“That’s a compliment, at least.”
“I guess.”
Sydney looked so sad now that I felt bad for bringing it up. “If you could go to college, what would you study?”
“Greek and Roman architecture.”
I decided then it was a good thing I wasn’t behind the wheel, because I probably would have driven off the road. “Seriously?”
“You know anything about it?”
“Um, no.”
“It’s amazing.” The sad expression was replaced by one of wonder—she looked nearly as enamored as she’d been of the car. I understood then why she’d liked the train station. “The ingenuity it took for some of that . . . well, it’s just unreal. If the Alchemists won’t send me back to the U.S. after this, I’m hoping I’ll get assigned to Greece or Italy.”
“That would be cool.”
“Yeah.” Her smile faded. “But there are no guarantees you’ll get what you want with this job.”
She fell silent after that, and I decided that coaxing her into this small conversation had been victory enough. I left her to her own thoughts of classic cars and architecture while my mind wandered to topics of my own. Strigoi. Duty. Dimitri. Always Dimitri . . .
Well, Dimitri and Lissa. It was always a toss-up over who would cause me more pain. Today, as the car lulled me into a daze, it was Lissa I went to, thanks largely to Adrian’s recent visit in my dream.
Early evening in Russia meant early morning in Montana. Of course, since the school ran on a nocturnal schedule, it was technically night for them too in spite of the sunshine. It was nearly curfew, and everyone would have to return to their own dorms soon.
Lissa was with Adrian, over in his room in guest housing. Adrian, like Avery, had graduated, but as the only other known spirit user, he’d come to stay indefinitely at the school and work with Lissa. They’d just spent a long, exhausting evening working on dream walking and sat on the floor facing each other. With a sigh, Lissa collapsed back and lay down, stretching her arms over her head.
“This is useless,” she groaned. “I’m never going to learn it.”
“Never took you for a quitter, cousin.” Adrian’s voice was as flippant as usual, but I could tell he was weary too. They weren’t really cousins; that was just a term royals sometimes used with each other.
“I just don’t understand how you do it.”
“I don’t know how to explain it. I just think about it, and . . . well, it happens.” He shrugged and pulled out the cigarettes he always carried. “Do you mind?”
“Yes,” she said. To my surprise, he put them away. What the hell? He’d never asked me if I minded if he smoked—which I did. In fact, half the time, I swore he did it to annoy me, which made no sense. Adrian was way past the age when guys tried to attract girls they liked by picking on them.
He tried to explain the process. “I just think about who I want and sort of . . . I don’t know. Expand my mind toward them.”
Lissa sat up and crossed her legs. “Sounds a lot like how Rose described reading me.”
“Probably the same principle. Look, it took you a while to learn auras. This is no different. And you’re not the only one with a learning curve. I’m only now finally moving past healing scratches, and you can bring back the dead, which—call me crazy—is kind of hard-core.” He paused. “Of course, some would argue that I am actually crazy.”
At the mention of auras, she studied him and summoned the ability to see the field of light that shone around every living thing. His aura came into focus, surrounding him in a golden glow. According to Adrian, her aura was the same. No other Moroi had that kind of pure gold. Lissa and Adrian figured it was unique to spirit users.
He smiled, guessing what she was doing. “How’s it look?”
“The same.”
“See how good you are at it now? Just be patient with the dreams.”
Lissa wanted so badly to walk dreams the same way he could. Despite her disappointment, I was glad she couldn’t. Adrian’s dream visits were hard enough on me. Seeing her would . . . well, I wasn’t entirely sure, but it would make this cool, hard attitude I was trying to maintain in Russia a lot harder.
“I just want to know how she is,” said Lissa in a small voice. “I can’t stand not knowing.” It was the conversation with Christian all over again.
“I saw her the other day. She’s fine. And I’ll go again soon.”
Lissa nodded. “Do you think she’ll do it? Do you think she can kill Dimitri?”
Adrian took a long time in answering. “I think she can. The question will be if it kills her in the process.”
