He shook his head and grimaced. "No, I'm going with you on this."
"No," I argued. "I only needed you to get through the gate. You don't have to get in trouble over this."
"I'm already in trouble!" He pointed at the guardian. "He saw my face. I'm screwed either way, so I might as well help you save the day. Stop being a bitch for a change."
We hurried off, and I cast one last, guilty glance at the guardian. I was pretty sure I hadn't hit him hard enough to cause real damage, and with the sun coming out, he wouldn't freeze or anything.
After about five minutes of walking down the highway, I knew we had a problem. Despite being covered and wearing sunglasses, the sun was taking its toll on Christian. It was slowing us down, and it wouldn't take that long for someone to find the guardian I'd taken out and come after us.
A car-not one of the Academy's-appeared behind us, and I made a decision. I didn't approve of hitchhiking in the least. Even someone like me knew how dangerous it was. But we needed to get to town fast, and I prayed Christian and I could take down any creepy stalker guy who tried to mess with us.
Fortunately, when the car pulled over, it was just a middle-aged couple who looked more concerned than anything else. "You kids okay?"
I jerked my thumb behind me. "Our car slid off the road. Can you take us to town so I can call my dad?"
It worked. Fifteen minutes later, they dropped us off at a gas station. I actually had trouble getting rid of them because they wanted to help us so much. Finally, we convinced them we'd be fine, and we walked the few blocks over to the bus station. As I'd suspected, this town wasn't much of a hub for real travel. Three lines serviced the town: two that went to other ski resorts and one that went to Lowston, Idaho. From Lowston, you could go on to other places.
I'd half-hoped that we might beat Mason and the others before their bus came. Then we could have hauled them back without any trouble. Unfortunately, there was no sign of them. The cheery woman at the counter knew exactly who we were talking about, too. She confirmed that all three of them had bought tickets to Spokane by way of Lowston.
"Damn it," I said. The woman raised her eyebrows at my language. I turned to Christian. "You got money for the bus?"
Christian and I didn't talk much along the way, except for me to tell him he'd been an idiot about Lissa and Adrian. By the time we reached Lowston, I finally had him convinced, which was a minor miracle. He slept the rest of the way to Spokane, but I couldn't. I just kept thinking over and over that this was my fault.
It was late afternoon by the time we reached Spokane. It took a few people, but we finally found someone who knew the shopping center Dimitri had mentioned. It was a long ways from the bus station, but it was walkable. My legs were stiff after almost five hours of riding a bus, and I wanted the movement. The sun was a while from setting, but it was lower and less detrimental to vampires, so Christian didn't mind the walk either.
And, as often happened when I was in calm settings, I felt a tug into Lissa's head. I let myself fall into her because I wanted to know what was happening back at the resort.
"I know you want to protect them, but we need to know where they are."
Lissa sat on the bed in our room while Dimitri and my mom stared her down. It was Dimitri who had spoken. Seeing him through her eyes was interesting. She had a fond respect for him, very different from the intense roller coaster of emotions I always experienced.
"I told you," said Lissa, "I don't know. I don't know what happened."
Frustration and fear for us burned through her. It saddened me to see her so anxious, but at the same time, I was glad I hadn't gotten her involved. She couldn't report what she didn't know.
"I can't believe they wouldn't have told you where they were going," said my mother. Her words sounded flat, but there were lines of worry on her face. "Especially with your…bond."
"It only works one way," said Lissa sadly. "You know that."
Dimitri knelt down so he could be at Lissa's height and look her in the eye. He pretty much had to do that to look anyone in the eye. "Are you sure there's nothing? Nothing at all you can tell us? They're nowhere in town. The man at the bus station didn't see them … though we're pretty sure that's where they must have gone. We need something, anything to go on."
Man at the bus station? That was another stroke of luck. The woman who'd sold us the tickets must have gone home. Her replacement wouldn't know us.
Lissa gritted her teeth and glared. "Don't you think if I knew, I'd tell you? You don't think I'm worried about them too? I have no idea where they are. None. And why'd they even leave… it doesn't make any sense either. Especially why they'd go with Mia, of all people." A twinge of hurt flickered through the bond, hurt at being left out of whatever we were doing, no matter how wrong.
Dimitri sighed and leaned back on his heels. From the look on his face, he obviously believed her. It was also obvious that he was worried-worried in more than a professional way. And seeing that concern-that concern for me- ate up my heart.
"Rose?" Christian's voice brought me back to myself. "We're here, I think."
The plaza consisted of a wide, open area in front of a shopping center. A caf é was carved into a corner of the main building, its tables spilling out into the open area. A crowd moved in and out of the complex, busy even at this time of the day.
"So, how do we find them?" asked Christian.
I shrugged. "Maybe if we act like Strigoi, they'll try to stake us."
A small, reluctant smile played over his face. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd thought my joke was funny.
He and I went inside. Like any mall, it was filled with familiar chains, and a selfish part of me thought that maybe if we found the group soon enough, we could still get in shopping time.
Christian and I walked the length of it twice and saw no signs of our friends or anything resembling tunnels.
"Maybe we're in the wrong place," I finally said.
"Or maybe they axe," suggested Christian. "They could have gone to some other-wait."
He pointed, and I followed the gesture. The three renegades sat at a table in the middle of the food court, looking dejected. They looked so miserable, I almost felt sorry for them.
"I'd kill for a camera right now," said Christian, smirking.
"This isn't funny," I told him, striding toward the group. Inside, I breathed a sigh of relief. The group clearly hadn't found any Strigoi, were all still alive, and could maybe be taken back before we got in even more trouble.
They didn't notice me until I was almost right next to them. Eddie's head jerked up. "Rose? What are you doing here?"
"Are you out of your mind?" I yelled. A few people nearby gave us surprised looks. "Do you know how much trouble you're in? How much trouble you've gotten us in?"
"How the hell did you find us?" asked Mason in a low voice, glancing anxiously around.
"You guys aren't exactly criminal masterminds," I told them. "Your informant at the bus station gave you away. That, and I figured out that you'd want to go off on your pointless Strigoi-hunting quest."
The look Mason gave me revealed he still wasn't entirely happy with me. It was Mia who replied, however.
"It isn't pointless."
"Oh?" I demanded. "Did you kill any Strigoi? Did you even find any?"
"No," admitted Eddie.
"Good," I said. "You got lucky."
"Why are you so against killing Strigoi?" asked Mia hotly. "Isn't that what you train for?"
"I train for sane missions, not childish stunts like this."
"It isn't childish," she cried. "They killed my mother. And the guardians weren't doing anything. Even their information is bad. There weren't any Strigoi in the tunnels. Probably none in the whole city."