Wish (5 page)

“
How do you feel?” Alik asks, as
he walks into our shared hotel room.

“
Like I was kidnapped, drugged,
and slept on a concrete floor for two nights,” I answer.

He holds out a large styrofoam cup. “I brought
you tea.”

That is pretty much the only thing that could
get me out of this bed. Hot tea. I haven’t had good hot tea since I
went to America.

I grab it from him.

“
So I found somebody in the lobby
this morning,” Alik says. “Somebody who would like see
you.”

“
Who?” I ask.

“
Raslan.” He looks scared as he
waits for my reaction.

I should have known that the tea was just
bribery.

“
Oh.”

“
He’s kind of waiting in the
hallway.”

Of course he is.

“
Come on, Kat,” Alik says. “Raslan
misses you. He didn’t just lose Eduard that night. He lost you too.
Give the guy a break. He helped look for you when he found out you
were kidnapped.”

“
How did he know?” I
ask.

“
The whole country knew,” he
answers. “Everybody was looking for you guys. You were on the news
for three days straight. Not just in Russia, but America
too.”

“
That’s just great,” I say,
sarcastically.

“
Everybody thinks your dating
Damon.”

“
Seriously?” I groan. “Can I hide
and just never show my face in public again?”

Alik laughs. “Nope. Sorry.”

“
Darn.”

“
Will you please talk to
Raslan?”

I nod hesitantly.

He grabs the door knob, but doesn’t open it
yet. “Kat, be nice to him, okay?”

“
I will.”

He opens the door, and I see Raslan standing
in the hallway. He has his hands in his pockets, and he’s looking
at his feet.

He looks the exact same as he always did,
except older now. He’s still the adorable guy I once knew, but it’s
not the same. Not since Eduard is gone. It won’t ever go back to
the way it was.

“
You two talk,” Alik
says.

Raslan walks in and Alik leaves. I stand
there, feeling extremely awkward.

“
Hey,” I say, breaking the
silence.

Raslan looks up at me. “Kat…”

I walk over to him and give him a hug, because
what else are you supposed to do when you see your best friend for
the first time in six months? I haven’t seen him since Eduard’s
funeral.

“
I missed you,” I tell him, as we
pull apart.

Now that I see him, I realize just how much I
have missed him.

“
I missed you too. A lot,” he
says.

“
Do you want to sit down?” I ask,
pointing at Alik’s bed. He sits down and I sit down on my bed
across from him.

“
You look so different now,”
Raslan says. “So much older.”

“
I feel a lot older.”

“
So… you’re dating the president’s
son,” he says. Of course this is the first thing he wants to
know.

I laugh. “No. I’m not. I mean, I did date him.
For, like, a week. But we decided to break up. Or I decided. But it
doesn’t matter. Damon and I would not have worked out. He’s… and
I’m…”

“
I understand,” he says. “Plus, I
met that Tristan guy. He’s intense, but I’m pretty sure he has a
thing for you. It’s kind of scary how perfect the two of you are
for each other. He reminds me of your brothers.”

I grin. “Yeah… I’m kind of head over heels in
love with him. But he’s twenty one. And I’m sixteen. Plus, he’s my
bodyguard.”

“
It’s complicated,” Raslan says.
“But the Kat I know would never back down from a challenge. Do you
remember that time we went bungee jumping?”

I laugh. “Oh my gosh! Yes! Eduard called me a
chicken because I didn’t want to do it and then he ended up
chickening out.”

“
But you did it,” he
says.

“
That was fun.” And I teased
Eduard about backing out for months after that.

“
I miss him,” Raslan
says.

“
I do too.”

“
I want us to be friends, Kat.
Because losing him is unbearable without you,” he says. “I need you
in my life.”

“
We could try to be friends,” I
say.

“
I know that it won’t be the same.
It won’t ever be the same,” he says. “And I know that you’re going
to school in America and that you have your life there now. But
maybe, when you’re in Russia, we can get together. And I’ll come to
America some. I mean, I did learn English from you
guys.”

I laugh, thinking of how much Raslan came over
when we were kids. He learned English because of my mum insisted we
speak English at home.

“
Maybe we can video chat a couple
times a month,” I say. Because no matter how much it hurts to talk
to him, it also brings up a lot of good memories. He was such a big
part of my life and cutting him out isn’t right.

“
Deal,” he says.

For the best.

Tristan.

I wake up to the sound of Katerina
laughing.

It’s something I wasn’t sure I would hear
again. While I was looking for her, I didn’t give myself a chance
to think like that. But now that I know she’s safe, I can’t help
but think what would’ve happened. If they would’ve successfully
moved locations, we probably wouldn’t have found them for a long
time. And by then we might have been too late. I owe that Salvador
kid everything.

Raslan, who was once upon a time Katerina’s
best friend, is in her room. They’re laughing at old stories—good
times they had with Eduard. And I’m glad that they’re talking. I
think this will help Katerina heal. She’s gone through a lot—her
brother’s death, moving to America, finding out her dad is a
terrorist, almost getting killed by Kazimir and now getting
kidnapped by Rafael and Gaidar. She’s strong to have made it this
far.

I’m excited to tell her about her dad. That’s
he’s actually not a terrorist. At least not anymore. That he made a
deal with the government, because he loves his family so much.
Because he loves her.

Katerina’s dad and her other brother, Dimitri,
are looking for her mom and Elana right now, which is why they’re
not here. I think they will find them, especially now that we’ve
got Salvador. They weren’t in the place he said they would be, but
they had been. They were moved. Which is going to make it harder,
but not impossible. I just hope we don’t find them too
late.

