Hey everyone! Ok, Dimitri and co. are back in the next chapter, I just had to set things up with Jazz's dad for later events... (yes a cliffy in an a/n I'm so cruel! Anyway, on with the chapter!

"She's a great kid, Carol," Dad said to Mum.

I stayed sat on the sofa listening in.

"Really well, she's going to be one of the best… I wish I was there for her. You too." He once again sounded sad about his absence, but that was something for him to deal with on his own. I'd made sure that he knew that I understood the necessity of his absence, but that was all I could do. The rest was up to him.

"Do you want me to put her on?" The pause was only a second. "Jasmine!" he called.

I sprung up from my chair and skipped to the phone with a grin. I hadn't talked to Mum for a while and I missed her more than I cared to admit. "Hi, Mum!" I excitedly sung down the phone. "You ok?"

"Oh just fine," she said back with a smile that I could hear in her voice. "You?"

"Great! Just fine!"

"Good. And how are things with you and your dad?" she asked with interest.

"He's awesome, Mum! Taught me a few of his moves and tricks and things. I'm so going to kick Dimka's arse when we go back to school."

"You sound like you're actually looking forward to it," she laughed.

"I am. I mean I'm going to miss Dad and all, but it's going to be wicked!"

She chuckled again. Dad was chucking too.

"Carol, we gotta go!" someone in Mum's house said. "Now!"

"Yeah!" she called and already felt my heart constrict a little. "I've got to deal with something, Jazz," she sighed. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," I sighed. "When… When will I see you again?" I tentatively asked. We used to see each other every holiday, but now that we were so far apart I wasn't so sure even if we'd see each other again.

She sighed too. "I'm not sure. I won't miss your Trials though I can assure you of that."

"Carol!" someone called to her.

"I really do have to go, love. I'll call you tomorrow, ok?"

"Yeah," I said keeping strong for a moment. "Speak soon. Bye."

"Bye."

I put the phone down and sighed. In the lounge I plonked myself down next to Dad and let him put an arm around me and rest his head on mine.

"You'll see her again," Dad soothed.

"I know," I sighed. "I just miss her."

He sighed. "Me too."

Dad and I trained for weeks after that all but uninterrupted and out in the sun every day which built up a dark tan. It bleached my hair too. It was with a week to go before the end of the holiday that Dad sighed when he put the phone down.

"Jasmine?" he asked.

"You've got to go?" I asked because it was pretty obvious.

He nodded. "Back to guarding the queen. There's a plane going from St. Basil's later today."

I smiled even though I wasn't completely feeling it. "That's great… Though…"

"James retired, it's not that bad," he said. "Olena will let you stay with her."

"Or I could go to school with you," I suggested. "I mean there's the car journey… And, well, I could train there and…"

He chuckled. "Alright. Go pack."

I grinned and rushed up stairs. I was an expert packer so it didn't take more than ten minutes to pack everything, but it really helped that I had a huge suitcase so I didn't have to fold things down really small. I lugged everything downstairs just as Dad was finishing putting his things in the car. He looked at my suitcase sceptically.

"That might have to go on the roof," he said with a frown.

"So long as it doesn't rain," I shrugged.

Predictably it did rain in huge splodges and it wasn't like it was a short shower either. It lasted for hours and hours. I was just glad that I didn't own a hairdryer because it wouldn't be doing much drying for a while anytime soon. Still I was not impressed when we had to get it off the roof. Not only was everything soaked, but it was heavier than I thought possible for a suitcase. And my shoes were in there most likely full of water.

"I have to go, the jet's here already," Dad said.

I looked up from my suitcase with sad eyes. I didn't want him to go, I wanted to keep him by my side for as long as he'd been missing from my life, but I knew I couldn't. I'd been lucky to have him for as long as I had, lucky that I'd been able to see him at all, I just didn't want to let go. But I had to. The life of a guardian was notoriously unfair and I had to get used to that. The sooner I got used to it the better. I'd already stretched my time with him by about four hours. It was time to let go, at least for a little while.

Dad walked over and pulled me into his arms. I hugged him back, fiercely.

"I'm gonna miss you," I said rather thickly.

"Me too, kid. I'm gonna call you whenever I can," he promised.

"Even if it's the middle of the night here?"

"Especially if it's the middle of the night."

"Good."

He let me go, kissed my forehead and then walked off. I stayed stood where I was for a long time just watching him with tears falling down my cheeks. I hadn't known him long, but it felt like I'd known him forever. I was going to miss him like I'd miss an arm if one was taken away from me. I was fairly sure he'd call as soon as he landed though.

With nothing else to do I dragged my suitcase and the couple of boxes I had over to the dorm block where a surprised looking receptionist Iona looked up from her desk with a frown.

"Miss Cloud? Back so soon?" she asked in English. She was Scottish but had married a man over here.

"Dad's gone back to guarding the queen," I said with a huge, proud grin.

She smirked. "I'm sure they have stories to tell each other." She frowned again. "Why is your suitcase soaked?"

"We had to tie it to the roof."

"Well, you're the only girl here, so you can leave everything to dry in the bathrooms I guess," she said with a shrug. "Want some help getting everything up there?"

"Do you mind?"

She quickly stood up. "Beats doing the hall staff rota. You know Elisabeta and Levi were together and had shifts together? Well, not anymore. They can't stand the sight of each other and don't even want to be in the same buildings, and Elisabeta has fallen out with her sister big time so won't go anywhere near her and… Everything's going to pot!"

"Are they children? Seriously?"

"That's what I asked. Oh my God, this is heavy!" she gasped as we began to pull the suitcase up the stairs. "We should get a strapping young man to help us."

I laughed. "Are you a guardian or not?"

She glanced over to me. She was only here because her son was studying here and her husband was a teacher here. If she could have been out there guarding people she would have been. But because her entire family was here she elected to help out here wherever she was needed. Most of the time she was on patrol and when students went off site she was always one of the guardians. She actually did the jobs of three people and did them brilliantly.

"I'm sorry!" I gasped when I realised what impact my words would have had.

She sighed. "No. It's ok. I still take that joke too personally."

She began pulling on the case again. I gave it a huge heave too.

It took us about half an hour to get it up the two flights of stairs, but in our defence they were really long flights of stairs.

"That should be guardian training," she panted when we dumped it in the middle of my bedroom floor.

"Agreed," I said and plonked myself on the bed. "I'm just gonna chuck this in the dryer."

"Ah someone else who says that!" she grinned. "I get so fed up of people saying 'going to' all the time. No one always says 'going to' back home!"

I smiled. "I'm just glad someone here speaks fluent English. So I'm gonna chuck these in the dryer and then go for a run."

"I'll leave you to it."

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VA belongs to Richelle Mead