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TWO

Or, well, it looked like mason

He - or it or whatever - was hard to see I had to keep squinting and blinking to get him in focus His for in and out of my field of vision

But yes, from what I could see, he definitely looked like Mason His features ashed out,his fair skin look whiter than I recalled His reddish hair now appeared as a faint, watery orange I could barely even see his freckles He earing exactly what I’d last seen hireen sweater peeped out from underneath the coat’s hem Those colors, too, were all softened He looked like a photograph that so it to fade A very, very faint glow seemed to outline his features

The part that struck me the most - aside from the fact that he was supposed to be dead - was the look on his face It was sad - so, so sad Looking into his eyes, I felt my heart break All the o ca, the cruel look on the Strigoi faces A lump formed in my throat I stood there frozen, stunned and unable to move

He studiedSad Griht speak, and then closed it Severalbetween us, and then he lifted his hand and extended it towardin that motion snappedI wasn’t seeing this Mason was dead I’d seen hiersup a few steps, I put distance between us and waited to see ould happen He didn’t follow He simply stood there, hand still in the air My heart lurched, and I turned and ran When I’d alhe’d stood in was completely empty

I made it up toI sank onto my bed and replayed what had just happened

What the hell? That had not been real No way Impossible Mason was dead, and everyone knows the dead don’t come back Well, yeah, I had come backbut that was a different situation

Clearly, I’d iined this That was it It had to be I was overtired and still reeling from Lissa and Christian, not to mention that Victor Dashkov news Probably the cold had frozen part of ht about it, the more I decided there had to be a hundred explanations for what had just happened

Yet, no matter how often I told myself that, I couldn’t fall back asleep I lay in my bed, covers pulled to e from my mind I couldn’t All I could see were those sad, sad eyes, those eyes that seemed to say, Rose, why did you let this happen tonot to think about hi so hard to go on and act like I was strong But the truth was, I was nowhere near being over his death I tortured myself day after day hat if? questions What if I’d been faster and stronger during the Strigoi fight? What if I hadn’t told hioi were in the first place? And what if I’d simply been able to return his love? Any of those could have kept him alive, but none of theined it," I whispered out loud into the darkness of ined it Mason already haunted my dreams I didn’t need to see him when I ake too "It wasn’t him"

It couldn’t have been him, because the only way it could have been wasWell, that was so I didn’t want to think about Because while I believed in vaic and psychic powers, I hosts

I apparently didn’t believe in sleep, either, because I didn’t get ht I tossed and turned, unable to quietmind I eventually did drift off, but it seemed like my alarm went off so soon after that I could have hardly slept for ht of day tends to chase off night darkness But just being out with real and living people had nearly the sa practice, I found that what I’d seen last night - or what I thought I’d seen last night - was growing fainter and fainter in my memory

The weirdness of that encounter was also being replaced by so day The start of our field experience

For the next six weeks, I wouldn’t have any classes I’d get to spendout with Lissa, and the most I’d have to do rite a daily field report that was only about a half-page long Easy And, yeah, of course I’d be on guard duty, but I wasn’t concerned That was second nature tohumans for two years, and I’d protected her the whole time Before that, when I’d been a freshuardians planned for novices during this phase The ordeals were tricky, absolutely A novice had to be on watch and not slack - and be ready to defend and attack if necessary None of that worried h Lissa and I had been away from the school our sophomore and junior years, and I’d fallen behind then Thanks to ht up and was now one of the best in my class

"Hey, Rose"

Eddie Castile caught up to ym where our field experience orientation would kick off For a briefat Eddie, ain with Mason, staring at his sorrowful face

Eddie - along with Lissa’s boyfriend, Christian, and a Moroi naroup e’d been captured by Strigoi Eddie hadn’t died, obviously, but he’d cooi who’d held us had used hihout our capture in an effort to tease the Moroi and scare the dhampirs It had worked; I’d been terrified Poor Eddie had been unconscious for most of the ordeal, thanks to blood loss and the endorphins that came from a vampire’s bite He’d been Mason’s best friend and nearly as funny and lighthearted

But since we’d escaped, Eddie had changed, just like I had He was still quick to srimness to him now, a dark and serious look in his eyes that was always on guard for the worst to happen That was understandable, of course He pretty much had seen the worst happen Just like with Mason’s death, I held myself responsible for this transformation in Eddie and for what he’d suffered at the hands of the Strigoi That may not have been fair to me, but I couldn’t help it I felt like I owed his up to him somehow

And that was kind of funny, because I think Eddie was trying to protect , but I’d noticed hi an eye on me I think after what had happened, he felt he owed it to Mason to watch over his girlfriend I never bothered to tell Eddie that I hadn’t been Mason’s girlfriend, not in the real sense of the word, just as I never rebuked Eddie for his big brother behavior I could certainly take care of uys away fro out that I wasn’t ready to date anyone yet, I saw no point in interfering It was all true I wasn’t ready to date

Eddie gave me a lopsided s face "Are you excited?"

