RPOV

Dimitri looks over his shoulder. "Stay with me."

I'm panting and my calves are burning, no, searing in agony. "I'm trying."

We're in the forest and the sky is in small pieces above us, branches mostly blocking it out so there's no light to guide us and if I don't keep up I'll lose him. He turns away and moves on, sinking in to the darkness.

My feet slide on the leaves as I try to go after him. "Wait, please!"

He doesn't look back and the dark consumes him.

I bolt upright.

Spiridon is shouldering on his jacket and spares me a glance. "Morning."

Morning?

I reach out to my left and sure enough he's still there. Dimitri hasn't moved an inch, only his chest lifts a fraction as he breathes. The bruises seem to glow on his skin and I wince at the sight of them. My fingers curl into the sheet.

"Where are you going?" My voice is scratchy, like I've been screaming.

"Belikov needs blood, an IV and morphine before we even try to move him, before we even try to get back home."

"How are we going to get back home?"

"Lets just deal with the immediate problems first, okay?" He sighs, stomping on his boots.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Stay here. Call me if he stops breathing. Call me if Ben calls you. Call me if anyone comes to the door, even if it is a sweet ol' grandma. Keep the door barricaded. I won't be any longer than an hour and a half."

"Where are you going?" He pulls the chair back so the door opens enough for him to slide through. I get out of the bed. "Spiridon."

"To raid a hospital. Push the chair back."

Before I can protest or reach out to grab him he's gone. A cold wind slips into the room and rush to push the chair back up against the door. It's completely dark in here again and I don't realise what I'm listening for until I hear him breathe.

I pad back to the bed and climb back in as delicately as I can, which seems wrong as I feel like I should be doing something. I try to take comfort in the fact of being totally useless means I don't have to leave him alone. To be honest if Spiridon had told me I had to go with him I'm not sure I could.

I retrieve my phone from under the pillow. It's 4am and there are no messages. Not from Ben or Victor or Lissa or anyone. If Ben had gotten Victor on a plane to America then they should have landed by now. I try to work out what time it is there but a wave of exhaustion comes over me and I drop my phone to my side.

Spiridon will get us home. I surprise myself by how calm and certain I feel about this – well maybe almost certain. Or maybe I was lying myself into it because if I didn't, if he didn't then …

I feel the entire weight of the unfinished thought bear down on my chest so I choke.

No no no, he would. He came for us last night. He would never leave Dimitri behind, not if he could help it, because he wouldn't let Victor down. And also, I think I was beginning to understand the connection they held as Guardian's, as proper Guardians who were trained and had the sense of duty the Guardian instructor had spoke of back at the college. I'd watched that class in wonder, knowing I was seeing what my life could have been, should have been like instead of being what I was now. Whatever I was. Leverage?

My fists close around the sheets.

Zmey had taken the only thing I had that reminded me someone out there cared about me for me. Not because they felt sorry for me or I knew things they could use. He'd stolen it.

I will get it back. Somehow.

I let out a long, controlled breath and turn on my side. The bruising is bad, so bad. It would be more believable to think someone had painted over his skin. What had he told me? He'd fell. Just how far had he fallen and how could he just be walking around in that agony and not telling any of us. How could he have lied about it? How could Ben not know – he said Ben had fallen too. The fire in me cackles and spits as it slithers through my veins.

Spiridon had said he had no broken bones, maybe some bruised ribs and the 'lumber region' of his bottom back was 'fucked'.

What if Spiridon hadn't found us?

He'd be dead.

I can't even imagine it. I allow myself to trace his forearm with my fingertips. He's warm, not feverishly hot like yesterday, and if I press down little I can feel the muscle beneath. I'd thought him indestructible because he was so sturdy, because he was a Guardian and they had been the titans and tyrants of my childhood. But here he is broken – just like Eddie.

"Roza." The faintest whisper. The fire is sucked back down into the black pit. I push up onto my elbow.

His eyelids tremble, like he's seeing things behind them before slowly he opens his eyes. Dark chocolate again and not black. He swallows and immediately I reach to the bedside for the glass of water. I slip my arm under his neck and slowly lift his head, like my mother had done for me, and bring the glass to his lips. He drains the glass and before I've even lowered him back to the pillow he's out again.

Roza

His voice whispers through my head like a breeze. The only thing I had of my own, that no one else had any claim to, was my name. And now he had given me another variation of it and I assume it's the Russian version. Only he could use it. Something about that felt… good. Another thing we had between us. After a while the sight of his bruises and cuts that weren't covered by white plaster sent my anxiety levels up and I retrieve the Alchemist paste. It couldnt hurt. Very, very lightly I start dabbing it on his discoloured skin.

