CHAPTER THREE – WHAT AM I TO DO?
Hey, in the last chapter, Rose meets Blake (a dhampir) and Tory (a Moroi) and they are now staying at a hotel in Siberia. ENJOY!
"Is it true that you killed two Strigio in Spokane when you were captured and that you earned two molnija marks?" Blake asked, staring at me like I was some kind of oracle.
"Yes, I killed two Strigio in Spokane, but not without the help from a friend." I murmured as I remembered how Mia had come back for me and broken the fish tank. It saved my life.
"Can we see your marks?" Tory asked excitedly.
"Yeah," I said, rising from the couch and flipping my hair up as I walked toward the two boys. "One is for Isaiah and one is for Elena." I explained.
"Who are they?" Tory asked and I could feel a hesitant finger tracing my marks.
"What is this one for?" Blake said as I felt a finger repeatedly trace over the same spot.
"Isaiah and Elena were the two Strigio who had captured me and my friends. The other mark, I forget what it's called but it means that the barer has been in a battle and has killed many Strigio." I flipped back my hair answering both their questions and turned to face the boys again.
"That is too cool,"
"Rose Hathaway…" they marvelled staring at me in awe. I blushed at their praise, I didn't even expect them to know my story let alone my name, but the way they were looking at me made me uncomfortable.
"So, um, would you two like to explain your story and why the hell you broke out of your academy when you could have just filled out the drop-out papers?" I asked in a not-so-subtle change of subject. But still. Braking out of your academy with a Dragamir princess is something you actually need to do without people knowing. But leaving with and Ozera wouldn't be that big of a deal- no offence to the Ozera family, of course.
"Well, we just hadn't thought of filling out the forms and we didn't actually brake out." Blake admitted sheepishly, I raised my eyebrows and he sighed. "We just tossed a rope to the top of the gate at the back of campus and climbed the fence and went to the closest town." He didn't meet my eyes, like this was an extremely embarrassing thing to say. I couldn't help it. I laughed.
"You guys must have had so much fun!" I said enthusiastically, grinning.
"It was," Tory said grinning back at me.
"How long have you been out?" I was still grinning when the actual reality of the situation hit.
"About five or six months, I think." Blake said thoughtfully.
"Have you kept in practice?" I cut him a stony glance and he shifted uneasily.
"With my guardian training?" Blake squirmed, visibly uncomfortable under my hard stare. "Yeah, um, about that…"his voice trailed off, not meeting my gaze.
"You haven't." I said blankly.
"No," he said in a small voice. I was about to lecture him about how easily his Moroi would get killed, but then I remembered how much I had hated it when everyone ripped on me because I was "irresponsible and reckless". I felt my face soften and I gave him a kind knowing smile.
"Well, we'll be fixing that." I said primly. Blake's and Tory's eyes widened to an impossible size.
"You are going to train me?" Blake squeaked, an enormous grin lighting his entire face. I nodded.
"Tory is as good as dead with the way you would be now, if you've been out of practice for six months."
"I've still got some!" protested Blake as he started to remove himself from the pillows he'd piled around him.
"Blake, shut up. This is Rose Hathaway. The best guardian out there. Listen to her." Tory said, sounding completely sure of me.
"I'm not the best guardian." I quickly, saving Blake and also trying to defend Dimitri's pride. "I don't eve have a charge right now." I added quietly.
"Where's Princess Dragamir?" Blake looked confused, as if he just noticed that Lissa wasn't here.
"At the Academy." I stared out the glass door to the balcony, not meeting their questioning gazes.
"Why aren't you with her?"
"Because there is something I have to take care of now." I replied curtly, cringing back on myself. I plopped down on the end of Blake's bed and put my hands in my pockets.
"Seriously? You're on a top secret guardian mission that's too dangerous for the Princess to accompany you on so someone else is guarding her until you get back?" Tory seemed impressed. Probably because he thought I was assigned to coming here, not by my own will. Don't get me wrong, this is dangerous, but I needed to do it.
"Something like that," I mumbled softly, as I pushed off the bed and walked over to the glass doors. I stared out into the increasingly dark landscape of Siberia. I couldn't go out looking for Dimitri tonight and leave Tory and Blake unprotected. I couldn't leave Tory and Blake until Blake was back up to guardian standards. Then, suddenly, I had a brilliant idea.
