“Okay,” I admitted. “That was pretty amazing. And I’m grateful. I still don’t know how you pulled that off.” Suddenly, like a dream you recall a day later, I remembered the thought I’d had just before my trials. I lowered my voice. “You didn’t actually go there, did you?”
He snorted. “Of course not. I wouldn’t set foot in that place. I simply worked my network.”
“Where is that place?” I asked, hoping I sounded bland.
He wasn’t fooled. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because I’m curious! Convicted criminals always disappear without a trace. I’m a guardian now, and I don’t even know anything about our own prison system. Is there just one prison? Are there lots?”
Abe didn’t answer right away. He was studying me carefully. In his business, he suspected everyone of ulterior motives. As his daughter, I was probably doubly suspect. It was in the genes.
He must have underestimated my potential for insanity because he said at last, “There’s more than one. Victor’s in one of the worst. It’s called Tarasov.”
“Where is it?”
“Right now?” He considered. “In Alaska, I think.”
“What do you mean, ‘right now’?”
“It moves throughout the year. Right now it’s in Alaska. Later, it’ll be in Argentina.” He gave me a sly smile, apparently wondering how astute I was. “Can you guess why?”
“No, I—wait. Sunlight.” It made perfect sense. “Alaska’s got almost nonstop daylight this time of year—but nonstop night in the winter.”
I think he was prouder of my realization than of my trials. “Any prisoners trying to escape would have a hard time.” In full sun, no Moroi fugitive would get very far. “Not that anyone can escape through that level of security anyway.” I tried to ignore how foreboding that sounded.
“Seems like they’d put it pretty far north in Alaska then,” I said, hoping to worm out the actual location indirectly. “You get more light that way.”
He chuckled. “Even I can’t tell you that. That’s information the guardians keep close, buried in their headquarters.”
I froze. Headquarters . . .
Abe, despite being usually observant, didn’t notice my reaction. His eyes were watching something across the room. “Is that Renee Szelsky? My, my . . . she’s grown lovely over the years.”
I grudgingly waved him away, largely because I wanted to chase this new plan in my mind—and because Renee wasn’t anyone I knew very well, which made him hitting on her less appalling. “Well, don’t let me stop you. Go lure more women into your web.”
Abe didn’t need much prodding. Alone, I let my brain spin, wondering if my developing scheme had any chance of success. His words had sparked a new plan in my mind. It wasn’t much crazier than most of my others. Across the room, I met Lissa’s jade eyes again. With Christian out of sight, her mood had improved. She was enjoying herself and was excited about the adventures ahead of us, now that we were free and out in the world. My mind flashed back to the anxieties I’d felt earlier in the day. We might be free now, but reality would catch up with us soon. The clock was ticking. Dimitri was waiting, watching. I wondered briefly if I’d still get his weekly letters, now that I’d be leaving the school.
I smiled at her, feeling kind of bad that I’d be ruining her mood when I told her we might now have a very real chance of busting out Victor Dashkov.
THREE
THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS were strange. The other novices and I might have had the flashiest graduation, but we weren’t the only ones finishing our education at St. Vladimir’s. The Moroi had their own commencement ceremony, and campus grew packed with visitors. Then, almost as quickly as they came, parents disappeared—taking their sons and daughters with them. Royal Moroi left to spend their summers with their parents at luxury estates—many in the Southern Hemisphere, where the days were shorter this time of year. “Ordinary” Moroi left with their parents too, off to more modest homes, possibly getting summer jobs before college.
And of course, with school wrapping up for the summer, all the other students left too. Some with no family to go home to, usually dhampirs, stayed year-round, taking special electives, but they were the minority. Campus grew emptier each day as my classmates and I waited for the day when we’d be taken to the Royal Court. We made our farewells to others, Moroi moving on or younger dhampirs who’d soon be following in our footsteps.
