richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

"Absolutely." I spoke with certainty, again relieved she couldn't read my feelings. Escaping the
first time had been tricky enough. Doing it again would be a real bitch, not that I couldn't still
find a way.
"You really would, wouldn't you?" She smiled, more to herself than to me, like she'd thought of
something funny. "Of course you would. It's just, well. . ." She sighed. "I don't know if we
should go. Maybe—maybe we should stay.”
I blinked in astonishment. "What?" Not one of my more eloquent answers, but the best I could
manage. I'd never expected this from her.
"I saw you, Rose. I saw you talking to the other novices during class, talking about practice.
You miss that.”
"It's not worth it," I argued. "Not if…not if you…" I couldn't finish, but she was right. She'd
read me. I had missed the other novices. Even some of the Moroi. But there was more to it than
just that. The weight of my inexperience, how much I'd fallen behind, had been growing all
day.
"It might be better," she countered. "I haven't had as many…you know, things happening in a
while. I haven't felt like anyone was following or watching us.”
I didn't say anything to that. Before we'd left the Academy, she'd always felt like someone was
following her, like she was being hunted. I'd never seen evidence to support that, but I had once
heard one of our teachers go on and on about the same sort of thing. Ms. Karp. She'd been a
pretty Moroi, with deep auburn air and high cheekbones. And I was pretty sure she'd been
crazy.
"You never know who's watching," she used to say, walking briskly around the classroom as
she shut all the blinds. "Or who's following you. Best to be safe. Best to always be safe." We'd
snickered amongst ourselves because that's what students do around eccentric and paranoid
teachers. The thought of Lissa acting like her bothered me.
"What's wrong?" Lissa asked, noticing that I was lost in thought.