When we arrived in Baia, Dimitri went straight to Olena's house. We hopped out of the car and got our new bags. I was first to the door, I wanted to apologise to Viktoria. I knocked on the door and Sonya answered. She saw Dimitri and a big grin lit up her face. Viktoria came running down the stairs and hugged me. She released me and called out "Dimka!" She ran over to him and hugged him too. Sonya came out and helped us with our bags. I didn't let her take mine because I didn't want her to hurt herself. Her baby bump had gotten bigger, much bigger. Olena came out of the kitchen and greeted us all with a hug. She showed us to where we'd be staying. Dimitri and I were going to stay in Viktoria's room and Christian and Lissa would be staying in Carolina's room. Carolina and Viktoria would be sleeping in Sonya's room.
After I placed my bags in the room, Viktoria came in and smiled. "I'm sorry for yelling at you Rose, you were right, he didn't really want me for any other reason" She started. "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stopped you, you were in love and I know what its like." I told her. She came over and hugged me. "I forgive you Rose" She said. "I forgive you too" I said. She left the room as Dimitri came in. He'd been in the kitchen talking to Olena, Carolina, Sonya and Paul. He smiled and put his bag down. "My grandma missed you" He laughed. I didn't have any comments for that, so I snarled. I headed out of the room and down stairs.
I headed into the kitchen and found Lissa and Christian. Olena was talking to them so I decided to ask Lissa what she wanted me to ask her. "Liss, do you want to go meet them now?" I asked. She knew what I was talking about right away and a big grin lit up her face. Christian continued talking as we waved goodbye. I still knew the way to Mark and Oksana's house, who can forget the home of someone who helped save your best friends life.
The walk there seemed a lot shorter than when I'd gone with Yeva, Dimitri's grandmother. I guess that was because the first time I'd gone there I was carrying bricks, literally. When we reached the house Lissa gave me a look of excitement, I checked the bond, and she could feel Oksana's presence. I knocked on the door and Mark answered. "Rose, I didn't think I'd see you again, especially when you're in as much trouble as I've heard. I believe it wasn't you though" He greeted me. "Um, Mark, this is Vasilisa Dragomir" I began. He looked behind me and a grin lit up his face. "Your bondmate" he guessed. I nodded and he gestured us in. Oksana came out of the kitchen and the biggest smile I'd ever seen lit her face. Lissa flinched, but it wasn't because of Oksana's presence, it was because Oksana had reached into her head.
"Princess Vasilisa Dragomir, how nice to meet you, I'm sorry about what I just did, but I needed to make sure you were who I thought you were" She greeted her. She nodded at me and looked back at Lissa. "Do you mind telling me what you just did?" Lissa asked politely. "Oh, can't you do it, I reached into your head, like what Rose can do" She answered. I felt a light switch on in my head. Oksana can see into my past and thoughts by reaching into my head, which means she can see that I'm innocent. The only problem is, how can she get people to believe her if they can't see.
Oksana gestured us into the dining room, where I'd first spoken to her. We sat down at the table, and I felt the sensation of hot and cold and then hot again. "Sorry Rose, I had to see if you were really innocent. You are, I did believe you were, but I needed to see for sure" She told me. "So, how are you Princess, I mean, is the darkness getting to you still" Mark asked. "No, not really. I feel it and then it's gone. Rose is taking it away from me though, and I am making her spirit infused jewellery and stuff" She answered. "How are you feeling, Rose?" Oksana asked. "I'm okay as long as Lissa is" I answered quickly. I actually didn't like having to take away the darkness, but I'd do it to protect her. Oksana reached into her pocket and got out a silver ring. "I've put a bit of spirit in this, Vasilisa can put more in to make it stronger though" Oksana said as she slid the ring over to me. Lissa reached out and touched it, I felt a little of the happiness coming through the bond, but she couldn't infuse the ring with a lot of power.
