upon with considerable envy. I'd thought the movie would distract me from being on alert, but actually, it was my own churning feelings that kept my mind spinning.
"And that is one of the biggest and dangerous distractions," Alberta hoped that no one would try to test them now.
I couldn't believe Stan had said what he'd said. He'd even admitted that in the heat of battle, any guardian would be trying to get into the fight. His argument about me having ulterior, glory-seeking motives was absurd. I wondered if I was in serious danger of failing this field experience. Surely, so long as I passed, they wouldn't take me from Lissa after graduation?
"With be bond, probably not but it would be easier if her grades were good," Dimitri thought about it.
Alberta and Dimitri had spoken like this was all just an experiment to give Lissa and me new training, but suddenly, an anxious, paranoid part of me began to wonder. Eddie was doing a great job of protecting her. Maybe they wanted to see how well she could work with other guardians. Maybe they were worried that I was only good at protecting her and not other Moroi
"no they wanted to make sure that she could defend her, the strigoi threat was getting worst by the day." Alberta hoped that they would not split up Lissa and Rose.
—I'd let Mason die, after all, right? Maybe the real test here was to see if I needed to be replaced. After all, who was I, really? An expendable novice. She was the Dragomir princess. She would always have protection— and it didn't have to be me. The bond was pointless if I ultimately proved incompetent.
"True, but she had already proven herself," Dimitri was worried, they all had been so worried about Lissa's mental health that no one thought about Rose's. Yes, guardians did have a lot of stress on them, but not everyone could work through it on their own.
Adrian's entrance put my frantic paranoia on hold. He slipped into the darkened room, winking as he flounced into an armchair near me. I had figured it was only a matter of time before he would surface. I think we were his only entertainment on campus.
"Defiantly," Adrian smiled.
Or maybe not, judging from the strong smell of alcohol around him.
"That is not entertainment, that is self-medication," Adrian pointed out.
"You better be sober in the books," Abe and Janine said looking at Adrian, who doubted that he was as sober as they wanted him to be.
"Are you sober?" I asked him when the movie ended. "Sober enough. What have you guys been up to?" Adrian hadn't visited my dreams since the one in the garden.
"Well small miracles do happen," Ivan said under his breath.
He'd also laid off on some of his outrageous flirting. Most of his appearances with us were to work with Lissa or to ease his boredom. We recapped our encounter with Stan for him, playing up Eddie's bravery and not mentioning my dressing-down. "Nice work," said Adrian. "Looks like you got a battle scar too." He pointed to the side of Eddie's face where three red marks glared back at us.
"Well I think he would look good with a scare," Victoria said looking at Eddie, picturing how he would look with a scare. Ivan and Dimitri just looked between Victoria and the blushing Eddie.
I remembered Stan's nails hitting Eddie during the struggle to free Lissa. Eddie lightly touched his cheek. "I can barely feel it." Lissa leaned forward and studied him. "You got that protecting me." "I got that trying to pass my field experience," he teased. "Don't worry about it." And that's when it happened. I saw it seize her, that compassion and undeniable urge to help others that so often filled her.
"Of course, her need to heal would be the thing to trigger her powers," Christian shook his head.
"Well at least we know she would use her powers for good and not evil," Adrian pointed out.
"It's Lissa, she's an angle," Christian defended her.
She couldn't stand to see pain, couldn't stand to sit by if she could do something. I felt the power build up in her, a glorious and swirling feeling that made my toes tingle. I was experiencing how it affected her. It was fire and bliss. Intoxicating. She reached out and touched Eddie's face…. And the marks vanished. She dropped her hand, and the euphoria of spirit faded from both of us. "Son of a bitch," breathed Adrian. "You weren't kidding about that."
"Aww you can't heal?" Christian mocked him,
"Aww but I can visit her in her dreams, what can you do?' Adrian teased back. Christian just glared at him and was trying his best not to set him on fire.
