A/N: This chapter is actually a bit longer than the others I've written, I hope you'll like it!

I spent the whole night down there in the basement. I didn't touch the food, it seemed too risky, but I drank the water at least. I could feel that I was in great need of blood by now, I was constantly tired and I felt weak. I was also sure that I had black rings under my eyes. Man, this sucked. I had never had any hope that Eddie would find me, they were witches after all, Eddie didn't even know they existed. I was on my own and I was ready to accept the punishment they sent my direction. No need to fight it, it would only hurt me more in my fragile state, so when Evelyn came down the next morning with Laura and Sydney close behind her, I smiled. I was ready. I welcomed death or whatever they had in preparation for me. I was done with my harsh life. I only ever got punished and shot down whatever I did.

"Want to know what we're going to do to you?", Evelyn said with one eyebrow raised. I decided to tell the truth.

"Honestly, I couldn't care less. My life was pretty much over when you took me.", I smiled. My confession made Sydney flinch but since she stood a bit behind the others, nobody but me noticed.

"Well, we were going to kill you, but since you just pretty much told me you hate your life, I've decided to sweep you instead.", She smirked. I didn't even know what 'sweeping' was but I didn't have any opportunity to ask. Before I knew what was going on, I was dragged out of the cell and sat in a chair. They tied my hands and feet to the chair and then Evelyn barked out some orders to Sydney and Laura. They started fetching different books and things and placed them on the large table in front of me. Sydney seemed a bit hesitant in everything she did, like she hadn't made up her mind about something. Something behind the gray cloak was twisting and turning, trying to break free. I got a bad vibe from this. Evelyn started muttering something under her breath with her eyes closed while Laura mixed different herbs and stuff together. I was starting to feel uneasy. What were they doing?

"Hey, quick question, what does 'swiping' mean?", I said, pretty loud so everyone would hear. Laura shot an angry glance at me.

"Sydney, tape his mouth! He's distracting Evelyn.", She spoke and tossed a roll of duct tape to Sydney. She took it hesitantly and then went over to me when she got a look from Laura herself. She ripped of a piece of tape. She looked me in the eyes and mouthed 'I'm sorry' and right before she taped my mouth shut, I mouthed 'It's okay' to calm her down. She was not approving of whatever 'swiping' was, that was for sure. I sat there, helpless, while Evelyn kept chanting something, growing louder and louder in volume. When Laura was done mixing, she came over to me and put some of the mixture in streaks across my face, and even in my hair! I hated her more for destroying my hair than ordering someone to tape my mouth. My hair was my baby. After completely destroying my hair, Laura went over to Evelyn and offered the bowl to her. Evelyn took some of the mixture and painted some kind of complex pattern on her arms and hands. Meanwhile, Sydney stood by the stairs, her forehead wrinkled as if she was deep in thought, and she looked lost. The chaos under her cloak was still going strong and while I watched, It managed to tear the cloak a bit more so the hole grew bigger. Her aura flooded through the still pretty small hole, like the sun through some rain clouds. She looked at me then, with that same spark of recognition as before, and I just knew that she had remembered something from Palm Springs. I didn't know what it was, but clearly, it helped her make up her mind. Right when Evelyn seemed to be on the peak of the spell, and ready to cast it, Sydney stepped in. She threw some kind of spell on Evelyn, that made the older woman fall to the ground and stop her chanting. My face was pure shock and I saw Laura freeze in her steps and then pull it together and throw some other spell on Sydney which made her fly across the room and crash against the opposite wall. Meanwhile, Evelyn had gotten to her feet once again and was now staring at Sydney who was holding her head and seemed to be a bit dizzy.

"And WHAT do you think you're doing?!", Evelyn was furious. Apparently, it wasn't a good idea to go against her. I then became worried for Sydney. What was she thinking? She could get killed.

"I'm doing what feels right.", Sydney simply stated and then threw a spell on both Evelyn and Laura which left them fumbling in front of them as if they were blind. Sydney was soon by my side and started pulling at the ropes that pinned me to the chair. The last time I saw this side of her, I had been the one saving her. Now it was the opposite. Or was it? Maybe I had saved her in a sense, when I found her and helped her remember herself. I saved her mind. Evelyn was by this point extremely pissed over the fact that the couldn't see.

