Do the Right Thing Scene Analysis Essay -- Film Analysis

Do the Right Thing is a dramatic comedic film that was directed by Spike Lee. The movie was released in 1989. Lee served in three capacities for the film: writer, director and producer of the movie, Ernest Dickenson was the cinematographer and Barry Alexander Brown was the film’s editor. For this film, Lee garnered together some notable actors and actresses, including Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Rosie Perez, Samuel L. Jackson, John Tuturro and Martin Lawrence. The setting of the movie is in Bedford-Stuyvesant; which is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. This particular neighborhood is made up of several ethnic groups that include African Americas, Italians, Koreans, and Puerto Ricans. The movie takes place on a particularly hot day during the summer time. The extreme heat causes tensions between the different races in the neighborhood. In this paper, I will attempt to show how mise-en-scà ¨ne, camera work, editing, and sound are used to convey â€Å"explicit† an d â€Å"implicit† meaning in one scene in Do the Right Thing. The scene that I will be analyzing takes place towards the end of the movie in which all the racial tensions that were boiling over erupted like a volcano and spewed out. This particular scene is about five minutes in length and is composed of about 25 shots. It takes place at the end of the day after Sal’s Famous Pizzeria has closed. We see that the pizzeria is closed and Sal is having a conversation with his sons Vito and Pino about him wanting to change the name of his store to Sal and Son’s Pizzeria. He also tells Mookie, â€Å"You are like a son to me.† The suddenly we here banging on the door, it’s the neighborhood kids wanting to get a slice of pizza. Although the pizzeria is closed, Sal tells a reluctant Mookie... ...xt shot we observe them on the outside, for this Brown uses a straight cut rather than a jump cut to promote continuity into the next scene. All the scenes in the movie including this one take places in chronological order in a linear fashion. The editor also uses reverse angle cutting as well. In the end, this particular scene of Do Right Thing, has both implicit and explicit meanings. Work Cited Do the Right Thing. Dir. Spike Lee. Perf. Danny Aiello, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Martin Lawrence, Bill Nunn, Richard Edson, Roger Guenveur Smith and Spike Lee. Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks.1989. Streaming (Netflix) â€Å"Do the Right Thing.† IMBD.com. Internet Movie Database, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2011. Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print

African American Religion Essay

Before Africans were brought to America during the slave trade, they had their own culture and society. They had their own language and dance. They also had their own religion. History tells us that the Europeans justified their abuse toward the Africans as helping them become more civilized because the Africans lifestyle appeared primal to them and not as developed and industrialized as theirs. What is often overlooked is that even though Africans were taken from Africa and Americanized and have been stripped of their religion, culture, language and even their name, the very essence of the African as a people did not go away. Some African American slaves rejected Christianity’s religion because they saw it as the â€Å"white man’s religion†. History tells us American Slave Masters abused the Africans by whipping them like animals and by treating them inhumane. The fact that these slave masters wanted the African American to worship their god was unacceptable for some because they could not fathom why they should worship a god who allowed people to be so badly treated. Some Africans accepted Christianity’s religion and faith by identifying with Jesus Christ, the son of God who according to the Bible was innocent of sin and yet he was beaten, bruised and crucified for the sins of the world. Some African Americans wanted to remain faithful to their heritage yet did not agree with the conjure practices. Seth Holly’s character is a good example of conforming to the economic prosperity of America which was founded by Christians. White Christians enforced Christian beliefs, values, and some practices based on the Euro American Christian interpretation of Christian text. Seth developed a kind of hatred for his own people proving that he has adopted the practices of white America in the early 1900s. â€Å"Niggers coming up here from that old backwoods†¦ coming up here from the country carrying Bibles and guitars looking for freedom. † Seth says. â€Å"They got a rude awakening† (6). Seth signifies the African American who resents assimilation to the white American culture. But, at the same time, he too attempts to connect with his heritage by simply