I don't know why I listened to Tatyana, but that evening I found myself standing in front of Stas's door, behind which, to my immense disappointment, there was absolute, tomb-like silence. No matter how closely I listened, nothing stirred. At one point, I even pressed my ear to the door, thinking Stas might have already fallen asleep—only to be caught in the act by Arthur, who was just about to secretly swap places with Diana without the teachers noticing.
When I asked if he'd seen his brother, he told me not to expect Stas at least until morning: he had been forced to leave with their father on some urgent matter. Seeing the confusion on my face, he hastened to clarify that it was a family issue, not some new attack on the city, which eased my worry a little. Still, anything Vladimir touched was never quite innocent in my mind—this was the kind of man whose skewed moral compass could, under the guise of good intentions, pave a soft red carpet straight to Hell for all of us.
Not knowing what else to do, I told Arthur that I had nowhere to stay that night. He listened patiently to my "problem" and didn't bother asking about what repairs were going on, or why his brother had to be involved at all. It seemed he was in a hurry and simply wanted to get rid of me before he missed the chance to slip past the teachers with sensitive ears. And sure, there was reason to worry: even I had to strain to hear the sound of his vampire-like stealth.
"Hey, maybe Stas left you a keycard? I could spend the night here and leave by morning."
"Why don't you just ask for another room while yours is being fixed?"
"I already asked at the front desk," I said, annoyed. "There aren't any free rooms at all. They told me I could bunk with one of my classmates for the night."
Arthur nodded knowingly, a sly smile tugging at his lips.
"And of course," he said, "you decided that bunking with Stas was the very best idea. Brave move, Asya. Very brave."
"Seems like I'm the least threatening to him here," I mumbled awkwardly, my mind drifting back to the memories of recent happiness—the fragile moment that had slipped through my fingers like sand, leaving only tiny grains behind. How easy it had been to needle Tatyana with ambiguous hints, and how impossibly hard it was to convince myself of any real feelings from Stas toward me.
I wouldn't believe it until he said it directly, in his own words. Until I saw that his words matched his actions. He could write a thousand words about his feelings, asking for help for any of the brothers lucky enough to meet someone eternal. And yet I was powerless to give Stas what he truly wanted, and doubted that Smirnov could have changed so much in such a short time.
I thought Stas wouldn't make it out of my room alive, but I had no idea how things would turn out in that moment. I clung to that last chance with everything I had, like a drowning person grabbing a plank, secretly never daring to hope for true intimacy. It had warmed me so completely, and at the same time left a void deeper and darker than before. The very thought of not knowing what would happen next between Stas and me was slowly driving me insane. If I lacked anything in life, it was clarity. A guarantee that when I woke in the morning, I would see Stas's face beside me again—peaceful in sleep, not twisted by the horrors lurking inside me.
"You're not threatening him, you say?" Arthur's gaze studied me differently now, appraising. "Max said Stas stayed with you after the pool. How are you feeling? Normal?"
I nodded.
"Better, yeah. Kaandor hasn't responded for now."
"Does he disappear often?"
"Well, it seems he just doesn't always want to communicate directly with me, from what I can tell."
"Isn't it his job, as your spirit, to protect you?"
"Now really, vampires lecturing me on whether an ancient spirit and deity should or shouldn't care for his ward," my dark companion interjected in my head. I glanced around, but the creature hadn't appeared, merely letting its voice resonate inside me.
"Seems Kaandor isn't thrilled that we're trying to understand him."
"Grumbling?" Arthur grinned.
"Grumbling."
"Oh really?"
"Definitely," I replied, feeling a small smile tug at my lips. If Kaandor was talking to me, then at least the immediate danger had passed, and the balance inside, however temporary, was restored.
"Anyway," Arthur continued, glancing dramatically at the large-faced watch on his wrist, making his hand look even bigger. "I doubt I can help you much. I don't have Stas's room key. Max and I just bunked together for convenience, so it's easier to switch at night—Diana comes up here, I go down to Viola. Closer to dawn, when it starts to get light, we switch again in case the principal or a teacher decides to check the floors. So, access to Stas's room is really only possible for him."
I looked down, shyly.
"Did they put him in alone?"
