Good morning to you all =)
Well it's actually *checks time* evening. But hush.
I have an exam tomorrow... but it's French writing. Can't really revise for that =) so I wrote this for you guys instead, to make up for the massive 3 month gap.


"So what I'm ultimately confused about is why the Moroi were fighting," I told Valik, sitting by a small fireplace in his house. It was quite little, the place, but it was nice. I think the small size gave it a certain appeal. I was so used to the massive, looming Academy, that anywhere small seemed friendlier. "I mean, I thought Moroi were dead set against that."

"And what I'm confused about is why you were stupid enough to sit in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere at night. It makes me wonder if the kids are actually learning anything these days." Valik regarded me wearily, handing me a cup of tea. I set it down on the table beside me. "I mean, for a girl that's killed 3 Strigoi, plus taken part in some epic showdown and killed many more on top of those three... that really was stupid."

"Are you mocking me?" I asked, recognising how he'd mimicked my pattern of speech. He smiled faintly.

"Give the girl a prize. To answer your question, ever since the Court meeting for Victor Dashkov... people have been changing. Slowly but surely. They won't let anyone know about it; they're far too scared of what'd happen, were it to get back to the queen. But underground movements like the one you saw have been springing up quite a lot." He let it sink in, and then continued. "It's mainly the fire users. They were inspired by that Ozera woman. They love the idea of burning up Strigoi, so they've been practicing underground, too. And let me tell you — it's a novelty thing for them. They don't mind getting hurt, after being deprived of all the action. The men in particular. They love the big showdowns like today, and they love keeping count of it all. They're in constant competition with one another."

Slightly shocked, I nodded. I thought we'd been bold for taking Christian out with us. Apparently not. Valik sighed heavily and stood up.

"I've got to go and do a bit of damage control. The Academy here has been in communication with yours... and neither is particularly happy you've wound up here."

"I don't belong to an Academy any more," I said indignantly.

"I know. Even so... I'll get Anton to take you around the rest of base." He paused, looking strangely at me. "You've swapped to human times. You need to get back out of that. Drink coffee for now, if need be. You can sleep later."

He strode off.

"Gee thanks," I muttered under my breath. I stared boredly into the grate, at the unlit coal sitting in the mantle, starting when flames suddenly erupted. Anton snorted and sat down next to me.

"They told me I have to drag you around camp and make sure you're awake," he said vaguely. "Where do you want to go?"

"Well I don't really know where there is to go. Isn't that why you're showing me around?" I asked snappily. Anton looked at me with this deadpan expression that sort of just said 'shut up'. I didn't continue rambling.

He was sort of like Christian, I got the impression. A bit too arrogant for my liking. Loved to play with fire. That summed the pair of them up.

"Right. Let's move, fatty." I froze and slowly turned an icy glare on him. He actually looked quite startled, for which I simply had to congratulate myself. If looks could kill.

".." I told him. There were icicles dripping off my words. He seemed to recover slightly, but still held a slightly scared expression behind the placid mask.

"You're not thin, either."

"I'm half human, you bloody bastard!" I shrieked. I was not in the mood for this, after being on a plane for God knows how long, and after being attacked by Strigoi, and killing one, and then being dragged away... and what's more, the extra molnija mark was itching like hell. I didn't hesitate to tell him this. His eyes widened.

"Alright, jeez. You're not fat. Either way, shift. We're walking." He turned, and practically sprinted out, and I swear I heard him say "you could use it."

I let out a dry sob before I followed after him. I don't really get why, but it was my way of letting out all my emotion. I couldn't cry... my eyes didn't seem to want to do that.

I shook my head, and let that stupid Moroi take me round.

*

"This is the Academy," he said in a bored voice. This is where Dimitri trained. "Those are classrooms." He pointed left, and then turned right, and led me down a passage lined with buildings on either side. "The right side is the Moroi dorms. The left side is for dhampirs. Ground floor is the common room; upstairs is the girls' dorms; basement is the guys' dorms. Any questions?"

