So who wants to read next?" Ivan asked
"How about you as you brought it up," Janine smirked at him, Ivan nodded before picking up the third book. When he opened it on the first chapter another letter fell out. Ivan huffed before placing the book down and picking the letter up.
"It's for you," He said holding the letter out to Tatiana, who looked annoyed at the letter like she had fat better things to do than read a random letter. Tatiana snapped it out of his hand and ripped it open. She seemed to become more annoyed the longer she read it. when she finished she huffed, getting up and throwing the letter down.
"Well, it looks like I may not be here for the rest of the books. Adrian thelettersaid that you will inform me of anything important," Tatiana said before storming out of the room. It didn't take her long to leave the place, everyone hearing the front door slamming shut.
"Well that was dramatic," Karolina shook her head,
"I say good riddance," Abe smiled relaxing on the couch, pleased that Tatiana was away. Ivan nodded picking up the book again.
One
HIS FINGERTIPS SLID ALONG my back,
"Oh god why do I have to read this?" Ivan asked shaking his head. Abe and Janine on the other hand glared at Dimitri who had gone pale. Eddie, Christian and Adrian chuckled, while Mason sat there not sure how to feel. Victoria and her sister were blushing not sure how to react, they wanted to tease their brother but Olena gave them a warning look.
applying hardly any pressure, yet sending shock waves over my flesh. Slowly, slowly, his hands moved across my skin, down the sides of my stomach to finally rest in the curves of my hips. Just below my ear, I felt his lips press against my neck, followed by another kiss just below it, then another, then another. … His lips moved from my neck toward my cheek and then finally found my mouth. We kissed,
"Please let this end," Ivan and Abe begged at the same time. Olena smiled at Dimitri's blushing face, while Janine simply wanted to kill Dimitri.
wrapping ourselves closer together. My blood burned within me, and I felt more alive in that moment than I ever had. I loved him, loved Christian
"Wait what?" Christian and Dimitri said at the same time. Mason and Eddie looked at each other sure that Rose had finally lost it. Adrian clapped as he laughed, while Christian looked disgusted at that thought.
"The bond," Janine and Abe chuckled relieved that it was not Dimitri and Rose in bed.
so much that— Christian? Oh no. Some coherent part of me immediately realized what was happening—and boy, was it pissed off. The rest of me, however, was still actually living in this encounter, experiencing it as though I was the one being touched and kissed.
"Please get out of there," Christian groaned, he didn't want to have sex with Lissa while Rose was in her head.
"Well it's going to be hard at that moment," Mark smirked shaking his head. He was glad that he and Oksana were together and that he never had to experience anything like that.
That part of me couldn't break away. I'd merged too much with Lissa, and for all intents and purposes, this was happening to me. No, I told myself sternly. It's not real—not for you. Get out of there. But how could I listen to logic when every nerve of my body was being set on fire?
"Poor little dhampire is needy," Adrian pouted, mischief clear in his eyes.
"Adrian now would not be the time," Alberta advised him when Abe and Janine focused their attention on Adrian.
You aren't her. This isn't your head. Get out. His lips. There was nothing in the world right now except his lips. It's not him. Get out. The kisses were the same, exactly as I remembered with him
"Okay, that was not something I wanted to know," Dimitri and Christian said at the same time.
… No, it's not Dimitri. Get out! Dimitri's name was like cold water hitting me in the face. I got out.
"Thank god for that," Christian relaxed into his seat while everyone else just chuckled at him.
I sat upright in my bed, suddenly feeling smothered. I tried kicking off the covers but mostly ended up entangling my legs even more. My heart beat hard in my chest, and I tried to take deep breaths to steady myself and return to my own reality. Times sure had changed. A long time ago, Lissa's nightmares used to wake me from sleep. Now her sex life did.
"I'll take the nightmares over the sex, truth be told." Victoria nodded
"Hey," Christian was offended at that.
"You want us to see you have sex with your girlfriend?" Adrian asked with a smile
"Hell no," Christian answered looking at him like he was crazy.
To say the two were a little different would be an understatement. I'd actually gotten the hang of blocking out her romantic interludes—at least when I was awake. This time, Lissa and Christian had (unintentionally) outsmarted me. In sleep, my defenses were down, allowing strong emotions to pass through the psychic link that connected me to my best friend.
"Noted," Christian nodded.
This wouldn't have been a problem if the two of them had been in bed like normal people—and by "being in bed," I mean "asleep." "God," I muttered, sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. My voice was muffled in a yawn. Couldn't Lissa and Christian have seriously kept their hands off each other until waking hours?
"Walking hours meant that everyone would be awake and then they would have had to hurry," Adrian chuckled,
Worse than being woken up, though, was the way I still felt.
"I know how she feels," Victoria said wistfully thinking back to the one boy in her class, after a few seconds the boy's face changed into Eddie's smiling face.
"You're too young to date," Olena and Dimitri said at the same time.
Sure, none of that making out had actually happened to me. It hadn't been my skin being touched or my lips being kissed. Yet my body seemed to feel the loss of it nonetheless. It had been a very long time since I'd been in that kind of situation.
Ivan, Abe and Dimitri were pleased with that, while Adrian wished that Rose had gone to him seeing as she most defiantly wanted company. Mason wished that he would have enough for her.
I ached and felt warm all over. It was idiotic, but suddenly, desperately, I wanted someone to touch me—even just to hold me. But definitely not Christian. The memory of those lips on mine flashed back through my mind, how they'd felt, and how my sleepy self had been so certain it was Dimitri kissing me.
Nether Dimitri and Christian liked the comparison.
I stood up on shaky legs, feeling restless and … well, sad. Sad and empty. Needing to walk off my weird mood, I put on a robe and slippers and left my room for the bathroom down the hall. I splashed cool water on my face and stared in the mirror. The reflection looking back at me had tangled hair and bloodshot eyes. I looked sleep-deprived,
"Poor baby," Olena cooed wishing she could just hug Rose and comfort her. Janine also wished that she was there to help her daughter. Very few people ever got over their first kill, and Rose was too young.
but I didn't want to go back to bed. I didn't want to risk falling asleep quite yet. I needed something to wake me up and shake away what I'd seen. I left the bathroom and turned toward the stairwell, my feet light on the steps as I went downstairs. The first floor of my dorm was still and quiet. It was almost noon—the middle of the night for vampires, since they ran on a nocturnal schedule. Lurking near the edge of a doorway, I scanned the lobby. It was empty,
Alberta shook her head, not impressed.
"No wonder she snuck out so many times," Karolina shook her head chuckling.
save for the yawning Moroi man sitting at the front desk. He leafed halfheartedly through a magazine, held to consciousness only by the finest of threads. He came to the magazine's end and yawned again. Turning in his revolving chair, he tossed the magazine on a table behind him and reached for what must have been something else to read. While his back was turned, I darted past him toward the set of double doors that opened outside.
"That is too easy," Mason laughed, not believing that it could be that easy to sneak out.
Praying the doors wouldn't squeak, I carefully opened one a crack, just enough to slip through. Once outside, I eased the door shut as gently as possible. No noise.
"And that is why she never got caught and you two do," Alberta said looking pointedly at Mason and Eddie.
At most, the guy would feel a draft. Feeling like a ninja, I stepped out into the light of day. Cold wind blasted me in the face, but it was exactly what I needed. Leafless tree branches swayed in that wind, clawing at the sides of the stone dorm like fingernails. The sun peeped at me from between lead-colored clouds, further reminding me that I should be in bed and asleep.
