Still the Fourth Night

It bothered me that, as I looked into Adrian's eyes, I could not tell what he was thinking. They weren't harsh or dangerous anymore, just vacant. What really, bothered me, though, was that he didn't speak. I was trying to speak calmly, to soothe him, but he wasn't responding at all.

Finally, I took both of his hands in mine,

"Adrian, please." I had said the words before, but without touching him. As much as I trusted him, his previous expression had unnerved me enough that I didn't really even consider it. Thankfully, that part was over and I had no hesitation now.

"Please," I added again when his eyes finally fixed on me. "I'm here, and I'm okay, thanks to you. Zoe is okay now, thanks to you. I need to know that you're ok as well."

His expression was changing, but I kept my eyes fixed on his. I couldn't risk looking anywhere else. Finally, he exhaled, then nodded.

"OK, Sage. I'm ok."

I nearly collapsed with relief. I didn't ever want to get that close to losing him again. His next words bothered me, but at least he was looking at me, talking to me. His expression was more earnest than hard.

"What happened, Sydney?"

"You helped me, cured me; and you saved may sister. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't here."

He softened. I was finally sure he was with me. "I was here," he said, in a voice I would call gentle. "The doctor was in one of the guest rooms, but had been called. He would have come soon."

"But Zoe's fine now, so am I. The doctor couldn't have done that. You did that." He had pulled me into a hug by then. I was relieved, but hadn't forgotten how close to the edge he was, "I'm so sorry, we took too much out of you..."

"It'll never be too much if it's for you," he said, tightening the hug he had on me. I wasn't going to resist.

After a few seconds, he released me and pushed me back far enough that he could look into my eyes. "Sydney," he said, his voice as gentle as I had ever heard it. "I need to know who did this to you."

I shrugged. "I think Eddie got them. Didn't he tell you anything?"

Adrian shook his head, but started to walk towards the door. I grabbed his arm, and was a little relieved when he stopped and turned to face me. "Don't you think we should let the Guardians handle it?"

"Have they gotten anything out of these guys yet?" He asked.

I could only shrug again. "I haven't talked to Eddie about it today, I can ask."

"And I can get into their heads. Whatever Castile can get, I can get more." He moved towards the door again.

I grabbed his arm one more time and said, one more time, "Please, Adrian." When he turned towards me again, I added, "just for tonight, let him handle it. We both need to rest."

That was totally true for me, and I didn't want him to try anything with spirit so soon after I had almost lost him.

"We both need rest," I repeated when he hesitated, then added, "and I'd like you to be with me when I a check on Zoe."

Finally he nodded. "OK Sage. For tonight."

It wasn't really that I didn't trust Adrian to keep his word, but I wasn't ready to leave leave the little room we were in yet. I sat in a chair and motioned for him to sit next to me.

"Really, Sage? This has to be the least restful place in the whole resort."

I took his had and said, "Maybe, but I'm not really ready to share you yet. Now that you're back, I want some Adrian time by myself. Just rest with me for a minute, then we'll check on Zoe, okay?"

It was true, I did really want some time alone with him without the drama that we had been enduring ever since I saw him here. I also wanted to make sure he wouldn't slip back into some kind of spirit problem, so I wanted to stay close to him for awhile.

I relaxed a little when he sat next to me and let me lean against him as I closed my eyes. But with the. Adrian problem apparently under control, I began to worry about Zoe.

Of course, worrying about her mental or emotional state was so much better than worrying about her her physically. I really have no idea what condition she was in when Adrian healed her, I just knew she was still breathing. Between Zoe before he had healed her, and Adrian after he had healed her, it really sucked that I had to worry about her emotions as well, but how could I not?

I kept telling myself that Adrian was fine and Zoe's probably asleep, but I still couldn't get it all out of my mind. I was almost relieved, though a little startled, when we herd a knock on the door and then saw the door opening.

