The way I celebrate my birthday has always been different to everyone else. I always stayed away from the birthday cakes and didn't particularly like throwing large, imposing parties. I'd spend the day like I would any other day, but saved the night just for myself. I'd whip out the largest Sudoku book I could find among my many other quizzing books and waste my time doing puzzles while sipping mint coffee. I liked my tradition of Sudoku on my birthday.

But, of course, I was completely foreign to how vampires would celebrate their birthdays. It once always alarmed me of the idea that vampires had birthdays because, really, you would be celebrating another year in which the vampire has lived on the Earth. And the me from back then would have thought that that would not be something you'd ever want to celebrate.

But the me right now didn't really worry over that as much as compared to worrying over the right present to buy for Jill.

Angeline and Eddie, hand in hand, were making their way towards me with an excited Jill behind yapping away to Adrian.

I unlocked Latte's lock system and opened the driver's seat door when I caught the end of Jill and Adrian's conversation.

"And I even got a call from Rose and Dimitri! They said they sent me a card and a present from the court a while ago, but it obviously hasn't come yet. I was just so surprised to hear them congratulating me though!" Jill blabbered, tugging on Adrian's shirt sleeve. He smiled softly down at her, like she was an infant puppy, and patted her on the head.

"Why should you be surprised? It's your birthday. The one day where you get to act like a spoilt brat and no one can say a thing about it," he grinned.

I crossed my arms and hoped Jill wouldn't take his words to heart. The last thing I needed tonight was an out-of-control teenager roaming about frantically.

Because on tonight's agenda was a trip to the Palm Canyon Drive's Villagefest. It was an event held every Thursday night from 7-10pm and was well-known to pick up a few thousand tourists each year. When Eddie had first mentioned it while we were discussing how to celebrate Jill's birthday a week ago, I was slightly skeptical at first. With a bunch of Moroi and Dhampirs roaming the public at night, things could get a little difficult for me. The last time we had all gone out on a true trip, however, was when we went with Lee to the Mini Golf course. And that was now nothing more than a terrible memory.

So slightly feeling like an austere mother, I guiltily gave them permission on the day of Jill's birthday to attend the Palm Springs Villagefest. And I could tell now by looking at the four that they were all excited for tonight.

"Let's get going," I told the group. "We have school tomorrow still, and I could only get us out till eleven."

Angeline and Eddie took the backseat of my car (Eddie being a gentlemen opened the door for flustered Angeline), and I slid into the driver's seat. Adrian and Jill stood awkwardly outside, waiting to be called upon.

"Get in," said Angeline, motioning for the two to join. Adrian took a hesitant step forward.

"Why don't you sit in front with Sydney?" Eddie suggested with nothing but good intent, but I swerved around in my chair and gave him evil eyes. He frowned. Adrian faltered.

"Uh," Jill began. She suddenly rounded the car and opened the passenger's door. "I'm the birthday girl today. I think I deserve to sit in front. Adrian can sit in the back."

My eyes saw Adrian sigh and look relieved, and I slightly felt insulted. Sure, we weren't on patchy grounds yet, but I had thought that after the last incident that happened a few weeks ago, the ice between us would have somewhat been shattered.

Maybe it took a lot more than resisting his charm—till the point of a slap—to set things to the way they were before though.

Adrian hopped in back and I made sure everyone had secured their seat belts. Then I made our way to the festival.

When I got there I was amazed. The street was crowded with millions of people, the palms loomed over the many makeshift stalls, and little paper lanterns that glowed of different colours were stringed along every branch on the main road. Noise buzzed in and out of my ear and the sky above gave enough light so that you could see an orange shine on every object. It was truly a spectacular sight to see.

"Where do we go first?" Eddie asked. I peeped over my shoulder, and although he was the type to hold back most of his emotions—a thing guardians tended to do, I noticed—I could see the anticipation he held across his face. It was true, after everything that had happened as of yet since coming here, that a little time outside of school, vampire politics, spirit and responsibilities was long overdue.

I turned to Jill and smiled.

"What do you want to do?" I asked, and Jill, with her blonde hair tied in a French braid flat along her back blushed when she realized we were all looking at her expectantly. Her eyes dropped.

"C-clothes?"

Twenty minutes later, Angeline and Jill were sifting through the stalls browsing through clothes, handmade accessories, and the lot. Angeline dragged Eddie along (I assumed she and Jill had made up already) and Eddie reassured me that he'd look after the both most intently. I nodded and told him that I wasn't worried, and that I already trusted him.

He left with a certain glow.

I glanced around and found Adrian standing in line to order some glorious smelling satay chicken kebab a fair bit away. I decided he would be fine enough by himself (he had a phone with him anyway) and wandered to an art store I found which was selling a particular painting that had caught my eye.

I walked up to it and inspected every intense detail it shared. It was a painting of red and pink flowers with long green stems and leaves, decorated with molten gold veins and strewn in a black background. The style seemed somewhat impressionistic, and it was truly an enthralling piece to look at.

I felt a second head fall in line with mine and the sound of a british-tinged voice frightened me.

