“This is serious.” Dimitri had on his stern face, and it just went along beautifully with that suit. “I thought you’d learned your lesson about reckless stunts—that you intended to take your duty to Lissa seriously from now on.”
“I am! I’m doing this for her.”
“Rose, don’t start—”
“No, I’m serious! One of the prizes for winning this thing is chocolate bacon truffles. Now, I know what you’re thinking: disgusting.”
“Actually, I wasn’t thinking that.”
I grimaced. “Don’t say anything else. If you’re into those, I don’t want to know. I’d rather live in ignorance. Anyway. Christian really is into them. They’re apparently, like, one of his favorite things ever. And his birthday’s coming up, and Lissa really wants to give them to him as a present.”
Dimitri studied me for a long moment, and it was hard to not squirm under the power of those dark brown eyes. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“Do you really think I’d make that up? Come on, comrade. I know you’re honor bound to uphold the laws of this school and all that, but can’t you cut me some slack? Think of everything Christian’s been through. His parents. Victor. All he asks for in this world—aside from liberties with my best friend—is some candy that was probably created as a horrible accident.” I tried my best to channel the irresistible, beseeching manner Lissa had used on me earlier. “Don’t you think he deserves something good for once? Don’t you think it’s about time the universe gives back?”
“Rules are rules. They can’t be manipulated because of one person’s wants, and this isn’t a small thing. This scavenger hunt is the worst kind of chaos. Theft, breaking and entering. It’s a terrible tradition.”
I clasped my hands in front of me and widened my eyes. “More terrible than seeing your own parents hunted down in front of you? More terrible than being mauled by psi-hounds? More terrible than finally having friends to share a birthday with after years of loneliness, only to be deprived of your favorite—”
“Enough.” Dimitri turned away and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Go. Get out of here. I won’t report you, but if another guardian catches you, I can’t do anything for you.”
I nearly fainted in relief. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I swear, this is a onetime thing. Just a quick throwback to the old Rose in order to serve a greater good.”
“I already said yes. You don’t have to keep convincing me.” Despite the gruff tone, he was smiling. “But why do you need two CDs? The list says one.”
I held up Animotion. “That’s all I’ve got.”
He crouched down and pulled out the box. “A-ha is missing. It should be right at the beginning.”
“Maybe you didn’t put them in the right order.”
“I always put them in the right order. Look, you can even see the gap. One there, and one here for what you took.”
A cold, awful realization crept over me. “Someone’s already been here. It’s impossible. There’s no way to get in.”
He gave me a meaningful look. “Isn’t there? You did.”
I held up the ghostly sheet I’d dropped on the floor earlier. “I disguised myself as Mertens. How could anyone have an idea that good?”
“It doesn’t have to be that good.” He straightened up and pushed the box back under the table with his foot. His boot was made of elaborately tooled leather. Where did he find this stuff? “It only has to be good enough to get in here and take my CD.”
I gasped. “If they were in here, they’ve been in the training room!”
“Rose—”
I left him behind and took off for the door opposite the one I’d entered. The training room contained pretty much everything a novice vampire hunter needed to become even more badass. Weights, weapons, targets. Also, boxing gloves. I flung open the cabinet that contained them and found twelve hooks and eleven pairs of gloves.
“Aah!” I slammed the door and collapsed against it, sinking to the floor. “Sixty points! I sneaked in here, right under Alberta’s nose, for sixty points—which now mean nothing if Shane’s team was the one that got these. And considering they’re kicking everyone’s ass tonight, that seems pretty likely. We can’t close those twenty-five points with whatever Mason and Eddie dredge up from the rec building. Maybe there’s a chance to win if we can score a teacher’s robe, but that’s not a big margin, and it only works if Shane doesn’t get anything else. And I doubt he’s given up. Ugh.” I leaned my head back and shook my fist at the ceiling. “Universe, you’re a bitch.”