One person I was sad to part with was Jill. I happened to catch her as I was walking toward Lissa’s dorm the day before my Court trip. There was a woman with Jill, presumably her mother, and both were carrying boxes. Jill’s face lit up when she saw me.
“Hey Rose! I said goodbye to everyone else but couldn’t find you,” she said excitedly.
I smiled. “Well, I’m glad you caught me.”
I couldn’t tell her that I’d been saying goodbye too. I’d spent my last day at St. Vladimir’s walking all the familiar sites, starting with the elementary campus where Lissa and I had first met in kindergarten. I’d explored the halls and corners of my dorms, walked past favorite classrooms, and even visited the chapel. I’d also passed a lot of time in areas filled with bittersweet memories, like the training areas where I’d first gotten to know Dimitri. The track where he used to make me run laps. The cabin where we’d finally given in to each other. It had been one of the most amazing nights of my life, and thinking about it always brought me both joy and pain.
Jill didn’t need to be burdened with any of that, though. I turned toward her mother and started to offer my hand until I realized she couldn’t shake it while maneuvering the box. “I’m Rose Hathaway. Here, let me carry that.”
I took it before she could protest because I was certain she would. “Thank you,” she said, pleasantly surprised. I fell in step with them as they began walking again. “I’m Emily Mastrano. Jill’s told me a lot about you.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, giving Jill a teasing smile.
“Not that much. Just how I hang out with you sometimes.” There was a slight warning in Jill’s green eyes, and it occurred to me that Emily probably didn’t know her daughter practiced forbidden forms of Strigoi-killing magic in her free time.
“We like having Jill around,” I said, not blowing her cover. “And one of these days, we’re going to teach her to tame that hair.”
Emily laughed. “I’ve been trying for almost fifteen years. Good luck.”
Jill’s mother was stunning. The two didn’t resemble each other much, at least not superficially. Emily’s lustrous hair was straight and black, her eyes deep blue and long-lashed. She moved with a willowy grace, very different from Jill’s always self-conscious walk. Yet, I could see the shared genes here and there, the heart-shaped faces and lip shapes. Jill was still young, and as she grew into her features, she’d likely be a heartbreaker herself someday—something she was probably oblivious to right now. Hopefully her self-confidence would grow.
“Where’s home for you guys?” I asked.
“Detroit,” said Jill, making a face.
“It’s not that bad,” laughed her mom.
“There are no mountains. Just highways.”
“I’m part of a ballet company there,” Emily explained. “So we stay where we can pay the bills.” I think I was more surprised that people went to the ballet in Detroit than that Emily was a ballerina. It made sense, watching her, and really, with their tall and slim builds, Moroi were ideal dancers as far as humans were concerned.
“Hey, it’s a big city,” I told Jill. “Enjoy the excitement while you can before you come back to the boring middle of nowhere.” Of course, illicit combat training and Strigoi attacks were hardly boring, but I wanted to make Jill feel better. “And it won’t be that long.” Moroi summer vacations were barely two months. Parents were eager to return their children to the safety of the Academy.
“I guess,” said Jill, not sounding convinced. We reached their car, and I loaded the boxes into the trunk.
“I’ll e-mail you when I can,” I promised. “And I bet Christian will too. Maybe I can even talk Adrian into it.”
Jill brightened, and I was happy to see her return to her normal overexcited self. “Really? That would be great. I want to hear everything that goes on at Court. You’ll probably get to do all sorts of cool things with Lissa and Adrian, and I bet Christian will find out all sorts of things . . . about things.”
Emily didn’t seem to notice Jill’s lame editing attempt and instead fixed me with a pretty smile. “Thanks for your help, Rose. It was great to meet you.”
“You too—umph!”
Jill had thrown herself into me with a hug. “Good luck with everything,” she said. “You’re so lucky—you’re going to have such a great life now!”
I returned the hug, unable to explain how jealous of her I was. Her life was still safe and innocent. She might resent spending a summer in Detroit, but the stay would be brief, and soon she’d be back in the familiar and easy world of St. Vladimir’s. She wouldn’t be setting out into the unknown and its dangers.
