Hey all my lovely readers! I am very sorry for taking so long to update, everything is just so busy right now!

Anyway...I hope you enjoy this even filled chapter!

Reviews are really appreciated, but I'm sorry if I take forever or forget to reply!

Well, on with the story...enjoy :)

I just laid there on my side, staring out the window. A few tears escaped my eyes before I drifted off to sleep.

CARTER POV

My life really had taken a dramatic turn in the last twelve hours. I woke up this morning as an only child with a loving mother and father, but now I lay here in a boarding school dorm room with two girls who I only met a few hours ago. I have the weight of my brother's death on my shoulders and no parents to turn to for support.

My head was buzzing from everything that had changed today, giving me a headache I couldn't shake. I didn't want to enter a spirit dream tonight; thankfully I had that in my control. Instead I fell asleep, finding myself in a real dream for the first time in years.

Adrian's room formed before me, but I knew there was no way to escape an actual dream. He was still on the bed, no different to what he was earlier this evening. Wait – he was different.

His face was blurred, which only confirmed what I already knew, but his chest was moving. Up and down, as if he were breathing. Wishing that I could wake from this, I pinched myself. Supposedly it was a trick to wake you up from a dream. Well whoever came up with that is an idiot, all it does is leave you with a bruise and a dream that you don't want to be in.

In my state of stupidity, I hadn't noticed Adrian sitting up. He looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him, but he shook it off as if it wasn't strange at all.

"Whoa, how much did I have to drink this time?" He asked casually.

"Too much." I played along.

"Well, I can tell you I've never entered my own head before." He admitted. "This is freakin awesome!"

"Yeah, ha. Awesome."

"Dude, lighten up." He complained. "What are you? Like the opposite of me?"

"No, I'm more like you than anyone."

"But you're a buzz kill." He said. "Got anything to drink?"

"No, I think you've had enough."

He groaned like a whining child. "I don't like the dream me anymore. I'm no fun."

"Okay, well goodbye then." I said, hoping it could end my dream.

The dream disappeared, waking me up in the real world. I ran my hands through my head, trying to remember what happened. Real dreams were so much harder to piece together than spirit dreams. I could barely remember a thing, only that Adrian was drunk.

Forgetting the dream, I fell back asleep, but only to be woken a few hours earlier by voices.

"Take some aspirin, that should help." I heard Sydney tell Jill.

"What's wrong?" I asked from the couch.

"She's got a headache, but she'll be fine." Sydney told me.

"I'm okay, don't worry." Assured Jill who was climbing back into bed.

"Alright, well I hope the headache goes away." I said, rolling over to face the wall, going back to sleep.

The following day I woke in the late hours of the morning refreshed, ready for the day ahead. I could hear soft voices coming from the bathroom, indicating that Sydney and Jill were up.

I felt bright and happy this morning after a good night's sleep, until I realised where I was, why I was there and everything that had happened the day before.

Slumping back against the pillow, I closed my eyes wanting to go back to sleep and stay there forever.

"I thought you took some aspirin," Sydney said as she walked out of the bathroom.

"I did." Jill confirmed.

"I don't understand, it should have helped the headache."

"It did help, Sydney." Jill assured.

Judging my Sydney's questioning, Jill had not recovered from last night's headache, but what confused me was that she said the aspirin had helped. Clearly, Sydney thought otherwise.

"Then what's the problem?" The very question I wanted to ask.

I glanced over at Jill who was walking to her closet, her walk wasn't graceful or smooth like it usually was.

"I feel light headed and dizzy, I think I need a drink and a feed." I'm guessing given everything that had been going on recently, Jill hadn't fed for a while.

"Oh, Jill." Sydney said. "I am so sorry, I've been so caught up with everything that I for-"

"Sydney, it's okay." Jill assured. "You've done so much. We all forgot, even I did."

"Okay, well we should get you to Clarence's today." Sydney decided. "The teachers will understand if we have to take another day off."

"Can we go now?" Jill asked.

"Of course we can." Said Sydney. "I'll call Eddie and we can leave as soon as he gets here."

