Last Sacrifice

sparks could ignite. But what? Surely nothing in this waterlogged forest.

Her eyes fell on the map poking out of her bag. She hesitated only a moment before ripping and shredding the paper into a pile on top of the twigs. Supposedly, she'd reached the end of the hike and didn't need the map. Supposedly. But it was too late now, and Lissa pushed forward with her plan. First, she pulled out some of the bag's fluffy lining, adding the bits of fuzz to the paper. Then she took up the flint and steel again.

A spark jumped out and immediately caught a piece of the paper. It flared orange before fading out, leaving a wisp of smoke. She tried again, leaning forward to gently blow on the paper when the spark landed. A tiny flame appeared, caught a neighboring shred, and then faded. Steeling herself up, Lissa tried a final time.

'Come on, come on,' she muttered, as though she might compel a fire into existence.

This time, the spark caught and held, turning into a small flame, then a larger flame that soon consumed her kindling. I prayed it would take to the wood, or else she was out of luck. Brighter and larger the flame grew, eating the last of the paper and fuzz . . . and then spreading along the sticks. Lissa blew softly to keep it going, and before long, the campfire was in full blaze.

The fire couldn't change the piercing cold, but as far as she was concerned, she had the warmth of the entire sun in her hands. She smiled, and a sense of pride that she hadn't felt in a while spread within her. Finally able to relax, she glanced out at the rainy forest and caught the faintest flashes of color in the distance. Channeling spirit, she used her magic to intensify her ability to see auras. Sure enough—hidden far, far out among the trees, she could see two auras filled with strong, steady colors. Their owners stood still, staying quiet and covered. Lissa's smile grew. Guardians. Or maybe the air and water users controlling the weather. None of the candidates were alone out here. Ronald Ozera had had no need to worry—but then, he wouldn't know that. Only she did. Maybe spirit wasn't so useless out here after all.

The rain began to lighten, and the fire's warmth continued to soothe her. She couldn't read the time from the sky, but somehow, she knew she would have no problem waiting out the day and—

'Rose?' A voice summoned me out of Lissa's wilderness survival. 'Rose, wake up or . . . whatever.'

I blinked, focusing on Sydney's face, which was a few inches from mine. 'What?' I demanded. 'Why are you bothering me?'

She flinched and jerked away, momentarily speechless. Pulling away Lissa's darkness while joined with her hadn't affected me at the time, but now, conscious in my own body, I felt anger and irritation flood me. It's not you, it's not Sydney, I told myself. It's spirit. Calm down. I took a deep breath, refusing to let spirit master me. I was stronger than it was. I hoped.

As I fought to push those feelings down, I looked around and remembered I was in Sonya Karp's bedroom. All my problems came rushing back. There was a bound Strigoi in the other room, one we were barely keeping constrained and who didn't seem like she would give us answers anytime soon.

I looked back at Sydney, who still seemed afraid of me. 'I'm sorry . . . I didn't mean to snap at you. I was just startled.' She hesitated a few moments and then nodded, accepting my apology. As the fear faded from her face, I could see that something else was bothering her. 'What's wrong?' I asked. As long as we were alive and Sonya was still trapped, things couldn't be that bad, right?

Sydney stepped back and crossed her arms. 'Victor Dashkov and his brother are here.'

EIGHTEEN

I SPRANG UP FROM THE bed, relieved that I didn't fall over. My head still hurt, but I no longer felt dizzy, which hopefully meant I really had evaded a concussion. Glancing at an alarm clock as I left Sonya's bedroom, I saw that I'd been in Lissa's head for a few hours. Her test had been far more extensive than I'd realized.

In the living room, I found an almost comical sight. Victor and Robert stood there, in the flesh, taking in the surrounding details. Even Robert seemed to be with us mentally this time. Only, whereas Victor was studying everything in his calculating way, Robert's attention was fixed on Sonya. His eyes bugged out in astonishment. Dimitri, meanwhile, hadn't altered his position near Sonya or put away the stake at her throat. It was clear from his stance and watchful gaze, however, that he regarded the brothers as a new threat and was trying— impossibly—to stay on guard against everything. He seemed relieved to see me and have some backup.

Sonya had gone perfectly still within her chains, which I didn't like at all. It made me think she was planning something. Her red eyes narrowed.

The whole situation was tense and dangerous, but a tiny part of me felt smug satisfaction as I studied Victor more closely. The dream meetings had been deceptive. Just as I could shift my appearance in dreams, Victor had made himself look stronger and healthier in those visits than he actually was in real life. Age, disease, and life on the run were taking their toll. Dark shadows lined his eyes, and his graying hair seemed thinner than it had a month ago. He looked haggard and tired, but I knew he was still dangerous.

'So,' I said, hands on hips. 'You managed to find us.'

'There's one lake in this town,' said Victor. 'One blue house. Maybe you had trouble with those directions, but for the rest of us, it wasn't that difficult.'

'Well, if you're so smart, what's your plan now?' I asked. I was trying to stall as I frantically thought about what my plan was. I'd wanted to capture Victor and Robert but didn't know how. Since we had to split our attention between them and Sonya, Dimitri and I couldn't team up. I wished we had leftover chain. Aside from physically subduing the brothers, we would also specifically need to restrain their hands to reduce their ability to use magic.

'Since you're so smart,' countered Victor, 'I assumed you'd have already obtained the needed information.'

I gestured toward Sonya. 'She's not exactly forthcoming.'

Victor's eyes fell on her. 'Sonya Karp. You've changed since I last saw you.'

'I'm going to kill you all,' Sonya snarled. 'And consume you one by one. Normally, I'd start with the human and work up to the Moroi, but . . .' She glanced at Dimitri and me, her face full of rage. 'I think I'll save you two for last and drag out your suffering.' She paused and almost comically added, 'You've annoyed me the most.'

'Do all Strigoi go through some boot camp and learn all the same threats? It's a wonder you don't cackle too.' I turned back to Victor. 'See? Not that easy. We've tried everything. Beating it out, torturing it out. Sydney went through the names of all her relatives. No reaction.'

Victor studied Sydney in detail for the first time. 'So. Your pet Alchemist.'

Sydney didn't move. I knew she had to be scared of facing someone who was both a vampire and a dangerous criminal. I had to give her points for meeting his stare unflinchingly.

'Young,' Victor mused. 'But of course she would be. I imagine it's the only way you could manipulate her into this little escapade.'

'I'm here by choice,' replied Sydney. Her expression stayed calm and confident. 'No one manipulated me.' Abe's blackmail wasn't really relevant at the moment.

'Look, if you wanted to keep torturing me with your not-funny comments, you could have just kept invading my dreams,' I snapped. 'If you don't have anything useful to offer, then get out of here and let us wait until hunger weakens Sonya.' And by get out of here, I meant: foolishly think you're going to leave so that I can knock your heads together and drag you back to the guardians.

'We can help,' said Victor. He touched his brother lightly on the arm. Robert flinched, jerking his eyes from Sonya to Victor. 'Your methods were destined to fail. If you want answers, there's only one way to—'

Sonya made her move. Dimitri was still right next to her, but he'd also been keeping an eye on the rest of us. And of course, I'd been completely focused on the Victor drama as well. It was probably the best opening Sonya could have hoped for.

With crazy Strigoi strength, she bucked up from the chair. The chain was wrapped around her over and over, but her quick movement and strength were enough to snap the chain in two places. The rest still encircled her, but I knew perfectly well even one opening was enough for her to eventually bust out. Distracted or not,