One guardian was already waiting for us when we got off the plane and he didn't look happy about the fact that our flight had been delayed. Paul, as my sanctioned guardian while we were outside where it wasn't safe, was looking alert and everywhere. We'd arrived at night, something he wasn't so happy about and I realized that it wasn't only him who was now acting like that. Alek was walking behind me, probably looking the same and Dimitri was at my other side, inspecting everyone like they were all a threat.

I rolled my eyes. Only they would think that all these humans were a threat. I only saw people hurrying up to get to places, like they had no time. Still, I couldn't help but watch out too because I had some sort of déjà vu feeling. It sent chills down my spine.

"Guardian Belikov," The old guardian greeted Paul and my cousin only nodded.

"You must be Guardian Barnes, thanks for coming to pick us up." Paul said.

After that we didn't talk, they were too busy scanning the area for any Strigoi, which I doubted would be here. But I had no doubt that if there were any I would be safe. They would never let anything happen to me. While they stared at each other and looked around I walked ahead of them to retrieve my own bags. I heard Dimitri curse, in Russian of course, which I totally understood and I blushed involuntarily. Guys had such foul language. Still, they followed me and got into formation once again. It was annoying to have an escort, it was only me: an unimportant Moroi and they were acting as if I was the princess herself. Perhaps now I was, too, becoming paranoid.

We got into the car after getting our bags and the guardian began driving to court. I was bored to death and the worst was that no one else seemed to have the same problem. Dimitri looked rather interested, it was his first time here in America and he seemed really excited about it, at least as excited as he could be with a serious face. His expressive blue eyes the only thing giving him away.

At the gates, more guardians asked questions but they let us go through fast, though I was too distracted looking around to care. This place was huge and so pretty that I couldn't stop gawking. I could not believe that my mom didn't want to live here. I mean, this was so gorgeous and magnificent. I didn't recall ever being here, even though Tasha had said we had when dad was still alive and head of security here at court. Dimitri was barely fifteen but he hadn't met his father, who happened to have had the same name, at least until he died in a battle with Strigoi when I was a little girl because Tasha and I had been kidnapped. He'd saved us, but it had cost him his life. That thought always brought tears to my eyes. I missed him, though I had little memories of him

Every night before I went to sleep I tried to remember what had happened that night but I never did. I could barely remember Dimitri, the man who I used to call daddy or Papa, in Russian, and that made me feel like I was missing some important part of my childhood. I'd seen pictures of him, Babushka and his sisters talked about him all the time like he was some god or something, and yet, I couldn't remember anything about him. Besides pictures of him with mom and me when I was little and all that, I was sure there were videos too, I had nothing else of him. Mom had never showed me those videos or the rest of the pictures that I was sure she always carried around with her wherever she went in her exotic travels. She never seemed to want to talk to me about him and I understood that it was hard for her, but I felt like I needed something to hold on to. Not even my brother knew much about his father, and Dimitri had been his biological father so I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it must have been for him not to know much about his father because he hadn't been born yet. I barely remembered him and I missed him every day, so it must have been worse for him if he hadn't known him at all.

Actually, I knew it was hard for him. I'd seen it in his aura every time the parents went to the academy to take their kids somewhere when we were on break. His aura always blackened a little at the edges with a red rim.

"Wow, this place is amazing. Why can't I stay here too?" Alek's enthusiasm made me snap back into reality. He was thrilled to be here because for him this was nothing more than a trip to America in which he was discovering new things, and it was ok but I just didn't feel like dealing with him today.

"No, we just came here to drop Dimitri and Kathryn off, and then we're leaving." Alek was about to protest but Paul cut him off. "No questions asked."

The guardian dropped us off at what he said was the Ivashkov wing and I was a little freaked out about that. The last Queen, Tatiana Ivashkov, had died years ago—more like murdered by Strigoi actually—but apparently the apartments were still there. Now though, there was a new wing that belonged to the Dragomir's. It was weird because there was only four Dragomirs: Vasilissa, Christian and their daughters, Valerie and Aurora. I might have not been living here in America but royal news traveled fast everywhere and the Queen and her family was very important.

"I hope mom won't drag me to meet any royals." I told Dimitri as we walked.