SYDNEY POV

I didn't feel comfortable being back at Clarence's today as Adrian's body was being moved. I hoped that we would be gone by the time the Alchemist's doctors came.

Jill came back from her feeding looking much better than she did earlier. Her vague stare was gone, the vacant look in her eyes being replaced with energy.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"Really good, but I still feel kind of dizzy." Jill said as she sat down next to me on the couch.

"Maybe you need some water. I'll go get you some." Carter got up from his seat beside Jill, making his way to the kitchen. It was just like having Adrian around, he really cared about Jill.

When Carter left to get Jill some water, there was a knock at the door. I knew it would be the Alchemist's doctors, but I hoped it wouldn't be. Liam got up to answer the door, a minute later my guesses were confirmed.

Two men, around the age of thirty, walked through the hallway towards Adrian's bedroom with a stretcher and a body bag.

Once the men had passed, there were a few moments of silence, before we all heard a commotion. Carter came flying around the corner, face in shock. His chest was bare and was rapidly moving, he was breathing fast. He looked around the room as confused as ever.

"Carter, what happened?" Liam asked, his guardian reflexes kicking in. Eddie had straightened up too, ready for a fight.

"Carter?" He questioned, as if he had forgotten his own name.

"What's going on?" Eddie asked, uncertain.

"I could ask the same question." Carter accused.

"What do you mean?" I asked, suddenly worried about Carter's mental state.

"Here you go, Jill I got you some water and something to eat. Do you like cookies?" Carter walked through the lounge room doors and began to approach Jill. "Oh, who am I kidding? Everyone loves cookies."

We all froze as Carter walked into the room from behind…Carter?

He stopped his chuckling as he spotted our expressions. He hadn't noticed the person standing at the door way when he walked in, but the person in the door way noticed him.

"I-I…you…wh-who? Wha-…..what the HELL?"

Carter – holding the glass of water and packet of cookies – turned around at the sudden outburst. "Wha-?"

When the two pairs of emerald green eyes locked, the owner of one let out a gasp. The other's glass fell to the floor, shattering into tiny shards and scattering across the floor. The water spread around the remnants of the glass, but the two pairs of emerald green eyes did not avert their equal expressions of shock.

No one spoke. We only stared. No one knew how to comprehend the situation. I was usually the one to find reason, but there was no room for reasoning in my current state of shock.

"I died?" Adrian asked for the third time.

We were all sitting around Adrian while we all took part in explaining what had happened over the past few days. We explained the attack, the life support and Carter. Adrian displayed a neutral expression throughout most of the explanation, but when we spoke of Carter, his expression turned dark, angry. It worried me slightly.

"Yes, Adrian." Confirmed Liam. "Do you not remember the fight?"

"Yeah, parts of it."

"Where were you that day?" One of the Alchemist's doctors had joined us to figure out what had happened to Adrian when he had been declared dead.

"I-I remember the park, the end away from all the shops."

"Is there anything else that you can remember? Were you with someone? What were you doing?"

"I don't think so, I think I was alone." He said. I felt a slight stab of pain in my chest – he didn't remember the day that we had spent together. "I don't know what I was doing there."

"But you were with Sydney, do you not remember her there?"

"No, I don't." Adrian said with a slight expression of sadness. He had put his head down once the questions had started, but I didn't understand his sudden change of mood. He avoided looking at me, I could see his eyes darting away each time they stopped on me.

"Is there anything else that you can think of?" The doctor questioned.

"I don't remember dying."

"No, you wouldn't remember that part. It's like falling asleep."

"And how would you know? Have you died before? You weren't there." Adrian questioned accusingly when Carter spoke, his head snapping up to glare at him.

"Adrian!" I chastised.

"What?"

"That was rude." I told him. "Look, we know you've got a lot to process right now, but you're not the only one!"

"Oh, I'm sorry if waking up with little to no oxygen in a body bag, which I was in because I was supposed to be dead, finding out that I have a twin brother and not being able to remember the past few days does not live up to your standards of a lot to process!"

