From behind the door the three girls walked out with guilty smiles. I'd noticed them around fifteen minutes ago in the middle of my spar against Joe."How did you know we were there even though you were fighting Guardian Maxwell?" The way they were peering so intently through the small windows in the door made it hard for me not to have noticed it. They were certainly not as discreet as they had perhaps hoped but I refrained from telling them that."You beat him without breaking a sweat…""Are those the things that increased your strength and speed?""No wonder you beat Drew Ozera.""And I'm hungry so let's go." I urged as I towed them out of the training room. From the number of questions they seemed to have, we could be in the training room for forever! "See you later Guardian Maxwell.""I'll see you in class tomorrow Valentine." Joe nodded with a professional glance to which I returned with an easy going grin."You guys are a bit early." I commented casually."We thought you might
"Kai! Are you alright? That must've been horrible to endure. It was disgusting to hear about. The way they talk about people just for gossip." Els frowned."It's disrespectful. They're just pissed that they couldn't get close to Drew Ozera the way you could." Roxy scoffed."If I was you I would've beaten them. But since I'm not, so I can't." Ingrid pouted."Those guys aren't worth half my time." I waved nonchalantly. "Besides, I'd rather not get detention on my first proper day at this school. I should at least attempt to make Guardian Maxwell's job manageable.""I bet you could've taken them all on. That would've put them in line for sure." Ingrid huffed."It's because I'm new. It's alright though, I'll deal somehow." I shrugged. Although I said that, I had no idea how I was going to put up with it. It was no doubt only going to get worse. "And besides, if I took them all on, they'll all be missing out on class tomorrow. Personally I think of that as being a blessing rather than puni
I knocked on his office door politely three times before waiting patiently."Come in," he called and I walked in casually. I noticed that he was preoccupied with a phone call so I simply sat on one of the chairs to wait. After around five minutes he finally hung up looking a little tired."Difficult caller?" I asked with concern."Yeah, far too many complaints," he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So how are you settling in so far Kai? I didn't expect to see you so soon.""Don't worry Martin, I'm not here to complain." I laughed. "As for the settling in, well I'm doing a lot better than I thought I would. Some of the people here are really nice.""I've heard from Joe that you seem to have gotten along with McCarthy, O'Reilly and French.""They are really kind and accepting. They don't push for answers when I'm reluctant in answering and I really appreciate that." I smiled softly."You also seem to be more skilled than I could've possibly expected. Beating the four royal b
"Hey Kylie, are you sure you're feeling okay? You know you woke up pretty much everyone in the entire school with that lousy scream of yours?" one of the girls sneered. Probably a Moroi, I wasn't sure since I wasn't really looking. I was specifically ignoring them to avoid any unnecessary violent accidents.Deep breaths Kai, you don't want to get into a fight with people you could crush in less than five seconds. I warned myself. I recited the mantra a few times before plastering a casual nonchalant smile on my face."Oh and Ingrid, hanging around her won't help you pass combat class, you know?" she taunted further and I saw Ingrid's expression change from a cheerful smile to discomfort. I realised that she probably wasn't bold enough to back chat the bitch but I sure as hell was."Sorry but, who are you?" I asked with a hand on my hip. I made sure to make my voice light and casual with a hint of spite. Truth be told, I had absolutely no idea. I couldn't really remember most people at
It seemed that I wasn't totally unlucky today because I managed to avoid anyone in my year and found a patrolling Guardian to ask for help. I took a cautious survey around me before leaving the shadows and running up to the Guardian."Um… hi, I'm doing this wacky exercise as part of training and I was wondering whether you could tell me where I might find the people on this list." I ask him and handed him the aforementioned list."Ah, you must be one of the ones being chased. Guardian Maxwell did mention something about an entire year group having a chase," he chuckled."Yes, he decided to drop the bombshell five minutes before the chase." I grumbled. "When I headed to practice today, I definitely was not anticipating to be chased by the majority of my year.""He left it until the last second? Wow that's unfortunate. What's the prize?""Skipping out on the assault course on Saturday and laps." I sighed."No wonder they're going all out, most people don't like the course.""It can't be
He seemed to take a deep breath before letting it out. "That day of the attack six years ago, one of the best Guardians died along with the last surviving Moroi Ivashkov.""Ivashkov is one of the royal names right?""Right. That was one of the things that made me realise, just having dhampirs fight won't be enough. They might be generally built to be physically stronger, but it didn't have to be like that. That day, I watched from my window as some of the senior Moroi fought alongside dhampirs to take down Strigoi. It was what made me realise that even though sustaining royal lines was an important thing, fighting with the dhampirs instead of standing there and doing nothing while they risked their lives is even more important and would increase the chances of both the survival of Moroi and dhampirs. So after that attack and everything calmed down enough for us to attend classes again, I switched courses and took on combat class with the dhampirs. At first I was on my own but then a c
