When I was 13 and still training as an Alchemist, I met my first Moroi by chance. He was a man in his mid-twenties, and he seemed then to have some business with my father. When he came over, I hid behind corners and only watched him from afar. He didn't stay long that day, but his presence had always haunted me since his visit.

Just as he was leaving our property, he was walking through my front yard's garden along the path that was surrounded by roses. It seemed he was in a happy mood, and by pure accident (I was out there to grab my cross necklace that I had left on a patch of lawn from the afternoon) I saw him perform Earth magic on a rose bush.

He came up to it, and with a flicker of something within his eyes and a smile upon his lips, he changed the course of nature and made the rose bush bloom, when it was meant to be dead.

Now, to anyone else, that would have been beautiful—bringing a dead plant back to life with magic was almost Godly in the eyes of humans who praised fake magicians who did tricks like that.

But not to me. The concept of magic disgusted me, even when Mrs. Terwilliger began to have me use it.

And seeing Jill—little, innocent Jill—attack another girl, regardless of that girl's mean nature, with magic! ... Well, that was concerning. More than concerning, really—it had me freaked out. Because while Jill was standing where she was with Eddie, she still held the look I sometimes saw on Adrian. Jill was consumed by darkness, the very darkness she warned me about drowning her before. Jill was taken by spirit, and that had me paralyzed where I stood.

Someone came running past me, and I heard Eddie call Angeline's name. It sounded like Angeline was helping Jill move, and surely enough, I heard Eddie's voice a second later calling out to the scattered and terrified students.

Teachers eventually came, and the matter was settled, but the explanation was the most concerning part. Eddie and myself were put into a quiet room waiting to talk with the principle. When we were called in, and we saw Mrs. Weathers there as well, I shrunk into my chair and hoped I would fade away like a dissolving cloud.

"This is very serious," the principle started, although I wasn't really there when she said it. I was staring deeply into my hands, my imagination running wild. Because although I was Sydney Sage, the girl who knew more than five languages and could do any math problem in her head, I was stuck as to what to do with Jill.

Jill had attacked another student. That was bad. It could turn into something worse next time. Magic wasn't meant to be used as a weapon—that was against everything the Moroi believed in. But Jill used magic to drench Laurel, and with a bit more force behind the attack, it could have injured Laurel seriously ...

"Please," Eddie suddenly pleaded. "It was a freak accident. It wasn't like Jill produced water out of nowhere."

I tensed when I heard that. The principle and Mrs. Weathers looked at each other uneasily. Mrs. Weather leaned her arms onto the table and looked at Eddie firmly.

"Some students claimed Ms. Melrose used a bucket full of water. And although no physical harm was caused, this was still inappropriate of Jillian. This has not been the first time that her behavior has stepped out line."

"But all students 'step out of line' sometimes!" Eddie defended. The principle looked doubtful.

"That is so. But you're family, to the exception of you two, tend to have that most often. The many occasions in which I've had to deal with your cousin, Angeline, has lost count. She has in fact executed physical violence before, and now even Jillian? I'm afraid we can not tolerate this."

Eddie looked defeated, but he begged one last time.

"Please," he said. "Please just give her a suspension."

The principle said she would decide in a week. At least that gave Jill to build up a solid defense case.

When we walked back to Jill's dorm room, Eddie seemed like he wanted to say something to me. Before we walked in through the door in which we both knew Angeline and Jill were behind, Eddie turned to me worried. He frowned.

"Sydney," he began. "I understand how you're scared of magic. And this may be completely out of line for me to say, but, Jill needs our support right now."

I glanced to Eddie and didn't know what face to make. Then I bit my lip uncertainly.

"She attacked someone Eddie," I said slowly. "Jill's being affected by the darkness. She told me before. It's almost consumed her once before, maybe this time it completely did. No, I'm sure it did. We can't let this go on any longer. She needs help."

Eddie looked conflicted.

"Jill wouldn't just do this for no reason. I'm sure she's fine, we just—"

I shook my head.

"I think she needs to return to court. I need to contact Dimitri, even Queen Vasilisa, and request her transfer. It's for her benefit and health. It's too risky to have her here anymore—her or Adrian. Rose told me she once experienced something like this before. It can develop into something far worse if we don't prevent it now."

I knew what had Eddie hesitant. There was always the threat that if Jill did return back to court, another attack might happen. Last time, Jill was killed during a planned ambush. This time, she may not be as lucky as to survive it once again; Adrian there to heal or not.

I frowned when Eddie kept silent.

"I think I need to sort things out by myself for a while," I said at last. "Things are ... still confusing. I need to be able to think clearly to make the right decision. I'll check up on Jill later."

Eddie nodded understandingly and I turned around to leave.

I walked away, back to my room, and when I got there, I decided to read my emails. I felt like I needed some part of outside normality in my life right now—a humorous email from Adrian that I no longer ever received, or even just the regular newspaper updates online by my favorite book club. I needed to read something.

But instead what I got was an email from the Alchemists that brought bad news.

Really bad news.


Author's Notes

So this is the updated version of the chapter. I feel as if this is more Sydney. She's more concerned and worried over the effects of spirit on Jill than anything else, which seems more appropriate. Hopefully, this makes more sense!


Chapter 10 will be released tomorrow. Look forward to the first word from the Alchemists! Things are about to get real.

If you leave a comment/review below, and you'll receive a free Adrian in your mail just for you to keep! ;)