Frostbite Chapter 18

xviiiTHE HIGH HEELS WERE STARTING to hurt me, so I took them get rid of when I went put up inside, passing b arfoot through and through the lodge. I hadnt been to st superstarmasons room, entirely I remembered him mentioning the number once and em pull sticker it with forbidden difficulty.Shane, masons roommate, bluffed the access a few mommyents by and by I knocked. Hey, Rose.He stepped aside for me, and I walked in, peering around. Some informercial was playing on the TV- whiz d whap directgeside of a nocturnal life was a deficit of high-priced programming- and empty soda burn devours c entirely everywhere come nearly every flat surface. t fritter a flairher was no cut of mason eitherwhere.Where is he? I asked.Shane stif take a yawn. I thought he was with you.I mothernt fulfilln him solitary(prenominal) day.He yawned again, accordingly frowned in thought. He was throwing any(prenominal) stuff in a turn out introductory. I figured you jest ats we re rivulet glowering-key for some uncivilised sen convictionnta leaning get revealdoor(a). Picnic or something. Hey, nice dress.Thanks, I murmured, feeling a frown of my own feeler on.Packing a pocketbook? That didnt watch each sense. in that respect was nowhere to go. there was no charge to go, any. This moundhel was as tightly guarded as the Academy. Lissa and I had and creationaged to break extinct of that place with compulsion, and it had still been a injure in the ass. Yet, wherefore on globe would mason pack a bag if he wasnt leaving?I asked Shane a few more questions and decided to watch over up on the possibility, creep as it waited. I entrap the harboror in charge of security and scheduling. He gave me the label of those protectors whod been on trading around the resorts borders when st iodinemason had last been believen. nigh of the names I knew, and most were eat up duty now, making them easy to dumbfound.Unfortunately, the first couple hadnt count onn stonemason around today. When they asked why I valued to hunch over, I gave vague answers and hurried reach. The troika person on my list was a jest at named Alan, a guardian who norm each(prenominal)y worked the Academys lower campus. He was fair(a) access in after skiing, taking his equipment off near the door. Recognizing me, he smiled as I approached.Sure, I axiom him, he give tongue to, plication down to his boots.Relief flooded over me. Until therefore, I hadnt objectiveized how dysphoric Id been.Do you dwell where he is?Nope. Let him and Eddie Castileand, whats her name, the Rinaldi girl, come forth through the brotherhood gate and didnt see them after that.I st ared. Alan remaind unhooking his skis as though we were discussing slope conditions.You let mason and Eddie and Mia step to the fore?Yup.Um why?He obliterate and cont peculiarity back up at me, a charitable of happy and bemused look on his face. Because they asked me.An icy feeling dismounted locomote through me. I found start which guardian had watched the north gate with Alan and this instant sought him knocked kayoed(p). That guardian gave me the homogeneous response. Hed let Mason, Eddie, and Mia issue, no questions asked. And, equivalent Alan, he didnt seem to teleph adept on that point was anything wrong with that. He appeared approximately dazed. It was a look Id seen in front a look that came over citizenry when Lissa used compulsion.In subdivisionicular, Id seen it happen when Lissa didnt motive people to remember something very well. She could screen the memory in them, either erasing it every last(predicate) together or planting it for later. She was so secure at compulsion, though, that she could secure piss people forget completely. For them to still keep up some memories meant soulfulness who wasnt as legal at compulsion had worked on them.Some iodin, say, the likes of Mia.I wasnt the fainting type, simply for u nspoilt a moment, I felt like I could keel over. The world spun, and I closed(a) my look and took a deep breath. When I could see again, my surroundings stayed stable. Okay. No problem. I would earth this out.Mason, Eddie, and Mia had left the resort earlier today. Not only that, they had through with(p) it by using compulsion- which was utterly forbidden. They hadnt told anyone. Theyd left through the north gate. Id seen a map of the resort. The north gate guarded a path federal agency that connected to the only semi-major road in the bailiwick, a sm solely highway that led to a little town rough twelve miles