"SYDNEY! You stop it right now! I'm gonna swipe you too as soon as this wears off, I PROMISE, YOU WILL FORGET EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM!", She screamed and started casting spells randomly out in the room. She hit some furniture and Sydney had to duck for one, but soon she had untied me. Right then, their blindness ended and both of the women focused their eyes on us. I saw Sydney's face turn white in fear and she started tugging me towards the stairs. I was so weak from the lack of blood that I fell over and Evelyn pinned me to a wall with her powers. Sydney was angry by this point, her aura under the cloak glowed in rage. It was almost scary to watch.

"LET HIM GO!", She shouted before casting a spell that Evelyn easily dodged. Sydney wasn't thinking anymore, she was fueled by anger.

"Never. I'm gonna swipe him and then I'm gonna swipe you and make you an obedient little witch again. I have done it once before, I can do it again.", Evelyn hissed. Sydney froze in her tracks. Something that she just heard from the other woman made the cloak disappear completely. The whole room was flooded with her marvelous yellow aura and she looked stunned for a second. She blinked hard and looked straight at me. Tears started streaming down her face and she seemed hesitant to use any kind of spell. Oh, my Sage who was afraid of magic was back. It was really her. I was relieved. At last, I had broke through. At last, she was back. She soon put on a neutral face and threw Laura so hard against a wall that she passed out. Apparently Sage had become a much more fierce person from this experience. Evelyn laughed.

"So you think you can take me just because you knocked out Laura? Please. She wasn't half as strong as me.", She looked triumphant. Sage just looked angry. Evelyn made the next move. She gave revenge for the blindness spell and turned my golden-girl blind. Sage growled and fumbled in front of her, but soon calmed down and seemed to focus on locating Evelyn only by sound. The older witch started chanting the same thing as before when they were going to swipe me, and the pattern on her arms started glowing. I could feel the pattern on my face getting hot and I started panicking. What was happening? The next thing I knew, Sage was throwing her own body against Evelyn and I fell to the ground. Everything turned black.

Where was I? Why was my mouth taped over? My head hurt and when I opened my eyes, I was in some kind of basement, and close to me was two women wrestling. It would have been a dream scenario if it wasn't for the fact that I had no clue where I was, how I got here or who they were. The last thing I remembered was being at court and bringing back Jill to life. How did I end up in a basement? I ripped the tape of my mouth and stared at the two women. Now they looked like they were casting spells. I was freaking out. Was witches real? Had I just woke up in the middle of a fight between two witches? Lucky for me, I was an open-minded person. Sure, I was surprised that witches existed, but I just figured why not?It wasn't that bizarre that some humans had learned how to wield magic. I mean, we moroi did it, who was to say that some humans hadn't learned by studying them? Suddenly, one of the witches, who looked a bit like Morticia Addams by the way, was flung against a wall and passed out. The other witch looked at me. I recognized her, the tattoo on her cheek said that she was an alchemist. I could feel that I knew her name. Stella? Sandra? God, what was it? She had helped Rose, of that I was certain. Why didn't I feel hurt when I thought of Rose? Last time I checked, I was still a sulking mess.

"Come on Adrian, that should keep them down for a while, but we have to leave before they wake up.", She walked over to some stairs that were in the room. When I didn't say anything or follow her, she halted and turned to look at me.

"Adrian, are you alright?", She asked and both her face and her yellow aura showed worry. I suddenly remembered, Sydney Sage! Just thinking about her name made me sad. I didn't know why. I just felt heartbroken.

"No, I'm fine.", I said and started walking after her. She looked at me weirdly for a second and then resumed walking up the stairs and then she guided me through a big house that was decorated like something from the seventeenth century. It was all old furniture and creepy paintings of dead people. It was quite depressing actually. She told me to wait by the front door while she went to another room fairly close to me. She came out two minutes later with a backpacked filled with stuff. Well okay. Why were we even here?

"Let's go.", She said and waked out the front door out onto a big porch. We were in a normal neighborhood, and that scared me. That whole fight had been going on in there and nobody had noticed a thing. My companion went over to a gray car and hopped in on the driver's side. I sat in the passenger seat and then she started interrogating me while driving down the street.

"You must have brought back-up here, who did you bring? Eddie, Angeline? Where did you stay? Some hotel?", She glanced at me for a quick second before returning her gaze to the road. I opened my mouth and tried to remember what she was talking about but my mind drew blank.

"Sorry for asking, but where are we exactly?", I decided that that was a good way to phrase it.

"We're just outside of San Francisco, it shouldn't take more than ten minutes to go there.", She answered matter of factly. Why was I in San Francisco?

"Okay..", I mumbled.