One way or another I managed to find my way back and for some reason I felt lighter. I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my chest. I suspected that it had something to do with the fact that I was reconnected with Ali. When I first left the school and made life for myself out there, Ali was one of the people that I had missed the most, because he was always there for me. It was easiest for him to be there for me a lot of the time because he wasn't weighed down by other duties unlike everyone else who had a job to do. And there had been times when it was easier for me to talk to Ali because he wasn't an adult yet. In my eyes, he was still a fellow kid of some sort. Now that I thought about it, it had been completely ridiculous that I thought that, but it made me open up to him so much. Losing such a person after I left the academy broke my heart and it took me so long to adjust without all those people around me anymore.I remembered that each time I needed a dose of confiden
The rest of lunch passed by with random comments from people I didn't really know about the challenge today and they congratulated me on my win as well as the other four who took part as victims being chased. It was the maddest game of cops and robbers I'd ever played but I had to admit that it was pretty entertaining. Somehow, I had a slight hunch that the game was also a way of taking a look at what our team work could be like. It was an obscure way to test it, but there had been times when team work was necessary. Like the group fights that I was involved in on two occasions and it seemed like Drew was too since Jackson mentioned both of us saving their asses at some point. And then there was that stunt at the end to win the game.Team work was also important for those trying to catch us. The first part was to try and find us, even harder part was to capture us. That would've required much more than simple head on fighting. It would've required strategy to try and create a way to c
To say I was shocked when I walked through the kitchen doors would be one heck of an understatement. The chefs were all gone and on the centre counter there was a mouth-watering spread. A burgundy candlestick was centre stage along with a bright red rose."Welcome to our first date, little knight." Axel declared flamboyantly, his arms spreading wide, gesturing at the food.I was so moved I couldn't find the words to refute that this was not a date. Since he made such an effort, it stole the breath from my lungs and the words out of my mouth."Oh Axel, honestly you really don't know how to meet someone halfway, do you? I joked somewhat breathlessly."It all depends on the person in question and whether or not they really want me to meeting them halfway or whether I could take my chances," he chuckled.He stepped around the counted and tugged me towards the food."I don't really know what you like so I thought why not give you multiple options and I can find out this way?""So, it's bas
Five in the space of just over half a month.That was a disastrous statistic. If I didn't pull myself together I probably wouldn't even make it past the middle of the next academic year without the truth being exposed to the entire community. That would mean a year and a half of being known as the Ivashkov princess at the Academy.I shuddered at the thought. That was not a scenario I wanted to become a reality."I got it.""Do you?""I really do, Joey." I sighed and finished off the last bite. "I'll try my best to keep a lower profile. I can't promise anything if threatening stuff gets thrown my way though.""At least be more aware, Kai, that's all we're asking.""I got it." I nodded. "So, what's the plan for us students now?""You have free time to relax in the designated areas until after lunch. For now, most students are either in the dining hall finishing off their breakfast or in their rooms, I suspect.""Alright, I'll just finished the food and go get another coffee before headi
"Excuse me?" I spluttered.I'd expected a dozen other questions to come out of his mouth but definitely not that. I tried to lean back as his hand reached out towards my waist but soon realised my mistake. He'd set himself up perfectly so that I couldn't run away. He basically had me against the wall."Please?"I was startled by the sincerity in his voice. He really wanted my permission for some reason and soon enough I realised the true meaning behind his words. He wasn't really asking if he could touch me. Not in a sensual way. No. He wanted a confirmation of his suspicions the same way that Drew had that time he burst into Martin's office.Our eyes connected when I stared at his face. There was no judgement and no sense of menace. He simply wanted to know. But more than that, he wanted my permission to know. In our current position, he didn't have to ask for my permission. He could've easily pulled my shirt up and seen the Ivashkov mark. His earnest respect for my privacy in turn s
