How It All Goes Down
- Lissa's confused. How could she heal him?
- Victor's no fool, though—he's been watching her and knows she healed Rose.
- But that was… different. Rose's ankle was broken, so it was an easy fix—she didn't have Sandovsky's Syndrome causing her whole body was going downhill.
- Nope, not her ankle, Victor counters—he's talking about when she brought Rose back from the dead.
- Hold the phone—what?
- When they were in the car accident together, with Lissa's parents and brother, everyone else died but Lissa. She brought Rose back from the dead, which started their psychic bond with one another.
- Lissa is surprised to hear this because this whole time she's just thought Rose was injured; plus, she's putting two and two together about what's been happening to her.
- Victor is the one who sent all those animals. Yep, he confirms it—he got Natalie to plant all of them because he wanted to see if she could heal them, but she didn't bite. Natalie saw her heal the raven in the woods a few years ago, and Victor wanted to test her powers.
- When Lissa didn't bite (or heal), he took more drastic measures. He rotted the wood of a bench so Rose would hurt herself, figuring Lissa only uses her super-special magical powers for someone she loves. It worked.
- Lissa is reeling from all the news. Then Victor lowers the bomb.
- He tells her that there's another element Morois can specialize in that few people know about. It's called spirit.
- All the readings say Vladimir was full of spirit and most people just think this has something to do with the Holy Spirit, but actually spirit is an element. Ms. Karp specialized in it too, and it's Lissa's specialty.
- She can heal people and use compulsion, but it also takes a big toll on her, which is why she's depressed. Her element takes energy and life from her every time she uses it.
- But why the kidnapping? Lissa would have helped Victor if he just asked her.
- Victor says the school and council never would have gone for it—they're against Morois using magic now, though he doesn't get why. He thinks they think the Morois will train to use their magic and powers to defend themselves against the Strigoi, like they used to.
- Okay, okay, Lissa gets all that, but she still doesn't think she can heal her uncle. He doesn't have a break or some random injuries—this is a full body thing—and he's asking her to give up a lot of herself to heal him, which isn't fair.
- Victor knows that's true, but he still wants her to do it. He can help change the leadership of the Morois and stop their numbers from going down, which he thinks it way more important than Lissa's life. Ouch.
- Still, Lissa refuses to help. But Victor's got another plan of attack—literally. One of his lackeys knows how to use air as a torture device, and he uses it to choke her and force too much air into her lungs, which he then pushes all around her body. It's horrible for Lissa.
- She's got no one choice—she starts to use her magic to heal Victor. It takes more and more out of her, though, and she faints.
- Victor's skin is smoother, his hair is fuller, and he's got a sparkle in his eye.
- Back in the car, Rose is telling Dimitri where to turn to get to the cabin. When they arrive, he tells her to stay in the car while the other guardians go out and get Lissa.
- Rose doesn't like this one bit, but she does as she's told, knowing she might just lag behind.
- Then Lissa wakes up. She's alone with only one guardian, so she uses her compulsion powers to get him to let her go, then she escapes out a window and tries to get away. She's still really weak, but this might be her only shot.
- Rose knows she can't wait in the car any longer—now that Lissa's out of the cabin, she won't know the guardians are there to save her.
- She jumps out of the car, hoping she can get to Lissa first, and she sees Christian hiding in the back of the car. He jumped in to tag along to save Lissa.
- He really cares about her, and wants to help get her. Rose sees this, and the two of them run out into the woods.