Dimitri stood over me and unfolded the list. “I can’t believe I’m saying this … but aren’t there other things you can get that are worth more? The headmaster portraits are right in the school’s foyer. And Mr. Dwight keeps his tie collection in plain sight in his classroom.”
“Got it. Got it. And a guardian jacket. And Cojocaru’s gross cologne.”
“You stole his Oblivion?” Dimitri would never openly admit it, but he sounded impressed.
“The only thing that could guarantee the win for us is Kirova’s cat earrings. Getting into her room’s impossible under normal circumstances, and everyone knows she stayed home sick tonight. The earrings got put on the list before anyone realized that. Rose Hathaway can do a lot of things, but that might really, truly be where I have to draw the line.”
I expected Dimitri to agree with me. I expected him to tell me it was just as well that I couldn’t win and that there was some valuable lesson to be learned here. Instead, he walked back to the office and returned with a pen and a piece of paper. He sat down beside me, so close that our legs touched, and I momentarily forgot about my failure.
Ever since Dimitri had told me that age and shared duty to Lissa would never allow us to truly be together, we’d had minimal physical contact. We trained together, we saw each other daily … but always, always, we both took great care in keeping a mutually understood distance between us. Until this moment, connected with just our knees, I hadn’t realized how much that distance had affected me. No matter how sound the logic about us staying apart was, no matter how much his feelings for me had changed—and I really didn’t believe they had—there was something inside me that still cried out for him. And I didn’t think it would ever stop.
Did he share my reaction? Hard to say. He was better at concealing his feelings than I was, but then, almost everyone was.
He leaned forward and sketched a large rectangle with a smaller square embedded in one corner, then more squares within that. “Kirova has a bigger suite than the other teachers, but they all have the same layout. Living room, bedroom, kitchen—”
“Kitchen? The Moroi teachers have their own kitchens?” I knew the dhampir instructors didn’t. They had private group dining rooms but still had to eat the same food the students did.
“That’s just the way it is. But look. This room right here? That’s her bedroom, and the wall looks like this.” He drew another line so that the wall he indicated became thicker. “That’s because there’s a hidden staircase in it.”
I looked up from the sketch. “Since when?”
“Since always. It’s part of the emergency escape system.”
I’d known there were various exits and secure rooms in place, in the impossible event of a Strigoi attack, but this came as a surprise. “The headmistress—or headmaster—has their own private escape? I sure don’t.”
He shrugged. “The school’s builders made those decisions a long time ago. Don’t get caught up in the politics right now. If you came through one of the secret tunnels and up the stairs, you could slip into Kirova’s bedroom and take her earrings.”
“Pfft. Well, yeah. If I could go through the secret tunnels, I would’ve finished this scavenger hunt eons ago, comrade. We’ve all heard rumors about those doors. They don’t even take keys, right?”
“They require a thumbprint to access. Every teacher—Moroi and dhampir—has authorization to enter.”
?
??I’m a big fan of the James Bond stuff, but unless you’re suggesting I cut off a teacher’s hand, I don’t really see how I’m going to get an authorized thumbprint.”
Dimitri stayed silent. I felt my jaw start to drop, and I clamped it shut as I began to grasp his insinuation. “Are you … are you offering to help me break the rules? Rules are rules. Someone told me that once.”
He gave me that trademark look again, but this time it contained a lot more exasperation than amusement. “Rose, you’re making me change my mind.”
“No, no,” I said quickly. “I’m grateful. Really. But you’ve got to understand my shock. You’re Dimitri Belikov. Campus badass. Defender of justice. You’re even dressed like a sheriff, for God’s sake! It’s like Lissa being an angel. Your personalities run so deep you can’t even escape them when you’re in costume. You’re supposed to dress up like who you want to be on Halloween and St. Varvara’s Day. Not who you already are.”
“You want to be an identity thief.”