He barely glanced at me but I saw the corners of his mouth twitch a little bit. "Oh, I hope she doesn't. I wouldn't want to listen to you bitching about it later." His words were bitter and harsh.

I was shocked at his words. He rarely swore when I was present, which meant there was something seriously wrong with him. I tried to guess why but the only thing I could come up with was the fact that he must have been remembering the little mom told us about his father.

Apparently Paul had heard him too and was not happy about his response. "Dimka!"

Dimitri just turned to Paul and shrugged but didn't say or do anything.

"Told you he gets away with everything," Alek said with a laugh.

We kept on walking and stopped talking. When we reached the room where my mom was, the guardian just left with nothing more than a nod directed at us, though I saw his gaze linger on Dimitri longer than it should have. This man apparently seemed to think my brother was too tall for his age, or too dedicated. Dimitri was already 6'2 and had the muscled body of any other dhampir.

"Let's just get this over with, please." Dimitri said with exasperation when we just stood there and knocked on the door.

The door opened automatically and my mom stood there, smiling just a sec before she enveloped us into a big hug. I hugged her back, happy to see her again after a long time. I just wished she wouldn't get too mad at me when I told her the news.

"I'm happy you are finally here, come in." We all went in and she told us to have a seat.

Paul didn't sit, neither did Alek. Instead, both of them just stood at the sides, observing. I rolled my eyes. You could take the guys out of their guardian's post but you couldn't take their guardian nature from them. It was like being a guardian and guarding was all they knew. I didn't want Dimitri to end up like that, though he was already going into that path.

I looked at Dimitri, whose face had no expression whatsoever.

"Oh, c'mon guys, just drop the act already. We're inside court, nothing can happen here" My mom's smile was sweet but her tone commanding and I could have sworn I saw Paul flinch a little. He had trouble with people telling him what to do and he was rather intimidated by my mom. I had no idea why, perhaps it was because back at the Academy he was used to telling other people what to do and not receive orders. Still, Paul did relax a little bit.

Alek, on the other hand just laughed it off. "Fine Tasha, sorry."

My mom brightened considerably. "Perfect, just take a seat and we can all talk."

Paul did it reluctantly.

"So, how long are you and Alek staying?" Mom asked

"Well, we were just going to drop Kat and Dimitri off. We'll be leaving in a couple of hours." Paul's answer was brief and his body was stiff, as if he was dying to get out of here and I didn't understand why.

Tasha seemed to get a little sad. "Oh, I was hoping you'd stay longer."

"We can't. I'm supposed to go back to the Academy. I have my own charge now." He was being a little rude but my mom didn't seem to notice or didn't care.

"I would love to…" Paul cut Alek off with a glare.

"We should get going, now." Paul got up and Alek did too, though Alek looked perhaps a little bit apologetically.

"So soon?" Mom didn't seem so sad this time and I wondered why. Suddenly the room was filled with tension. Paul and Tasha were staring at each other, daring the other to say something. I looked between the two of them, trying to decipher their auras. Paul's was darkening with what seemed to be anger, while Tasha's seemed to be dark and red with a hint of green.

"Mom, let them go. They have things to do at the Academy with the rest of the guardians." Dimitri chimed in and some of the tension left the room. He meant the Academy in Montana, St. Vladimir's. Paul needed to talk to someone over there, but hadn't said anything else about it.

Paul left without another word. Alek hugged my mom before leaving, though he seemed to have picked up on the fact that things didn't seem to be ok between them. I was really confused and barely stopped myself from asking Alek when he hugged me.

When they finally left it was only my mom, me and Dimitri.

"Well, I'm glad you two are finally here." She said, back to normal.

"Mom, I need to tell you something." I began and would have continued if it hadn't been for the fact that Dimitri shot me a look saying to keep quiet. He probably wanted to be far away from here before I told my mom that I was going to college and not on vacation with her. He was one of the few who knew about college.

Mom turned to me with a smile. "What is it Kat?"

Dimitri got up, looking uncomfortable. "I'm sure it's some girl talk. So I'll leave the two of you to it." But my mom was having none of it.

