"Don't let them talk to each other." He warned the guardian that had escorted me to the back of the plane, I had not long awoken from unconsciousness. Lissa, Rose and myself had automatically been split up from each other, Lissa was sat with the Russian guy who's name I now know as Dimitri, Rose was with some other guy and thankfully I was by myself, although there was a guardian sat on the right side of me just in case.

"Five minutes together and they'll come up with an escape plan." Dimitri continued.

I sat with my arms crossed, glaring at the seat in front of me. I knew we were done for. We were considerably outnumbered and we were heading straight for the Academy, there wasn't anything else we could do. Even though Lissa was sat with the Russian guy, I could feel her fear through me, and it didn't help I could sense Rose's defeat either. Lissa's fear over grew Rose's defeat and it felt as though I was sinking into her, piering through her eyes, seeping into her skin. This would happen sometimes, none of us had any control over it, I knew the same thing was happening to Rose, Lissa pulled us both in her head without realising.

Dimitri's tall frame sat beside me, and my hand, no her hand, gripped the bottle of water she was holding. He leaned forward, revealing six tiny symbols tattooed on the back of his neck: molnija marks. They looked like two streaks of jagged lightning crossing in a X symbol. One for each, single Strigoi he had killed. Above the molnija marks was a twisting line, like a snake, that marked him as a guardian. The promise mark.

I fought against Lissa tiredly, managing to shift myself back into my own mind, I glanced towards Rose and could see she had done the same. Her brown eyes turned to me and raised her eyebrows and I nodded in reply. We both knew that feeling Lissa's emotions was one thing but slipping into her mind was something all three of us hated, we all felt like it was an invasion of privacy. We never knew when it was going to happen which made it ten times worse.

Near to the end of the flight, Dimitri walked to the back of the plane where I was sat and traded places with the guardian beside me. I turned away from him, my arms still together, staring out into the darkness.

Moments of silence passed between us before he'd actually started talking.

"I spoke to your sister." He said.

I made no move to reply and he sighed.

"Were you really going to attack all of us?"

I still didn't answer him and I know Rose didn't either.

"Doing that...Protecting her...Protecting them like that - it was very brave." He paused.

"Stupid, but still brave. Why did you even try it?"

I finally glanced over at him, my face as stern as anything.

"Because I'm her sister. And I'm her guardian." Dimitri knew what I meant as I turned back towards the window.

He seemed to think about my reply to him for a few moments before he stood up and returned to the front of the plane.

When we landed, we all had no choice but to let the commandos drive us out to the Academy. The car stopped at the gate, and the driver spoke with the guards, they let us pass through the wards and up to the Academy itself. It was around sunset - the start of the vampire day - and the campus lay completely wrapped in shadows.

There was nothing more that I hated than this place, it's gothic like architecture and elaborate high peaks and stone carvings. The Moroi were big on tradition, that's why the majority of them are so boring. The Moroi and Dhampirs campus were at different ends of the Academy, all around us were tons of open land, we were too far away from any real city. The air felt cool in my lungs, but smelt wet and cold.

As we walked into the main part of the upper school, I broke from the guardian beside me and ran up to Rose.

"What is it?" Rose asked, she knew there was something up as well.

I brought myself in closer to her. "Ask him." I nodded to Dimitri who was striding up front.

I watched on silently as Rose was speaking with Dimitri and took in the facial expressions and lip reading to see what was going on. She came back to me and I sighed.

"Are we-

"Yeah." She replied

I groaned as the guardians led us through a set of doors - straight into the commons. There had to be at least a dozen different ways to get to Headmistress Kirova's office, but they decided it would be a good idea to go straight through the commons.

And it was breakfast time.

Novice guardians - dhampirs like Rose and myself and Moroi sat together, eating and socialising, faces lit up with whatever gossip was making it's way through the Academy walls. As we entered, the loud buzz of conversation stopped instantly. Hundreds of sets of eyes were on us.

I returned the stares of my former classmates with a glare as Rose returned with a sly grin, trying to see if things had changed at all. Not at all. Our walk of shame mercifully ended, only now we were heading straight to Kirova's office.

All three of us took a seat in front of Kirova's desk as Dimitri and Alberta the captain of the school's guardians stayed at the back of the room. Kirova fixed her angry eyes at Rose and I and opened her mouth to begin what would no doubt be a major bitch session, but a deep, gentle voice stopped her.

"Vasilissa."

Startled, I realized there was somebody else in the room with us. With a great deal of effort, Victor Dashkov rose from the corner chair he was in. Prince Victor Dashkov. Lissa sprang up and ran to him throwing her arms around him, wary of his frail, old body.

"Uncle" She whispered. She almost sounded as if she was holding onto tears as she tightened the grip around him.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you safe, Vasilissa." Victor turned to Rose and I. " And Rose, and you Lily."

We nodded back, trying to hide how shocked we were. When we left he had been sick but the state he was in now...He was horrible. Victor was Natalie's Father, the geeky young Moroi girl who lived at the Academy.

Kirova let Lissa and Victor have there moment before she turned back to the lecture, first she started on Lissa and then on Rose, I spaced out ages ago not listening to a word before her ugly eyes turned to me.

"And you Lilith-"

I held my hand up.

"Actually it's Lily-Rose-"

If her face could get any redder it just did.

"Lily - Rose Hathaway. You, and your sister, broke the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a Moroi. It is a great trust that you violated by selfishly taking the princess away from here. The Strigoi would love to finish the Dragomir's' you nearly enabled them to do so."

"They didn't kidnap me." Lissa spoke before Rose or I could, her voice and face calm despite the uneasy feelings inside her. "I wanted to go. Please don't blame them."

