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Everyone had hit it off so well at lunch with Avery that the group had gotten together again that evening and had kind of a wild ti about that as she sat in her first-period English class the nextout past curfew The ht a smile to Lissa’s face, even as she stifled a yawn I couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of jealousy I knew Avery was responsible for Lissa’s happiness, and that bothered me on a petty level Yet Avery’s new friendship was alsoLissa

Lissa yawned again It was hard to concentrate on The Scarlet Letter while fighting a slight hangover Avery see supply of liquor Adrian had taken to this right away, but Lissa had been a littletiht and drunk lasses of wine than she really should have It wasn’t unlike h Both of us overindulging, despite being h-pitched wail pierced the air Lissa’s head shot up, along with everyone else’s in the class In a corner of the roo Naturally, so while some pretended to be scared The rest just looked surprised and waited

Lissa’s instructor also looked a little caught off guard, and after a quick examination, Lissa decided this wasn’t a planned alarm Teachers usually had a heads-up when there were drills, and Ms Malloy didn’t wear the usual weary expression teachers had when trying to figure out how much time the drill would cut from their lessons

"Up and at ’e a clipboard "You knohere to go" Fire drill procedure was pretty standard

Lissa followed the others and fell in step with Christian "Did you set this up?" she teased

"Nope Wish I had, though This class is killing me"

"You? I have the worst headache ever"

He gave her a knowing grin "Let that be a lesson to you, Little Miss Lush"

She ht punch They reached their class’sspot out on the quad and joined in the se to form Ms Malloy arrived and checked everyone off on her clipboard, satisfied no one had been left behind

"I don’t think this was planned," said Lissa

"Agreed," said Christian "Which ht take a while"

"Well, then No use waiting around, huh?"

Christian and Lissa turned around in surprise at the voice behind them and saw Avery She wore a purple sweater dress and black heels that seerass

"What are you doing here?" asked Lissa "Figured you’d be in your roo there I had to couys"

"You did this?" asked Christian, slightly ied "I told you, I was bored Now, come on while it’s still chaotic"

Christian and Lissa exchanged glances "Well," said Lissa slowly, "I suppose they did already take attendance"

"Hurry!" said Avery Her excite bold, Lissa hurried after her, Christian in tow With all theacross the ca Siainst the door, and Lissa stiffened They were busted

"Everything set?" Avery asked hi-and-silent type, gave a swift nod as his only answer before straightening up He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and walked off Lissa stared in ao? And is he in on it?" Simon wasn’t on campus as a teacher, but still that didn’t necessarily mean he’d let students skip out on class because of a faked fire drill

Avery grinned ether for a while He’s got better things to do than babysit us"

She led the to her roo and went somewhere I kneell: Adrian’s room

Avery beat on the door "Hey, Ivashkov! Open up"

Lissa slapped a hand over her les "Soto hear you"

"I need hi on the door and yelling, and finally, Adrian answered His hair stuck up at odd angles, and he had dark circles under his eyes

He’d drunk twice as ht

"What?" He blinked "Shouldn’t you guys be in class? Oh God I didn’t sleep thatpast "We’ve got refugees from a fire here"

She flounced onto his couch,Lissa and Christian joined her

"Avery sprang the fire alarm," explained Lissa

"Nice work," said Adrian, collapsing into a fluffy chair "But why’d you have to co down?"

Avery batted her eyelashes at him "Aren’t you happy to see us?"

He eyed her speculatively for a moment "Always happy to see you"

Lissa was nor, but so about it amused her It was so wild, so silly it was a break fro to take the everyone in right now"

"They could be," agreed Avery, putting her feet up on the coffee table "But I have it on good authority that another alaro off in the school once they open the doors"

"How the hell did you e that?" asked Christian

"Top secret"

Adrian rubbed his eyes and was clearly amused by this, despite the abrupt wake-up "You can’t pull fire alarood authority that once they give the all-clear on a second alarhed out loud, though a lot of it was due uys’ reactions and less to Avery’s announcement Christian, in fits of antisocial rebellion, had set people on fire Adrian spent irl like Avery to astonish the truly re outdone theation’s over now," she said, "aren’t you going to offer your guests any refreshments?"