I was wrong, where the colouring gets darker his skin runs hotter and I picture it like lightening raging under the storm clouds.

Somewhere in my task I start to notice how my fingertips dip and rise over the different muscles, start to marvel at it.

There's a thud and I almost drop the pot.

"Help me out, will you?" Spiridon huffs through the gap in the door.

I haul the chair back and I would never admit it to anyone but the damn thing felt heavy. Spiridon slips in with a rucksack in hand.

"I take it he hasn't woken up?"

"Uh, only for a minute. I gave him some water and then he passed out again. What's all that?"

On the bed he he was unpacking things that looked like long straws, bags of water, syringes and bags of blood.

"No screaming?"

"What?"

Spiridon starts connecting the straws to the bags. "He'll be in a world of hell. He was in bad shape before we even got to the bar."

Ice travels down my back. "No. No, screaming."

"Always so composed." Spiridon mocks. "Right, you are going to watch me put in the cannula for the blood and then your going to do it for the IV fluids and your going to get it right the first time because he has enough holes in him and we're already on borrowed time."

I blink. "Im – what?"

He doesn't answer but strides around to the side of the bed so he can kneel by Dimitri's side. He takes off his belt and straps in around his upper arm. "This is how you find a vein. See, it rises to the surface and we need a good one to slip the needle into it." He flicks the bluish purple cord that's risen under Dimitri's skin.

"Why? I mean why does -"

"He lost a lot of blood yesterday - you're wearing most of it." Yeah I had been trying not to think about that. "So this is the fastest way to replenish it. I should of done it hours a go but I just… I didn't have it in me." If I didn't know better I would say he felt guilty. "Are you paying attention?" I nod and he slips the needle into Dimitri skin. Red starts to crawl into the thin tube. He then take the blood bag and hangs it off the headboard. He touches the plastic looking tap thing on the 'cannula' and then blood starts travelling down from the bag.

Spiridon sighs and bows his head for a moment before he snaps his head back up and faces me. "Now you."

I open and close my mouth a few times.

"He's dehydrated. He will die. Do something."

He stares at me without any yield to sympathy. I swallow and when I reach for the other cannula I'm surprised my hands aren't shaking. Spiridon passes me the belt. I copy what he'd done and strap the arm up. A few veins come to the surface. "How do I know which one?"

"Prod them."

I do, some sink and take a few second to reappear but one's bulbous. I hold the needle above it, think, then tilt it at an angle like he had and look to him for confirmation. He nods, eyes trained on it.

"You should -"

"I will if you fuck it up." He says and oddly I find that eases the panic to a simmer.

Please, please, pleasssse let me get this right. I stop thinking about it and slip it into the vein. There's a split second before the blood appears in the tube. Spiridon doesn't say anything but takes over and connects the water bag with long tube to it and hangs it up on the opposite side of the headboard.

My shoulders relax, "Now what do we do?"

Spiridon cracks his neck. "Now we wait. Give it an hour and a bit before we try and move him. We need to be out of here before eight. I've already ditched that car you stole."

Oh yeah, I'd stolen and drove a car.

"Dimitri said we couldn't take our car yesterday because Ben would have friend the engine, how is yours working?"

Spiridon rustles through the backpack. "He should have but he can't multi-task and for once I'm grateful. The jeep probably won't run now that he's gotten Victor somewhere secure. Christ I hope no one;s noticed the rear window." He pulls out a paper bag with a logo on it I think I've seen before. "Here." I take it from him and as soon as I open it the smell sends my tummy into audible spasms. I take out one of croissants and take a massive bite. "Oh man, it's like watching shark week."

With my cheeks stuffed I smile up at him and he snorts. He pulls out another paper bag and drops himself into the armchair. Pushing it back up against the door with his feet, like its effortless. We eat in silence and its the first time I've ever been alone with Spiridon and didn't feel like I needed something pointy near by to stick him with.

I finish my first croissant and ask, "When that stuffs in him then are we gonna try and go home?"

"When that stuff is finished then we need to give him some morphine. Then we have to move somewhere else before the police show up looking for the owner of the car – I have questions about that by the way – or before the cleaning lady reports 207's door is bust, or someone gets alarmed there's a black G-wagon with bullets embedded in it."

"Why didn't you get rid of it too?"

Spiridon gives me a look. "Oh right sure, after I've taken one car and robbed a hospital - then ditched it without being caught, then picked up your breakfast and paid an extortionate price for a cab back here. I should have then left for another hour and hoped Belikov didn't flat line whilst I drove a war zone looking vehicle out close to rush hour and just hoped it wouldn't raise an eyebrow."

I stare at him. "Are you done?"

"Are you with your stupid questions?"

"How are you hiding the jeep from the humans now?"