"Well, who did you bring? Where are you guys staying?", She pressed. You could tell that she was an alchemist, with that business like attitude. I tried once again to find an answer to her questions but since I didn't even know how I got here, I remembered nothing. It was scary. I could remember everything as clear as day up until one point where everything just faded and eventually turned black.

"I, I don't know.", I confessed at last. She almost drove off the road in her surprise.

"Wait, what? What is the last thing you remember?", I could hear on her voice that she was panicked and shocked. And with a quick look on her aura, I could see that there was some hidden feelings in there to. Sadness being one of them.

"The last thing I remember is that Jill got hurt at court.", I was careful not to say that I had brought her back to life. That was a secret. This time, she had to drive to the side of the road and stop the car. She almost hyper-ventilated.

"Are you sure that that's the last thing you remember? You're not joking?", She asked while staring at me with wide eyes.

"I'm absolutely sure. Even though it feels like I have a big black hole in my mind after that.", I spoke. Now she looked even more terrified.

"This is not good.", She muttered. "Do you have your cell phone?", She asked. I felt my pockets and fished out a phone. I showed it to her in triumph. "Good, now, call Jill for me.", She said. Why did she want to talk to Jill? When I unlocked the screen, I could see that I had forty-nine missed calls from Castile, Jill and Rose, along with thirty unread text-messages. What had happened to me? I quickly pulled up Jill's number and when it started ringing, I gave the phone to Sage. Jill seemed to pick up almost immediately.

"Hi Jill", Sage said into the phone. There was a pause and then I could hear something that sounded like squealing and screaming on the other end. What was going on here?

"Yes, it's really me.", She paused again. "No, I had my mind tampered with-", she was interrupted by what sounded like a frantic Jill.

"Yes- Yes I'm okay. But you know about Adrian, right?", She asked. This time, all I heard from Jill's side was a murmur. "I will fix this.", Sage said, face filled with determination. "Do you know who he brought with him here?", She asked. I could hear Jill answer and then Sage talked again. "Well okay, where did they stay?", She waited while Jill seemed to think. "Okay- Yeah okay, we'll go there now. Thank you Jill, I'll see you soon, alright?", Sage smiled into the phone. Wasn't alchemists supposed to be disgusted by us?

"Bye Jill.", Sage handed the phone to me. "She wants to talk to you.", She simply said before starting the engine and driving towards San Francisco once again.

"Well hello there Jailbat, how's life?", I tried to joke away the spooky feeling I had. Something felt off.

"Adrian, I'm more interested in your life. You're in a lot of trouble this time you know.", She said with her sweet little voice. Oh Jailbat, I was so glad she was alive.

"I am? Strange, I don't remember doing anything to put me in trouble lately.", I said nonchalantly.

"Yes you are. I'm so sorry for what have happened to you.", She sounded sad. What was with everybody today? They all acted like their favorite hamster had died.

"What exactly happened to me? I feel fine, I don't understand why everyone is freaking out.", I said truthfully. Why did Sage look strangely at me every other second? Why was Jill sad for? What was going on?

"I'll leave it to Sydney to tell you, it feels weird doing it over the phone.", She muttered and something hit me.

"How's it going on court? Have they decided if they're sending us away?", Last time I had heard something, they were talking about sending me, Jill and someone else to a safer location until the law that allowed a royal to reign without having to have another living relative passed.

"Oh Adrian. That was nine months ago.", She said, with her sweetest, most gentle voice. I was shocked. Nine months. Nine months? How could I have forgotten nine months? What had happened to me?

"Come again?", Was all I managed to say to Jill, while blinking hard. How the fuck did this happen?

"The law passed five months ago and we were put in Palm Springs nine months ago.", She repeated, slowly and carefully, like she didn't want to break me.

"Nine months is an eternity. How can I not remember an eternity?", I was panicked to say the least. all my mind could manage to think was 'How?'.

"I'll let Sydney explain the situation, calm down Adrian. We will fix this. I promise.", She sounded so comforting.

"O-okay.", I drew a deep breath. I could handle this. I hoped. "Okay. I'll calm down. We'll fix this. Okay.", I started breathing deep and soon it felt better. The panic faded a bit and I could think again.

"Good Adrian. I'll see you soon, okay? You're safe with Sydney, she was in Palm Springs with us.", She talked to me like I was a toddler or a mental patient.

"Okay. Bye Jailbat.", I said, trying to sound calm and normal.

"Bye Adrian.", We hung up and Sage parked by a hotel.

"We're here.", was all she said before exiting the car and gesturing for me to follow.