A/N: Hey, I really wanted to post this today so I had to beta it myself... so if there are any mistakes, forgive me! You're getting your chapter faster right? So it's a good thing!
I'll repost it after my beta send it back to me but for now, I've checked it, spell check has...
Thanks to everyone who reviews, I love the reviews you guys are sending!
I don't own VA or the characters, sadly. I don't even own the mystery figure, But I do own the plot of this story! So if you want me to share you better review!
Xx girl-on-sunshine.
This chapter is all about our hero: fire boy.
Actually it has two POV's which is a first for one chapter! But I thought it was better like this than as two chapters. Tell me what you think.
Chapter 25
Christian's POV
Where the hell is Rose? – That was what Adrian had texted me.
After that it blurred, slowly and quickly at the same time. The decisions I had to make then, felt like they took hours, but only seconds passed. Everything around me was moving too fast to make sense of but it was being replayed in my head so slowly...
Should I tell Lissa? What should I do with this piece of information? Adrian was obviously freaking out. Should I let myself be in a state of panic or should I take control now while I still can?
I had to call Adrian; I had to find out what was going on... But how would I get away from Lissa? Should I just tell her now? What will she do? My brain was having an overload of questions and a complete lack of answers. It was moving sluggishly trying to understand what was going on, what I should do and who I should tell.
I hadn't noticed my surroundings –Lissa asking if I was okay, Eddie joking that I was having a Rose moment, like she'd have when she was in Lissa's head, Adrian running back through the cafeteria doors- but suddenly they were exploding around me.
"Christian!" Adrian panted as he stopped in front of me.
Lissa gave him a sharp look that was her way of saying 'don't-use-that-tone-with-him-or-else'.
Eddie started panicking in his calm, serine way, "What's happened? What's wrong? What has Christian done?"
Adrian ignored them all and glared at me; alarm the only emotion in his eyes."I went to find her, I was worried, you know about the thing about her being okay and I went to find her!"
"What's going on?" Lissa asked in agitation.
"I was at her room... But she wouldn't open the door and the lights not on, so I don't think she's there... I don't know! What if she's done something? She could be in there like last time or maybe she's gone somewhere else or someone's taken her..." Adrian continued and I knew he hadn't been drinking for a while, so I knew he was having spirit side effects, but that didn't stop the terror rising in me.
"Rose? What? Is she okay? We have to find her!" Lissa practically screamed.
"Do you think she's still depressed? She could have done something awful." Eddie said, quietly and ever reasonable.
I could tell we were verging on frenzy. This wasn't going to help, so why wasn't anyone stopping it? Didn't they know Rose was going to be okay? She couldn't hurt herself... could she? We should have been strong for her, I could see that from the start but it was hard to do. Slowly I came to the realisation that I was the only one who could calm them down, and now was the time it needed to be done, they were screaming plans of where to look at each other.
"Lissa, Adrian, Eddie! Stop, we don't need to panic, she is probably fine. Have you tried calling her cell? Panicking is not going to help anything. Adrian you try calling her, everyone sit down and be quiet." I said, authority lacing my tone.
They looked stunned for a second and then Lissa started to protest, Adrian took a deep breath and Eddie sat down obediently.
"But we have to find her! What if she's done something, I should be the one calling her! I'm her best friend! She could be lying dead somewhere-" Lissa started.
"No," I interrupted, "we don't have to find her. If Rose says she's okay then she is, we have to understand, she's old enough to take care of herself and know when to talk to someone. Did she say she was okay when you last saw her, Adrian?"
He nodded and I continued, "Adrian is calling because she is more likely to answer his call, but if she doesn't you're free to try calling her. Just do what I say and we can ensure she is fine."
"That doesn't even make sense!" She said angrily, sitting down next to Eddie.
"You're just not being rational." I said sitting down and motioning for Adrian to sit beside me.
Once he was seated I told him to call Rose and we all waited. Eventually he put the phone down on the table,
"No answer. It just stopped ringing, didn't even go to voice mail." He said dryly.
"You said I could try..." Lissa said, putting her phone to her ear.
Again, we all sat in anticipation. Again, there was no answer. Great, my plan wasn't working.
"What now?" Eddie asked frustrated.
"Well..." I started, "We have dinner and if she still hasn't turned up after that, we'll try calling her again."
"And what if she doesn't answer?" Lissa practically screamed.
"Liss, calm down. We'll go sneak into her room. There's got to be clues there as to where she is or she'll be there." I explained calmly, taking her hand.
After that we sat in silence, eating slowly, Lissa just picking at the food on her plate and moving it around. There was no point trying to comfort her until Rose was found. Adrian was jumpy, continuously looking at the door when it opened or when he thought he heard it open. The cafeteria was filled with chatter as the other students laughed and ate dinner. Eddie looked deep in thought, which was a little scary on him.