"It's round the back by the garbage bins."

"Kay." I pull out the other pastry. This one has chocolate speckled on top. "Thank you for this."

"Yeah well, didn't want to listen to you whine."

Neither of keep us keep a conversation and weirdly it's not awkward. We sit and wait for a few hours until Spiridon says that Dimitri's colour looks better and his pulse has gotten stronger.

"He needs to rest but we don't have the time." He mutters and runs a hand through his hair so it's more erratic than usual.

"What are we going –" My phone starts to ring and before I can even take it from my pocket it's gone.

Spiridon scans the screen before putting it to his ear. Whatever is said makes his posture relax but his face remains hard. "Marie. What was the last thing Victor said to us before we left the car on September 19th?" Another pause. "Glad you were paying attention, White."

Ben. Ben is on the phone.

"Belikov's in bad shape. Like hooked up to stolen fluids and an IV in a crusty motel bad shape. How's Victor? Where are you? …. Okay good. Oh she's here. She's fine." I have this urge to yank the phone back from him, it is mine, and talk to Ben for myself. Just to hear his voice, something familiar to help in all this chaos and Spiridon wasn't explaining just how bad everything is. "They stole a car yesterday so it's bound to be on the radar by now and I managed to get here in one of ours. What do you mean how? The old fashioned way, I hotwired it." Ben talks for a few minutes and Spiridon starts to pace. "No, private is out. I don't trust they won't be all over it especially with the interest they took in...yeah. I need you to get us booked into commercial and get an alchemist in the city on payroll. I know….I know." Spiridon stops and looks at Dimitri. "Well if that happens let's hope there's a doctor on board'.

Another few hours go by in which Spiridon changes the fluids over and we avoid letting a cleaner into the room. Spiridon talks to her through a crack in the door and slips her a few bills of Estonian money.

"How do you know she wont say anything?"

"I don't. Grab your shit, it's time to add to your auto theft count."

After Spiridon broken into someone's car, without difficulty or remorse, I start loading it up with our stuff, making sure Dimitri's duster is folded and put in the front. When I get back upstairs Spiridon has Dimtiri sitting up and he's awake.

"Is there anyone about?"

"Uh no, just cars going by."

"Okay good."

Spiridon helps Dimitri pull on a sweatshirt, he must have stolen that too from somewhere, and I rock on my heels as his face spasms in pain.

"Water?" Dimitri's voice is so dry and low it's unnerving.

"Rose the bottle."

I bring it to him and unscrew the cap with clumsy fingers.

"Thank you." He murmurs but he doesn't take it from me. In those few seconds I realise he's so physically exhausted he's having to work up the energy. Without asking or being told I bring to his lips. Our eyes lock and I feel everything from the past day rush through me – until he makes a noise and I take the bottle away.

His head falls back heavily onto the pillows.

"Victor?"

Spiridon shakes his head. "Home. It's us that we need to worry about."

Dimitri looks to the ceiling. "Go. You should go."

Spiridon's face hardens. "Grateful aren't you?"

Dimitri closes his eyes, "We both know i'm not getting back."

There's a tick in Spiridons jaw. "I'm still figuring it out. You save your breath." He stalks to the other end of the room and begins pacing and muttering to himself.

"I told you to run." Dimitri's looking at me from under his lashes.

I lean in, conscience of Spiridon in the room, conscience of how close I am to him and of what i'm about to say in defiance, "I don't leave my friends to die."

"There is a line" He says and I know its causing him maximum effort, "between bravery and stupidity."

If he wasn't in such bad shape I might have hit him. I lean away and try and settle the fire in my belly.

"Okay." Spiridon announces. "Lets get moving."

Hours later we were in some other crappy motel, with some crappy crusty carpet, and two single crappy beds and a crappy couch that turned into a very crappy bed. And Spiridon was in a very crappy mood.

Any hope I had that we were just an hour or two away from getting in the car and driving to a plane starts to disappear. I trace a bruise on my arm finding it hard to believe that only a few days ago my biggest concern was putting up with Spiridon and wondering what I got to eat next.

Stupid stupid stupid stupid.

Once I start to feel like I'm on even ground the whole world seems to flip and the Moroi throw fire balls at Guardians. Moroi were always behind Dhampirs, the protected and the noble but in that room they stood apart from the rest of the world. They fought with the Dhampirs – I'm not even sure if they would call the Dhampirs their Guardians – it didn't seem like they needed guarding.

"I'm going out – make sure he doesn't die." Spiridon says.

I sit up on the couch and try not to think about the crunchy noise that comes from the cushions, "Where are you going?"

"To find us a fucking way out of here seeing White hasn't."

"When will you be back?"

"Later." And he leaves.

