Tomorrow morning started bad when the first thing I heard was some very loud and very insisting knocking on our door.

"I know you're there." Rose's voice. Of course. "If you don't let me in, then your room will be without a door very soon."

I guess my worries for her health had been unfounded.

Groaning, I turned to see Ava reluctantly dig her disheveled head out from underneath her covers. A glance at the alarm clock told me a time that barely qualified as morning. Rose had gone to sleep a good deal earlier than we had yesterday.

"Guys, do I have to tell you that I'm serious?"

"No!" Ava hurried to mumble in reply, probably afraid of our door turning into a hole in the wall. I sat up while she disentangled herself from her covers and trudged to the door wearily. She didn't even make an effort to make herself presentable. Her hair was a mess and her eyes weren't even half open.

"Good morning, Rose," she croaked, exaggerating politeness. "I hope you slept well. For your information, we didn't."

Rose strode in without bothering to answer her. There wasn't much space in our room except from the narrow strip between our two beds, and there she stood and glanced down on me. It would be scary, really, if not for the fact that now that she was here, she didn't seem to know what to say.

"Um…" To be honest, neither did I. "You look better than yesterday." Yeah, great comment.

"I don't know whether to be angry with you or to hug you," Rose finally said. She flopped her arms in a helpless gesture, and then plopped down on Ava's vacated bed.

"Personally, I'd propagate the hugging," Ava advised. She quickly occupied the foot of the bed, maybe wanting to claim it as her own before Rose completely appropriated it.

"I know I've done crazy things in my time," my mom began again, "but you're seriously giving me a run for my money. Just going up there and thinking you could do better than two fully trained, and, excuse me for sounding arrogant, two of the best guardians at Court… that's what people generally call crazy."

"I don't know about you," Ava acidly replied, "but to me, it seems that we were exactly right in assuming that we could deal better than you did."

"Yes, you were." Rose's frank concession surprised me. "That's where the hugging comes in."

"Go ahead then," Ava mumbled.

"Dimitri said that…" Rose faltered and looked at me weirdly. Then at Ava.

Ava had noticed. "Well, I'm going to give you some privacy for the thank you-speech you owe Anton for saving your life. Excuse me for not making a proper exit, but seeing as I was rudely interrupted in my morning routine, I'm just going to take a very noisy shower."

I wasn't sure whether to feel abandoned by her or thankful for the moment with Rose. I settled for thankful. While Ava pointedly collected a few things about the room, I tried to look a little sharper by at least shoving the blanket off me and swinging my legs on the floor, even though I was less than presentable in boxer shorts and a t-shirt. I felt slightly embarrassed, but then the vague feeling of this being okay because she was my mom came up. I didn't dwell on it.

"Thank you, Anton," Rose said quietly. In the bathroom, I heard the shower go on. "And thanks to Ava, too. You saved me. Again." Then she laughed softly. "It's getting a habit, isn't it?"

"Hopefully not."

"Anton… What you're able to do…"

I shifted uncomfortably. I'd been afraid of this.

"Lissa and Adrian said that they had an assumption regarding your… family background."

Not too acute an assumption, I hoped.

"Is it true that…" Again, Rose stopped herself. Then she shook her head, mostly to herself, I guessed. "Well, you're not going to want to talk about that. I'm not going to make you."

That was definitely right.

She stood up, and it was clear she hadn't said half the things she had come here to say. "Sydney and Adrian are going to leave for their new home today," she said instead. "They're rushing it a bit, but Court never was Sydney's favorite place. They'd like to say goodbye to you two."

I nodded.

"Well. Just pass by the palace later." She was already by the door. This talk had definitely taken a turn for the short end of emotional confrontations. "See you there."

But she didn't leave; she hesitated. When she turned back to me, her face was stricken. "And… about what Robert said… he was right. I killed his brother. I am responsible for his brother's death. This is my connection to him. This is why I'm so afraid of him. Because he has a reason to hate me."

When Ava came out of the bathroom, she found me lying back on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

"For my first ever one-on-one with my mom," I said, "I think we both could have done worse."

….