The phone hardly got through the second ring when the line went through."Before you go into some kind of a rant, I need you to take a deep breath, Ali."There was a pause. Then I heard him take the breath. Then he released it. I could almost see the tension leaving his body just a little bit."Better?""A little," he told me. "How are you, little sky? You have no idea how much I wanted to come straight to where you are when I heard about what happened.""Oh? What kept you away?" I asked teasingly, purposefully adding a lilt to my voice. Not that I would have ever expected to wake up to see Ali, but the thought of him being the first face I saw after the situation I'd just faced calmed my anxiousness a lot."Jules threatened to cut an entire year's wage if I took off.""A whole year? That sounds a bit much, even for Aunty Jules.""Well... she started with a week and continued to keep adding until I stopped walking towards the vans."I whistled. "Gosh, it took them a lot to keep you aw
My parents formed a perfect team. Almost anyone who knew them was aware of that.The fact that they were a shadow-kissed pair probably helped with that. But it wasn't just that. I could remember Aunty Jules telling me stories of back when they were in school together and how even back then there seemed to be something that bound the two of them together. Call it fate. Call it chemistry. Whatever it was, it made my parents a fluid fighting duo, never getting in each other's way.I could remember Maria sharing her stories of how the two of them were always just so in synch with one another.They were also amazing parents.They never spoiled me too much. But they weren't unfairly strict with me either. They always seemed to maintain the perfect balance in life.They did what they had to do to protect family.No matter the cost."Raymond, the others need to know. We have to tell them.""Amelie, what are we supposed to say? That the Strigoi who killed you all those years ago wasn't just fr
Once we reached deeper and deeper into the woods, Sarah seemed to be more aware of her surroundings and stopped stumbling around everywhere. Travis and Sarah appeared to work quite well as a pair. Perhaps the fact that they've probably known each other for a few years already helped with their cooperation. Either way, I was glad that she wasn't being difficult. From the way that she had spoken earlier about how it would be a given that I protect her, I was scared that she might be someone really tough to handle, but so far things seemed to be going rather well and we had already managed to obtain three stamps within half an hour. Judging by how difficult everyone made this exercise sound, I would say that getting three stamps within that time slot was normal.We had until dinner time to try and collect all ten.That meant we had another three hours to try and collect the other seven. But it would only get harder as the afternoon wore on. We would grow wearier from each fight against t
The guardians on duty informed us to start calming down about two hours after the dancing began. That gave us enough time to wind down before heading back to our rooms and get an early night in preparation for the task the guardians had prepared for us. If I remembered rightly, the task was a shorter version of the Senior year 'protect-your-charge' task where we would have to protect the charge assigned to us for a certain amount of time. It was a practical test to allow the students to know what the job entailed and what the task of protecting a charge would mean.Before the night was over and as some students went back to their rooms first, Quinn took over the piano completely and Axel took the lead for a dance. I could tell after having danced with various other students tonight, that the way Axel held me occasionally had a much more mature feel to it. It was in the way he touched, the subtle teasing strokes of his fingers, the way his eyes could do crazy things to the body, and th
I was a little late in getting to the music room. Trying to find my way around was harder than anticipated. I'd tried to memorise my way around last night during our tour using the pictures and various details on the walls to help my navigation of the place but it wasn't so easy after all. By the time I reached the music room my head was hurting from trying to find my way around."I was beginning to think that you'd reconsidered spending a full hour with me, chick.""It is an absolute nightmare navigating this place." I complained as I closed the door behind me. "I do have a name you know. Chick isn't going to cut it.""I rather like that term until I find a more suitable nickname for you.""Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like whatever name you come up with." I sighed in exasperation, throwing my hands up. "We're going to set some rules for the next hour. No unnecessary invasion of my personal space, you get five strikes before I walk out on your ridiculously flirtatio
I woke up feeling tired and hungry. I had hardly slept, waking every two hours almost. It was exhausting. I didn't know what was wrong. I shouldn't have been that on edge. After all, this place was a resort where royals frequented which meant that there was plenty of security here. And yet for some reason I was still feeling high strung. I couldn't shake the feeling that something really bad was going to happen at some point on this trip.There was something or someone dangerous here.I was sure of it.But was it a danger to everyone here. Or was it a danger to a select few people here. That I didn't know."Oh wow… you look worse than when Els first wakes up." Roxy commented in surprise. "Are you alright, Kai?""I'll be fine after some food and coffee." I told her reassuringly. "I just didn't get much sleep last night.""You have about ten minutes before we're supposed to be at breakfast." Ingrid informed me as she gently tugged me out of bed and shoved me into the bathroom.I got rea