I lean back on the sofa as the silence stretches out and try to ignore the spring digging into my left butt cheek. My nail scratches against the fabric as thoughts build momentum in my head.

What if he doesn't come back? What if Dimitri needs help? What if Zmey and his friends find us?

The fabric tears and my finger goes through into the crappy sponge padding, that is somehow moist.

"Urgh." I jump up wiping my hands on my jeans.

"Our circumstances...have significantly went downhill."

His voice is so low and weak it makes me freeze until I cross the room and drop onto the crusty carpet beside him. He coughs and my hands flutter uselessly in the air.

"Spiridons gone to…. Get help. So we can go home."

"Glavnaya?" He murmurs, looking at the ceiling but I'm not sure that's what he sees.

"Do you want some water?" He mutters more words I cant understand. "Dimitri?"

His eyes find me. "Spiridon?"

"Yes he's here. Not right now – he went to get help."

"You should have gone with him. Gone… left."

"We're not leaving you."

He gives me a sad smile. "You are both….stupid."

I glower at him, "Try being grateful. It'll suit you."

His eyes flutter closed.

Please hurry up Spiridon, please.

I busy myself smoothing down the cover and pulling another crappy blanket from the closet and draping it over him. Then i'm back to being useless. I step back toward the couch but I swear I see something twitch under the faded purple velvet. I shudder and grab a packet of chips Spiridon brought back, and scoot gently onto the bed beside Dimitri.

His eyelashes are long for a man. And very dark, like how Lissa likes them to look when she uses her make-up. His cheekbones are more defined, almost too sharp and it hits me again how little care he'd been taking of himself. Even if his body wasn't battered from the fall - Fall from what? The sky? - he hadn't been eating enough to have any of his usual strength never mind what his body would have needed to feed the adrenaline.

His hair is almost black in this light. I dare myself to touch it but pansy out more than twice. Instead my fingers rest on the pillow beside his face and I freeze when he turns toward me in his sleep. I drift off wondering how and we could get him to eat.

A shadow moves above me and I half scream.

A hand clamps down on my mouth and I reach for the lamp.

"Its me" Spiridon hisses. "Were you going to hit me with that? Are you serious?" As soon he moves his hand I propel back and smack my head off the headboard. I sense him roll his eyes.

He moves round the bed and starts touching the tubes and baggies hooked up to Dimitri – who hadn't even stirred.

"Okay Belikov, your not going to like it but..." He starts lightly slapping his cheek until he comes around. "Dinner time. Nice, calorie heavy sludge."

Dimitri's eyes close. Spiridon slaps him again, harder this time.

"Stop that!"

He ignores me, "Prop the pillows up." He slides his arms under Dimitri as if to hug him and hauls him into a sitting position. Dimitri groans. Spiridon pulls out two long packet from his coat.

"What's that?"

"Alchemists finest take on 'nutrition packs' for the field. 800 calories a pop, tastes like shit and he needs at least four of them."

"You went to an alchemist?"

"Didn't I just say that?" He tears open one of the pack and wrinkles his nose. "Belikov. Hey, Belikov. Swallow this and don't puke on me."

Dimitri resists at first but Spiridon doesn't give him much of a choice. I go to the bathroom finding it hard to watch. When I come back out Spiridon is eating a sandwich seemingly non-phased he had to pin another man down and force a burnt raisin-smelling brown gel down his throat. He gestures to a plastic bag on the couch to indicate he's brought me me one too.

"I need you tell me everything from the bar to now." Spiridon says around a mouthful of bread. "Everything. Down to minor details, what someone said, how they said it, how someone moved, colours, the route here, when and where you pissed – everything until this very moment. Understand?"

I can't seem to unscrew my face. "When I peed?"

He stop chewing so I can have the full force of his exasperated expression.

I roll my eyes and try to think back. The past few days feel like weeks. I start with me and Ben waiting on the street for ten minutes before following them into the bar. How Ben said things to me in Estonian then lower in English, to when Victor muttered something and Dimitri unleashed hell. The run down the alley, the fight, the run through the mall, the car park, somehow managing to drive us to the first motel, Dimitri handing me the gun and then finally to when he kicked in the door.

"Tell me again." He says.

So I do. Then twice more. Then three times. By the seventh time I'm getting irritated as he picks out things to question me about.

"I don't know - they didn't say it English" I explain when he asks me again what Dimitri and Zmey said to one another. "He took my necklace….and he looked confused about it."

"He looked confused about your necklace or what Dimitri said?"

"I'm not sure."

"Show me how he held it."

"What has this got to do with anything?"

"Show me." He says handing me the cable for his phone charger. Begrudgingly I hold my hand up. "That's how he held it? Like he caught a fish."