I shrugged and shook my head. This guy was boring me. Anton rolled his eyes.

"I should start charging for this kind of thing," he muttered. "Through here," in a louder voice he told me, leading me past the dorms, "we have the elementary school. You're standing on part of the playground. In case that didn't occur to you."

A bunch of elementary kids glanced our way, and noticed me standing with Anton.

"Who's she?" One of them asked. Anton sighed exaggeratedly, answering in the same monotonous drawl he'd been using for the last half hour.

"This is Rosemarie Hathaway, famous American dhampir icon." More kids looked towards us at the sound of my name. My eyes widened; apparently I was an international hero to the kids, now. I couldn't help but remember Dimitri telling me about how I was a strong role model. The thought of him brought a silent tear running down my cheek.

"Hey, don't cry Rose. They're not that scary," Anton said in this irritating stage whisper. Someone laughed. I didn't really care though. I had this image of Dimitri frozen there in my mind, and I let it take over me. I barely heard when he asked, "Rose?" in a somewhat worried voice. Then I didn't hear anything.

A couple of seconds later I was jerked back to reality, and found that the world had titled about 90 degrees since I last checked.

... Or I'd just fallen over. Anton's figure loomed over me, his face pale with a discomforted expression.

"Rose?" I shot him my best pissed-off-Rose look.

"That's me."

"Are you alive?"

"Is the sky blue?" He proffered a hand, pulling me to my feet.

"Actually it's sort of a dismal grey today."

"Oh... I guess not then." Anton looked at me critically.

"Don't say stuff like that. You'll scare the kids." I glanced around. The small crowd had now grown even larger, and they were all looking at me with the same stricken expressions. Rose Hathaway just collapsed on the floor for no reason whatsoever. I guess that'd be today's elementary school gossip.

"I...um..." I stared at them. What was I supposed to say? Anton cleared his throat.

"So, moving on then," he said in a loud voice. There were a few groans, but the kids seemed to get the picture. He turned heel and strode off back towards the dorms.

"What," he asked once I'd caught up, "on Earth happened?"

"I fell."

"I guessed that. Why?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said stiffly. He gave me an odd look, and then the expression on his face softened ever so slightly.

"Okay. I'm sorry." We carried on walking in silence for a bit.

"This is... this is..." he looked around. We'd walked right to the edge of a field, where I suspected the wards to be in place. "This is my place. No one comes out this far." I glanced around.

"Cool." It wasn't. It was a field. But he seemed right — no one was around for quite some distance, and it'd be pretty cool to be out here in the summer, I imagined. If there war one.

"Do you guys have a summer here?" I asked, suddenly. Anton looked at me like I was mad.

"Yes," he said, drawing the word out really slowly, like he was talking to a small child. "It's great here in the summer." He was looking around, up at the trees. "Valik and Dimitri used to come out here." I froze at the name. "Valik said they used to like to sit in the trees and revise for their exams up there."

"Uh-huh," I said, trying to keep my voice from cracking. Anton turned to regard me quite thoroughly.

"You knew Dimitri."

"I did."

"Valik says he loved you." I bit my lip to stop myself from sobbing.

"He did."

"Would you like to meet his mother and grandmother?" He asked. I paused. Dimitri's grandmother had been a fortune teller, like the woman at the Court. And... Dimitri's grandmother was also Dimitri's grandmother.

I wasn't sure. I was torn. I wanted to meet them... but if Anton knew about Dimitri and me, then what's to say that Dimitri's immediate family wouldn't know? And what would they think of me? I was terrified by the prospects.

I pushed this aside, though. Dimitri had loved them. He had missed them, I knew. And his grandmother could be able to help me.

"Sure," I told him. "I'd love to."


Last chapter... 5 or 6 reviews I think? Pretty good.
Let's try and beat 10 though =D that's how many I got for chapter 1.