Frostbite

"You okay?" Lissa asked me. "When I saw how drunk you were, I thought you might have fallen in somewhere and drowned."

"I'm not-" I gave up trying to deny it. "I'm fine."

Adrian's usual expression had turned serious as he studied Lissa. It again reminded me of the dream. "How'd you find her?"

Lissa gave him a puzzled look. "I, um, checked all the rooms."

"Oh." He looked disappointed. "I thought you might have used your bond."

Both she and I stared.

"How do you know about that?" I demanded. Only a few people at school knew about it. Adrian had spoken about it as casually as he might have my hair color.

"Hey, I can't reveal all my secrets, can I?" he asked mysteriously. "And besides, there's a certain way you two act around each other … it's hard to explain. It's pretty cool… all the old myths are true."

Lissa regarded him warily. "The bond only works one way. Rose can sense what I'm feeling and thinking, but I can't do it back to her."

"Ah." We sat in silence a few moments, and I drank more water. Adrian spoke again. "What'd you specialize in anyway, cousin?"

She looked embarrassed. We both knew it was important to keep her spirit powers secret from others who might abuse her healing, but her cover story of not having specialized always bothered her.

"I haven't," she said.

"Do they think you're going to? Late bloomer?"

"No."

"You're probably higher in the other elements, though, right? Just not strong enough to really master any?" He reached out to pat her shoulder in an exaggerated show of comfort.

"Yeah, how'd you-"

The instant his fingers touched her, she gasped. It was as though a bolt of lightning had struck her. The strangest look crossed her face. Even drunk, I felt the flood of joy that came pouring through the bond. She stared at Adrian in wonder. His eyes were locked onto hers too. I didn't understand why they were looking at each other like that, but it bothered me.

"Hey," I said. "Stop that. I told you, she has a boyfriend."

"I know," he said, still watching her. A small smile turned his lips. "We need to have a chat someday, cousin."

"Yes," she agreed.

"Hey." I was more confused than ever. "You have a boyfriend. And there he is."

She blinked back to reality. All three of us turned toward the doorway. Christian and the others stood there. I suddenly had a flashback to when they'd found me with Adrian's arm around me. This wasn't much better. Lissa and I were sitting on either side of him, very close.

She sprang up, looking mildly guilty. Christian was regarding her curiously.

"We're getting ready to leave," he said.

"Okay," she told him. She looked down at me. "Ready?"

I nodded and started to clamber to my feet. Adrian caught my arm as I did and helped me up. He smiled at Lissa. "Nice talking to you." To me, he murmured very quietly, "Don't worry. I told you, I'm not interested in her in that way. She doesn't look as good in a bathing suit. Probably not as good out of one either."

I pulled my arm away. "Well, you'll never find out."

"It's okay," he said. "I have a good imagination."

I joined the others, and we headed back toward the main part of the lodge. Mason gave me as strange a look as Christian had given Lissa and stayed away from me, walking toward the front with Eddie. To my surprise and discomfort, I found myself walking beside Mia. She looked miserable.

"I… I'm really sorry about what happened," I said finally.

"You don't have to act like you care, Rose."

"No, no. I mean it. It's horrible…I'm so sorry." She wouldn't look at me. "Is…that is, are you going to see your dad soon?"

"Whenever they have the memorial," she said stiffly.

"Oh."

I didn't know what else to say and gave up, instead turning my attention to the stairs as we climbed back up to the lodge's main level. Unexpectedly, Mia was the one who continued the conversation.

"I watched you break up that fight …" she said slowly. "You mentioned offensive magic. Like you knew about it."

Oh. Great. She was going to make a play at blackmail…or was she? At the moment, she seemed almost civil.

"I was just guessing," I said. No way was I going to bust Tasha and Christian. "I don't really know that much. Just stories I've heard."

"Oh." Her face fell. "What kind of stories?"

"Um, well…"I tried to think of something neither too vague nor too specific. "Like I told those guys…the concentration thing is big. Because if you're in a battle with Strigoi, all sorts of things can distract you. So you've got to keep control."

That was actually a basic guardian rule, but it must have been new to Mia. Her eyes widened with eagerness. "What else? What kind of spells do people use?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. I don't really even know how spells work, and like I said, these are just…stories I've heard. My guess is you just find ways to use your element as a weapon. Like … fire users really have an advantage because fire'll kill Strigoi, so it's easy for them. And air users can suffocate people." I'd actually experienced that last one vicariously through Lissa. It had been horrible.

Mia's eyes grew wider still. "What about a water user?" she asked. "How could water hurt a Strigoi?"

I paused. "I, uh, never heard any stories about water users. Sorry."

"Do you have any ideas, though? Ways that, like, someone like me could learn to fight?"

Ah. So that's what this was about. It actually wasn't all that crazy. I remembered how excited she'd looked at the meeting when Tasha had talked about attacking Strigoi. Mia wanted to take revenge on the Strigoi for her mother's death. No wonder she and Mason had been getting along so well.

"Mia," I said gently, catching hold of the door to let her pass. We were almost at the lobby now. "I know how you must want to … do something. But I think you're better off just sort of letting yourself, um, grieve."

She reddened, and suddenly, I was seeing the normal and angry Mia. "Don't talk down to me," she said.

"Hey, I'm not. I'm serious. I'm just saying you shouldn't do anything rash while you're still upset. Besides …" I bit off my words.

She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

Screw it. She needed to know. "Well, I don't really know what good a water user would be against a Strigoi. It's probably the least useful element to use on one of them."

Outrage filled her features. "You're a real bitch, you know that?"

"I'm just telling you the truth."

"Well, let me tell you the truth. You're a total idiot when it comes to guys."

I thought about Dimitri. She wasn't entirely off base.

"Mason's great," she continued. "One of the nicest guys I know-and you don't even notice! He'd do anything for you, and you were off throwing yourself at Adrian Ivashkov."

Her words surprised me. Could Mia have a crush on Mason? And while I certainly hadn't been throwing myself at Adrian, I could see how it might have looked that way. And even if it weren't true, that wouldn't have stopped Mason from feeling hurt and betrayed.

"You're right," I said.

Mia stared at me, so astonished I'd agreed with her that she didn't say anything else for the rest of the walk.

We reached the part of the lodge that split off into different wings for guys and girls. I grabbed a hold of Mason's arm as the others walked off.

"Hang on," I told him. I badly needed to reassure him about Adrian, but a tiny part of me wondered if I was doing it because I actually wanted Mason or because I just liked the idea of him wanting me and selfishly didn't want to lose that. He stopped and looked at me. His face was wary. "I wanted to tell you I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you after the fight-I know you were just trying to help. And with Adrian…nothing happened. I mean it."

"It didn't look that way," Mason said. But the anger on his face had faded.