The Second Night (Cont.)

It's not that I was getting tired of Adrian. I don't think that's ever going to happen. I was, however, getting a little worried about him. Though I slept through his visits to my dreams, I knew that he had to be awake.

I ignored the thought when it first occurred to me, the thought to tell Adrian to leave the dream and get some sleep. I ignored it several times. The truth was, I didn't want the dream to end.

I was able to talk to Adrian freely about Zoe's arrival, about the new guardian. I could tell him why I had said the things to Stanton that made her send Neil and Zoe to Palm Springs. I could tell him all of my fears and concerns, and I did. I told him everything that was going through my mind since we had parted after our day in Malibu.

"Does she look like you?" Adrian asked.

I tilted my head in confusion. "She?" I had been telling him about Neil and thought he was listening, but I guess his mind was somewhere else.

"Your sister. I'll be honest, Sage, if she looks like you, I don't know if I'll be able to stand the shock of beauty that will be sent my way when I see you both together."

"Adrian!" I exclaimed. "She's 15 years old."

"Ah, there it is."

I was still a little ticked at him. "There what is?" I challenged.

"Your expression of your undying love for me."

Maybe I really was tired after all. I was having trouble following him. "What?"

He mimicked my exasperated "Adrian!" then he added "That's how you told me you loved me – I mean, before yesterday."

"That's how I told you I was annoyed with you," I corrected.

"I'm sure you're wrong. You said it all the time, but you kept coming back to me. What was I to think?"

I shook my head. Maybe he was right, but I wasn't going to admit it, or even think about it. Instead I tried to do to him what he did to me.

"You'll have to wait and see," I told him.

I felt a little smug at the confusion that slowly appeared on his face. "See…what I thought?" He finally managed.

"See if she looks like me. If there really is a shock of beauty that you don't survive, I'm sure we can get Sonya to come back and raise you from the dead."

"Already plotting to kill me, Sage." He murmured as he pulled me into another hug. This is the way we had spent most of the dream. Still, the thought that he needed some sleep occurred to me again.

"Adrian, you need to get some sleep."

"I have all day," he whispered as he kissed my neck. "You don't want to see me during the day, classes are on break. What am I supposed to do during daylight hours, except sleep?"

"I want to see you," I murmured as his lips moved to my cheek. "I just need to figure out how to introduce you to Zoe. Just give me a couple of days and you can join us."

"That's two days, right?" he asked, finally reaching my lips. "Because I have a calendar," he added.

"Then calendar it," I gasped, "right now, before we do something that will make Jill avoid me again."

"Fine," he sighed. "But we're supposed to be working this out, not putting it off."

I wasn't ready for it, I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for it, but he took a step back from me and smiled. I might have been reaching for him as he faded away, I'm not sure. I was too captivated by those green eyes…

The Second Day

It was a nice day – for humans and dhampirs, anyway. The sun shone brightly, which is why we were here. No one would think of looking for a hiding Moroi in Phoenix. At least that's what Stanton thought when she made arrangements for us.

We had to leave Amberwood for the holiday, but we couldn't go to anyone's home, so we came here.

We had taken precautions with Jill's appearance, she dressed in layers and wore sunglasses. It would be hard to tell that she was Moroi. Zoe and I had covered our tattoos. Actually, I was a little jealous of the dhampirs, who really didn't have to do anything to alter their appearance.

I had my bag, full of alchemist and witch supplies, with me. Hopper was in there, too, though not in 'dragon' form. I couldn't bear to leave him at the school, and I knew that Adrian would eventually end up with us anyway, so there was no point in leaving him there.

We had stopped for brunch on the way to our first day's activities. The restaurant was kind of a dive, but Jill wanted to try it and she was the point of all of us being there. So we stopped.

As I watched Eddie and Angeline enter the restaurant to make sure it was safe for the rest of us, I realized that we had three guardians and two alchemists for one girl. It was amazing. We had survived with just one of each when we first went to Amberwood, but I guess things had changed.

Eddie came out and motioned for us to enter. As we did, I noticed something on Jill's face, so instead of going straight to the table Angeline was sitting at, I pulled Jill aside.

"Come with me to the Ladies' Room," I said. "We need to fix something."

Angeline heard. "Do you want me to come?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No. We'll just be a minute."

She remained at the table, but Zoe followed us. I sighed, but really, it wasn't a surprise. This was all still new to her.

Zoe just stood by the door as I worked on Jill. No one said anything until my sister opened the bathroom door when we heard a commotion in the restaurant.

