Author's note: I forgot about those Tweets for a while. My story is starting to swirl out of control and is really starting to go more and more far away from what it was supposed to be. The reason for that is that I just can't predict whether Richelle put the vampire hunters, the Alchemists, the Re-education or the Moroi government in the center of the story. I have several guesses, but I'm pretty sure I made so many wrong presumptions so far that I'm going to be ashamed of myself when The Fiery Heart comes out. But since you all like it, I hope not everything is lost. :)

I'd like to thank EVERYONE again (and no supporters-lists now, I promise) for their kind words and their support. But I can't resist to mention HopperIvashkinator again - she is like a sister to me thanks to FanFiction. So thank you. Everyone.

And please don't forget to review! It makes me so happy to read your opinions!

I expect at least one more chapter before radio silence and it will be up soon! Or at least I hope so.

Of course, all the characters belong to the beautiful Richelle Mead. And I'm going to put a real quote in the chapter - so it belongs to Richelle too!


I woke up unwillingly. Hopper, my dear love child, ended the spirit dream where it was getting more and more steamy by the seconds. And what a wake-up call it was! Better than any alarm clock. And louder, unfortunately.

I opened my eyes and Hopper immediately stopped squeaking. He watched me with those adorable eyes of his and his tail was swinging. He was so cute that I couldn't help but forgive him from ending his dad's and mom's dream. I touched his head with my nose and he immediately closed his eyes, making a quiet high sound that seemed to say 'I love you, dad'.

"I love you too, buddy.", I said softly.

After feeding Hopper and myself (and I couldn't help but remember that I needed to be fed with another type of food too) and telling Hopper that I was going to college, that I would be away for a couple of hours, that he shouldn't touch anything with his teeth and that he should try not to kill himself somehow and after having a speech about responsibility and how disappointed I'd be if he did something awful, I got myself ready for the day and hit the road.

And I was enthusiastic today - I was a college student and I took painting classes. I loved painting and I loved how Sydney loved me loving painting. She didn't have a way of expressing herself - minutes ago, in that dream, I was so shocked that she actually found a way to express herself. I was waiting for it for months - I didn't know if she wrote poems or if she sang or if she was another kind of an artist, but I searched for signs of it for months and I never found any. She was so busy with her job as an Alchemist and with making everyone happy (including me - actually, I was the biggest part of it) that she forgot herself and what she loved and wanted.

It seemed like such a long time ago when I felt her watching me that day, painting on T-shirts for those girls while we were on an important task of hunting Jackie's sister (at least we thought we were hunting for her). And I felt her aura shine with affection for me, but I couldn't understand why. The whole time, she was watching me. And I didn't understand what was so intriguing with me painting until she said that she couldn't paint and that she didn't have any creativity. But I wanted to bring that creativity to the surface - I knew she had it in her. That purple told me so. And she was mesmerized by the way I could just paint, create images out of nothing and show the world what I felt through that. She couldn't, she never even tried. But yeah, I forgot that father of hers trained her as if she was a dog, and she was obedient. I was disgusted by how I told her, months ago, how she didn't fight back.

Oh man. I was so wrong.

I didn't even notice I was daydreaming until someone snapped with his fingers and called "Earth to Adrian! Did that hair gel finally eat your brain?" And that someone was Rowena Clark.

Rowena Clark and I had met on the first day of our mixed media class. I'd sat down at her table and said, "Mind if I join you? Figure the best way to learn about art is to sit with a masterpiece." Maybe I was in love, but I was still Adrian Ivashkov.

Rowena had fixed me with a flat look. "Let's get one thing straight. I can see through crap a mile away, and I like girls, not guys, so if you can't handle me telling you what's what, then you'd better take your one-liners and hair gel somewhere else. I don't go to this school to put up with pretty boys like you. I'm here to face dubious employment options with a painting degree and then go get a Guinness after class."

I'd scooted my chair closer to the table. "You and I are going to get along just fine."

