For a few minutes, he was caught in the grips anxiety, knowing something bad was coming, but unsure of exactly where the danger might lie. Alberta's soothing voice slowly helped him push past the hysteria, her hands smoothed the hair back from sweat covered face, making him feel safe. By the time the panic attack receded, the crowd had dispersed.
"Th- Thanks, Allie."
She gazed into his eyes, apparently reassured by what she saw. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I had… a bad feeling. Like a premonition." He shook his head, unsure of how much he should tell her.
"About what? It might help if you get it off your chest, Adrian."
He ran his hands through his hair and began pacing. "That's just it. I don't remember. Twice I've had dreams about something horrible, but when I wake up, I have no idea what I dreamed. Just a lingering feeling of… malice."
Alberta studied his face, chewing at her bottom lip. "Is that why you collapsed the other day?"
"I don't know." He sighed. "All I do know is I feel this sense of urgency. As if time is running out. God, Allie, what do I do?" He felt his eyes fill with frustrated tears and ducked his head, not wanting her to see them. He felt the panic clawing at his insides as his voice increased in volume. "What if someone gets hurt? What if I have the opportunity to… help, but I'm so fucked up that—"
The feeling of her hand cracking across his cheek stunned him into silence. He stared at her, shocked. For the first time in his life, Adrian Ivashkov was speechless.
"Sorry, you were getting hysterical." She grabbed his arm, tugging him towards the clinic. "You need something to keep you calm."
Jerking his arm free, he scowled at her. "That's the last thing I need. If I take a downer, I won't be able to use my magic. I have to be able to access spirit if I have any hope of—" He stared at her. "Where did Lis—Princess Vasilisa go?"
"I think Rose said something about meeting her at dinner." She frowned. "To be honest, I was too busy trying to keep you upright to pay much attention to what they were saying."
Reaching out her grabbed her arms, pulling her closer and planting a loud kiss on her cheek. "Thanks, Allie. You're a lifesaver." Chuckling at her stunned expression, he set out across the quad, heading for the cafeteria.
She wasn't there. None of them were. The sense of doom within him doubled, churning like acid within his stomach. Where was everyone?
He had just exited through the cafeteria's huge double doors and was making his way down the hallway when a familiar voice called out, halting him in his tracks.
"Ivashkov!"
Ozera. Where he was, Lissa would be. He turned, his face taking on a confused expression when the younger man launched himself forward, almost knocking him off his feet.
"Christian? What the fuck man?"
"Where's Lissa? I know she was with you!"
"No she wasn't. I've been looking—"
"Bullshit. She didn't come to dinner. The only time she forgets to meet me is when she's practicing magic with you." He put as much sarcasm into the words 'practicing magic' as he could.
"I swear I haven't seen her since—"
Christian's face was filled with barely contained fury as he cut him off yet again. "I knew you couldn't be trusted you sneaky son of a bitch!"
"Hey! Don't bring my mother into this—at least she didn't voluntarily—" He bit back the hateful words at the last minute, not wanting to hurt the kid. "What's your problem, Ozera?"
"So how were you planning on getting me out of the way, Ivashkov? Were you gonna use some of your freaky compulsion to make her dump me?" Christian's breathing quickened, and his eyes seemed lit from some inner fire, the blue so vibrant that it reminded Adrian of a gas flame.
"I have no idea what you're—"
"Cut the shit. I know all about you and your bitch of an aunt's plan. You're trying to take Lissa away from me!"
Adrian fought not to roll his eyes. Holy hell. Now? Seriously? Did the universe have to fuck up his day even more? Wasn't it enough that he was trying to —potentially—save someone from some mysterious danger?
Castile appeared out of nowhere, stepping in between them and placing a palm on each of their chest, gently widening the gap between them. "Chill out guys. Come on."
Adrian glanced around, irritated that their outburst had attracted a rather large crowd of curious onlookers. With relief, he noticed a familiar 5'7 female form forcing her way through the tightly packed bodies that had surrounded them.
Shoving people aside, Rose hurried over to Eddie's side, a fierce scowl on her pretty face. "What the hell's going on?"
"No idea." Eddie raised his eyebrows, glancing at Christian.
"How long did you think you could get away with it?" he exclaimed. "Did you seriously think everyone would keep buying your act?"
Adrian tried to keep his cool, but he didn't have time for schoolyard brawls. He was running out of fucking time. "Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about. Can we please just go sit down and discuss this reasonably?"
"Sure. Of course you'd want that. You're afraid I might do this." Christian held up his hand, and a ball of flame danced over his palm, glowing bright orange with a deep blue core. The crowd around them gasped to see him do something they all considered taboo thing. Christian smirked. "What have you got to fight back with? Plants?"
"If you're going to go start fights for no reason, you should at least do it the old-fashioned way and throw a punch," Adrian offered.
"No," interrupted Eddie. "No one's going to set anyone on fire. No one's going to punch anybody. There's been some huge mistake."
"What is it?" Rose demanded. "What happened?"
"Your friend there thinks I'm planning to marry Lissa and carry her off into the sunset." He said, green eyes still locked on Christian's blue ones. Eyes… something about eyes… Someone's eyes changing… Christian spoke, making him lose the thread that he'd almost grasped.
"Don't act like it's not true," growled Christian. "I know it is. It's been part of your plan—yours and the queen's. She's been backing you the whole time. Coming back here…the whole studying thing … it was a scam to get Lissa away from me and tied to your family instead."