"Perhaps that is not the best idea, as Christian and Lissa would still be busy," Sonja shook her head.
Squinting at the light, I tugged my robe tighter and walked around the side of the building, toward a spot between it and the gym that wasn't quite so exposed to the elements. The slush on the sidewalk soaked into the cloth of my slippers, but I didn't care. Yeah, it was a typically miserable winter day in Montana, but that was the point. The crisp air did a lot to wake me up and chase off the remnants of the virtual love scene. Plus, it kept me firmly in my own head.
"Smart," Mark smirked.
Focusing on the cold in my body was better than remembering what it had felt like to have Christian's hands on me. Standing there, staring off at a cluster of trees without really seeing them, I was surprised to feel a spark of anger at Lissa and Christian. It must be nice, I thought bitterly, to do whatever the hell you wanted.
"Oh, it most defiantly is," Christian and Adrian said at the same time.
Lissa had often commented that she wished she could feel my mind and experiences the way I could feel hers. The truth was, she had no idea how lucky she was. She had no idea what it was like to have someone else's thoughts intruding on yours, someone else's experiences muddling yours. She didn't know what it was like to live with someone else's perfect love life when your own was nonexistent.
"Poor Lissa, if she did have to experience Rose's emotions," Olena said shaking her head, "Seeing as she was a lot more sheltered for the world,"
"More like poor Christian," Karolina smirked,
"Why?" Christian asked confused
"Because then Lissa would have been comparing you to Dimitri. And you would lose," Sonja chuckled.
"I would not," Christian was in denial. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.
She didn't understand what it was like to be filled with a love so strong that it made your chest ache—a love you could only feel and not express. Keeping love buried was a lot like keeping anger pent up, I'd learned.
"It is," Alberta and Janine said at the same time.
"Let's just hope she handles love better than her anger," Abe added.
It just ate you up inside until you wanted to scream or kick something. No, Lissa didn't understand any of that. She didn't have to. She could carry on with her own romantic affairs, with no regard for what she was doing to me. I noticed then that I was breathing heavily again, this time with rage. The icky feeling I'd felt over Lissa and Christian's late-night hookup was gone. It had been replaced by anger and jealousy, feelings born of what I couldn't have and what came so easily to her. I tried my best to swallow those emotions back; I didn't want to feel that way toward my best friend.
"She's going to have to let it out evenly. It's not healthy to lock those emotions up," Oksana trembled, they had already seen what happened when she lost control.
"Are you sleepwalking?" a voice asked behind me. I spun around, startled. Dimitri stood there watching me,
"Naturally it would be him who finds her," Adrian rolled his eyes.
"Please don't let her jump his bones," Alberta begged. She knew that Abe was fine with Dimitri and Rose but she didn't want to see what would happen if those two acted on their emotions till rose turned 18.
looking both amused and curious. It would figure that while I was raging over the problems in my unfair love life, the source of those problems would be the one to find me.
"Well she does have your luck," Abe kissed Janine's cheek. Janine just smiled and rolled her eyes at Abe.
I hadn't heard him approach at all. So much for my ninja skills. And honestly, would it have killed me to pick up a brush before I went outside?
"Girls," The men in the room chuckled while the woman merely glared at them,
Hastily, I ran a hand through my long hair, knowing it was a little too late. It probably looked like an animal had died on top of my head.
Dimitri chuckled and shook his head, he couldn't imagine Rose ever being anything but beautiful.
"I was testing dorm security," I said. "It sucks."
"It really does," Alberta shook her head. She was going to have a lot of work when these books are done.
A hint of a smile played over his lips. The cold was really starting to seep into me now, and I couldn't help but notice how warm his long leather coat looked. I wouldn't have minded wrapping up in it. As though reading my mind, he said, "You must be freezing. Do you want my coat?"
"How sweet,' Olena and Adrian said at the same time, but with two very different tones.
I shook my head, deciding not to mention that I couldn't feel my feet. "I'm fine. What are you doing out here? Are you testing security too?"
"He is security," Ivan and Alberta laughed at the same time.
"I am security. This is my watch." Shifts of school guardians always patrolled the grounds while everyone else slept. Strigoi, the undead vampires who stalked living Moroi vampires like Lissa, didn't come out in sunlight, but students breaking rules—say, like, sneaking out of their dorms—were a problem night and day.
"But it seemed like very few people were taking their jobs seriously," Abe added wondering how easy it would have been to sneak into the school to see his daughter.
"Well, good work," I said. "I'm glad I was able to help test your awesome skills. I should be going now." "Rose—" Dimitri's hand caught my arm, and despite all the wind and chill and slush, a flash of heat shot through me. He released me with a start, as though he too had been burned.
"Cute," Ivan smirked at Dimitri who just shook his head.
"What are you really doing out here?" He was using the stop fooling around voice, so I gave him as truthful an answer as I could. "I had a bad dream.
"It was not a bad dream," Christian defended himself,
"For her it was," Ivan and Dimitri informed him.
I wanted some air." "And so you just rushed out. Breaking the rules didn't even cross your mind—and neither did putting on a coat."
"That is nothing new for her," Janine and Alberta said at the same time.
"Yeah," I said. "That pretty much sums it up." "Rose, Rose." This time it was his exasperated voice. "You never change. Always jumping in without thinking." "That's not true," I protested. "I've changed a lot."
"That she did," Dimitri smiled feeling proud of how much Roza had grown.
The amusement on his face suddenly faded, his expression growing troubled. He studied me for several moments. Sometimes I felt as though those eyes could see right into my soul. "You're right. You have changed." He didn't seem very happy about the admission.
"You really do hate admitting that someone else is right," Karolina shook her head at her baby brother.
He was probably thinking about what had happened almost three weeks ago, when some friends and I had gotten ourselves captured by Strigoi.
"Humans," Eddie shook his head, still embarrassed that it had mere humans to capture them.
It was only through sheer luck that we'd managed to escape—and not all of us had gotten out.
Mason's mood fell as everyone looked at him sadly. He hated being reminded that he was going to die.
Mason, a good friend and a guy who'd been crazy about me, had been killed, and part of me would never forgive myself for it,
"No Rose," Mason didn't want her to blame herself.
even though I'd killed his murderers. It had given me a darker outlook on life. Well, it had given everyone here at St. Vladimir's Academy a darker outlook,
"Not necessarily," Dimitri said thinking about a group of Moroi who no doubted would not be bothered with what had happened, or would look for a way to use what had happened to achieve their own ends.
but me especially. Others had begun to notice the difference in me. I didn't like to see Dimitri concerned,
"None of us do," Olena said hating the idea that any of her children being anything but happy and content.
though, so I played off his observation with a joke. "Well, don't worry. My birthday's coming up. As soon as I'm eighteen, I'll be an adult, right? I'm sure I'll wake up that morning and be all mature and stuff."
"well that is a terrifying thought," Eddie, Mason and Christian said at the same time. Abe and Janine also froze, they suddenly remembered the only thing keeping Rose and Dimitri apart was the fact that she was 17 they didn't want to imagine what would happen when she turned 18.
As I'd hoped, his frown softened into a small smile. "Yes, I'm sure. What is it, about a month?" "Thirty-one days," I announced primly.
"Oh hell no, I'm not ready for that," Abe shuttered.
"Not that you're counting." I shrugged, and he laughed. "I suppose you've made a birthday list too. Ten pages? Single-spaced? Ranked by order of priority?" The smile was still on his face. It was one of the relaxed, genuinely amused ones that were so rare to him.
