Page 19 (1/2)

Nineteen

LISSA HAD BEEN MY best friend ever since ele so many secrets from her lately had hurt soto share as on her mind - but then, maybe that was because she had no choice I used to be that ith her, yet at so my secrets in, unable to tell her about Dimitri or the real reason I’dthat way It ate uilty around her

Today, however, there was absolutely no way I could wiggle out of explaining what had happened at the airport Even if I , the fact that I was on half-tioing on No excuses this tiave her and Christian - as well as Eddie and Adrian, ere hanging around - the short version of what had happened

"You think you saw ghosts?" Christian exclaimed "Seriously?" The look on his face showeda list of snide comments to oing on, but I don’t want to elaborate on it It’s getting worked out, so just let it drop"

’’Rose " began Lissa uneasily A hurricane of eh to me from her Fear Concern Shock Her compassion made me feel that much worse

I shook uys can think whatever you want aboutto talk about it Not now Just leave er me because of her normal persistence I expected Adrian and Christian to because of their irritating natures But even though my words had been simple, I realized I’d delivered them with a harshness both in voice and manner It was Lissa’s surprised mental reaction that alerted uys’ faces to realize I must have sounded incredibly bitchy

"Sorry," I mumbled "I appreciate the concern, but I’m just not in the mood"

Lissa eyed ave her a brief nod, secretly wondering how I could avoid that conversation

She and Adrian hadable to be close to her, but I was only able to do so because Christian was hanging around too And honestly, I couldn’t figure out why he stayed I guess he was still a little jealous, despite everything that had happened Of course, if he’d known about the queen’s ood reason Nonetheless, it was clear theseto bore him We were in Ms Meissner’s classrooether and stretched out across the an arets interesting," he said

Eddie and I stood in a central position that let us watch the door and hile also staying near the Moroi

"You really saw Mason?" Eddie whispered to me He turned sheepish "Sorryyou said you didn’t want to talk about it"

I started to say yes, that was exactly what I’d saidbut then I saw the look on Eddie’s face He wasn’t asking me about this out of perverse curiosity He asked because of Mason, because of their closeness, and because Eddie wasn’t over his best friend’s death any more than I was I think he found the idea of Mason co, but then, he hadn’t been the one to actually see Mason’s ghost

"I think it was hiined it"

"How did he look? Was he upset?"

"He lookedsad Really sad"

"If it was really hiround,to watch the room "I’ve alondered if he was upset that we didn’t save hi we could have done," I told hi exactly what everyone had told me "But I wondered that too, because Father Andrew had e But Mason didn’t look that way He just see"

Eddie looked back up suddenly, realizing he was still on guard duty He didn’t say anything else after that, but I knehere his thoughts were

Meanwhile, Adrian and Lissa were ress Or rather, Adrian was The two of theone dormant for the winter and put them in little pots The pots were now lined up in a row on a long table Lissa touched one, and I felt the euphoria of ic burn within her A reen and sprouted leaves

Adrian stared hard at it, as though it held all the secrets of the universe, and then exhaled deeply "Okay Here goes nothing"

He lightly placed his fingers on a different plant Here goes nothingactually happened Then, a few reen started to grow in it and then it stopped

"You did it," said Lissa, impressed I could also feel that she was a little jealous Adrian had learned one of her tricks, but she still hadn’t learned any of his

"Hardly," he said, glaring at the plant He was completely sober, with none of his vices tohi in co?" she asked "It was great You "

"Not as good as you, though," he said, still sounding like he was ten years old

I couldn’t help but pipe in "Then stop bitching and try again"

He glanced over athis lips "Hey, no advice, Ghost Girl Guardians should be seen and not heard" I flipped him off for the "Ghost Girl" co to hiain"

"You do it one more time," he said "I want to watch you I can kind of feel what you do to it"

She perforic flare up, as well as the joy that came with it - and then she faltered A flash of fear and instability tinged thea little of when her ed silently It’s happening I kneould if she kept using the ain

And like that, the dark spot within her s returned to norrow I’d missed it because I’d been distracted by her lapse Adrian had ic too because his eyes were on me His expression was troubled and very, very confused

"Okay," said Lissa happily She didn’t realize he hadn’t paid attention "Try again"

