Hi everyone!

I know, kids going back in time to save their parents is hardly an original concept, but it sure is fun to write, and, hopefully, fun to read. This story is told from the perspective of Rose and Dimitri's son, Anton. And he did not turn out to be quite like you might expect Rose's offspring to be… Read to find out why :-)

Also, I'm looking for a beta reader for this story! If you like it and are interested to beta me, pm me! I'll be happy for your advice!

„Hold still now, I can't concentrate!"

"Wow, if minor fidgeting hinders you from concentrating, I see major problems ahead for this venture."

"Shut up, or I'll send you off without your return ticket!"

"Go ahead, at least that would prove you can do it!"

"Both of you, shut up!" I interrupted my best friend and her sister's bickering. Since we were hiding in their mother's rooms, all of this took place in a whisper, but I had enough of their quarreling anyway. "We're wasting time. Are you done?"

Liliana, my 18-year old almost-cousin – we weren't technically related, but we had basically grown up together – held up two massive and fairly ugly silver rings in front of us.

"I think I'm all done. Of course I can't really be sure whether it works until you try it."

"Meaning, if you botched it, we'll be stuck in the past with no way back," grumbled her sister. Ava was fifteen like me and sadly coming out of her tomboy age now. Both sisters put their heads so close together that their white-blonde hair unified into a platinum waterfall. They owed their beauty largely to their mom, and I sometimes wished they had gotten more of her gentleness and sweetness as well, but I had yet to detect a trace of that –I guess we have to thank their father's genes for that. Anyways, right now, I think the stress of the situation made the sisters hang on each other's throats even more so than they usually did. And that was saying something.

I had to hand it to them that they were even capable of something as normal as bickering right now. It had sounded simple in theory: go back in time, save your parent from a mysterious threat, go back to a new and improved future. Now, cowering behind the old-fashioned sofa that stood in front of the drawer from which we had just stolen some ancient Dragomir heirlooms, I was trying to wipe my sweaty palms on my pants so that the ugly ring with the Dragomir crest wouldn't slip out as Lily passed it to me. Ava was holding the other one up to examine it.

It was an ungainly chunk of silver, composed of a flashy band and a lump which sported the Dragomir crest in relief. I can't believe anyone would have worn that on their finger at any point in history. They wouldn't have been able to lift their hand. The size of the rings was why we needed them, though. With all the magic Lily was forcing into the silver, there had to be a lot of it, and it had to be in one piece.

I can only assume Ava was going to say something smart-ass about the aesthetics of the Dragomir crest, because just as she opened her mouth and drew a breath, the door to the little-used dressing chamber opened as well. Simultaneous, Lily, Ava and me froze, ducked our heads deeper below the backrest and held our breaths.

"Your majesty, it is merely a formal meeting, not a ceremony. There is no need for pomp."

If at all possible, the three of us froze even more. If the queen was going to look into the drawer we had taken the signet rings from, she would invariably see us perched behind the sofa with the stolen rings in our hands.

The queen? Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that… Lily and Ava are Princesses. Not just Moroi princesses, the way every other royal dickhead can become a prince or a princess, but real, genuine, true-blue, born-and-bred princesses. As in, daughters of a queen. The Queen, Vasilisa Dragomir, first of her name, ruler of all Moroi around the world and lots of other stuff that announcers never get tired of mentioning.

Sounds pretty cool, uh? To me, well… I grew up with them. It still smells when they fart.

Anyways. Said queen was about an inch away from discovering us in the act of stealing royal heirlooms. That was so not good.

What's mom doing here? Lily mouthed mutely. Ava mouthed back a reply that looked like I have no idea laced with a few swearwords.

We heard the queen rummaging in some other drawer across the room,

"I'm not looking for pomp," she told the guardian with her. I recognized his voice – I was pretty familiar with all of Ava's and her family's guardians, a lore acquired by sneaking away and hiding from them countless of times. When your best friend is a heavily guarded member of the highest royalty around, you learn to find ways to play without an adult breathing down your neck.

"It's those signet rings I need," Vasilisa continued. "If they want me to sign this contract as a show of solidarity, I'd better do it properly. Those Russians have a soft spot for antique ceremonies, and I want to pacify them."

Of all the moments in time! Those rings had never – never ever – been actually used in the last century at least! And now of all times she needed them? I couldn't believe our luck.

Ava's face was showing that she was smacking her head mentally, a mirror of what I was feeling. Lily, in contrast, was frowning so badly her head might crease permanently. I looked at her questioningly.

"Now," she mouthed.

I almost jumped up and screamed at her that she was an idiot, precarious situation or not. That was some stupid idea. We were not prepared. We had planned for her to rest at least another twenty-four hours before attempting the feat we were planning on her attempting, and at least for my part, I was planning to mentally prepare myself. But Lily silently shoved the little backpack we had prepared for our travel into my lap – how had she known to bring that? – and took my and Ava's hands. At the sight of her closing her eyes and deepening the creases on her forehead even more, I think I was pretty close to having a panic attack.

I was shaking my head so violently I was risking attracting attention with the mere motion. But Ava gave me a scolding look. I sometimes felt like our roles were reversed from how they normally are in the vampire society: as a dhampir, I should be all protective and big hero and stuff. As a Moroi, she should be all helpless and needy and weak. I wasn't a hero in any way, though, and Ava was far from weak. Even as I was begging for this crazy stunt of Lily's just not to work and for simply nothing to happen when she was done, I was glad that I had Ava with me in the adventure we were potentially about to face.

I would be glad to have Ava with me in the not all that unlikely event of facing her mother's wrath as well.

Like the touch of wind, I could feel Lily's spirit magic weaving its way around me. I have always admired Moroi magic, and the enigmatic element of spirit most of all. It was what had always drawn Lily so close to her mother: that the two shared the rare and mysterious element that until Vasilisa had discovered it, no one had even known about. I knew that it had always been a cause of grieve for Ava not to share in that special connection. When she had been younger, I had found her crying and hiding from them countless of times, feeling left out when her mother and sister practiced magic together or talked about the ancient mysteries.

For her to have lost her father might have been even more bitter than for me to have lost my mom. At least I don't have a sibling with whom to compete with for the affections of my dad. Mind you, I could very well do with a little competition, what with the way my dad is protective of me. Maybe that's why I turned out to be such a worrywart. My dad loves me fiercely, and he'd do everything to ensure my safety and wellbeing. I love him in return, and that is why it hurts so much to see him still pining after my mom. While the queen, a few years after her husband's death, took a new consort – whom I don't believe she ever loved, though – my father remains single and solitary to this day. Hence my motivation to travel to the past. Hence, also, my greatest fear in going. If something happens to me, I'd be taking away the only reason he has left for living, and I know it.

The tingling of spirit on my skin soars, and my reminiscing is cut short by the feeling of electricity coursing through my body, seeking a way out. This is when I realize that our plan is working. We are going to the past.

I am going to see my mom, the famous Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway.