Chapter 3
"What the hell are you doing?" She asked me blue eyes sparkling with fury. Up close now, I was able to get a better look at her. "Are you lost, little girl? This is where the grownups eat. And I told you, if you have nothing better to do than insult our clothes you can get lost." A pink flush spread over her cheeks. "Don't you ever touch me again. You screw with me, and I screw you right back." I laughed but Lissa shook her head. "Yeah not even worth my time, come on Lissa, I am starving." I dragged Lissa off towards the food completely ignoring her and her entourage. "Any idea who that was?" I asked Lissa now confident that she didn't know. "Not a clue." I started to lead her towards the lunch line, but she shook her head at me. "Gotta go see the feeders." "Ok," Since I only fed her once I had no problem letting someone else feed her, I hated the feeling of being weak and I wasn't addicted to the feeling. "Sure," I walked with her into the feeding room, my stomach growling at me. A dark-haired Moroi woman greeted us at the entrance and glanced down at her clipboard, flipping through pages. Finding what she needed, she made a few notes and then she gestured for Lissa to follow. Me she gave a puzzled look but didn't stop me from entering.
I asked the woman for a piece of paper and a pen and sat down in the waiting area making some notes. Looking through my schedule. I needed to catch up on all the classes that I missed, and the homework I missed from September onwards. Only 6 weeks, that was not too bad. But what about the year I missed? Lissa came out from the feeders and smiled at me. "What are you working on?" I told her how Stan tried to humiliate me in front of class today and I want to catch up so he doesn't put me on the spot again. I needed to go to the library and she told me that we could quickly go after classes ended. I just nodded and then finally I could get something for my growling stomach. I moved towards the lunch line. It was short since there was only 15 minutes left of lunch. I took fries, and chicken nuggets, and Lissa only took a yoghurt. "So how were your classes?" I asked her. She shrugged. Her face was bright with color and life. "Okay. Lots of stares. A lot of stares. Lots of questions about where we were. Whispering." "Same here," I told her. The attendant checked us out, and we walked towards the tables.
I gave Lissa a sidelong glance. "You okay with that? They aren't bothering you, are they?" "No -- it's fine." The emotions coming through the bond contradicted her words. Knowing I could feel that she tried to change the subject by handing me her class schedule. I looked it over.
20:00 - 21:00 1st Period -- Russian 2
21.10 - 22:10 2nd Period -- American Colonial Literature
22:20 - 23:20 3rd Period -- Basics of Elemental Control
23:30 - 00:30 4th Period -- Ancient Poetry
00:30 - 01:30 -- Lunch 12 AM --
01:40 - 02:40 5th Period -- Animal and Behavior and Physiology
02:50 - 03:50 6th Period -- Advanced Calculus
04:00 - 05:00 7th Period -- Moroi Culture 4
05:10 - 06:10 8th Period -- Slavic Art
"We almost have all our lessons together, except for Math," I told her smiling. "Why are you in Elemental basics?" I asked trying to remember what that was about. "Because seniors take specialized classes." I shut up at that, I felt how weird that made her feel. I needed to look like I was researching this, she was very special. "Lissa!" a voice came from nearby. Glancing over, I saw a girl waving at us. Lissa and I exchanged looks. The girl had black hair and jade-green eyes. I missed my emerald eyes. "You're back! I knew you would be! Everyone said you were gone forever, but I never believed that. I knew you couldn't stay away. Why'd you go? There are so many stories about why you left!" Lissa and I exchanged glances as Natalie prattled on, she couldn't be anyone else. "Camille said one of you got pregnant and went off to have an abortion, but I knew that couldn't be true. Someone else said you went off to hang out with Rose's mom, but I figured Ms. Kirova and Daddy wouldn't have been so upset if you'd turned up there. Did you know we might get to be roommates? I was talking to . . ."
