CHAPTER ELEVEN- THIS KID IS DRIVING ME CRAZY
I woke up to the sound of something moving in my room. I immediately was alert and sat up. I looked around frantically, only to find that I'd worn a towel to bed and it was around my waist, I pulled it up quickly, in case anyone was really here. You could be imagining this, Rose, a mean voice sneered in the back of my head. I looked around and saw...Oh, boy was I pissed off now.
Dereck Hays was sitting in the chair at my desk, watching me calmly. Had he seen the towel fall? Oh, God. I opened my mouth but nothing came out.
"Good morning, Rose," he said quietly and those soft calm words relaxed me a little bit, making me realize how really tired I was.
But it didn't make me forget that I was super pissed that Dereck was in my room and possibly might have seen me half naked.
"What are you doing in my room?" I glared at him and he nodded toward my clock.
"I was in the gym, waiting for you, but you didn't come, so I decided to come see if you were okay." He said it as if it were so simple and easy and completely obvious.
"How did you get past security?"
"If you have forgotten or just didn't notice, there is no security in the guardian dorms," he rolled his eyes.
"How did you know which room was mine?" I demanded. I was going to get even angrier if he said that he'd checked every room until he found mine.
"That was the easiest part," he chuckled. "There were a pile of clothes in front of your door that had a note on them saying: 'You forgot your clothes, Rose.' So I figured that this was your room. Lucky guess, eh?" he tried to make a joke but that didn't make any sense because I was sure that I'd locked my door. I noted vaguely that the clothes that I had left in the washroom the night before were on the desk beside him.
"I brought them in for you," he stated, noticing my glance.
"And how did you actually enter my room?" I ground out ignoring his comment.
He held up two bobby pins. "Picking locks isn't really that hard,"
"Ugh!" I groaned and fell back into my bed, pulling the comforter up above my head. "Get. Out. Right. Now."
"Rose?"
"Get out, Dereck; If you value your life at all, you will leave my room right now." I used my scary voice and I heard him scrabbling to the door then hesitate. What now?
"Does this mean practice is cancelled?"
I poked my head out from under the sheets and looked at him astonished and even more pissed off.
"Okay, okay! I'll take that as a yes," he left the room real quick and I got up and put a chair under the door handle, just like I'd seen in the movies and sat back down on my bed.
"Stupid kid," I muttered. I ran my hand through my hair and felt that it was damp-ish but all over the place. Damn, it was going to take some work to restore it. I ran a brush through my hair, pulling out all the knots while I was thinking about the little encounter I'd had last night with Dimitri.
It really scared me that I was actually in the world of the dead; and I hate being scared. But I was too freaked about the whole scenario to even be disappointed in myself. Did that really happen? Did I imagine it? Those were the first questions to pop into my head when I started thinking rationally again. The first answer that came to my mind was: Yes, it really happened; you couldn't imagine that.
Dereck's brake-in was soon forgotten and I was focused on Dimitri. He seemed so real, and was just like the other ghosts. Could I get back there again if I tried? I didn't want to, but I was pretty sure I'd have to sometime. The thought unnerved me and I quickly put on jeans, a sweater, my socks and shoes and giving my hair a last check in the mirror. Staring at my face I gently traced the line down my right cheek, remembering the way Dimitri had been so horrible and how 'Amelia' had raked her nail from my nose to jaw. A tear rolled down my face and I fiercely wiped it away and shook out my hair. You're strong, stick it through, Rose. I told myself.
Shoving the thoughts of Dimitri aside I slowly made my way down the stairs, very aware of my ribs and leg today. Sleeping seemed to make it worse; I hobbled carefully down each step and stopped to lean against the wall for a bit; I was so confused. If it really was –
"Hathaway!" I voice called from behind me and I turned my head on the wall to see Mikhail Tanner coming towards me.
I groaned. "Oh, no, not you again," I joked easily and Mikhail punched my shoulder (a little harder than necessary, if you ask me). It caught me off guard and I lost my balance and would have started tumbling down the stairs if Mikhail hadn't caught me and gave me an odd look.
