Hope is a Four Letter Word - Complete

Chapter Nineteen

"Abe Mazur you'd better be joking! We're not letting our seventeen-year-old daughter leave everything and everyone she's ever known!" Janine wailed, looking at him in alarm. "We'll lose her forever!"

"Janine, we already almost did! She's eighteen in a few weeks. After that, we can't stop her. The way I see it if we're not part of the solution we're part of the problem! Our little girl wants more from life than she can get in the Moroi world, and I can't blame her. We have the resources to help her be anything she wants to be. Isn't that what being a parent is about, Jeanie? We always said we wanted her to have every advantage we didn't."

He looked appealingly at Janine, holding his arms open to her as she sagged in defeat.

"But leaving the Moroi world?! It's so final!"

"Look – it might not have to be forever. We can work on Rose and Dimitri's behalf to have the charges dropped. What right now might look like something untoward in five years time is going to look very different - especially if they're still together. We'll focus on getting the charges lifted so they can return to spend time with family and friends when they want to. Dimitri I'll need you to fill out the formal resignation of post forms before you leave. Lord Ivashkov, I assume you'll be kind enough also to sign them? The last thing we need is to add a dereliction of duty charge to what you're already facing."

Adrian muttered his compliance. Lissa and Christian were standing in stunned silence.

"What can I do?" Lissa asked, rousing herself from her shock.

"I shouldn't be seen. Can you go to my dorm room and pack for me? I probably won't take much, but I'll need a range of clothes and underwear and some training gear. I want my photo album, iPod, chargers, all the photos from my photo board, and under my bed there's a shoebox. Please don't forget that."

"We'll box up anything you don't take, and your parents can store it," Alberta promised. "Nothing will be left behind."

"Do you have much to pack?" Abe asked Dimitri.

"No. I only have a bag with me. I don't have a lot, but I had to leave most of it in Minneapolis with Tasha Ozera." He said the name with bitterness.

"Dimitri? I think I might surprise my aunt with a trip home this weekend. If she hasn't destroyed your stuff, is there anything in particular you want? I mean, I'll try and save it all, but is there anything particularly special?" Christian asked.

"Yes. There's a set of stakes, my photo album and a Western book with an inscription in Russian on the inside. If you can get those, anything else will be a bonus."

"I'll do my best," Christian promised.

"Tasha Ozera? The one who spread this video?" Abe asked in an icy voice.

"She's my aunt," Christian said in the saddest voice. "First my parents, and now Tasha. It seems like being an Ozera means you're predisposed to doing horrible things."

"Don't be silly. You're not like that. I wouldn't let you date my best friend if you were," Rose said, in what was probably the kindest thing she'd ever said to him.

"Well I'm sorry she's your aunt, but I'll be looking into whether she released that video. If she did, I'm going to make destroying her my new hobby," Abe said menacingly. Rose hadn't seen it before, but at that moment Abe looked every bit the mob boss. A mob boss with a mission.

"If you see Eddie on your travels, can you tell him to come up here? I'd like to say goodbye to him, too."

Lissa nodded, sticking her head out the door and checking the coast was clear before pulling Christian out into the corridor. The door had barely closed when Alberta's phone rang. She pulled it out, looking at Rose and Dimitri and holding a finger to her lips in warning.