When I woke up, I felt like all my bones were going to crack at any second. Scratch that, I felt like jelly. I couldn't walk right. I hoped that on my way to the gym I didn't melt into the sidewalk or something like that.

I took a good look at myself in the mirror. Ever since I started training with Dimitri. I was getting withered and old. Well, not exactly like that, but you get the picture.

The sun wasn't shining today. And it wasn't odd because it was winter here in Montana. The sky was too gloomy, though. I walked faster and made it into the gym in no time. When I arrived, I noticed that Dimitri wasn't his same usual self, well, he was, but he was even more quieter than usual, and there was a worried expression on his face.

"Morning, Comrade? Why such a gloomy mood? You almost remind me of the sky. Both gloomy." I started doing some stretches. Stretches were the thing I was supposed to do every time I wanted to do some major exercise, according to Dimitri.

He didn't say anything. I swear it was like I had spoken to the wall and not him. I decided not to say anything. If he was just going to ignore me, then why did say anything at all? Our silence lasted all throughout our training. I mean, my training because he wasn't even participating in training me. At the end of training, though, he did speak.

"Rose," he called out to me, while I gathered all my things to leave.

I turned around, stopping to gather my stuff so that I could look at him. "Yes?"

"I won't be here tomorrow. Alberta wants me to go with her to Missoula."

"Why?" Dimitri was one of the best guardians so it seemed that he would be selected to go.

He gave me a twitch of his lips—I referred to those as smiles, versions of smiles. "Alberta…"he said. He said it like some kind of answer.

I nodded. And went out the door to get ready for classes.

The next day, Lissa was excited. The reason was, she had found another Spirit user.

"Rose! Rose! Guess what?!" Lissa gushed, running to me, that morning.

I caught her before she ran into a bush, or worse, the wall behind the bush. "Liss! What is it?"

She took a deep breath. "Well, I was doing my research and guess what?"

"What, Lissa?"

"I found another Spirit User!" She sang. Jeez, was it that big of a deal?

"Really? That's great, Lissa!"

"I know!" She said, throwing her arms around me. "And that's not it! He is coming here!"

Could this get any better? Damn, I should watch it with the sarcasm. "Really, Lissa. That's great. When is he arriving?"

Her face went from a smile to a frown in a second. "That's the sad part. I don't know." She looked really sad. I wished I could comfort her, tell her that he was going to be here soon, but I couldn't. I mean, Moroi, sometimes were very unexpected. In other words, you shouldn't trust their word.

I gave Lissa a one-arm hug. "Lissa, he'll be here soon." I didn't know how I knew that, but I knew. There was just something telling that he was going to be here soon.

She nodded. "Rose! And guess what else?" This time, her excitement through the bond made me want to explode. There was a whole lot of emotion humming from her. It was a wonder I didn't explode in that second. And talking seriously, it would be kind of wrong to just explode.

"What, Lissa?" More strong emotions from her side of the bond. I really hoped I didn't explode.

"Remember that cute guy I showed you the other day?" I swear, she was so excited that she wasn't far off from bouncing.

"Andy?" Every girl I spoke to said he was the sexiest thing alive. I would have agreed, but I knew someone sexier.

"Yes, him!"

"What about him?"

"He asked me out! Can you believe it?"

"Uh, sure I can, Lissa…" It got kind of awkward. Lissa always brought up the weirdest subjects. It was kind of hard to keep up with her. Blondes…these days. I thanked God I wasn't a blonde. Not that I had anything against them or anything like that—it was just that sometimes you really didn't understand them.

Beside the Lissa detail, I really didn't like Andy for Lissa. He just seemed one of those guys that was good to your face. But behind your back he showed his true assholeness. Wait, is that even a word? Whatever. If it wasn't a word, it would be my new word in my Rose Hathaway dictionary.

I grabbed Lissa's arm. "Be careful, Lissa. I don't want to see you break over someone like him."

Some tears started slipping from Lissa's face. "Aw…Rose…I didn't know you cared so much."

I made a face. "Okay…" I said, freeing myself from the hug she had put me in. God, Lissa was so embarrassing at times. But hey, what could we do? After all, she was my best friend. I told her good bye because I had to go off to practice.

I wondered if there was going to be practice today? Since Dimitri was gone, who would replace his absence. I hoped it wasn't someone as shitty as that one guardian…what was his name? Landon? London? Something like that. He was one of the weirdest guardians in this whole academy, in this whole world. I just hoped it wasn't him.

I was surprised when I entered the gym. Dimitri was sitting in a chair and waiting for me.

"Rose," he said, as soon as he saw me come in the room.

"Yeah, Comrade?" As usual, he gave me the irritated look that said that the name had bothered him. "I thought you weren't going to be here, Comrade."

"Alberta had to cancel the meeting." He said, and I could see real sadness in his eyes. But it flashed away in three seconds.

"Why in the world would she do that?" I knew how much Alberta loved those Guardian meetings. Alberta had not been my mentor for nothing.

"Strigoi." Dimitri said. I knew he would worry over Strigoi. But that wasn't the only thing that was bothering him.

"I know its none of my business…but what is bothering you, Dimitri? Spill it all out." And, for once, Dimitri listened.

"What the hell?" I asked, when Dimitri finished his story. This was beyond what I expected he would tell me. Out off all these people, he would tell me this? So…so random. "She dreamed that?"

Dimitri had told me all about his life, well not everything about it, but his other life. His mother was named Olena. He had three sisters, whose name were Sonya, Viktoria, and Karolina. They all lived in a small house in Russia. Baia, Russia. And he also had told me about this grandmother, who was a Dreamer. A Dreamer was, in our world, a person who could see things that would happen in the future in dreams. And recently, the last dream his grandmother had had, was of him falling in love…

He sighed; he let out his breath. "Alright, I trust you; I will let you know what's wrong with me." I started to get happy. He trusted me! Only so few people trusted me! And he was one of them.

"What is it?" I asked. "Rose, my grandma is a dreamer." He must of noticed my what the hell look because he explained what a dreamer was.

"She sees things that might happen in the future in her dreams."

"Okay," I said, hoping he would continue. "And?" That was his problem.

"And, she saw me falling in love with the evil, a Strigoi."

"Whoa, that is—that is bad!" I was dumbfounded. What if something did happen to Dimitri? It would be bad. I had already gotten used to him! I would die if anything happened. I had to promise him something. I had to.

I took his hand in mine. "I will make you a promise, Dimitri."

He looked up, shocked I would even say that. Usually I was so heartless.

"I promise you that if anything ever happens to you, or that you get Strigoi, I will help you find the peace you deserve. It's my blood promise."

Instead of laughing he looked deeply into my eyes. "And I promise you the same thing, Rose."

I felt a hum in her soul as I walked out of practice that day. I clicked on her iPod and words from a song started playing. The song made me think about what would happen if this actually happened to Dimitri.

I was horrified at the thought of him leaving me, or dying. And that's when I realized that I had feelings for Dimitri. I was in love with Dimitri.