"You're a little off your game today," he said.
"I guess," I mumbled. If he knew why he might understand that I would be a little preoccupied today-what with Dereck breaking into my room and entering the world of the Dead and seeing and talking to Dimitri's ghost…yeah, I can afford to be off my game for one day, at least.
"What's wrong?" Mikhail asked, his voice taking on the hint of worry. I glanced at him and saw excitement flash in his eyes. "Do you want to fight again? It feels pretty unfair, to me. I say we do best two out of three,"
"Can't, the Doc said I'm not allowed to do anything physical," I informed him.
"Oh really? Nothing at all that involves physical activity?" he joked obviously and I punched him.
"Someone's a little immature,"
"No, as a mater of fact, I am very mature," he said in a scholar-ish voice.
"Really? Prove it," I smirked.
"I'll be mature, you watch,"
"Yeah, and you don't sound like a four year old right there," I laughed and his lower lip jutted out into a very unattractive pout which only made me laugh harder. I clutched my ribs, because they were aching after laughing so hard.
"Why are you doing that?" Mikhail's eyes widened. "You're not getting those cramp things that girls get, are you? I'm not carrying you into the washroom or fetching you pads or whatever you use."
I laughed. "No, stupid, I broke a couple ribs, is all,"
"Are you okay?" he asked instantly serious.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine; you don't have to worry about me." I said tightly. I hated it when people tried to take care of me!
"Okay, okay," he held up his hands in surrender and I secretly smirked in satisfaction. I started down the steps and Mikhail started another conversation like the other one hadn't even taken place.
"You're going to eat with me today, and meet all the other guardians. Oh, also Headmistress Modia told me to tell you that you and the other boy, Bilk is it? Anyway, you and another boy to come to her office and meet Charles at noon today; you're getting marks, Rose!" he seemed so excited for me. I smiled and tried to start down the stairs and Mikhail followed, slowing his pace to match my lopsided limp.
"Should I attend your ceremony?" he actually sounded serious, which surprised me a bit.
"No, the only people who will be attending will be the people who are receiving marks. So, thanks for the offer, but I think I'll just go with Blake and Dereck," I mumbled, not really thrilled that I would have to spend some extra time with Dereck today.
"Why would you go with Hays?" Mikhail was confused now.
"Oh, he needs a mark, too," I shifted uncomfortably as I took another step down to the bottom of the stair case.
"How did he kill a Strigoi?"
"I…um, I took him off campus yesterday…" I couldn't meet his eyes.
"Rose!" his voice was shocked and disapproving. "Why the hell would you do that?"
"Because," I didn't add anything more and that frustrated him.
"Because why, Rose? You could have gotten yourself and Hays killed!"
"But I didn't," I ground out. "Alright, I get that I made the mistake, I admit it, skip the lecture, okay. I know what could have happened and it didn't so everything is fine now. I guess you can say that I learned the hard way- I can't do anything now!"
"Rose, everything is not okay!" he threw his hands up exasperated. "You could have-"
"But nothing happened! Are you my mother? I didn't think so, so. Fuck. Off. It."
His eyes widened in shock and he shook his head. "Rose…"
"I get it, Tanner; I really do. Do you think that I don't know what could have happened? I'm not stupid, Mikhail,"
"Yeah, I know that, but, Rose, you tend to do things rashly without thinking them through." He said, sounding pretty logical.
"Yeah, well, I used to be like that, I took him off campus because I did. You are not here to question my choices or analyze my life, so I don't think you really have a right to be sticking your nose in my fucking business!" I practically yelled at him and he looked at me like I was crazy, but I could also see that he was mad. Shit. Look at what you're doing to yourself, Rose. Piss everyone else off and see if you have anywhere to go. I shook off the nasty voice in my head and focused on Mikhail.