He peered at Eddie's cheek. "Not a goddamned trace of it." Lissa had stood up and now sank back to the couch. She leaned her head back against it and closed her eyes. "I did it. I can still do it." "Of course you can," said Adrian dismissively. "Now you have to show me how to do it." She opened her eyes. "It's not that easy." "Oh, I see," he said in an exaggerated tone. "You grill me like crazy about how to see auras and walk in dreams, but now you won't reveal your trade secrets." "It's not a 'won't,'" she argued. "It's a 'can't.'" "Well, cousin, try." Then suddenly he raked his nails across his hand and drew blood.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" everyone wanted to yell at Adrian, but only Ivan and Karolina voiced it out.
"Well I need to learn one way," Adrian said like it was no deal. Oksana looked at Mark and hugged him, she was so glad he was there to help her through all her bad times.
"Jesus Christ!" I yelped. "Are you insane?" Who was I kidding? Of course he was. Lissa reached out and held his hand, and just like before, she healed the skin. Elation filled her, but my mood suddenly dropped without any real cause.
"Darkness," Mark said hugging Oksana. Dimitri and Abe glared at Adrian.
The two of them launched into a discussion I couldn't follow, using standard magical terms as well as some terms I was pretty sure they'd invented on the spot. Judging from Christian's face, it looked like he didn't understand either, and it soon became clear that Adrian and Lissa had forgotten us in their zeal over the mystery of spirit. Christian finally stood up, looking bored.
"Aww don't be jalousie," Adrian cooed at Christian.
"You do know that Rose is going leave with me," Christian shot back, making the smile fall off of Adrian's face.
"Come on, Rose. If I wanted to listen to this, I'd be back in class. I'm hungry." Lissa glanced up. "Dinner's not for another hour and a half." "Feeder," he said. "I haven't had mine today." He planted a kiss on Lissa's cheek and then left. I followed alongside him. It had started snowing again, and I glared at the flakes accusingly as they drifted down around us.
"She really doesn't like the cold," Karolina chuckled.
When it had first started snowing in early December, I'd been excited. Now this white stuff was getting pretty damned old. As it had a few nights ago, though, being out in such harsh weather defused my mood a little, the cold air kind of snapping me out of it. With each step closer to the feeders, I felt myself calming down.
"A walk was a good idea. Even if you didn't know that it would help," Mark nodded at Christian.
A "feeder" was what we called humans who volunteered to be regular sources of blood for Moroi. Unlike Strigoi, who killed the victims they drank from, Moroi took only small quantities each day and didn't have to kill the donor. These humans lived for the high they got from vampire bites and seemed perfectly happy to spend their lives that way and separate from normal human society. It was weird but necessary for Moroi.
"It's not so strange," The Moroi pointed out.
The school usually had a feeder or two in the Moroi dorms for overnight hours, but for most of the day, students had to go to the commons to get their daily fix. As I continued walking, taking in the sights of white trees, white fences, and white boulders, something else white in the landscape caught my attention. Well, it wasn't white exactly. There was color—pale, washed-out color. I came to an abrupt halt and felt my eyes go wide. Mason
"Great," Mason winced,
stood on the other side of the quad, nearly blending in with a tree and a post. No, I thought. I'd convinced myself that this was over, but there he was, looking at me with that sorrowful, phantom face. He pointed, off toward the back of campus. I glanced that way but again had no clue what to look for.
"So it's at the back so the school," Dimitri wrote it down, it was clear that Mason wanted to show them something, but what?
Turning back to him, I could only stare, fear twisting within me. An icy-cold hand touched the side of my neck, and I spun around. It was Christian. "What's up?" he asked. I looked back to where I'd seen Mason. He was gone, of course. I squeezed my eyes shut a moment and sighed. Then, turning back to Christian, I kept walking and said,
"Just tell me," Christian all but begged, Rose needed to tell someone, anyone. She had to be reassured that she was not alone.