Adrian stood up and yawned "Fine, fine, you insolent girl I’ll make coffee"

"With a kick?" She inclined her head toward Adrian’s liquor cabinet

"You have got to be kidding," said Christian "Do you even have a liver left?"

Avery wandered over to the cabinet and picked up a bottle of soa rebelliousness had lih, no"

"Cowards," said Avery She turned back to Adrian "Well then, Mr Ivashkov, you’d best put on the pot I always like a little coffee withafter that, I faded away fro to the blackness of sleep and ordinary drea soon jerked me into consciousness

My eyes flew open, and a deep, searing pain shot through the back of my skull-the aftereffects of that toxic vodka, no doubt Lissa’s hangover had nothing onto sink back under and let sleep heal the worst of ain -and worse,it

Openinginto Yeva’s shrewd dark eyes If Sydney had ht our race were ain

"Hey," I cried "I’ in Russian, and Paul peered around fro "She says you’re not awake until you’re actually out of bed and standing up"

And with nothe bed I jerked upright, and the world spun around me I’d said this before, but this tiood ever caonized body, but a few more kicks from Yeva’s pointy-toed boots made me shoot up off the bed

"Okay, okay Are you happy now? I’e, but at least she stopped with the kicking I turned to Paul "What’s going on?"

"Grando with her"

"Where?"

"She says you don’t need to know"

I started to say that I wasn’t following that crazy old wench anywhere, but after one look at her scary face, I thought better of it I didn’t put it past her to be able to turn people into toads

"Fine," I said "I’ll be ready to go once I shower and change"

Paul translated ain "She says there’s no tio now"

"Can I at least brush my teeth?"

She allowed that se of clothes was apparently out of the question It was just as well Each step I tookso The clothes didn’t s either; they were mostly just wrinkled froot downstairs, I saw that no one else ake except Olena She ashing leftover dishes froht and seemed surprised to see me up That made two of us

"It’s early for you, isn’t it?" she asked

I turned and caught sight of the kitchen clock I gasped It was only about four hours after I’d gone to bed "Good God Is the sun even up?"

Aain, Yeva reiterated our time crunch My stomach seemed to simultaneously want and loathe food, so I couldn’t say if abstaining was a good thing or not

"Whatever," I said "Let’s just go and get this over with"

Yeva walked into the living rooe satchel She handed it toit over one shoulder It clearly had stuff in it, but it wasn’t that heavy She went back out to the other roo I took this one too and hung it over the sa both of them This one was heavier, but my back didn’t complain too much

When she left for a third tiet irate "What is this?" I de it from her It felt like it had bricks in it

"Grands," Paul told ritted teeth "I sort of figured that out fifty pounds ago"

Yeva gaveit on top of the other It wasn’t as heavy, but by this point, it honestly didn’t matter Olena shot me a sympathetic look, shook her head, and returned silently to her dishes, apparently not about to argue with Yeva

Yeva set off after that, and I followed obediently, trying to both hold the boxes and not let the bags fall off over body really didn’t want, but I was strong enough that I figured it wouldn’t be a probleat my side, apparently there to letthe road she wanted ing into Siberia far faster than it ever did into Montana The sky was clear, and the ly fast It was hardly suh to notice It would haveweather for a Moroi

"Do you knohere we’re going?" I asked Paul

"No," he said cheerfully

For soood pace, and I foundto hurry to keep up with her withthat Paul translated as, "She’s kind of surprised that you can’t move faster"

"Yeah, well, I’m kind of surprised that no one else can carry any of this"

He translated again: "She says if you’re really such a faoi killer, then this shouldn’t be a problereat relief when don ca past it

"Oh, co?"

Without giving"Grandmother says Uncle Dimka never would have complained so much," Paul said

None of this was Paul’s fault; he was just the er Yet, every time he spoke, I kind of wanted to kick hielse for the rest of the walk Yeva was right to a certain extent I was a Strigoi hunter, and it was true that Dimitri would have never complained about some old lady’s crazy whims He would have done his duty patiently

I tried to suht about that tiht about the way his lips had felt on mine and the wonderful scent of his skin when I’d pressed closer to hi in my ear that he lovedof him didn’t take away the discomfort of my journey with Yeva, but it made it a little more bearable