Sorry this chapter is a short one, but it felt like the right place to stop it. Enjoy :)

I stood in a meadow, wildflowers all around me, bathed in a strange, pearlescent light. Looking up at the sky, I saw the sun and the moon hanging side by side. I felt peaceful, the songs of the birds flitting across the cloudless sky filling the world with music.
But in a moment, everything changed. The birdsong changed to alarm calls, and the animals turned and flew towards a forest on the horizon. Before they could get there, the trees caught fire, leaves burning red and gold.
My gaze flicked to the sky, but instead of it darkening like I expected, it became brighter. The sun seemed to grow, coming closer until it covered the moon.
The grass beneath my feet turned brown and brittle, before beginning to smoke. I was choking, closing my eyes against the glare from the sun. It burned through my eyelids, until I was sure I was next.
Then, the light disappeared altogether after a final supernova. In the darkness, I felt flames begin to lick around me, and my cry for help was lost in the darkness and the roaring of the inferno. The ground shook as the world made contact with something bigger, stronger, and-

I woke up. After taking a second to realise where I was, I checked to make sure nobody had noticed my state. Fortunately, everyone else was out of their seats and getting bags sorted. I must have woken up when the plane touched down; that was the jolt I'd felt.

As the panic from the dream began to set in again, I pushed it out of my mind. I would deal with that later.

Sophia came and stood beside me, dropping my bag onto the seat next to me.

"Good sleep, Anya?" She asked.

I smiled wryly. "Could have been worse." As in, I could still be asleep.

"Aleks!" Brooke squealed as soon as we were back on campus. She ran up to us, well, Aleks, and threw her arms around him. I resisted the urge to claw her eyes out. "I missed you so much, you were gone so long!" She gushed.

"We were only gone 3 nights." Ash muttered. Brooke glared at him over Aleks' shoulder.

"I have something I need to tell you Aleks, come on!" She grabbed his hand, dragging him away from us.

Barely having time to readjust his backpack to stop it slipping, Aleks shrugged apologetically, before allowing himself to be carried off in the claws of the harpy.

"Well, that was rude." Mason voiced what all of us were thinking.

"That slut better be careful, that's all I can say." I threatened.

I couldn't believe that we'd been back only a few seconds and already this was happening again. Well, actually I could believe it, I just hadn't wanted to. This weekend, it had felt like Aleks was back for good. But watching him being dragged away by Brooke right now, I could felt stupid for hoping that it could have stayed like that.

Spinning the ring Aleks had given me around on my finger, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, Brooke had sorta just dragged him off, and it would have been hard to get out of. He'd be back later.

Yeah, right, a sarcastic voice answered in my head.

It turned out that the voice was right, as we didn't see Aleks for the rest of that day, until dinner. Like he had the last couple of weeks, he went and sat at Brooke's table with the rest of the affectionately named 'Bang Gang'.

It made me want to go bang my head against a wall, both out of frustration and the hope that it would make that stupid sarcastic voice shut up.

The next morning, in combat class, Carrie partnered me to spar. She wasn't on a death wish, but apparently had gossip to share. She obviously thought that was a good enough reason to risk getting beaten up this morning.
After casting a furtive glance around the room to check we were far enough away from the other novices, she spoke.

"So I guess Aleks told you then?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"About what? I haven't really had a chance to speak with him, what with the unpleasant company he's been keeping."

Carrie's excitement to tell someone her news dissipated a little as she realised that I may not be the best person to talk to directly about this. But the look on my face told her it was too late to back out now.

"Well, in the bathrooms earlier, I heard Brooke saying how as soon as he got back yesterday, he wanted to speak to her, and he asked her out. They're officially together now."

I stopped mid-punch, muscles locked up. It took a moment for me to remember how to speak. When I did, it came out as a strangled squeak.

"What?" I cleared my throat. "That's bullshit! I was with him yesterday, I saw that bitch come up and practically drag him away. If this is even true, then she begged him. She was all over him like a poisonous, infected rash yesterday."

Carrie shrugged. "Whoever asked who, it doesn't really make a difference."

I snorted. "Uh, yeah, it does."

Again, I felt Carrie deliberate as to whether or not to tell me something. The instructor glared, so I began hitting the targets on her hands with my boxing gloves. Eventually, the burning need to spill the secrets won out.
"I wanted to know if it was true, so I followed Brooke after I heard her talking, and I saw her go and meet Aleks. He kissed her."

She said the last part just as I pulled my arm back to punch the mitt, and I lost control. The punch was too hard, and I moved to fast for my partner to react. My fist slammed into the Carrie's target-covered hand, which in turn snapped back into the side of Carrie's head, and she went down.

"Shit!"

I dashed forward, catching my friend before her head could hit the ground. My cussing caught the attention of the instructor.

"What happened?" He asked as he jogged over.

"She was talking as I was hitting, and I guess I hit too hard. She was distracted, so couldn't block me. She basically ended up punching herself in the side of the head."

The instructor sighed. "Well, I have to say that it was a good punch, and she shouldn't have been talking. But you shouldn't have done it when she wasn't paying attention. Get her to the infirmary."

I picked her up, jogging to the infirmary as the instructor told the rest of the class to switch partners, and 'stay focussed'.

Carrie came to when I was half way to the infirmary.

"Shit, Carrie. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you-"

"Hey, don't worry. At least I was taken down by you- I mean, there's no shame in getting taken out by the best." Her eyes softened as she began to lose consciousness again. "And I think you're hurting more than I am right now. I'm sorry..."

After that, she passed out again.

I ran faster, trying to push my own feelings aside as I worried about Carrie. It was a good thing she was so light, or I wouldn't be able to lift her on my own.

I knew that her telling me about Aleks and Brooke hadn't been to hurt me- Carrie had always had a weakness for spreading gossip- as long as it was true. Like she'd admitted to following them to find out if what Brooke had been lying, Carrie would never make up bullshit to hurt someone. It was because of that we'd become friends in the first place; she'd dispelled some crap about me being 'Strigoi mutant spawn'. After that, I'd referred to her as the 'vigilante myth buster'.

Once Carrie was safe in the clinic, the nurse told me to leave. She seemed to know that this was my fault, and her accusatory glare wasn't all that nice.

So instead of going back to class, I decided to take a walk around campus again.

But like the last time, I wasn't the only one with that idea.

I ducked back behind the elementary campus building as I heard voices ahead- a certain shrill, brittle voice that I would know (and hate) anywhere.

"Look, Hayden. Nothing needs to change because of this."

"Seriously? You're going all public with him, right?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't make a difference. It's not like we're ever going to be anything other than a secret!"

"Whatever. I don't like it."

"Well, I don't like being second best. Maybe I want to be the top of the list for once."

Hayden scoffed. "Come on, you're top of almost every list- you just don't stay there long. I don't know why you're doing this, you have nothing to prove."

"I have nothing to lose, either. But I can gain a whole lot from it."

A sigh, probably from Hayden. "Fine. But don't come crying to me when it all goes wrong."

"We both know it's not crying I come to you for." Brooke replied, a seductive undertone to her voice.

I wasn't sure what would have happened next, but a patrolling Guardian came into view following the line of the wards. I turned and ran back to the senior part of campus, just as the bell signalled the end of the lesson.

Brooke hadn't sounded like she was breaking things off with Hayden, that was for sure. So what did she have to gain, and who from?

I had a feeling I knew the answer, but I wished I didn't.

From here on out, things will be heating up. Think Anya's just gonna stand by and let this shiz go down? I can sense a war coming...

Please review on your way out :)