"I'm sorry, Mikhail; I-I…" how the hell does one explain what's wrong with me? I sighed and looked down at my shoes. "A lots been going on with me and it's kind of hard to explain and I'm a little bit short on temper; today more so than usual." I added under my breath…Now that wouldn't happen to involve Dereck Hays' interference, would it? I thought bitterly and I shook my head as if to get rid of the thought. I had to act normal if I was going to be around him at all today.
"No worries, Rose; I know it's been tough for you." He said easily; then he lowered his voice. "I heard about what happened to the Academy," he whispered. "Are you alright?" his voice was just concerned in a plain friendly way and I winced-but to my credit, only a little bit- when he mentioned the Academy.
I brushed his worries aside with the famous Rose Bravado. "Yeah, I'm fine, a little scary at the time, but I'm good now,"
Apparently my brave face had worked and Mikhail looked relieved, but still worried some.
"Come on, Mikhail, you think I can't fend for myself?" I tried to sound appalled, but it was obvious that he knew I was joking.
"No, sometimes I think you need a saviour," he joked back easily, but his comment didn't assure me as much as it did him. Was I really in need of a saviour? Was it that obvious that I wasn't coping with my life very well?
"Rose?" Mikhail's voice brought me out of my uneasy thought and I looked at him hazily.
"Huh?"
"We need to go have breakfast," he said then muttered, "Before you pass out on me,"
I ignored the quip and was suddenly eager to meet my new comrades.
No.
The word sliced through me and brought back more memories that I didn't want to deal with. I squeezed my eyes shut in half a second and then looked back at Mikhail. I decided that I would not call any of the guardians that, no matter what. They were not my comrades, they were…co-workers. I used the human term for the people they work with. I was never going to call someone my comrade again. I had one, and only one, Comrade; and I would never have another.
"Rose," Mikhail's voice had lost its joking edge and was now totally serious. "You are going to have to meet Alexander," he was completely straight-faced, which was very unusual for Mikhail. I raised my eyebrows in question and he elaborated.
"He's the Head of Guardians here; like Alberta was at St Vlad's,"
"So…this Alexander…he's a big deal then, huh?" I asked hesitantly. If he was an ass like that Meradov guy I met earlier, I'm going to be completely fed up with this academy.
"Yes!" Mikhail exclaimed. "So you need to be on your best behaviour, no attitude, no smart-ass jokes, no comments about anything that's not appropriate, no flirting-- no nothing." He said sternly.
"Jeez, you'd think I was five years old," I mumbled.
"Well, sometimes you certainly act like it," he snapped. "This is serious, Rose, if you fuck this up, he might go to Headmistress Modia and say that you are not an acceptable guardian and will ask to have you suspended, taken out of this academy, or completely pulled from being a guardian all together. So no fun and games now, Rose; if you mess this up, you might be messing up your whole life."
"Okay, okay," I rolled my eyes nervously. "Don't worry, Mikhail, I can handle myself when I need to,"
"Rose, please don't ruin this. And even think…if you got cut…your mother would hear about it, and I'm pretty sure Janine would be very upset with you…" he let his words trail off and I rolled my eyes with more confidence now.
"Right, I forgot about the amazing Janine Hathaway; wouldn't want to tarnish her rep," I said, pretending to be serious.
"Rose, don't-"
"God, Mikhail! Calm down; I can handle this." I took a deep breath and shook out my hair. "Where do we eat?"
"In here, Guardian Hathaway," Mikhail opened the door that was in front of us and I saw many guardians, quietly eating in groups, some were talking, others were just sitting and eating in silence. No one looked up when the door opened. I stepped in with Mikhail right behind me.
He cleared his throat. "Excuse me," everyone looked up at this and all conversations came to a dead stop. "We have a new guardian, her name is Rosemarie Hathaway, Janine Hathaway's daughter and she just received a position as a guardian here. She will be receiving her promise mark today at noon," Mikhail's voice echoed in the still room and all eyes were on me. I shifted uneasily. "I trust you will all treat her with respect and make her welcome, because this is her new home." Mikhail's voice held finality to it that no one would question.
