Chapter 39

Adrianna POV

Junior year was almost over, classes had finished and tomorrow the seniors will sit their practical exam in front of the whole school and then the day after they will be flying to court, then the day after that the rest of the students will be leaving and heading home for summer break.

It took a while but I had eventually started having conversations with Jeremy, it was only small talk during Moroi Culture and the first time I spoke to him about something that didn't relate to Moroi Culture he was shocked.

It had been a few weeks since our conversation in my room where he left me to breakdown in peace, well it was peaceful until Emily and Stefan joined me in silence.

"What are your plans for the summer break?" I spoke while we were working in silence in Moroi Culture on our last group assignment. He looked up at me in shock not expecting me to speak.

"Sorry what did you just say?"

"I said what are your plans for the summer break?"

"Mum and dad are taking us on a holiday but no idea where, they said they want it to be surprise"

"Wasn't the last surprise when you and your brother had to spend the summer break at your grandparents?"

"Don't remind me, what are your plans?"

"Dads taking us all to Melbourne, I'm finally getting the chance to get everything left in my mum and grandparents' wills"

"How are you feeling about that?" I shrugged at him, I'm okay with talking to him but I wasn't interesting in letting him know how I feel about everything.

After that we fell back into our slightly uncomfortable silence for the rest of the lesson.

Since that class we were able to join in each other's conversation with our friends or make small talk in class but we didn't exactly ask how each of us is doing. I could tell it bothered him but I couldn't let myself open up to him again.

I was heading into my last private session with Nikolaus for the year and he still hadn't told me if he was coming with us to Melbourne or not yet and I was getting annoyed. I honestly had no problem if I had to spend all my time with my family, I loved my family don't get me wrong and I could spend some of the time with Shane and Nathan learning from them about being Guardians and what not, also if there was the time and space available I could convince them to spar with me and give me tips.

"Nikolaus" I sang his named while flashing him an innocent looking smile

He raised an eyebrow at him and I smiled even bigger. "What do you want?"

"Well I leave the academy for Court in a couple of days and then not long after that we fly to Melbourne but the thing is I still don't know if you're coming with us"

"Why do you want me to come with you and your family again?"

"Well Shane is dads Guardian and Nathan is Ellie and my brothers sort of and dad won't let me go off on my own because I haven't caught up enough or he doesn't trust me. I know you won't essentially be working over the summer break because dad said so and he knows which Guardians and Moroi are staying here with the dhampirs and Moroi that don't have homes to go to. Dad suggested I ask you"

"That's why you need me to come with you, why do you want me to come with you? Surely you know other Guardians"

"I do know other Guardians expect they all have Moroi charges and can't take that much time off, normally they only get given a few days. I know if I asked Lissa and Christian enough times they will give Rose and Dimitri enough time off for the trip but Rose won't like being so far away from Lissa for that long. As for why I want you to come is because we get along and we can use it as a training exercise, I really want to catch up so I could participate in senior field experience and be able to graduate with my friends next year"

"Alright, come on, on the mat" I stared at him, I gave him an answer but he didn't give me mine

"But"

"No buts, on the mat" he cut me off and pointed towards the mats. I hung my head and walked over there to begin our session.

Our session started off easy enough we were throwing hits at each other blocking them, I just assumed it would stay this way. Just the two of us throwing punches and kicks and various other manoeuvres we had practise over the year. Nikolaus didn't see the point in teaching me anything new since I didn't have the time to keep practising them.

But at some point he changed it, his punches and kicks became harder when they connected and harder to block, it put me completely on the defensive. I didn't say anything but defended myself, he got a few good hits in but I was working extremely hard on blocking and dodging the attacks. Nikolaus was only able to pin me a couple of times, 8 months ago this would have been a completely different story.

"You did well today" Nikolaus while pinning me to the ground.

"Thanks, now let me up?" I frowned at him and he got up anyway and offered a hand out to me which I grabbed and he pulled me up.

"I mean it you did well, certainly better than what you would have done 8 months ago"

"Thanks why did you make me go on the defensive?"

"Wanted to see how much you had remember over the last few months, I haven't made you go on the defensive for a while"

"I see, well you didn't have to hit me in the shoulder so harder" I frowned at him while I rubbed my left shoulder. He punched me in the shoulder after a fake and then tripped me causing me to fall and land on the same shoulder. It hurt like hell

"I didn't mean it, here let me have a look at it" I went and over and sat on the ground in front of the bench where he was sitting.