"Nothing." Christian usually always had some witty stream of comments whenever we were together, but he was silent as we made the rest of our journey. I was consumed with my own thoughts and worries about Mason, so I had little to say either. This sighting had only lasted a few seconds. Considering how hard it was to see out there, it seemed more than likely that he'd been a trick of the eye, right?
"She's in denial," Abe shook his head; he wished he could reassure her.
I tried to convince myself of this for the rest of the walk. When we entered the commons and escaped the cold, it finally hit me that something was amiss with Christian. "What's wrong?" I asked, trying not to think about Mason. "Are you okay?" "Fine," he said. "The way you just said that proves you aren't fine." He ignored me as we went to the feeders' room.
"Oh you are jealous, you do know that I only like Rose right?" Adrian had to make sure. Christian just nodded, not so sure himself.
It was busier than I'd expected, and all of the little cubicles that feeders sat in were filled with Moroi. Brandon Lazar was one of them. As he fed, I caught a glimpse of a faded green bruise on his cheek and recalled that I never had found out who had beaten him up.
"That is worrying, something is defiantly up with some of the Moroi students," Alberta hated to say it but she had a bad feeling.
Christian checked in with the Moroi at the door and then stood in the waiting area until he was called. I racked my brain, trying to figure out what could have caused Christian's bad mood. "What's the matter? Didn't you like the movie?" No answer. "Grossed out by Adrian's self-mutilation?" Giving Christian a hard time was a guilty pleasure.
Christian hoped that Rose would not see how jealous he clearly was.
I could do this all night. No answer. "Are you— Oh." It hit me then. I was surprised I hadn't thought of this before. "Are you upset that Lissa wanted to talk magic with Adrian?"
Christian was relieved, Rose only thought that it was the magic not the fact that she was spending time with Adrian.
He shrugged, which told me all I needed to know. "Come on, she doesn't like magic more than she likes you. It's just this thing with her, you know? She spent all these years thinking she couldn't do real magic, and then found out she could—except it was this wacky, completely unpredictable kind. She's just trying to understand it." "I know," he said tightly, staring across the expansive room without actually focusing on any of the people. "That's not the problem." "Then why …" I let my words fade as another revelation hit me. "You're jealous of Adrian."
Christian pouted, why couldn't Rose just for once not see this one thing.
Christian fixed his ice-blue eyes on me, and I could tell I'd hit the mark. "I'm not jealous. I'm just—" "—feeling insecure over the fact that your girlfriend is spending a lot of time with a rich and reasonably cute guy whom she might like. Or, as we like to call it, jealous."
"I hate that she's right," Christian mumbled annoyed. Adrian just chuckled at him and shook his head.
He turned away from me, clearly annoyed. "The honeymoon might be over between us, Rose. Damn it. Why are these people taking so long?" "Look," I said, shifting my stance. My feet hurt after so much standing. "Didn't you listen to my romantic speech the other day about being in Lissa's heart? She's crazy about you. You're the only one she wants, and believe me, I can say that with 100 percent certainty. If there was anyone else, I'd know."
"Thanks Rose," Christian smiled softly,
The hint of a smile crossed his lips. "You're her best friend. You could be covering for her." I scoffed.
"Not in that situation," Mason and Eddie pointed out.
"Not if she were with Adrian. I assure you, she has no interest in him, thank God—at least not romantically." "He can be persuasive, though. He knows how to work his compulsion…"
"I would not," Adrian was shocked at Christian or really anyone would think that he would compel a girl to get into her pants. He didn't need any compulsion or magical water to get into a girl's pants.
"He's not using it on her, though. I don't even know if he can—I think they cancel each other out. Besides, haven't you been paying attention? I'm the unfortunate object of Adrian's attention." "Really?" asked Christian, clearly surprised. Guys were so oblivious to this sort of stuff.
"Defiantly," all the girls nodded.
"I know he flirts—" "And shows up in my dreams uninvited. Seeing as I can't get away, it gives him the perfect chance to torture me with his so-called charm and attempt to be romantic." He turned suspicious. "He shows up in Lissa's dreams too." Shoot.
