The Ruby Circle

  “Our day,” I corrected. “She’s still on a human schedule.”

  Rose looked understandably floored. “Really? Last time I was here, I thought she’d adapted pretty nicely.”

  “She misses the sun,” I explained.

  “Does she actually go out?”

  “Well, no . . . but it’s the principle of the matter. It’s a human thing.” Judging from Rose’s increasingly baffled expression, I really wasn’t doing a good job of covering for us here, so I decided to cut my losses. “Look, why don’t you show me whatever you’ve got, and I’ll leave a note for Sydney.” I figured that was better than Rose possibly offering to wait around until Sydney woke up.

  “Sure,” said Rose. “We can get her out another time.”

  I gestured her toward the hallway. “After you.”

  “Don’t you need to leave the note?” she asked pointedly.

  “Uh, right. Hang on.” I stepped back inside and left Rose out in the hall. After standing there for about half a minute, I opened the door again and joined her. “All set.”

  Rose took me to a section of Court generally reserved for guardian activities. It was near their headquarters and some of their housing. More importantly, it was where they trained, and it was to one of their training fields she led me now. Only, when we arrived, it wasn’t a group of dhampirs we found. It was a group of warrior Moroi.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” I said. I meant it as a compliment.

  Ages ago, during the time humans and Moroi had intermarried, Moroi had also done a lot of their own self-defense. They’d used elemental magic as a weapon, fighting the Strigoi themselves. Over time, dhampirs had taken over protective duties, and using magic for anything more than parlor tricks had become taboo among the Moroi. Among many of the other changes recently suggested in Moroi politics, taking on self-defense once more with magical means often came up for discussion. Now I was seeing it implemented.

  There were about two dozen Moroi here now, divided into four groups, each wearing a different color. They were doing drills that could’ve come straight out of Malachi Wolfe’s school, defensive maneuvers and hand-to-hand combat. A couple of guardians were advising them, and one I immediately recognized, even with his back to me, thanks to his height and brown leather duster. Dimitri Belikov strode over, offering his hand to me in greeting.

  “Adrian,” he said warmly. “We don’t have a spirit cadre yet. Would you like to lead one? Find some recruits?”

  The first person who came to mind was Nina, who was already potentially losing her mind from spirit use. The thought of leading her into combat was discomfiting.

  Finally, a leadership role for you, remarked Aunt Tatiana.

  I shook my head. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve already got plenty on my plate.”

  “Where’s Sydney?” he asked. “I thought she’d like to see this.”

  “She’s asleep,” said Rose helpfully.

  Seeing Dimitri’s surprise, I explained, “She’s on a human schedule. But you’re right—she would’ve liked to see this. Another time.”

  “Another time,” agreed Dimitri. “Look—they’re about to start.”

  “Start what?” I asked.

  A guardian I didn’t know had just finished setting up some practice dummies on one end of the field. He called each group up, and I watched in amazement as each one demonstrated just how deadly the elements could be. Water users sent high-powered blasts of water at their dummies, knocking them over in one blow. Earth users made the ground unstable and also called upon rocks and dirt as weapons. Air users called up blasts of wind that would have knocked a live opponent over. Some of them were even able to use air to lift objects as weapons. And fire users—well, their destructive ability was pretty obvious as one of the dummies completely went up in flames.

  “Just a demo, please,” called the guardian wearily. “We don’t need to wipe out our supply of dummies yet.”

  “Sorry,” called a cheerful voice I recognized. Christian Ozera was standing there among the red-clad fire users, and he vanquished the flames with a glance.

  After the separate demonstrations of elemental power, the warriors then showed how they might use the elements together. Air users helped freeze water summoned by water users. Earth users trapped dummies in the ground, letting fire users swoop in for the kill. (This resulted in another near destruction of a dummy when Christian again got too zealous with his flames. “Sorry,” he repeated, not sounding sorry in the least.)

