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“Little D. ” His eyes skittered around the room, and when he spoke again, it was in a whisper. “There are rules. I can’t challenge the Guidons. ”
He seemed nervous, and it threw me. I’d seen him concerned-nervous—as when I went into the ring to fight—but I’d never seen him like this, scared-nervous. A few more Trainees up and left us, and it struck me as significant.
“They’re priming us to be vampires, D. ” He stressed the words as though trying to impart some message.
I heard it loud and clear. “Yeah,” I admitted, “I get it. And you’ll be one of the ones in charge someday—unlike us lowly girls. Best to keep your place above the rest of us. ”
“Not like that. ” His shoulders slumped, as if he really wanted me to understand. “You think you get it, but you don’t. If I stand up to an Initiate? Hell, if I stand out at all, I’m as dead meat as you are. No. Deader. ”
“That’s not a word,” I grumbled. Boys could be such…boys.
Sighing, I broke down and shook my head. He was right. Kids like me and Yas didn’t make the rules—we lived and died by them.
I gave him a rueful smile. “I get that I have no idea what it’s like for you. I just…I wish you could tell me…” I gave him an opening even though I knew I could cajole all I wanted, yet never would he divulge the Trainees’ secrets.
Yas was quick to return my smile. “So we’re okay?”
“Yeah, we’re okay. ” Yet I couldn’t help but wonder what the implications were for our future friendship. There seemed to be a line drawn in the sand, carving a deep divide between guys and girls. Trainees and Acari.
Vampires and Watchers.
If Yasuo and I survived this, someday I’d be taking orders from him. He’d be the one able to take my life on a whim, the one telling me where to go and what to do. I wasn’t ready to think about how that dynamic might play out.
It was all the more reason for me to hightail it out of there. Escaping from an island tightly guarded by a bunch of vampires and located in the middle of a freezing sea seemed eminently easier to navigate than the new-to-me waters of friendship.
“Later, then. Off to class. ” He thumped his chest and gave me a fist salute. “Peace out, Blondie. ”
“Yeah, you’re such a gangsta. ” I’d tried to be playful but was feeling a little too out of sorts to sound it.
That left just me and Josh.
I’d burst in there on the warpath, but then my interaction with Yas ended up less showdown and more Dr. Phil. Honestly, it’d just made me kind of depressed. I turned on Josh, eager to make him my next target. “You. ”
He was cute and scruffy and blond. We were on a place called the Isle of Night—so how the hell did he still seem to be sporting a tan?
I cut him off before he could open his mouth. “You say gidday and you’re a dead man. ”
He raised his hands. “I’d not deign to greet you, oh rampaging Acari. ”
Damned if his stupid comment didn’t startle a laugh out of me. I blamed the accent. But my flash of good humor gave him an opening I hadn’t wanted to surrender.
“Go easy on Yas, eh?” he urged in a chummy tone, his accent making Yasuo’s name sound something like Yaehz. “He’s got a lot on his mind, and you know he can’t tell you the lot of it. ”
“Well, aren’t you two cozy,” I said, feeling defeated.
But Josh remained calm, refusing to rise to the bait. “We’re roommates. We talk. ”
Well, that was news. There was a lot the girls didn’t know about the creepy castle on the hill that was the guys’ housing, but someone’s roommate situation seemed like pretty basic information. “How did I not know that?”
Josh paused. “We aren’t supposed to talk much about things. But?
?” He met my eyes, thought for a moment, and decided to continue. “Don’t be mad, mate. It was new this summer. Our last roommates were…They died. So they put us together to make room for more. They just did—I swear. I’m sure Yas would’ve told you himself if you hadn’t come in here ready to tear him a new one. ”
His Australian accent had loped along, rough and lazy, making his words sound more offhand than they really were—because he was talking about boys dying, and it chilled me. As did all the mystery—I knew Acari dropped like flies, but I had yet to find out what killed the Trainees, or who.
I realized he hadn’t spoken, and I looked up to catch him ogling my mouth. “Goddammit, mate. ” I lunged closer and gave him a shove in the chest. Though the gesture was playful, I let my hand push a little harder than was strictly necessary. But then I fisted my hands at my sides, assuring myself those were definitely not rock-hard surfer abs beneath his uniform sweater. “Not you, too. What is with you guys?” I licked my lip, feeling the scab there. “It’s almost healed up. Learn a little control, would you?”
“Control is difficult, where you’re concerned. ” He winked, and I didn’t know if he was flirting with me or just making fun.
