I-75 from Paris, KY to Ann Arbor, MI | Thursday
Lissa’s half-sister lived in Michigan. Michigan. It wasn’t even that far of a drive from Paris, Kentucky, and thanks to St. Vlad’s late Easter break, she’d actually be at home right now. Yeah, St. Vlad’s Easter break - Lissa (and Rose of course) had gone to school with Jill Mastrano for half their lives without knowing that Jill and Lissa shared more than a friendship with Christian. Rose could hardly believe it, and she knew that when she finally got to tell Lissa, Lissa would be stunned.
If she ever got to tell Lissa and didn’t die from boredom first. The five hours or so up to Ann Arbor had Rose missing the long, boring drives with Dimitri and his country music. Instead there was Dimitri driving (of course), Victor riding shotgun where they could keep an eye on him, Sonya and Rose sitting in the middle, and Robert curled up in a ball in the back seat. Rose checked on him every so often, and Victor did the same when they stopped, but the immense amounts of Spirit magic he’d used to change Sonya back seemed to have taken a permanent toll.
She met Dimitri’s eyes in the rearview mirror, and the strength of their connection warmed Rose again. She didn’t need to say she wanted to check up on Lissa through the bond, and he didn’t need to give her the okay, that he could keep watch on the recalcitrant Moroi. Instead there was just a little nod, and Rose smiled, closing her eyes as she sought out Lissa, living with her the strain of the first monarch’s test, the fear of being out in the sun all day without protection, the stress of trying to find her way through the forest, through the clues provided. The test was something Rose could have sleepwalked through, but for a Moroi, untrained in any of the survival skills that guardians were drilled in, it was far more difficult, and Rose couldn’t help the surge of pride as she stayed with Lissa through the trial and her eventual success.
Blinking back a grin of triumph, she looked up again, just noticing a sign saying ‘Welcome to Ann Arbor!’ “Oh,” Rose rubbed her eyes again, trying to pull herself completely back into her body. “We’re there?”
[NFB, NFI, alphabet soup]
If she ever got to tell Lissa and didn’t die from boredom first. The five hours or so up to Ann Arbor had Rose missing the long, boring drives with Dimitri and his country music. Instead there was Dimitri driving (of course), Victor riding shotgun where they could keep an eye on him, Sonya and Rose sitting in the middle, and Robert curled up in a ball in the back seat. Rose checked on him every so often, and Victor did the same when they stopped, but the immense amounts of Spirit magic he’d used to change Sonya back seemed to have taken a permanent toll.
She met Dimitri’s eyes in the rearview mirror, and the strength of their connection warmed Rose again. She didn’t need to say she wanted to check up on Lissa through the bond, and he didn’t need to give her the okay, that he could keep watch on the recalcitrant Moroi. Instead there was just a little nod, and Rose smiled, closing her eyes as she sought out Lissa, living with her the strain of the first monarch’s test, the fear of being out in the sun all day without protection, the stress of trying to find her way through the forest, through the clues provided. The test was something Rose could have sleepwalked through, but for a Moroi, untrained in any of the survival skills that guardians were drilled in, it was far more difficult, and Rose couldn’t help the surge of pride as she stayed with Lissa through the trial and her eventual success.
Blinking back a grin of triumph, she looked up again, just noticing a sign saying ‘Welcome to Ann Arbor!’ “Oh,” Rose rubbed her eyes again, trying to pull herself completely back into her body. “We’re there?”
[NFB, NFI, alphabet soup]