Bloodlines Chapter Thirteen

MY CELL PHONE RANG at the crack of dawn the next morning. I was already up, being an early riser, but Jill rolled everyplace in bed and put her pillow over her head.Make it stop, she groaned.I answered and inst entirely Eddie on the new(prenominal)wise end of the business organization.Im downstairs, he said. Ready to practice some self-defense before it spend a pennys overly hot.Youre sledding to perplex to do it without me, I said. I had a feeling Eddie was pickings his promise to Clarence about training us very seriously. I felt no such obligation. Ive got a ton of homework to do. That, and Im sure Ms. Terwilligers going to make me do a c rack upee run today.Well, then send Jill down, said Eddie.I glanced over to the cocoon of blankets on her bed. That might be easier said than done.Surprisingly, she managed to rouse herself enough to brush her teeth, stop acetylsalicylic acid for a headache, and throw on some workout clothes. She bid me farewell, and I promised to che ck into on them later. non long afterward that, Ms. Terwilliger called with her coffee demand, and I prepared myself for another day of trying to fit in my own work with hers.I drove over to Spencers and didnt even notice Trey until I was rest right in front of him.Ms. Terwilligers? he asked, superlativeing to the caramel sauce cappuccino.Huh? I faceed up. Trey was my cashier. You work present?He nodded. Gotta make spending money somehow.I handed him some cash, noting that hed charged me half price. Dont start out this the wrong way, but you dont look so great, I told him. He looked tired and worn out roughly the edges. Closer inspection showed bruises and cuts as well.Yeah, well, I had kind of a rough day yesterday.I hesitated. That was a leading comment, but there was no one in line understructure me. What happened? I asked, shrewd it was expected. Trey scowled. That asshole Greg Slade wreaked havoc in football tryouts yesterday. I mean, the results arent up yet, but it s pretty unambiguous hes going to add up quarterback. He was like a machine, just plowing guy ropes over. He extended his left field hand, which had some bandage-wrapped fingers. He stepped on my hand too.I winced, remembering Slades out-of-control athleticism in PE. The politics of laid-back school football and who was quarterback werent that important to me. True, I felt sorry for Trey, but it was the source behind the tattoos that intrigued me. Keiths warnings about not causing trouble rang back to me, but I was unable to stop myself.I know about the tattoos, I said. Julia and Kristin told me about them. And I get now why you were suspicious of tap but its not what you think. Really.Thats not what Ive heard. Most people think youre just saying that because you dont want to arrange where you got it.I was a undersize taken aback by that. I was pretty sure Julia and Kristin had believed me. Were they in reality spreading around the opposite? I had no idea. He shrugged, a sm all smile on his lips. Dont worry. I believe you. Theres something kind of naively charming about you. You dont seem like the cheating type.Hey, I scolded. Im not naive.It was a compliment.How long move over these tattoos been around? I asked, deciding it was best to move in. I heard since last year.He handed me my coffee, thinking. Yeah, but it was the end of last year. School year, I mean.And they fill in from a placed called Nevermore?As far as I know. Trey eyed me suspiciously. wherefore?Just curious, I said sweetly.A couple of college kids dressed like rich hobos got in line behind me and regarded us impatiently. Can we get some service here? Trey gave them a unshakable smile and then rolled his eyes at me as I moved forth. See you around, Melbourne.I headed back to Amberwood and delivered Ms. Terwilligers coffee. I wasnt in the mood to stay leashed to her all day, so I asked if I could go elsewhere if I kept my cell phone handy. She agreed. The library had too a good dea l activity and ironically noise for me today. I wanted the solitude of my room.As I was cutting across the lawn to catch the shuttle, I spotted some familiar figures behind a cluster of trees. I changed direction and found Jill and Eddie squaring off in a small clearing. Micah sat cross-legged on the ground, watching avidly. He waved at me as I approached.I didnt realize your brother was a kung-fu master, he remarked.Its not kung fu, said Eddie gruffly, never taking his eyes off Jill.Same difference, said Micah. Its salve pretty badass.Eddie feinted, like he was going to luck into at Jills side. She responded fairly quickly with a block, though not quite fast enough to meet him. Had he been serious, he would have hit her. Still, he seemed pleased with her response time. Good. That would deflect part of a hit, though youd still feel it. Best is if you can duck and dodge altogether, but that takes a little more work. Jill nodded obediently. When can we work on that?Eddie regarded her with pride. That expression softened after a few moments of study. non today. Too much sun.Jill started to protest and then stopped herself. She had that worn-out-from-the-light look once more and was sweating heavily. She glanced up at the sky for a moment, as though begging it to give us some cloud cover. It remained unresponsive, so she nodded at Eddie.All right. But were doing this tomorrow at the same time? Or earlier maybe. Or maybe tonight Could we do both? Practice tonight when the suns going down and then again in the morning? Would you mind?Eddie grinned, amused at her enthusiasm. Whatever you want.Smiling back, Jill sat down beside me, acquire into as much shade as possible. Eddie regarded me expectantly. What? I asked.Arent you supposed to learn to throw a plug?I scoffed. No. When would I ever require to do that?Jill nudged me. Do it, SydneyReluctantly, I allowed Eddie to give me a quick lesson on throwing a punch without injuring my hand in the process. I barel y paid assistance and felt like I was mostly providing entertainment for the others. When Eddie finished with me, Micah asked, Hey, would you mind showing me some ninja moves too?They have nothing to do with ninjas, protested Eddie, still smiling. Come on up.Micah leapt to his feet, and Eddie walked him through some rudimentary steps. to a greater extent than anything, it seemed like Eddie was sizing up Micah and his