"Castile! Snap out of it! Ivashkov, just call her again. Lissa, eat, she's fine." I ordered.
Adrian continued trying to call several times; sometimes he would get to voice mail and leave desperate messages. Lissa and I gave up on listening to him and went back to eating but Eddie leaned forward, listening intently.
"Liss, please eat, for me." I begged.
"I knew something was wrong. I could feel it. But that isn't possible. Unless you knew something, I wouldn't have been able to feel anything like that. Unless you were thinking about it when I had the feeling..." She said, drifting back into her thoughts.
I sighed and turned back to the others. Eddie was trying to call her using his phone while Adrian watched. They took turns dialling her number, waiting, then hanging up or leaving a message.
"Hey Hathaway, this is Eddie. Where are you? Please call me A.S.A.P."
Adrian had started desperate and breathless but now he was trying to be casual,
"Babe, can't avoid fate, that shirt is mine. I miss you, come find me, I'm with Lissa like you said, we can hang out."
With time they slowly became less teasing and more urgent,
"Hey Little Dhampir, it's Adrian, as in Adrian Ivashkov, just in case you were confused and that's why you haven't been answering my calls. Can you just call me? Now?"
"Rose, I'm with Lissa, Christian and Eddie. We're all worried about you; can you just come and prove you're all right? Please, don't do anything bad, talk to me."
"Rose! For God's sake answer your phone! I'm going insane here! I'll come find you if I have to!" He screamed into the phone.
That would have been funny if everyone wasn't feeling exactly the same.
I could hear someone screaming back on the other end, but answering machines don't respond...?
"Oh my... Rose? Where the hell are you? Why haven't you been answering your phone? Are you okay? Have you done something? Please say no. You can just talk to me, we'll sort everything out, you don't need to go to extremes." He said in a rush.
Everyone moved closer to him, listening to this one-sided conversation.
Rose's POV
I slid down the wall, the darkness surrounding me, the cold surface against my back. No, no, no!
How can this be happening? Who's doing this?
The academy seemed very far away from me, not just a quick walk away. Technically I was still on the Academy's land. But I felt miles away from anywhere, alone and isolated by my emotions. Just when I had thought things might eventually get better, that it was possible to heal somewhat, this had to happen.
I couldn't feel my body; I was trapped in my mind. Which was filled with darkness, I was standing on a spinning floor and on the endless walls were words. Horrible words. Every bad memory, every mean comment anyone had said, and every concern I had, brought to life. Fear consumed me as I read the words and I could hear screaming, pain-filled, loud, echoing screams.
Was I screaming? Or was it in my head? There was no one else around, not within earshot.
I opened my eyes, dragging myself back to reality. I could really use that diary I was supposed to be writing in. So I could let all this tension go, put in on the pages and out of my mind. My phone was ringing. I ignored it. I could tell Dimitri all about this; see if he would help me. My Russian God. He was gone now. I had to accept that. The world forever empty of his presence.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I could feel the stinging in my eyes, the ache in my throat but no tears would come. No screams left my mouth. I was silent. My mind was screaming, trying to block out the thought of him. I must have cried myself out... can you even do that? I don't think so. Not unless you're dehydrated. Last night I had cried so much I'd been sick, but then I'd seen Adrian and the world had seemed brighter, more hopeful. Not now.
My phone was ringing still. Who was calling? Was it important if I answered? It would be my friends; they would be worried if I didn't answer. But I'd have to be strong for them if I answered. I didn't want to, I had to. I sighed, pulling my phone from my pocket. I'd anticipated this when I'd left my dorm. That's why I had the annoying thing with me. I had known they'd call, they always do.
Woah, tons of missed calls, tons of voice mails. All from Adrian, Lissa and Eddie. Good to know who cared.
It was still ringing.
I picked up, taking a deep breath and preparing to reassure them, to calm them.
"Hey, this is Rose, Sorry..." I said before getting cut off by someone sounding pissed off,
"Rose! For God's sake answer your phone! I'm going insane here! I'll come find you if I have to!" Someone shouted, killing my ears.
I don't know what triggered it but I could feel tears in my eyes and held my breath, clenching my jaw, to stop from crying. It might have been Adrian's voice screaming from the phone, it was hard to tell they were so... loud.
"What the hell?" I started again but got cut off, again.
"Oh my... Rose? Where the hell are you? Why haven't you been answering your phone? Are you okay? Have you done something? Please say no. You can just talk to me, we'll sort everything out, you don't need to go to extremes." The guy said in one breath.
"Adrian, is that you? Let me talk will you! What is this, 20 questions?" I asked irritably.
"Rose! It's me. Are you okay?" He started and I could tell he was going to start the ranting thing again so I stopped him.
"I don't know who 'me' is but shut up and give me a chance to answer! I'm okay, I didn't hear my phone ringing, I was..." I paused, thinking of an excuse, "asleep. Why is everyone freaking out on me? Why are "you" freaking out?"