"But not for the same reasons," Adrian pointed out.
Shouldn't have mentioned the dreams. What had Adrian said? "Those are instructional. I don't think you need to worry." "People wouldn't stare if she showed up at some party with Adrian." "Ah," I said. "So this is what it's really about. You think you're going to drag her down?" "I'm not that good … at those kinds of social things," he admitted in a rare show of vulnerability. "And I think Adrian's got a better reputation than me."
"That is debatable," Adrian nodded.
"Are you joking?" "Come on, Rose. Drinking and smoking aren't even in the same league as people thinking you're going to turn Strigoi. I saw the way everyone acted when she took me to dinners and stuff at the ski lodge. I'm a liability. She's the only representative from her family. She's going to spend the rest of her life tied up with politics, trying to get in good with people. Adrian could do a lot more for her than I could."
"Yeah no, you marry her and help her with all that. I don't want to be part of that snack put." Adrian shook his head, he wished his aunt would just accept that as well.
I resisted the urge to literally shake some sense into him. "I can see where you're coming from, but there's one flaw in your airtight logic. There's nothing going on with her and Adrian." He looked away and didn't say anything else. I suspected his feelings went beyond her simply being with another guy. As he'd even admitted, he had a whole tangle of insecurity about Lissa. Being with her had done wonders for his attitude and sociability, but at the end of the day, he still had trouble dealing with coming from a "tainted" family.
"Good thing Lissa doesn't care about that." Eddie smiled at Christian.
He still worried he wasn't good enough for her. "Rose is right," an unwelcome voice said behind us. Preparing my best glare, I turned around to face Jesse.
"Oh can he just die already," Victoria asked,
"Oh we would be so lucky," Abe agreed with her.
Naturally, Ralf lurked nearby. Jesse's assigned novice, Dean, stood watch at the doorway. They apparently had a more formal bodyguard relationship. Jesse and Ralf hadn't been in line when we arrived, but they'd apparently wandered up and heard enough to piece together some of our conversation.
"Asses," Karolina agreed.
"You're still royal. You have every right to be with her." "Wow, talk about a turnaround," I said. "Weren't you guys just telling me the other day how Christian was about to turn Strigoi at any moment? I'd watch your necks, if I were you. He looks dangerous."
Christian would never but if he got to scare Jesse with the idea he would most defiantly play along with a prank like that.
Jesse shrugged. "Hey, you said he was clean, and if anyone knows Strigoi, it's you. Besides, we're actually starting to think that rebellious Ozera nature is a good thing." I eyed him suspiciously, assuming there must be some trick here. Yet he looked sincere, like he really was convinced Christian was safe.
"Well that is concerning," Christian pointed out, he did not like the idea of Jesse agreeing with him.
"Thanks," said Christian, a slight sneer curling his lips. "Now that you've endorsed me and my family, I can finally get on with my life. It's the only thing that's been holding me back." "I'm serious," said Jesse. "The Ozeras have been kind of quiet lately, but they used to be one of the strongest families out there. They could be again—especially you. You're not afraid to do things that you aren't supposed to. We like that. If you'd get over your antisocial bullshit, you could make the right friends and go far. Might make you stop worrying so much about Lissa."
"What the hell?" Christian asked not sure what to say about that.
"Oh they are defiantly up to something," Alberta was now sure, Jesse being nice with Christian was one big red flag.
"You don't believe them do you?" Dimitri asked looking at Christian worried.
"No," Christian said without hesitation.
Christian and I exchanged glances. "What are you getting at?" he asked. Jesse smiled and cast a covert glance around us. "Some of us have been getting together. We've formed a group—sort of a way for those of us from the better families to unite, you know? Things are kind of crazy, what with those Strigoi attacks last month and people not knowing what to do. There's also talk about making us fight and finding new ways to hand out the guardians." He said it with a sneer,
"But that is the only way, we need to fight," Christian shook his head, why was it so hard for everyone else to notice that.
and I bristled at hearing guardians described like objects. "Too many non-royals are trying to take charge." "Why is that a problem if their ideas are good?" I demanded. "Their ideas aren't good. They don't know their place. Some of us have started thinking of ways to protect ourselves from that and look out for each other. I think you'd like what we've learned to do. After all, we're the ones who need to keep making decisions, not dhampirs and nobody Moroi. We're the elite. The best. Join us, and there are things we could do to help you with Lissa."