“Hell no,” I said, impressed he’d correctly identified the costume. “I’m Rose Hathaway. Why would I want to be anyone else?”
His smile returned, and I wished I could reach out and trace the edge of his lips. I clenched my hands to prevent me from doing anything stupid.
“You’re running out of time if you want to pull this off,” he said. “Don’t tell me it’s too risky for you.”
I jumped to my feet. “Why does everyone doubt me? You’re just like Mason.”
Except he wasn’t anything like Mason. Mason made me laugh with his stupid jokes and always brought an effortless comfort when we were together. When I was with him … I just was. But Dimitri … Dimitri caused my breath to catch and my heart to do gymnastics. Around him, I wanted greatness. I pushed myself to be better, smarter, faster, sharper. And when I wasn’t with him, I felt like the world was incomplete. Like I walked around with a void beside me.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked as I picked up the CD and boxing gloves. “I can’t even imagine what kind of trouble a teacher would get into if you’re caught.”
Dimitri wouldn’t meet my gaze and instead played with the chain of his pocket watch. “Well. I suppose the universe really does owe Christian. And I’d better get that CD back undamaged.”
But as we walked out of the room, I knew the truth. He was doing this for me.
It wasn’t surprising that the guardian facilities had multiple access points to the tunnel system. The panels that read thumbprints blended seamlessly into the doors. No wonder students knew so little about them. Once we were inside, I couldn’t learn much more about this legendary labyrinth because Dimitri insisted on leaving the lights off.
“Everything about these is tracked,” he explained. “Already, there’s a record that I’ve entered tonight, but it’s not the kind of thing that would catch anyone’s attention. We do regular checks of the doors. But start turning on lights, using power … that’ll raise a few questions when the logs are reviewed.”
So we walked through the underground tunnels in darkness—true darkness, nothing to help dhampir eyes along. Dimitri moved effortlessly, like he knew them by heart, probably because he did. He probably studied campus blueprints for fun. After the third time I ran into a wall, he took my hand and led me along. I had a vague sense of crossing campus but lost all sense of direction. When he brought us to a stop, I stuck my foot out and hit a staircase.
“This is the Moroi staff building,” he told me. “She’s on the top floor.”
We climbed up four flights and faced another barrier. Dimitri stood behind me and guided my hand forward to a small button. I waited for him to explain what came next, but instead, we stayed like that for several moments, our bodies close and his hand over mine. I closed my eyes and wished that I could lean back into him. That I could fade into him. This close, his scent wrapped around me. I felt like I was drunk on it. No bad cologne here. He smelled like sweat and leather and a body that could make a girl melt.
Dimitri finally took a deep breath and found his voice. “You don’t need a thumbprint to get out of here, but don’t push that button yet. We don’t know if Kirova’s in her bedroom. I’m going to get out of here and pay her a friendly visit. You’re going to have to gauge the time it’ll take me to get back up the main stairs before you make your move.”
“I can do that.” I couldn’t believe how calm I sounded while standing so close to him—and while preparing to break into my headmistress’s home. My pulse rate was off the charts. “But how do I get out without your thumbprint?”
“Put something in the door when you enter the room. The sensor’ll stop it from closing. When you’re finished, go back to the bottom of these stairs, and I’ll meet you. There’s a nearby exit.”
“Got it.”
“Good luck, Rose. Give me the rest of your goods. I’ll hide them in the holly bush on the west side.”
He backed away, and I heard his steps fade as he descended. My breathing returned to normal. Now that I could think clearly again, I could focus back on the task at hand. I didn’t know what time it was, but I knew I didn’t have much longer left. I shifted with impatience, wanting to open the door and finish this night’s misadventures, but I had to err on the side of caution. I was pretty sure that walking into Kirova’s bedroom with her right in it would earn me the honor of being the first St. Vladimir’s student to have detention for life.