Lissa flinched, and I was a bit surprised. The answer was as blunt as one Christian might give. “God, I wish she hadn’t decided to go after him.”
“Wishing’s useless now. Rose has got to do this. It’s the only way we can get her back.” He paused. “It’s the only way she’ll be able to move on.”
Adrian surprised me sometimes, but this took the prize. Lissa thought it was foolish and suicidal to go after Dimitri. I knew Sydney would agree if I told her the truth about this trip. But Adrian . . . silly, shallow, party-boy Adrian understood? Studying him through Lissa’s eyes, I realized he actually did. He didn’t like it, and I could hear the hurt in his words. He cared about me. My having such strong feelings for someone else caused him pain. And yet . . . he truly believed that I was doing the right thing—the only thing I could do.
Lissa looked at the clock. “I’ve got to go before curfew. I should probably study for my history test, too.”
Adrian grinned. “Studying’s overrated. Just find someone smart to copy off.”
She stood up. “Are you saying I’m not smart?”
“Hell no.” He rose also and went to pour himself a drink from the fully stocked bar he kept on hand. Self-medicating was his irresponsible way of keeping spirit’s effects at bay, and if he’d been using spirit all night, he would want the numbness of his vices. “You’re the smartest person I know. But that doesn’t mean you have to do unnecessary work.”
“You can’t succeed in life if you don’t work. Copying from others won’t get you anywhere.”
“Whatever,” he said with a grin. “I copied all through school, and look how well I’m doing today.”
With an eye roll, Lissa gave him a quick hug goodbye and left. Once out of his sight, her smile faded a bit. In fact, her thoughts took a decidedly dark turn. Mentioning me had stirred up all sorts of feelings within. She was worried about me—desperately worried. She’d told Christian that she felt bad about what had happened between us, but the full force of that didn’t hit me until now. She was racked by guilt and confusion, continually berating herself for what she should have done. And above all, she missed me. She had that same feeling I did—like a part of her had been cut out.
Adrian lived on the fourth floor, and Lissa opted for the stairs rather than the elevator. All the while, her mind spun with worry. Worries about whether she’d ever master spirit. Worry for me. Worry that she wasn’t currently feeling spirit’s dark side effects, which made her wonder if I was absorbing them, just as a guardian named Anna had. She’d lived centuries ago and was bonded to St. Vladimir, the school’s namesake. She’d absorbed spirit’s nasty effects from him—and had been driven insane.
On the second floor, Lissa could make out the sounds of shouting, even through the door that separated the stairwell from the hallway. Despite knowing it had nothing to do with her, she hesitated, curiosity getting the best of her. A moment later, she quietly pushed the door open and stepped into the hall. The voices were coming from around the corner. She carefully peered around it—not that she needed to. She recognized the voices.
Avery Lazar stood in the hallway, hands on her hips as she stared at her father. He stood in the doorway to what must have been his suite. Their stances were rigid and hostile, and anger crackled between them.
“I’ll do what I want,” she yelled. “I’m not your slave
.”
“You’re my daughter,” he said in a voice both calm and condescending. “Though at times I wish you weren’t.”
Ouch. Both Lissa and I were shocked.
“Then why are you making me stay in this hellhole? Let me go back to Court!”
“And embarrass me further? We barely got out without damaging this family’s reputation—much. No way am I going to send you there alone and let you do God knows what.”
“Then send me to Mom! Switzerland’s got to be better than this place.”
There was a pause. “Your mother is . . . busy.”
“Oh, nice,” said Avery, voice heavy with sarcasm. “That’s a polite way of saying she doesn’t want me. No surprise. I’d just interfere with her and that guy she’s sleeping with.”
“Avery!” His voice rang out loud and angry. Lissa flinched and stepped back. “This conversation is done. Get back to your room and sober up before someone sees you. I expect you at breakfast tomorrow, and I expect you to be respectable. We have some important visitors.”
“Yeah, and God knows we’ve got to keep up appearances.”
“Go to your room,” he repeated. “Before I call Simon and make him drag you there.”
“Yes, sir,” she simpered. “Right away, sir. Anything you say, sir.”