  Finally, they concluded with a demonstration of the hand-to-hand maneuvers I’d seen them practicing when I arrived. Moroi weren’t as physically strong as dhampirs, but it was clear this group had put in a lot of training. I wouldn’t have wanted to go up against any of them in a fight. They demonstrated moves any guardian would’ve been proud to master and even showed how to work in elemental attacks. All in all, it was a stunning display.

  “Well?” demanded Christian afterward. He came striding over to us on the sidelines when the display finished. “Think that’ll win them over?”

  A small blond girl in blue walked beside him, and I was pleased—though not surprised—that Mia Rinaldi was a leader among the water users. “That was flawless,” she agreed. “There’s no way they can’t approve a program now.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “This was just a warm-up,” Christian explained. “No pun intended. We’re going to show this to the Moroi Council in the hopes they’ll approve a program we can take to all the Moroi schools, in order to recruit and train more people for the cause.”

  Mia’s blue eyes gleamed. “We also want to get approval to launch some private Strigoi hunting parties.”

  “Well, you’d have my vote,” I said honestly. “You seem like you might put the guardians out of business.”

  “Let’s not get carried away,” teased Rose. “But you’re right—they’ve come a long way. Now we just have to get the council to agree. Lissa’s already on board.”

  “Of course she is,” I said. “Because she’s young and progressive. The others . . . might be more resistant to change. Even with a display as impressive as this.”

  Rose nodded, perfectly understanding how even the most well-intentioned Moroi clung to tradition. “I’d hoped Sydney might have some logical arguments we could use to plead our case.”

  I chuckled at that. “I’m sure she would.”

  “Where is Sydney anyway?” asked Christian.

  “Asleep,” Rose and I said in unison.

  As fascinating as these Moroi warriors were, I feared more questions about Sydney were coming my way. That and a glance at my watch told me it’d soon be time to go dream walking with Nina. “I should head back,” I said. “Thanks for letting me see this.”

  “Happy to,” said Rose, steering me back toward the main part of Court. “Find out what would be a good day for Sydney, and we’ll set this up again—at a more human-friendly time.”

  I gritted my teeth, hating the lies. “I’ll talk to her and get back to you.”

  Rose walked me back, and I could tell she thought it was strange that I made a point of keeping her out of the suite. I blamed it on Sydney being a light sleeper, which Rose mostly seemed to accept. When she finally left, I found the excitement of the demo and the further deepening of lies had me restless and uneasy, making it difficult to fall asleep when I crawled into bed. It was also the middle of the vampiric day for me, further muddling things, but Nina had said Olive was on a human schedule, so she would be asleep now. When thirty minutes went by of tossing and turning in bed, I received a text from Nina, saying she couldn’t reach me in a dream.

  Having trouble sleeping, I wrote back.

  I’ve got plenty of sedatives from Sonya if you need one, came the joking response. Happy to share.

  I smiled, wistful for a moment of the easy fri
endship I used to have with Nina. No thanks. Just give me a little more time.

  Eventually, I managed to relax and drift off to sleep on my own. It had been a while since any spirit user pulled me into a dream. Usually, I was the dream’s creator, calling the shots and inviting others to join me with spirit’s power. My surroundings materialized around me, solidifying into a pastoral setting in front of a cute white house. Beyond it, a fence enclosed a pasture where horses idly grazed in the purple and orange light of a setting sun. Birds sang evening songs, and a warm breeze brushed my skin.

  “My dad’s house in Wisconsin,” a voice behind me said.

  I turned and found Nina approaching me through the long grass of the house’s front yard. She looked a million times better than the last time I’d seen her, with her curly hair pulled into a loose bun and a lavender sundress on her slim frame. I hoped this reflected some improvement in the waking world and wasn’t simply an illusion of the dream.

  “It’s nice,” I said honestly. “The kind of place kids dream of growing up.”

