How I love not being shadow-kissed anymore, I thought cheerfully to myself. No more darkness. No more ghostly figures begging me to join their ranks. Just me, myself and I. Sort of. If you don't count the little voice that will probably start developing. I sipped on my soda and glanced out of the plane window. When I looked down after we first left the airport, I'd watched the ground spiralling away as we circled up towards the heavens, but now, as I peered down, all I could see were fluffy clouds. I glanced beside me and saw Dimitri with his head in his hands. I put an arm around him awkwardly.
"Come on, comrade," I said brightly, trying to lighten his mood unsuccessfully. "Have a little faith. We'll sort this out, don't you worry." He sighed and moaned into his hands. I patted his head and looked behind me. Lissa was sat with Christian and they were chatting over the movie that they were playing on the screen. Their guardians were spaced around her, not that any Strigoi would be able to get onto this plane high up in the sky. You could never be too safe. I heard the seatbelt button ping and I quickly clipped it into place. The voice on the intercom announced our descent into Novosibirsk. I hadn't known that Novosibirsk had an airport. I looked outside and saw the mountains start to poke up through the cloud cover. I patted Dimitri's arm and urged him to look with me. I heard Lissa behind me do the same. The city came into view and I saw the houses that I loved so much looking like ants on the ground.
We landed in the airport and got off the plane. I tapped my foot on the floor as I waited for our baggage to spin around the revolving machine, all the while keeping my eye on Lissa. This was a human airport and it would look weird if I was full-on guarding her. After all, it was daytime. Our bags came around and I lugged mine and Lissa's behind me. She had several, being queen, and I swapped arms from time to time. We hired some cars and Dimitri drove us to his house. I sat in the seat beside him and watched as he pointed out scenery. Seeing his home town lit his face up a bit, but he couldn't quite keep the sadness off of his face. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. I definitely wasn't as close to my mother as Dimitri was to his, but I knew I would be upset if my mother had a chronic disease or something. I squeezed his free hand tightly to encourage him and he smiled slightly my way. Eventually, we arrived at his mother's house. I looked out at the sun setting over Baia. I recognised everything; all the little houses, the pretty gardens, the small bakery. It was beautiful. Like something I couldn't imagine.
We opened the car door, leaving our bags in the boot for a little while, and I looked up into the blue sky. We walked casually along beside the Moroi and then Dimitri knocked on the door. He squeezed my hands tighter and I could feel that they were a bit clammy. What was he worried about? His family would be so pleased to see him? Did he not realise just how much they loved him? I wouldn't be surprised if they'd created a shrine to him by now. In fact, I could picture that perfectly in my head. A picture of Dimitri surrounded by an old stake, a lock of hair, a piece of writing by him, a prophecy by his Gran; yeah, that would be pretty cool. Sad, but cool. We heard someone calling something in Russian and I realised that one of Lissa's guardians, Mark, could speak Russian and was trying to make out what was being said. I guess that would be useful if Yeva refused to speak English again. A figure appeared behind the glass on the door and she was about my height and slender. I wondered which sister it was. She unlocked the door and I carefully watched Dimitri's face as he gulped and prepared to greet his family. I flashed him an encouraging smile and then turned to the door that was slowly creaking open to reveal Viktoria standing there and gaping at all of us.
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