richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

That gave me an idea. "Is it possible to specialize in more than one element?”
She laughed and shook her head. "No. Too much power. No one could handle all that magic,
not without losing her mind.”
Oh. Great.
"Okay. Thanks." I started to leave, then thought of something else. "Hey, do you remember Ms.
Karp? What did she specialize in?”
Ms. Carmack got that uncomfortable look other teachers did whenever anyone mentioned Ms.
Karp. "Actually—”
"What?”
"I almost forgot. I think she really was one of the rare ones who never specialized. She just
always kept a very low control over all four."
I spent the rest of my afternoon classes thinking about Ms. Carmack's words, trying to work
them into my unified Lissa-Karp-Vladimir theory. I also watched Lissa. So many people
wanted to talk to her now that she barely noticed my silence. Every so often, though, I'd see her
glance at me and smile, a tired look in her eyes. Laughing and gossiping all day with people she
only sort of liked was taking its toll on her.
"The mission's accomplished," I told her after school. "We can stop Project Brainwash.”
We sat on benches in the courtyard, and she swung her legs back and forth. "What do you
mean?”
"You've done it. You stopped people from making my life horrible. You destroyed Mia. You
stole Aaron. Play with him for another couple weeks, then drop him and the other royals. You'll
be happier.”
"You don't think I'm happy now?”