  She smiled at that. “We could only come in the summer. We had some family friends who were minor royals, and they’d join us with their guardians. Otherwise, it would’ve been too dangerous out here. It’s pretty remote . . . but you never know.”

  She didn’t have to finish that thought. Nina and Olive were half sisters, sharing their Moroi father. Because he wasn’t royal, he’d received no guardian protection, so dhampir Olive had made herself his protection—and gotten herself turned Strigoi during an attack. Nina’s spirit magic had brought her back. It was a rare distinction Olive shared with only a couple of others—Dimitri and Sonya, to be precise.

  “Shall we bring Olive here?” I asked, not wanting Nina to dwell on ugly topics from the past. At my question, though, her frown grew.

  “It’s not quite that simple . . . you’ll see. I mean, maybe it’ll be different with you here. I hope so.”

  I still didn’t entirely understand what the problem was but decided to wait and see what happened. Really, if Olive was asleep, this should’ve been a piece of cake. Nina should’ve been able to use spirit to bring Olive to this country house, just as she’d brought me. Nina grew still, gazing off at the horse pasture, and I sensed the spirit magic welling up in her as she attempted a dream connection with her sister. So far, so good.

  A few moments later, a translucent form started to materialize near us. I recognized Olive’s shorter stance, her dark hair and coppery skin. A billowing cloak swirled around her, obscuring what I knew was a more muscular build than her sister’s. Olive’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening. “No, Nina. Please. Not again.”

  Normally, this would be the point where Olive would’ve completely solidified and been standing with us. Instead, the country scenery began to fade in the distance, growing increasingly insubstantial. I jerked my gaze back to Nina.

  “What are you doing?”

  She sighed. “I’m not doing anything. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

  The beautiful green landscape disappeared, replaced by a black, ashen terrain that was dotted with rocks. A jagged mountainside rose steeply before us, climbing into a sky growing gray with thunderclouds. Occasional flashes of lightning danced between the clouds. There was no sign of Olive.

  “What is this?” I exclaimed. “Did we get transported into a dystopian movie?”

  Nina’s expression was grim. “We’re in Hawaii.”

  I glanced around. “I hate to disagree, but when I think Hawaii, I think palm trees and bikinis.”

  Nina glanced down at her feet, and a moment later, her sandals transformed into sneakers. She began hiking up the slope. “It’s a volcano we visited when we were kids on vacation.”

  “That doesn’t seem so bad,” I said, cautiously following her. “But why change it? The farm was nice.”

  “I didn’t change it,” she said, clearly frustrated. “Olive did.”

  “Olive’s not a spirit user,” I protested. “She can change her outfit, yeah, but not something this big.”

  “Somehow, she took control of the dream from me. She does it every time. I mean, I can do small things like this.” She paused to gesture to her shoes. “But I can’t send us back or bring Olive out.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Hiding somewhere.” Nina scanned around and pointed to a dark hole in the volcano’s side. “Probably there. That wasn’t part of the real volcano we saw. She must’ve created it.”

  My mind was reeling as I approached the cave with her. What she was saying was impossible. Olive couldn’t have power in this dream unless Nina ceded it to her.

  “How?” I asked. “How is she doing this? Do you think it has something to do with her being restored from being a Strigoi? From being infused with spirit?”

  Nina shook her head. “I don’t think so. I don’t actually feel her using spirit. It’s almost like she’s controlling it by . . . her will.”

  I tried to wrap my head around that as we came to a halt in front of the cave. “Now what?”

  “Now,” said Nina, “she’s probably hiding from us in there. But if it’s like other places she’s brought me to in dreams, we probably can’t just walk in and—”

  A roar from within the cave’s depths cut off her words. Instinctively, I took a few steps back. “What the hell is that?”

  Nina looked more weary than frightened. “I don’t know. Something terrible. Something to scare us off.”

  Her words were realized as a huge manlike figure made of black rocks came lumbering out of the cave, its eyes burning red. It was a full head taller than me and twice as broad. It came to a halt before us, beat its chest, and let out another roar.