And with that, he slammed the door. Lissa, ducking back behind the corner, could hardly believe he’d said those things to his own daughter. For a few moments, there was silence. Then, Lissa heard the sound of footsteps—coming toward her. Avery suddenly rounded the corner and stopped in front of Lissa, giving us our first good look of her.
Avery was wearing a tight, short dress made of some kind of blue fabric that shone silvery in the light. Her hair hung long and wild, and the tears pouring from her blue-gray eyes had destroyed the heavy makeup she wore. The scent of alcohol came through loud and clear. She hastily ran a hand over her eyes, obviously embarrassed at being seen like this.
“Well,” she said flatly. “I guess you overheard our family drama.”
Lissa felt equally embarrassed at being caught spying. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I was just passing by . . .”
Avery gave a harsh laugh. “Well, I don’t think it matters. Probably everyone in the building heard us.”
“I’m sorry,” Lissa repeated.
“Don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No . . . I mean, I’m sorry he . . . you know, said those things to you.”
“It’s part of being a ‘good’ family. Everyone’s got skeletons in their closet.” Avery crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. Even upset and messy, she was beautiful. “God, I hate him sometimes. No offense, but this place is so fucking boring. I found some sophomore guys to hang with tonight, but . . . they were pretty boring too. The only thing they had going for them was their beer.”
“Why . . . why did your dad bring you here?” Lissa asked. “Why aren’t you . . . I don’t know, in college?”
Avery gave a harsh laugh. “He doesn’t trust me enough. When we were at Court, I got involved with this cute guy who worked there—total non-royal, of course. Dad freaked out and was afraid people would find out. So when he got the job here, he brought me along to keep an eye on me—and torture me. I think he’s afraid I’ll run off with a human if I go to college.” She sighed. “I swear to God, if Reed wasn’t here, I’d just run away, period.”
Lissa didn’t say anything for a long time. She’d gone out of her way to avoid Avery diligently. With all the orders the queen was giving Lissa lately, this seemed the only way Lissa could fight back and stop herself from being controlled. But now, she wondered if she’d been wrong about Avery. Avery didn’t seem like a spy for Tatiana. She didn’t seem like someone who wanted to mold Lissa into a perfect royal. Mostly, Avery seemed like a sad, hurting girl, whose life was spinning out of control. Someone who was being ordered around as much as Lissa was lately.
With a deep breath, Lissa rushed forward with her next words. “Do you want to eat lunch with Christian and me tomorrow? No one would mind if you came to our lunch period. I can’t promise it’ll be, um, as exciting as you want.”
Avery smiled again, but this time, it was less bitter. “Well, my other plans were to get drunk by myself in my room.” She lifted a bottle of what looked like whiskey out of her purse. “Scored some stuff of my own.”
Lissa wasn’t entirely sure what kind of an answer that was. “So . . . I’ll see you at lunch?”
Now Avery hesitated. But slowly, a faint gleam of hope and interest appeared on her face. Concentrating, Lissa tried to bring up her aura. She had a little difficulty at first, probably worn out from all the practice with Adrian tonight. But when she was finally able to get a grip on Avery’s aura, she saw it was a mix of colors: green, blue, and gold. Not uncommon. It was currently ringed in red, as often happened when people were upset. But right before Lissa’s eyes, that redness faded.
“Yeah,” Avery said at last. “That would be great.”
“I think this is as far as we can go today.”
On the other side of the world, Sydney’s voice startled me out of Lissa’s thoughts. I didn’t know how long I’d been daydreaming, but Sydney had turned off the main highway and was driving us into a small town that fit perfectly with my backwoods images of Siberia. In fact, “town” was a total exaggeration. There were a few scattered houses, a store, and a gas station. Farmland stretched beyond the buildings, and I saw more horses than cars. The few people who were out stared at our car in amazement. The sky had turned deep orange, and the sun was sinking farther and farther into the horizon. Sydney was right. It was nearly nightfall, and we needed to be off the road.
