Even if his name hadn’t been on the door, I would’ve known I had the right place just by the smell alone. Every guardian knew you wanted your scent as nondescript as possible when out in a situation that might pit you against Strigoi. That was a novice kindergarten lesson. And we had it on good authority that in the field, Guardian Cojocaru did not, in fact, feel the need to torture everyone with obnoxious odors. In the safety of the school, while teaching guardian theory, he apparently didn’t have to adhere to normal protocols.
I followed my nose to the bathroom and found the culprit sitting right out in the middle of his counter. The cologne came in a black art deco–style bottle and was called Oblivion.
“More like ‘Oblivious,’” I muttered. Honestly, how could he not know how bad this stuff smelled? Was he purposely trying to discourage any chance of ever getting a date? The cologne smelled like furniture polish and low self-esteem.
I put it in a paper bag I’d found and then poked my head into his closet. There, neatly pressed, hung his formal black jacket, the one guardians wore on special occasions and for official duty. Often, the school’s laundry service stored these, but he’d hung on to his. The universe really was pulling for Christian.
With the jacket and cologne in hand, I pressed my ear to the door and could hear voices in the lobby. Fortunately, getting out was easier than getting in. I unlocked the room’s window and removed the screen so I could climb out. Once outside, I nearly slid the glass back down but then decided against it. That room could use a little airing out.
After that, it was a matter of making sure no one noticed my loot as I cut over to the chapel. Laughter and music from the carnival filled the air, and I looked longingly at the glittering central quad as I passed. I couldn’t smell any of the food, thanks to Oblivion. “Soon, cotton candy,” I murmured. “Soon.”
I found a secluded spot near the chapel, sandwiched between a statue and a tree. Settling down in the shadows, I put my back to the trunk and kept an eye out for Mason and Eddie. I hoped they’d come soon. Temperatures were cooling off as the night progressed, and I shivered in my thin getup. As I waited, I let the bond pull me over to Lissa. The connection was weak, but I could see how she sat at a table down on the lower campus, all her attention focused on painting a butterfly on the cheek of a small Moroi girl who regarded Princess Dragomir with awe. Neither Christian nor the scavenger hunt was on Lissa’s mind just then. She burned with happiness, her feelings lovingly turned toward the children before her as her small acts brought them such joy.
An angel indeed. Her contentedness echoed back into me, and I was glad I’d taken on this task for her tonight. My feelings for Christian—whom I could hear in Lissa’s periphery, telling some kid it was impossible to make a manatee out of a balloon—didn’t even enter into it.
I blinked back into my surroundings and saw two giggling Moroi girls dressed as witches walk by. Still no Mason or Eddie. They were starting to worry me. If everything had worked out, they should’ve been able to get in and out of the main building quickly. That was the whole point of arriving there before any of the other players did.
What if everything didn’t work out? What if they were caught? Plenty of detentions and other punishments always followed the scavenger hunt. That was a fact of the game.
“Rose?”
I turned toward the whisper and waved. “Over here.”
Mason and Eddie materialized from the shadows, their arms full of objects. At least, I thought Mason’s were. He had the sheet on. “I could smell you but couldn’t see you,” Eddie said, crouching down. “You got it.”
“I did. Is that one of the encyclopedias? That’s only fifteen points. You were supposed to just snag the big items.”
“Yeah, well, they weren’t all ripe for the snagging,” Mason said, pushing the sheet back. His red hair stuck up at odd angles. He held up a framed portrait of a wizened Moroi man with a unibrow. A small plaque identified him as Gerard Trotter, St. Vladimir’s headmaster from 1977 to 1981. “We got this, but the queen’s blessing was already gone.”
“What? Who beat us to it?”
“Shane’s team. He’s got Andy Brewer with him and Charlene Conta.”
“Air user,” I said. “That’s lucky.”
“That’s only part of their luck.” Mason took the sheet off altogether and lay back in the grass. “We were actually ahead of them when Guardian Kier stopped to question us outside. I watched Shane and Charlene actually walk behind him and go right into the building, thanks to our distraction. When we got in, they had the blessing and their own portrait and were on their way upstairs. We figured we’d get the tie and the quiz to make up for it and pretty much followed along with them.”
