Once we were sitting in the private jet, I let myself relax a little. I knew the guardians weren't going to hurt Lissa, and I knew there were no strogoi inside the plane. I sat back and let myself leave my body, and slipped into Lissa's head. She was sitting in the front next to the Belikov guy. She had a bottle of water in her hand it was shaking like crazy, she was nervous to death. Just then Belikov leaned forward in his seat to grab something, and Lissa saw he had 6 Molnija marks. I focused on my own body, and soon enough I was back in my seat. I sent Lissa calming thoughts. I knew she couldn't hear me, but we learned that if I thought calming thoughts then she could feel them. It worked with any type of emotion. Soon enough I felt her relax.

I though back to the little x shaped tattoos that Dimitri had. He was obviously skilled if he had 6 Molnija. Without thinking I reached behind my hair and rubbed my 23 little marks that were just like his. We had stayed in touch with Guardian Drake, and he had done my tattoos for me. At first I didn't want to get them, but Lissa convinced me that I should. I hated taking someone's life. Even if it was an evil creature trying to hurt Lissa, it was still killing something.

I was staring out the window when I felt the seat next me shift. I already knew who it was, and decided to just ignore him. We sat there in an awkward silence for a little while. Then he decided to break it.

"Were you really going to fight all of us like that?" I didn't answer, and honestly I thought it was the dumbest question in the world. "Doing that was brave. Why did you even try?"

"Because I'm her guardian." We sat there for a little longer, and I couldn't help myself I turned to look at him. Just the little motion made my wrist flare up in pain again. I could feel my face twist into an expression of agony, and had to bite my lip again to keep from screaming. I clutched my wrist to my body, and felt Dimitri get up. When he came back he had a first aid kit.

He tried to take my wrist into his hands, but I pulled it back to me and had to fight the tears that sprang to my eyes from the motion. Dimitri just stared at me then held the little box out for me to take, and do it myself. I rested my arm on the little table, and opened the kit. I had to bite my lip several times to keep from calling out.

"Do you need any help?" I heard Dimitri ask.

"I can do it myself," I snapped back. I hadn't meant to sound so rude, but I was in a lot of pain. Once I was done I gave him back the first aid kit, and turned toward the window. I felt him get up, and I thought he was gone for good. I was a little surprised when he came back and had all his stuff with him. Through the corner of my eyes I saw he had a western novel, and had to fight to keep the smile off my face. I checked on Lissa through the bond and found that she had fallen asleep, and was lying on all the seats. That must have been why Dimitri came back here.

I let my thoughts stray, and was completely caught off guard when I was sucked into Lissa's dream. Or should I say nightmare. I saw the twisted metal of the car, and the smoke rising up into the cloudless night sky. I heard Lissa sobbing and screaming for me to come back. I could smell the burning of metal and flesh, and you could feel the destruction around you. I knew I had to get back into my own body to help Lissa, so I focused on my seat in the plane. Once I was back in my seat I jumped up. Dimitri was startled by my sudden movement, and dropped his book and stood up with me.

"What are you doing?" He asked with a slight hint of worry in his voice.

"Lissa's having a nightmare, and I have to wake her up."

"How do you kn-" I didn't care enough to listen to him anymore, so I pushed him out of my way and ran to the front. Right before I got there Lissa started to scream, and thrash around. I got to her, and started to shake her awake.

"Rose." I heard her whisper as her eyes fluttered open. I could see the fear and loss in her eyes, and the relief they had when she saw I was alive. She started to cry, and I just pulled her to me and sat next to her. I looked around the plane and saw all the guardians staring at us. I was confused at first, but then I remembered that I shouldn't have known what Lissa was dreaming. No one knew we had the bond, and I honestly wanted to keep it that way. That was our most precious secret.

After Lissa calmed down, and fell back asleep, the guardians tried to make me move away from her. They really didn't want me next to her. Not that I could blame them, we had escaped from a high security academy, and stayed off the radar for 2 years. They tried to pull me away, but I stayed where I was. I refused to leave her no matter what.