“We’re only a couple hours away at most,” she continued. “We made really good time and should get there pretty quickly in the morning.” She drove to the other side of the village—which took, like, a minute—and pulled up in front of a plain white house with a barn beside it. “Here’s where we’re staying.”
We got out of the car and approached the house. “Are these friends of yours?”
“Nope. Never met them. But they’re expecting us.”
More mysterious Alchemist connections. The door was answered by a friendly looking human in her twenties who urged us to come inside. She only spoke a few words of English, but Sydney’s translation skills carried us through. Sydney was more outgoing and charming than I’d seen her thus far, probably because our hosts weren’t despicable vampiric offspring.
You wouldn’t think riding in a car all day would be tiring, but I felt exhausted and was anxious to get an early start in the morning. So after dinner and a little TV, Sydney and I went to the room that had been prepared for us. It was small and plain but had two twin beds covered in thick, fluffy blankets. I snuggled into mine, grateful for the softness and the warmth, and wondered if I’d dream of Lissa or Adrian.
I didn’t. I did, however, wake up to a slight wave of nausea rolling through me—the nausea that told me there was a Strigoi nearby.
SIX
I BOLTED UPRIGHT, EVERY PART of me awake and alert. There were no city lights to shine through the window, and it took me several seconds to make out anything in the darkened room. Sydney was curled up in her own bed, her face unusually at peace as she slept.
Where was the Strigoi? Definitely not in our room. Was it in the house? Everyone had said the road to Dimitri’s town was dangerous. Still, I would have thought Strigoi would be going after Moroi and dhampirs—though humans were a big part of their diet too. Thinking of the nice couple who’d welcomed us into their home, I felt something tight clench in my chest. No way would I let anything happen to them.
Slipping quietly out of the bed, I grabbed a hold of my stake and crept from the room without disturbing Sydney. No one else was awake, and as soon as I was in the living room, the nausea went away. Okay. The Strigoi wasn’t inside, which was a good thing. It was outdoors, apparently on the side of the house near my room. Stil
l moving silently, I went out the house’s front door and walked around the corner, as quiet as the night around me.
The nausea grew stronger as I approached the barn, and I couldn’t help but feel smug. I was going to surprise this Strigoi who’d thought it could sneak into a tiny human village for dinner. There. Right near the barn’s entrance, I could see a long shadow moving. Gotcha, I thought. I readied the stake and started to spring forward—
—And then something struck me on the shoulder.
I stumbled, astonished, and looked into the face of a Strigoi. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the shadow by the barn materialize into another Strigoi striding forward. Panic shot through me. There were two, and my secret detection system hadn’t been able to tell the difference. Worse, they’d gotten the drop on me.
A thought immediately flashed into my mind: What if one’s Dimitri?
It wasn’t. At least, this close one wasn’t. It was a woman. I had yet to get a feel for the second one. That one was approaching from my other side, moving fast. I had to deal with this immediate threat, though, and swiped at the woman with my stake, hoping to wound her, but she dodged so quickly, I hardly saw her move. She struck out toward me in an almost casual way. I wasn’t fast enough to react and went flying toward the other Strigoi—a guy who was not Dimitri.
I responded quickly, leaping up and kicking him. I held the stake out, creating distance between us, but it did little good when the woman came up from behind and grabbed me, jerking my body against hers. I gave a muffled cry and felt her hands on my throat. She was probably going to break my neck, I realized. It was a fast, easy technique for Strigoi that then let them drag off a victim for feeding.
I struggled, jostling her hands slightly, but as the other Strigoi leaned over us, I knew it was useless. They’d surprised me. There were two of them. They were strong.
Panic surged in me again, an overwhelming sense of fear and desperation. I was afraid every time I fought Strigoi, but this fear was reaching a breaking point. It was unfocused and out of control, and I suspected it was touched by a bit of the madness and darkness I’d absorbed from Lissa. The feelings exploded within me, and I wondered if they’d destroy me before the Strigoi did. I was in very real danger of dying here—of letting Sydney and the others get killed. The rage and distress of that thought were smothering.
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