This girl was exhausting. I ate my food and took some notes on my paper until I heard Natalie ask a question. "What'd you do for blood Lissa?" The table regarded us questioningly Lissa froze, but I immediately jumped in, the lie coming effortlessly to my lips. "Blood bags," I told them and went back to my list but I felt Lissa stiffen and relax. I put the list back in my pocket and then looked around while eating my food. I saw Mason sitting with his friends, only Eddy I knew. Further off I spotted the blond doll. "Hey Natalie," I said cutting her off. "Who's Aaron's new girlfriend?" "Huh? Oh. Mia Rinaldi." Seeing my blank look. "Don't you remember her?" "Should I? Was she here when we left?" "She's always been here; she is only a year younger than us." Lissa shrugged, she didn't know either. "Why is she so pissed off at us? Neither of us knows her." I asked her. "I don't know, maybe she's jealous about Aaron. She wasn't much of anybody when you guys left. She got really popular, really fast. She isn't royal or anything, but once she started dating Aaron, she --" "Okay thanks,"
I was done eating and checked my list one more time. "Hey Rose, welcome back. Are you still breaking hearts?" "Nope, just legs and arms," I told him without looking up ignoring him completely. Unlike the real Rose, I knew he was a huge ass. I turned my head and looked at Lissa instead. The guy shrugged and walked off. "You done?" Everyone was looking at me as if I had just grown a new head. "What?" I frowned at them all. "That was Jesse," Natalie said scandalized. "Well good for him." I shrugged and took Lissa's bag too. "I wish I looked like you," she added with a sigh. I just smiled and got up. Lissa followed suit. Lissa and I got to sit together in our shared classes which was great but I could feel the sadness and anxiety pouring out of her and it made me worry. She was cutting, right? If I remember correctly I didn't want that to happen. I dragged her to the Library got the books on my list and then walked with those books too -- I froze, did Dimitri tell me where to meet him? Lissa and I were standing outside the school, I was fully aware that I was breaking the terms of my agreement with Kirova. "Do you want to go again, Lissa? You are not happy I can feel your anxiety." I asked not caring about the timeline if she was going to hurt herself. If this is going to hurt her I would expose myself and flame us out right away. The only place I knew was that apartment in Portland. We would have to move from there.
"You think we could really do it a second time?" Lissa asked me quietly. "Absolutely," I spoke with certainty; I knew I could do it. I might have to use some magic or potentially a lot of magic but I could do it. "You really would, wouldn't you?" She smiled, more to herself than to me, like she'd thought of something funny. "Of course you would. It's just, well . . ." She sighed. "I don't know if we should go. Maybe -- maybe we should stay." I blinked in astonishment, she was sad about being here a minute ago, and now I did not know what she was feeling.
"What?" I asked her confused. "I saw you Rose, I saw you talking to the other novices during class, I saw you fighting and talking about practice. You miss that." "If you are not happy, then we leave." "It might be better this time. I haven't had as many . . . you know, things happening in a while. I haven't felt like anyone was following or watching us." I smiled at her, "We can stay, I guess, but as soon as you feel those things again, we are out. Immediately." She nodded. I did not want to tell her who to hang out with. I did not want to make any ultimatums and I sure as hell will not be pushing her towards Natalie. I knew better. I hugged her tightly. "It will be ok, we will get through this, one step at a time. "Rose?" We both looked up at Dimitri's looming form. "You're late for practice," he said evenly. Seeing Lissa, he gave a polite nod. "Princess." As he and I walked away I worried about Lissa and wondered if staying here was the right thing, I knew who was the threat but I did not have any proof, the Slytherin in me who learned diplomacy and deviousness from Klaus thought about alternatives. Why not make a deal with Victor, he would be better than Tatiana so much better. But could I do that to Lissa? No, I decided I had grown fond of her. With the bond the cute angelic looks and the sweet personality there was honestly nothing that I didn't like about her.
She made me feel overprotective of her. She reminded me of my daughter and there was nothing that I would not do for her. I felt nothing alarming through the bond, but her emotions were all over the place. Confusion. Nostalgia. Fear, Anticipation. Strong and powerful, they flooded into me. I felt the pull just before it happened. It was exactly like what happened on the plane. She walked slowly around the commons, toward the small Russian Orthodox chapel that served most of the school's religious needs. I needed to go there to get the books on St. Vladimir soon, maybe I can get Christian to help me with that. She went inside, I could feel that she wasn't there to pray. She had another purpose, glancing around, she verified that neither the priest nor any worshippers were close. The place was empty. She slipped through a doorway in the back of the chapel, she climbed a narrow set of creaky stairs up into the attic. Here it was dark and dusty. The only light came through a large stained glass window that fractured the faint glow of sunrise into tiny, multicolored gems across the floor.