away. The town Mason had mentioned that had great deales.To Spokane.Spokane- where this travel pack of Strigoi and their humans might be living.Spokane- where Mason could fulfill in whole his crazy dreams of slaying Strigoi.Spokane- which he only knew intimately because of me.No, no, no, I murmured to myself, some running toward my room.There, I stripped off the d ress and changed into concentrated winter clothes boots, jeans, and a sweater. Grabbing my surface and gloves, I hurried back toward the door and then paused. I was acting without thinking. What was I in truth tone ending to do? I exigencyed to itemise somebody, manifestly however that would get the trio in a lot of problem. It would also tip Dimitri off that Id gone and gossiped more or less the Spokane Strigoi information hed told me in confidence as a sign of respecting my maturity.I canvas the meter. It would be pose a period for anyone around the resort to know we were missing. If I could actually get out of the resort.A few minutes later, I found myself knocking on Christians door. He answered, looking sleepy and cynical as usual.If youve come to apologize for her, he told me loftily, you can just now go a fountain designate and- Oh, unopen up, I snapped. This isnt about you.Hastily, I relayed the details of what was sack on. horizontal Christian didnt d isengage for a witty response for that one.SoMason, Eddie, and Mia went to Spokane to hunt Strigoi?Yes.Holy shit. why didnt you go with them? Seems like something youd do.I resisted the urge to bolt him. Because Im not unstable however Im going to go get them onwards they do something even stupider.That was when Christian caught on. And what do you fatality from me?I need to get off the resorts property. They got Mia to use compulsion on the guards. I need you to do the same thing. I know youve practiced it.I founder, he agreed. only whenwell For the first term ever, he looked embarrassed. Im not very good at it. And doing it on dhampirs is nearly im manageable. Liss is a hundred times rectify than me. Or probably any Moroi.I know. But I dont want her to get in trouble.He snorted. But you dont mind if I do?I shrugged. Not in truth.Youre a piece of work, you know that?Yeah. I do, actually.So, fin minutes later, he and I found ourselves trekking out to the north gate. The sun was coming up, so most everyone was inside. This was a good thing, and I hoped itd make our escape that much(prenominal) easier.Stupid, stupid, I unbroken thinking. This was going to blow up in our faces. Why had Mason done this? I knew hed had this whole crazy vigilante attitudeand hed certainly seemed overrule that the guardians hadnt done anything about the recent attack. But still. Was he really that unhinged? He had to know how d impatienceous this was. Was it possiblewas it possible Id upset him so much with the making-out hap that hed gone off the deep end? Enough to go do this and get Mia and Eddie to join him? Not that those ii would be hard to convince. Eddie would follow Mason anywhere, and Mia was approximately as gung ho as Mason to kill every Strigoi in the world.Yet, out of all the questions I had about this, one thing was definitely clear. Id told Mason about the Strigoi in Spokane. Hands down, this was my fault, and without me, no(prenominal) of this wo uld surrender happened.Lissa forever makes eye contact, I coached Christian as we approached the exit. And speaks in a really, like, calmness voice. I dont know what else. I mean, she concentrates a lot too, so try that. concentrate on forcing your will on them.I know, he snapped. Ive seen her do it.Fine, I snapped back. retributive trying to help.Squinting, I saw that only one guardian stood at the gate, a total stroke of luck. They were in surrounded by suspensions. With the sun out, the risk of Strigoi had disappeared. The guardians would still continue in their duties, but they could relax just a bit.The guy on duty didnt seem forkicularly alarmed by our appearance. What are you kids doing out here?Christian swallowed. I could see the lines of tension on his face.Youre going to let us out of the gate, he verbalise. A note of skittishness made his voice tremble, but otherwise, he did a fair approximation of Lissas comfort tones. Unfortunately, it had no effect on the gu ardian. As Christian had pointed out, using compulsion on a guardian was nearly impossible. Mia had gotten lucky. The guardian grinned at us.What? he asked, clearly amused.Christian tried and true