Free Vampire Academy: The Ultimate Guide by Richelle Mead, Michelle Rowen Page B

everything she trained for! But it doesn’t seem to matter—Mason is dead. Grief-stricken, Rose doesn’t want to leave his body. Not for any reason.
    Others finally arrive, but a dazed and in-shock Rose ignores them, blind to anything but her need to protect Mason’s body. But then Dimitri is there at her side, softly urging her to put down the sword. He soothes Rose, telling her that everything is okay now. She’s still driven to protect her friend, but Dimitri assures her she’s done that.
    The sword drops from her hands and clatters to the ground. Rose collapses—she wants to cry, but she can’t. Dimitri wraps his arms around her and helps her to her feet.
    Others are there, too. People Rose knows and trusts, but she can’t concentrate enough to tell who they are. She just clings to Dimitri, unable to move from the spot where her friend was killed.
    Janine’s there—although Rose doesn’t register anything other than a voice telling Dimitri to get Rose out of the house. Her mind refuses to process what happened, and all she can really do right now is follow simple directions, aided by Dimitri. His presence and strength is all that’s helping to get her through this.
    She eventually finds herself on an Academy jet on its way back to St. Vladimir’s, with Janine by her side. She wants to know what she can do for her daughter, but Rose doesn’t answer. As the tears finally come, all she can do right now is cry over the death of her friend.

MARKED BY DEATH
     
    Having successfully killed two Strigoi, Rose is honored in a molnija ceremony. Before, she’d looked at the marks—like those her mother has—as badges of honor, but now they represent something she wants to forget. After the back of her neck is tattooed, she’s greeted into the ranks of the guardians.
    And then when my mother came up to me, I couldn’t help the tear that ran down my cheek. She wiped it away and then brushed her fingers against the back of my neck. “Don’t ever forget,” she told me.
    Nobody said, “Congratulations,” and I was glad. Death wasn’t anything to get excited about.
    —pages 314-315
     
     
    Something very small has shifted in Rose and Janine’s relationship. They aren’t friends, but they’re not enemies anymore either. They both bear the marks of death—as well as the inner scars. And that forges something between them that is strong enough to start to erase past hurts.
    POP QUIZ: Frostbite
     
    1. Rose is scheduled for an important interview at the beginning of Frostbite to determine her commitment to being a guardian. What is this interview called?
    2. Before he’ll teach her to use a silver stake, Dimitri insists that Rose learn the location of what?
    3. A “hat trick” for a guardian would be to kill three Strigoi by staking, ________, and burning.
    4. What does Tasha Ozera teach?
    5. What is Adrian Ivashkov’s royal title?
    6. Whose mother is killed during the Strigoi attack on the Drozdov family?
    7. True or false? Tasha suggests to everyone that they should lower the graduation age of dhampirs so there will be more guardians to protect Moroi.
    8. Where do the guardians pinpoint the location of the Strigoi they’re searching for?
    9. Who makes up the trio that originally leaves the ski lodge to hunt Strigoi?
    10. What does Mia explode with her magic to help Rose when she fights the Strigoi?
     
    * For quiz answers, see p.299.
     
    After the ceremony, flowers are delivered to Rose from Adrian—and Lissa fills her in on the details about the other spirit user. He’s going to take the semester off from college and hang out at St. Vlad’s with them. His plan is to work with Lissa on how to use spirit—but he wouldn’t mind spending more time with Rose, either.
    Dimitri lets Rose know there’s no practice today because she needs to recover. Taking a life, even a Strigoi’s, is a lot to come to terms with. Rose blames herself for Mason’s death, but Dimitri tells her not to. Rose has made some