The silence was finally broken by a tall, muscular man with a nicely fitted black sweater on and loose fitting jeans. He had dark brown hair that came down just in front of his eyes and how lively his bright blue eyes were studying me with interest. What did that mean?
"I'm sure we will make Rosemarie Hathaway welcome. Let me be the first to introduce myself to you; I am Alexander Contrive, you may call me Alexander when not in the presence of any novices," from some of the simplest words, I gathered that he was a very formal and serious type of guy. He walked up to me and offered his hand.
"I'm Rose, as you already know," I shot a glance at Mikhail while I shook Alexander's hand and saw that he looked hopeful, but like he was trying not to hope.
"Would you like to sit with me this morning, Rosemarie?" he asked politely, but it seemed like he was expecting me to accept.
"Well, you see, I already know Mikhail Tanner here, and I was planning on eating with him," I matched his tone almost perfectly, but I added the edge that made it clear I was one not to be messed around with. I saw amusement flash in his bright eyes.
"Mikhail is certainly welcome to join us, if he wishes to," he turned his head to Mikhail but his eyes never left me.
"Yes, I'd like very much to eat with you," Mikhail said very politely, none of his joking tone revealed. He probably was just going to stick around to make up the mistakes I was sure to make.
Alexander threw me a dazzling smile and I returned the gesture with less magnetism. "That would be great, Mikhail, this way, Rosemarie." He led us to a buffet that held all types of breakfast items; French toast (the syrup at the tables), pancakes, bagels. It was practically the same as the students' layout except for the coffee machine and hot chocolate that wasn't allowed to the students during any meals (except at dinner in the winter). The rest of the guardians slowly resumed talking, quietly, just as before; like they were never interrupted. But I was pretty sure that I was the focus of most of the conversations going on.
I took a bagel and made myself a hot chocolate quickly- but with two packets, like Dimitri had done for me: "Doubling's the secret," he'd said.
Alexander looked at me curiously and I shrugged. "Just something a…a friend of mine showed me once." He didn't pry, for which I was very thankful. He led Mikhail and I to an unoccupied table and faced me. I took a sip of my hot chocolate and studied him over the rim. "So, Alexander, tell me about yourself," I said quietly.
His eyebrows shot up into his hair dark hair in surprise. "I was just about to ask you the same thing,"
"Oh, well, it would only be polite to let you ask as you like," I added when he didn't respond. "Go on, I really don't mind,"
He chuckled. "No, you asked me first, and ladies are always first,"
"I don't run the guardians here and if I did, I would want to know all I can about a new guardian that was being admitted under my order; especially one so young," I titled my head to the side and spoke calmly, challenging him with my eyes.
"Well," he let out a breath. "What do you mean by 'a young one'? How old are you?"
"I'm eighteen," I said a-matter-of-factly.
"Really?" his eyebrows yet again disappeared into his hair line. "Well, why aren't you with a charge?"
"I came to Siberia for something I have to take care of. When I got off the plane, I ran into two teenage boys and they needed someone to travel with, and I agreed to take them with me. The dhampir was out of shape and would not be able to fight any Strigoi, should he happen upon some. I needed to take them somewhere safe, and I thought of the Siberian Academy. When we arrived, we were immediately tended to, after that; we went to see Headmistress Modia. She obliged to let us stay here, and offered me a position at the Academy. I accepted, and then she offered me the job of mentoring Dereck Hays, that I also accepted." I finished quietly and took another sip of my hot chocolate.
Alexander looked astonished, weather it was because of my calm attitude or story, I didn't know. I just hoped I did impress him, not that I cared, I just wanted this position. I didn't know I was really capable of that type of vocabulary or that manner.
"What is it that you have to take care of?"
I tensed and was sure that both Mikhail and Alexander caught that.
"Just some personal matters that I need to be taken care of," I said curtly.
"You said that, and I am asking what those matters might be,"
"It is something I need to take care of, if you don't really mind, I wouldn't like to talk about that, but you are welcome to ask me anything else." He watched me curiously-I wasn't even hungry anymore; I pushed my bagel away and held my hot chocolate in both hands close to my face.