"Aww they're flirting with each other," Sonja cooed. She rather like how her brother was around Rose.
I started to make another joke, but the image of Lissa and Christian flared into my mind again. That sad and empty feeling in my stomach returned. Anything I might have wanted— new clothes, an iPod, whatever—suddenly seemed trivial. What did material things like that mean compared to the one thing I wanted most of all?
"No that is out of the question," Abe and Janine ordered looking at Dimitri directly.
"Yes please, give her anything she wants," Ivan and Victoria begged. Dimitri looked between the four before shaking his head. he was not going to say anything as it most certainly would get him killed.
God, I really had changed. "No," I said in a small voice. "No list." He tilted his head to better look at me, making some of his shoulder-length hair blow into his face. His hair was brown, like mine, but not nearly as dark. Mine looked black at times.
Abe smiled proudly at that.
He brushed the unruly strands aside, only to have them immediately blow back into his face. "I can't believe you don't want anything.
"She didn't say that," Ivan shook his head, wondering how long it would take for book Dimitri to figure out what Rose wanted.
It's going to be a boring birthday." Freedom, I thought. That was the only gift I longed for. Freedom to make my own choices. Freedom to love who I wanted. "It doesn't matter," I said instead. "What do you—" He stopped. He understood. He always did.
"Good to know you aren't always as thick," Karolina chuckled thinking back to how Dimitri had acted in the previous book.
It was part of why we connected like we did, in spite of the seven-year gap in our ages. We'd fallen for each other last fall when he'd been my combat instructor. As things heated up between us, we'd found we had more things to worry about than just age.
"If only that age gap was the problem," Dimitri said shaking his head. Why was it the moment he found the perfect girl it would seem that the world wanted to keep them apart?
We were both going to be protecting Lissa when she graduated, and we couldn't let our feelings for each other distract us when she was our priority.
"Well, that problem can be fixed easily. So two that's two problems solved easily" Ivan was quite pleased with himself.
Of course, that was easier said than done because I didn't think our feelings for each other were ever really going to go away. We'd both had moments of weakness, moments that led to stolen kisses or saying things we really shouldn't have.
"Let's hope they don't have any more moments of weakness," Alberta mumbled, she wasn't sure how long Abe's tolerance would last.
After I'd escaped the Strigoi, Dimitri had told me he loved me and had pretty much admitted he could never be with anyone else because of that.
"Good boy," Olena was so proud of her son,
Yet, it had also become clear that we still couldn't be together either, and we had both slipped back into our old roles of keeping away from each other and pretending that our relationship was strictly professional.
Adrian snorted at that. Mark and Oksana shook their heads clearly amused.
In a not-so-obvious attempt to change the subject, he said, "You can deny it all you want, but I know you're freezing. Let's go inside. I'll take you in through the back."
"How sweet of you," Janine said suspiciously, lifting her one eyebrow.
I couldn't help feeling a little surprised. Dimitri was rarely one to avoid uncomfortable subjects.
"As if," Karolina huffed,
"Hey!" Dimitri protested.
"Don't argue with me, you know I'm right," was all Karolina said.
In fact, he was notorious for pushing me into conversations about topics I didn't want to deal with. But talking about our dysfunctional, star-crossed relationship? That was a place he apparently didn't want to go today.
"And for good reasons," Dimitri nodded.
Yeah. Things were definitely changing. "I think you're the one who's cold," I teased, as we walked around the side of the dorm where novice guardians lived. "Shouldn't you be all tough and stuff, since you're from Siberia?"
"It's not that cold," All the Belikova's shook their head. They didn't understand why people couldn't understand that.
"I don't think Siberia's exactly what you imagine." "I imagine it as an arctic wasteland," I said truthfully. "Then it's definitely not what you imagine." "Do you miss it?"
"All the time," Dimitri and Ivan answered at the same time.
I asked, glancing back to where he walked behind me. It was something I'd never considered before. In my mind, everyone would want to live in the U.S. Or, well, they at least wouldn't want to live in Siberia. "All the time," he said, his voice a little wistful. "Sometimes I wish—" "Belikov!"
"Busted!" Eddie, Mason and Adrian called at the same time.
"Not likely," Ivan said thinking back to how easily Dimitri had gotten himself out of trouble back when they were in school.
A voice was carried on the wind from behind us. Dimitri muttered something, and then shoved me further around the corner I'd just rounded. "Stay out of sight." I ducked down behind a bank of holly trees that flanked the building. They didn't have any berries, but the thick clusters of sharp, pointed leaves scratched where my skin was exposed. Considering the freezing temperature and possible discovery of my late-night walk, a few scratches were the least of my problems right now. "You're not on watch," I heard Dimitri say several moments later. "No, but I needed to talk to you." I recognized the voice. It belonged to Alberta,
"Oh then she is most defiantly not going to get caught," Mason and Eddie said without thinking.
"What was that?" Alberta asked giving them the chance to change what they had said.
"Nothing, just that you are the best guardian we have ever seen and that Dimitri should be scared of you," The boys said at the same time.
captain of the Academy's guardians. "It'll just take a minute. We need to shuffle some of the watches while you're at the trial."
"Trail?" everyone asked at the same time.
"I didn't do anything," Dimitri said worried, he couldn't think of a reason for him to be going to any type of trial in the book.
"I figured," he said. There was a funny, almost uncomfortable note in his voice. "It's going to put a strain on everyone else—bad timing." "Yes, well, the queen runs on her own schedule."
"That she does," Abe rolled his eyes, he never understood why she had been chosen to be queen.
Alberta sounded frustrated, and I tried to figure out what was going on. "Celeste will take your watches, and she and Emil will divide up your training times." Training times? Dimitri wouldn't be conducting any trainings next week because— Ah. That was it, I realized. The field experience.
Eddie and Mason looked excited at that.
Tomorrow kicked off six weeks of hands-on practice for us novices. We'd have no classes and would get to protect Moroi night and day while the adults tested us.
All the guardians smiled, they remembered how excited they had been for their own field experience. They couldn't wait to see how Eddie and Rose handled the next couple of weeks, they were in for a very eye-opening experience.
The "training times" must be when Dimitri would be out participating in that. But what was this trial she'd mentioned? Did they mean like the final trials we had to undergo at the end of the school year?
"Not likely," Alberta shook her head.
"They say they don't mind the extra work," continued Alberta, "but I was wondering if you could even things out and take some of their shifts before you leave?" "Absolutely," he said,
"Thank you," Alberta smiled happy that Dimitri was willing to help out even if he didn't have to.
words still short and stiff. "Thanks. I think that'll help." She sighed. "I wish I knew how long this trial was going to be. I don't want to be away that long. You'd think it'd be a done deal with Dashkov,
"Oh," Everyone said at the same time,
but now I hear the queen's getting cold feet about imprisoning a major royal."
"Of course she is," Yeva shook her head, she had no idea how Moroi society haven't fallen yet.
I stiffened. The chill running through me now had nothing to do with the winter day. Dashkov? "I'm sure they'll do the right thing," said Dimitri.
"Oh you naïve child," Abe shook his head, he knew how corrupt the Moroi royals were. He was genuinely surprised Victor had been detains for so long.
I realized at that moment why he wasn't saying much. This wasn't something I was supposed to hear. "I hope so. And I hope it'll only take a few days, like they claim. Look, it's miserable out here. Would you mind coming into the office for a second to look at the schedule?" "Sure," he said. "Let me check on something first."