capabilities. After a while, Eddie grew comfortable and let Micah practice some disgustful moves to get rid of an claper.Hey, protested Jill when Eddie landed a kick on Micah. Micah shrugged it off in a guy kind of way. No fair. You wouldnt hit me when we were practicing.Eddie was caught off guard enough that Micah actually got a hit in. Eddie gave him a look of grudging respect and then said to Jill, That was different.Because Im a girl? she demanded. You never held back with rose.Whos Rose? asked Micah.Another friend, explained Eddie. To Jill, he said And Rose has had years more experience than you.Shes had more than Micah too. You were going blue-blooded on me.Eddie flushed and kept his eyes on Micah. Was not, he said.Were too, she muttered. As the boys sparred again, she said quietly to me, How am I ever going to learn if hes afraid of breaking me?I watched the guys, analyzing what I knew of Eddie so far. I think its more complicated than that. I think he also just believes you shouldnt have to take the risk that if hes doing a good enough job, you shouldnt have to defend yourself.Hes doing a great job. You should have seen him at the attack. Her face got that haunted look it did whenever the attack that had dictated her into hiding was mentioned. But I still need to learn. She lowered her voice even more. I really want to learn to use my magic to struggle too, not that Ill get much practice in this desert.I shuddered, recalling her display from the night before. Therell be time, I said vaguely.I stood up, saying I had to go get some wo rk done. Micah asked Eddie and Jill if they wanted to get lunch. Eddie said yes immediately. Jill looked to me for help.Its just lunch, said Eddie meaningfully. I knew he still thought Micah was harmless. I didnt know, but after seeing how infatuated Jill was with Lee, I figured Micah would have to make some pretty aggressive moves to get anywhere.Im sure its fine, I said.Jill looked relieved, and the group headed off. I spent the day finishing off that miserable al-Quran for Ms. Terwilliger. I still thought having to copy the archaic spells and rituals verbatim was a waste of time. The only point I could see for it was that if she ever did need to reference them for her research, she would have an easy computer file to check and not risk damage to the ancient book.It was evening by the time I finished that and my other homework. Jill still wasnt back, and I decided to use the opportunity to check on something that had been bothering me. Earlier in the day, Jill had mentioned Eddie support her in the attack. Id felt from the beginning that there was something strange about that initial attack, something that they werent telling me. So, I logged onto the Alchemists meshing and pulled up everything we had on the Moroi rebels.Naturally, it was all documented. We had to keep track of important events among the Moroi, and this ranked pretty high. Somehow, the Alchemists had gotten pictures of the Moroi Court, with protesters lined up outside one of the administrative buildings. Dhampir guardians were easy to pick out as they mingled and kept order. To my surprise, I recognise Dimitri Belikov Roses boyfriend among those doing crowd control. He was easy to spot since he was almost always taller than everyone around him. Dhampirs look very human, and even I could admit that he was pretty good-looking. There was a rugged good looks to him, and even in a still photograph, I could see a fierceness as he watched the crowd.Other protest pictures confirmed what I kne w. By far, most people supported the young queen. Those against her were a minority but a loud and dangerous one. A video from a human news program show in Denver showed two Moroi guys nearly getting in a bar fight. They were yelling about queens and justice, most of which wouldnt make sense to a human observer. What made this video specific was that the guy whod filmed it some random human with a cell phone camera claimed hed seen fangs on both men in the argument. The videographer had submitted his recording claiming hed witnessed a vampire fight, but no one gave it much credibility. It was too grainy for anything to show up. Still, it was a reminder of what could happen if the Moroi stead spun out of control.A place check showed me that Queen Vasilisa was indeed trying to get a law passed so that her rule was no longer dependent on there being at least one other mortal in her royal family. Alchemist experts guessed it would take three months, which was about what Rose ha d said. The number loomed in my head like a ticking time bomb. We needed to keep Jill safe for three months. And for three months, Vasilisas enemies would be trying harder than ever to get to Jill. If Jill died, Vasilisas rule would end along with her attempts to fix the system.Yet none of this was what had really driven me to research. I wanted to know about Jills initial attack, the one that no one talked about. What I found wasnt much help. No Alchemists had been there at the time, of course, so our information was based on what Moroi sources had reported. All we knew was that the queens babe had been viciously and severely attacked but had made a full recovery. From what Id observed, that was certainly true. Jill showed no signs of injury, and the attack had occurred a week before she came to Palm Springs. Was that enough time to heal from a vicious and severe attack? And was an attack like that enough to make her wake screaming?I didnt know but still couldnt shake my suspici ons. When Jill came home later, she was in such a good mood that I couldnt bear to question her. I also remembered too late that Id meant to research the case of Clarences niece and her bizarre death by throat-slitting. Jills situation had distracted me. I let the matter go and called it an early night.Tomorrow, I thought drowsily. Ill do it all tomorrow.Tomorrow came much more quickly than I expected. I was woken out of a heavy balance by someone shaking me, and for a split second, the old nightmare was there, the one about Alchemists carrying me away in the night. Recognizing Jill, I just barely stopped myself from screaming. Hey, hey, I scolded. There was light outside, but it was purplish. precisely after sunrise. Whats going on? Whats the matter?Jill looked at me, face grim and eyes wide with fear. Its Adrian. You have to rescue him.