"Okay, I won't push into personal matters, but I need to be positive that your own problems will not interfere with your duties here," his voice was stern, and it reminded me of how Alberta's voice got all hard when she was worried that something involving the Academy would go wrong or something she couldn't control would screw things up, I let a small smile play across my lips.
"Of course I will keep my own issues to myself," I smiled.
"That would be appreciated,"
"I'm sure,"
He smiled. "I also need to know that if you are given a task, such as your mentoring Dereck Hays, that you will not give up on it. That you will not resign your position to that job or pretend to be dedicated then only do the minimum of what is being asked of you. You need to be truly devoted to your cause,"
"If she's not devoted, I don't know what Rose is," Mikhail muttered sarcastically, but Alexander and I both heard.
"What is the meaning of your words?" Alexander asked all business. I was starting to think that he'd be a downer to be around.
Mikhail lifted his head and looked at me amusedly. "Rose will never back down," he said proudly. "I can't remember one time you ever did," he smirked and I blushed slightly and looked away. I had backed down and made my fear known. I was afraid of what my being shadow kissed would do to me; I was scared of how I would end up. I was terrified that I would end like Anna. I closed my eyes for a second and let the memory of my confession in the Chapel with Dimitri slip out of my mind before refocusing on Alexander.
"That's good; other guardians have turned down the task of mentoring Dereck Hays,"
I smiled slightly and took another sip of hot chocolate.
"I hear that you are not really in the condition to fight, Rosemarie," Alexander commented casually.
"Yes, I can't fight until my ribs are healed at least, maybe I might get parole from the Doc," my disappointment must have been obvious in my voice because both Mikhail and Alexander laughed quietly.
"Well, I hope you'll be in shape for the field experience," Alexander smiled kindly, like he knew how annoying it was to have to be kept out.
I grinned at the mention of the field experience- this time around, I would be the attacker, the one who grades and takes control.
"I really do hope so too. I actually can't believe I had to just go and get myself wrecked before the field experience!" I exclaimed desperately. "How long until?"
"About another month and a half," Alexander answered.
"I should be okay by then," I nodded.
"Rose, I don't know if you'd be able to handle it, you keep hurting yourself," Mikhail said and I whipped my head around to him.
"You think I can't handle it? Come on, Tanner! I can handle a lot of stuff; if I can handle a raid on the Academy and a rescue mission launched by me, I can handle a few broken ribs, okay?" I was furious that he'd implied that I wouldn't be strong enough to take it.
"She's a little touchy when people stand up for her or simply suggest that something might be too much for her to take," Mikhail told Alexander.
"Well," I huffed. "I can take care of myself!"
"You see my point," he gestured to me with his coffee cup. "A little touchy,"
I took a deep breath to calm myself and levelled him with an exasperated stare. "I can speak for myself, thank you for your help though, Mikhail." I turned back to Alexander. "Okay, I admit that I don't like to be taken care of, but I'm not a kid anymore,"
He titled his head at me. "You're a bit volatile, aren't you?" he asked seeming to find something funny.
"A bit?" Mikhail muttered but I let that one slide with only a kick under the table. I smirked when he grunted quietly.
Alexander smiled at me and said, "I would like to talk again, Rosemarie, but now it is time for classes to begin," he got up from the table and looked down on us. "I will attend your marking ceremony, Rosemarie,"
"Oh, please call me Rose," I said.
"Rose, then; I will attend your marking ceremony, Mikhail you will be there I trust, it would be a shame to miss such an important time in a friend's life." Mikhail nodded and said, "I'll be there," Alexander turned back to me. "Once you have your mark, I will go over the rules with you and officially welcome you to the guardian life," he took a few steps away and I noticed that most of the other guardians had left as well. "I will see you then,"
Then Alexander left.
*******
"So what do you think?" Mikhail asked as we made our way to the gym.
"About what?"
He threw his hands up exasperated. "Alexander, of course!"
"He's cool," was all I said and it seemed to shock Mikhail.
"'He's cool'?" Mikhail exclaimed. "That's all you have to say? 'He's cool,'!"
"Yes," I turned my face to hind my smile, he got so worked up about nothing.
"Of course, only Rose Hathaway would say 'he's cool' about the head of guardians at the new academy she just got assigned to." Mikhail rolled his eyes and hummed aimlessly as we made our way to the gym.
Mikhail held the door for me. "After you," I nodded and made my way into the gym in front of him. I saw Dereck sparring with another boy, a different one from the other times. I saw that boy sitting on the ground leaning against the wall with his eyes closed and breathing heavily, I could see from here. It picked my interest and I was about to go over to him when Dereck spotted me.
"Rose!" he jogged over to me and shook his hair out of his face. "You're looking…a bit better than when I saw you last," his knowing smirk made me want to punch him, but instead, I blushed and looked down. Glancing to the side, I saw that Mikhail had his eyebrows raised and looked like he was about to ask 'when would be the last time you saw her?' and I so did not need that. I quickly filled in the little gap.
"Thanks, Dereck, it's good to know; now go back to your partner. Now," I added sternly, but the growing smile on his face said he knew exactly what I was doing. "You shouldn't keep people waiting, it's very rude," I said again and his smile grew even more.
"Of course…you would know all about keeping people waiting wouldn't you, Guardian Hathaway?" I knew exactly what his question was implying and didn't respond to it like I wanted to.
*******
The class flew by very quickly an as everyone was filing out the door, I stood back and waited for Dereck to come to me as he was sure to do. Which he did, of course; but what I wasn't prepared for, was the group of novices trailing him. I raised my eyebrows and pretended to hind how surprised I was by acting amused. There was one boy and two girls and Kevin Belikov.
"Rose, these are my friends, guys, this is Rose- Guardian Hathaway," Dereck corrected himself quickly.
"I'm Madison Sparrow," one of the dhampir girls said as she shifted excitedly from foot to foot. She had kind blue eyes and a heart shaped face, I immediately liked this girl.
I smiled and nodded to her before the other girl introduced herself.
"I'm Laura Tanner," she said and it stunned me. She was Mikhail's sister? Where are all these siblings coming from?
"You're Mikhail's sister?" I asked, not really hiding my surprise very well.
She sighed. "Unfortunately," but her smile said the exact opposite. I looked around to see Mikhail coming towards us and I raised my eyebrows.
He walked over to Laura and got her in a headlock. "So you're talking to this little monster?" he messed up her hair and she protested and he finally stopped. Standing beside each other I noticed the resemblance; the same hair and eyes, it looked like Laura was going to be short though, not like Mikhail's tall form.
"I'm Leo Walker," the boy said and I could tell he had a nice voice, but it seemed a little strained. I also noticed that there was sweat shining across his forehead. He shoved his blond hair out of his eyes and I saw that his eyes were an unusual shade of blue- almost purple. I smiled kindly at all of them.
"And you already know I'm Kevin," Kevin said and I laughed tightly, still a little tense about him being Dimitri's brother thing, but I'd be nice to him; I didn't have anything against him or Dimitri.
"It's great to meet all of you, but I think that we have to get going to your next class, we'll have time to talk after you guys are done your classes for the day," they all seemed cheered by the idea and we started towards the their next class, which just happened to be Theory Class, my least favourite class of all time- but that could just be because Stan taught it to me though.
About half way there, Leo stumbled at I caught him before he could fall over. He gripped his head like he was in pain. He groaned.
"Are you alright?" I asked concerned as I held him carefully.
"Another headache," Madison guessed as she watched him.
"Yeah," he groaned. "Yeah, it's nothing; this one just hurts…a lot."
"More than the others?" Dereck asked, surprise evident in his voice.