From her feelings, I knew that this room was a regular escape for her. I felt her memories of how she used to escape here to be alone and to think. The anxiety in her ebbed away ever so slightly as she took in the familiar surroundings. She climbed up into the window seat and leaned her head back against its side, momentarily entranced by the silence and the light. Breathe, just breathe, she told herself. It'll be ok. Rose will take care of everything. She believed that passionately like always and relaxed further. Then a low voice spoke from the darkness. "You can have the Academy but not the window seat." She sprang up, heart pounding. I knew who it was though. "Who's there?" A moment later, a shape rose from behind a stack of crates, just outside her field of vision. The figure stepped forward, and in the poor lighting, he had messy black hair. Pale blue eyes. A perpetually sardonic smirk. So this was Christian Ozera, he was really good-looking, I approved. "Don't worry," he said. "I won't bite. Well, at least not in the way you're afraid of." He chuckled at his own joke. Poor guy.
Lissa didn't think his joke was funny. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "Taking in the sights, of course. That chair with the tarp on is particularly lovely this time of year. Over there, we have an old box full of the writings of the blessed and crazy St. Vladimir. And let's not forget that beautiful table with no legs in the corner." "Whatever." She rolled her eyes and moved toward the door, wanting to leave, but he blocked her way. "Well, what about you?" He taunted. "Why are you up here? Don't you have parties to go to or lives to destroy?" "Wow, that's hilarious. Am I a rite of passage now? Go and see if you can piss off Lissa to prove how cool you are? Some girl I don't even know yelled at me today, and now I've got to deal with you? What does it take to be left alone?" "Oh. So that's why you're up here. For a pity party." Christian stated. "This isn't a joke. I'm serious." I could tell Lissa was getting angry. He shrugged and leaned casually against the sloping wall. "So am I. I love pity parties. I wish I brought the hats. What do you want to mope about first? How it's going to take you a whole day to be popular and loved again? How you'll have to wait a couple of weeks before Hollister can ship out some new clothes? If you spring for rush shipping, it might not be so long."
"Let me leave," she said angrily, this time pushing him aside. "Wait, he said as she reached the door. The sarcasm disappeared from his voice. "What ... um, what was it like?" Christian asked and I felt sorry for him. "What was what like?" she snapped. "Being out there, away from the academy." She hesitated for a moment before answering, caught off guard by what seemed like a genuine attempt at conversation. "It was great. No one knew who I was. I was just another face. Not Moroi. Not royal, not anything." She looked down at the floor. "Everyone here thinks they know who I am," Lissa told him. "Yeah, it's kind of hard to outlive your past," he said bitterly. It occurred to Lissa at that moment just how hard it might be to be Christian. I felt so sorry for him and I knew I was going to befriend him too. "Wait -- is it your pity party now?" He laughed almost approvingly. "This room has been my pity party for a year now." "Sorry," Lissa said snarkily. "I was coming here before I left. I've got a longer claim." "Squatters rights. Besides, I have to make sure I stay near the chapel as much as possible so people know I haven't gone Strigoi . . . yet." the bitter tone rang out. "I used to always see you at mass. Is that the only reason you go? To look good?" "Sure. Why else go? For the good of your soul?" "Whatever," Lissa said. "I'll leave you alone then." "Wait," he said again. He didn't seem to want her to go. "I'll make you a deal. You can hang out here too if you tell me one thing."
