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Turns out, it wasn't difficult: a picture of Brad and Angelina was pinned to her bulletin board, a tiny cutout of Lindsey's face glued over Angelina's. " Bradsey," maybe?
The door opened before I had a chance to knock. Lindsey stood in the doorway, her gaze on the magazine in her hands. Her hair was in a low ponytail, and she was out of her Cadogan suit, having exchanged it for a fitted, short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans.
"I was waiting for you," she said.
I blinked at her. "What?"
"I'm psychic, remember?" She grinned up at me and waved one hand in the air. "Woo-woo," she said, apparently mocking the supernatural quality of it. "I sensed you were coming, and I know you're hungry."
"You can psychically tell that I'm hungry?"
She hmphed. "I can tell because you're Merit. When are you not hungry?"
She had a point.
I only got a peek of Lindsey's room before she threw the magazine inside and shut the door. The layout and furniture scheme were the same as mine - basic vampire dorm - but her room was riotous with color. The walls were crimson red, loud posters and pictures and album covers papering a good portion of them. Directly above her bed hung a giant New York Yankees flag. Lindsey was born in Iowa, but she'd done some time in New York. Apparently, it took. While I loved the Big Apple as much as the next girl, I was a Cubs fan through and through. She couldn't seem to shake her pro-Yankees affliction.
When the door was shut, she glanced at me, then clapped her hands together. "All right, Hot-shit Sentinel. Let's go downstairs so you can get your feed on and share your live-in goodness with the rest of your brothers and sisters, yes?"
I scratched absently at my biceps. "The thing is..."
"They don't hate you."
"You have really got to stop doing that."
Lindsey held up both her hands. "That one was written on your face, chica. Seriously, they don't hate you. Now, shush so we can chow."
I obediently shushed, then followed her down the hall to the main staircase and down again to the first floor.
At this time of night, the main floor was all but empty of vampires. One or two sat around in conversation or with a book in hand, but the House was beginning to quiet as vampires settled in for sunrise.
We walked through the main hallway to the cafeteria, where a handful of Novitiates carried trays through a U-shaped line around glass-shielded, stainless-steel bulwarks of food. We joined the end of the line, grabbed our own trays, and began to follow the route.
The food was largely breakfasty - sweet rolls and bacon and eggs. It didn't seem like a typical dinner spread; on the other hand, it was nearly five o'clock in the morning.
I plucked a box of organic chocolate milk from an array of drinks, then snatched a cherry Danish and a pile of bacon. I probably didn't need a heavy pre-sleep breakfast, but I figured the protein would do me good. And, seriously, when you wave a plate of bacon at a vampire, is she really gonna say no?
My tray full, I sidled behind Lindsey, waiting for her and the vamps in front of us to make their selections. She squeezed honey from a plastic bear onto a bowl of oatmeal, then lifted her tray and walked toward an empty table. I followed, taking the seat across from hers.
"Do I want to ask what's going on downstairs?"
I glanced up at her. "Downstairs?"
She dipped her spoon into her oatmeal, then nibbled a bit off the end. "Again," she said,
"I'm psychic. There are vampires wigging out all across Cadogan House tonight.
There's a kind of nervous energy. Preparations, maybe?"
There was little doubt that Lindsey, as a guard, wouldn't ultimately hear about Celina.
"Celina's been released," I whispered, tearing a corner from my cherry Danish.
"Oh, shit," she said, surprise and worry in her voice. "That explains why your energy's all over the place."
When I glanced up at her, her head was tilted to the side, an expression of curiosity on her face. "And there's something else there, too. A different kind of energy." After a pause, she grinned. " Ooooh," she said. "I got it now."
I lifted a brow. "Got what?"
"Nope," she said, shaking her head. "If you don't want to talk about Celina, I'm not going to talk about why you're all hot and bothered." She closed her eyes and put her fingertips against her temples. "Although I'm seeing someone - yep, definitely someone there. Someone with blond hair. Green eyes." She dropped her hands and gave me a flat stare.
"Shut it," I warned her with a pointed finger, a little embarrassed that she knew Ethan was the one who'd gotten me "all hot and bothered," but glad she thought it was lust-related - and not because I might have been biologically amiss. Well, vampiri cally amiss, anyway.
I glanced around, noting the curious looks of the vamps who sat at the wooden tables around us. They sipped at mugs and forked through bowls of fruit, their eyes on me.
They didn't look too impressed with their Sentinel.
I leaned toward Lindsey. "Have you noticed that everyone is staring at me?"
"You're a novelty," she said. "You challenged their Master before you even took the oaths, you were named Sentinel, you threw down at the Commendation ceremony, and our beloved leader still covered for your skinny ass."
That made me smile sheepishly. "I got thrown down. Not exactly the same thing."
"Did you know that I've been in this House one hundred and fifteen years? In all that time, Ethan's only nominated one other Master."
I tore at a corner of my pastry, popped it into my mouth. "I'm not a Master."
"Yet," she said, pointing at me with her spoon. "But that's only an issue of time. Of course, you could have inherent magic, be able to work some of that Mallory Carmichael juju - she's going to be good, you know - and you still wouldn't measure up to the Golden Child."
"I know she's going to be good," I agreed. "It scares me on a daily basis. Who's the Golden Child?"
"Lacey Sheridan."
I'd heard that name but couldn't place it. "Who's Lacey Sheridan?"
"The Master Ethan nominated. Master of Sheridan House."
"Ah," I said, understanding dawning. I remembered seeing the House name in the Canon. There were twelve vampire Houses in the United States. Sheridan was the newest.
"Lacey was in Cadogan for twenty-five years before Ethan nominated her for Testing.
She passed, and Ethan Apprenticed her before she took the Rites. Then she moved to San Diego, opened Sheridan House. They were close, he and Lacey."