Sydney was playing with Declan in the middle of the palace forecourt when we arrived. They were playing hide and seek, but Dec was doing it very ineptly, in my view. Hiding, for him, meant staggering about three feet away from her, giggling all the way, to then crouch behind a tree that wouldn't even hide half of his two-year-old's width. Then he would squeal excessively while Sydney pretended not to notice him for about two minutes, only to then act very much surprised when she finally did admit to seeing him behind the tree.

Sydney was swinging him up in her arms when we made our way to them.

"Look, Declan," she told the little boy when she saw us. "It's our new heroes. Nice of you to come by."

"Wouldn't miss a chance to say goodbye to the midget," Ava smiled fondly.

Dec darted away when Sydney put him down again, giving his best to be underfoot as we entered the palace.

"I am going to miss you guys," Sydney said, "but I'm still glad to get away from Court. This place still gives me the creeps. Not because of all the evil creatures of the night lurking around here. But because everyone seems to be just waiting for the opportunity to stab a fellow royal in the back."

"Yup, that's Court for you," Ava replied.

A tugging on my pant leg drew my attention away. Looking down, I saw tiny Dec, displaying a huge smile and shoving his little fist up to me. When I held my hand out, he dropped something in it, and then ran to Sydney to cling to her leg, still giving me a conspirational grin. In my hand lay a smooth, black stone that he must have picked up somewhere outside.

"I'm going to tell twenty-one-year-old Dec what an adorable toddler you were," I whispered, for Ava's ears alone. She smiled.

Sydney let us into the room where we'd met our parents before. Adrian and Lissa were there already, putting their heads together. They stopped talking when we entered.

"The mysterious saviors have arrived," Adrian welcomed us, in his typically exaggerated fashion.

"Give them a break, Adrian," Sydney stopped him. "They deserve that much."

"Well, take a seat then, saviors," Adrian said, not in the least bothered by her remark. "I shall not trouble you."

We sat and chatted for a while, asking about the house in North Dakota that Sydney and Adrian had set their eyes on, Declan, Lissa's political advancements, Declan. There seemed to be an understanding that things that concerned Ava and me – school, parents, hobbies – were not to be touched. Everyone wanted to prevent the embarrassment of us evading questions concerning our lives.

"What do you guys think of the new partner law?" Lissa wanted to know. "This concerns you more than it concerns us. I'd like your view on it."

I immediately knew what the partner law was – it had made history. Previously, royal Moroi had had a much higher chance of getting a guardian, maybe even two, while non-royals, even when they lived in a much more dangerous environment, were often sent off without protection. Lissa had changed that during the early years of her reign. Royals still got preferential treatment, but she had managed to alleviate some of the inequalities in guardian assignments. The law was called partner law because, contrary to the way many royals treated their guardians, most non-royals who were lucky enough to be assigned a guardian saw them as a much more than a shadow on the wall. I especially liked the addition to the law that Ava's dad had achieved later: Moroi who agreed to receive self-defense training by their guardian were much more likely to be assigned one.

"I think it's great," I instantly said. "It has been clear for a long time that it makes sense, but even guardians and novices didn't support this as much as they should have, because getting a royal assignment still means honor for the guardians. We have to get away from that notion and instead see honor as what results from protecting your charge's live, no matter whether they're royal or not. The partner law does a great deal in helping that notion along. I support it."

Lissa nodded thoughtfully. I noticed her sharing a look with Adrian that I didn't understand, but I didn't pin much meaning on it.

"I still don't understand why the idea of Moroi self-defense isn't bigger with you guys," Sydney said, shaking her head. "I mean, I don't want to interfere with your business, and I am always thankful for a guardian's presence, but I just don't get how you can rely exclusively on them when you have such powerful means of defending yourself. Why don't you use it?"

Lissa, instead of being insulted, smiled. "Oh, we're getting there. This is what Christian has been fighting for, after all. His most recent petition concerns an amendment to the new law. He suggests that Moroi who agree to work with their guardian to combine physical and magical combat techniques get preferential treatment in guardian assignment. They team up with their guardian and learn strategies and maybe even physical self-defense from them. Christian argues that that enhances the likelihood of both of them surviving in the long run, so that we'll end up with less guardians and Moroi falling prey to Strigoi attacks. Of course, what he also wants is to promote that more Moroi learn how to defend themselves. It's a long way from being through the confirmation process, but I think it has good chances to pass. It simply makes too much sense not to accept it."

