Authors Note: I forgot to mention that this is set slightly after Neil's tattoo was given. They haven't tested it out yet and only Adrian and Jill know about Sydney's magic.

Disclaimer: I do not Own Vampire Academy or the Bloodlines Series. Richelle Mead does.

Chapter Three
Sonya's Point of View

"How do we know we can trust her? She is an alchemist after all," I say, trying to wrap my head around all if while playing with the thin vial of clear ink. I'd been muddling over the question all night when I really should have been sleeping. I held it up closer to my face before shaking my head slowly and lowering it. I could have sworn that it glimmered for a second.

"Adrian seems to trust her a lot," my Mikhail states, rubbing shoulders in effort to calm me. Too bad it's not working.

"I know, but can we trust his judgement? When I looked at his aura-"

"I trust him," Jill interrupts hotly. I had forgotten she was there. "I trust Sydney too. Eddie, Angeline, Neil, and Rose, as well, trust Sydney. Why can't you? She saved your life, if it wasn't for her..."

I shook my head. Memories of that place still haunted me sometimes. The thought of never seeing my love again tormented me, especially everything he has done for me. I couldn't just shake the feeling that there was something really important she wasn't telling us.

"I know. I know...But how are we going to test it out. Like with Neil's tattoo, we can't just go out and throw someone in the way of a strigoi."

Rose began to step forward, obviously volunteering, but one look at Dimitri's face clearly stated it would be over his dead body. Literately.

I rubbed my temples. "What could she be hiding? Why the need for secrecy?"

"There are some things best kept quiet, a lot in this case. But trust in them. Sydney doesn't lie. If she says it works – it works. If she says you can't make it – you can't. If she says it could get her in trouble if others found out – you keep it quite!"

We all stared at Jill. She knew, that was clear. And she was protecting them. But Eddie and the rest of us remained stunned. But why would Sydney tell J – Adrian! That's how she knows. But why would Sydney tell Adrian, of all people? Yes, he had stopped drinking and gone to college, but the women? The partying? Why on earth would Sydney – an uptight alchemist – want anything to do with him, even if he wasn't a Moroi? Someone they considered to be a monster?

I rub my temples. Maybe it had something to do with their auras? They almost seemed to have a...fondness...for each other, like I saw in couples, but I'll have to double check when they get here in, I look down at my watch, 10 minutes unless she's early –

A knock sounds at the door and we all separate.

"That'll be Sydney," I say reach for the door. Early. Typical alchemist.

I open the door and she walks in holding a box full of clear liquid filled vials with Adrian tailing her.

"You could have helped her," Jill says exasperated to Adrian.

"Hey, these hands don't do manual labour. Besides, Sydney thought I'd drop them."

I laugh. Of course she did.

"Nice colour, Sydney," Eddie calls out jokingly, staring at her khaki pants and white blouse. "We're on break, remember?"

"Hey, if she wore anymore colour I won't be able to control myself," Adrian calls out even louder, winking at Sydney.

"In your dreams, Ivashkov" Sydney retorted with a glare.

"I wouldn't want you to feel like the only one, after all you'll be dreaming of me tonight."

She shakes her head exasperated before addressing the rest of the room.

"Here's the first batch. Did you want to start tattooing those here, now? I guarantee you it works."

"But how will we get it to the rest of the dhampir population? And what of the Moroi?"

"I'm sure you can think of something for the majority of the older ones, but you can replace the ordinary black ink you use for your promise and strigoi kill marks with this ink. Dye doesn't affect the m – the properties in it."

I chose to ignore the slight slip-up. I knew I would get no answer.

"And the Moroi?" Lissa repeated from her corner.

"I'm not sure," she says looking uncertainly at Adrian, "but if we could test it on someone..."

I felt sick. I couldn't take the risk of someone losing their magic. It would be devastating to the individual. Any individual.

"What about Avery?" Adrian spoke up.

"Who?"

"Avery Lazer. She's the crazy Spirit user who tried to kill Lissa. If it does take away her magic it might help her and the two guys who are tied to her, and if it doesn't we still get our answer."

"That's brilliant Adrian!" Lissa states jumping up, "Ill arrange for someone to test one of the vials on Avery and see what happens."

Sydney looks a little confused but Adrian whispers something in her ear and she relaxes a little.

"The reaction will be almost instantaneous," Sydney states, back to her normal stoic self.

"Cool," Lissa says nodding, "I'll do that, and the plans for the distribution of the new ink, now and we'll all meet back here again when we are contacted about the results."

And with that we were dismissed, giving me time to analyse Adrian and Sydney's auras. Finally.