The Headmistress instructed us to separate the girls before escorting them to class. Rose shot Lissa a panicked look before she was led away, looking at her retreating figure with a concerned expression. I studied her carefully. Alberta had just told her that she needed to pass by the guidance counsellors first, but Rose wasn’t paying attention. After a second, her mouth set into a grim line and she grudgingly stalked off.
When we were alone, Alberta turned to me. ‘So, you think it is true then?’
I nodded, watching Rose turn a corner, her hair flowing after her in a seemingly dismissive gesture. ‘I’ve been watching her. It’s obvious. I don’t doubt it for a second.’ I turned to Alberta, meeting her eye. ‘Neither should you.’ Alberta looked a little stunned by my seriousness, but I needed to have said it. I didn’t think it wise to let many people at this school know about the bond, but the few people that knew needed to take it seriously.
We both turned to see Rose coming back five minutes later, and I immediately adopted my no-nonsense guardian face. Rose may be a unique and captivating girl, but there was no excuse for my close observation of her. This was school. I was a teacher, and she was now my student. Rose announced that she had Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques for first period, and Alberta and I silently escorted her there. Normally, we would have walked behind her to ensure she did not sneak off, but I purposefully took my position in front of Rose, Alberta coming up next to me. I was extremely proud that I was able to keep my eyes off the Hathaway girl the entire way, trying to pretend that this was just any other day.
Unfortunately, we made a grand entrance into the gym. Rose froze for a moment, seeming unwilling to enter. Then she steeled herself and, head held high, she scanned the room until her eyes fixed on a male student. I was disappointed to see her offer him a breath-takingly gorgeous grin. It was the first time I had ever seen her smile, and suddenly I was struggling to keep the emotions off my face. My daze didn’t last long however, because then Rose spoke in a typically cocky school-girl voice.
‘Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you’re going to think about me naked, do it on your own time.’
Ah, I thought. That would explain Rose’s less than holy reputation. Mason Ashford, an admittedly committed and talented novice, snapped out of his awed silence, responding with a lopsided smile. I regarded him quietly, not sure why I was suddenly not feeling too kindred towards him anymore.
Stop! I ordered myself. You’re behaving irrationally! What would my Russian mentors have to say about my ridiculous behaviour? I mentally shook myself, trying to remember that it was a good thing that Rose fit in among her students and even better for her that she got along well with the male novices. I should be glad for her, right?
‘This is my time, Hathaway. I’m leading today’s session,’ Ashford said.
‘Oh yeah? Huh.’ Rose retorted, considering. ‘Well, I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then.’ I was horrified by her response, barely containing myself from turning and snapping at her. Girls should not be provoking young men in that fashion.
‘It’s always a good a time to think about you naked,’ added another male novice called Eddie Castile.
Oh, ugh. I really did not want to know that any of these boys had ever thought about Rose inappropriately. I shook my head, exasperated, and turned to take off. ‘Glupyye mal’chiki,’ I muttered; Russian for “foolish boys”. I stalked behind Alberta, but before I exited the gym, I paused by the doors. Alberta shot me a questioning look.
‘I think I will stay for a bit. See just how far behind Hathaway is.’ Alberta nodded briskly and continued. I turned to look back.
Rose was by now, predictably, surrounded by a bunch of male squabbling novices. I watched as she threw her head back and laughed, her eyes sparkling with humour. For just a moment, she looked completely carefree, a look so rarely associated with a guardian. I sobered then, realising that she really was just a seventeen year old girl who’d had way too much responsibility thrust upon her at too young an age.
Everyone seemed to want to talk to Rose, confirming exactly what I had suspected. She really was some sort of a legend at this school. Reckless, brutal behaviour tended to have that effect, I thought dryly, as I recalled myself as a young boy at school in Siberia. I watched Rose saunter around the room, speaking vividly to her classmates, taunting them as she avoided answering their curious questions. Their easy banter faded to the background as I reminisced my own past.
I’d spent most of my childhood boiling in anger. Anger that was mostly directed at my birth-father, but I nonetheless took out on my classmates. I’d often gotten into brawls; afterwards dragged into the Headmaster’s office to be punished in one way or another. In Siberia, the teachers did not hesitate to use physical punishments, and I shuddered as I recalled the pain.
Like Rose, I too, had been forced to age prematurely.