"Yeah. You can't really put him with someone from the sports sections—it's an odd number of students anyway. Who knows what those guys are like."
"Oh, sure," I said, feigning outrage. "Maybe they'll stick him with gargoyles or zombies."
I held my hands up and wiggled my fingers in front of Arthur's face, letting out a long, drawn-out "wooo—oooh," as if trying to scare him. I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Smirnov was far more concerned about whether unknown classmates would make good roommates than about the monsters lurking among us—or within ourselves—that parents used to scare children with in bedtime stories.
"What's all the noise here?" Diana slinked down the corridor, glancing around cautiously. "Lights out is coming soon. Best not give the teachers any reason to check whether everyone's in bed."
"I guess until graduation night, their supervision won't be too strict."
Diana looked at me as if I were some naive little child and patted me on the back.
"Believe me, they'll be watching most closely right before graduation, trying to see which of us they need to keep an eye on when the big day comes."
"Well, Arthur and Violetta are obvious first picks. The whole school knows they're together."
"And we are absolutely proud of it," Arthur said smugly, adjusting his shirt cuff.
"The teachers don't need to worry about you two. Whether you run to each other or not, they don't care. But Max and I? They could really ruin all the fun for us," Diana said, her lips jutting out in a pout.
"Why would they try to separate you and Max with a stick if we're not around?"
"Because Max has missed so many days. We haven't become the lovey-dovey couple everyone's used to seeing. Not our style."
"Well, I bet you won't be getting hugs from Max anytime soon," Arthur teased, but Diana just shot him a disapproving glare. He quickly changed his expression and added, hurriedly, "It's none of their business what happens in our family."
"Tell that to the principal," Diana rolled her eyes, folding her arms. "She won't stop interrogating me about whether Max is on some medication or sick, because apparently he looks too pale or always sleepy when he comes to class."
"Why should she care about his health? Your father's a doctor," I said, realizing that the principal probably had no clue what Vladimir's real specialty was. "He graduated with decent grades. Graduation passes, and what happens with any of us isn't her concern."
"I have no idea why she's suddenly so interested in Max's wellbeing. And honestly, I don't think she's particularly fond of me either."
"Oh, believe me," I said, forgetting myself and giving Diana a light pat on the shoulder, immediately noticing her tense reaction, though she didn't pull away. "If the principal can't stand anyone, it's definitely me. You should've heard how carefully she hinted last year that maybe Tatyana's rumors weren't entirely untrue."
Diana made a face.
"Ugh, disgusting."
"Tell me about it."
"And you," she turned around, glancing cautiously up and down the hall, "what are you even doing here?"
I had to tell her again about the repairs in my room, conveniently leaving out the part about being with Stas. Not that I didn't want to confide in Diana—quite the opposite, actually. She was one of the few classmates I could trust with my feelings. But Arthur's presence didn't exactly invite a heart-to-heart. Maybe he would've reacted fine, but I wasn't ready for awkward questions I couldn't even answer myself.
"Well, that's easy to fix: stay over at ours with Viola."
"What?" Arthur exclaimed indignantly. "Shouldn't you ask her first?"
"Oh, Arthur," Diana waved off her brother and quickly took my arm, just like old times, which pleasantly surprised me. "She can survive one night without you. We haven't had a girls' night in forever, and this is the perfect excuse: we'll find a movie on TV, empty the fridge of soda, chips, and nuts."
"Actually," he said, pulling a plastic disc from his back pocket and waving it at Diana, "that was my plan for tonight."
"Oh, the new adaptation of Carrie," Diana snatched the disc from him in a flash, leaving him blinking in disbelief, unable to understand how she moved so fast. "Perfect. Thanks, bro!"
She triumphantly waved her prize above her head and tugged me down the corridor toward the girls' floor.
"What the heck?" Arthur shouted, upset. "Why does no one ask what I want?"
"And what is it you want, brother?" Diana asked over her shoulder, waiting for his answer.
He frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets, nervously tracing circles on the floor with the tip of his sneaker.
"To watch the movie with you two. I was saving it for graduation."
Diana and I exchanged glances and couldn't help but laugh.
"All right," she said, beckoning Arthur to follow us. "Let's go. Quietly, though!"