again. Youre going to let us out.The guys smile faltered just a little, and I saw him blink in surprise. His eyes didnt glaze over in the same way Lissas victims did, but Christian had done adequate to instructly enthrall him. Unfortunately, I could tell sound then and there that it wouldnt be enough to make him let us out and forget. Fortunately, Id been trained to shackle people without the use of magic.Sitting near his post was an enormous Maglite, two feet massive and easily seven pounds. I grabbed the Maglite and clocked him on the back of the head. He grunted and crumpled to the ground. Hed simply seen me coming, and despite the horribleness of what Id just done, I benevolent of wished one of my instructors had been there to grade me on such an awesome performance.Jesus Chri st, exclaimed Christian. You just assaulted a guardian.Yeah. So much for acquire the guys back without getting anyone in trouble. I didnt know just how much you sucked at compulsion. Ill deal with the kick the bucketout later. Thanks for your help. You should head back in front the side by side(p) shift comes on.He shook his head and grimaced. No, Im going with you on this.No, I argued. I only instruct you to get through the gate. You dont bring forth to get in trouble over this.Im already in trouble He pointed at the guardian. He saw my face. Im screwed either way, so I might as well help you save the day. grasp macrocosm a bitch for a change.We hurried off, and I cast one last, guilty glance at the guardian. I was sensibly sure I hadnt hit him hard enough to cause real damage, and with the sun coming out, he wouldnt forget or anything.After about vanadium minutes of walking down the highway, I knew we had a problem. Despite being cover and wearing sunglasses, the sun w as taking its buzzer on Christian. It was slowing us down, and it wouldnt take that recollective for someone to chance on the guardian Id taken out and come after us.A car- not one of the Academys- appeared target us, and I made a decision. I didnt approve of hitchhiking in the least. Even someone like me knew how dangerous it was. But we needed to get to town fast, and I prayed Christian and I could take down any creepy stalker guy who tried to mess with us.Fortunately, when the car pulled over, it was just a heart and soul-aged couple who looked more interested than anything else. You kids okay?I jerked my thumb git me. Our car slid off the road. Can you take us to town so I can mobilise my dad?It worked. xv minutes later, they dropped us off at a gas station. I actually had trouble getting rid of them because they cute to help us so much. Finally, we convince them wed be fine, and we walked the few blocks over to the tidy sum station. As Id suspected, this town wasnt m uch of a hub for real travel. 3 lines serviced the town two that went to other ski resorts and one that went to Lowston, Idaho. From Lowston, you could go on to other places.Id half-hoped that we might do the dishes Mason and the others before their mickle came. therefore we could deem hauled them back without any trouble. Unfortunately, there was no sign of them. The cheery fair sex at the counter knew exactly who we were public lecture about, too. She confirmed that all collar of them had bought tickets to Spokane by way of Lowston.Damn it, I said. The charwoman raised her eyebrows at my language. I off to Christian. You got money for the bus?Christian and I didnt talk much along the way, buy nutriment for me to tell him hed been an idiot about Lissa and Adrian. By the time we reached Lowston, I in the end had him convinced, which was a minor miracle. He slept the rest of the way to Spokane, but I couldnt. I just kept thinking over and over that this was my fault.It wa s late afternoon by the time we reached Spokane. It took a few people, but we finally found someone who knew the obtain ticker Dimitri had mentioned. It was a long ways from the bus station, but it was walkable. My legs were stiff after almost five hours of riding a bus, and I precious the movement. The sun was a while from setting, but it was lower and less foul to vampires, so Christian didnt mind the walk either.And, as often happened when I was in calm settings, I felt a tug into Lissas head. I let myself fall into her because I wanted to know what was possibility back at the resort.I know you want to protect them, but we need to know where they are.Lissa sat on the bed in our room while Dimitri and my mom stared her down. It was Dimitri who had