Adrian stormed out of the room, the front door slamming as he left the house. I had never seen Adrian angry, but today I had seen him lose it twice. He was always in control, keeping his emotions hidden, but today he snapped. We all sat in silence for a moment before Carter got up.

"I'm going to talk to him."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Eddie asked, uncertainly.

Carter didn't respond, his yes was a given when he kept walking down the corridor and out the front door.

"This should be interesting." Liam chuckled.

ADRIAN POV

I didn't know what to think. Two hours ago, I was dead. Ten hours ago, Sydney discovered my twin brother. A few days ago, I felt like everything was perfect – I was happy as long as she was happy.

Look, we know you've got a lot to process right now, but you're not the only one!

Obviously, they all had to process the loss of me and also my recovery, one which holds more mysteries than needed. But there was something in Sydney's voice that convinced me there was something else she wanted to process.

My thoughts were interrupted when Carter came and sat beside me on the bench. It sure was going to take some getting used to seeing him, I felt like I was looking in a reversed mirror.

"Um, so I thought we could talk." He tried to break the tension after a few minutes of silence.

"About?"

"How you're feeling." He said shyly. That was something I don't think anyone had ever seen on me.

"What does it matter to you? You haven't been around for the past twenty-one years, but now you decide to show up."

"I found out about you less than twelve hours ago. I've been without you for twenty-one years as well."

"That's not my problem." I said, beginning to get up.

"Adrian, please just talk to me."

"Why, huh? Why should I?" I rounded on him, frustrated.

"Because I'm your brother."

"You are not my brother." I said, and walked off.

"Adrian, you have to give him a chance." Sydney was trying to get me to talk to Carter, but I was being stubborn. "Look, you know nothing about him and he knows nothing about you, clearly you both have a lot of catching up to do."

"But what if I don't want to get to know him, Sydney."

"He's your brother, Adrian. Why wouldn't you want to get to know him?"

"I have lived twenty-one years without, I'm doing fine without him."

"You may not need him, but he needs you."

"What do you mean?" I asked, now curious.

"Adrian, he ran away." Sydney told me. "The day he met you, you were dead and he had to say goodbye to you. That night he came to the school, he was a mess. He just found out his twin brother – who he never had the chance to meet – was dead, and then he was told that the mother and father he was raised by were not his real parents."

I didn't respond. When she said it all together like that, it made me feel sorry for Carter. It made me feel guilty for the way I treated him earlier.

I stood up from the love seat and made my way out the front door. Carter was still sitting on the bench where we had spoken before. He didn't look up when I approached, he just looked down at his hands covered in scratches.

"You okay?" I asked, pointing at his hands.

"Huh, oh yeah. Just a feisty neighbourhood cat, you know what animals are like with us." He chuckled.

I sat beside him, glancing back at his hands. It must have been one feral cat, those scratches were deep. "Here." I said, holding out my hand.

"What?" He asked, unsure what to do.

"Trust me." I held my hand closer and looked at his.

He took the action as an indication, putting his hand in mine. I concentrated hard, summoning spirit from its depths. I felt the warmth of the magic fill me from top to bottom, then it travelled down my arms.

It faded. One second it was there, but the next it was gone. "What's wrong?" Carter asked when I looked up at him, confused.

"I-I don't know." I admitted. "Spirit was there, I felt it. But then it faded." I said as I looked down at Carter's hands. "It's never done that before."

"You were trying to heal me, weren't you?" It wasn't accusing, he sounded both fascinated and accepted.

"Yeah, I don't get why it didn't work."

"It could be because…" He stopped, uncertain whether to continue.

"Because of what?"

"Well, it could be because you died or because I am a spirit user too." He suggested.

"You could be right with the first one, but I've been healed by a spirit user before, it worked fine."

I thought about it for a moment, Lissa had healed me many times while she tried to teach me about healing. Why hadn't if worked for me?

"Here, let me try again." I said, grabbing his hand.

I concentrated harder than before, focusing hard on Carter and my magic. Nothing. I couldn't even summon the magic this time.

Whoa! ADRIAN'S BACK!

I hope you all liked that chapter, I'm still not sure about it, but meh!

Please review if you want to let me know what you think!

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Bye for now!