"You're so annoying." I mutter before kneeling down and trying to position myself the way he had. "Happy?"

"Zmey brandished it like that?"

"Yes."

"You don't sound sure."

"You try repeating the same thing over and over and see if you still believe it."

Spiridon closes his eyes and inhales through his nose. "This is important."

"Yes. Yes he brandished my necklace AFTER Dimitri said something to him. Then we ran into the back alley."

"Right. Tell me about the parking lot."

I run through it again. Everything Tanner and Dimitri said. I look down at my dirty fingernails when I tell him about blinding the Guardian. His expression never changes as he listens and questions. He never shows disgust or lets on about any individual detail being they key point he's waiting to hear. There's only a persistent curiosity.

Finally, he stops his line of questioning and looks thoughtful. "They were interested in taking you for the Ozera leverage…but they didn't know you are the leverage. Unless they were bluffing."

"They could have taken Dimitri for that too." I point out, seeing he was there in the woods too and heard, if not understood, more than I did.

"Hardly." His voice drips with sarcasm. "They're not going to 'take' Dimitri. They'd have to have balls the size of Mars to ask for him to just be handed over. Also, you lived there. There could be things you don't realise you know"

They'd have balls to ask for Dimitri but handing me over wasn't an issue? I grit my teeth. "Great."

He smirks up at me. "Not fun being special?"

"Fuck off." It comes out quietly but it's firm.

His eyebrows disappear into his flattened hair line and then he starts to laugh which just pisses me off even more.

"Spiridon." Dimitri's low voice interrupts. "Stop it."

"Can't help it." He says trying to keep his voice light but he moves to be nearer the bed, his eyes troubled as assesses Dimitri. "How do you feel?"

Dimitri opens his eyes to look at him.

"Thought as much. We're going to move soon."

"Leave me at a hospital."

"So rest up, mentally prepare etc." Spiridon carries on. "There's an alchemist trying to set things up."

"There is?" He could have told me that.

He ignores me too and pulls two more packet of the gel sachets from his coat. "Dessert?"

Dimitri groans.

A few hours later, hours passed by staring at the peeling wallpaper and wondering when was the last time someone washed the walls and if I should, there's a knock at the door.

Spiridon, who's been pacing and muttering, goes still. Someone calls out in Estonian

"Remember." Spiridon breathes.

"I know."

Spiridon crosses to the door, touching the gun in the back of his waistband with one hand and unlatching the lock with the other. He peers outside and says something in Estonian and gets a curt reply. I pull my cap down further as the door opens and Spiridon stands aside for the alchemist. I don't risk looking yet because I know they'll be surveying the room and taking in every detail. My instructions were to make myself inconspicuous as possible although, I feel like the cap and the book in my lap work to do the opposite. I knew how to be invisible and this wasn't it.

They don't say much to each other and I think all Spiridon's replies are confirmations or further explanations. Its like ignoring an itch, the urge to look and see what he's doing to Dimitri. I remind myself they're here to help. Ben had sent them.

There's unzipping, clattering, tapping (fingers on a keyboard, a Ben sound) and wheezing (Dimitri).

I re-read the same line 150 times before I risk peeking up.

This alchemist resembles Victor more than Keith. He wears a suits, jacket slung over the chair by the shabby table, and his tie is flicked over his shoulder as he works over Dimitri. Spiridon's flint eyes watch every movement, coiled to spring.

There's a laptop set up on the table and a bag full of what I imagine to be pots of potions and clay creams that will magically start healing Dimitri.

What a hopeful dreamer I've become.

Dimitri wasn't going to better for weeks. The best we could hope for is he is somehow stabilised so we can get home – if we keep up this lifestyle of motels and stolen medical equipment from hospitals then Zmey is going to find us. Or worse, we'll be made to leave him behind.

I won't do that. Spiridon will have to drag me kicking and screaming. I suspect he would without care, and then probably throttle me or knock me out.

There's a sigh, "This man…this man cannot fly. A commercial flight will not have him aboard. There is nothing I can give him to pretend otherwise."

"I know that." Spiridon says. "What I need is assurance he won't die mid-flight."

"No airline will-"

"That" Spiridon snaps, "Is not what I'm asking."

There's silence in which I can't even hear Dimitri's breathing.

"I cannot assure you this." The alchemist says. "I can give you what you may need and God willing he might make it."

"God plays no part here."

"No, he does not with your kind."

Keith had been more hostile and forthright with his disgust of me and Dimitri when we went to him. The disgust from this Alchemist is all contained in that one sentence.

I keep my head down for the reminder of his time here and try to stop imagining him doing something sly to hurt Dimitri. Otherwise Spiridon will have to knock me out because I wont just be kicking and screaming. I'll be lighting the fuse to burn the world down.

