The Disappearing Act (Vampire Academy Fan Fiction Book 2)

Chapter 22: The Shattered Mirror

Chapter 22: The Shattered Mirror

Rose's POV

                My head felt like a shattered mirror.

                The glass was everywhere around me, reflecting pieces of memories I recalled having but didn't remember being a part of. I saw myself watching Lissa use her fire magic for the first time; the day I first saw Dimitri and all his god-like glory; short clips of Siberia and Baia and Russian churches; a white dress being splattered with blood. Each shard of the mirror held a different image and they played my life out for me like a million tiny movie screens all rolling at once.

                What a strange world I existed in.

                As I reached out to touch the pieces, they floated away, some melding together to form a new memory and others just disappearing entirely. I didn't feel frustrated or angered; I merely reached my arm out for another and enjoyed the pretty pictures glinting around me. It was beautiful here, watching my life replay around me. I saw all the happiness I'd had, choosing to focus only on the shiniest of pieces. My eyes skirted away every time I saw blood and death; they were really avoiding a lot.

                Roza, wake up for me.

                The words echoed into my silent paradise, softly at first, building into a crescendo of different voices and sayings, all begging me to come back to that strange world I kept seeing in the mirror's remnants. But did I truly want to return?

                Rosemarie, I forbid you from giving up like this.

                I smiled. My name was pretty. Rosemarie Belikov-Hathaway.

                You are a Guardian, Rose. You don't give up like this.

                Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway. The title turned my stomach to led; I could feel the fear and pure hatred boiling in the blood that had just been so very peaceful. My little shards of glass came flying back together, fire flashing between them as I watched them weld themselves back together into a mess of ashes and glass.

                The mirror, fully formed, floated in front of me, showing a cracked reflection of a girl who didn't look like me anymore. This girl was strong; she had it written in the very iris of her eyes. Her shoulders were straight and her hair was tied back in a messy, dark ponytail, revealing the tattoos peaking around her neck. A cruel smile played on her lips and, as I gaped at this past version of myself, she raised a silver stake, plunging it through the mirror and straight into my shoulder.

                I screamed and opened my eyes to the blinding lights of a hospital room.

                A strong pair of arms were around me, restraining me and forcing me into a warm chest that I instantly recognized. I hid my face in a black t-shirt, hiding my heaving breaths in the comforting scent of my Dimitri.

                He was okay. He was here.

                I clutched at his shirt and bunched the fabric in my palms, my lungs gasping for air as I tried to will my fingers to stop shaking. My eyes were shut tight again, replaying flashes of a mirror and being stabbed and Jill. Her irritating, idiotic face smiled at me, making my throat crack in a sob while I clung tighter to Dimitri's nearly ruined shirt. Beside her face in my mind, there was another one; that monster was even worse than my distorted reflection.

                He was why I'd broken. The heartbreak of seeing his eyes ringed in red, his pale skin, his emotionless cackle; he had shattered me. Fighting wasn't new to me at all, and killing Strigoi was a hobby I'd never give up; but this creature was different. I knew this one, yet I'd never expected him to really give up on his life.

"Roza," Dimitri whispered, holding me as close as he possibly could. His face was buried in my hair and I could hear him breathing me in, his heartbeat a steady rhythm against my ear. He was always so calm, even as I was a mess of tears in his embrace. "Roza, you're okay."

                But I wasn't. I honestly, truly wasn't. I had to tell them all who'd lured Jill to that place; I had to tell them which of our friends had turned into a Strigoi.