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Valik greeted me with a wrinkled nose.
"Where'd you go, Rose? You were away ages. We were getting worried." He glanced towards Anton, and shook his head. "And God, Anton. You couldn't have pointed out the bathrooms to her before you left, could you?" He shrugged.
"You never asked me to. Although... she does smell disgusting, doesn't she? How long do you reckon it's been since she last had a shower?"
I stood listening to this, hands on hips and a disbelieving expression on my face.
"Hello?! I'm right here, you know!" Anton looked at me.
"So sorry," he said. "So, how long has it been since you last had a shower?" I rolled my eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Well, it is a reasonable question," Valik chipped in. I could tell he was trying not to smile, and although he was doing a good job of it, his eyes has this mischievous glint that gave him away. "Anyway, talk later, wash now. Anton, go make yourself useful — show Rose where she can go and clean up."
"I only just got back! What do you mean 'go make yourself useful'? People these days." He shook his head, tapped me on the shoulder to signal we were going, and darted from the room, reeling off Russian curses that sounded similar to what Dimitri used to use. Valik laughed; his face creased up ever so slightly with laughter lines.
"You'd better run to catch up," he told me. "He won't even notice you're not there."
I grinned and ran out of the cabin, and down the path, where Anton was now striding purposefully towards the dormitories.
*
"You're not still mad about what I said, are you?" he asked, once I caught up. I had been, until we'd reached the Academy. He'd acted like it was a crime to give the old theories a chance. I'd been upset by that. But Valik seemed to have put me in a good mood, and my grudges lay long forgotten.
"Not really," I replied. Relief flickered across his face, but he immediately masked it. He nodded gruffly.
"Good."
We came to a stop outside a small building.
"Bathrooms," he told me, gesturing towards the door. I paused, looking at him, and raised my eyebrows. "What? What could possibly be wrong now?"
"These are guys' bathrooms." He glanced at the door.
"Oh."
"And I'm a girl."
"I can see that."
"So now what?" He sighed.
"I don't know! I have no idea where the female dhampir bathrooms are! Okay look. You know what. Screw this hunting around for stuff." He grabbed my sleeve and pulled me towards the Moroi dorms.
"What? Where are we going?"
"My room."
"Why?"
"Because Moroi students get ensuite bathrooms." My jaw dropped.
"The dhampirs don't?"
"I thought that much was evident. They have the communal shower rooms. There are, from what I've heard, individual cubicles and stuff. But they have one room, as opposed to ensuites."
"That's not even fair." Anton rolled his eyes.
"No one said it had to be. Even so... are you coming?"
"Yeah, fine." I let him lead me down into the dorms. There were a bunch of Moroi students hanging around that fell silent when we came in. They were gaping at me like they'd never seen a dhampir girl before. One of them shouted something to Anton, to which he gave what sounded like a very curt reply. Then he dragged me off down the stairs and into the guys' dorm section.
It wasn't dark, like I had expected it to be. In fact, somehow they'd managed quite well to cast the illusion that it was actually just the ground floor. There was a courtyard outside that was well lit by the sun, and I could see the slopes that led down to it. They'd arranged the place quite well. Some part of me, though, suggested that the dhampir dorms weren't this pleasant.
"What did they say?" I asked. Anton paused outside a room and dug his hand into his pocket. He pulled out a small key and fumbled with the lock.
"Who?" My eyes flickered back towards the stairs. "Oh... never mind." He shoved the door open and let me inside.
"No, tell me."
"Unpleasant stuff. You don't want to know. Make yourself at home."
The room wasn't too small, but wasn't too big, either. It was a cute size, had two beds, two wardrobes...
"Who'd you share with?" I asked. I wandered over to the window, still quite bemused by the fact that they had this sort of a view, even when technically underground.
"I don't. I set the last guy's stuff alight, and then I never got a new roomie." I snickered.
"Fair enough," I said.
"Right. Shower's over there." I glanced where he was pointing; a small door at the far side of the room.
"Thanks."
"No problem. I'll be back in about half an hour." He turned to leave.
"Wait."
"Yeah?"
"Towels..."
"Right," he said. He came across to where I was standing, opening a drawer along the wall. "There you go. See you in a bit then, Rose."
He closed the door, and I snatched up a towel, pushed the drawer closed, and wandered into the bathroom. It, like the room, wasn't of an amazing size, but it was pretty cute. There were small windows at the very top of the wall, letting light from the outside world flood in.
The constant patter of water against my bare skin made me feel at ease for the first time in a while. The room filled with steam, and I came to drop my guard ever so slightly. Thoughts of Nadejda's readings and Dimitri slowly faded from my mind and I was calm. I breathed in deeply.
I don't know how much time passed, but eventually my skin began to pucker, so I thought it sensible to leave the streaming water behind. I clambered out of the shower, wrapping the towel around me. It then occurred to me, as I stared at my muddied clothing which I had piled up to one side of the counter in a crumpled mess, that I had no spare clothing with me. I cursed that I had managed to forget this, and then realised that I may actually have to venture out into Anton's room to "borrow" some of his clothing. I pressed my ear up against the door. No one there. Good.
Slowly, I unlocked the door and eased it open. Cautiously, I peered into the room. Yep, definitely safe.
Where to begin, though? There was a wardrobe on the far side of the room, and I checked in there first. It was empty. Perhaps this had belonged to his roommate. Then I tried the dresser nearest the bathroom.
"Success," I breathed, pulling out a plain black t-shirt. This would do, for now. Underwear... that was embarrassing. How would I deal with this? I certainly wasn't going without. Rifling through more drawers, I found myself reddening. Anton happened to be a boxer guy, though, which I guess was less disturbing than it could have been. I slipped my newly found apparel on quickly, and was combing my fingers through my hair, when I caught sight of it. A small flash in the mirror. I spun around me, and there at the window...
Shit. There at the window was the blond Strigoi. He was smiling devilishly, and I was paralyzed with fear. I didn't know what to do. I stumbled backwards, ending up falling over, and I screamed.
Anton burst into the room moments, later. He found me in a sobbing heap on the floor. A group of Moroi, who had followed him down, were staring in shock and confusion at my wailing figure.
"Rose," he said, in a soft but firm voice. "Rose, what's wrong?"
"Strigoi," I whispered. My voice was strangled; I pointed a shaky finger to his window. Then I blacked out.
*
It is not cool for one of the most esteemed ex-trainee Guardians to pass out in a Moroi's room, I decided. Anton had had to heft me up on his shoulder, and carry me out through the common room, down past all the other students — Moroi and dhampir alike — to find Valik.
I awoke in a darkened room to the sound of hushed voices.
"She says she saw a Strigoi," Anton was whispering incredulously. "Then again..." his voice darkened. "I've never seen such a real reaction. She can't have been lying."
"We checked the grounds," Valik returned. "Twice over. I'll be doing the final scout. I really don't... even if she wasn't making it up. Maybe she's delusional."
It was so nice to know how highly people here thought of me, I told myself bitterly. Then a third voice chipped in, and my blood ran cold.
"You know, this happened to us. She was saying she was seeing ghosts, and nobody believed her. And then guess what? BHAM- we're attacked by Strigoi. So I'd really appreciate it if you did not call my daughter delusional."
Mom?!
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