I had met my mentor when I was only a little boy. Ruthlessly efficient, he had gripped my arm and dragged me away from yet another fight, scrutinising my black eye with harsh disapproval. ‘Stupid child!’ he had roared, ‘wasting precious time!’ I hadn’t understood then what he had meant, but as the years passed, I had grown wiser. Guardian Avdonin had promised me that he would help me. He’d said I was strong, and I was gifted.
‘Gifted how?’ I’d asked, confused.
‘With anger. You have a lot of anger, Belikov. Now, you can let it control you, or you can learn to control it. When you learn to control it, you’ll be unstoppable.’
‘When?’
‘Why, yes, of course. I plan to train you.’
It had been the beginning of a wonderful friendship and my steady climb towards a better life. Guardian Avdonin had had me training every day, taking up all my free time. He had also been the one to introduce me to novels; precious, life-consuming Western novels.
‘These are your meditation, Belikov,’ he’d said, dropping heavy books into my arms. ‘When you get angry, walk away, and read.’ And some excellent meditation it was.
My life from there on had been brawl-free, Headmaster office-free, punishment-free and black eye-free. There came however, a day when the control slipped. The day I had beaten my father.
I snapped out of my flashback as I saw the guardian who oversaw the training march over to the laughing group and scold Ashford for neglecting his duties. I watched smugly as the boy started barking out orders, but my smugness evaporated when I saw Rose’s easy expression get replaced by unease. Hmm, I thought. Insecure? She must have missed out on all these exercises.
I saw Ashford reach for Rose’s arm, murmuring something too quietly for me to hear. Then the two of them launched into the exercise, and it quickly became evident that Rose didn’t stand a chance against the much more experienced Ashford. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to look inconspicuous as I analysed her every movement. Her body had obviously gotten a little soft over the years, and she was easily thrown off balance, Ashford ruthlessly knocking her down on the mat over and over. She was going to bruise, but a little pain wouldn’t kill anyone.
Just as Ashford was extending a hand to help Rose up for about the fiftieth time, I decided I had seen enough. Turning promptly, I took long strides and didn’t stop until I reached my office, which was dusty with how little use it saw. Guardians did not have much use for offices, especially since I was not one that taught any theoretical classes. And yet I found myself sinking into the office chair, taking a deep sigh as I dusted off the table, pulling out papers and a pen.
I needed to create a schedule for Rose. When I taught other novices, I mostly made up the lessons as I went. Rose Hathaway was no ordinary novice. She had lots of unpolished strength and…anger. I realised I needed to treat her like Guardian Avdonin had treated me. I needed to be ruthless, unforgiving and yet hands-off. I shut my eyes tightly, trying hard to recall every single tiny detail of my training as a child. I remembered how Guardian Avdonin – much to my disappointment – had constantly insisted I work on my endurance.
He’d jabbed at my youthful, thin arms. ‘Belikov, you are too young for strength training. Look at you! You have nothing to build muscle with yet.’
Angrily I had pouted at him, an act of defiance he’d made a habit of beating out of me.
Narrowing his eyes, his voice low and rough, he’d spoken in a menacing voice. ‘Ten laps, Belikov. Every time you complain, you earn yourself another ten. Understood?’
Utterly terrified, I had been incapable of managing much more than a brisk nod before hurrying off to do as I had been ordered.
Back in the present, I shook my head ruefully, smiling to myself. Yes, that’s how I would begin. Rose Hathaway was no child, but she was not hardened and hardy like the other novices. I was sure I would find great pleasure in ordering her to run laps, but first I had to check the extent of her fighting skills myself, which was what I would be doing at our first practice. Lowering the pen to the paper, I began planning.
After a while, I checked my watch. It was time for me to supervise Alto’s class: Bodyguard Theory and Personal Protection 3. For some irrational reason, I felt excited at the thought of seeing Rose again. When I got to the empty classroom, I walked to the back and stood by the wall, placing my hands behind my back as I watched the other guardians file in. After a few minutes, the novices trudged in, talking and laughing. Among them I saw Rose, my eyes glued to her before she could even take a seat. She was the only one not talking; instead looking deep in thought as Alto entered the room.
