The Golden Lily (17 page)

Mr. Redding looked a tiny bit sympathetic—but not enough to change his mind. “I’m sure that must have been hard, but it was hardly reason for you to act in that way. Injuring three people and damaging expensive audio visual equipment were in no way appropriate responses.” Understatement.

I was tired of the formalities and needed to fix things before they escalated further. I leaned forward in my chair. “You know what else isn’t appropriate? A thirty-year-old guy—because that’s how old he was, no matter how young and cool they were trying to be—grabbing a fifteen-year-old girl. It was bad enough that he did so when she clearly didn’t want to go with him. The point is he never should have touched her in the first place. She’s a minor. If a teacher did that, he’d be did so when she clearly didn’t want to go with him. The point is he never should have touched her in the first place. She’s a minor. If a teacher did that, he’d be fired. I’ve read the book teachers are given from your HR department.” It had been an attempt to see if Ms. Terwiliger was abusing me.

“Medical emergencies and breaking up a fight are the only times teachers can lay hands on students. Now, you might argue that that guy wasn’t a teacher or employed by the school, but his group was invited here by the school—which is obligated to keep its students safe. You’re a private school, but I’m certain the California Department of Education would have a few things to say about what happened here today—as will Angeline’s father, who’s a lawyer.” He was actualy the leader of a bunch of mountain vampires and had multiple wives, but that was beside the point. I looked back and forth between Mrs. Welch and Mr.

Redding’s faces. “Now then. Shal we renegotiate your position?”

Angeline was in awe after we left the office and went back to our dorm. “Suspension,” she exclaimed, a bit too much joy in her voice for my liking. “I realy just get to skip class? That sounds more like a reward.”

“You still have to keep up with your homework,” I warned.

“And you can’t leave the dorm. Don’t even think about sneaking out because that will get you expeled, and I won’t be able to save you again.”

“still,” she said, practicaly skipping, “this was all pretty easy.” I came to a halt in front of her, forcing her to face me. “It was not easy. You got off on a technicality.

You’ve continualy not easy. You got off on a technicality. You’ve continualy resisted efforts to folow the rules around here, and today—wel, that was off the charts. You aren’t back home. The only time you should even think about fighting here is if Jill is attacked.

That’s why you’re here. Not to do whatever you want. You said you were up to the chalenge of protecting her. If you get expeled—and it’s a miracle you weren’t

—she’s at risk. So get in line or start packing for home. And for God’s sake, leave Eddie alone.” Her face had been kindling with anger as I spoke, but that last bit caught her off guard. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you constantly throwing yourself at him.” She sniffed. “That’s how you show a guy you like him.”

“Maybe among the uncivilized! Here you need to back off and start acting like a responsible human being—er, dhampir.

Whatever. You’re making him miserable! Besides, you’re supposed to be cousins. You’re screwing up our cover.” Angeline’s jaw dropped. “I … I’m making him miserable?” I almost felt bad for her. The look of shock on her face was so great that it was obvious she realy hadn’t known what she was doing to Eddie was wrong. I was too worked up to feel much sympathy right then, though. Jill had acted out when we’d first arrived, and that had been just as frustrating. I’d come to enjoy our peace, and now Angeline was threatening all of that.

Unlike Jil, she didn’t seem to realize it, and I didn’t know if that made things better or worse.

I left an upset and frustrated Angeline off at her dorm room and also verified with Jill that Adrian had indeed been drinking.

and also verified with Jill that Adrian had indeed been drinking.

That and my agitation were more than enough to make me want to leave campus, if only for the escape. Brayden had asked earlier if I wanted to go out, but I wasn’t up to that. I sent a quick text: Can’t go out tonight. Family stuff. Then I headed off to Clarence’s.

I’d caled ahead to make sure Dimitri and Sonya were there since I had no interest in having a one-on-one visit with the ancient Moroi. He wasn’t around when I arrived. I found Dimitri and Sonya huddled over some cards with blots of dried blood, speculating on how to proceed.

“It’d be interesting to get Strigoi blood and see if anything happened when I applied spirit,” she was saying. “Do you think you could manage that?”

“Gladly,” said Dimitri.

They noticed me. As soon as she looked up, Sonya asked,

“What’s wrong?”