When I felt confident Dimitri must have made it to the suite’s front entrance, I pushed the button and tensed. The door silently slid open, revealing an empty room. An empty room decorated with so much cat stuff that I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to find the earrings. It was camouflage gone crazy. Cat-ouflage?
I stepped into the room and quickly pushed a big, fluffy cat slipper into the doorway. When the panel began to slide shut, it stopped when it reached the slipper. So, that was set. Now it was time to venture into this mess. Cat posters, cat bedding, a cat-shaped nightstand, and more cat figurines than I could count. No one would believe this. Kirova’s gaudy cat earrings were a well-known fixture, but I don’t think anyone had realized the extent of Kirova’s Catopia. I was going to have an even harder time than usual taking her seriously.
As I poked around, I could hear voices from outside the bedroom door. It wasn’t fully shut. I peeked out the small gap and saw Kirova and Dimitri. She stood with her back to me, and amazingly, her robe was plain pink, without a cat in sight. She’d pulled her gray hair into a sloppy bun, and the whole place smelled like chicken soup.
“—so nice of you to stop by, but really, I’m doing fine. It’s just a cold.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” said Dimitri. “Everyone’s been concerned. A number of students have asked about you at the carnival.”
“Have they?” Kirova seemed very pleased by that, and I felt a little guilty because I wasn’t sure if it was true. “Well, that’s very kind too. I don’t know if anyone’s told you this, but you really wear a vest quite well. It’s a pity you don’t wear them more often. I’d have no problem with it, you know. Instructors are welcome to dress as they like, so long as school policies are adhered to.”
“I think this’ll be a onetime thing.”
“That’s too bad. I’ve always thought the way a man wears a vest says a lot about him. Not many can pull it off, but you’ve got an exceptionally well-muscled chest.”
Oh my God. Was she hitting on Dimitri? Or was she really just some kind of vest aficionado? I didn’t want to hear any more. I pulled back and commenced my search. I kept my own meager jewelry scattered on my room’s dresser, but hers didn’t have anything on its surface except cat statuary. The closet only contained clothes, most of which were the regular headmistress wear I saw her in on a daily basis. That left the drawers, and I finally found a wooden box decorated with enameled cats on the lid. Jackpot. This too mostly contained respectable jewelry, but right on top of the narrow gold chains and sensible watches lay those earrings: giant burgundy
cat faces with rhinestone eyes. I pocketed them and was shutting the drawer when I heard a rustling behind me.
I spun around, and unbelievably, there was a real cat in the room.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” I muttered. Kirova was violating one of the school’s biggest rules. Back in my freshman year, there’d been a huge scandal when a Moroi student was busted for secretly maintaining a reptile collection. He’d claimed it was for scientific research, and it had only been discovered when one of the snakes had escaped and ended up in Keely Tarus’s room. In the aftermath, we’d had a special school assembly in which Kirova had droned on about how animals had no place in an institute of exceptional academics.
The cat—a calico—sniffed at a sweater crumpled on the floor and then headed across the room. Too late, I realized it had its sights set on the opening to the tunnels. Horror at the thought of losing Kirova’s cat in the underground maze shot through me, and I leapt across the room and kicked the slipper into the passage, just as the cat reached the panel. The door slid shut, and with it, my escape.
The cat glared. My heart stopped. I frantically tried to put this in perspective. Surely, after all the brushes with death I’d had, this wasn’t the worst thing to happen to me, right? Being trapped in my headmistress’s room, holding on to her stolen property? It wasn’t like she’d kill me for that. I hoped.
I crept back to the door and listened as Kirova now complimented Dimitri’s boots and how their fine tool work accented the vest so nicely. I couldn’t even fully appreciate the continued weirdness, not in the throes of my current crisis. With her back to me, I was able to catch Dimitri’s eye and pantomime what had happened—omitting the cat’s role. Kirova had turned to pick up a mug, and there was no mistaking the meaning of the look he gave me: You have got to be kidding. You had one job, Rose.