The Alchemist finally leaves an hour later, murmuring instructions to Spiridon about bottles and syringes. Spiridon watches him leave from behind the curtains.

"Get your things."

We drive for a few hours. Spiridon ignores my questions after telling me we are flying back to the

states but to New York, not Montana. We take the duvet, the spare blankets and the pillows from the motel. He doesn't tell me why. He doesn't explain how we're getting Dimitri, who is unconscious in the back, onto a plane without humans being alarmed. He doesn't tell me anything and I actually think he has a gift to tune me out altogether.

I fall asleep irritated.

"I was starting to worry."

I blink into the sunlight, a warmer sun than I've known for days. Adrian smiles as me from the shade of a massive tree, clove smoke curling above his head.

"Should you be smoking near a tree?"

He snorts. "There are no fire hazards here my darling."

I think. "Can there be chocolate?"

He grins and suddenly the smell of Hersheys fills my nose. A bar is in my lap. "So tell me, has it been early starts or later nights?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've been trying to see you for a few days." He shrugs like its no big deal and flicks his cigarette away.

"It's been both." I break off a square and offer it to him. He shakes his head.

"What have you done to your hair?" He says, reaching over to tug at it.

I bat him away, "It was supposed to be a… dramatic gesture. I don't think I got my point across."

"It's dramatic alright."

"It could be worse. I could smell."

"Smell?"

I make a show of coughing and he grins, lying back against the tree.

"You look tired." I comment.

"Speak for yourself. Seriously did you have a fight with a lawn mower?"

"I'll have a fight with you in a minute."

He laughs.

It's a refreshing sound.

I lie back on the grass, neighbouring his shade and soak up the sunshine. I'm aware there are horrible things waiting for me …outside? In the real world anyway but here in Adrian's dream (my dream?) everything seems so…. Far away. And I feel more relaxed than I can ever remember being.

"I asked after to you but Victor was annoyingly vague."

"Victor?"

"Yes, at court."

I sit up.

"I thought you were going to school."

"Hmmm, well something's happened. I'm not sure what but something – Victor has the collation all locked up in boardrooms which leaves my father quite distracted. So, he hasn't noticed I'm prolonging my summer holiday. Besides Andre tells me it's all dreadfully dull but I suspect he's lying."

Victor….Court…Lissa…Natalie…Spiridon. What was going on outside again? It's like trying to grasp water in an open palm.

"If you aren't in America. Where are you?"

"What?"

"I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm a great detective but grow up around chaos being managed in hushed voices you learn to dissect codes and more importantly, ease drop. That and Victor only has the one Guardian with him, your 'brother' whereas I haven't seen him without the blonde in about four years. Natalie is at school so he hasn't been charged to stand over her… so either he's dead or off on some sleuthing mission, which my father suspects or…. I don't know. No sign of Goliath either."

I narrow my eyes, "Why are you so interested."

"You know when you get a loose thread in your jumper and you can't help but pull to see what unravels? You're like that thread."

If it wasn't for the fact he was staring off lazily into the distance I'd have pulled myself out, those words without context sound threatening. But I'd spent time with Adrian. He's restless, bored with everything, not happy to be spoon fed lies so he can live comfortably with his luxuries – must be nice.

The truth wasn't mine to tell. I can't even remember what it is.

"And at least now, I know you're alright." He turns to me. "You are alright, aren't you?"

Well its not like he can help anyway, "Yes. I'm alright."

He watches me. "Liar."

"I'll be in New York soon. Or close to it."

"Why New York?"

"Honestly, I don't know. But we're coming back to Montana from there. Adrian, don't tell anyone okay?"

"Of course not. I told you, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Besides, no ne cares to listen to what I have to say anyway." He winks but it doesn't cover how bleak he sounds.

"Are you okay?"

"Me? Of course. Well, I had to drink a bit more and dance a lot longer in order to still be asleep by this hour. I think it's the just gone nine here."

It strikes me again how this privileged boy is the loneliest person I've ever met. Not that I've met a lot of people but I've known worse off. I've been worse off but never alone in it.

"When are you flying?"

"Soon"

"So that'll be around ten hours…will you sleep?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll speak t0 you soon Little Dhampir."

The summers day starts to shimmer and I fall back onto the grass.

"Out."

The cold is like a slap to my cheeks. I worry for a moment I've gone blind until my eyes start adjusting to the dark and then a great roaring fills the world. My scream is eaten up by it and I fall out of the car, finding out the hard way my doors open.

A great shape fills the sky as it passes over us, pitch black against the navy, light points at the tip of its wings. I press back into the ground as the monster of a plane sink lower into the distance. My heart is hammering.

"Wet yourself?"