"Hey don't look at me like that. He's a respectable guardian and he gave me no reason to wonder if he was hiding something or someone," Alberta defended herself when everyone looked at her expectantly.
"All right. See you soon." Silence fell, and I had to assume Alberta was walking away. Sure enough, Dimitri rounded the corner and stood in front of the holly. I shot up from my hiding spot. The look on his face told me he already knew what was coming.
"Good to know you learn. Now I wonder are you going to tell her what she wants to hear." Janine said leaning forward, she had a feeling that Dimitri would.
"Rose—" "Dashkov?" I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice low so Alberta wouldn't hear. "As in Victor Dashkov?" He didn't bother denying it. "Yes. Victor Dashkov." "And you guys were talking about…Do you mean…" I was so startled, so dumbstruck, that I could barely get my thoughts together.
"Understandable," Eddie and Mason nodded.
This was unbelievable. "I thought he was locked up! Are you saying he hasn't been on trial yet?" Yes. This was definitely unbelievable. Victor Dashkov. The guy who'd stalked Lissa and tortured her mind and body in order to control her powers. Every Moroi could use magic in one of the four elements: earth, air, water, or fire. Lissa, however, worked an almost unheard of fifth element called spirit. She could heal anything—including the dead. It was the reason I was now psychically linked to her—"shadow-kissed," some called it.
"Not some. That is what you are," Mark shook his head.
She'd brought me back from the car accident that had killed her parents and brother, binding us together in a way that allowed me to feel her thoughts and experiences. Victor had learned long before any of us that she could heal, and he'd wanted to lock her away and use her as his own personal Fountain of Youth.
"Oh he is most defiantly going to be dealt with," Abe glared remembering what Victor had done to his daughter.
He also hadn't hesitated to kill anyone who got in his way—or, in the case of Dimitri and me, use more creative ways to stop his opponents. I'd made a lot of enemies in seventeen years, but I was pretty sure there was no one I hated as much as Victor Dashkov
"Agreed," everyone nodded. None of them liked what Victor had done.
—at least among the living. Dimitri had a look on his face I knew well. It was the one he got when he thought I might punch someone. "He's been locked up—but no, no trial yet. Legal proceedings sometimes take a long time." "But there's going to be a trial now? And you're going?"
"He has to, he is a witness," Janine shook her head, she was just happy that Rose was not going as well. They had no idea what Victor would say or do if Rose and Lissa was there.
I spoke through clenched teeth, trying to be calm. I suspected I still had the I'm going to punch someone look on my face. "Next week. They need me and some of the other guardians to testify about what happened to you and Lissa that night." His expression changed at the mention of what had occurred four months ago, and again, I recognized the look. It was the fierce, protective one he got when those he cared about were in danger.
"Aww," All the girls cooed. Dimitri just blushed and looked away from everyone.
"Call me crazy for asking this, but, um, are Lissa and I going with you?" I had already guessed the answer, and I didn't like it. "No."
"Thank you," Abe and Janine said at the same time.
"No?" "No." I put my hands on my hips. "Look, doesn't it seem reasonable that if you're going to talk about what happened to us, then you should have us there?" Dimitri, fully in strict-instructor mode now, shook his head. "The queen and some of the other guardians thought it'd be best if you didn't go. There's enough evidence between the rest of us, and besides, criminal or not, he is—or was—one of the most powerful royals in the world. Those who know about this trial want to keep it quiet."
"Oh, I wonder why," Let's just say rose got her sarcasm from her father not her mother.
"So, what, you thought if you brought us, we'd tell everyone?" I exclaimed. "Come on, comrade. You really think we'd do that? The only thing we want is to see Victor locked up. Forever. Maybe longer. And if there's a chance he might walk free, you have to let us go."
"Hate to say it, but she is right," Alberta hated that she said that. she didn't want the girls near Victor but them being there would help.
After Victor had been caught, he'd been taken to prison, and I'd thought that was where the story had ended. I'd figured they'd locked him up to rot. It had never occurred to me—though it should have—that he'd need a trial first. At the time, his crimes had seemed so obvious.
"But he is a royal," Ivan rolled his eyes.
But, although the Moroi government was secret and separate from the human one, it operated in a lot of the same ways. Due process and all that. "It's not my decision to make," Dimitri said. "But you have influence. You could speak up for us, especially if…" Some of my anger dimmed just a little, replaced by a sudden and startling fear.
"That is good, she's controlling her feeling," Mark was impressed, it normally takes a long time for them to learn to control their emotions, specifically the strong emotions like anger or love.
I almost couldn't say the next words. "Especially if there really is a chance he might get off. Is there? Is there really a chance the queen could let him go?"
"If he had enough favour with the court then yes," Abe informed them.
"No way," Mason was in disbelieve.
"Sadly," Alberta confirmed, that was one of the reasons why she wanted to work at the academy and not for the court.
"I don't know. There's no telling what she or some of the other high-up royals will do sometimes." He suddenly looked tired. He reached into his pocket and tossed over a set of keys.
"Really," Alberta shook her head in disbelieve.
"Look, I know you're upset, but we can't talk about it now. I have to go meet Alberta, and you need to get inside. The square key will let you in the far side door. You know the one." I did. "Yeah. Thanks." I was sulking and hated to be that way—especially since he was saving me from getting in trouble—but I couldn't help it. Victor Dashkov was a criminal—a villain, even. He was power-hungry and greedy and didn't care who he stepped on to get his way.
"And like every other royal at court," Ivan smirked.
"Ture," Adrian agreed.
If he were loose again…well, there was no telling what might happen to Lissa or any other Moroi. It enraged me to think that I could do something to help put him away but that no one would let me do it. I'd taken a few steps forward when Dimitri called out from behind me. "Rose?" I glanced back. "I'm sorry," he said. He paused, and his expression of regret turned wary. "And you'd better bring the keys back tomorrow."
"She will," Mason pouted at that. He was going to miss the fun, wild, rule-breaking Rose. But he understood that they were growing up and needed to become more responsible.
I turned away and kept going. It was probably unfair, but some childish part of me believed Dimitri could do anything. If he'd really wanted to get Lissa and me to the trial, I was certain he could have.
"High expectations. You won't disappoint," Ivan was sure that Dimitri could and would get the girls there.
When I was almost to the side door, I caught movement in my peripheral vision. My mood plummeted. Great. Dimitri had given me keys to sneak back in, and now someone else had busted me.
"Just her luck," Eddie shook his head, couldn't Rose just get a break.
That was typical of my luck. Half-expecting a teacher to demand to know what I was doing, I turned and prepared an excuse. But it wasn't a teacher. "No," I said softly. This had to be a trick. "No." For half an instant, I wondered if I'd ever really woken up. Maybe I was actually still in bed, asleep and dreaming. Because surely, surely that was the only explanation for what I was now seeing in front of me on the Academy's lawn, lurking in the shadow of an ancient, gnarled oak. It was Mason.
"What?" Everyone yelled at the same time. Everyone attention turned to Mason how had gone pale again.
~~~~
Ivan handed the book over to Dimitri, Ivan was not going to be the one who read about a ghost. There are a lot of things who would do but that was not one of them.
Two
OR, WELL, IT LOOKED LIKE MASON.
"Great, so she's not going crazy," Janine said relieved. Mark and Oksana looked at each other before nodding.