Adrian snorted. "Hate to disappoint you, cousin, but nothing makes too much sense for royals who are afraid of their precious supremacy to discard. I, for one, would not expect hoorays for that idea."

"Don't be silly, Adrian, I'm not expecting a landslide win. But there are many progressive royals on the council now who won't be blinded by that. Christian has rubbed off on many."

"Yes," Adrian agreed. "Who would have expected Christian to end up being an asset for your politics?"

"Right," Lissa said, a proud smile for her boyfriend playing on her lips. "They once suggested I end things with him because people didn't look favorably on my association with him. But he's shown them."

Her love and admiration for her future husband was so evident in her words that I had to fight a sudden jab of anger at the injustice of Rose's and Christian's deaths. Why did it have to be our parents, who were so devoted to each other, who had to be ripped apart?

Rose, Dimitri and Christian came to join us, and Sydney and Adrian prepared to leave for good. It was hard to say goodbye to them; they were like family to both Ava and me, and we were sorry to see them go, even though there was solace in knowing that these were three people we could count on seeing again in the future. In our time.

They managed to get a private moment with us before their car would leave for the airport. Sydney gave me a hug that I hadn't quite anticipated. I felt her warm breath as she whispered in my ear. "If Marcus can dig up anything new, you'll be the one to know, I promise. You've shown that you're up to this."

Adrian shot a wistful look back at Declan and the others. Little Dec entertained them by repeatedly checking the number of his fingers, because Christian made him believe that he had one too many.

"Anton, if there's anything you have to share about your… special feature… it would be much appreciated."

I bet it would. Adrian and Sydney had spent all of Declan's short life worrying about what he might have to face because of the twist of nature that had allowed him to be born of two dhampirs. I had no idea what had changed when I was born, but I had never faced anything out of the ordinary because of this peculiarity. There was little advice I could give him, but I'd try nonetheless.

"Well, people notice a lot less than you'd expect them to. Even here. And…" That would be more of a life-changer to him. "Well, you might have noticed that Lissa has had no spirit rebound from the healing."

I noticed Ava biting her lip at this. Just like me, she was wondering how much I could safely tell the people of this time. In our timeline, Adrian had only stopped taking his pills when Ava and Lily had reported to him the effects I had on their magic. For many years both before and after the… accident, it hadn't mattered much because no one really used large amounts of magic around me. I was surrounded by my dhampir parents, other dhampirs and Moroi who were too young to use specialized magic, by Adrian who couldn't use his at all, and by Lissa, who didn't care either way. I only started to be fully aware of my ability when Ava and Lily started to use magic a lot, and found they could do it much more than others. My class at the academy hadn't noticed; their grades in elemental magic might have been better in average than any other year, but no one had ever attributed that to me.

Adrian understood. He looked back at his adopted son, still delighting the company with his peals of laughter. Then he nodded.

"Thank you."

The car doors slamming shut cut off Declan's high-pitched voice and left us watching the little family depart in a silence that suddenly made the air grow a little colder.

"I'll miss the kid," Christian muttered. Lissa chuckled indulgently in response.

"That makes me think," Christian perked up, drawing Lissa to him and towards the palace. "Why don't we go upstairs in your office and check your schedule for when you'll have time for that weekend trip of ours?"

"Of yours, is more like it. Why are you so determined to squeeze that trip in, anyway?"

"Well, you know… I want to have you for myself for a whole day just once…"

I distinctly saw him wink at Dimitri. Who winked in return. Now, that was probably the weirdest thing that had happened to us in this time yet.

"What's going on with him?" Rose asked Dimitri sharply. "Come on, you know something!"

Dimitri just laughed. I loved when he did that, though even in this time, he did it rarely. "You will know in time, Rose!"

They followed their friends into the palace, and Ava and I decided to take a walk across Court to clear our heads.

"I'm almost glad Adrian is gone now," Ava murmured. "He and Lissa together would figure out more than they do separately."

"As long the only thing they know is that my parents are both dhampirs, there's not much damage done," I tried to calm her. "Come on, they won't just randomly jump to the conclusion that we've time travelled and are visitors from the future, let alone their own children from the future. That's a big leap even for them."