"Dimitri, please, stay. You just got here; I don't want you to go yet. Please." It wasn't a real request, more like an order. Dimitri froze, in mid-step and sat right back down. He shot me a look that said he was not happy about it and I tried to look apologetic.

"Now tell me, what's up sweetie?"

"Remember that you told me that you wanted me to go with you in one of your travels?" She nodded, looking wary. "Well…" This time I hesitated. I knew this would make her upset and that was the least I wanted. I loved her but I didn't want to take a break next year. Besides, her request had been so sudden just a couple of months ago that I wondered if there was a reason behind it. But this was my mom we were talking about. She didn't do anything crazy, even if she was an Ozera. Well, I was one too… "So… I'm going to college and not with you to Mexico or Rio."

I looked away, not wanting to look at her in the eye and see her disappointment. As expected, she was upset.

"What? Kat, we talked about this. I want you to come with me. We'll go south and have a great time. This might be the last chance for us to be together before you head off and go on with your life." She pleaded.

I couldn't resist her. That look she was giving me made me want to do as she told me and I was thinking about giving in and just taking off a year or two to be with her. I mean, there was nothing wrong with her wanting to spend more time with me. "Mom…"

"Kat, I haven't been around you constantly. I want to make up for that." Great, she was using guilt. Damn.

"Mom, let her be. She would rather go to college. I'm sure you two can spend some time together this summer before she goes off to college." Dimitri's reasoning was good. Mom always listened to him but this time not even his charms would get him off the hook.

This time mom was really pissed and telling from her aura she was getting anxious and nervous. "Kat, I don't understand why you would do this. I would like for you to come with me, please."

"Mom, I don't think we should keep talking about this. She made up her mind, just fall it" Mom gave him a puzzled look, but I pieced it together. I was already used to listening to him mess up words.

"Drop it, the word you were looking for was Drop It, Dimitri." He dismissed my corrections like it was nothing to worry about it.

"Please, just drop it" Dimitri said.

"I—" The phone rang and mom didn't say anything else.

She went over to the counter and picked up the phone. Whoever called made her even more upset and she walked away with the phone glued to her ear. She seemed to be arguing with that person.

"Dimitri…"

"Yes, I know." He finished for me, also noticing mom's strange change. "But you better leave now, before she comes back and keeps mapping you about it." I opened my mouth to correct him again and tell him that he meant'Nagging', but instead I nodded and decided that he was right. If I left right now, then she would cool off and by the time I came back she would listen to me.

"I'll walk around, be right back."

I left the place and decided to wonder around court. I didn't have any place to go or any idea where I could have some time alone. I needed some time to think more than anything. I mean, I didn't want to upset mom, she wanted to be with me and I understood that.

I tried to take my mind off things by looking around the place. Everyone walked around and hurried off like there was no tomorrow. They all seemed to have a place to be and things to do. None of them seem to want to take a break. It was as if they all only wanted to get things over with as soon as possible and didn't care what it took. This place was practically buzzing with energy and emotions, the colorful auras blinding me a little. Suddenly I was too overwhelmed with everything and I felt like I should just run away and hide.

I decided to go to the garden I saw earlier when I came in because it seemed peaceful enough. I wanted to see the statues more than anything, and the amazing fountain. Everything here just made me feel… giddy, as if I'd been happy here before. Of course I'd been here before, I reminded myself, I lived here when I was little. But apparently, all those memories were now gone from my mind. I could not remember anything about being here, though. Everything had been gone, along with my memories of the man who I used to call my father.

I sat on a bench near the fountain in the middle of the garden, and tried to ignore the scary shadows that the lights made around me. This place was truly beautiful but I knew that perhaps it would look even better in daylight when everything was illuminated and there were no shadows around. I wanted to be able to see everything and not be afraid because even though I knew I was safe behind the wards here at court, I'd been taught to be always afraid of Strigoi all the time. I hated it but I guessed that after what happened to me when I was a little girl with the Strigoi it was normal for me to be scared. Still, I didn't like living like this, so cut off from what humans did. I wanted to have a normal life.

I'd been exposed to the way humans lived back in Russia at the community. There were many humans over there and all of them lived with no concerns because they didn't know anything about my world. I wished I didn't know anything about Strigoi or the dangers that existed. After all, wasn't ignorance bliss?