"Actually there is a chance that she had seen a ghost," Mark said wondering why Rose was seeing Mason, the warts would have made it impossible for her to see him.
"What?" Mason and Ivan asked shocked.
"It's a show kissed thing," was all Mark said.
He—or it or whatever—was hard to see. I had to keep squinting and blinking to get him in focus. His form was insubstantial—almost translucent—and kept fading in and out of my field of vision.
Mark was relieved it didn't appear that the wards around the school were failing, a small part of the warts was probably just a little weakened.
"Alberta you might want to have some of your men check the wards, Rose being able to see Mason only partly meant that a part of the warts was weakened or failing.
"Why do you think that?" Abe asked worried, the school was supposed to be safe.
"The wards block some of our abilities, and seeing the dead is an ability," Mark explained.
But yes, from what I could see, he definitely looked like Mason. His features were washed out, making his fair skin look whiter than I recalled. His reddish hair now appeared as a faint, watery orange. I could barely even see his freckles.
"No," Mason shook his head, he didn't want to imagine himself that way.
He was wearing exactly what I'd last seen him in: jeans and a yellow fleece jacket. The edge of a green sweater peeped out from underneath the coat's hem. Those colors, too, were all softened. He looked like a photograph that someone had left out in the sun, causing it to fade. A very, very faint glow seemed to outline his features. The part that struck me the most—aside from the fact that he was supposed to be dead—was the look on his face. It was sad
"Well, I was dead, how ells would I feel?" Mason asked shaking his head.
"Why haven't you moved on?" Olena asked worried, he had a hard enough life his afterlife should be peaceful.
"I don't know," Mason said not sure.
—so, so sad. Looking into his eyes, I felt my heart break. All the memories of what had taken place just a few weeks ago came rushing back to me. I saw it all again: his body falling, the cruel look on the Strigoi faces….
"Shouldn't she go see someone about that?" Alberta wondered out loud.
"If the books show that she gets any worst then yes, I think it would be for the best," Janine and Abe nodded.
A lump formed in my throat. I stood there frozen, stunned and unable to move. He studied me too, his expression never changing. Sad. Grim. Serious. He opened his mouth, like he might speak, and then closed it. Several more heavy moments hung between us, and then he lifted his hand and extended it toward me.
"He wants to show you something," Mark hoped that Rose would take his hand and figure out what Mason needed to move on.
Something in that motion snapped me out of my daze. No, this could not be happening. I wasn't seeing this. Mason was dead. I'd seen him die. I'd held his body. His fingers moved slightly, like he was beckoning, and I panicked. Backing up a few steps, I put distance between us and waited to see what would happen.
"No you should go with him," Oksana and Yeva said at the same time. They had a feeling that Mason was going to show Rose something really important.
He didn't follow. He simply stood there, hand still in the air. My heart lurched, and I turned and ran. When I'd almost reached the door, I stopped and glanced back, letting my ragged breathing calm down. The clearing he'd stood in was completely empty. I made it up to my room and slammed the door behind me, hands shaking.
"Hate to say it but that is a natural reaction," Victoria nodded.
I sank onto my bed and replayed what had just happened. What the hell? That had not been real. No way. Impossible. Mason was dead, and everyone knows the dead don't come back.
"Yes not like she had come back from the dead," Adrian pointed out.
"Not the same," Abe and Janine said at the same time.
Well, yeah, I had come back…but that was a different situation. Clearly, I'd imagined this. That was it. It had to be. I was overtired and still reeling from Lissa and Christian, not to mention that Victor Dashkov news. Probably the cold had frozen part of my brain too.
"No, if only it was so simple," Mark shook his head. he and Oksana would be staying after the books are done, simply to help Rose and Lissa.
Yes, the more I thought about it, the more I decided there had to be a hundred explanations for what had just happened. Yet, no matter how often I told myself that, I couldn't fall back asleep. I lay in my bed, covers pulled to my chin as I tried to banish that haunting image from my mind. I couldn't. All I could see were those sad, sad eyes, those eyes that seemed to say, Rose, why did you let this happen to me?
"No, no, no, no," Mason shook his head, trying his best not to start crying. He curled up, burying his head between his legs. He didn't want Rose to blame him for something he choose.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to think about him. Since Mason's funeral, I'd been working so hard to go on and act like I was strong. But the truth was, I was nowhere near being over his death. I tortured myself day after day with what if? questions. What if I'd been faster and stronger during the Strigoi fight?
"There was nothing she could have done differently. Alberta whispered wishing she could comfort Rose.
What if I hadn't told him where the Strigoi were in the first place? And what if I'd simply been able to return his love?
Ivan huffed, shaking his head.
Any of those could have kept him alive, but none of them had happened. And it was all my fault. "I imagined it," I whispered out loud into the darkness of my room. I had to have imagined it. Mason already haunted my dreams. I didn't need to see him when I was awake too. "It wasn't him." It couldn't have been him, because the only way it could have been was…Well, that was something I didn't want to think about. Because while I believed in vampires and magic and psychic powers, I most certainly did not believe in ghosts.
"Okay, why doesn't she believe in ghosts? If everything ells were real then who's to say ghosts aren't as well," Mark smirked.
"It's easier to believe in something you have seen," Abe thought.
I apparently didn't believe in sleep, either, because I didn't get much of it that night. I tossed and turned, unable to quiet my racing mind. I eventually did drift off, but it seemed like my alarm went off so soon after that I could have hardly slept for more than a few minutes.
"It always does," The teens in the room nodded.
Among humans, the light of day tends to chase off nightmares and fear. I had no such daylight; I awoke to increasing darkness. But just being out with real and living people had nearly the same effect, and as I went to breakfast and my morning practice,
"Yes because that got your mind off of Mason," Eddie huffed wishing he could help Rose.
I found that what I'd seen last night—or what I thought I'd seen last night—was growing fainter and fainter in my memory. The weirdness of that encounter was also being replaced by something else: excitement. This was it. The big day.
The guardian smiled, oh they were going to enjoy this.
The start of our field experience. For the next six weeks, I wouldn't have any classes. I'd get to spend my days hanging out with Lissa,
Alberta and Janine smiled at that, they found it really funny that Rose really thought that she would be paired with Lissa.
and the most I'd have to do was write a daily field report that was only about a half-page long. Easy. And, yeah, of course I'd be on guard duty, but I wasn't concerned. That was second nature to me.
"That is good, but it seems like they were forgetting about the actual fighting they were going to be doing," Alberta chuckled shaking her head.
She and I had lived among humans for two years, and I'd protected her the whole time. Before that, when I'd been a freshman, I'd seen the kinds of tests the adult guardians planned for novices during this phase. The ordeals were tricky, absolutely. A novice had to be on watch and not slack—and be ready to defend and attack if necessary.
The guardians nodded.
None of that worried me, though. Lissa and I had been away from the school our sophomore and junior years, and I'd fallen behind then. Thanks to my extra practices with Dimitri, I'd quickly caught up and was now one of the best in my class.
Abe, Janine, Dimitri and Ivan were proud of that.
"Hey, Rose." Eddie Castile caught up to me as I walked into the gym where our field experience orientation would kick off. For a brief moment, looking at Eddie, my heart sank. Suddenly, it was like I was out in the quad again with Mason, staring at his sorrowful face.
Eddie smiled sadly, he was just glad that Rose and he were still friends.
Eddie—along with Lissa's boyfriend, Christian, and a Moroi named Mia—had been with our group when we'd been captured by Strigoi. Eddie hadn't died, obviously, but he'd come very close to it.