"Oh he's going to wish he was dead," Abe was pissed. Olena and Dimitri looked at Abe before looking at each other. They knew that look and they did not pity poor little Jesse.
I couldn't help it. I laughed. Christian simply looked disgusted. "I take back what I said earlier," he told them. "This is what I've been waiting for my whole life. An invitation to join your tree house club." Ralf, big and lumbering, took a step forward. "Don't screw with us. This is serious." Christian sighed. "Then don't screw with me. If you really think I want to hang out with you guys and try to make things even better for Moroi who are already spoiled and selfish, then you're even stupider than I thought you were. And that was pretty stupid."
"Agreed," Ivan nodded, it was rather funny how Jesse and Ralf thought Christian would join their crazy group.
Anger and embarrassment filled both Jesse and Ralf's faces, but mercifully, Christian's name was called just then. He seemed considerably cheered as we walked across the room. Nothing like a confrontation with two assholes to make you feel better about your love life. Christian's assigned feeder tonight was a woman named Alice, who was the oldest feeder on campus. Most Moroi preferred young donors, but Christian, being the twisted person he was, liked her because she was kind of senile.
"Not a word," Christian said looking at Mason then Eddie then Adrian.
She wasn't that old—sixties—but too many vampire endorphins over her life had permanently affected her. "Rose," she said, turning her dazed blue eyes on me. "You aren't usually with Christian. Have you and Vasilisa had a fight?" "Nope," I said. "Just getting a change of scenery." "Scenery," she murmured, glancing at a nearby window. Moroi kept windows tinted to block out light, and I doubted a human could see anything. "The scenery is always changing. Have you noticed that?"
"Oh she has defiantly lost it," Janine felt bad for the lady.
"Not our scenery," said Christian, sitting beside her. "That snow's not going anywhere. Not for a few months." She sighed and gave him an exasperated look. "I wasn't talking about the scenery." Christian gave me an amused smile, then leaned over and sank his teeth into her neck. Her expression grew slack, all talk of scenery or whatever she'd meant forgotten as he drank from her. I lived around vampires so much that I didn't even think about their fangs half the time. Most Moroi were actually pretty good at hiding them. It was only in moments like these that I remembered the power a vampire had.
"Most students do," Alberta thought about it, it was rare for the novice students to see the Moroi students feeding.
Usually, when I watched a vampire feed, I was reminded of when Lissa and I had run away from the Academy, and I'd let her feed off of me. I'd never reached the crazy addiction levels of a feeder, but I had enjoyed the brief high. I used to want it in a way I could never admit to anybody. In our world, only humans gave blood. Dhampirs who did it were cheap and humiliated.
"Cheap double standards," Karolina rolled her eyes.
Now, when I watched a vampire drink, I no longer thought about how good the high felt. Instead, I flashed back to that room in Spokane where Isaiah, our Strigoi captor, had fed off of Eddie. The feelings that stirred up in me were anything but good. Eddie had suffered horribly, and I hadn't been able to do anything except sit there and watch.
"Well at least she doesn't want to be bitten anymore," Janine tried to look on the bright side but she wished her daughter had not been kidnapped by Strigoi's.
Grimacing, I turned away from Christian and Alice. When we left the feeders' room, Christian looked more vibrant and upbeat. "The weekend's here, Rose. No classes— and you get your day off." "No," I said, having almost forgotten. Damn it. Why did he have to remind me? I was almost starting to feel better after the Stan incident. I sighed. "I have community service."
"Oh that sucks," Mason winced, Abe closed the book and handed it over to Adrian.