"Hell, yeah," I said Our classy to be like a vacation Me and Lissa, together for six weeks" As frustrating as our bond was souardian I always knehere she was and as happening to her Once we graduated and were out in the world, I’d be assigned to her officially

He turned thoughtful "Yeah, I guess you don’t have to worry as raduate The rest of us aren’t so lucky"

"You got your sights set on someone royal?" I teased

"Well, it doesn’t ned to royals lately anyway"

That was true Dhampirs - half-vaot first pick of guardians There was a time in the past when uardians, and novices like us would have coned to souardian would work for a royal fao around, and less influential fauess it’s a question of which royal you get, right? I mean, some are total snobs, but lots of them are cool Get so at the Royal Court or traveling to exotic places" That last part appealed tothe world

"Yup," agreed Eddie He nodded toward a few guys in the front row "You wouldn’t believe the way those three have been sucking up to some of the Ivashkovs and Szelskys It won’t affect their assignments here, of course, but you can tell they’re already trying to set things up after graduation"

"Well, the field experience can affect that Hoe’re rated on this will go into our records"

Eddie nodded again and started to say soh the murmur of our conversation We both looked up While we’d been talking, our instructors had gathered in front of the bleachers and now stood facing us in an i and irresistible Alberta was trying to call us to attention The crowd fell silent

"All right," she began Alberta was in her fifties, wiry and tough Seeing her reht, but I filed that away for later Victor Dashkov was not going to ruin this moment "You all knohy you’re here" We’d beco through the gym "This is the most important day of your education before you take your final trials Today you will find out which Moroi you’ve been placed with Last week, you were given a booklet with the full details of how the next six weeks will play out I trust you’ve all read it by now" I had, actually I’d probably never read anything so thoroughly in ht the main rules of this exercise"

She handed a clipboard to Guardian Stan Alto He was one of my least favorite instructors, but after Mason’s death, sohtened We understood each other better now

"Here we go," said Stan gruffly "You’ll be on duty six days a week This is actually a treat for you guys In the real world, you’re usually working every day You will accompany your Moroi everywhere - to class, to their dorure out how you fit into their lives Souardians just like friends; sohost who doesn’t talk to thehost? "Every situation is different, and you till have to find a way to work it out to best ensure their safety

"Attacks may come at any time, anywhere, and we’ll be dressed in all black when it happens You should always be on your guard Reh you’ll obviously know it’s us doing the attacking and not real Strigoi, you should respond as though your lives are in terrible, i us Soetting us back for past grievances" Students in the crowd giggled at this "But soetting in trouble Don’t You’ll get in more trouble if you do hold back Don’t worry We can take it"

He flipped to the next page of his clipboard "You will be on duty twenty-four hours a day for your six-day cycles, but you ht when your Moroi does Just be aware that although Strigoi attacks are rare in daylight, they aren’t impossible indoors, and you will not necessarily be ’safe’ during these times"

Stan read over a fewthe around, I could see I wasn’t alone in my impatience Excitement and apprehension crackled in the crowd Hands were clenched Eyes ide We all wanted our assignin

When Stan finished, he handed the clipboard to Alberta "Okay," she said "I’ to call out your names one by one and announce who you’re paired with At that tiive you a packet containing information about your Moroi’s schedule, past, etcetera"

We all straightened up as she leafed through her papers Students whispered Beside ood," he muttered "I don’t want to be miserable for the next six weeks"

I squeezed his aret soood, I mean Not be miserable"

"Ryan Aylesworth," Alberta announced clearly Eddie flinched, and I instantly knehy Before, Mason Ashford had always been the first one called on any class lists That would never happen again "You are assigned to Camille Conta"

"Damn,"to get Camille

Ryan was one of the suck-ups in the front row, and he grinned broadly as he walked over to take his packet The Contas were an up-and-co royal family It was rumored that one of their members was a candidate for when the Moroi queen eventually na her around wouldn’t be too hard for any guy Ryan, walking with a swagger, seemed very pleased with himself