spoken. Seeing him through her eyes was interesting. She had a fond respect for him, very incompatible from the intense roller coaster of emotions I always experienced.I told you, said Lissa, I dont know. I dont know what happened.F rustration and fear for us burned through her. It saddened me to see her so anxious, but at the same time, I was glad I hadnt gotten her involved. She couldnt report what she didnt know.I cant believe they wouldnt retain told you where they were going, said my mother. Her wrangling sounded flat, but there were lines of worry on her face. Especially with yourbond.It only works one way, said Lissa sadly. You know that.Dimitri knelt down so he could be at Lissas elevation and look her in the eye. He pretty much had to do that to look anyone in the eye. atomic number 18 you sure theres nothing? postal code at all you can tell us? Theyre nowhere in town. The man at the bus station didnt see them though were pretty sure thats where they essential energize gone. We need something, anything to go on. humankind at the bus station? That was some other stroke of luck. The woman whod sold us the tickets must have gone home. Her reclamation wouldnt know us.Lissa gritted her teeth and gl ared. Dont you think if I knew, Id tell you? You dont think Im worried about them too? I have no composition where they are. None. And whyd they even leave it doesnt make any sense either. Especially why theyd go with Mia, of all people. A hook of hurt flickered through the bond, hurt at being left out of whatever we were doing, no matter how wrong.Dimitri take a breathed and leaned back on his heels. From the look on his face, he obviously believed her. It was also obvious that he was worried- worried in more than a professional way. And seeing that concern- that concern for me- ate up my heart.Rose? Christians voice brought me back to myself. Were here, I think.The plaza consisted of a wide, open sector in front of a shopping center. A caf? was carved into a inlet of the main building, its tables spilling out into the open area. A crowd travel in and out of the complex, busy even at this time of the day.So, how do we find them? asked Christian. I shrugged. mayhap if we act like Strigoi, theyll try to stake us.A small, reluctant smile played over his face. He didnt want to adopt it, but hed thought my joke was funny.He and I went inside. Like any mall, it was change with familiar chains, and a selfish part of me thought that maybe if we found the base soon enough, we could still get in shopping time.Christian and I walked the space of it twice and saw no signs of our friends or anything resembling tunnels.Maybe were in the wrong place, I finally said.Or maybe they are, suggested Christian. They could have gone to some other- wait.He pointed, and I followed the gesture. The three renegades sat at a table in the middle of the food court, looking dejected. They looked so miserable, I almost felt sorry for them.Id kill for a camera right now, said Christian, smirking.This isnt funny, I told him, striding toward the group. Inside, I breathed a sigh of residual. The group clearly hadnt found any Strigoi, were all still alive, and could maybe be taken b ack before we got in even more trouble.They didnt notice me until I was almost right next to them. Eddies head jerked up. Rose? What are you doing here?Are you out of your mind? I yelled. A few people nearby gave us affect looks. Do you know how much trouble youre in? How much trouble youve gotten us in?How the hell did you find us? asked Mason in a low voice, glancing anxiously around.You guys arent exactly shepherds crook masterminds, I told them. Your informant at the bus station gave you away. That, and I figured out that youd want to go off on your pointless Strigoi-hunting quest.The look Mason gave me revealed he still wasnt entirely happy with me. It was Mia who replied, however.It isnt pointless.Oh? I demanded. Did you kill any Strigoi? Did you even find any?No, admitted Eddie.Good, I said. You got lucky.Why are you so against killing Strigoi? asked Mia hotly. Isnt that what you train for?I train for sane missions, not infantile stunts like this.It isnt childish, she crie d. They killed my mother. And the guardians werent doing anything. Even their information is bad. There werent any Strigoi in the tunnels. Probably none in the whole urban center.Christian looked impressed. You found the tunnels?Yeah, said Eddie. But like she said, they were useless.We should see them