I glanced down. “I see a tie but no quiz.”
“Miss Fedin’s printer ran out of ink just as they finished printing theirs,” said Eddie. “Even Shane was surprised. He actually looked sorry for us and was starting to tell us where the ink supply was when we heard a bunch of noise. One of the other teams got caught, and we had to get out before the guardians found us too. Took us a while to get a clear shot on an exit, and we detoured through the library to grab an encyclopedia. Figured we should at least get something.”
I stared up at the sky and did some math. “Well, I got a jacket from Cojocaru’s room, so that helps.”
“Sort of. Miss Fedin’s robes were in her room, so Shane got those too,” said Eddie, almost apologetically. “Easy score.”
“Goddamnit!” I exclaimed. “Lissa was wrong. The universe hates Christian. Let’s go deliver this stuff and check the tallies. We’ll figure out Plan B.”
No one wanted to haul their loot around throughout the hunt, so the coordinators set up a secret drop point to collect the goods and keep track of the current team standings. It was also a way to get our finds counted, in case we couldn’t make it back right at the two-hour mark. We located the drop-off out in the woods, on the outskirts of the main campus. Camille Conta took inventory of what we had and then passed them on to Otto Sterling, a novice in our grade, to transport somewhere else. They didn’t want to be caught with a stash of contraband any more than we did. She turned on a small flashlight and let us look at the current standings.
Mason pulled back in disgust and began pacing around. “Figures. They grabbed an encyclopedia on their way out too.”
We were in second, a full twenty-five points behind Shane’s team. The next-closest team had an even bigger point gap between them and us. Other teams hadn’t reported in yet, but it seemed unlikely anyone else could be a contender based on what was left.
“I think the second-place team gets a smaller box of wine,” Eddie remarked.
“I don’t want a smaller box of wine. I want the crappy full-size one. I’m getting those bacon truffles, and you’re getting your reptile movie.”
“Raptor,” he corrected.
Camille, listening to us, asked, “You like those truffles? Wish I’d known. I’m the one who donated them as a prize. My grandparents sent me some from Switzerland, and I gave them all away. By the way … what’s your costume, Rose?”
Later, as my team walked back to campus, Mason pressed a hand to his forehead and pondered our situation. “We’ve still got an hour. We’re going to have to try to pull it out with the little scores. The next-biggest thing’s in Belikov’s room, and no one’s going to risk getting caught by him.”
I’d seen Dimitri’s name right away, of course. I noticed everything that had to do with the mentor I was inconveniently in love with, whether it was a wisp of brown hair escaping his ponytail or a new Western novel for him to read on his breaks. ONE OF GUARDIAN BELIKOV’S CDs, the list had read. I’d immediately dismissed it because I also didn’t want to risk getting caught by Dimitri. That item also hadn’t seemed necessary in the initial version of our plan, back when we thought we’d be able to score so much from the main building.
“He doesn’t keep them in his room,” I said, earning astonishment from my
companions.
“How do you know that?” asked Eddie.
Because I’ve been in his room. Naked. Making out with him in his bed.
I’d been under the influence of a lust charm at the time—not that it had been entirely necessary—but even still, I’d taken in all the details of his room and noted the absence of his infamous 1980s music collection. I’d also seen him produce CDs pretty quickly when we were in the indoor training areas, far from the residence hall.
“Because he’s my mentor.” I certainly wasn’t going to give these two any specifics. “I’m pretty sure he keeps them near the weight room.”
Mason stopped walking. “That’s right by all the training supplies. By the boxing gloves.”
“The exterior entrance is too secure,” said Eddie. “They won’t risk anyone getting into the stakes. But you can access it from the other side—by the guardian offices and meeting rooms.”
“Which we have a key to,” I added.
We stood there staring at one another. Cheers from the carnival made me think someone must have successfully dunked a teacher.
“The key doesn’t matter,” said Eddie at last. “There are too many guardians. You can’t walk in there without them noticing.”