So now we were like BFF or something. We sat together, I said that her paintings were disgusting and she said she wanted to puke when she saw mine. I wanted to find out if this was another one of those days.

I didn't remember drawing Sydney, all in purple and gold. Man, it looked good. Even though theme of the day was "Still life". Wow. Drawing fruit. Sydney surely counted as a banana, or as an apple. Even though she gained several pounds during the last few months. And I liked it. She didn't look like some twisted Moroi anymore. And it was again (I was sure of it) her father's fault! Did that man leave any part of Sydney untouched? And she obeyed him once more - he probably said something like 'If those evil creatures of the night can be skinny, why can't you?' I just loved her for putting up with all of that. And that, that scumbag, he didn't even notice. He never noticed her. But of course, he noticed when she helped Rose and he noticed when Keith reported her. Thank God that we cleared our path of at least that jerk.

"Seriously, I am going to punch you in the face if you don't focus. I was speaking to you." I shook my head and put on my famous smirk.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't hear." The look on her face told me something was wrong. Did I say something while I was thinking?

"For five minutes. And for, like, 20 times I said the same sentence." I laughed.

"Okay, sorry. What were you saying, really? I'm listening now." And I yawned, closed my eyes and put my head on the table, mimicking snoring.

She sighed. "What has come into you? That thing you painted is more disgusting than usual." I opened one eye and smirked.

"Oh, thanks. That attempt of a banana is pretty awful too. It looks like a moon." She laughed.

"It is supposed to be an orange!"

"Oh, my bad. I didn't know oranges were yellow." She hit me in the arm.

"Well, I don't know what that is supposed to represent, but I've never seen a golden-purplish fruit. That has a face. Is that some kind of a mutated avocado or something?"

So yeah, my morning went by pretty fast and pretty optimistic. Rowena was a very good friend, and even though I didn't know her long, she and I got along fine. More than fine, actually. She was as good in sarcasm as I was.

But yeah. All good mornings have to come to an end some time. Wearing my sunglasses, walking down the college with my smirk, messy hair and my (and Sage's) favorite emerald button-up shirt, I was supposed to think about my next picture or where I'd buy canvases or something like that. But I couldn't help but wonder what was going on down in Amberwood. Sage was under a lot of pressure - and she was going to live at Clarence's for a while now. What would Zoe say? Would she already report to the Alchemists that something was wrong? Well, Sydney was her sister, after all! I didn't know what kind of a bond that was, but by watching people I learned that it was supposed to be a strong one. I just hoped it was in Sage family.

So I decided to drive to Amberwood. Hopper wasn't going to die of starvation - I left him some pie and he was locked down so hopefully, he wasn't going to kill himself or try to run away. And I needed to see Sydney - first, she had a plan to call me for help in 'moving'. But Eddie probably took all the stuff in one hand and walked on foot to Clarence's. And these hands didn't do manual labor. Oh, I was going on such great lengths for my Sage. Secondly, I needed to really see her, hopefully steal a glance and maybe, just maybe, steal a touch or a kiss too. For real. Spirit dreams were real enough, but they weren't real. And thirdly, I wanted to see that she was okay and that she wasn't going to have a nervous breakdown.

But I still shouldn't have been surprised when I saw her aura from the parking lot. She was close by and she was... Whew. Like a tornado. She was either crying (having that breakdown) or she was fighting someone. But she was angry like hell.

I found her in the yard, her face flushed and her eyes blazing with fire. Of course, she was fighting Zoe and I couldn't help but notice how much they looked alike - they both had golden lilies, brown eyes, they had similar face structure and skin color... But Sydney looked more fierce.

I know I shouldn't have interfered - I should have waited in her room or done something Castile asked of me, but no. I knew Sydney was on the verge of either killing her, or crying and I didn't want that to happen. I swore to myself I'd protect her. And yeah, her sister was a danger for her right now. And I was going to stop this.

Hopefully, with my Adrian Ivashkov charm.