"What?" She glanced back at him. He leaned forward. "Of all the rumors I heard about you today -- and believe me I heard plenty, even if no one actually told them to me -- there was one that didn't come up very much. They dissected everything else: why you left, what you did out there, why you came back, the specialization, what Rose said to Mia, blah blah blah. And in all of that, no one ever questioned that stupid story that Rose told about blood bags, which is really difficult to get." Lissa looked away and I could feel her cheeks starting to burn. "It's not stupid, or a story." He laughed softly. "I've lived with humans. My aunt and I stayed away after my parents .... died. It's not that easy to find blood. And Hospitals won't just give it away, they will also notice if a bunch of blood bags goes missing." When she didn't answer, he laughed again. "It was Rose, wasn't it? She fed you." A renewed fear shot through her, but I wasn't worried. Christian was very trustworthy. "Well if that's not friendship, I don't know what is," he said. "You can't tell anyone," she blurted out." "Don't tell anyone," Lissa repeated. He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets and sat down on one of the crates. "Who am I going to tell? Look, go grab the window seat. You can have it today and hang out for a while. If you're not still afraid of me." She hesitated, studying him. He looked dark and surly, lips curled in a sort of I'm such a rebel smirk. But he didn't look dangerous. He didn't look Strigoi. Gingerly, she sat back down in the window seat, unconsciously rubbing her arms against the cold.
Christian watched her, and a moment later, the air warmed up considerably. Lissa met Christian's eyes and smiled, surprised she'd never noticed how icy blue they were before. "You specialized in fire?" He nodded and pulled up a broken chair. "now we have luxury accommodations." I snapped out of the vision. "Rose? Rose?" Blinking I focused on Dimitri's face. He was leaning toward me, his hands gripping my shoulders. I'd stopped walking, we stood in the middle of the quad separating the upper school buildings. "Are you all right?" "I .... yeah. I was ..... I was with Lissa ....." I put a hand on my forehead. I have to learn how to control this. It could be really dangerous if she pulled me in when I was fighting. "I was in her head." "Her .... head?" "Yeah, it's part of the bond." "Is she all right?" "Yes, she is fine." "Can you keep going?" The hard stoic warrior I had met was gone -- just for a moment -- and he actually looked concerned. Truly concerned. Feeling his eyes on me like that made something flutter inside of me --
I pushed the feeling away roughly, I just died in the other world it was not even 1 day without Jake. What the hell was wrong with me? "I am fine." I went into the gym's dressing room and changed into the workout clothes someone had finally thought to give me after a day of practicing in jeans and a t-shirt. Dimitri led me to the weight room. He showed me the weights and reps he wanted me to do, then sprawled in a corner with a battered Western novel. When I finished, he stood beside me and demonstrated a few cool-down stretches. It was stuff I already knew but did what I was told. "How did you get roped into being Lissa's guardian and dragging two underage girls back here? You weren't here a few years ago. Where did you go to school?" I asked him. Questions I already knew the answers to but I had to ask so I could know it for real. "No. I attended the one in Siberia." "Whoa. That’s got to be the only place worse than Montana." I stole Rose's comeback since I actually didn't know anything about Siberia. A glint of something -- maybe amusement -- sparked in his eyes, but he didn't acknowledge the joke. "After I graduated, I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently." His smile dropped and his face grew dark. "They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus."
"Did this lord die on your watch?" I asked him sympathetic. "No. He was with his other guardian. I was away." He felt silent, his mind obviously somewhere else. He looked brooding and sad. Trying to cheer him up, I said the first thing that came to mind. "You were the one that knocked me out, weren't you?" He looked at me surprised. "Uh Yes? Sorry, I did not want you to hurt anyone else." "No worries, I would not have stopped if you didn't, or maybe when Lissa stopped me but she was in shock I think. But how did we mess up, you tracked us down somehow..." I ended up trailing the sentence awkwardly, feeling stupid since I just realized that I promised Lissa we would leave and now I wanted to find out what not to do so they wouldn't find us again. Did he hear us planning to leave again should we need to? "Are you asking for future reference or are you and the princess planning to run again." Dimitri looked at me searching for something. "Nothing like that, I just thought that if you guys found us so easily, it would not be hard for Strigoi to track us either. I would like to learn from my mistakes." I kept my voice calm, using Occlumency to hide my emotions and he stared at me for a moment and then answered. "We received an anonymous phone call." "That's it, someone saw us!" I saw his face, suspicions clear. "Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they sent." "Last one?" "Yes in Chicago with the pack of psi-hounds." "Portland was the first time we found you." "I don't think I imagined the psi-hounds, who else could have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it." I asked Dimitri, did he follow up on this or not. I could not remember but since Victor asked me about it I thought it important.