My eyes fell on Mason. “Actually … maybe I can. Anyone else crazy enough to go for the CD will think it’s in Dimitri’s room like you guys did. If I can get into the training center from the guardian offices, I can get it and the boxing gloves. You guys round up what you can from the rec building, just to be safe.” I didn’t elaborate that “just to be safe” actually meant “in case I’m caught.”
Mason regarded me with awe and affection—and also concern. “Rose, I love it when you’re crazy, but this might even be beyond you.”
I snatched the sheet he had draped over his arm. “Not if I have this.”
Ideally, I would’ve spent a lot longer than five minutes studying the entrance to the guardians’ building before making my move. But with the clock racing, recon time was limited. In my brief surveillance, I saw two guardians leave and one enter. All were costumed. None of them was Guardian Mertens.
Showtime, Rose.
I pulled the sheet over me and emerged from my hiding place. A cluster of students carrying cotton candy crossed my path but paid little attention to me. Throwing my shoulders back, I strode up to the building’s doorway as though I worked there and entered all the time—and as if I most certainly weren’t a student posing as a guardian who was hopefully still on watch back in the dorm’s lobby.
I used my purloined key to unlock the door and swung it open, revealing Guardian McKay—dressed as a goblin. I froze, terrified by both his reaching toward me and his cheap rubber mask. He caught the door and gave me a friendly nod as he walked out. “Hey, Wanda.”
I nodded back, not that he could probably even tell under the sheet. The sheet also at least hid the fact that I was hyperventilating, so that was a bonus. Moving forward, I tried to get my bearings. I’d been in here a couple of times and had a general sense of how the building connected over to the gym and training center. I expected there to be a hallway branching to the left at some point. This facility held offices for guardians to work and grade in, as well as meeting rooms. Those were all dark tonight. A room straight ahead, at the end of the hall I walked, held most of the action: the guardian break room.
I could see three guardians in there and heard what sounded like show tunes playing. Two of the guardians stood chatting by a coffeepot while another waited for the microwave to finish. That one nodded when he caught sight of me in the hall, and I gave another concealed nod back. Was it going to look weird if I didn’t go in and have a doughnut or something? I had the height, build, and attire to pass myself off as Mertens, but once I had to speak, it would be game over.
A whiteboard hung above the coffeepot, containing a grid of all the guardians, their posts tonight, and scheduled breaks. That actually would’ve been incredibly useful for scavenger hunt players, but right now, it could pose another serious problem for me. Mertens had her break in fifteen minutes. If anyone questioned why she was here early, my cover would be blown. And if I was somehow still here when she showed up, my cover would also be blown.
“Hey, hold up!”
I jumped at the voice behind me. Busted already. I turned slowly toward the building’s entrance, ready to face my fate. But although I was the one being addressed, I wasn’t the one who’d actually been busted. Alberta came storming down the hall, with three mortified students in tow. One carried a portrait of some ancient headmistress. My night would’ve become a lot simpler if it had been Shane’s team that had been captured, but this was a group of Moroi. No surprise they’d been caught. Moroi magic was handy in some challenges, but dhampirs were the ones who excelled in stealthy operations. Without one of us to guide them, this team had just been asking for failure.
“Emil caught them trying to sneak into the rec building.” Alberta still wore her apron and had even more powdered sugar than before on her. But she smelled incredible. “Joe’s supposed to be doing the processing, but I’ve lost him. Can you stay with them while I figure out where he went?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
My muffled response wasn’t questioned in her agitated state. She stomped off, and while this saved me from making conversation over coffee in the break room, I wasn’t sure if being stuck on guard duty for my fellow competitors was that much better.
“We were set up, Guardian,” one of the Moroi blurted out. “Honest.”
“Yeah,” said another. “We were, uh, just holding this for someone.”
“Quiet.” I changed my voice to something gravelly, deep, and—hopefully—terrifying. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves and beg Guardian Petrov for mercy. St. Vladimir’s is an institute of fine education. This childish behavior is a disgrace to all it and this carnival represent.”
“Doesn’t the carnival represent candy and costumes?” the first one asked.
“Quiet!” I barked.
Alberta hurried back a minute later and had Guardian Cojocaru with her. He was dressed as a jester and had been pretty heavy-handed with the cologne tonight. His Oblivion completely overpowered Alberta’s eau de funnel cake.
“Here they are,” she said to him. “Write them up and send them on their way. They’re Kirova’s. She can deal with them tomorrow. And I’ll take this.” She snatched the portrait away. “Thank you for watching them, Wanda. Don’t let me delay you from your break.”
I turned toward the break room and barely heard one of the Moroi behind me saying something to Alberta about mercy. Just as I reached the break room’s entrance, I made a quick check to confirm no one was watching me from inside or from the hall. I veered left, down a corridor that forked in the direction I needed. After about ten steps, I paused, waiting to hear if anyone would call back and ask why I wasn’t on my way to the coffee. No one did, and I took off at a run.
Only two conference rooms flanked this walkway, but soon, as expected, it opened up to a room I recognized: the training center’s office. It had two doors, one of which I’d just walked through. The other door, directly opposite me, led to the training room itself. This was the office I’d seen Dimitri disappear into when he went looking for music.
The glow shining from the hallway was all the light I needed, and I immediately set to searching the room. I found the CDs in a cardboard box labeled PROPERTY OF D.B. that had been tucked under a table. Pulling off my sheet and kneeling down, I flipped through the CDs and saw they all had D.B. on them, which would help prove I had the authentic item—not that it was probably even possible to get a B-52’s or After the Fire CD anywhere else on campus. Since they were alphabetized, I left the rest undisturbed in the box and just selected one from the beginning. I’d never heard of a group called Animotion, but anyone who looked at their picture would immediately know whose CD collection this had come from. Shane couldn’t match this. Now I just had to get the boxing gloves, and C
hristian would be eating disgusting bacon truffles in no time.
I stood up, turned around, and found myself looking right at Dimitri.
And not just any Dimitri. Dimitri dressed as a cowboy.
Now, to be fair, Dimitri always kind of dressed like a cowboy. I mean, he wore a leather duster as part of his everyday attire. The crazy thing was, he wasn’t wearing it now. He had on a different coat, deep gray wool that fell to his knees and was worn open to show a black-and-gray-checked vest buttoned across a crisp white dress shirt. It was accented with a blue paisley tie and, so help me, a gold pocket watch, its chain draping over the vest. And, of course, he had a hat, because what kind of lame cowboy wouldn’t? A wide-brimmed gray hat that matched the coat. I supposed he wasn’t so much a cowboy who rounded up cattle on a ranch as he was a sharp-eyed sheriff who stalked the streets of lawless towns.
It was ridiculous how gorgeous he was in that getup. No one had a right to look that good in a cowboy costume. He was even wearing his hair loose! If Dimitri needed a volunteer to be lassoed or handcuffed or whatever it was swanky lawmen did, I’d be the first to step up. I might as well have been wearing a HELLO, MY NAME IS SMITTEN tag.
“Rose,” he said, jolting me out of my fantasies. “Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
“Sure, lots of things. Starting with how to download music. It’d take up a lot less space, you know.”
He gave me a look I knew well, a hybrid of exasperation and amusement. “Rose, you’re doing the scavenger hunt, aren’t you?”
“What makes you say that?” When his gaze fell on the CD in my hand, I added, “Jesse’s band is terrible. Did you ever consider that maybe I wanted to change things up? Bring a new vibe to the carnival?”
“No, that’s something I would never consider.” He reached into an inner pocket of his coat and pulled out a piece of paper I recognized. “Also, I’ve seen this.”
I sighed. “Damn it. Someone’s always stupid enough to have it on them when they get caught. They need to burn that thing. Or eat it.” Mason, Eddie, and I had made sure to memorize our copy of the list before disposing of it. Once the teachers knew what we were actually after, the hunt became all but impossible.
Vampire Academy: The Untold Stories Page 10