As I came closer, I could hear what they were saying.

"Stop it, Zoe! You see enemies everywhere!", Sydney was saying in a voice that was on a so high frequency that it could almost be counted as a scream.

"And I thought we were going to have a nice time here - you were going to tell me what to do, you'd teach me how to stay calm in front of them", she said with an emphasis, "And dad would be proud of me and everything would be fine. But no. On the first day of me being an Alchemist, you find some teacher and go God knows where, and on the second day you are dumping me because of a vampire?" She whispered the last word. And no - I saw it in her aura that she was going to say something really bad to Sydney, something that was going to hurt her worse than an army of Strigoi. But I was still too far. They couldn't even see me. So all I could do was watch and hope that Zoe was going to change her mind. But I tried to hurry - in a speed that at least seemed normal.

I was too late. "What kind of a sister are you? You reported of Keith, you didn't let me become an Alchemist because of your ambitions, and now that I'm here, you're planning what? To scare me off so I'd resign or something?" And Sydney's aura exploded. I knew that there was fire in her eyes. But I was close now. Not close enough yet.

"Actually, Zoe, I was planning just that. You are not supposed to be an Alchemist. This is a way of life that would be awful for you. You have to sacrifice everything for this. I did, and I won't let you do the same." Zoe's aura swirled, but it was nothing compared to Sydney's. Okay. This was the end of her patience and if Zoe said one more sentence, Sydney was going to break. No, no, no. Don't break now. Hold on a little longer, my flame in the dark.

"First of all, I don't see what's so awful in being an Alchemist. Wow, I have to survive unnatural creatures and I can't go to college, but screw that!"

"You did not just swear in front of me!" But I was here, thanks to God, to stop this from developing further.

"Okay, Sage sisters, I am sorry to interrupt your little chat, but I can't go into girls' dorm without..." I stopped, furrowing my eyebrows. Without support? Without escort? Security code? "Girls. And I can't find Jailbait anywhere, so do me a favor and be my escort." I raised an eyebrow at Zoe. And tried to ignore Sydney's horrified face. I knew the reasons she looked like this, but Zoe would surely misinterpret it and think that she was afraid of me because she was worked up and didn't have time to put her mask on.

"Of course, Lord Ivashkov." She said and nodded. Then she turned to Sydney. "I'll escort him to our room. We're not finished with this conversation."

Sydney shook her head. "No, I'll do it. I need to..." She paused for a second, seeming to try to get herself to think, "I need to get something from my room anyway."

Zoe shook her head. They were, like, standing there and shook heads at each other. "No. I need experience."

Now it was Sydney's turn. "No, I actually have experience."

Zoe turned around and faced me. Fear radiated from her aura, but she seemed to be watching something behind me.

"What do you think, Lord Ivashkov? Would you prefer Sydney, or me, to escort you to our room?" And she smiled that dangerous smile.

Sydney was going to kill me. She was going to cut my head off and burn it. Or... she was going to take my hear gel and leave me to die. But Zoe expected me to say 'Sydney'. She wanted to suspect something and immediately report Sydney. I saw it in her aura.

I looked my Sydney in the eye and saw her hopeful face. I tried to show with my eyes that this wasn't how it seemed. But I knew she wouldn't understand, not while her aura was a tornado. But I'd think about it later.

'Zoe', I said. Betrayal shone in her aura and than it just... Dimmed. My heart broke watching her like this. But what could I do? Zoe was so happy in this moment and she was waiting for me to go.

But Sydney was already gone, with that purple aura that suddenly became grey. And I knew I hurt her. I knew I hurt myself, too. But it was already done, so I gathered the last bit of strength in me, turned around and followed Zoe, while I wanted to take my Sydney in my arms and never let her go.

Why the hell did I even come? Why couldn't I just wait for her in her room? She could handle Zoe. But she couldn't handle me. Damn Alchemists. They didn't even know what they did and how hard they made this.

She was crying now, I was sure.

I had to find her as soon as possible.