"I told you," Sydney said. "We're in a sketchy motel in southern Pennsylvania."

"There wasn't a sign?"

"Considering it's a night with no moon and there are trees growing in the driveway, I don't have an answer for you." As she'd stated before.

"You can't even give me a clue?" Rose asked crabbily for the third time.

"No. There is nothing around the room that suggests this place is even legitimate. Not even stationary. The guy who runs it swears there is a small town about 30 miles north called Mobely."

"We've run that name through the search about a hundred times and it isn't showing up."

"Look again. Or look for a town that was called Mobely forty years ago."

"We have looked again. And again, and again." Rose said. "Nothing is working. Either your source is lying or you're so deep in the wilderness that we have no record of civilization."

"Can't you just track the number? I'm calling from the main desk." Sydney sighed.

In fact, she was on the receiving end of a very nasty glare from the old man who worked the night shift. He'd said, when asked, that the place hadn't been called by name in years, and he'd have to think on it.

"Why are you even so far out?" Rose had sprung this question before.

Sydney sighed. "I'll fill you in when you get here, but… not over the phone." Truthfully, Sydney didn't think the events of tonight could ever leave her tongue—face to face or not.

"Sydney, this sounds like the kind of place where people get murdered in their sleep. I'm not about to let my friend and my Queen get axed by some backwater—"

"I know, I know. But it's the only building for miles around and we can barely walk, let alone read a map." Not to mention they didn't have any money. They'd spent the 20 dollars and 67 cents Lissa had found in her pocket on a room. A room that, in all honesty, was seriously overpriced.

"I'll work on it. Get to a town before anything bloody happens." Too late. Lissa had been famished, and she'd compelled the only other boarder into giving her a… drink.

Lissa's teeth had sunk into the skin, and the blood had come rushing. It was by no means a good meal in Lissa's opinion—the so-called meal was a drunkard who smelled like trash. To Sydney, it was much worse than a bad meal.

And, speak of the devil…

Lissa walked into the 'lobby'. The want to speak to Rose came through so loud and so clear that Sydney was reluctant to hand over the phone. She even considered keeping it.

"Here's Lissa." Sydney forced herself to release the telephone. "I'll be up in the room."

Lissa took the phone gratefully and held it to her ear. "Rose?"

Sydney shook off the last of the want to talk to Rose, reminding herself that the other girl was asking all sorts of questions Sydney couldn't answer. Both because she didn't know the answers, and because she didn't want to say them aloud.

Sydney took to the halls, sidestepping a large puddle that had formed by the door, and a certain comfort washed over her, taking the edge off the unease Sydney had felt since… well…

It didn't take long to reach their room, and when the door was shut firmly behind her, Sydney unzipped the jacket—looking down, for the hundredth time that night, at her bloodstained shirt. She brushed the ragged hole in the middle, and her fingers slipped through to skin.

Her unbroken, unscarred skin.

Just a few hours ago, there had been a gaping stab wound. She'd been bleeding to death through that hole in her shirt. She had bled to death.

But now there was nothing, thanks to the Moroi girl who'd held her while she'd died.

The first minutes after coming back had been… strange, to say the least. All that had existed was Lissa.

Lissa carrying a slight girl out of a charred cabin, Lissa fumbling past the dead body of her captor, and Lissa breaking out onto a small dirt path.

Slowly, Sydney began to realize that the girl was her. That was her in Lissa's arms.

Her consciousness ebbed back, and she became semi-aware of her feet sliding over the ground.

Lissa stuck to the shadows, but it was hardly necessary. They were in the middle of nowhere, and there was no one around.

By the time they reached a dirty motel-looking hut, the first sign of civilization they'd seen in hours, Sydney had begun attempting to use her body. She'd become capable of taking sloppy footsteps, which came as a relief to the Queen.

Lissa had set her down gently and stumbled into the front lobby.

It was entirely disorienting. It was like being in two places at once—it was being in two places at once—and it almost pulled her out of her body again. She held strong to her sense of self, battling to stay aware of Sydney.

I am not Liss, I am Sage.

Sydney started out of her thoughts when she heard the door click behind her.

Lissa made no move to come further into the room, leaning against the door and sighing. Her eyes were closed, and she looked as if she could fall asleep right then and there.

"Are you... okay?" Sydney ventured into the uncomfortable silence, wondering if the other girl was already dreaming.

"I'm fine. My leg hurts a bit, but I can sleep it off." Lissa said.

"No, that's not what I meant." Sydney had seen Adrian after using too much spirit. It wasn't pretty. And, well, Lissa had just used a lot of spirit.

"I'll have a killer headache in the morning, and I'm going to have to be…very careful, though." Sydney could hear the distaste in Lissa's voice, the bitterness.

Sydney opened her mouth, but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. She wasn't about to apologize for dying.

She settled on: "Well, I hope it isn't too bad, Lissa."

Sydney stumbled over the name a bit. Calling her Lissa made Sydney feel weird, and being called Vasilisa made Lissa feel weird. The nick name tasted odd on Sydney's tongue. At the same time, Lissa was who she was. Not Vasilisa, as Sydney had always thought of her.

Lissa opened her eyes and studied Sydney, not for the first time that night. "Be honest with me, Sydney. Are you happy that I brought you back?"

Was she happy?

She was certainly glad to be alive, that was for sure. She'd never been so unhappy in her life as when she'd realized she was going to die. There were so many things she had yet to do, so many things left unsaid.