Victoria grabbed his hand tightly,
The Strigoi who'd held us had used him as food, feeding from him throughout our capture in an effort to tease the Moroi and scare the dhampirs. It had worked; I'd been terrified.
"Anyone would have been scared in that situation," Dimitri stated.
Poor Eddie had been unconscious for most of the ordeal, thanks to blood loss and the endorphins that came from a vampire's bite. He'd been Mason's best friend and nearly as funny and lighthearted. But since we'd escaped, Eddie had changed, just like I had.
"well the situation would force anyone to grow up," Alberta said looking at Eddie sadly, she hated that he had to lose his best friend to learn how dangerous the strigoi's are.
He was still quick to smile and laugh, but there was a grimness to him now, a dark and serious look in his eyes that was always on guard for the worst to happen. That was understandable, of course. He pretty much had seen the worst happen.
"No he didn't the worst would have been one or all of you turning," Janine hatted saying that, but they all knew that was the truth.
Just like with Mason's death, I held myself responsible for this transformation in Eddie and for what he'd suffered at the hands of the Strigoi. That may not have been fair to me, but I couldn't help it. I felt like I owed him now, like I needed to protect him or make things up to him somehow.
"Well it seems like you two are going to be looking out for each other," Abe chuckled. Eddie smiled at that, happy that he and Rose would have each other's backs.
And that was kind of funny, because I think Eddie was trying to protect me. He wasn't stalking me or anything, but I'd noticed him keeping an eye on me. I think after what had happened, he felt he owed it to Mason to watch over his girlfriend.
Masons smiled at Eddie, happy that Eddie was so loyal and caring even if he didn't have to be.
I never bothered to tell Eddie that I hadn't been Mason's girlfriend, not in the real sense of the word, just as I never rebuked Eddie for his big brother behavior.
"I still would have looked after her," Eddie chimed.
I could certainly take care of myself. But whenever I heard him warning other guys away from me, pointing out that I wasn't ready to date anyone yet, I saw no point in interfering.
Ivan suddenly liked Eddie a lot more now.
It was all true. I wasn't ready to date. Eddie gave me a lopsided smile that added a little boy type of cuteness to his long face. "Are you excited?" "Hell, yeah," I said. Our classmates were filling in bleachers on one side of the gym, and we found a clear spot near the middle. "It's going to be like a vacation. Me and Lissa, together for six weeks."
"You guys aren't going to pair her with Lissa are you?" Christian said worriedly.
"Most defiantly not," Alberta had an inkling about who they were going to pair Rose up with.
As frustrating as our bond was sometimes, it nonetheless made me her ideal guardian. I always knew where she was and what was happening to her.
"And that is why they aren't going to be paired together," Dimitri realized. It would be too easy for Rose to be paired with Lissa, and they needed to test out all her skills and with the bond, they won't be able to do that.
Once we graduated and were out in the world, I'd be assigned to her officially. He turned thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess you don't have to worry as much. You know your assignment when you graduate. The rest of us aren't so lucky."
"That she is," the guardians all nodded.
"You got your sights set on someone royal?" I teased. "Well, it doesn't matter. Most guardians are assigned to royals lately anyway." That was true. Dhampirs—half-vampires like me—were in short supply, and royals usually got first pick of guardians.
"Not really fair," Abe and Christian mumbled annoyed that a select few were seen as more important and the rest, because they happened to have a certain last name.
There was a time in the past when more Moroi, royal and non-royal alike, would have gotten guardians, and novices like us would have competed fiercely to get assigned to someone important. Now it was almost a given that every guardian would work for a royal family. There weren't enough of us to go around,
"Oh, I wonder why," Abe rolled his eyes, if only the moroi's stopped being so hypocrites then the Dampier's wouldn't be so few and perhaps have decent or dare he say better lives.
and less influential families were on their own. "Still," I said, "I guess it's a question of which royal you get, right? I mean, some are total snobs,
"Some?" Abe, Adriana and Christian asked at the same time.
"Let her be optimistic for once in her life," Janina and Alberta told the boys.
but lots of them are cool. Get someone really rich and powerful, and you could be living at the Royal Court or traveling to exotic places." That last part appealed to me a lot, and I often had fantasies of Lissa and me traveling the world.
"Not likely to happen," Adrian said thinking about how many plans his aunt seem to have for Lissa for when she graduated.
"Yup," Eddie agreed. He nodded toward a few guys in the front row. "You wouldn't believe the way those three have been sucking up to some of the Ivashkovs and Szelskys. It won't affect their assignments here, of course, but you can tell they're already trying to set things up after graduation."
"if they pick the right people that is smart, but given that they all are still teens they are is for a rough ride," Ivan shook his head in disbelieve.
"Well, the field experience can affect that. How we're rated on this will go into our records." Eddie nodded again and started to say something when a loud, clear feminine voice cut through the murmur of our conversation. We both looked up. While we'd been talking, our instructors had gathered in front of the bleachers and now stood facing us in an impressive line. Dimitri was among them, dark and imposing and irresistible.
Janine and Abe shook their head at that.
Alberta was trying to call us to attention. The crowd fell silent.
Alberta nodded at that, pleased.
"All right," she began. Alberta was in her fifties, wiry and tough. Seeing her reminded me of the conversation she and Dimitri had had last night, but I filed that away for later. Victor Dashkov was not going to ruin this moment. "You all know why you're here." We'd become so quiet, so tense and excited, that her voice now rang through the gym. "This is the most important day of your education before you take your final trials. Today you will find out which Moroi you've been placed with. Last week, you were given a booklet with the full details of how the next six weeks will play out. I trust you've all read it by now."
"Very few ever do," Alberta shook her head, wishing the kids knew how important it was for them to know as much as they can before they started their trial or experience.
I had, actually. I'd probably never read anything so thoroughly in my life.
To say Alberta was pleased would be an understatement.
"Just to recap, Guardian Alto will highlight the main rules of this exercise." She handed a clipboard to Guardian Stan Alto. He was one of my least favorite instructors, but after Mason's death, some of the tension between us had lightened.
"How long do you think it's going to last?" Eddie asked Mason,
"Not long," Mason thought about it, Rose and Stan always found a way to rile each other up.
We understood each other better now. "Here we go," said Stan gruffly. "You'll be on duty six days a week.
Alberta smiled at that, oh she couldn't see who they were going to bust on the seventh day.
This is actually a treat for you guys. In the real world, you're usually working every day. You will accompany your Moroi everywhere—to class, to their dorms, to their feedings. Everything. It's up to you to figure out how you fit into their lives. Some Moroi interact with their guardians just like friends; some Moroi prefer you to be more of an invisible ghost who doesn't talk to them."
"Mostly it's the second one," Janine shook her head, Dimitri and Ivan smiled at each other happy that they were friends.
Did he have to use the word ghost? "Every situation is different, and you two will have to find a way to work it out to best ensure their safety. "Attacks may come at any time, anywhere, and we'll be dressed in all black when it happens. You should always be on your guard. Remember, even though you'll obviously know it's us doing the attacking and not real Strigoi, you should respond as though your lives are in terrible, immediate danger. Don't be afraid of hurting us. Some of you, I'm sure, won't have any qualms about getting us back for past grievances."
Mason and Eddie nodded at that, oh they were eager for some payback.
"Oh Rose is so going to love the chance to kick Stan's ass," Eddie laughed.