I look toward the sound of Spiridon's voice. His shape is outlined by the back of the car. I use the Car door to pull myself up on shaky legs.

"What kind of jet was that?"

"That is a cargo aircraft. And that's how we're getting home."

"But the Alchemist –"

"That plane carries cars back to the United States, not passengers. We are hitching a ride."

A great sense of dread pools my stomach. All thoughts of cushy chairs and cheesecake brought by a Rachel-type lady dies.

In the dark Spiridon gives me the run down of the plan. It's not much of a plan that consists of trying to get all three of us onto the plane carrier undetected, the two of us carrying Dimitri somehow, and if we are detected I have to get down while Spiridon shoots.

Great.

The carrier jet that just came in would be being unloaded now so low security would be around the one scheduled to go out in two hours. That information had come from Ben.

It was strange having more than one person to miss.

Spiridon leaves for thirty minutes with wire cutters. When he comes back we get back into the car and crawl along the road before driving into a field. My job is to hold up Spiridon's phone so he can follow digital map that I guess Ben had sent over.

We creep closer to the airfield where the huge bunkers just get larger. Seeing the size of these planes makes the jet look like a paper airplane. How the hell did they get off the ground, how?

The car stops and Spiridon turns his phone off, instructs me to do the same and we slip out into the night.

My job was to carry the blankets we'd brought from the motel and I shouldn't complain because they were easy enough to carry but just awkward. Especially with the back pack.

Spiridon has to carry Dimitri. We get to the fence and I feel along until I find the cut section and pull it back. We cross to the other side and move as fast as possible. I anticipate someone shouting out in alarm or springing out from the shadows at us.

Spiridons breathing gets heavier.

It feels like an hour before we start getting close to the air-craft we were using to get home. There are a few people around it wearing fluorescent vests. - Spiridon crouches down, eyes sliver like a cat. Dimitris slung over his back and I haven't a clue how he's carrying him or how safe that is for Dimitri, who I suspect Spiridon's drugged because I doubt he'd put up with the indignity of being carried.

"Six…Five…Four…Three…Two…One."

There's a yell in the distance, someone yelling in Estonian and the sound of a revving engine, I think. The people standing around our plane start jogging away towards it.

"Go."

I don't have a chance to ask where to and how wrong it seems to just run onto the tarmac into the bright lights but that's what he's doing so I don't have a choice. We run toward the massive air craft, heading for the ramp towards its rear. It seems an age to get there and I try to imagine this plane next to Victors house. I bet the planes bigger.

I start to fall behind Spiridon little by little, my heart hammering, lungs tight, legs heavy. The damn blankets are so awkward. I can't remember when I slept properly but that's no excuse, Spiridon has slept less. He reaches the ramp first and dashes up it.

It takes all the will I have not to get down on all fours and crawl. It so long.

Someone takes my elbow and starts pulling me up.

"Thank you." I mutter. Spiridon grunts. His forehead is shiny.

When we reach the top, I don't care about pride, I fall against something to hold me up. It's a car. It's a huge truck type car. Behind it is a sleeker, shinier black one.

"C'mon." Spiridon says. I follow him further into the planes belly where he stops by another truck and pulls back the tarp covering the truck bed. Dimitri's lying there.

I now notice how cold it is.

Spiridon takes the blankets from me and starts tucking them around Dimitri. At least they were made from course thick wool. Spiridon had also stolen us coats the day before and we'd wrestled Dimitri's duster on to him and buttoned it up.

"There'll be a medical box here somewhere. It'll have foil blankets we can use once we're in the air."

Without warning he grabs me by the waist and lifts me onto the truck bed. The metal is freezing through my jeans. I scoot back and lie down beside Dimitri. Spiridon slides down next to me and fusses with the tarp until its back over us. The only thing warm is our breath.

"And now?"

"We wait." Spiridon says.

That doesn't relax me. The stress and adrenaline doesn't ease despite knowing how tired I physically am. Maybe it's because I'm sandwiched between the two of them…and one of them might die mid-flight.

No. That's no happening.

A faint light illuminates my face as Spiridon checks his watch.

"What did Ben do?"

"Hacked into something, caused a distraction. Probably made a car drive itself into a wall."

"He really is brilliant, isn't he?"

"If he weren't, he wouldn't work for Victor."

"So why do you?"

He smirks slightly.

There some shouting and the vibrations tremble through the hanger.

"They're bringing up the ramp." Spiridon explains, "We should take off in twenty. Stay quiet."

I close my eyes and try to think about anything else. I think about Lissa and Natalie and my room and seeing Victor and making breakfast and the garden and Dimitri helping me wash up. All the things that had made my day up in my new life. A new life id barely had for two months.