allowing Bynum to live in his home and bless it with his conjures rituals. Seth also participates in an African dance ritual called the Juba. Bynum’s character is introduced by practicing conjure rituals. He cuts open pigeons and spreads its blood onto him as a type of cleansing to communicate with spirits. Bynum represents the African American who chose to remain faithful to the religion of his heritage. Others who have chosen the faith of Christianity view conjure rituals as evil, witchcraft, or demonic. Some African Americans wanted to remain faithful to their heritage yet did not agree with conjure practices anymore. Loomis walks in on the juba dance and goes into a trance after dinner at the boarding house. He had a vision of skeletons emerge from a body of water. â€Å"Loomis: I done seen bones rise up out the water. Rise up and walk across the water. Bones walking on top of the water† (53). Loomis recognizes through the vision, his state of ignorance to the knowledge that will lead him to the new way of thinking. Bynum serves as a supporting character reacting to Loomis’s trance. â€Å"Bynum: They walking around here now. Mens. Just like you and me. Come right up out the water† (56). Loomis’s trance and Bynum’s interpretation of it is a turning point in the story. The skeletons coming from the bottom of the sea in Loomis’s vision represent the slave ships, the disorientation experienced by the slaves during emancipation, and the confusion of his release from Joe Turner. Both Loomis and Bynum have tapped into their ancestral religion. The difference between the two is that Bynum represents the African who never renounced his religion and Loomis is the African-American who turned from conjure religion and converted to the faith of Christianity. After Joe turner took his life away from him, Loomis questioned his Christian faith and his identity. By walking in on the ancestral ritual of the Juba dance, Loomis literally walked into what he had actually been looking for, his religion, consequently, his ancestral identity and this is why he fell into the trance. Throughout the play conjures is encompasses four generations; Bynum’s father, Bynum, Loomis, and the neighbor boy Reuben. Reuben’s vision is of Seth’s mother by the pigeon coop, she encourages Reuben to release the caged pigeons. Wilson writes in a way that leads the reader to believe that Loomis needs to find his missing wife. Martha Pentecost is not the one who was lost; Loomis was the one who was lost, wondering around from town to town, searching. Loomis came into the state of belief when Bynum helped him translate his vision. That vision represented Loomis going back to his ancestral conjure religion. Loomis needed to find Martha Pentecost simply to say good-bye to her and their life former together. Up until this point of the story, I believed that Loomis needed to find his wife so they could live out the rest of their lives as a happy free family with their daughter. However, it is made pretty obvious this was never Loomis’s intentions. â€Å"That goodbye kept me out on the road searching,† Loomis says, â€Å"now that I see your face I can say my goodbye and make my own world† (90). Martha Pentecost, a woman of Christian faith, represents the African who assimilated into white America’s culture and Loomis needed to find her to say good-bye to her and the Christian faith. Martha stands by her Christian faith by accusing Loomis â€Å"you done gone over to the devil† (91). White man’s religion believed that conjure was evil or the way of the devil. Loomis finds it easier to reject her for her Christian beliefs. â€Å"Loomis: Great big old white man†¦your Mr. Jesus Christ. Standing there with a whip in one hand and a tote board in another, them niggers swimming in a sea of cotton† (92). Loomis proves with his statement, his version of a bible story that differed from other African Americans but was similar to that of the white man who believed that they were on a level below God and the African’s were beneath them, African’s were one third of a person. Loomis now believes that if African’s are going to be free then they have to take charge of their own destiny. Martha Pentecost represents the African American’s religion, she identifies that Loomis needs to â€Å"be washed in the blood of the lamb† (92) and â€Å"you done gone over to the devil. (91) Through class lessons I learned that African American slaves compared themselves with stories in the bible to instill hope of a life free from oppression, violence, and bondage. Jesus according to the bible was innocent of sin and yet he was beaten, bruised and crucified for the sins of the world. The hope of reigning in heave with Jesus is considered the ultimate reward for suffering life’s trials and tribulations. It is the faith of the African Americans who accepted Christianity religion. Blacks trusted in the Lord instead of man. America