  “Have you seen this before?” I exclaimed.

  “Not exactly,” said Nina. “Last time she sent a swarm of bats. Before that it was some kind of werewolf creature.”

  “You made this dream,” I insisted, backing up further as the lava monster (for lack of a better term) approached. “Get rid of it.”

  “I can’t. Not with my thoughts, at least. We have to do this the old-fashioned way.” I felt spirit magic surge within her again, and a cudgel appeared in her hands. Without further warning, she charged forward and swung the weapon at the monster. As she did, I felt more spirit flare inside her. In fact, it was the spirit magic that seemed to lash out at the monster, more than the cudgel. The creature roared in pain, and cracks appeared where the cudgel hit.

  “You said you’d help me!” she yelled, clearly annoyed.

  I had said that, but I certainly hadn’t expected it to be in this manner. Before I signed on for senseless beating, though, I summoned my own magic and attempted to change the setting into something more hospitable. But when I tried it, I met firm resistance and understood better what Nina had meant. It wasn’t exactly spirit I felt keeping the dream in place . . . but very much like will or intention, just as she’d said.

  Unable to alter the dream’s larger context, I imitated her and used a small burst of spirit to create a cudgel of my own. I wasn’t usually violent in nature, and as I swung toward the lava monster—on which Nina had made significant progress—I reminded myself that he was just a dream creation and not a real living thing. When my cudgel struck the creature’s stony hide, I nearly fell backward at the jolt of the impact. It rattled my bones and teeth . . . and didn’t seem to make a difference to the lava monster. Nina paused to glare at me.

  “You need to fill yourself up with spirit when you hit it,” she explained in frustration. “That’s the way to fight through.”

  She was certainly practicing what she preached. Brimming with magic, she was like a spirit torch beside me, and I was a bit taken aback by the amount she was wielding. It wasn’t quite as severe as the burst used in restoring a Strigoi or bringing back the dead, but it was a notable amount to be holdi
ng and sustaining over an extended period of time. Reluctantly, I summoned some of my own—not nearly the amount she was using—and used it to blast the creature when I swung my cudgel. This time, I too cracked the surface.

  “More, more!” Nina cried.

  “There’s no need,” I said. “This still has impact—without as much magic. It just takes a little longer.”

  “We don’t have the time!”

  I didn’t understand what she meant until our collective efforts finally defeated the lava monster, and it crumbled to dust before us. Nina sprinted into the cave, and with the creature gone, she seemed to have regained control of the dream. The setting around us changed, and suddenly we were running into the white country house in Wisconsin. I just barely caught sight of Olive in the shadowy corner of a living room, her body obscured by that same billowing cloak from earlier.

  “Olive!” screamed Nina. “Show me where you are!” More power surged through her, and the room started to flicker. I could feel a little of what she was doing, and I was astonished. She was trying to make the dream reflect Olive’s surroundings—something even I hadn’t known was possible.

  But Olive was fading before our eyes. “I’m sorry, Nina. Please—please stop trying to find me. It’s better this way.”

  “Olive!”

  It was too late. Olive faded, and the room stopped flickering. It stabilized, firmly remaining a little country living room and offering no clues as to where Olive was. Defeated, Nina slumped into a wicker chair, tears in her eyes. “She woke herself up. That’s what happens every time. She throws up some obstacle for me to fight against, and it distracts me from making the dream show where she’s at. By the time I fight through, she’s managed to wake herself and escape from the dream.” Nina turned her gaze on me accusingly. “If we’d defeated her faster, she wouldn’t have had time to wake up! You should’ve used more spirit to blast that monster away!”

  Nina, though obviously upset, looked mostly stable here in the dream world. Thinking back to the other day, however, I knew her real-world self was another matter. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said slowly. “I think using all this spirit has been having a, um, detrimental effect on you over time.”