But… she wasn't sure what she felt about the how, even with her newfound and reformed opinions on Moroi and their magic.

This—bringing the dead back to life—recalled all those mantras she'd thought she was past; about life and death and how no one should come back.

Vasilisa's face was changing by the second, growing more and more crestfallen, more and more uncertain.

So, Sydney said what was true. "I'm happy to be alive. There was a moment there, at the end… well, I have a lot I'd like to do. And a lot of unfinished business."

"Business like humans who can do magic? You being a human who does magic?"

"We call ourselves witches." Sydney said quietly, wondering just how much she should tell Lissa.

All of it.

"Business like witches that would kidnap me for my soul." Lissa said shakily.

"Yes, business like that. Although, I'd say, with the way things turned out, we can strike them from the list."

"Sydney," Lissa was dead serious. "What happened?"

Sydney sighed.

It had been an odd move on Alicia's part, capturing Lissa, but Sydney supposed it made sense. Moroi lived almost twice as long as some humans, and a spirit user… that had to be loads more energy than even a trained witch.

In an odd revision of her old 5 girls = immortality spell, Alicia had adapted it so that a Moroi could be a potential victim. She'd needed a female spirit user, and she hadn't wanted to go inhaling spirit darkness willy nilly. With Sonya on her honeymoon, the only other quickly locatable possibility was Lissa.

And the tricky psycho witch had pulled it off spectacularly.

Sydney stood. "Maybe we should talk about this tomorrow. Right now..."

Sydney thought she would argue, but after a moment's thought Lissa nodded reluctantly. "Alright, but I expect a full explanation in the morning."

"You'll get it." Sydney pulled back the covers and frowned. "There's only one bed."

"Yes." Lissa said, then added in a tone of surprise, "you care?"

Sydney raised an eyebrow at that.

"Well, I mean, after everything you did back in the warehouse, I thought you might be over that kind of stuff. Or, at least okay with it." After a moment, Lissa added cautiously, "You don't seem as bothered by us as the other alchemists."

"I'm not." Sydney said, shaking her head. "Old habits die hard. We can share."

She slid under the covers as Lissa turned out the lights. Lissa had no trouble finding the bed in the inky darkness—she was a Moroi.

Sydney felt she bed shift as Lissa climbed in.

The words I died a virgin formed unbidden in her mind.

She almost choked on her spit.

"Are you alright?" Lissa sounded concerned.

"Fine." Sydney answered as confidently as she could.

I really died a virgin.

Sydney shook her head and added sex to the mental list of things to do before she died again. It wasn't like she'd been pure or anything, Adrian had made sure of that—oh.

Adrian.

How was she going to tell him? Actually, he'd probably see it in her aura before she got the chance to say anything.

She scowled and thought, Go to sleep, Sydney. You need sleep.

The darkness gradually began to creep over her mind, but it hadn't completely smothered her before another stray thought formed a question.

"Lissa, will I see your dreams?" The question snapped Lissa out of the haze as well.

"I don't know." Lissa answered truthfully. "Rose sometimes did."

"Jill doesn't see Adrian's dreams." Sydney frowned then. "Well, not spirit dreams. I don't know about regular dreams."

Lissa shrugged. "We'll just have to see."

Sydney took the hint and left the other girl to her rest. But rest had left them both when Sydney had spoken, and they were left completely conscious.

Sydney closed her eyes and banished all thought.

Well, her thoughts, anyway. As it turned out, Sydney's empty mind only made room for Lissa's.

Just another thing for them to bond over.

The words popped swiftly and sourly into Sydney's head. When she heard it, quite a few things made sense. Things she'd thought she'd only imagined.

It seemed odd that this beautiful queen would be jealous of little old her, but it was true. Lissa envied the ease and comfort Sydney and Jill had with each other.

She desired it.

Sydney wondered if she should say something. She wanted to, but she doubted anything she could add would be helpful.

"Hey, don't mind me, I'm just snooping here, but I've got some advice if you'd like to listen…" Yes, that would likely go splendidly.

She turned the words over in her head for a good ten minutes before committing them to sound. "You know, being related by blood… it doesn't mean as much as you need it to. If you want to really, truly be sisters with Jill, you have to try. You have to get to know her, and you have to let her know you. Not just as Queen, and not as the sister you want to immediately be, but as Lissa."

"That's easy for you to say." Lissa said bitterly into her pillow. "You haven't even done anything and you have more sisters than I can count—including mine. And get out of my head."

Sydney winced. It seemed her words had struck a chord she hadn't meant to strum.

Then came another revelation in a night chock full of them. She had access to all of Lissa's darkest secrets and desires. Did that mean Sydney had to balance the scales? Was that the bond-mately thing to do?

She hoped not, but just in case, she said, "You know, things aren't exactly perfect with my younger sister. We fight like our parents fought, and you probably know how that ended."

"You're worried she'll disown you." Lissa said softly. "You're worried she won't accept you for who you are, that she won't accept your magic."

"Yes." Sydney answered.

"I guess we both have family problems."

Sydney sighed into her pillow. Lissa didn't know how right she was.

The End. Sorry if I didn't get Lissa right. I've never written her and it's been a while since I read VA.

And next, finally, the chapter most of you have been waiting for, "Through the Window (All Human)" That should be up soon, so keep an eye out!