"Do you have any idea how paranoid you sound?" He asked. "My great-aunt has to manage the entire Moroi government! Do you think she really cares about who's dating who in high school—especially with the state of affairs lately? Look, I'm sorry about all the time I've spent with her…we'll find her and figure this out. I really wasn't trying to get between you. There's no conspiracy going on here." Not on his part, anyway. He wanted no part of Tatiana's stupid schemes.
"Yes, there is," said Christian. He glanced over at Rose with a scowl "Isn't there? Rose knows. Rose has known for a while about this. She even talked to the queen about it."
"That's ridiculous," said Adrian. Surely Rose hadn't discussed her meeting with the boy. Even she wasn't that reckless. She would have asked to hear his side first. "Right?"
"Well …" Rose bit her lip. "Yes and no."
"See?" asked Christian triumphantly.
The fire flew from his hand, but Eddie and Rose jumped into motion at the same time. People screamed. Eddie grabbed Christian, forcing the fire to fly high. Meanwhile, Rose's arms encircled Adrian as she grabbed him and slammed his body to the ground.
"Glad you care," he muttered, wincing. His head had smacked the floor with a painful thud, and he was seeing stars.
"Compel him," she whispered, pulling him to his feet. "We need to sort this out without someone spontaneously combusting."
Eddie was trying to restrain Christian from leaping forward. Rose joined in, grabbing a hold of one arm to help. He didn't want to approach Ozera, he looked like he'd gone around the bend, but Rosebud was right. This had to be ended, and quickly. Christian tried to jerk free but his strength was nothing when compared to the two dhampirs at his side. Adrian leaned over Christian trying to catch him in a web of compulsion. As soon as the icy blue eyes locked on his, the kid was screwed.
"Christian, stop this. Let's talk."
Christian struggled a little against his restraints, but slowly, his face went slack and his eyes started to glaze over.
"Let's talk about this," repeated Adrian.
"Okay," said Christian.
There was a collective sigh of disappointment from the crowd. He'd used his compulsion smoothly enough that no one suspected. It had looked as though Christian had simply seen reason. As the crowd dispersed, Eddie and Rose released Ozera enough to a lead him over to far corner where we could talk in private. As soon as Adrian broke the gaze, Christian's face filled with fury, and he tried to leap at the older Moroi. Thank God Eddie and Rose were already holding on. He didn't move.
"What did you just do?" exclaimed Christian. Several people down the hall glanced back, no doubt hoping there'd be a fight after all. Rose shushed loudly in his ear. He flinched. "Ow."
"Be quiet. Something's wrong here, and we need to figure it out before you do something stupid."
"What's wrong," Christian said, glaring over at him, "is that they're trying to break up Lissa and me, and you knew about it, Rose."
Adrian, deciding to play dumb, glanced at Rose. "Did you really?"
"Yeah, long story." She turned back to Christian. "Look, Adrian didn't have anything to do with this. Not intentionally. It was Tatiana's idea—and she hasn't even actually done anything yet. It's just her long-term plan—hers alone, not his."
"Then how did you know about it?" demanded Christian.
"Because she told me—she was afraid that I was moving in on Adrian."
"Really? Did you defend our love?" Adrian asked sarcastically.
"Be quiet," she hissed. "What I want to know, Christian, is who told you?"
"Ralf," he said, looking uncertain for the first time..
"You should have known better than to listen to him," remarked Eddie, face darkening at the name.
"Except, for once, Ralf was actually telling the truth—aside from Adrian being in on it. Ralf's related to the queen's best friend," Rose explained.
"Wonderful," said Christian. He seemed to finally be calming down, so Eddie and Rose released him. "We've all been played."
Rose's eyes widened as she considered her words, her brow furrowing as she glanced around the hallway. "Where's Lissa? Why didn't she stop all of this?"
Adrian raised an eyebrow. "You tell us. Where is she? She didn't come to dinner."
"I can't. …" Rose frowned, a fearful look on her face. "I can't feel her."
Adrian's eyes darted to the other men. Any thoughts about their disagreement went out the window as a wave of tension surrounded them.
"Is she asleep?" asked Eddie.
"I can tell when she's asleep…This is something different…" Rose's face was pinched as she concentrated. "There she is. She was— oh God!"
Her scream rang down the hall, and everyone turned around, staring at their ragtag group. A moment later she was in motion, calling back over her shoulder. "Northwest side of campus, between that weird-shaped pond and the fence!"
Eddie was on her heels, leaving Adrian and Christian to stare after them in shock. Ozera recovered first, grabbing Adrian's hand and jerking him in the direction Rose and Eddie had gone. Adrian ripped his arm free as they ran, already struggling to breathe after only going a few feet. He couldn't help but think that whatever was happening to Lissa was somehow related to the dreams. A tingling sensation in his head let him know that—unfortunately—for once, he was right.
What the fuck was going on now?
A/N Sorry that I didn't update yesterday. I always post one or two chapters a day, but I've had a killer headache all weekend, which is not, I'm sorry to say, conducive to writing. I did not check this chapter for errors, so if you spot any, I apologize. I'll go back and spot check it at a later date.
Also, I reviewed all the chapters or boo-boos, fixing the ones I noticed. For some reason, when I uploaded the chapters from word, the Doc Manager screwed them up, erasing words and sometimes a sentence or over the weekend I printed everything out, made corrections and re-uploaded. I even added in a few new things here and there. Just a heads up.
Again, thanks for all the wonderful reviews and PMs. They really make my day.
Blessings!