Kirova started to pace back and forth with her hands folded behind her back.

"Miss Dragomir, you could've been the one who orchestrated the entire plan for all I know, but it was still their responsibility to make sure you didn't carry it out. If they had done their duty, they would have notified someone. If they had done their duty, they would've kept you safe."

I bolted straight up my eyes seeing red. I could see Dimitri and Alberta tense up behind me and Rose grabbed my hand to prevent me from going any further,

"We did do our duty! I did my duty! We did keep her safe! I kept them safe when none of you could. I took them both away to protect them. I took Lissa away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to." Through the bond I could feel Lissa trying to send me calming messages. The same with Rose unintentionally, trying to not let the anger get the best of me.

Too late.

Kirova stared at me. I don't know why but she has always hated me. Rose she didn't like. But me? It was like she had some sort of grudge against me.

"Miss Hathaway, forgive me but I fail to see the logic of how taking her, taking both of them, out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting them. Unless there's something you're not telling us?"

I could feel Rose's grip harden and I bit my lip furiously.

"I see. Well then. By my estimation, the only reason you left - aside from the novelty of it, no doubt - was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance."

"What? No that's not-" I started.

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligation to the two of you. You will be sent away as soon as possible."

My anger subsided and that's when Rose decided to stand up alongside me and Lissa stood up on the other side of me.

"You can't do that! They're my guardians!"

"They are no such thing, particularly since they are not guardians at all. They are both still novices."

"But my parents-"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Rose and Lily are expendable. Neither of them deserve to be a guardian, and they will leave."

I stared at Kirova, unable to believe anything she was saying. My silence led Rose to start speaking.

"And where are you going to send us? To our Mom in Nepal? Did she even know we were gone? Or maybe you'll send us off to our father?"

Her eyes narrowed at the bite of that last word. When I spoke again my voice was so cold I could barely recognise it.

"Or maybe, you're going to send us off to be blood whores. Try that, and we will all be gone by the end of the day."

"Miss Hathaway." She hissed. "You are out of line."

"They have a bond." Dimitri's low, accented voice broke the heavy tension, and we all turned toward him. I think Kirova had forgotten he was there. But I hadn't. His presence was way too powerful to ignore. He stood still against the wall. He looked at Me, not Lissa or Rose. His dark eyes staring straight through mine. "Lily knows what Vasilissa is feeling, and Rose. Don't you?"

I felt Rose glance at me and I took in her shocked expression.

Kirova gasped.

"No...that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries. Especially both."

"It's obvious. I suspected as soon as I started watching them."

None of us responded, and I averted my eyes from his piercing ones.

"That is a gift." murmured Victor from the corner. "A rare and wonderful thing for both of the Hathaway sisters."

"The best guardians always had that bond." Dimitri added. "In the stories. But no-one ever heard of two."

Kirova's outrage returned.

"Stories that are centuries old." She exclaimed. "Surely you aren't suggesting we let them stay at the Academy after everything that they have done?"

He shrugged.

"Rose may be wild and disrespectful and Lily may be impulsive and careless but if they have potential-"

"Wild and disrespectful?" Rose interrupted.

"Impulsive and careless? Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?" I bit back.

"Guardian Belikov is the princess' guardian now." Kirova said. "Her sanctioned guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labour to protect Lissa?" Now that I think back to what I just said, it probably wasn't the best thing to say. Especially since our parents were foreign born. Our dhampir mother was Scottish and we'd been told our Moroi dad was Turkish.

Kirova threw her hands up in exasperation and turned to him.

"You see? She-" Pointing at me. " Is completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and very raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."

"So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put them back in a get them training again."

"Impossible. They'll still be hopelessly behind their peers."

"No we won't." Nobody listened to Rose.

"Then give them extra training sessions." Dimitri concluded.

"Who's going to put in the extra time?" Demanded Kirova. "You? You can't train both of them."

Dimitri's argument came to an abrupt stop.

"Well, that's not what I-"

Kirova crossed her arms in satisfaction, the smirking bitch.

"Yes, that's what I thought."

His eyes flickered towards Rose and I and then towards Lissa's pleading ones.

"Yes." He said finally. " I can mentor Lily and I will get a colleague to mentor Rose. We will give them extra sessions along with their normal ones."

"And then what?" Retorted Kirova angrily. " They go unpunished?"

"Find some other way to punish them." Answered Dimitri. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl, two girls, in particular." His unspoken words made me shiver, reminding me that the statement I had made earlier about blood whores was true. Few dhampir girls became guardians anymore.

"I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending the girls away would be a shame, a waste of talent." Victor's ill voice spoke.

Ms Kirova sighed and rubbed her head in thought. When she turned back around Lissa met her eyes.

"Please, Ms Kirova. Let Rose and Lily stay."

Rose and I watched on gingerly as Lissa was using compulsion on another Moroi, it was dangerous especially in front of witnesses. But luckily no one seemed to catch on.

Kirova sighed.

"If the girls stay here, here's how it will be." She turned to us." Your continued enrollment at St Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line once, and you're gone. Both of you. You will attend all your classes and required trainings for novices your age. Lily, you will train with Guardian Belikov and Rose, you will train with another Guardian in every spare time you have - before and after classes. Other than that, you are both banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent away."

I glared at her.

"Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart?" I nodded towards Lissa. " Afraid we'll run away again?"

"I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you'll recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for. You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

I opened my mouth to say it wasn't generous at all, but the glance my sister gave me and the unruly stare of Dimitri made me stop.

I glanced back at Rose and we nodded to each other before replying.

"Fine. We accept."