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Three

THE LOBBY OF MY DORM was abuzz when I sprinted downstairs to my before-school practice The coone far to chase away the iht, but I knew neither I nor et what had taken place outside Billings

And yet, as I studied the faces and clusters of other novices, I noticed so weird The fear and tension fro neas there too: excite with joy as they spoke in hushed whispers Nearby, a group of guys rins on their faces

I had to behere¡ªunless all of yesterday had been a dreao over and ask so If I delayed, I’d be late for practice The curiosity was killing oi and their huood news, but so open the front doors, I lamented that I’d just have to wait until breakfast to find out

"Hath-away, don’t run-away," a singsong voice called

I glanced behind ood friend of ed up and fell in step withon toward the gy face yesterday Where were you?"

Apparently my presence at the Badica house still wasn’t widely known It wasn’t a secret or anything, but I didn’t want to discuss any gory details "Had a training thing with Diuy is alorking you Doesn’t he realize he’s depriving us of your beauty and char face? Beauty and char, aren’t you?" I laughed

"Hey, I’ it like it is Really, you’re lucky to have so thisMason was a huge flirt, and he liked to flirt with ood at it and liked to flirt back But I knew his feelings towardhow I felt about that He and I had the saoofy sense of humor and frequently drew attention to ourselves in class and aeous blue eyes and messy red hair that never see so to be kind of difficult when I still kept thinking about the time I was half-naked in bed with Dimitri

"Suave and brilliant, huh?" I shook my head "I don’t think you pay nearly as o Someone needs to knock it down a little"

"Oh yeah?" he asked "Well, you can try your best on the slopes"

I stopped walking "The what?"

"The slopes" He tilted his head "You know, the ski trip"

"What ski trip?" I was apparentlyserious here

"Where have you been thisat ot up, like, fiveand tellabout" I shivered fro" We did

"So, you kno everyone’s afraid to have their kids coe in Idaho that’s exclusively used by royals and rich Moroi The people n it are opening it up for Academy students and their fao With everyone in one spot, they’re going to have a ton of guardians to protect the place, so it’ll be totally safe"

"You can’t be serious," I said We reached the gym and stepped inside out of the cold

Mason nodded eagerly "It’s true The place is supposed to be arin that alwaysto live like royalty, Rose At least for a week or so We take off the day after Christmas"

I stood there, both excited and stunned I hadn’t seen this co It really was a brilliant idea, one that let families reunite safely And what a reunion spot! A royal ski lodge I’d expected to spendTV with Lissa and Christian Now I’d be living it up in five-star accoes Cute ski instructors

Mason’s enthusias up in me, and then, suddenly, it sla ? This is cool"

"It is," I adet why everyone’s excited, but the reason we’re getting to go to this fancy place is because, well, because people are dead I mean, doesn’t this all seem weird?"

Mason’s cheery expression sobered a little "Yeah, but we’re alive, Rose We can’t stop living because other people are dead And we have to make sure more people don’t die That’s why this place is such a great idea It’s safe" His eyes turned stormy "God, I can’t wait until we’re out of here in the field After hearing about what happened, I just want to go tear apart soo now, you know? There’s no reason They could use the extra help, and we prettywe need to"

The fierceness in his voice reh he wasn’t quite as worked up as I’d been His eagerness to act was impetuous and na?ve, whereas mine had been born out of some weird, dark irrationality I still didn’t entirely understand

When I didn’t respond, Mason gave me a puzzled look "Don’t you want to?"

"I don’t know, Mase" I stared down at the floor, avoiding his eyes as I studied the toe of oi out there, attacking people either And I want to stop the ready I’ve seen what they can do I don’t know Rushing in isn’t the answer" I shook ical and cautious I sounded like Di to happen anyway I suppose we should just be excited about the trip, huh?"

Mason’sonce more "Yup And you’d better try to re downto happen"

I s to be sad when I uilty already"

He opened his ht sight of so¡ªor rather, solanced over and saw Diyallant bow "Your lord andyour ski strategies" He opened the door and disappeared into the frigid darkness I turned around and joined Dimitri

Like other dhampir novices, I spent half of , be it actual physical coainst them Novices also sometimes had practices after school I, however, was in a unique situation

I still stood by my decision to run away from St Vladimir’s Victor Dashkov had posed too much of a threat to Lissa But our extended vacation had co away for two years had put uardian classes, so the school had declared that I had toto extra practices before and after school

With Diivingtemptation But my attraction to him aside, I was a fast learner, and with his help, I had alht up to the other seniors

Since he wasn’t wearing a coat, I knee’d be working inside today, which was good news It was freezing out Yet even the happiness I felt over that was nothing compared to what I felt when I sahat exactly he had set up in one of the training rooed on the far wall, duly lifelike No straw-stuffed burlap bags here There wereordinary clothes, with rubbery skin and different hair and eye colors Their expressions ranged frory I’d worked with these du them to practice kicks and punches But I’d never worked with the what Dimitri held: a silver stake

"Sweet," I breathed

It was identical to the one I’d found at the Badica house It had a hand grip at the bottom, almost like a hilt without the little side flourishes That here its reseer ended Rather than a flat blade, the stake had a thick, rounded body that narrowed to a point, kind of like an ice pick The entire thing was a little shorter than ainst the wall, in an easy stance he always pulled off re almost six-seven With one hand, he tossed the stake into the air It spun around in a cartwheel a couple of tiht it hilt first

"Please tell et to learn how to do that today," I said

Amusement flashed in the dark depths of his eyes I think he had a hard tiht face around me sometimes

"You’ll be lucky if I let you hold it today," he said He flipped the stake into the air again My eyes followed it longingly I started to point out that I had already held one, but I knew that line of logic would get me nowhere

Instead, I tossed my backpack on the floor, threw off my coat, and crossed my arms expectantly I had on loose pants tied at the waist and a tank top with a hoodie over it My dark hair was pulled brutally back into a ponytail I was ready for anything

"You want me to tell you how they work and why I should always be cautious around the the stake and stared at hed "You don’t think I kno you work by now? We’ve been doing this for almost three months You always makefun"

"I see," he said "Well, I guess you’ve got it all figured out By all o on with the lesson I’ll just wait over here until you need ain"