"Let's not forget the fact she's probably going to enjoy the chance to fight Dimitri as well," Adrian was curious to see if rose would be able to beat her crush.
Students in the crowd giggled at this. "But some of you may feel like you have to hold back, for fear of getting in trouble. Don't. You'll get in more trouble if you do hold back. Don't worry. We can take it." He flipped to the next page of his clipboard. "You will be on duty twenty-four hours a day for your six-day cycles, but you may sleep during daylight when your Moroi does. Just be aware that although Strigoi attacks are rare in daylight, they aren't impossible indoors, and you will not necessarily be 'safe' during these times."
"We're probably going to work in some human-based attacks as well," Alberta said to herself.
"Perhaps it would be better if you try to work these things into the school as quickly as you can," Janine said to Alberta, perhaps if they started preparing the kids sooner about the humans they might not be as big of a threat.
Stan read over a few more technicalities, and I found myself tuning them out. I knew this stuff. We all did. Glancing around, I could see I wasn't alone in my impatience. Excitement and apprehension crackled in the crowd. Hands were clenched. Eyes were wide. We all wanted our assignments. We all wanted this to begin.
"Nothing new there," Alberta shook her head, kids never really changed.
When Stan finished, he handed the clipboard to Alberta. "Okay," she said. "I'm going to call out your names one by one and announce who you're paired with. At that time, come down here to the floor, and Guardian Chase will give you a packet containing information about your Moroi's schedule, past, etcetera."
Mason and Eddie sat forward eager to know who Eddie was going to be placed with.
We all straightened up as she leafed through her papers. Students whispered. Beside me, Eddie exhaled heavily. "Oh man. I hope I get someone good,"
"Please," Eddie hoped.
he muttered. "I don't want to be miserable for the next six weeks." I squeezed his arm reassuringly. "You will," I whispered back. "Er, get someone good, I mean. Not be miserable." "Ryan Aylesworth," Alberta announced clearly. Eddie flinched, and I instantly knew why. Before, Mason Ashford had always been the first one called on any class lists.
Mason and Eddie paled at that.
That would never happen again. "You are assigned to Camille Conta." "Damn," muttered someone behind us, who'd apparently been hoping to get Camille.
"Dodged that bullet," Eddie breathed relieved.
Ryan was one of the suck-ups in the front row, and he grinned broadly as he walked over to take his packet. The Contas were an up-and-coming royal family. It was rumored that one of their members was a candidate for when the Moroi queen eventually named her heir. Plus, Camille was pretty cute. Following her around wouldn't be too hard for any guy.
"Let's just hope he doesn't get distracted," Dimitri lifted his eyebrow,
"He will," Mason and Eddie said at the same time.
'No one gonna addresses the fact that Rose said she's cute?' Victoria asked looking around the room,
"Why she' not wrong," Eddie said looking confused at Victoria.
"Never mind," Victoria tried to hide her smile, these people were hopeless.
Ryan, walking with a swagger, seemed very pleased with himself. "Dean Barnes," she said next. "You have Jesse Zeklos."
"Poor Dean," Mason winced, no one deserved being paired up with Jesse.
"Ugh," Eddie and I both said together. If I'd been assigned to Jesse, he would have needed an extra person to protect him.
"Noted," Alberts smiled.
From me. Alberta kept reading names, and I noticed Eddie was sweating. "Please, please let me get someone good," he muttered. "You will," I said. "You will." "Edison Castile," Alberta announced. He gulped. "Vasilisa Dragomir."
Mason, Christian and Eddie's mouths fell open, while Alberta nodded pleased. Lissa would be a good fit for Eddie.
"Why?" Eddie asked looking at Alberta questioningly,
"Rose needs to be tested without the bond and Lissa would be a good fit for you," Alberta explained.
Eddie and I both froze for the space of a heartbeat, and then duty made him stand up and head toward the floor.
"Good," Alberta smiled pleased that Eddie didn't freeze.
As he stepped down the bleachers, he shot me a quick, panicked look over his shoulder. His expression seemed to say, I don't know! I don't know! That made two of us. The world around me slowed to a blur. Alberta kept calling names, but I didn't hear any of them. What was going on? Clearly, someone had made a mistake. Lissa was my assignment. She had to be. I was going to be her guardian when we graduated. This made no sense. Heart racing,
"Poor kid," Abe wished that someone would have explained it to Rose beforehand.
I watched Eddie walk over to Guardian Chase and get his packet and practice stake. He glanced down at the papers immediately, and I suspected he was double-checking the name, certain there was a mix-up. The expression on his face when he looked up told me that it was Lissa's name he'd found. I took a deep breath. Okay. No need to panic just yet. Someone had made a clerical error here, one that could be fixed.
"Defiantly not a mistake," Alberta shook her head,
In fact, they'd have to fix it soon. When they got to me and read Lissa's name again, they were going to realize they'd double-booked one of the Moroi. They'd straighten it out and give Eddie someone else. After all, there were plenty of Moroi to go around. They outnumbered dhampirs at the school. "Rosemarie Hathaway." I tensed. "Christian Ozera."
"God no, please no," Christian all but begged, Ivan and Dimitri tried to contain their laughter at the look Christian was giving Alberta. One would assume his whole world had ended just there.
"This is going to be fun," Adrian shook his head, it seemed like the book would start rather exciting.
I simply stared at Alberta, unable to move or respond. No. She had not just said what I thought. A few people, noticing my lack of movement, glanced back at me. But I was dumbstruck. This wasn't happening. My Mason delusion from last night seemed more real than this.
"Agreed," Christian rubbed his eyes.
A few moments later, Alberta also realized I wasn't moving. She looked up from her clipboard with annoyance, scanning the crowd. "Rose Hathaway?" Someone elbowed me, like maybe I didn't recognize my own name. Swallowing, I stood and walked down the bleachers, robot-like. There was a mistake. There had to be a mistake. I headed toward Guardian Chase, feeling like a puppet that someone else was controlling. He handed me my packet and a practice stake meant to "kill" the adult guardians with, and I stepped out of the way for the next person. Disbelieving, I read the words on the packet's cover three times. Christian Ozera.
"How long till she has a meltdown?" Mason asked nudging Eddie,
"I say till everyone had gotten their assignment," Eddie shook Mason's hand.
Flipping it open, I saw his life spread out before me. A current picture. His class schedule. His family tree. His bio. It even went into detail about his parents' tragic history, how they'd chosen to become Strigoi and had murdered several people before finally being hunted down and killed.
"Why does that have to be in it?' Christian asked annoyed that everyone kept thinking he would do the same ting,
"Everyone's history is in the files," Alberta hoped that would comfort him, it didn't.
Our directions at this point had been to read through our dossiers, pack a bag, and then meet up with our Moroi at lunch. As more names were called, many of my classmates lingered around the gym, talking to their friends and showing off their packets. I hovered near one group, discreetly waiting for a chance to talk to Alberta and Dimitri. It was a sign of my newly developing patience that I didn't walk right up to them then and there and demand answers. Believe me, I wanted to. Instead, I let them go through their list,
Dimitri, Olena, Alberta, Abe and Janine all were very proud of Rose, she had matured so much and they knew she would be a great guardian. Olena just hoped that Victoria would realize that she too needed to be patient and that perhaps Rose's story would help her to be,
but it felt like forever. Honestly, how long did it take to read a bunch of names? When the last novice had been assigned his Moroi, Stan shouted above the din for us to move on to the next stage of the assignment and tried to herd out my classmates.