I rushed to the door as Zoe opened it. The room we had just left was a mess, tables strewn aside or turned over. People fighting – or, more precisely, dhampirs fighting.

There were at least four of them, but they were being held off by Eddie and the others. I caught Eddie's eye, he shook his head. I'm not sure what he meant, but I took it as an order to get Jill out of there.

Jill was behind me, trying to look through the door, but I pushed her back. I pulled Zoe back to the counter as well. My bag was there, still open. I reached in for my witch supplies and found a necklace, which I quickly snapped around my neck. I threw the bag over my shoulder and grabbed Jill's hand with one of mine, and Zoe's hand with the other.

"Come with me, and whatever happens, don't let go of my hand. Do you understand?"

Both girls nodded as I looked at them. Then I spoke the words of the invisibility spell, the one I hoped had worked when I went to Marcus, and led them through the door.

I avoided the dining area, and was able to go straight into the kitchen. We bumped into some things, things and people, which resulted in some very confused looks. Good. It looked like the spell was working.

It was hot in the kitchen, and I really had no idea where we were going, but I finally glimpsed a door and headed to it.

"Open it, Zoe," I commanded. She started to reach with her right hand, which I held, so I squeezed it tightly. She got the message and pushed it open with her left hand. We managed to get down the concrete stairs that the door opened to without tripping, though barely.

I was afraid to go to the front of the restaurant, so I scanned what I could see nearby. I finally started walking when I saw what looked like a cheap motel that I thought we could get to.

I glanced back at the restaurant parking lot as we walked. It looked like there were at least a couple of cars that were there that had arrived after us. Maybe that didn't mean anything, maybe it was part of the trouble. We weren't hanging around to figure it out.

I was getting very tired, very fast. This spell hadn't been so bad when it was just me trying to be invisible, but working it on three of us apparently wasn't so easy

It took us 15 or 20 minutes, but we finally reached the motel. It was even more of a dive than the restaurant, for which I was glad. Surely no one would look for a Moroi princess here.

I managed to get Jill and Zoe into a hall past the front desk. I hadn't looked at them much while we walked, but I knew they were alarmed. They were not happy to have me leave them, but they stayed quiet while they waited for me to return, as I asked.

I kept the spell on myself until I exited the motel, finally letting it go when I re-entered, which I did not do until I had put on the wig that I had used when going with Adrian to try to find and warn the potential victims of Ms. Terwilliger's sister.

It was nowhere near check in time, and I had to bribe the creepy front desk clerk to give me a room at that time of the day. I used the fake ID Marcus had gotten for me to use in Mexico. Even thought the ID had my actual picture, the clerk didn't question my hair color, or anything, really. I wished Adrian was here to blur my features a little more, but hoped the wig, and the fact that I was checking in alone, would be enough.

I went to the room alone, then put my necklace back on. Jill and Zoe quietly obeyed when I took their hands and we walked through the halls back to my room without incident.

As soon as the door was closed behind us, however, the objections started.

"Sydney," Jill started, "what are doing here. We need to go back to Eddie and Neil."

I was exhausted as I shook my head and looked at Zoe. She didn't say anything, but looked back at me with wide eyes.

"Not until we know what's going on," I said, pulling Hopper out of the bag and saying the spell to bring him to life.

Jill brightened upon seeing the dragon, but only briefly. "If someone's looking for us, they'll find us here."

"I don't think so. We weren't seen coming here. Only I checked in – who knows where you are."

She lifted her head from watching Hopper to look at me dubiously. I handed her a couple of apples from my bag and said "Feed him. He'll tell us if trouble is near"

I turned my attention to Zoe. She was sitting on one of the double beds, watching me. "What did you do?" she asked in a whisper.

I could only whisper, "Zoe..." before I nearly collapsed onto one of the beds.

"Sydney!" Jill exclaimed, running to me. Zoe stayed where she was.

"Do you have your phone?" I whispered to Jill.

She reached into a pocket and shook here head. "I must have left it in the van."

"Mine's in the bag," I told her. "Call Adrian. Tell him to find me."

I saw Jill head towards my bag as I turned to look at Zoe again. She hadn't moved, her expression hadn't changed.

I gave in to the exhaustion and let my eyes close.

Like always, I had no idea how much, if any, time had passed before I could see his green eyes. This time they were alarmed. This time he was running to me.

"Sydney!" he exclaimed as he reached me. He was with me, and I knew it would be okay. Whatever this was, we would figure it out.