was Egypt in the exodus story and as long as the enslaving and oppressing took place America would face the same wrath as Egypt. â€Å"Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. † The bible was depended on in justifying and motivation rebellion for the blacks and used as a tool to keep blacks enslaved by the whites. African Americans used sermons, song, and prayer to convey and teach their message of travail and triumph of Israel. Some African Americans could not get past the treatment from the white people that called themselves Christians and as a result they rejected Christianity. Selig’s role suggests that the link between characters is the acquisition of material goods. Selig admits that his ancestors have always made their living pursuing African Americas; his great grandfather transported slaves from Africa, his father captured runaway slaves and returned them to their masters for a reward, and Selig locates displaced people for a fee. Selig attains his ecstasy through consumer capitalism, through the selling of material goods. African Americans are objects for exploitation and exchange in the new economy. He binds African Americans to the economic system, demanding payment of his services and products which necessitates subsistence labor by taking them from one construction site or work site to another, similar to a temporary employment agency today. You pay for an employee to work for some time, but Selig is getting paid by the person looking for work or a ride to a chance of freedom. Selig cannot find a person that has not purchased a dustpan from him because he keeps the names of his customers. Seth is determined to achieve material success, he has very little patience for African Americans migrating north looking for the same prosperity that he desires. Seth is very demanding of his patrons, insisting on advance payment in full, and is preoccupied with maintaining a respectable house. â€Å"It’s hard enough now without all that ignorant kind of acting. Ever since slavery got over with there ain’t been nothing but foolish-acting niggers. Word get out they need men to work in the mill and put in these roads†¦ and niggers drop everything and head north looking for freedom. †(5, 6) Seth wants to blend in with the white man’s world; therefore he keeps a link with Selig by negotiating the manufacturing and sale of dustpans. Seth does not have any idea of what it would be like to be a slave, as he was born free in the North and was educated. He demonstrates his education with his math calculation when dealing with the boarding house patrons and the quick notation of him letting Selig know that he is trying to overcharge him for the dust pan materials. Educational differences played a role in tension with Southern blacks, most of who were forbidden from learning to read, saw religion as a matter of oral tradition and immediate experience and emotion. Northerner blacks, stressed that one could not truly be Christian unless they was able to read the Bible and understand it. This play denies individual worth and identity for some of Wilson’s characters. To be defrauded of the products of one’s labor or to see that creation diminished, like with Jeremy and the guitar contest, is to be denied a reflection of individual worth and identity. If people have been separated from this truth of individual worth and identity through oppression their capacity to bond with one another, form friendships, or couples, families are undermined. Social alienation in Wilson’s characters are expressed in their stores of broken relationships, uncertainty, or suspicion that they feel toward one another. â€Å"Seth: Something ain’t setting right with that fellow, Bynum. He’s one of them mean-looking niggers look like he done killed somebody gambling over a quarter. †(20) Connection between oppression, alienation from self and inability to form bonds with others is displayed in the character of Loomis. Joe Turner’s ability to oppress Loomis carried a judgment of non-worth. â€Å"Loomis: He told me I was worthless. Worthless is something you throw away. Something you don’t bother with† (73) Turners judgment of worthlessness forced Loomis to accept the reality of the white man’s power; he was marked as â€Å"one of Joe Turners niggers and forced to forget his song. †(71) Being alienated from himself and displaced with his relation to the world, Loomis is unable to establish bonds with people around him. The oppression encountered by Wilson’s characters is material or economic, that oppression is spiritual as well in the capacity to deprive the individual of a sense of himself or his unique song. The reawakening of Loomis after his encounter with cultural wisdom is not the self discovery of an average African American but creation of a new source of cultural wisdom, a new African holy man. Wilson uses many metaphors throughout the play. The song is a