me point… ye don’t need magic for solving yer problems. She sure doesn’t. What have I always told ye?”
Only really serious stuff. Life and death stuff.
“’Tis a truth. I’m still mad at ye for breaking yer word, and I’ve me doubts about this looney bin. That being said, I’m glad yer healing, though I kinda like this not talking thing, boy. Could get used to ye not mouthing off all the while,” she said.
“Now I’ve got to be ending me class and all, so get yerself back to yer friends.”
Love you, I wrote.
“Get on wit ye now,” she mock-growled, turning and speaking to the class. “Okay, enough for tonight. We’ll see what ye come up with next Monday, won’t we?”
I joined my group and Caeco smiled at me. “Did you grovel well?”
Getting there. Not completely done yet, though.
“Oh, I have complete faith in your ability to grovel,” she laughed, the girls joining in.
“Oooooh, dude,” Mack said like she’d burned me. I didn’t care. I still felt better than I had in days. Who knew it would be so short lived.
Chapter 24
A cold hand clamped across my mouth woke me instantly Tuesday morning. The color of the eyes that met mine was so vivid that I could tell they were blue in the murky dark of early morning. A finger rose to the beautiful face and made the universal sign for silence. Tatiana Demidova was in my dorm room. At… 5:34 a.m., if Mack’s ceiling projection clock was right.
I nodded, or at least tried to under that steely grip. She got the point, letting go and backing away. Another dark figure, larger and male-shaped, stood near the door.
Throwing off my covers and sitting up, I realized I was only wearing boxers. Before I could think to cover myself, the slim pale hand was back, grabbing my wrist and pulling me off the bed like the winch on my Land Cruiser. Clothes were shoved my way, a pair of running shoes added to the pile, and then I was standing in the hall, blinking under the florescent lights.
Chris Gordon shut the door to my room and grinned at me. Tanya stood next to him, studying my mostly undressed body. “Get dressed. We have much work to do,” she said, her Russian accent a touch heavier than I remembered.
I wanted to ask what the hell was going on, but my jaw was still too stiff and sore. Tanya handed me an open bottle of red Gatorade and I automatically took a sip.
“How’s your jaw?” Chris asked after I’d swallowed.
I started to shake my head, but suddenly realized the pain was gone. Experimentally, I opened my jaw further. “Ah, better,” I said. Tanya made an impatient bottoms up gesture for me to finish off the little drink. I chugged it down. Queen vampire demands, I deliver.
“Now how do you feel?” Chris asked, grinning as if he already knew.
“Pretty awesome. No… really awesome,” I answered, stunned that it was true. Every ache, every pain was gone and I felt like running a mile.
“We heard about the shit that went down. Declan, we’re really sorry that all happened to you,” Chris said.
His girlfriend was suddenly deep in my personal space, looking at my face and eyes critically. I froze solid. “That’s some bullshit training. We’re here to fix that,” she said, only inches away. “But it is cold for you, yes? Put on your clothes.”
I put them on—fast.
Then we were walking, down the hall and down the stairs. Waving to the guards and heading into the dark cold outside. “Follow us,” Chris said, still wearing a shit-eating grin. Both uber-naturals took off at a slow, effortless jog. I copied them and as soon as I had caught up, they sped up slightly, forcing me to as well. No sooner was I up to speed than they did it again. Pretty quickly, we were sprinting down the road, passing converted industrial building after building as we turned corners and moved a bit further from downtown. Art studios, architectural salvage, non-profit home good recycle shops, music stores, martial arts studios and, of course, restaurants. About three-quarters of a mile from Arcane, we came to an old building, which looked unloved. No good Vermonters had yet claimed it and renovated it into a new life; instead, it had broken windows and graffiti-painted walls. Tanya led us inside.
A single lightbulb hanging from a long, cracked wire illuminated the entryway to what must have been a factory at one time. Most