I didn’t even bother asking how she knew. My face probably said more than my aura did. “Angeline got into a brawl with a motivational group at school.” Dimitri and Sonya exchanged looks. “Maybe we should go get some dinner,” he said. He grabbed a set of keys from the table. “Let’s go downtown.” I never would’ve imagined that I’d look forward to going out with a Moroi and a dhampir. It was yet another sign of how far I’d advanced—or regressed, by Alchemist standards.

Compared to most of the other people in my life, Dimitri and Sonya were grounded and stable. It was refreshing.

Sonya were grounded and stable. It was refreshing.

I gave them a rundown of Angeline’s behavior, as well as my thinly veiled legal threat. That part seemed to amuse Sonya.

“Smart,” she said, twirling spaghetti on a fork. “Maybe you should be in law school instead of the Alchemists.” Dimitri found it less funny. “Angeline came here to do a job.

She wanted out of the Keepers and swore she’d devote every waking minute to protecting Jil.”

“There has been a bit of a culture shock,” I admitted, unsure as to why I was defending Angeline. “And those guys today … I mean, if they’d tried to get me to join their sing-along, I probably would’ve punched them too.”

their sing-along, I probably would’ve punched them too.”

“Unacceptable,” said Dimitri. He used to be a combat instructor, and I could understand why. “She’s here on a mission. What she did was reckless and irresponsible.” Sonya gave him a sly smile. “And here I thought you had a soft spot for reckless young girls.”

“Rose never would have done anything like that,” he countered. He paused to reconsider, and I could’ve sworn there was the hint of a smile there. “Wel, at least not in such a public setting.”

Once the Angeline topic was put to rest, I brought up the reason I’d come here. “So … no experiments today?” Even Sonya’s good nature faltered. “Ah. No, not exactly.

We’ve gone over some notes on our own, but Adrian hasn’t been … he hasn’t been quite up to the research this week. Or up to going to class.” to going to class.”

Dimitri nodded. “I was over there earlier. He could barely answer the door. No idea what he’d been drinking, but whatever it was, he’d had a lot.” Considering their rocky relationship, I would’ve expected disdain in discussing Adrian’s vices. Instead, Dimitri sounded disappointed, as though he’d expected better.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” I said. I’d eaten little of my dinner and was nervously tearing a roll into pieces.

“Adrian’s current mood isn’t entirely his fault. I mean, it is, but I can kind of understand it. You know we saw his dad this weekend, right? Well … it didn’t go wel.” There was a knowing glint in Dimitri’s dark eyes. “I’m not surprised. Nathan Ivashkov isn’t the easiest man to get along with.”

“He sort of tore down everything Adrian’s been trying to do. I tried to make a case for Adrian, but Mr. Ivashkov wouldn’t listen. That’s why I was wondering if you guys could help.” Sonya couldn’t hide her surprise. “I’d gladly help Adrian, but something tels me Nathan’s not going to realy put much stock in what we have to say.”

“That’s not what I was thinking.” I gave up on the bread and dropped all the pieces to my plate. “You guys are both close to the queen. Maybe you could get her to tell Adrian’s dad how … I don’t know. What an asset he’s been. How much he’s been helping. Obviously, she couldn’t explain exactly what he’s doing, but anything might help. Mr. Ivashkov won’t listen to Adrian or anyone else, but he’d have to take a commendation from the queen seriously. If she’d do it.” from the queen seriously. If she’d do it.” Dimitri looked thoughtful. “Oh, she’d do it. She’s always had a soft spot for him. Everyone seems to.”

“No,” I said stubbornly. “Not everyone. There’s a split. Half condemn him and write him off as useless like his dad. The other half just shrug and indulge him and say, ‘Wel, that’s Adrian.’” Sonya studied me carefuly, a trace of that amusement returning. “And you?”

“I don’t think he should be babied or disregarded. If you expect him to do great things, he wil.” Sonya said nothing right away, and I shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny. I didn’t like when she looked at me like this.

It was about more than auras. It was like she could see into my heart and soul.

“I’ll speak to Lissa,” she said at last. “And I’m sure Dimitri will too. In the meantime, let’s hope that if we folow your advice and expect Adrian to sober up soon, he wil.” We had just paid the check when Dimitri’s cell phone rang.

“Helo?” he answered. And like that, his face transformed. That fierceness I so associated with him softened, and he practicaly glowed. “No, no. It’s always a good time for you to cal, Roza.” Whatever the response on the other end was, it made him smile.