"The Watsonia plant. It blooms in Spring and often maintains pink, orange or red flowers with bulbils throughout its cycles."

I jerked back and my hands came up to my chest. A smiling tall man with creamy oriented skin and mid-length black hair leaned away from the painting. His eyes found mine amusingly.

"It's honestly a spectacular plant," he finished.

I frowned.

"It's you. The guy from before."

It ticked me off how vague I was in addressing him. After all, I had totally forgotten about our meeting and knew nothing about him.

Now, as I scrutinized his outfit for the night—black skinny jeans (nothing I'd ever dare wearing), a loose V-neck gray shirt and a butter-yellow scarf—I found myself ever more curious about just who he was.

The stranger fixed his fringe.

"What brings you to fun and joy, Sydney?" he playfully asked. I crossed my arms.

"I go to fun and joyful places all the time."

He looked at me and grinned.

"I bet you do."

It was like I was having a conversation with Adrian. I frowned.

"Mind telling me why you always seem to appear before me?"

"Appear before you? It's quite the opposite way around. At least this time you didn't bump into me. I was thinking maybe that was some weird greeting you Alchemists did, but perhaps I'm wrong."

My eyes widened and I felt my arms drop. Did he just say that word so casually?

I looked around the nifty art store and dragged the stranger by the arm outside into the street. Then, off to the side behind a Mexican food stand, I scowled at him.

"Who are you?"

He looked bored.

"You hadn't figured that out already?" I grew more impatient, and telling by his response, it was appearing on my face. He sighed. "Fine. If you must know, I go by the name of Pepper Oakes."

I raised my brows in surprise. "Really?"

"No," he snapped. "That'd be just ridiculous. Imagine writing that on your resume while keeping a straight face."

My hand came to my forehead and I shut my eyes hard. This was impossible. I take back my earlier comment of him being like Adrian. In all honesty, he was worse.

"Sage?"

It was like I had jinxed myself then. I turned around and saw Adrian, green eyes on the figure behind me, dressed up in a brown cowboy hat but with anything but an air of amusement. He lowered.

"Who's this?"

I opened my mouth, but was interrupted when I felt a hand jut out from behind me. Mr. Mysterious grinned at Adrian warmly. All I could wonder was whether this guy knew what Adrian was, if he knew already that I was an Alchemist.

"The name's Keanu Brown," he began charmingly. "I'm currently at Amberwood Prep under a teaching apprenticeship, and Sydney here happens to be in the History class I'm teaching."

I was?

Adrian looked at me expectantly. Something about the way Keanu explained things made me feel that if I were to deny an ounce of it, it wouldn't turn out so well to either of our liking. So after sneaking a hateful glance to Keanu, I winced and nodded.

"This is my teacher."

Adrian shook his head. "I thought Mrs. Terwilliger was your history teacher."

Keanu answered instead of me.

"She's taking a long service leave."

She's what?

Adrian looked at me, then studied Keanu closely. I could tell, with the way he looked at Keanu, that he didn't like him at all. That worried me.

"Do you come to the Villagefest often?" Adrian asked. In fact, with the way he delivered the question, he seemed like he was interrogating Keanu! I was expecting Keanu to be his snarky, annoying and bitter self—but instead, he seemed professional, and answered accordingly. That somewhat ticked me off.

"I don't come here often, actually," he said pleasantly. "I only recently came to America from a job in England, so I hadn't gotten the chance yet to take a look at the tourist attractions of Palm Springs."

"A job from England?" Adrian replied. "I thought you were apprenticing as a teacher."

Keanu tolerated the prying question and nodded.

"That's right. I was doing that over in England as well, but something personal popped up and I had to move here."

I was prepared to act if Adrian began moving into personal territory of Keanu's life. I mean, I was curious—for sure. But it didn't feel right to so blatantly breach someone's privacy with demanding questions like such.

Luckily, Adrian had it in his right mind not to ask about Keanu any further.

"Well, that's cool and all," he brushed off. I almost sighed and caught the hand of Adrian to tug him away. Before our departure, I turned around and smiled falsely at Keanu.

Truth was, I wished I could continue listening to Adrian question him all night—I still didn't know how Keanu knew what I was. I still hadn't figured out what he planned to do with that knowledge, and it all worried me.

"It was nice seeing you again, Mr. Brown," I said innocently. "We'll have to continue our conversation again next time."

Keanu in that moment slipped from his teacher façade and grinned like a son of a gun. Something malicious hid behind that grin, and I shuddered in the sight.

"Have fun celebrating Jill's birthday," he chuckled.

And I dragged Adrian away as quick as I could.


Author's Notes

And so his name is released! Keanu Brown! ... But is it his real name? Or an alias? Chapter eight will continue in the events of the Villagefest! Happy birthday Jill!


A chapter 8.5 will be released tomorrow as well. Look forward to it. It'll be Adrian's perspective upon meeting Keanu Brown in this chapter. I'm sure we're all curious on what Adrian is thinking when he discovers Sydney talking to a man who is four years her senior!


Please leave a comment/review on what you think below! And also, be sure to check out a picture of the Watsonia plant if you haven't already. It really is a spectacular plant!