Vampire Academy: New Generations

Chapter 17

A few days later, Eden found me outside the commons and delivered the most astonishing news. "Natasha's uncle's getting her off campus this weekend to go shopping in Missoula. For the dance. They said I could come along and bring you too." I didn't say anything. She looked surprised at my silence. "Isn't that cool?" She asked. "For you, I guess. No malls or dances in my future." I said as I continued to walk. She smiled excitedly when she caught up to me. "He told Natasha she could bring another person besides me. I convinced her to bring you. Not that either of them needed any convincing." She said with a smile. I threw up my hands. "Well, thanks, but I'm not even supposed to go to the library after school. No one's going to let me go to Missoula."

Eden smiled at that. "Aleksandar, Natasha's uncle thinks he can get Headmistress Kirova to let you go. Guardian Vegas is trying too." She said as I held in a laugh. Guardian Vegas. It sounded so weird and didn't fit him at all. "Vegas?" I asked. "Yeah. He has to go with me if I leave campus." She grinned, taking my interest in Vegas's coming with us as interest in the mall. "They figured out my account finally—I got my allowance back. So we can buy other stuff along with dresses. And you know if they let you go to the mall, they'll have to let you go to the dance." She reasoned. I shrugged. "You know there'll be all kinds of secret parties. We'll start at the dance and sneak off." She sighed happily. "Mia's so jealous she can barely stand it." She went on about all the stores we'd go to, all the things we'd buy. I admit, I was kind of excited at the thought of getting some new clothes, but I doubted I'd actually get this mythical release.

"Oh hey," she said excitedly. "You should see these shoes Stella let me borrow. I never knew we wore the same size. Hang on." She opened her backpack and began rifling through it. Suddenly, she screamed and threw it down. Books and shoes spilled out. So did a dead dove. It was a pale brown mourning dove and it had so much blood on it that I couldn't figure out where the wound was. Who knew something so small even had that much blood? "Son of a bitch," I swore. Without hesitating, I put my hands on it's little feathered body, attempting to heal it. "Why the hell does this keep—Evie!" Eden pulled me back when she noticed what I was doing, but I... I needed to save the bird. I shook her off when she leapt over and tried to grab me. "I can save it." I said, feeling somewhat dazed. "Evangelista," she pleaded, tightening her hand around mine. "Don't. Don't do it. You promised us, remember? Some things have to stay dead. Let this one go." She said. I wanted to let go, but I still felt the tension. I'd also slightly began healing it. I groaned in pain, holding back tears as thin neat lines slowly dragged their way across my arms, at the same spot as before. When she realized, she yelled louder. "You said you wouldn't. You promised me. You promised Guardian Vegas." That did it for me. The internal battle I was fighting was won. I relaxed and let my body slump on the floor, flipping over to face Eden. I barely remembered what I'd been doing before. I hadn't even realized what I was about to do. The instinct was so strong, it acted on its own.

After I stabilized myself, I walked to Kirova's office, wanting to tell her about what had happened with Eden. I started to wonder as I walked the familiar path. When we'd found the fox, Eden had hinted that someone must know about the raven I'd healed. Then when Ophelia was killed, I realized someone must have really wanted to see if I could heal these animals. Ophelia was the proof. If someone had killed her and now seen that she was up and alive, the only possible solution was that one of us, Eden or me, had saved her. And everyone knew Eden was a water/air elemental. Besides, when I saw Eden the next day, she'd practically forgotten the dove in light of other news: Kirova had given me permission to go on the trip that weekend. The prospect of shopping can brighten a lot of dark situations—even animal murder—and I put my own worries on hold. Only, when the time came, I discovered my release came with strings attached. "Headmistress Kirova thinks you've done well since coming back," Vegas told me as we walked to the car. "Aside from starting a small fight in Mr. Nagy's class?" I asked as he shrugged. "She doesn't blame you for that. Not entirely. I convinced her you needed a break...and that you could use this as a training exercise." I stopped and looked up to him. "Training exercise?" He gave me a brief explanation as we walked out to meet the others going with us.