I was exhausted, so I don't know where Adrian got the energy, but he immediately stood and moved in front of me to stand between me and the door. He actually blocked my view, keeping me from seeing who it was, though only for a few seconds,

"Adrian!" I heard before, before he had moved out of my way. If I hadn't known from the voice that it was Jill, I would have know as soon as Adrian said "Jailbait" as they hugged each other.

Eddie had entered either before or after Jill, I didn't know which, but he came to me then.

"He's Ok now?" Eddie asked. "Jill said he was, and he looks fine, bu..."

"He's fine" I interrupted, not really wanting a reminder of how bad Adrian had been a little earlier. I was 99% sure that he was fine now.

Eddie nodded as I asked "and Zoe?"

"She's with Angeline," he said, not really answering my question, and not making me feel any better.

"Angeline?" I know my voice was giving away the fact that I didn't think that was a good idea.

"I took her to Jill first," he said quickly, "that didn't work. Jill was really upset from the time we got there."

"The bond with Adrian," I sighed. I hadn't really thought about it, but I should have realized.

"I knew he was in bad shape when I left you with him," Eddie said, echoing my thoughts." I should have realized, but I was more concerned about your sister."

I nodded.

"Anyway, I called Angeline before long," he continued. "We all waited in your room after that. The way Jill was acting, I didn't want to leave her alone, and I was a little nervous about leaving your sister alone with Angeline." I was nodding, when he quickly added, "But Angeline was great. While I was staying close to Jill, Angeline was able to calm Zoe."

I was a little confused by this, "Angeline dosen't know about the bond."

"That's right," he agreed, "so she just thought Jill was upset about what he happened on the road. She didn't know about Adrian healing Zoe either, but I don't think Zoe said anything. Anyway, your sister was almost asleep when Jill said Adrian was ok and we left to come here."

I wasn't all that comforted, but nodded anyway. It could have been so much worse. "Ok, thanks."

I looked back to Adrian. Jill was still holding onto him tightly, but he could see me as I mouthed "we need to go."

He nodded and started to pry himself free.

"Thank you, Sydney," Jill whispered as we walked to the room I shared with Zoe. Jill was on my left between Adrian and me, her arm hanging on to him. Eddie was on my right.

"For what? I asked the Moroi teen.

"She laughed. "For bringing him back, of course." Her smile disappeared as she added, "I was really scared, he was nearly gone."

Confirmation of what I had feared. I didn't want to think about it again, so I said, "Thank you for waiting with Zoe. I'm sure she was upset about all of this."

"That was mostly Angeline," Jill said, echoing Eddie.

"And Zoe was really ok with Angeline?" I asked tentatively.

Jill nodded. "Angeline was great. You'll see."

I had my doubts, but Angeline had changed since she joined us in Palm Springs. She had turned into a pretty good guardian for Jill, and was doing better in school. But she was far from perfect, and I was afraid she was a little much for Zoe.

Still, when we arrived at the room, Zoe did look calm. She wasn't asleep, but was lying in bed Angeline sitting in a chair next to her. They were leaning in as if one of them was whispering to the other when we entered. Still, Zoe was out of bed immediately, running to me and pulling me into a tight hug.

"Sydney!" Se exclaimed. "I thought you were ok, but..." She cut herself off as she glanced at Adrian.

I thought I could understand what she meant. The last thing she had seen before being pulled away from us was an extremely angry Adrian. I thought she might have understood that he had healed me as well as her, but couldn't be sure.

"I'm fine," I said, looking to see where the others were. All of theme were huddled in their own conversation. Adrain was speaking to Eddie with Jill nodding enthusiastically, agreeing with what he was saying.

"He healed us, didn't he?" Zoe asked.

That pulled my full attention back to her. I was staring at her when she added, her eyes wide, "I don't remember much except a crash and hurting. Then I blacked out. When I woke up, he was touching me, I felt warm all over, and the pain was gone."