It was only after she and her mother had driven off that I could bring myself to respond to her comment. “I hope so,” I murmured, thinking about what was to come. “I hope so.”
My classmates and select Moroi flew out early the next day, leaving the rocky mountains of Montana behind for the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. The Royal Court was a lot like I remembered, with the same imposing, ancient feel that St. Vladimir’s tried to impart with its towering buildings and intricate stone architecture. But the school also seemed to want to show off a wise, studious air, whereas the Court was more ostentatious. It was like the buildings themselves tried to make sure we all knew that this was the seat of power and royalty among the Moroi. The Royal Court wanted us to be amazed and maybe a little cowed.
And even though I’d been here before, I was still impressed. The doors and windows of the tan stone buildings were embossed and framed in pristine golden decorations. They were a far cry from the brightness I’d seen in Russia, but I realized now that the Court’s designers had modeled these buildings off the old European ones—the fortresses and palaces of Saint Petersburg. St. Vladimir’s had benches and paths in the quads and courtyards, but the Court went a step further. Fountains and elaborate statues of past rulers adorned the lawns, exquisite marble works that had previously been hidden in snow. Now, in the full throes of summer, they were bright and on display. And everywhere, everywhere were flowers on trees, bushes, paths—it was dazzling.
It made sense that new grads would visit the guardians’ central administration, but it occurred to me that there was another reason they brought new guardians here in the summer. They wanted my classmates and me to see all of this, to be overwhelmed and appreciative of the glory for which we were fighting. Looking at the faces of the new graduates, I knew the tactic was working. Most had never been here before.
Lissa and Adrian had been on my flight, and the three of us clustered together as we walked with the group. It was as warm as it had been in Montana, but the humidity here was much thicker. I was sweating after only a little light walking.
“You did bring a dress this time, right?” asked Adrian.
“Of course,” I said. “They’ve got some fancy things they want us to go to, aside from the main reception. Although, they might give me my black-and-white for that.”
He shook his head, and I noticed his hand start to move toward his pocket before hesitating and pulling back. He might have been making progress in quitting smoking, but I was pretty sure the subconscious urge to automatically reach for a pack when outdoors was hard to get rid of so quickly.
“I mean for tonight. For dinner.”
I glanced questioningly at Lissa. Her schedule at Court always had assorted functions thrown into it that “average people” didn’t attend. With my new and uncertain status, I wasn’t sure if I’d be going with her. I sensed her puzzlement through the bond and could tell that she didn’t have a clue about any special dinner plans.
“What dinner?” I asked.
“The one I set up with my family.”
“The one you—” I came to an abrupt halt and stared wide-eyed, not liking the smirk on his face one bit. “Adrian!” A few of the new grads gave me curious looks and continued walking around us.
“Come on, we’ve been going out a couple months. Meeting parents is part of the dating ritual. I’ve met your mom. I even met your scary-ass dad. Now it’s your turn. I guarantee none of my family’s gonna make the kind of suggestions your dad did.”
I’d actually kind of met Adrian’s dad before. Or, well, I’d seen him at a party. I doubted he had any idea who I was—my crazy reputation aside. I knew almost nothing about Adrian’s mother. He actually spoke very little about his family members—well, most of them.
“Just your parents?” I asked warily. “Any other family I should know about?”
“Well . . .” Adrian’s hand twitched again. I think this time he wanted a cigarette as some sort of protection from the warning note in my voice. Lissa, I observed, seemed highly amused by all of this. “My favorite great-aunt might stop by.”
“Tatiana?” I exclaimed. For the hundredth time, I wondered how I had lucked out with a guy related to the leader of the entire Moroi world. “She hates me! You know what happened the last time we talked.” Her Royal Majesty had laid into me, yelling about how I was too trashy to hook up with her nephew and how she had great “plans” for him and Lissa.
