richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

"Tell her we'll be at the clinic," said Dimitri. When she left, he turned to Lissa. "You should lie
down.”
When she didn't move, I linked my arm through hers. "Come on, Liss. Let's get you out of
here.”
Slowly, she put one foot in front of the other and let us lead her to the Academy's medical
clinic. It was normally staffed by a couple of doctors, but at this time of night, only a nurse
stayed on duty. She offered to wake one of the doctors, but Dimitri declined. "She just needs to
rest.”
Lissa had no sooner stretched out on a narrow bed than Kirova and a few others showed up and
started questioning her.
I thrust myself in front of them, blocking her. "Leave her alone! Can't you see she doesn't want
to talk about it? Let her get some sleep first!”
"Miss Hathaway," declared Kirova, "you're out of line as usual. I don't even know what you're
doing here.”
Dimitri asked if he could speak with her privately and led her into the hall. I heard angry
whispers from her, calm and firm ones from him. When they returned, she said stiffly, "You
may stay with her for a little while. We'll have janitors do further cleaning and investigation in
the bathroom and your room, Miss Dragomir, and then discuss the situation in detail in the
morning.”
"Don't wake Natalie," whispered Lissa. "I don't want to scare her. I cleaned up everything in the
room anyway.”
Kirova looked doubtful. The group retreated but not before the nurse asked if Lissa wanted
anything to eat or drink. She declined. Once we were alone, I lay down beside her and put my
arm around her.
"I won't let them find out," I told her, sensing her worry about her wrists. "But I wish you'd told
me before I left the reception. You'd said you'd always come to me first.”