He looked troubled but after my stretches, I could finally return to the novice’s dorm and take a shower. Carrying my boatload of books to catch up on the textbooks that I missed especially in Stan's class. I was very grateful to have my own room. The room was small and plain and the few belongings that Rose had before I inhabited her body was brought over from Portland. There was a twin bed and a desk with a computer. I rummaged through the boxes to see what I had and to start unpacking and making this space habitable for me. I did find a couple of pictures of me and Lissa, a football game in Portland, and a vacation picture with Lissa's family. I got a paper from tech support that helped me renew Rose's mail account and a new password since I didn't know her previous password. I logged on and saw I had a mail from Janine Hathaway, Rose's mot-- I mean my mother. It was short.
I'm glad you are back. What you did was inexcusable.
I was dead tired but I did my homework for the day first after my shower and then I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. The next morning I felt like I wanted to die, I had put my body through hell the previous day and it was letting me know that it was not pleased. This time I got dressed in the proper clothing for working out and went to my before-school practice with Dimitri. Followed by my classes where I got the homework I missed last month to catch up to my peers. I think Stan and the other teachers were slightly shocked at me for even asking. Probably not a Rose move to ask.
At lunch, I dragged Lissa away from Natalie's table early and teased her about Christian. "You were in my head again? For how long?" "Long enough to know that he knows about our blood arrangement," I told her. "That long?" Lissa said astonished. "I didn't do it on purpose, it happened. I will try and control it I just need to find the trigger. So how long did you hang out with him afterward?" I asked her conversationally. "Not that long. It was kind of ... fun." She looked at me for my reaction. I smiled at her. "I am glad you had fun, I think people forget that he is not his parents." She smiled at me gratefully, I did not care about what other people said. Rumors never bothered me before and it sure as hell will not now. Lissa and I walked towards our Science class together, when I got there I saw a few guys -- with giggling, watching girls -- messing with a gangly-looking Moroi. I frowned, I still hated bullies, I think I got that from Steve, and making sure no one saw me pointed just my finger in their direction hiding it behind my bag and body -- I sent a stinging hex towards the guy and watched in satisfaction as he jumped in the air rubbing his backside looking around. His friends were laughing at his reaction but no one knew what happened. I pretended to look for something in my bag but couldn't stop the smirk on my face. Then passed the idiots toward my desk.
A hand caught my arm. Jesse uh Zeklos right? I just looked at him waiting for him to talk. "Rose tell Paul about the time you started the fight in Ms. Karp's class." Uhh, wait I did read this part. "Which time", buying myself more thinking time. "The one with the hermit crab. And the gerbil." I laughed uncomfortably, there was not much information on that story. "Wasn't it a hamster? I think I just dropped it into the crab's tank and they went at it." Hoping they would not ask me for more details since that was actually all I knew about it. Paul chuckled. "Who won?" I shrugged looking at Jesse. "No I don't remember; I just remember Karp freaking out." He turned to Paul. "Man, you should have seen this messed-up teacher we used to have. Used to think people were after her and would go off on stuff that didn't make any sense. She was nuts. Used to wander campus while everyone was asleep." I knew what caused her mental setback, it was not funny, I was going to have to figure out how to help with the aftereffects of spirit, or it was going to happen to Lissa too.
"You've got to slip your leash tonight. We're going up to that spot in the woods around eight-thirty. Mark got some weed." I frowned at him. Sweetheart, I am not that stupid. Out loud I said to him. "Sorry I can't slip that leash, I'm with my Russian jailer." He let go of my arm, finally looked disappointed, and ran a hand through his bronze-colored hair. I guess he was sort of attractive if it wasn't for the loose lips and sadistic tendencies. "Can't you ever get off for good behavior?" He joked. "If I was ever good," I grinned and headed to my table to get away from the loser, I was not hanging out with that jackass not even if he was the last man on earth.