“I think she’s come around.”
“Oh, come on.”
“No, really.” He almost looked like he was telling the truth. “I talked to my mom the other day, and . . . I don’t know. Aunt Tatiana doesn’t seem to hate you as much.”
I frowned, and the three of us began to walk again. “Maybe she admires your recent vigilante work,” mused Lissa.
“Maybe,” I said. But I didn’t really believe it. If anything, me going rogue should have made me more despicable in the queen’s eyes.
I felt kind of betrayed that Adrian had sprung this dinner on me, but there was nothing to be done about it now. The only bright side was that I had the impression he was teasing me about his aunt stopping by. I told him I’d go, and my decision put him in a good enough mood that he didn’t ask too many questions when Lissa and I said we were going to do “our own thing” that afternoon. My classmates were all getting a tour of the Court and its grounds as part of their indoctrination, but I’d seen it all before and was able to wiggle out of it. Lissa and I dropped our belongings off in our rooms and then set out to the far side of the Court, where the not-so-royal people lived.
“Are you going to tell me yet what this other part of your plan is?” asked Lissa.
Ever since Abe had explained about Victor’s prison, I’d been making another mental list of the problems we’d have breaking into it. Mainly, there were two, which was one less than I’d initially had since talking to Abe. Not that things were really much easier. First, we had no clue where in Alaska this place was. Second, we didn’t know what the prison’s defenses and layout were like. We had no idea what we had to bust through.
Yet, something told me all of these answers could be found in one source, which meant I really only had one immediate problem: how to reach that source. Fortunately, I knew someone who might be able to help get us there.
“We’re going to see Mia,” I told her.
Mia Rinaldi was a former Moroi classmate of ours—a former enemy, actually. She was also the poster child for total personality makeovers. She’d gone from a scheming bitch who was willing to crush—and sleep with—anyone in her quest for popularity to a down-to-earth, confident girl eager to learn to defend herself and others from Strigoi. She lived here at Court with her father.
“You think Mia knows how to break into a prison?”
“Mia’s good, but I don’t think she’s that good. She can probably help us get intel, though.”
Lissa gr
oaned. “I can’t believe you just used the word intel. This really is turning into a spy movie.” She spoke flippantly, but I could feel the worry within her. The light tone was masking her fear, the unease she still felt about freeing Victor, despite her promise to me.
Those non-royals who worked and did ordinary things at Court lived in apartments far from the queen’s quarters and receiving hall. I’d gotten Mia’s address in advance, and we set out across the perfectly manicured grounds, grumbling to each other along the way about the hot day. We found her at home, casually dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with a Popsicle in her hand. Her eyes widened when she saw us outside her door.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” she said.
I laughed. It was the kind of response I’d give. “Nice to see you too. Can we come in?”
“Of course.” She stepped aside. “You want a Popsicle?”
Did I ever. I took a grape one and sat with her and Lissa in the small living room. The place was a far cry from the opulence of royal guest housing, but it was cozy and clean and undoubtedly well loved by Mia and her father.
“I knew the grads were coming,” Mia said, brushing blond curls out of her face. “But I wasn’t sure if you were with them or not. Did you even graduate?”
“I did,” I said. “Got the promise mark and everything.” I lifted my hair so she could see the bandage.
“I’m surprised they let you back in after you took off on your killing spree. Or did you get extra credit for that?”
Apparently, Mia had heard the same tall tale about my adventures that everyone else had. That was fine with me. I didn’t want to talk about the truth. I didn’t want to talk about Dimitri.
“Do you think anyone could stop Rose from doing what she wants?” asked Lissa with a smile. She was trying to keep us from getting into too much detail about my past whereabouts, for which I was grateful.
Mia laughed and crunched on a big chunk of lime ice. It was a wonder she didn’t get brain freeze. “True.” Her smile faded as she swallowed the bite. Her blue eyes, always shrewd, studied me in silence for a few moments. “And Rose wants something now.”
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