"Let Rose stay with the Princess." I heard Dimitri say. Everyone turned to look at him. "We're 10 thousand feet in the air. It's not like their gonna escape." The guardians returned to their seats, and I looked back up to Dimitri, and gave him a nod to show I appreciated what he did. He gave me a small smile in return.

We still had a few hours left of the plane ride, and I let my mind drift away. A few hours later I was surprised when I felt someone touch my shoulder. I jerked around and saw that it was Dimitri. "You might want to wake her up. We will be landing in 10 minutes." Just then we heard the intercom go off.

"Ladies and gentlemen please fasten your seatbelts, and prepare to land."

Once we got off the plane we got into one of the academy's black SUVs. There was a long drive back to the academy, and most of it was spent in silence. It was me, Lissa, Dimitri, and a few other guardians in the car. They let me sit next to Lissa in the middle. We had about 30 minutes left till we arrived at the academy when there was a huge explosion, and our car flew off road. The car was doing flips in the air, and crashed roughly into the ground.

I had no idea what happened, but I knew I had to keep Lissa safe. The car was upside down, and I turned to the window and kicked it open. After I got out I helped Lissa out.

"Are you okay?" I asked her as I checked the bond to see if she was hurt.

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm okay." By that time everyone was out of the car and the other two cars had pulled over to see what the hell happened.

"Are you two okay?" I turned to see Dimitri right behind me.

"Yeah we're fine. What the hell happened?"

"I don-" just then I felt a nauseous feeling sweep over me. Before I could react I felt a cold hand wrap around my throat.

"No one more or I'll snap her neck." I heard the strogoi hiss. Everyone froze.

"Get Lissa out of here. Leave me just keep her safe," I screamed at the guardians.

The strogoi took his other hand and put it over my mouth. "I have a feisty one here don't I?"

"Quit playing around Dylan. We have the girl now let's go." In my peripheral vision I saw three more strogoi step out from behind the trees.

"Shut up Melody. Let me have my fun."

I took this as my chance to get away since he was distracted. I bite his hand, and brought my foot back and kicked him in the leg. He let his hand go from around my neck, and I was free. Quicker than anyone could see I had my stake out, and through his chest. I watched the light fade from his, and his body fall to the ground. I pulled my stake out, and looked at the other three. They all wore similar faces of shock. I quickly put my hair up, and heard the guardians behind me gasp as they saw all my marks. I got into a fighting stance, and the strogoi lunged at me. We exchanged a few blows when I saw my first opening, and took it. One down two to go. The other two were a little harder. They were Dhampir before they were turned. I knew I had to end this fight quickly, so we could get Lissa to safety. I started to throw my kicks and punches faster and faster. Soon enough the strogoi didn't know what was going on and they were both dead. I wiped the blood off of my stake in the grass, and turned to see the guardians staring at me like I had three heads. I walked over to Lissa, but winced when I felt a pain in my ribs. I pulled my shirt up, and saw a huge bruise forming. I must have been kicked there, because it looked and felt like they were broken. Lissa ran to me, and put her hand lightly over the bruise. I felt the magic surge in her, and watched the bruise fade away. There were more gasps of shock from the guardians.

Not many people knew about spirit. Lissa and I did a lot of research when we first ran away. That was how we knew as much as we did. We ended up meeting a few spirit users while we were away, but none of them was a strong as Lissa or had a shadow kissed guardian.

I didn't want to keep Lissa out in the open any longer, so I quickly got the guardians into action.

"Come on we have to move. We don't know how many more of them are out there. Let's go." That got them all to move.

We still had two cars left, and the guardians were speeding the entire way back. We didn't want to go through another attack. No one mentioned what happened out there. I think everyone was still surprised that I had defeated four strogoi single handed.

When we got to the academy Dimitri and all the other guardians led us toward Headmistress Kirova's office. They decided to take us through the commons which was totally unfair on their part. There were a million other ways to get there. The worst part of it though was that it was breakfast time, and the commons were filled with students. Right before we walked in Lissa stopped.

"Rose."

"Yeah Liss."

"Your hair is still up. You might want to put it down before we go in."

