Hope is a Four Letter Word - Complete

Chapter Three

"It's hard to describe. I don't know how I first did it. I think I was dreaming and there was suddenly someone else there. I didn't even appreciate it was real until the next morning . At first, I'd imagine the place and me there and then the other person there, too. Now it's easier. I just kind of let my mind wander to the person and then most of the time I let their mind pick the place; although if it's their first time I usually choose as their mind doesn't really get what's happening," Adrian explained, reclined on a couch in the Church attic. He was about to light a cigarette when Lissa stopped him with a look.

Adrian had turned up on campus Saturday, moving to St Vladimir's for the rest of the school year to work with Lissa and Ms. Carmack on spirit.

After the diversions of Court, returning to High School promised to be eternally dull, although it wasn't entirely without its compensations. Working with Lissa on spirit had piqued his interest; but not as much as Lissa's friend Rose. Beautiful and spirited, something about Rose fascinated Adrian. It wasn't just her looks, although she was admittedly a stunner. It was the way she was simultaneously so strong but so vulnerable. The way she'd looked at him at the Ski Lodge had sucked him right in – eyes knowing yet full of innocence. She was a walking, talking, sexy as hell conundrum, and while his primary occupation at St Vlad's would be working on spirit with Lissa, his second was to figure out Rose Hathaway. He wanted to be the man to answer the questions hidden in the depths of those deep brown eyes.

"So where's your sidekick?" Adrian asked Lissa casually, not wanting to give his interest away.

"He's spending time with his aunt," Lissa said distractedly, misunderstanding Adrian's question as she focused on the seed she was coaxing to life in front of her. "He's been struggling since Spokane, so Tasha's visiting for the weekend to spend time with him."

"How's Rose going after what happened?"

"Yeah, she's ok. She's off outdoor survival training this weekend," Lissa said, looking at the now blooming seedling with satisfaction.

"A bunch of dhampir out in the cold and wet. Better them than me," Adrian laughed. He wondered for a moment whether the cradle robber was there with her, but pushed the thought from his mind. "So if it's just the two of us, what do you want to do?"

"Keep practicing spirit?" Lissa suggested.

"We can't do that all day; it's not worth the burnout. Let's go find Christian and his aunt?" Adrian suggested.

It probably wasn't a bad idea Lissa thought. Although she'd had explained to Christian a thousand times she wasn't interested in Adrian, he still wasn't thrilled about the amount of time the two of them spent alone together. Maybe hanging out as a group might help with that?

"Hey," she said when she and Adrian tracked Christian and Tasha down in one of the common rooms. "It's nearly dinner time – you want to come to the cafeteria?"

"Yeah sure. Tasha?" Christian said, wrapping a proprietary arm around Lissa and giving Adrian a slightly uneasy look.

"You go ahead. I was going to find Dimitri and see if he wanted to hang out."

"Oh, he's off campus this weekend, Tasha. He and Rose have gone on an outdoor survival camping weekend," Lissa explained.

"What? In this weather? Dhampir are crazy," Christian laughed. "They must have been snowed out because Blake and Eddie were up here earlier doing a group assignment for Animal Phys."

"I think just Rose and Guardian Belikov went. She said it was to make up for her missing the survival skills last year while we were away."

Lissa might have missed the flash of Tasha's aura, but Adrian didn't. Interesting. Either Tasha batted for the other team, or Rose had a bit of competition for Guardian Boring Borscht's attention, he thought.