Chapter 3
I awoke with a start to find water pooling around the bed, sprouting from the walls and dripping from the ceiling. 'What's going on?' I yelled at the Guardians who were huddled together speaking rapidly in hushed voices. I was about to ask if they were going to leave me here to drown, in my patented Rose Hathaway sarcasm. The water was only ankle deep and the flow of water seemed to be slowing even the short time that I'd been awake. Just then the ceiling over where the guardians were conducting their little powwow gave way and water cascaded from the ceiling like a tidal wave, then the wall to the right of my cot seemed to explode with water, it hit me in the face knocking me backwards and soaking me through. In a way it was a blessing, I hadn't been able to properly wash in days.
'THE PIPES ARE BURSTING ASS HOLES!' I yelled as I struggled to keep my feet firmly on the ground, that water was strong. 'Shut it Hathaway' one of my guardians yelled as he waded over to my cell. 'Turn around and put your hands through the bars.' He handcuffed me behind my back before opening my cell and dragging me ass backwards into the corridor. The water was almost chest deep on me now and I was being dragged more than guided towards the door. As we got out of the door the stairs that lead out to the main guardian building were slick with water running down so fast that the steps underneath were barely visible.
We finally made it to the landing when a huge wall of heat hit us, I could almost feel my face burning even though the cause of the heat was unidentifiable. Still handcuffed and walking backwards we rounded a corner and the cause was at last visible. A huge wall of fire was between my guardian and me and the wall. It seemes as though there had been a problem with the pipes while they were trying to put out the raging fire wating away at the now vacant desks filing cabinets. The guardian found an opening and we finally made our way outside to a waiting crowd.
Medical professionals swarmed around injured guardians as a crowd was being kept back in a futile attempt by guardians who didn't seem to have been affected. I noticed Lissa on the edge of the crowd, she was stood maybe three feet away from me, and the guardian holding my handcuffs was also looking at her, but with a slack look on his face. I recognised his facial expression just as he unlocked my cuffed hands and dropped them. Lissa rushed forward and slipped another ring on my finger before pulling me around the edge of the building. No one seemed to be watching me, so I didn't hesitate to follow; they were all watching as water and fire in equal measures burst out of the guardian building. It was at that point that I put two and two together.
Christian and Mia were crouched down next to the side of the building both with wide smiles on their faces. I grinned back before Lissa began hurrying us along. She handed me a bundle of clothes which I recognised as my formal black and white guardian wear. I managed to hastily throw it on, slightly confused as to how this was supposed to disguise me when Lissa explained the ring she'd slipped on my finger made me look blonde, blue eyed and pale with an abundance of freckles.
After a lot of hiding and running we reached the front gate. It was full sun I realised and the Moroi were starting to get a little sluggish but somehow we made it with Mia in front, me hot on her heels and Lissa bringing up the rear with Christian. A black escalade was sat with the windows rolled down and someone was hanging out of the window chatting to the Guardians on duty. I recognised immediately that it was Adrian, his perfectly mussed hair gleaming in the sunlight. The guardians all had the same slack look on their face as the one who had handcuffed me earlier. It was mighty handy having a best friend and a boyfriend who were aces at compulsion.
We all slipped into the car, me keeping my head down just in case and Lissa giving an extra burst of compulsion to help Adrian out as we drove through the gates slowly at first before Adrian really put his foot down. I felt Lissa's body next to mine relax, my head was still down, and Christian, from the seat furthest back, let out a low whistle.
'You need to turn left in about five minutes, and slow down, we're trying not to attract attention' My head shot up, as soon as my ears caught the Russian accent coming from the front seat. Sat next to Adrian, and holding a map, was Dimitri.