richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

Something about that bothered me; I suddenly very much wanted his approval. So I picked up
my own pace, working my lungs and muscles harder. Twelve laps around the track made three
miles; we had nine more to go.
When we reached the third-to-last loop, a couple of other novices passed by, preparing to go to
the group practice I'd soon be at as well. Seeing me, Mason cheered. "Good form, Rose!”
I smiled and waved back.
"You're slowing down," Dimitri snapped, jerking my gaze from the boys. The harshness in his
voice startled me. "Is this why your times aren't getting any faster? You're easily distracted?”
Embarrassed, I increased my speed once more, despite the fact that my body started screaming
obscenities at me. We finished the twelve laps, and when he checked, he found we'd shaved
two minutes off my best time.
"Not bad, huh?" I crowed when we headed back inside for cool-down stretches. "Looks like I
could get as far as the Limited before the Strigoi got me at the mall. Not sure how Lissa would
do.”
"If she was with you, she'd be okay.”
I looked up in surprise. It was the first real compliment he'd paid me since I started training
with him. His brown eyes watched me, both approving and amused.
And that's when it happened.
I felt like someone had shot me. Sharp and biting, terror exploded in my body and in my head.
Small razors of pain. My vision blurred, and for a moment, I wasn't standing there. I was
running down a flight of stairs, scared and desperate, needing to get out of there, needing to
find…me.
My vision cleared, leaving me back on the track and out of Lissa's head. Without a word to
Dimitri, I tore off, running as fast as I could toward the Moroi dorm. It didn't matter that I'd just
put my legs through a mini-marathon. They ran hard and fast, like they were shiny and new.
Distantly, I was aware of Dimitri catching up to me, asking me what was wrong. But I couldn't
answer him. I had one task and one alone: get to the dorm.