"Rose..." They said sighing loudly, "It's Adrian. Thank God. We're worried about you, I left 20 voicemails and you didn't reply!" He was exaggerating, There had only been 15 voicemails and some had been from Eddie.
"I'm fine, I told you that at lunch," I said in a controlled voice, thankfully he couldn't see me, tears were rolling down my cheeks freely and my aura would show I was lying, "Are you guys going to cope if I go back to sleep?"
I could hear people in the background and voices closer to the phone, Lissa and Eddie arguing.
"Uh, not so sure about that." Was he answering my question or was he saying he wasn't sure I was fine? I wasn't sure either. "Lissa is still freaking out. Are you in your dorm? I was banging on the door pretty hard before, you must sleep like the dead."
Like the dead? Did he know something? Wait, no, he couldn't. I can't tell him, I have to distract him.
"You weak Moroi! Like you could wake me up. Tell Liss I'm fine."
He said something to Lissa and Eddie started arguing about something with her again, only now he was arguing with Adrian too. I wonder what that's about.
"Sorry, Little Dhampir, they're still freaking out. Lissa wants to talk to you and Eddie is being unnaturally argumentative." He said, frustrated.
"Um... okay. But only for a minute then you have to snatch the phone back and save me from her, deal?"
"Sure." He said and then Lissa was yelling something into the phone.
"Jeez people! You know with these modern phones you don't need to yell! Welcome to the 21st century!" I said sarcastically.
"Rose! Ohmigod, you're okay!" She squealed.
"Yes, please stop being so loud. I'm fine, have you stopped freaking out now?" I asked.
"Yes, where have you been? I was so worried! I wanted to look for you but..." and on it went, until Adrian saved me by snatching the phone back.
"Little Dhampir..." He said as greeting.
"Hey, are they calmer yet?"
"Hmm... Sort of. Eddie is still a little edgy."
Something occurred to me then and I interrupted him, "Is Christian with you?"
"Oh, uh, yeah, he's here." Adrian replied confused.
I sighed, "Okay."
"Hold on, I'm just going to go outside and away from the crazy students. They're all so loud! Especially Liss and Eddie." He said.
I just wanted to go back to my misery party but Adrian would know something was wrong if I didn't talk to him for awhile.
"Okay," I agreed.
"I'm outside," he said, "Everyone was so worried about you. Heart-attacks all round." He said laughing lightly.
"Oh." I said frowning, I hadn't expected them to notice that much.
"Rose? Would you tell me if something was wrong?" He asked quietly.
"Hmm... What?" I asked, pulled out of my thoughts.
"It's just that you would normally have laughed by now and you're not and you sound kind of sad." He explained.
"I just woke up, Adrian. I sound like I got woken up too soon." I said tiredly, I really was exhausted.
"It's just... you seemed so... I don't know- ready to let go of everything, this morning. I had thought you were happier after lunch but..."
"It's okay. I just need to sleep." Technically I wasn't lying, it was okay, whatever it was and I did need sleep.
"Can I come see you first? You can sleep and just leave the door unlocked, I won't wake you up." He asked concern still in his voice.
"I don't know..." if I can make it back to my dorm before you, I mentally added.
The line was silent for a minute then he sighed again, "Little Dhampir?"
"Yeah?" I asked hesitantly.
"Would you?"
"Would I what?" I asked, thinking this was one of his dirty jokes.
"Would you tell me if something was wrong? If something had happened?" he asked sincerely.
"Adrian...I already told you."
"No, you didn't. You just said you were tired."
I stayed silent and after a full two minutes of listening to his breathing he interrupted the silence,
"Rose, Did something happen? I thought we had a deal." His voice was hard and unyielding.
A/N: Okay I have all these songs that go with the story, but at this point I just want to tell you a couple of the songs that go with the story so far:
So this is basically for everything that's happened so far, Adrian breaking into her room and finding her on the floor, she thought she was happy and now something's happened... Anyway the song is Brick by Boring Brick by Paramore.
So one day he found her crying
Coiled up on the dirty ground
Her prince finally came to save her
And the rest you can figure out
But it was a trick
And the clock struck twelve
Well make sure to build your home brick by boring brick
or the wolf's gonna blow it down
keep your feet on the ground
when your head's in the clouds
Well go get your shovel
And we'll dig a deep hole
To bury the castle, bury the castle
Well you built up a world of magic
Because your real life is tragic
Yeah you built up a world of magic
If it's not real
You can't hold it in your hand
You can't feel it with your heart
And I won't believe it
But if it's true
You can see it with your eyes
Oh even in the dark
And that's where I want to be, yeah
Go get your shovel
We'll dig a deep hole
To bury the castle, bury the castle
Well go get your shovel
and we'll dig a deep hole
To bury the castle, bury the castle
I'll tell you another song next chapter!
Review and tell me what songs you think!