Free Blood Fever: The watchers by Verónica Wolff Page B

hysterical half giggle. But this fire was lit and burning, and the slightest smile from me would only throw gas on it.
    The Guidon stepped into Mei’s face. I tried desperately to remember her name so I could talk her down. Pamela, Paula, Patty…it was a P. “
You’re
my problem,” she snarled at us.
    A thin switchblade appeared in P-whatever-her-name-was’s hand. As amusing as Mei was, I needed to bring this down a notch. I took a step toward Guidon P (Penny?) and put my hand on her arm. “Easy, cowgirl.”
    She flinched away.
    It struck me that it was overly quiet, and I glanced at the other Guidons. “Let’s all stand down, ladies.”
    Masha’s expressionless face was completely unreadable.
Weird.
Usually she was the one front and center in the brawling, but something had her just as wary as me.
    Mei said, “I can handle this, Acari Drew.”
    Was she
totally
clueless? Or would she turn out to be the gutsiest girl on the island? Either way, she took a notch up in my opinion. Though I did get the sense that this “look out for Mei” gig was going to be a whole lot more challenging than I’d originally thought.
    Masha broke her silence and took a step forward. “I think I would like to see how you handle it.”
    Crap.
This was going to escalate after all.
    But then I noticed how Masha’s bullwhip was still holstered on her hip. Something had her feeling cautious. She usually took every chance she could to sling that strip of leather around.
    I decided to take a gamble. Mei-Ling was about to get herself all kinds of messed up. I was supposed to protect her—even Alcántara had said so—and at the moment, I
wanted
to protect her. I didn’t have the stomach to watch these girls have at her.
    “Hey, Masha,” I called. “I know you’ve got a big old girl crush on me, but there’s no need to take your fixation out on my roommate.”
    It’d come out more brightly than I’d intended, my grin wilder. What was wrong with me? I had a bad habit of being reckless, sure. But had the bond added
volatile
to my list of flaws?
    Masha’s eyes zoomed in on me like two little lasers. “You wish.”
    “Here’s what I wish,” I said calmly. “I wish you’d go away.” I regretted the words immediately. They somehow invoked Trinity and how she’d conveniently
gone away
.
    I was tired of dancing around the subject. The ghost of Trinity was out there now—I could see it in their eyes—so I faced it head-on. “You’re just pissed because you think I had something to do with Trinity. News flash, girls. I don’t give a crap about you, and I certainly wouldn’t bother to sneak around killing any of you.”
    The Guidons arranged themselves before us, forming a half circle.
Damn, damn, damn.
My little head-on plan wasn’t working at all. Weapons were in hands, and they were all pointed at me. I guess I did succeed with one thing: I’d called their attention away from Mei-Ling.
    I had one last shot. “That’s cool,” I said, keeping my poker face. “You can have at us, right here in the middle of the quad. But first you should figure out which one of you is going to explain it to Master Alcántara. He seems
very
interested in Mei-Ling here.”
    Masha got the hint. She hooked the bullwhip back on her hip with one hand and held the other out to stop Guidon—Paige! Paige was her name—to stop Guidon
Paige’s
approach.
    “Another time, then,” Masha said. “But be warned, Acari Drew. If the vampires are interested in
Ho
, then maybe you’re losing your status as their little pet. I wonder how concerned they still are about
your
well-being.”
    They walked on. Thankfully, it was away from the dining hall, because I was still starving, dammit.
    Mei was silent beside me. I guessed she’d want to talk about what’d happened.
    “Are you okay?” I tried to sound sympathetic, and really, I guess I kind of was, even though she’d escalated that scene herself.
    “Yeah,” she said, sounding more annoyed than