I quickly put it down. "Thanks." She just gave me a smile in return. I didn't like showing off my marks. It made me feel as if I was just doing it for the glory, and the only reason I got the marks was for Lissa. Everything I did was for Lissa.

When we entered the commons the room fell silent. Everyone was looking at us like we were some kind of alien creature. When we left rumors had spread like wild fire about why. Some people thought I was pregnant, or that I had kidnapped Lissa. Both were completely wrong. I walked into the room with my head held high. Lissa and I used to be the queens of this school, and now that we were back it was time we reclaimed our thrown. Lissa and I walked side by side ahead of the guardians and straight down the middle. We both looked like we were regal.

We finally got into Kirova's office and she told us to sit down. Right away I started to space off as she dove into her lecture about how irresponsible we had been. I could tell though the bond that Lissa was doing the same thing. I looked toward the door and saw that it was Dimitri and Alberta standing in the back. Even they looked bored to death. I was finally snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Kirova turn her attention to me.

"And you young lady are the most irresponsible novice this school has seen. You could have gotten the Princess killed. You failed to do your duty and protect her."

"I did protect her. I kept her safe when none of you could. You don't know what was really happening here. You don't care about any of the students, and Lissa wasn't safe here."

"Ms. Hathaway I fail to see how the Princess wasn't safe in a highly guarded academy. Unless there is something that you are not telling us."

I bit my lip to keep myself from talking. No one could know the real reason we left. So I just sat back down, and waited for her to continue.

"I see. So Ms. Hathaway because the Princess is a royal moroi she must stay here, but you don't have to. You will be sent away as soon as possible."

Just as I was about to speak up, Lissa stood up. "You can't do that."

"I'm sorry princess but I can. Ms. Hathaway failed to protect you, and has broken too many rules. She will leave."

"Rose is my guardian and if you make her leave then I'm leaving too. We broke out of here once and we could do it again."

"Vasilisa you are out of line. Rose is expendable and will be leaving this instant."

"They have a bond." Said a voice with a slight Russian accent. "Rose can feel what the Princess is feeling. Can't you?"

"A bond hasn't been heard of in centauries," said a shocked Kirova.

I just stared at Dimitri trying to tell him to shut up, but he just kept going.

"The stories say that only the best guardians have a bond, and besides Rose has protected the Princess. We haven't told you yet because we though you would want to deal with the girls, but on the way here we got into an accident. While we were pulled over we were attacked by four strogoi, and Rose defeated them all single handed. If you don't believe me you can ask some of the other guardians that were with us. Or you could just look at Rose's neck."

I looked at Kirova and saw she had her mouth open like a fish. She turned to me and made a hand gesture that told me to show her my neck. I sighed and turned around and lifted my hair up. I heard her gasp, and I turned back around.

"Even though she is skilled she still has no discipline. If she doesn't have that then she won't made a good guardian."

"Then teach her discipline. Give her extra training sessions in the morning or night," said Dimitri.

"And who is going to be in charge of mentoring her? You?" There was a slight pause. "That's what I thought."

I looked at Dimitri and I wondered what he saw. Did he see a girl who broke the last Dragomir out of the academy, or a girl who just wanted to protect her sister. "I will mentor Rose." He said at last, looking me directly in the eyes.

Kirova paused for a moment, but eventually said, "Well this certainly changes things. Ms. Hathaway you are lucky to have Guardian Belikov here to speak up for you." She was quiet for a moment, and just stared at her hands. It was almost 10 minutes before she spoke again. "Here's what we are going to do. Both of you can stay." Both Lissa and I looked up and smiled like we won the lottery. "But Ms. Hathaway will have some rules she must follow. You are still in trouble for that stunt you pulled before you left. First off you will have trainings in both the morning and night, and these trainings will be held by Guardian Belikov. Next you are not allowed to go to any social event until further notice. Lastly anytime you are not training or in class you must be in your room. If you fail to follow these rules then you will be expelled from the academy. Do I make myself clear?"

I thought about it for a moment and decided it was the best offer I was gonna get. With I sigh I answered her, "Yes Headmistress."