metaphor for Loomis’s identity and the African American cultural identity. Music is a large part of African American identity, so it makes since that in search of one’s identity they are searching for their song. The boarding house serves as an inn for traveling folk, but the tenants actually receive a form of healing during their stay. Tenants get direction and guidance from Bertha and Bynum. The shiny man that Bynum is in search for signifies African American independence. The man that Bynum met on the road was an independent African American, just as Loomis was freed by his past when he cleansed himself in his own blood. â€Å"Bynum: Herald Loomis, you shining! You shining like new money! †(94) Loomis has dismissed that the blood of Christ can wash away his sins and make him the man he used to be, but by washing himself in his own blood he has sacrificed the old life to begin his new journey on his terms. Bynum’s shining man has been found, meaning his work is complete; he has passed his powers on to the next generation, Loomis. â€Å"They tell me Joe Turner’s come and Gone† is a song that is sung by Bynum, when I first read the story I thought that the meaning was came and now he is dead however, the second time I read the play I realized that it meant that Joe Turner has come and snatched the men and now he is now gone. August Wilson uses symbolism in the play as a very important part in conveying the meaning of the story. Wilson’s use of symbolism is demonstrated through Mr. Wilson’s use of the road, Martha Pentecost, and Herald Loomis. Symbolic importance is give to the word freedom. The word freedom has instilled hope into the lives of African Americans: during slavery, hope for the release from bondage; after emancipation, the right to be educated, employed, and to move about freely; twentieth century, social, political, and economic justice. Freedom has always stood for the absence of any restraint, because God made all men from his image. There are a number of characters that travel around searching for their place in the world. Mattie, mentions that she keeps on looking, seems like she just keeps starting over, I ain’t never found no place for me to fit. † (76) Reuben tells Zonia, when he finds out that she is leaving the boarding house in search of her mom, â€Å"when I get grown, I come looking for you. †(84) Jeremy does not seem to care much when he loses his job because, â€Å"don’t make me no difference. There’s a big road out there, I can always get my guitar and find me a place to stay. I ain’t planning on staying in one place for too long noway. † (64) Martha & Reverend Tolliver moved the Church up north because of the trouble the church was having. When the Civil War finally brought freedom to previously enslaved African Americans, the task of organizing religious communities was only one element of the larger need to create new lives, to reunite families, to find jobs, and to figure out what it would mean to live in the United States as citizens rather than property. August Wilson’s play, Joe Turner’s come and Gone, examines African Americans search for their cultural identity following slavery. Bibliography Murphy, L. G. (2000). Down By the Riverside. New York: New Yourk University Press. Wilson, A. (1988). Joe Turner’ Come and Gone. New York: Penguin Group.

Vampire Academy Chapter 22

TWENTY-TWO â€Å"HEAL YOU?† Heal him? My thoughts echoed hers. â€Å"You're the only way,† he said patiently. â€Å"The only way to cure this disease. I've been watching you for years, waiting until I was certain.† Lissa shook her head. â€Å"I can't†¦no. I can't do anything like that.† â€Å"Your healing powers are incredible. No one has any idea just how powerful.† â€Å"I don't know what you're talking about.† â€Å"Come now, Vasilisa. I know about the raven – Natalie saw you do it. She'd been following you. And I know how you healed Rose.† She realized the pointlessness of denying it. â€Å"That†¦was different. Rose wasn't that hurt. But you†¦I can't do anything about Sandovsky's Syndrome.† â€Å"Not that hurt?† he laughed. â€Å"I'm not talking about her ankle – which was still impressive. I'm talking about the car accident. Because you're right, you know. Rose didn't get ? ®that hurt.' She died.† He let the words sink in. â€Å"That's†¦no. She lived,† Lissa finally managed. â€Å"No. Well, yes, she did. But I read all the reports. There was no way she should have survived – especially with so many injuries. You healed her. You brought her back.† He sighed, half wistful and half weary. â€Å"I'd suspected you could do this for so long, and I tried so hard to repeat it†¦to see how much you could control†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lissa caught on and gasped. â€Å"The animals. It was you.† â€Å"With Natalie's help.† â€Å"Why would you do that? How could you?† â€Å"Because I had to know. I have only a few more weeks to live, Vasilisa. If you can truly bring back the dead, then you can cure Sandovsky's. I had to know before I took you away that you could heal at will and not just in moments of panic.† â€Å"Why take me at all?† A spark of anger flared up in her. â€Å"You're my near-uncle. If you wanted me to do this – if you really think I can†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her voice and feelings showed me she didn't really entirely believe she could heal him. â€Å"Then why kidnap me? Why didn't you just ask?† â€Å"Because it's not a onetime affair. It took a long time to figure out what you are, but I managed to acquire some of the old histories†¦scrolls kept out of Moroi museums. When I read about how wielding spirit works – â€Å" â€Å"Wielding what?† â€Å"Spirit. It's what you've specialized in.† â€Å"I haven't specialized in anything! You're crazy.† â€Å"Where else do you think these powers of yours have come from? Spirit is another element, one few people have any more.† Lissa's mind was still reeling from the kidnapping and the possible truth that she'd brought me back from the dead. â€Å"That doesn't make any sense. Even if it wasn't common, I still would have heard of another element! Or of someone having it.† â€Å"No one knows about spirit anymore. It's been forgotten. When people do specialize in it, nobody realizes it. They think the person simply hasn't specialized at all.† â€Å"Look, if you're just trying to make me feel – † She abruptly cut herself off. She was angry and afraid, but behind those emotions, her higher reasoning had been processing what he'd said about spirit users and specializing. It now caught up with her. â€Å"Oh my God. Vladimir and Ms. Karp.† He gave her a knowing look. â€Å"You've known about this all along.† â€Å"No! I swear. It's just something Rose was looking into†¦She said they were like me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lissa was starting to change from a little scared to all scared. The news was too shocking. â€Å"They are like you. The books even say Vladimir was ? ®full of spirit.' † Victor seemed to find that funny. Seeing that smile made me want to slap him. â€Å"I thought†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lissa still wanted him to be wrong. The idea of not specializing was safer than specializing in some freakish element. â€Å"I thought that meant, like, the Holy Spirit.† â€Å"So does everyone else, but no. It's something else entirely. An element that's within all of us. A master element that can give you indirect control over the others.† Apparently my theory about her specializing in all the elements wasn't so far off. She worked hard to get a grip on this news and her own self-control. â€Å"That doesn't answer my question. It doesn't matter if I have this spirit thing or whatever. You didn't have to kidnap me.† â€Å"Spirit, as you've seen, can heal physical injuries. Unfortunately, it's only good on acute injuries. Onetime things. Rose's ankle. The accident wounds. For something chronic – say, a genetic disease like Sandovsky's – continual healings are required. Otherwise it will keep coming back. That's what would happen to me. I need you, Vasilisa. I need you to help me fight this and keep it away. So I can live.† â€Å"That still doesn't explain why you took me,† she argued. â€Å"I would have helped you if you'd asked.† â€Å"They never would have let you do it. The school. The council. Once they got over the shock of finding a spirit user, they'd get hung up on ethics. After all, how does one choose who gets to be healed? They'd say it wasn't fair. That it was like playing God. Or else they'd worry about the toll it'd take on you.† She flinched, knowing exactly what toll he referred to. Seeing her expression, he nodded. â€Å"Yes. I won't lie to you. It will be hard. It will exhaust you – mentally and physically. But I must do it. I am sorry. You'll be provided with feeders and other entertainments for your services.† She leapt from the chair. Ben immediately stepped forward and pushed her back into it. â€Å"And then what? Are you going to just make me a prisoner here? Your own private nurse?† He made that annoying open-palmed gesture again. â€Å"I'm sorry. I have no choice.† White-hot anger blasted away the fear inside of her. She spoke in a low voice. â€Å"Yes. You don't have the choice, because this is me we're talking about.† â€Å"It's better for you this way. You know how the others turned out. How Vladimir spent the last of his days stark, raving mad. How Sonya Karp had to be taken away. The trauma you've experienced since the accident comes from more than just your family's loss. It's from using spirit. The accident woke the spirit in you; your fear over seeing Rose dead made it burst out, allowing you to heal her. It forged your bond. And once it's out, you can't put it back. It's a powerful element – but it's also dangerous. Earth users get their power from the earth, air users from the air. But spirit? Where do you think that comes from?