Weirdly enough, in my very early drafts, this was the first thing I wrote. This was where I had intended to start the story from. Of course, you won't be reading the exact version — I've changed loads of it now, since I'm working from a plot. But parts of the first few paragraphs are quite similar.
Just a random fact for you, there.
(ReaderRabbit: I'm not really sure whether she did find out or not. Perhaps she did... but Valik had been planning on calling Rose's friends over, to convince her to go back to the US).
It was dark by the time I reached the Strigoi lair, though at the time I had absolutely no clue what I was walking into. More specifically, I thought I just was walking by another dense cluster of trees, on the way to the small village I had spied up ahead for the past two hours. It hadn't seemed to get any closer, no matter how much I walked.
Looking back, I can say this was a pretty bad occurrence. If I'd known, I probably would've run for it, however, since I didn't really have a clue as to where I was, I carried on forward towards my impending doom.
The air was cold and biting, though that wasn't the reason that suddenly, I felt strangely tense. Something was wrong. I scanned the area quickly, unmoving for a few moments.
When I was certain I'd been imagining things, I began to edge forwards cautiously, worried that each tiny step would lead to some disaster that I wouldn't be able to get out of. Then I froze. The back of my neck prickled. Reaching into my pocket for my silver dagger - even the psychotic part of me hadn't hoped to need it this early, when I was on my rampage - I swung around, and was met with... nothing?
I frowned. I knew that feeling, like I knew the back of my hand. - Actually, no; I never took my time to stare at my palms. Nonetheless, I was never wrong with this sort of thing. The feeling was too horribly familiar. Suspicion filled me as I glanced yet again about the immediate area in front of me.
*
Okay, so let's just pause for a moment. I would like to tell you a very significant piece of information, to what happened next: over the ages, Guardians have messed up big time in dangerous situations. They've gone and gotten themselves killed, for example. So really, what happened isn't so bad, bearing in mind I was still alive, and had only been bashed in the head to the point of unconsciousness when I had realised that, as opposed to my earlier plans, the Strigoi had found me.
*
I can't say I quite knew where I was, when I first woke up. It wasn't pleasant. As I forced my eyes open, a wave of disorienting nausea swept over me.
Even after I'd opened my eyes, though, I couldn't see anything at all. I was in a pitch dark place, seemingly completely on my own. I strained to see anything around me.
Realising that this was hopeless, I attempted to sit up. This lead to my discovery that I had been bound. My arms were tied to my sides by a thick cord. My feet were also tied.
Cursing, I wriggled about a bit, trying - to no avail - to move. I ended up hitting my head on something solid above me, which tore a loud yelp from me. I groaned, and stopped moving as the pain overwhelmed me.
It seems time was a bit lost in this little abyss I'd got myself into. I wasn't sure how much later it was that I started moving around again, or how long I carried that on for. I wasn't sure, either, precisely when I became so exhausted that I, for the second time in a very short period, fell unconscious.
*
"You can't find her?" Valik growled. The two guardians standing opposite him shook their heads mournfully.
"She's managed to disappear without a trace," one of them told him in a grave voice. Valik sighed, and turned towards Anton.
"Do you have any idea where she's gone?" he asked tiredly. Anton shook his head.
"I went and asked Yelizaveta and Nadejda. They haven't seen her either. And Nadejda doesn't quite understand why she's gone running off — she says it doesn't make sense, even by Rose's standards. She says she'll try and read."
"She'll try and read?" Valik asked disbelievingly. "And what does she think that'll do?" Anton frowned slightly.
"It's helped in the past," he said pointedly.
"Has it really?"
A moment of silence passed. Valik sighed and turned to the three youths behind him.
"Any ideas?"
This time, the girl spoke up.
"She's looking for Dimitri, isn't she?" she asked. Her voice was shaky, nervous, unstable.
"We don't know," Valik replied.
"—She basically just ran off. She was fine one minute, and the next, she left," Anton added.
"And now we can't find her," concluded the guardian who had spoken earlier. Valik shot him a look, which earned a frightened spew of muddled words and a hasty departure.
Valik sank into his chair.
"Where the hell is she?"
"Adrian," the girl whispered quietly. "Can't you find her?" The boy had been puffing heavily on a cigarette. Now he paused, frowning slightly. "Can't you talk to her?" the girl pleaded.
"She'd need to be asleep," he said, slowly. Then he shook his head and turned his attention back to his cigarette. Valik looked at the three confusedly. Adrian had paused again, and now stubbed out his cigarette on the table.
"I'd need to be asleep too," he declared, getting to his feet. "I need to sleep." Nobody moved; nobody said anything. The boy Adrian rolled his eyes. "Can I sleep?" he enounced slowly. Valik nodded, still bewildered.
"Of course. Anton?"
The boy glanced pleadingly at Valik, before sighing, and muttering something crude under his breath. To Adrian, he said,
"Fine. Follow me."
*
Just before I woke up, I felt a sort of alien probing in my mind. In my dreamless sleep, a silhouette appeared. It was too dark to make out any faces. The anonymous figure was trying to say something.
I reached out, begging for the moment to last longer, but the images slipped away and disintegrated before me.
I woke up to darkness, yet again. Though this time, somewhere in the void, I heard voices.
Hmmm. What do you reckon? Have I sped things up too much? If I have... oh well. Can't really change that. But I'd still appreciate your views :)
Review?