"Good luck with that," Mason and Eddie chuckled.
I cut through the crowd and stalked up to Dimitri and Alberta, who blessedly were standing with each other.
"Probably knew that she was coming," Dimitri pointed out.
"Told you so," Eddie smiled proudly, Mason just huffed and shook his head.
They were chatting about something administrative and didn't notice me right away. When they did glance at me, I held up my packet and pointed. "What's this?" Alberta's face looked blank and confused. Something in Dimitri's told me he'd been expecting this.
"Well I had to hope that she would figure it out on her own," Alberta chuckled.
"It's your assignment, Miss Hathaway," Alberta said. "No," I said through gritted teeth. "It's not. This is somebody else's assignment." "The assignments in your field experience aren't optional," she told me sternly. "Just as your assignments in the real world won't be. You can't pick who you protect based on whim and mood, not here and certainly not after graduation."
"Sadly," Mason and Eddie mumbled feeling bad for whoever ended up being assigned Jesse.
"But after graduation, I'm going to be Lissa's guardian!" I exclaimed. "Everyone knows that. I'm supposed to have her for this thing." "I know it's an accepted idea that you'll be together after graduation, but I do not recall any mandatory rulings that say you're 'supposed' to have her or anyone here at school. You take who you're assigned."
"She's not going to like that," Dimitri shook his head.
"Christian?" I threw my packet on the floor. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm guarding him."
"How long till Dimka gets involved," Karolina asked Sonja and Victoria.
"I'm surprised that he hadn't stepped in yet," Sonja and Victoria nodded.
"Rose!" snapped Dimitri, joining the conversation at last.
"See," Victoria smiled.
His voice was so hard and so sharp that I flinched and forgot what I was saying for half a second. "You're out of line. You do not speak to your instructors like that." I hated being chastised by anyone.
"But him doing it must have sucked," Ivan chuckled.
I especially hated being chastised by him. And I especially hated being chastised by him when he was right. But I couldn't help it. I was too angry, and the lack of sleep was taking its toll.
"Not just the lack of sleep," Mark added.
My nerves felt raw and strained, and suddenly, little things seemed difficult to bear. And big things like this? Impossible to bear. "Sorry," I said with great reluctance. "But this is stupid. Nearly as stupid as not bringing us to Victor Dashkov's trial."
"Rose," Abe shook his head wincing.
"She didn't even last a whole day," Eddie chuckled impressed that Rose had lasted so long.
Alberta blinked in surprise. "How did you know—Never mind. We'll deal with that later. For now, this is your assignment, and you need to do it." Eddie suddenly spoke up beside me, his voice filled with apprehension. I'd lost track of him earlier. "Look … I don't mind…. We can switch…."
"Not going to happen," Alberta said before Eddie could ask.
Alberta turned her stony gaze from me to him. "No, you certainly cannot. Vasilisa Dragomir is your assignment." She looked back at me. "And Christian Ozera is yours. End of discussion." "This is stupid!" I repeated. "Why should I waste my time with Christian?
"Hey," Christian pouted.
Lissa's the one I'm going to be with when I graduate. Seems like if you want me to be able to do a good job, you should have me practice with her." "You will do a good job with her," said Dimitri. "Because you know her. And you have your bond. But somewhere, someday, you could end up with a different Moroi.
Dimitri looked at Ivan sadly, remembering how he had died in the books.
"Not going to happen," Christian was sure that nether Rose or he would let something like that happen.
You need to learn how to guard someone with whom you have absolutely no experience." "I have experience with Christian," I grumbled. "That's the problem. I hate him."
"We all know that is not true," Dimitri smiled, he found it rather dunny how Christian and Rose seemed to be at odds when they were clearly a lot alike,
Okay, that was a huge exaggeration. Christian annoyed me, true, but I didn't really hate him. As I'd said, working together against the Strigoi had changed a lot of things. Again, I felt like my lack of sleep and general irritability were cranking up the magnitude of everything. "So much the better," said Alberta. "Not everyone you protect will be your friend. Not everyone you protect will be someone you like. You need to learn this." "I need to learn how to fight Strigoi," I said. "I've learned that in class." I fixed them with a sharp look, ready to play my trump card.
"Not going to work," Dimitri shook his head, Alberta was not going to let Rose and Eddie switch.
"And I've done it in person." "There's more to this job than the technicalities, Miss Hathaway. There's a whole personal aspect—a bedside manner, if you will—that we don't touch on much in class. We teach you how to deal with the Strigoi. You need to learn how to deal with the Moroi yourselves. And you in particular need to deal with someone who has not been your best friend for years."
"Never toughed about that," Eddie and Mason confessed,
"Very few students do," Dimitri said remembering how few students thought about it when he was in school.
"You also need to learn what it's like to work with someone when you can't instantly sense that they're in danger," added Dimitri. "Right," agreed Alberta. "That's a handicap. If you want to be a good guardian—if you want to be an excellent guardian— then you need to do as we say." I opened my mouth to fight this, to argue that having someone I was so close to would train me up faster and make me a better guardian for any other Moroi. Dimitri cut me off. "Working with another Moroi will also help keep Lissa alive," he said.
"And you have her there," Abe huffed, he was eager to see how far Rose would go to get assigned to Lissa, and if Dimitri and Alberta would give her what she wanted.
That shut me down. It was pretty much the only thing that could have, and damn him, he knew it.
"Well, he had always been a fast learner. And it's no secret that Lissa is Rose's weak spot."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Lissa's got a handicap too—you. If she never has a chance to learn what it's like to be guarded by someone without a psychic connection, she could be at greater risk if attacked. Guarding someone is really a two-person relationship. This assignment for your field experience is as much for her as for you."
"Okay I'm fine with having Rose around if it helps keep Lissa save," Christian nodded.
"Oh this is going to be fun," Adrian said wondering how much trouble Christian and Rose were going to get into.
I stayed silent as I processed his words. They almost made sense. "And," added Alberta, "it's the only assignment you're going to get. If you don't take it, then you opt out of the field experience." Opt out? Was she crazy? It wasn't like a class I could sit out from for one day. If I didn't do my field experience, I didn't graduate.
"Well, at least she knew that," Janine was not sure how she should feel about how Rose was acting.
I wanted to explode about unfairness, but Dimitri stopped me without saying a word. The constant, calm look in his dark eyes held me back, encouraging me to accept this gracefully—or as close as I could manage. Reluctantly I picked up the packet.
Mark and Oksana looked at each other, they had thought it would be Lissa that was the one who would pull Rose back but now they were getting the feeling it was going to Dimitri.
"Fine," I said icily. "I'll do this. But I want it noted that I'm doing this against my will." "I think we already figured that out, Miss Hathaway," remarked Alberta dryly. "Whatever. I still think it's a horrible idea, and you eventually will too."
"She won't jeopardize herself would she?" Christian asked a little worried.
"Not likely," Dimitri was sure.
I turned and stormed off across the gym before any of them could respond. In doing so, I fully realized what a bitchy little brat I sounded like. But if they'd just endured their best friend's sex life, seen a ghost, and hardly gotten any sleep, they'd have been bitchy too.
"Defiantly," Alberta and Dimitri nodded,
Plus, I was about to spend six weeks with Christian Ozera. He was sarcastic, difficult, and made jokes about everything. Actually, he was a lot like me. It was going to be a long six weeks.
"No it's going to be fun to watch you two not try to kill each other," Mason chuckled. Dimitri closed the book and handed it over.