"I don't know," Ava cautioned. "If they weren't so familiar with spirit, I would worry less. But they are. So why would they not come to the conclusion?"

"Because it is a crazy idea! Lily only found out she could do it because we wished for the ability to time travel and she actively tested her powers for signs of it. She might never have found out what her powers could do if we hadn't looked for exactly the right thing."

She sighed. "It's a waste of time to discuss this, Anton. We can't take back what they know now. We made a mistake by getting so close to them, but it's too late now." As if as an afterthought, she added, "And if we'd draw back from them now, that would only make them suspicious."

"It would definitely make them suspicious," I quickly agreed. "No, we shouldn't draw back."

We walked a few steps in silence.

"Now we need yet another way of finding Robert," Ava finally said.

"Marcus might find him again."

"I doubt that. Either way, we shouldn't rely on it."

"Then what?"

"If it needs be, we could just drive around where he was last, look whether we find signs of him."

"That's like searching the needle in the haystack."

"Any better ideas?"

"No."

I mulled my next question over in my head for some time before daring to ask it.

"How long do you think we will stay in this time?"

Ava didn't immediately respond. "Too long," she said then. There was pain in her eyes. "We planned on being here a few days max. We were going to have it all over with when we met Robert in Maine. We're already here for far longer than we expected."

"Do you think it will have… consequences? Staying so long?"

"I don't know," she said.

"The rings… and the chain…"

This time, she only nodded mutely.

The charmed objects were our primary concern. Charms lasted only so long even in a silver object. Without Lily checking whether the charm still held within them, we couldn't be sure whether the magic hadn't long left the silver. If that was the case – if we waited too long to use them – the magic would have fled the ring and the chain by the time we needed them. Lily had reckoned that the chain would hold a long while. She had taken so long to put the magic in it, so she thought that it would take equally as long to leak out. The rings were a different matter, though. Even though there was much more metal on them, Lily's bet had been on them lasting a few weeks, maybe months. They might already be worthless.

My head was still turning in circles when Ava and I prepared to turn in for the night. I pored over every tiny shred of information we had ever gathered about Robert. I turned over every bit of knowledge that we already had turned over hundreds of times in the past. As was expected, I had no sudden inspiration.

"We should dig up information on this brother of his," Ava suggested. "It's the only new thing we know. Only way to go."

I hummed my agreement when a knock on the door interrupted us.

"Please, not again," Ava groaned.

This time, it was me who opened the door, and not Rose who waited on the other side.

It was Lissa.

"Hi," she said guardedly. "Can I come in?"

"Um…" I shared a look with Ava, but she just shrugged. "Sure."

Lissa walked in almost hesitantly. Just as Rose had done this morning, she sat down on one of the beds, and folded her hands in her lap.

"Adrian and I talked a lot this morning," she began. Ava looked slightly panicked.

"We still don't know the full scope of what spirit can do," Lissa continued. "And we cannot say for sure that spirit is involved in the circumstances that brings you here. But we talked about what spirit might be able to do… And really, when it comes to the obscure, I'm not sure there are any boundaries of spirit's potential."

I sat down next to Ava. We both tried not to let our faces betray anything.

"I looked at your auras," Lissa suddenly changed track. She blinked; maybe she was looking at our auras even now. "I cannot gather much from yours, Ava." She raised her head to meet her youngest daughter's eyes. "There's determination, and there's something that might be loneliness, and I often see warm feelings that seem to be suppressed a little. It changes a lot, fluctuates. It's inconclusive."

I half expected Ava to give a smart remark, but she remained silent.

"But you, you're clearer," Lissa turned to me. "You're excited when you're around Rose. That's not surprising. Many people are, novices especially. But I've noticed that when you're around Dimitri… I'd taken it for excitement too, but I think I haven't been careful enough. It's warmer than excitement. It's something more akin to… love."

When her green eyes met mine, I knew what she was going to say before she did it.

"Anton. Are you Rose and Dimitri's son?"


There you go. Lissa knows. Where do we go from here? :) Make me a Christmas present and give me some reviews!

I wish everyone of you a beautiful Christmas time, whether you celebrate it or not!