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"Hey, Lissa," someone interrupted

We both looked up as Ralf Sarcozy stopped by our desks He wore his trade he’d come over here on a dare from his friends

"So, ad to convince Kirova you’re crazy so that you can get out of here again"

"Screw you," I told hi?"

"From what I’ve heard, there isn’t much to screw," I shot back

"Wow," he said ed Last I reot naked with"

"And the last I remember, the only people you ever saw naked were on the Internet"

He cocked his head in an overly draot it: it was you, wasn’t it?" He looked at Lissa, the back at ot you to kill the fox, didn’t she? Some weird kind of lesbian voo-ahhh!"

Ralf burst into flames

I jumped up and pushed Lissa out of the way - not easy to do, since ere sitting at our desks We both ended up on the floor as screams - Ralf’s in particular-filled the classroouisher

And then, just like that, the fla hie mark on hi smell of smoke in the air

For several seconds, the entire classrooether Moroithe room, I deduced three fire users: Ralf, his friend Jacob, and -

Christian Ozera

Since neither Jacob nor Ralf would have set Ralf on fire, it sort ofhysterically sort of gave it away too

Ms Meissner changed from red to deep purple "Mr Ozera!" she screamed "How dare you - do you have any idea - report to Headmistress Kirova’s office now!"

Christian, co his backpack over one shoulder That s, Ms Meissner"

He went out of his way to walk past Ralf, who quickly backed away as he passed The rest of the class stared, open-mouthed

After that, Ms Meissner attempted to return the class to nor about what had happened It was shocking on a few different levels First, no one had ever seen that kind of spell: aSecond, Christian had used it offensively He had attacked another person Moroi never did that They believed ic was meant to take care of the earth, to help people live better lives It was never, ever used as a weapon Magic instructors never taught those kinds of spells; I don’t think they even knew any Finally, craziest of all, Christian had done it Christian, whoave a damn about Well, they’d noticed him now

It appeared someone still knew offensive spells after all, and as much as I had enjoyed the look of terror on Ralf’s face, it suddenly occurred to ht really and truly be a psycho

"Liss," I said as alked out of class, "please tell ain"

The guilt that flickered through the bond told rabbed her arm

"Not that much," she said uneasily "He’s really okay - "

"Okay? Okay?" People in the hall stared at us I realized I was practically shouting "He’s out of his ht we decided you weren’t going to see him anymore"

"You decided, Rose Not e in her voice I hadn’t heard in a while

"What’s going on here? Are you guys¡­you know?¡­"

"No!" she insisted "I told you that already God" She shot ust "Not everyone thinks - and acts - like you"

I flinched at the words Then we noticed that Mia was passing by She hadn’t heard the conversation but had caught the tone A snide smile spread over her face "Trouble in paradise?"

"Go find your pacifier, and shut the hell up," I told her, not waiting to hear her response Her htened into a scowl

Lissa and I walked on in silence, and then Lissa burst out laughing Like that, our fight diffused

"Rose¡­" Her tone was softer now

"Lissa, he’s dangerous I don’t like him Please be careful"

She touched my arm "I am I’m the cautious one, remember? You’re the reckless one"

I hoped that was still true

But later, after school, I hadhomehen I felt a trickle of what could only be called sneakiness co track of et ato her If ever there was a time for me to slip into her mind, it was now, but I didn’t kno to control that

Frowning, I tried to think what nor so emotion, an emotion so powerful it tried to blast into ainst that; I always sort of kept aon her now, I tried to re and cleared hts didn’t matter, only hers did I needed to open myself to her and let us connect

I’d never done anything like this before; I didn’t have the patience for , however, that I forced myself into an intense, focused relaxation I needed to knoas going on with her, and after a few more moments, my effort paid off

I was in