Adrian focused his attention back on their work Sighing, he estured hi on the one you started Maybe you can only do it in s, he turned his attention to his original plant For a few ned in the roo, and sas actually for last, the plant twitched again It grew even greener, and tiny buds appeared on it Glancing up at hirit his teeth, no doubt concentrating for all he orth The buds burst Leaves and tiny white flowers appeared

Lissa made what could only be called a whoop of joy "You did it!" She hugged hiht washed over me from her She was sincerely happy that he’d been able to do it And while she was still disappointed at her lack of progress, it inspired hope in her that he’d replicated her abilities That meant they truly could learn from each other

"I can’t wait until I’ new," she said, still a tiny bit jealous

Adrian tapped a notebook "Well, there are plenty of other tricks in the world of spirit You’ve got to be able to learn at least one of them"

"What’s that?" I asked

"Remember that research I did on people who’d shoeird behaviors?" she asked "We s that showed up" I did remember In her search to find others with spirit, she’d uncovered clai abilities no one had ever seen Few people believed the reports were true, but Lissa was convinced they were spirit users

"Along with healing, auras, and drea on"

"You already knew that," I said

"No, this is evenpeople what to do It’s also s that aren’t even there"

"What, like hallucinations?" I asked

"Kind of," he said "There are stories of people using coht attacked or whatever"

I shivered "That’s actually kind of scary"

"And awesoreed with , but that just see"

Christian yawned "Now that victory has been achieved, can we call it a night with thebehindup and alert His eyes were on Lissa and Adrian, and he did not look happy about the victory hug Lissa and Christian had broken apart, though not because they’d noticed his reaction They were both too distracted by their own exciteain?" asked Lissa eagerly "Make it grow?"

Adrian shook his head "Not right away That took a lot out of estured in Christian’s direction "Go do soh all of this"

Lissa walked over to Christian, her face alight with joy She looked beautiful and radiant, and I could tell it was hard for him to stay too mad at her The harsh expression on his face softened, and I saw the rare gentleness that only she could bring out in hi his hand

We set off Eddie walked near guard with Lissa and Christian, which left uard It also leftbehind and talk to ot to be the one to deal with the toxic cloud that generated Honestly, I couldn’t figure out why no one in charge had busted him for this I wrinkled my nose at the suard and stay behind with that thing," I told hiarette and sta it behind I hated that al in the first place

"What do you think, little dhampir?" he asked "I was pretty badass with that plant, wasn’t I? Of course, it would have been row a limb back Or maybe separated Siamese twins But that’ll come with more practice"

"If you want some advice - which I’uys should lay off on thein on Lissa"

"What?" he asked in s to you?"

"It does not And no, he’s still worried about it, despite what I’ve told hiht now, it would make him feel better"

"If you touch me," I said pleasantly, "I’ll provide you with the opportunity to see if you can heal yourself Then we’d see how badass you really are"

"I’d get Lissa to heal h" The sardonic sic"

"Yeah," I said "I know Could you sense it too?"

"No But I saw it" He frowned "Rosere crazy and I said you weren’t?"

"Yeah"

"I think II think you are crazy"

I nearly stopped walking "What the hell does thatis, when Lissa did the second plant her aura di hat I felt," I said "It was kind of like sheI don’t know, grew ile for a moment, kind of like she used to But it went away"

He nodded "Yeah, that’s the thingthe darkness in her aura went away and into yours Like, I’ve noticed before that you guys have a big difference in auras, but this ti It was like that spot of darkness ju about that made me shiver "What does it mean?"

"Well, this is why I think you’re crazy Lissa isn’t having any side effects froht? And you, well you’ve been feeling kind of short-tehosts" He said the words casually, like seeing ghosts was just so that happened fro there is in spirit that screith theher stay stable, and you, well as I said, you’re seeing ghosts"

It was like being shosts Me "catching" Lissa’s madness I remembered how she’d been at her worst, depressed and self-destructive I remembered our former teacher, Ms Karp, who’d also been a spirit user - and cooi

"No," I said in a strained voice "That’s not happening to me"

"What about your bond? You have that connection Her thoughts and feelings creep into youwhy not the ht and curious He didn’t realize just howto freak me out