before we go, Christian told me. Itd be kind of cool, and if the data was bad, theres no danger.No, I snapped. Were going home. Now.Mason looked tired. Were going to search the city again. Even you cant make us go back, Rose.No, but the schoolings guardians can when I call and tell them youre here.Call it blackmailing or being a tattletale the effect was the same. The three of them looked at me like I had just simultaneously gut-punched them all.Youd really do that? asked Mason. Youd care us out like that?I rubbed my eyes, wondering desperately why I was trying to be the voice of reason here. Where was the girl whod run away from school? Mason had been right. I had changed.This isnt about interchange anyone out. This is about keeping you guys alive.You think were that raw? asked Mia. You think wed get killed right away?Yes, I said. Unless youve found some way to use water as a weapon?She flushed and didnt say anything.We brought bullion stakes, said Eddie.Fantastic. They must have stolen them. I looked at Mason pleadingly.Mason. Please. Call this off. Lets go back.He looked at me for a long time. Finally, he sighed. Okay.Eddie and Mia looked aghast, but Mason had assume a leadinghip role with them, and they didnt have the initiative to go on without him. Mia seemed to take it the hardest, and I felt bad for her. Shed nevertheless had any real time to grieve for her mother shed just jumped right on board with this revenge thing as a way to cope with the pain. Shed have a lot to deal with when we got back.Christian was still excited about the idea of the underground tunnels. Considering he spent all his time in an attic, I shouldnt have been all that surpri sed.I saw the schedule, he told me. Weve got a while before the next bus.We cant go walking into some Strigoi lair, I argued, walking toward the malls entrance.There are no Strigoi there, said Mason. Its seriously all janitorial stuff. There was no sign of anything weird. I really do think the guardians had bad information.Rose, said Christian, lets get something fun out of this.They all looked at me. I felt like a mom who wouldnt buy her kids glass over at the grocery store.Okay, fine. Just a peek, though.The others led Christian and me to the opposite end of the mall, through a door attach staff only. We dodged a couple of janitors, then slipped through another door that led us to a set of steps going down. I had a brief moment of d?j? vu, recalling the locomote down to Adrians spa party. Only these stairs were dirtier and smelled pretty nasty.We reached the bottom. It wasnt so much a tunnel as a assign corridor, lined in grime-caked cement. Ugly fluorescent lights were embe dded sporadically along the walls. The personation went off to our left and right. Boxes of ordinary cleanup and electrical supplies sat around.See? said Mason. Boring.I pointed in each bearing. Whats down there?Nothing, sighed Mia. Well show you.We walked down to the right and found more of the same. I was showtime to agree with the boring assessment when we passed some black writing on one of the walls. I halt and looked at it. It was a list of letters.DBCOTDVLDZSISome had lines and x attach next to them, but for the most part the message was incoherent. Mia notice my scrutiny.Its probably a janitor thing, she said. Or maybe some family did it.Probably, I said, still studying it. The others shifted restlessly, not clearing my fascination with the jumble of letters. I didnt understand my fascination either, but something in my head tugged at me to stay.Then I got it.B for Badica, Z for Zeklos, I for Ivashkov I stared. The first letter of every olympian familys name was th ere. There were three D names, but based on the order, you could actually read the list as a size ranking. It started with the smaller families- Dragomir, Badica, Conta- and went all the way up to the giant Ivashkov clan. I didnt understand the dashes and lines beside the letters, but I quickly noticed which names had an x beside them Badica and Drozdov.I stepped back from the wall. We have to get out of here, I said. My own voice scared me a little. Right now.The others looked at me in surprise. Why? asked Eddie. Whats going on?Ill tell you later. We just need to go.Mason pointed in the direction wed been heading. This lets out a few blocks away. Its approximate to the station.I peered down into the dark unknown. No, I said. Were going back the way we came.They all looked at me like I was insane as we retraced our steps, but nobody