I was too surprised at what she was saying to think of a response, but she whispered again, "then he turned to you. I couldn't hear much of what was bing said, but I think you we're afraid it would've be too much for him to heal you. But he did, I saw."

"Zoe..." I began, not having any idea what I would have said. But she wasn't done.

"I saw your face, Sydney. You looked relieved, but you were in pain, too." She had the same wide-eyed expression on her face, but looked down as she said,"was it the crash? I don't really know what happened to you."

I nodded weakly.

"I guess he convinced you to let him do it, because I saw him put his hand on you and," she lowered her eyes and shrugged. "Then you looked ok," she said looking back into my eyes. "But he..." She bit her lip. "He wasn't."

I looked at Adrian. He was still talking to Eddie, Eddie wasn't liking what was being said.

"He's a Moroi spirit user, isn't he?" Zoe asked bringing my attention back to her. Her face was a little tense.

"You know..." I began.

"That they can heal? Yeah." She interrupted, nodding. "But you're the expert on spirit."

I was shocked at what was coming out of my sister's mouth. "Did Stanton tell you that?" I asked.

"Please," Zoe said, almost snorting. I was glad her expression was amused now, rather than shocked. "Stanton told me almost nothing. But I did hear Dad talking, sometimes."

"Dad?"

"Yes," she said, nodding again. "I don't think he knows too much about it all, but he did talk about you being with dhampirs that were healed by spirit. Since its really mostly a mystery to the Alchemists still, he said that you probably know as much as anyone about it."

I had to shake my head again. "Dad?"

"Yeah. So will we be ok?" She asked, her expression a little uncertain now. "Do we need to do something about the taint?"

I had to close my eyes to keep Zoe from seeing them roll. "We're fine," I said, then realized it was a little too curt.

"Do you feel ok?" I asked, calmer this time.

"Yeah." She said.

"Then all we need to do is be grateful." I said, turning back to the others. Their argument was reaching a climax.

"Do you want me to show you in your head?" Adrian asked Eddie. He was angry again, and I could feel Zoe cringe a little.

"Fine!" Eddie shot back. "But Neil and I talk to them first, and we're there when you...whatever."

"Fine," Adrian said. Jill was still standing next to him with an almost triumphant look in her face.

Eddie saw that I was looking them, and pulled Jill away from the group. "Come on, Angeline. Jill needs to get some sleep."

Jill looked at me, then Adrian, and looked like she was going to object until he said, "Castile's right. Go." The anger was gone from his expression.

Jill looked a little disappointed, but followed Eddie and Angeline out of the room.

"Thank you, Adrian." I said as soon as the door closed behind them. I almost called him Mr. Ivashkov, but Zoe had already seen us talking, if not arguing. She probably knew we weren't on a last name basis. Anyway, I didn't want to have to explain anything to her if I slipped up around her.

I elbowed Zoe, who, to her credit, got the message. "Yeah, thanks." She repeated,

"Anytime," then he hesitantly added "Sydney."

I was afraid it would get really awkward really fast, so I said, "see you in the morning,"

"In the morning," he repeated, smiling warmly. He gave Zoe a small nod before leaving the room.

I collapsed onto my bed. Some of it was an act, wanting to put off any questions from my sister, though most of it wasn't. I was exhausted.

"Sydney," I heard Zoe say.

I sighed and looked at her.

I was fairly sure the interrogation was about to begin, but if it was, she changed her mind. She hesitated, then asked, "do you want the bathroom first? You look tired."

I hadn't expected it, and I wasn't sure it was a good idea, but I awoke to find myself on a beach at sunset. I didn't turn my head, but could feel Adrian lying next to me, taking my hand.

"Adrian," I said quietly. "Are you sure this is a good idea after all you've done already?"

"When will you learn, Sage?" I heard him murmur as I felt his lips move to my neck, making me shudder. "I'll never do anything to put you at risk."

"I'm not the one at risk here," I managed to say before turning my head and joining in with the kissing.