Oksana smiled and said to Lissa "You are very strong, I can see the spirit coming off of the ring now, you've made it very strong." Lissa looked at me and smiled. She passed the ring back to me and looked at Mark. "Do you need anything, I mean, are you okay" She asked him. "No, I'm fine, Oksana makes me a ring every now and again, and I don't need them that much, she doesn't use her powers that much" Mark replied. We sat in silence for a moment, and then Lissa asked "Can you dream walk?" Oksana looked confused, and Lissa took that for a no. "My friend, Adrian Ivashkov, he has spirit and he taught me how to do it" She explained. Oksana looked excited, and asked "Is he here, we can share our powers" She asked. "No, he, uh, left" She looked at me and looked apologetic. "I should have known, when I reached into Rose's head I got a sense of guilt about a boy, that was him, wasn't it?" She asked me. I looked away and didn't say anything. I stood up and headed outside, to Mark's garden, and he followed. Lissa stayed with Oksana and asked about what she could do.
I sat down on the ground and Mark sat down next to me. "How are you doing, are you still seeing ghosts?" He asked. "No, I learnt how to keep them away, except, when I got out of the Royal Court, I saw her, Queen Tatiana. Then I blacked out. That's never happened" I told him. He looked almost scared. "Don't do it again" He said fiercely. "Why?" I asked. "Just don't do it, you are getting closer, closer to the world of the dead" He whispered. I gave him a look of astonishment and then realised something. I am only supposed to see spirits of people who recently passed, but I saw Lissa's parents. They died almost three years ago.
I realised Lissa was finished asking questions and I got up and headed back inside, Mark followed. Lissa smiled at my entrance and I realised Oksana had been telling her how to reach into people's heads. She needed to practice before she could do it but she knew what she had to do.
Oksana and Mark said their goodbyes as we left and we headed back to Olena's house. Then we saw him, the fire user. He must have followed us. He stopped walking when he saw us. I walked over to him to ask why he was stalking us but he began to talk before I opened my mouth. "I'm not following you, you're following me." He said. I then saw it, the jade-green eyes like Lissa's. My mouth dropped open and I said "I know."
Lissa had no clue why I said that, and then thought that they might have been using compulsion until I spoke again. "How did you know we were looking for you?" I asked. Lissa was still confused, and then it clicked in her head. I felt a rush of emotions go through her, regret, anger, sadness. "I heard about you, how you're being blamed for the murder of the Queen. I knew it wasn't you, so I studied up and realised, Vasilisa could only vote if I were here." He answered. "Why would you help me like that, you don't even know me" Lissa screamed. "Liss, calm down" I soothed her. "My name is Alex, Alex Kerosov. My mother's name is Lainee." He said.
We got back to the house and I called for Dimitri. He came down the stairs immediately and alert. "Dimitri, this is Alex. Alex is, well, Lissa's brother, sort of" I told him. He looked at Alex, then Lissa, then back at me. "He's the one who helped us back in Las Vegas" Dimitri told me. "Yep, that's me" He smiled. He was just like Christian. An idiot. "Hey, don't look at me like that, I didn't do anything wrong" He said. Dimitri then asked "Why are you here?" Alex answered dryly "My mom made me move here with her, she thought she was being followed." Lissa suddenly had a thought. Alex's mother could be a spirit user. She had the same paranoia as Ms. Karp.
"When did you move here?" I asked. "A few months ago, when we heard about how Vasilisa Dragomir's Guardian ran away." He answered. I growled at him and realised we needed a plan. If we were going to go back to the Royal Court to prove I was innocent, we needed to be able to prove that Lissa was related to Alex. I pushed Alex up the stairs to where I found Christian. He looked at Alex, then at me. "Isn't this who helped us?" Christian asked. "Yup, you and him are gonna share stories and all that while us adults work out something" I grinned. "Oh Rose, why don't you join us, we could play with barbie dolls if you want to" Christian laughed. I glared at him and pushed Alex into the room. "Don't burn the house down" I called as I walked down the stairs.