“Rose,” said Sonya to me. She stood up. “Let’s give them a little privacy. You want to take a walk?”

“Sure,” I said, rising as wel. Outside, dusk was faling.

“There’s a costume store a few blocks away I actualy want to check—if they’re still open.” Sonya glanced at Dimitri. “Meet us there?” she whispered. He Sonya glanced at Dimitri. “Meet us there?” she whispered. He gave a quick nod. Once we were outside in the warm evening air, she laughed. “Ah, those two. In a fight, they’re lethal.

Around each other, they melt.”

“Is that how you and Mikhail are?” I asked, thinking there wasn’t much melting with Brayden and me, no matter how much I enjoyed spending time with him.

She laughed again and glanced up at the sky, painted in shades of orange and blue. “Not exactly. Every relationship is different. Everyone loves differently.” There was a long pause as she chose her next words. “That was a nice thing you chose to do for Adrian.”

“There was no choice to be made,” I countered. We crossed onto a busier street, full of brightly lit stores with water misters outside that were meant to cool off hot shoppers. I winced at what that mist was doing to my hair. “I had to help. He didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. I can’t imagine how Adrian’s put up with that his whole life. And would you believe that what worried Adrian the most was that I would think less of him?”

“Actualy,” said Sonya softly, “I can very much believe that.” The costume store was still open, thanks to extended Haloween hours, but only for ten more minutes.

Sonya wandered around the aisles with no real goal, but I headed immediately for the historical section. They had exactly one Greek-style dress left, a plain white gown with a gold plastic belt. I knelt down to take a better look. Opening the package, I felt the fabric. It was cheap, probably flammable. The dress was felt the fabric. It was cheap, probably flammable. The dress was also an XL, and I wondered if Jill had learned enough in sewing club to take it in for me. With less than a week until the dance, my options were limited.

“Realy?” a voice beside me said. “Haven’t you insulted me enough without resorting to this trash?” Standing above me was Lia DiStefano. Her curly hair was bound up with a bright red scarf, and a voluminous peasant blouse made her petite body look like it had wings. She peered down at me disapprovingly with kohl-bound up with a bright red scarf, and a voluminous peasant blouse made her petite body look like it had wings. She peered down at me disapprovingly with kohl-lined eyes.

“Are you folowing me?” I asked, getting to my feet. “Every time I’m downtown, here you are.”

“If I were folowing you, I never would have let you set foot in here in the first place.” She pointed at the costume. “What is that?”

“My outfit for Haloween,” I said. “I’m going Greek.”

“It’s not even the right size.”

“I’ll get it taken in.”

She tsked. “I’m so appaled, I don’t even know where to start. You want a Greek dress? I’ll make you one. A good one.

Not this monstrosity. My God. People know you know me. If you were seen in that, it’d ruin my career.”

“Yeah, because what I wear to a high school dance will realy make or break you.”

“When’s your dance?” she asked.

“Saturday.”

“Easy,” she declared. She gave me a once-over and nodded in satisfaction. “Easy measurements too. Is your sister dressing in satisfaction. “Easy measurements too.

Is your sister dressing just as badly?”

“Not sure,” I admitted. “She talked about making a fairy dress in sewing club. A blue one, I think.” Lia blanched. “Even worse. I’ll make her a dress too. I’ve already got her measurements.” I sighed. “Lia, I know what you’re trying to do, and it won’t work. Jill absolutely cannot model for you again. It doesn’t matter how much bribery you try.” Lia attempted an innocent look that was in no way convincing.

“Who said anything about bribery? I’m doing this out of charity.

It’d be a disgrace to let you two go out in anything less than the best.”

“Lia—”

“Do not buy that,” she warned, pointing at the costume. “It’s a waste. You might as well set your money on fire—although, it probably wouldn’t light as fast as that dress. I’ll let you know when your costumes are ready.” With that, she turned on her high wooden heels and walked away, leaving me staring.

“Did you get a costume?” Sonya asked me later, once the closing store forced us to leave.

“Weirdly, yes,” I said. “But not from there.” Dimitri apparently wasn’t done with his cal, since he hadn’t joined us yet. We stroled leisurely back toward the restaurant, wanting to give him more time with Rose. Other stores were closing, and the tourists were beginning to thin out. I explained the meeting with Lia. Sonya found it more amusing than I did.