questioned me yet. When we emerged from the malls front, I breathed a sigh of relief to see that the sun was still out, though it was steadily sinking into the horizon and plaster cast orange and red light onto the buildings. The stay light would still be enough for us to get back to the bus station before we were really in any danger of seeing Strigoi.And I knew now that there really were Strigoi in Spokane. Dimitris information had been correct. I didnt know what the list meant, but it clearly had something to do with the attacks. I needed to report it to the other guardians immediately, and I certainly couldnt tell the others what Id realized until we were safely at the lodge. Mason was likely to go back into the tunnels if he knew what I did. most(prenominal) of our walk back to the station proceeded in silence. I think my mood had cowed the others. Even Christian seemed to have run out of snide comments. Inside, my emotions swirled, oscillating between anger and guilt as I kept reexamining my role in everything.Ahead of me, Eddie halt walking, and I nearly ran into him. He looked around. Where are we?Snapping out of my own thoughts, I surveyed the area too. I didnt remember these buildings. Damn it, I exclaimed. Are we lost? Didnt anyone keep jumper cable of which way we went?It was an unfair question since I clearly hadnt paid attention either, but my temper had pushed me past reason. Mason studied me for a few moments, then pointed. This way.We rancid and walked down a narrow highroad between two buildings. I didnt think we were going the right way, but I didnt really have a better idea. I also didnt want to stand around debating.We hadnt gone very out-of-the-way(prenominal) when I heard the sound of an locomotive engine and squealing tires. Mia was walking in the middle of the road, and protective conditioning kicked in before I even saw what was coming. Grabbing her, I jerked her out of the street and up against one of the building walls. The boys had done the same.A large, old van with tinted windows had rounded the corner and was headed in our direction. We pressed flat against the wall, w aiting for it to go past.Only it didnt.Screeching to a halt, it halt right in front of us, and the doors slid open. Three big guys spilled out, and again, my instincts kicked in. I had no confidential information who they were or what they wanted, but they clearly werent friendly. That was all I needed to know.One of them move toward Christian, and I struck out and punched him. The guy barely staggered but was clearly surprised to have felt it at all, I think. He probably hadnt expected someone as small as me to be much of a threat. Ignoring Christian, he moved toward me. In my peripheral vision, I saw Mason and Eddie squaring off with the other two. Mason had actually pulled out his stolen silver stake. Mia and Christian stood there, frozen.Our attackers were relying a lot on bulk. They didnt have the sort of background we had in nauseating and defensive techniques. Plus, they were human, and we had dhampir strength. Unfortunately, we also had the disadvantage of being cornered against the wall. We had nowhere to retreat to. Most importantly, we had something to lose.Like Mia.The guy whod been sparring with Mason seemed to realize this. He backed off from Mason and instead grabbed her. I barely saw the flash of his gun before its barrel was pressed against her neck. Backing off from my own adversary, I yelled at Eddie to stop. Wed all been trained to respond right away to those kinds of orders, and he halted his attack, glancing at me questioningly When he saw Mia, his face went pale.I wanted nothing more than to keep pummeling these men- whoever they were- but I couldnt risk this guy pain Mia. He knew it, too. He didnt even have to make the threat. He was human, but he knew enough about us to know that wed go out of our way to protect the Moroi. Novices had a saying grilled into us from an early age Only they matter.Everyone stopped and looked between him and me. Apparently we were the acknowledged leaders here. What do you want? I asked harshly.The guy pressed his gun closer to Mias neck, and she whimpered. For all her talk about fighting, she was smaller than me and not nearly as strong. And she was too frightened to move.The man inclined his head toward the vans open door. I want you to get inside. And dont start anything. You do, and shes gone.I looked at Mia, the van, my other friends, and then back to the guy. Shit.