Nobody must have notified Alto of Rose’s arrival at the school, because he looked even more pissed off than usual when he caught sight of her. He circled the room, eyes widened in mock surprise as he neared her. Rose tensed visibly. Blin, I cursed, the Russian equivalent of “damn”. I did not like where this was going.
‘What’s this? No one told me we had a guest speaker here today,’ Alto began in an all-too-familiar mocking tone, making me grimace internally. ‘Rose Hathaway. What a privilege! How very generous of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us.’
I didn’t need to see her face to sense her embarrassment. But she lifted her head to Alto’s, and by the look of his sneer she must have gifted him with one of her hateful glares. Unfortunately, that only egged him on, and he gestured for her to stand up. ‘Well, come on, come on. Don’t sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class.’
Rose sank back into her seat. ‘You don’t really mean–‘ she began in a disbelieving voice.
‘I mean exactly what I say, Hathaway. Go to the front of the class,’ he ordered.
Silence. Get up, Rose, I wanted to tell her. There’s no point dragging out the punishment; easier to just get it over with fast. Finally, she rose defiantly, striding up to the front of the room. I was grateful to see her turn to face the class so I could more easily gauge her emotions. Typically, she tossed her hair over her shoulders and fixed the class with what I knew was a forced, bold look. Her eyes scanned the room, until they finally landed on me.
Her eyes widened as they travelled up my tall frame, but I was in guardian mode, to her probably looking like a stony statue. Her eyes snapped to the side as Alto approached her. ‘So, Hathaway. Enlighten us about your protective techniques.’
Oh boy, this was not going to be good. I felt like I should shift uncomfortably along with the other novices, but I remained immobile, very certain this would be another opportunity for Rose to prove just how much she had missed out on by leaving school. In a way, it was necessary. She did need to take the consequences of her actions, even though she felt they were justified.
‘My…techniques?’ she asked, brow furrowing in confusion.
‘Of course. Because presumably you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn’t understand when you took an underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats.’
Rose didn’t move, but I could have sworn she stifled an eye roll. ‘We never ran into any Strigoi,’ she replied stiffly.
‘Obviously,’ Alto snickered. ‘I already figured that out, seeing as how you’re still alive.’ I thought then it was a good thing indeed, that both Vasilisa and especially Rose were alive. Or maybe the fact that Rose was alive was not so good for everyone, I corrected myself as I saw her eyes fill with anger once more at Alto’s comment. Thankfully, she didn’t say anything, provoking Alto into pacing the front part of the class.
‘So what’d you do? How’d you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?’ I thought about the girls’ bond, feeling an urge to tell Alto that Rose was indeed the best medium to know if the princess was safe since she could sense her being in danger.
‘Sometimes,’ Rose replied stonily.
Alto repeated her in a pathetically high-pitched voice, twisting her words. ‘Well then, I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night.’
‘Er…’ Rose hesitated then continued, ‘no.’ I wondered what Rose really had done to protect the princess. If she had known nothing about bodyguard techniques, how on earth did she and the princess remain undetected for two entire years? Yes, Alto could mock her all he wanted, but I felt the guardians at this school needed a good chastising too. It was only when I had joined the staff and jumped on the case that we’d found any leads at all.
‘No? But that’s one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn’t know that because you weren’t here.’ I felt like rolling my eyes. For an adult man, Alto could be incredibly childish at times, always at the expense of others.
Rose swallowed. If eyes could kill. ‘I watched the area whenever we went out,’ she spit.
‘Oh? Well that’s something. Did you use Carnegie’s Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?’
Rose wouldn’t know any of those, and wisely, she remained silent. I felt like tapping my leg. When was this lecture going to end?
‘Ah. I’m guessing you used the Hathaway Glance-Around-When-You-Remember-To Method.’ Shit, she was going to explode.
‘No!’ she, predictably exclaimed, the anger projecting her voice. ‘That’s not true. I watched her. She’s still alive, isn’t she?’ With my help, I thought, you could keep her alive for as long as a Moroi could last.
Alto leaned toward her face, a bothersome invasion of her personal space. I frowned at that. ‘Because you got lucky.’
‘Strigoi aren’t lurking around every corner out there,’ she shot back. ‘It’s not like what we’ve been taught. It’s safer than you guys make it sound.’ That, at least, I knew to be true from my years of guarding Zeklos…
‘Safer? Safer? We are at war with the Strigoi!’ Alto yelled, causing Rose to jerk back. ‘One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck’ – pretty?! – ‘before you even noticed him – and he’d barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, nothing, compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?’