"Yeah, aw man, this kills; okay. I'm fine," he took a deep breath and pulled away from my arms. "Yeah, I'm fine, yeah, yeah," he repeated, voice getting stronger. "Thanks," he said to me. "Let's go," then we started walking again, this time; everyone seemed to be lost in their own thought.
*******
Theory Class was as boring as I remembered; but maybe it was a little better because I didn't have to do any of the work. But it was uncomfortable standing at the back with the other guardians, how could they stand for so long? Most of the guardians seemed unmoving, which was hard to accomplish for me. It was practically torture and every time I tried to lean against the wall, Mikhail would pinch or kick me and I would straighten up. He'd just pinched my lower back and I resumed what I was doing every so often: watching Leo Walker. Once in a while, he'd bow his head and take deep breaths and I had a little bit of a hunch…maybe…maybe he was shadow kissed? It probably wasn't a good assumption to make, because being shadow kissed was too rare- there were hardly many spirit users and there would have to be a spirit user to make this kid shadow kissed. One point in the class Leo said, "Excuse me, Guardian Cormack, may I be excused from the class?" it was very politely asked except for the tightness in his voice and Guardian Cormack retorted, "Very well, Mr Walker, you sitting there like moaning over a headache is certainly not helping my teaching,"
This seemed like the usual type of response from Guardian Cormack because no one reacted to his words and all the students watched quietly as Leo packed up his stuff and walked out the door. I slipped out after him once Guardian Cormack had started talking again but just as I was about to close the door he said, "I wouldn't waste your time on him, he complains about his terrible headaches all the time."
"Well, I'm going to waste my time, as you put it," I replied and closed the door. I turned to see Leo sitting on the floor just a few feet from the door, watching me with amusement.
"Congratulations, you just made a new enemy," he said.
"I wasn't that nice to my Theory teacher either, he and I didn't…lets say we didn't get along very well," I said and he laughed and then stopped abruptly and squeezed his eyes shut and took a few deep breaths.
I crouched down in front of him. "Hey, are you alright? For real," I added and he opened his eyes and looked at me pleadingly.
"No, no, I'm really not. There's something wrong with me; I get these horrible headaches and sometimes I see…freaking…fucking ghosts!" he let the last part out in a rush and just confirmed my theory.
"How long have you been getting headaches?" I asked carefully. He shouldn't have been getting headaches unless he'd been close to death somehow; like if he killed someone or seen someone die. I hadn't started getting the headaches until after Spokane.
"Um, since Christmas, I think," he answered shakily and I guessed he'd never told anyone about this before; that he'd been brushing it off with 'just some headache' because he hadn't been getting enough sleep or something.
"Did anything happen at Christmas?" I asked and I saw him wince.
"Yeah," he let out a big breath and looked me steadily in the eye. "I haven't talked about this," I nodded and he continued. "The school wanted me to go into therapy, but I told them that'd they'd have to force me to go because I sure as hell wouldn't go willingly," I nodded again.
"You don't need to tell me…all I need to know is if you saw someone die or if something involving death happened."
He winced again and finally took a deep breath and said, "I was at my house with my mom and we were watching TV and I went to go get some popcorn when I heard my mom scream in the next room I ran out to see that the door was fucking broken down and three Strigoi had come in and one broke my mother's neck, then my uncle who was staying with my mom for Christmas came in and took them down. I-I-I was crying it was really…scary; I practically shit my pants. My uncle sent me back to the Academy right away and that was when the therapy problem started." He told me and a tear rolled down out of his left eye and he wiped it away furiously. I understood how he felt and how it felt to keep this little ghost problem locked up inside not telling anyone.
"Have you told anyone about what happened, or about the ghosts or about how bad the headaches are?" I asked softly but urgently.
He shook his head, which I assumed to all three. Oh, boy was this going to be hard work. I had a student to take care of, a macho guardian to impress, a shadow kissed kid to figure out, find the spirit user, and also I had to do something with Blake and Tory.
Well, good luck, Rose. My supportive side thought.
Yeah, thought the not-so-nice side. Good luck fucking this up.
REVIEW PLEASE!!!
~Alice~