† She glared. â€Å"It comes from you, from your own essence. To heal another, you must give part of yourself. The more you do that, the more it will destroy you over time. You must be noticing that already. I've seen how much certain things upset you, how fragile you are.† â€Å"I'm not fragile,† snapped Lissa. â€Å"And I'm not going to go crazy. I'm going to stop using spirit before things get worse.† He smiled. â€Å"Stop using it? You might as well stop breathing. Spirit has its own agenda†¦You'll always have the urge to help and heal. It's part of you. You resisted the animals, but you didn't think twice about helping Rose. You can't even help compulsion – which spirit also gives you special strength in. And that's how it will always be. You can't avoid spirit. Better to stay here, in isolation, away from further sources of stress. You'd either have become increasingly unstable at the Academy, or they would have put you on some pill that would have made you feel better but stunted your power.† A calm core of confidence settled inside her, one very different from what I'd observed over the last couple of years. â€Å"I love you, Uncle Victor, but I'm the one who has to deal with that and decide what to do. Not you. You're making me give up my life for yours. That's not fair.† â€Å"It's a matter of which life means more. I love you too. Very much. But the Moroi are falling apart. Our numbers are dropping as we let the Strigoi prey upon us. We used to actively seek them out. Now Tatiana and the other leaders hide away. They keep you and your peers isolated. In the old days, you were trained to fight alongside your guardians! You were taught to use magic as a weapon. Not any longer. We wait. We are victims.† As he stared off, both Lissa and I could see how caught up in his passion he was. â€Å"I would have changed that if I were king. I would have brought about a revolution the likes of which neither Moroi nor Strigoi have ever seen. I should have been Tatiana's heir. She was ready to name me before they discovered the disease, and then she would not. If I were cured†¦if I were cured, I could take my rightful place†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His words triggered something inside of Lissa, a sudden consideration for the state of the Moroi. She'd never contemplated what he'd said, about how different it might be if Moroi and their guardians fought side by side to rid the world of the Strigoi and their evil. It reminded her of Christian and what he'd said about using magic as a weapon too. But even if she did appreciate Victor's convictions, neither of us thought it was worth what he wanted her to do. â€Å"I'm sorry,† she whispered. â€Å"I'm sorry for you. But please don't make me do this.† â€Å"I have to.† She looked him straight in the eye. â€Å"I won't do it.† He inclined his head, and someone stepped forward from the corner. Another Moroi. No one I knew. Walking around behind Lissa, he untied her hands. â€Å"This is Kenneth.† Victor held his hands out toward her free ones. â€Å"Please, Vasilisa. Take my hands. Send the magic through me just as you did with Rose.† She shook her head. â€Å"No.† His voice was less kindly when he spoke again. â€Å"Please. One way or another, you will heal me. I'd rather it be on your terms, not ours.† She shook her head again. He made a slight gesture toward Kenneth. And that's when the pain started. Lissa screamed. I screamed. In the SUV, Dimitri's grip on the wheel jerked in surprise, making us veer. Casting me an alarmed look, he started to pull over. â€Å"No, no! Keep going!† I pressed my palms to my temples. â€Å"We have to get there!† From behind my seat, Alberta reached forward and rested a hand on my shoulder. â€Å"Rose, what's happening?† I blinked back tears. â€Å"They're torturing her†¦with air. This guy†¦Kenneth†¦he's making it press against her†¦into her head. The pressure's insane. It feels like my – her – skull's gonna explode.† I started sobbing. Dimitri looked at me out of the corner of his eye and pressed the gas pedal down harder. Kenneth didn't stop with just the physical force of air. He also used it to affect her breathing. Sometimes he'd smother her with it; other times he'd take it all away and leave her gasping. After enduring all that firsthand – and it was bad enough secondhand – I felt pretty confident I would have done anything they wanted. And finally, she did. Hurting and bleary-eyed, Lissa took Victor's hands. I'd never been in her head when she worked magic and didn't know what to expect. At first, I felt nothing. Just a sense of concentration. Then†¦it was like†¦I don't even know how to describe it. Color and light and music and life and joy and love†¦so many wonderful things, all the lovely things that make up the world and make it worth living in. Lissa summoned up all of those things, as many