At breakfast, all of us are looking more asleep than awake. Lili, Shemik, and Dimitri are doing the best job of hiding the exhaustion, but Theo and Rose both seem ready to fall asleep with their heads on the table. I can't say I blame them; Mr. DiLorenzo kept us all up until after dawn with his shouting.

He doesn't even seem all that sorry about it.

Mr. and Mrs. DiLorenzo are asking us questions, and the look Emilio keeps giving them says he's already answered most of these himself. I don't mind all that much. At least it gives me something to talk about, something to do other than dozing off over my bowl of cereal.

Emilio's parents get bored with asking Theo, Lili, and me questions pretty quickly, moving on to the rest of our group as Alessa watches with interest.

"Where are you from again?" Mr. DiLorenzo asks Rose, who's staring down at the table like she's trying to make herself less noticeable.

She lifts a hand, outlining the shapes of the letters with her finger in midair.

S-w-e-d-e-n.

Mr. DiLorenzo gives her a withering look, and I don't blame her at all for not wanting to talk to him. He's almost as terrifying as Commander Petrovich and his soldiers were.

"So you left before the Russians destroyed it?"

Rose flinches, returning her attention to her cereal with a small nod.

Mr. DiLorenzo's hand comes down on the table with an impressively-loud bang, his eyes narrowing as his face starts to turn red. Mrs. DiLorenzo's hand moves to cover his, but he glares at her until she  backs off.

"Listen to me." Emilio's father snaps, "If you have something to say, you can say it. If I ask you a question, you speak to me."

"Can't you tell she doesn't want to speak?" I'm surprised to realize I'm the one who said it, "It's a choice. If she doesn't want to talk, don't make her."

Emilio's dad looks ready to kill me, but he moves on to a new target in Dimitri. I spend the rest of breakfast watching the others' expressions, not saying another word until Mrs. DiLorenzo addresses us all.

Alessa, she tells us, is taking us to one of the nearest stores, because Emilio's parents agree that if we're going to stay here we need a better selection of clothes. Theo rolls his eyes at that, complaining the whole time that there's nothing he hates more than actually having to go shopping.

"I haven't done this in ages." he tells me as Alessa and two servants begin directing us out the front door, "Mum always made me go shopping to pick things out for school, but this last year I've gotten all my stuff from the market. You take whatever you can trade for there; it's fast and a lot less complicated."

I can't help grimacing, remembering how boring it used to be to go back-to-school shopping with my own parents.

~*~

It turns out that Theo and I are the first two to find everything we're looking for in the small clothing store. We end up waiting in front of the plain white building, feeling like kids for the first time in a long time as we try to come up with any sort of game that'll make the wait less boring.

Eventually, I convince Theo that it wouldn't be the worst crime in the world to run across the street and check out the small bookstore there. Maybe, I decide, I can find a book or two that my sister would like, and I could ask Alessa for the money to buy them for Lil as a present.

"But I'm practically allergic to books." Theo groans, looking as though I've come up with the world's worst idea.

"C'mon, you'll be fine." I decide, "It won't kill you to go over there. It's better than standing here and being bored out of your mind."

"Fine." Theo sighs, rolling his eyes as he follows me across the street.

It doesn't take us long to realize that three-fourths of the books in this store are in Italian or some other language that's foreign to me. The store lacks air conditioning, and though it's not super hot outside it's practically a sauna in here.

"You were right." I admit after a few minutes, "This was a bad idea."

Theo looks relieved.

"Let's go." he begs, all but dragging me toward the door and out into the sunlight.

We've just stepped out of the store when a figure across the street begins moving in our direction.

It only takes a moment for me to recognize Shemik, and the look on her face says that our disappearing act nearly scared her to death.

"Yeah," Theo squeaks, "bad idea."

Shemik comes to stand in front of us, glaring furiously as she lectures the two of us as though we committed a murder.

"Impulsive ... irresponsible ..."

I feel kind of bad for tuning her out, glancing instead at Theo out of the corner of my eye. He's not looking at Shemik either, sight fixed on a small glass box in front of the bookstore. He's getting paler by the second, and at first I think it's because of what Shemik is saying.

Then she stops speaking, a frown still pulling down a corner of her mouth.

"What is it?" She's looking at Theo with concern now, following his gaze to the same glass box he's been staring at this whole time.

It's filled with newspapers, the date clearly printed on the front page of each. I can't read a word of what's written beyond that, since they're all printed in Italian.

Theo looks like he might throw up when he lifts his hand, pointing to a word about halfway down the page.

"Petrovich? Does that say Petrovich?" he manages, still pointing.

Shemik studies the paper as though it's a science project, gaze landing on the headline as she bites her lip.

"I don't know enough Italian to-" she begins, but Alessa interrupts her. She has made her way over to us, followed by Emilio, Lili, Rose, and Dimitri. The servants aren't far behind, remaining just far enough away to avoid getting in our way.

"What is going on?" Alessa wonders, looking genuinely curious. Her eyes find the newspaper display, and she sighs.

"Oh, the Russians again?"

Emilio is standing perfectly still next to her, completely emotionless save the look of fear in his eyes.

"What ..." Shemik is staring at him now, "What does that say?"

Emilio takes a deep breath, and instinct tells me I'm not going to like what he has to say.

"Russian commander allegedly desserts compound in middle of night ... kills three in the process." Emilio reads, "Commander Alexei Petrovich left the compound near Manchester, where he and his soldiers had been temporarily residing, in the late hours of the night. One soldier believed the commander was going into the city to procure more supplies for the division, but later heard a gunshot. Upon investigation, the soldier found that three of his fellow watchmen had been fatally wounded, and the commander had fled from sight. It is believed that Commander Petrovich has taken to the roadways, and that he may be behind the wheel of a green truck or SUV. His destination is unknown."

Dimitri curses, and my sister looks as though she's in shock.

"I-Is he?" Theo squeaks, his own terror keeping him from completing the question.

Is he looking for us?

I shiver.

Shemik gazes down at Theo, shaking  her head.

"I don't think so."

Behind me, Alessa sighs.

"Are we going to stand here all day? I have to work tonight, and it really would be nice to get some sleep before then. You can talk about the Russians later, right now I want to go home, and since I am supposed to keep you in my sight you are coming with me."

Reluctantly, we fall into step behind Alessa, the servants following us like they're little more than shadows.

As we walk, I can't keep my mind from wandering.

Was Shemik lying?

Is Petrovich really hunting us? Was that Shemik's attempt at keeping us from freaking out?

Or is it possible Petrovich has a new target?

He probably still has Kristenson's journal. Having never read it myself, I'm not sure of everything that's written in the pages of the scientist's book, but it's possible Petrovich has already found a way to use it to his advantage.

If he really isn't coming for us, maybe he's looking for Kristenson instead.

~~~~~~
A/N:
Whoa, this chapter was impressively short. :( Next chapter will be way longer, so hopefully that'll make up for it.
Any thoughts on this chapter? Any predictions of the future, or anything you want to see?
Let me know down in the comments.