Rose’s eyes burned with anger; and something else. Was she going to cry? I didn’t think she’d allow herself to do that in front of anyone. Suddenly I felt my heart lurch. No matter what Rose had done, she had done it with good intentions, and she didn’t deserve to be grilled like this. I felt like snapping at him, but knew there was nothing I could do. I was right; she looked away from him quickly, her eyes searching the back of the room where we guardians stood. Her eyes found me, scanning my face quickly, and not finding anything, she moved on to regard the other guardians.
‘Moroi blood,’ she whispered.
‘What was that?’ Alto asked, although it was clear he had heard. ‘I didn’t catch it.’ Oh no, I thought. Don’t provoke her.
She spun around to face him. ‘Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger.’
Alto nodded, satisfied by her answer, and launched into a dramatic but necessary descriptive of Strigoi nature, one that I had heard my mentors repeat very often. I remembered them drilling us over and over. Strigoi are lethal. They have been stripped of all their humanity. They are not people. They are not natural. Don’t hesitate, because it will kill you. Don’t hesitate.
I shook off the memory, tuning into what Alto was saying. ‘…as the Moroi disappear…’
‘…so do the dhampirs,’ Rose finished.
‘Well, it looks like you learned something after all. Now we’ll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester.’
Oh, that, Guardian Alto, I would make sure of.
I stayed for Rose’s next training class as well, noting her strength and the specifics she needed to catch up on. Like the previous class, she spent the most of this one getting beaten up too. As soon as class had ended, she’d practically run out, eager to have her lunch break, I suspected. I followed her, seeing her stumble painfully across campus. I easily fell into step beside her, for a moment uncertain about how to strike up conversation with her. Thankfully, she beat me to it.
‘I suppose you saw what happened in Stan’s class?’ she asked, not looking at me.
I didn’t really feel like talking about how I’d witnessed her earlier humiliation, but figured it was inevitable with someone who was as straight-to-the-point as she was. ‘Yes.’
‘And you don’t think that was unfair?’ Her earlier anger crept back into her voice.
I thought for a moment. How did you reason with a hot-tempered person? How had Guardian Avdonin handled me? Well, mostly with scare tactics and a no-nonsense, brisk attitude. I realised the situation wasn’t quite the same. Yes, she was angry, but humiliation often entailed hurt. I needed to talk it out, and let her come to her own realisations.
‘Was he right? Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?’
She looked down at the ground. ‘I kept her alive,’ she mumbled.
‘How did you do fighting against your classmates today?’ I knew the question was mean, and she didn’t need to answer it, but it was necessary that she was reflective. ‘If you can’t fight them–‘ I pressed, but she interrupted me.
‘Yeah, yeah, I know,’ she snapped.
I slowed, struggling for a way to show her that I was on her side; that I wanted to help her. ‘You’re strong and fast by nature,’ I encouraged. ‘You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn’t you play any sports while you were gone?’ I needed to know just how much she had neglected her fitness during those two years.
‘Sure,’ she shrugged. ‘Now and then.’ A vague answer.
‘You didn’t join any teams?’
‘Too much work. If I’d wanted to practice that much, I’d have stayed here.’
God, was there any hope for this girl? Exasperated, I turned to look at her. ‘You’ll never be able to really protect the princess if you don’t hone your skills. You’ll always be lacking.’ And someone like you can’t be lacking, I added silently.
‘I’ll be able to protect her,’ Rose said fiercely, giving me exactly the reaction I wanted. I needed to keep digging for her sense of duty. I knew she wanted to protect the princess, I just needed to channel that need into her training.
‘You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know – for your field experience or after you graduate,’ I continued in a low voice. This was something she simply needed to accept, because it was reality. ‘No one wants to waste the bond’ – least of all me – ‘but no one’s going to give her an inadequate guardian either. If you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don’t. You’re an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you both graduate – if you can prove you’re worthy. I hope you will.’ There, I hoped I’d catched my old mentor’s tone perfectly. Hopefully Rose would realise just how serious this was, and stop acting the cocky know-it-all student.
‘Lissa, call her Lissa,’ she corrected.
I turned, sorry to be leaving, but I needed to leave her alone and let the words sink in.