He grabbed my shoulder and began moving it around to test it, some of the movements hurt but it was bearable. At some point he stopped moving my shoulder and started massaging my shoulder, I didn't realise how tight it was until he found the knots and man did that hurt when he pressed into them.

When the massage was finished he tested my shoulder again and it didn't hurt anywhere near as much.

"Who knew a massage would work that well" I turned around and smiled at him

"I'm not doing them all the time, I was feeling generous"

"That's mean you're also feeling generous enough to come to Melbourne with me?" I grinned at him

"Yes"

"Oh I get it, it's fine. I'll just bug Shane and Nathan for training"

"Dri..."

"No it's fine, I get it. You have family you probably want to see and Melbourne's not that great. It's not like it has an amazing city centre with some amazing beaches not far from the city and there isn't a lot to do it's not like we could do much anyway"

"Dri I said yes"

"I know I heard you, it's fine I get it...wait you actually said yes?" too be honest I wasn't listening. I half expected him to say no

"Yes I did, did you seriously not listen to me? If that's the case I might change my mind" he laughed at me while I frowned.

"Well it was more I expected you to say no so I wasn't listening because I didn't want to hear the no"

"After that session I know you have been listening to me and you have been learning. Spending time in Melbourne will give you another chance to learn out in the real world, there may be days that I will change it into learning experiences"

"That's fine I can deal with that as long as there are days we can have fun and not worry about any learning at all and we can forget we are a part of a world that forces us to protect Moroi and we can go off and pretend we are completely human?" he shook his head at me, I knew it wasn't him saying no. It was more him making fun of me and I could tell by the small smile on his face.

"How could I say no to an escape from all the concerns that comes with being a dhampir?" he smirked at me

"Hah you're funny, you love guarding Moroi" the smirk fell and the guardian mask snapped on to his face. I didn't know what I said wrong but I was a little worried

"I'll get the flight details from Adrian and meet you all at the airport" he then stood up and left the gym and leaving me completely and utterly confused about what the hell just happened.

I grabbed my bag and left the gym heading towards the Moroi dorm where James was staying, I knew he would have an idea as to what just happened with Nikolaus. He had hinted at seeing in his memories but wouldn't tell me anything.

"James" I sang as I opened his dorm room door. I was met by a glare but I just smiled at him as I went and sat on his bed.

"Nope I'm not telling you" I didn't even have to tell him what happened, I threw the memory at him by thinking about it as hard as I could. He hated when I did stuff like this, he knew when I wanted information I would think hard about a memory while near him.

"Why not? I have no idea what happened"

"Because it's not something I can tell you and he won't care. He hasn't told you for a reason"

"Does it have to do with his brother?"

"Sort of but you don't even know the extent to the attack, all you know is that his brother was killed by Strigoi"

"I know his name" I shrugged at James before collapsing on to his bed

"It's not enough to warrant me to tell you"

"Fine don't tell me" I pouted at him but he ignored me and went back to his homework

"Dri"

"Yes?" I smiled as he looked up

"I'm not telling you, he has to tell you"

"Does this explain all the weird moments between the two of us?"

"Nope" he grinned at me, now I was really confused.

"Why are you grinning?"

"Oh no, I'm not going to tell you that, I'm not telling you anything about what I've seen in Nikolaus' head"

"You're a shitty friend" I crossed my arms and glared at him but all he did was go back to his homework.

"Wait why are you doing homework? I thought classes were finished"

"They are, your dad gave me some readings for Spirit class. I'm spending the summer at Court so I can work with both him and Queen Vasilisa. They both want to try and learn how to read emotions and memories and I'm the only person they know that knows how to do it"

"You do know I'm going to Melbourne with dad for a few days"

"I do, it's also when the Queen will be busy with the new Guardians so she wouldn't have time anyway"

"Right new Guardians..." I rambled off causing him too look up at me, he raised an eyebrow while looking at me. I knew he was trying to work what was troubling me now, this was the one I was sure he didn't know. I didn't like focusing on it because I didn't want any of my friends to know I was at risk of not graduating with them next year.

"Why haven't you told any of us this?"

"Told you what? That I'm at risk of not graduating with my friends? I do not want the pity, I've been working my ass off to make sure that doesn't happen" I snapped at him as I got off his bed

"Dri" he tried to get me to come back and talk to him but I didn't, I just left his room thinking angry thoughts hoping he got them.

A/N: Melbourne is currently in the middle of a bad thunder storm and it makes for good writing so I'm updating a couple of chapters tonight, I will place a note at the end of all the chapters I'm uploading just so you know what has been uploaded tonight.