"Don't unpack. We're leaving tomorrow morning." I said abruptly, turning to back to the two boys who were watching me with a curious confusion. A slow smile crept across Blake's face.
"Where are we going?" My guess was that as soon as I told him where we'd be going, that smile would disappear very quickly.
"The Siberian Academy," Yep, I was right: his smile was immediately replaced with a shocked and frantic expression, it was almost funny. I probably would have laughed and teased him about how he looked if I was the same as I was when I first returned to the Academy. I didn't think I'll ever be able to go back to my old self; the easy going party girl who broke every rule and challenged every limitation, the girl who was famous for her unstable reputation. No, I could never go back to that Rose and I needed to stop pretending that once everything was done with Dimitri that I could go back. Because I can't, and it's that simple, so I needed to stop kidding myself.
"We need to go somewhere safe and I need to have a word with the headmistress. It might just save that academy. And we also need somewhere where you can get back to the guardian you need to be." At that last part, Blake's face transformed from shock to a sure determination. Once I got this boy back into shape and cut down on his friendliness, he'd be a great guardian.
"Then what will I do? What if the headmistress won't allow us to stay at her academy?" Tory challenged. Just like Christian. I'd never thought the say would come when I would actually miss Christian. After we'd been paired for the field experience, we'd broken up some of the tension and were brought even closer when we fought against the Strigio on campus. I winced at the memories and closed my eyes as I hung my head.
"Rose?" I heard Blake say and felt a light hand on my arm. I opened my eyes and gave him a kind smile then turned back to the window and crossed my arms.
"The headmistress will let us stay. We are no threat and she has no reason to reject us." I said sternly.
"Tory. Drop it, Rose knows what she's doing." I imagined Tory opening his mouth to protest again and Blake cutting him off. But the question was: do I?
We were quiet for a while and I could feel them watching me, but I didn't turn to answer their stares.
"Tory, do know a Christian Ozera?" I said speaking quietly with my back still turned.
"Christian Ozera?" Tory said thoughtfully. "Oh, he must be the kid who's parents disgraced my family." His voice turned cold, which bugged the hell out of me. Nobody talks about my friends like that. Especially that issue, they got enough talk of a Dragamir Princess dating a disgraced Ozera. I spun around with my hands balled into fists.
"Do not speak against the Ozera name. Do not speak against Christian Ozera. And you, of all people, an Ozera, I would think that you would have enough respect to keep some of your own pride as to leave that issue alone!" my voice was low and menacing and I could tell by their shocked faces that they were extremely surprised, but they weren't afraid of being hurt. Damn it! I needed to control my temper. Now that I'd lost my temper, I'd also lost my control over the ghosts so they were no longer at bay. It felt like my head was being beat on with a hammer over and over again in the same spot. I sank to the ground and pinched the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and thumb. I squeezed my eyes shut and mumbled for them to go away.
If you've been shot before, imagine that pain, just a million times worse. That's how bad my head hurt. Then, finally, with a forceful order, I reclaimed power over myself and the ghosts went back to the dull hum around. I groaned and covered my face with my hands.
"Rose…" I heard Blake say in a concerned voice that was coming closer. "Rose, are you okay?"
"Um, yeah, I am now." I said curtly as I shook my head.
"What happened?" I opened my eyes and saw Blake kneeling beside me and Tory was on my other side, looking at me warily. Staring into their worried eyes, I knew that they wouldn't take 'it was nothing' for an answer. Time to bullshit.
"I just get these really bad headaches from time to time. They hurt like hell, but I'm fine now." I said as I wiped my forehead.
"Um, Rose? No, you aren't okay. You're shaking. Look at your hands." Tory said, making a show of staring at my hands that were, as he said, not just shaking, but shaking violently. I fisted my hands and shrugged.
"Yeah, it does that to me."
"Are you sure-"
"I'm sure." I cut Blake off and stood up. "Okay, now you two need to go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow." When neither of them made a move to get up and just kept staring at me expectantly I made my voice steely and firm.
"Now."
Okay, so what did you think?? Was it good? There is going to be some action in the next chapter and guess who she finds when Tory, Blake and Rose are on there way to the Academy?? And Rose also gets some new privileges…. Hmm. Well, you'll find out. Please review!!
~alice~