as she could, and sent them into Victor. The magic flowed through both of us, brilliant and sweet. It was alive. It was her life. And as wonderful as it all felt, she was growing weaker and weaker. But as all of those elements – bound by the mysterious spirit element – flowed into Victor, he grew stronger and stronger. The change was startling. His skin smoothed, no longer wrinkled and pocked. The gray thinning hair filled out, turning dark and lustrous once more. The green eyes – still jadelike – sparkled again, turning alert and lively. He'd become the Victor she remembered from her childhood. Exhausted, Lissa passed out. In the SUV, I tried to relate what was happening. Dimitri's face grew darker and darker, and he spat out a string of Russian swear words he still hadn't taught me the meanings of. When we were a quarter mile from the cabin, Alberta made a call on her cell phone, and our whole convoy pulled over. All of the guardians – more than a dozen-got out and stood huddled, planning strategy. Someone went ahead to scout and returned with a report on the number of people inside and outside of the cabin. When the group seemed ready to disperse, I started to get out of the car. Dimitri stopped me. â€Å"No, Roza. You stay here.† â€Å"The hell with that. I have to go help her.† He cupped my chin with his hands, fixing me with his eyes. â€Å"You have helped her. Your job is done. You did it well. But this isn't any place for you. She and I both need you to stay safe.† Only the realization that arguing would delay the rescue kept me quiet. Swallowing back any protests, I nodded. He nodded back and joined the others. All of them slipped off into the woods, blending with the trees. Sighing, I kicked the passenger seat back and lay down. I was so tired. Even though the sun poured through the windshield, it was night for me. I'd been up for most of it, and a lot had happened in that time. Between the adrenaline of my own role and sharing Lissa's pain, I could have passed out just like she had. Except that she was awake now. Slowly, her perceptions dominated mine once more. She lay on a couch in the cabin. One of Victor's henchmen must have carried her there after she'd fainted. Victor himself – alive and well now, thanks to his abuse of her – stood in the kitchen with the others as they all spoke in low voices about their plans. Only one stood near Lissa, keeping watch. He'd be easy to take down when Dimitri and the Badass Team burst inside. Lissa studied the lone guardian and then glanced at a window beside the couch. Still dizzy from the healing, she managed to sit up. The guardian turned around, watching her warily. She met his eyes and smiled. â€Å"You're going to stay quiet no matter what I do,† she told him. â€Å"You aren't going to call for help or tell anyone when I leave. Okay?† The thrall of compulsion slid over him. He nodded in agreement. Moving toward the window, she unlocked it and slid the glass up. As she did, a tumble of considerations played through her mind. She was weak. She didn't know how far from the Academy – from anything, really – she was. She had no clue how far she could get before someone noticed. But she also knew she might not get another chance at escape. She had no intention of spending the rest of her life in this cabin in the woods. At any other time, I would have cheered on her boldness, but not this time. Not when all those guardians were about to save her. She needed to stay put. Unfortunately, she couldn't hear my advice. Lissa climbed out the window, and I swore out loud. â€Å"What? What'd you see?† asked a voice behind me. I jerked up from my reclining position in the car, banging my head on the ceiling. Glancing behind me, I found Christian peering up from the cargo space behind the farthest backseats. â€Å"What are you doing here?† I asked. â€Å"What's it look like? I'm a stowaway.† â€Å"Don't you have a concussion or something?† He shrugged like it didn't matter. What a great pair he and Lissa were. Neither afraid to take on crazy feats while seriously injured. Still, if Kirova had made me stay behind, I would have been right beside him in the back. â€Å"What's happening?† he asked. â€Å"Did you see something new? Hastily, I told him. I also got out of the car as I spoke. He followed. â€Å"She doesn't know our guys are already coming for her. I'm going to go get her before she kills herself with exhaustion.† â€Å"What about the guardians? The school's, I mean. Are you going to tell them she's gone?† I shook my head. â€Å"They're probably already busting down the cabin's door. I'm going after her.† She was somewhere off to the right side of the cabin. I could head in that direction but wouldn't be able to get very precise until I was much closer to her. Still, it didn't matter. I had to find her. Seeing Christian's face, I couldn't resist giving him a dry smile. â€Å"And yeah, I know. You're going with me.†