Rafael and Matthews… er… Gaidar… are nowhere
to be found. They weren’t there when Katerina and Damon were being
moved, which is inconvenient for us. Until they are in protective
custody, Damon is going into hiding, and Katerina is going to be
with me at all times. Not just me, but there are also going to be
armed guards standing by, just in case.

Eventually I hear Raslan and Katerina say
goodbye, so I walk through the joining door and see Katerina
sitting on the edge of her bed, with tears running down her
face.

“
Are you okay?” I ask
her.

She wipes away the tears. “I’m fine. Just…
talking to him brought back a lot of memories. Good ones and bad
ones. I really miss my brother a lot. I knew talking with him would
be hard.”

I’m not sure what to say to her. No matter
what I say, the pain of losing him will still be there. I know the
pain of losing somebody I love all too well. Instead of saying
anything, I just sit down beside her. She leans her head over on my
chest, and I put my arm around her. I’m not used to the whole
touching thing. It feels foreign, but I like touching
Katerina.

“
We have a lot to catch up on,” I
tell her.

“
Did you find my mum yet?” she
asks, sitting up to look at me. “Well, obviously you haven’t since
she’s not here. She would be here. Is she okay? What about Damon?
Is he safe? And Salvador?”

“
We haven’t found you mom,” I say.
“I’m sorry.”

“
I was hoping Salvador would
help…”

“
He has. A lot,” I say. “They
moved your mom. But we’re going to find her. Your dad and older
brother, Dimitri, have been working hard. They’re not going to give
up. And the United States is helping all they can.”

“
The United States is helping my
dad?” she asks.

“
I do have a lot to catch you up
on,” I say. “About five years ago, your dad turned himself in to
the Russian authority. He said that he couldn’t keep living life
like that. But Russia made a deal with him. They would forgive all
his crimes if he helped take down the terrorist group that he
started. So your dad agreed. The last five years he’s been working
undercover.”

She smiles. “I knew it! I knew my dad wasn’t a
bad guy! Neither is Dimitri, right?”

“
Right. Your dad tried to stop
Dimitri from joining and helping, but there wasn’t much he could
do,” I say. “I mean, your brother is old enough to make his own
decisions.”

“
I understand. I want to help
too,” she says.

“No way. I’m not letting you help.
It’s
my
job to
help.”

She laughs. “Like you could stop
me.”

“
You were just kidnapped. And
you’re in high school,” I say. “Right now, I am just trying to keep
you from getting taken again. Or worse.”

“
Worse…” she says, then her eyes
widen. “Meaning I would die.”

I nod.

“
Right. On second thought, maybe
I’ll stay here with you,” she says. “What about Damon? How is he?
The medicine they gave us seemed to make him loopy.”

“
He’s fine,” I answer. “He’s
already seen a doctor. Right now, he is in a secure
location.”

“
Secure? Why?”

“
Because Matthews and Rafael are
still out there.”

“
How?” she asks. “I
thought…”

“
They weren’t with you when you
guys were moved,” I say. “Salvador is trying to help. He’s given us
as much information as he knows. But he’s only a kid. He only knew
what Rafael told him, which wasn’t much.”

“Oh,” she says. “So, is Salvador
going to
New Hope Academy
now?”

“Yeah,” I answer. “That’s one
weird kid. He could ask for anything and he asked to go to school
in America. He said you made it sound fun. I didn’t even think you
liked being
in
America.”

“
It has grown on me,” she says,
now looking at me. “There is this really cute American boy that I
kind of have a crush on. And maybe he’s a little too old for me.
And sure, he’s basically getting paid to babysit me. But someday, I
will convince him that we’re completely perfect for each
other.”

“
I think that maybe the guy
already knows,” I say. “You know, that you and him are perfect for
each other.”

“
Maybe I just don’t want to wait
until my seventeenth birthday,” she says. “Maybe I want him to be
my boyfriend now.”

“
I think it’s the guys job to ask
the girl,” I say, getting up from her bed. I do not want to ask
Katerina to be my girlfriend the day after she was rescued from
being kidnapped by a terrorist group. And definitely not when I
can’t even take her out of a proper date.

I like Katerina. A lot.

Which is a problem.

I’ve never dated a girl for more than a few
weeks. Mostly because girls are all clingy. My main focus is
bringing down this terrorist group. They killed my mom and dad and
two of my siblings. I can’t lose focus. And when I’m around
Katerina, I lose my focus a lot.

“
Are you ready to head back to the
states?” I ask her.

“
I guess so,” she says, looking
disappointed.

She was hoping I would make it official. I
know she was. And I want to. Badly I do.

But what if she gets annoying like the other
girls?

I don’t want to break her heart.
I
actually
like
her.

Which means I should definitely wait until her
seventeenth birthday like I originally told her.

It’s for the best.

FOUR

Does anybody knock?

Katerina.

We get back to America late Thursday night.
Tristan gives me one day to sleep before we get back to training.
My body is sore, but I’m excited to get moving again. Alik meets us
early Saturday morning to train with us, which is probably for the
best.

Tristan isn’t exactly talking to me right
now.

Well, he’s talking. About the weather. And
school. And other unimportant things. But that’s it. Everything is
really awkward and I kind of don’t know how to act. How are we
supposed to keep pretending like we don’t have feelings for each
other until my seventeenth birthday?