My stomach drops as I feel the plane start to move and I imagine when it takes off us being flung out of the truck.

"Easy." Spiridon says calmly. "We're good."

Are we? Because we are in a flying container the size of a house with about six massive cars and god knows how they're strapped down and Dimitri's unconscious and we're not even flying home and I'm hungry.

I clench my fists as my ears pop.

I swear I can feel it getting colder.

God, it's loud.

I inch my hand across the cool metal and make sure the blankets are tight around him. Spiridon had done a good job.

My ears pop twice more before I feel us level out.

Spiridon lets out a long breath. "You handled that well. I was worried you were going to have a panic attack."

I try to think about a snarky reply but instead I admit, "I need to get up. I need out from under this."

Spiridon pulls the tarp back and slides out. I scramble after him trying not to jostle Dimitri. I walk around the cars. When I get back to the truck Spiridon has slunk off somewhere. When he comes back he's got the foil blankets. We get back on the truck bed and Spiridon puts his bag under Dimitris head. We sit on either side of him, foil blankets around us.

"Try to sleep."

"No." I say and before he can argue I add, "You're more exhausted than I am. And I'm willing to admit, if we're going to get home kind of need you to be on top form."

"How hard was that for you to say?"

"There's some bile in my mouth."

He chuckles. "Okay. Wake me if you hear anything or if a call comes through, or he needs something. Check his pulse every ten-fifteen minutes, check his temperature. If he starts to burn loosen some blankets."

Within thirty seconds he's asleep.

I can't even disappear into my own thoughts because of the noise. So I stare at nothing and periodically check Dimitris pulse and swallow the lump in my throat when I stare too long at him.

I think about Adrian and wonder what he's doing, who he's trying to force his annoying charm on. How does his ability works? There could be something in Victors books about it or maybe Lissa's heard of it before. But how could I ask without making her suspicious? It's a pretty strange subject…

Why hadn't she called me? Or even text. Nothing from her or Natalie. Maybe Victor told them not to. I hadn't even spoke to Ben.

I shouldn't care but I do.

I scroll through my phone from past texts to the photos. There aren't many. Photos of the garden, some of Lissa and Natalie talking and Natalie being cross-eyed.

I wish I had a photograph of her. I worry I'm forgetting what she looks like, smells like… sounds like.

I wake Spiridon after three hours and slide out of the truck to stretch my stiff legs. I wonder around the huge cavern, weaving between the cars and picking my favourites. I assign favourites to Lissa and Natalie too.

I stumble over a rise in the floor and my foot kicks a tire cap on the closest car. It pops off and makes a loud clunk and then an awful metallic spinning noise. I scramble to grab it. Heartbeat in my ears. I expect Spiridon to shout from the back but after a few second I exhale.

I crouch down to the tyre and…the inside is filled with with white bags. I pull one out and the impressions my fingers make tell me its powder. Baffled, I put it back and put the cap back on.

"What was that?" Spiridon asks when I get back.

"I kicked a tyre by mistake and the metal bit came off." I feel the exasperation roll off him, "Why are there bags inside tyres?"

He looks away from his phone. "What?"

"White bags inside tyres." He's looking at me strangely. "Is it to help weigh the car down because of -"

"Show me."

I do and his expression drops off. "Sonvubitch."

He pulls the cap off a back tyre and swears again.

"What? What does it mean."

He stands up and the Guardian mask is on. Chills march down my spine that has nothing to with the temperature.

"Get back to the truck. Get under the tarp."

I do.

I try to keep my breathing regular and press against Dimitri as much as I dare. I put my foil blanket across us both. I jump at the rustle of the tarp as Spiridon climbs back under.

I wait for an explanation.

"The Alchemist has set us up in the middle of a drug run." His jaw is set. "Which means landing is going to going to have a welcome party."

Oh great.

"Luckily, I have a plan. Unfortunately...it belongs in a really bad action movie."

I fucking hate the plan. It's a bad joke. I tell him its bad joke and that just makes him smirk. I argue with him but he does that thing where he tunes my voice out and starts putting the plan into action. I follow him around the hanger but I may as well be a ghost.

In a few hours I might be.

I follow him to the ladder that leads up to the upper deck. I argue up at him the whole time he's jamming the door with a pipe.

He slides down down the rungs in a way I only wished I could have tried back at the Ozera library. "Shut up. Here's what I need you to do."

I press my fingers into my eyes as he tells me how we're going to try and keep Dimitri safe.

"This is insane. We're going to die." Blue spots appear as my hands drop.

Spiridon looks thoughtful. "Maybe. But a positive attitude and willpower will do wonders." He claps my shoulder and starts removing tyre caps from cars, tossing out blocks of drugs. "Either go sleep or help me."

I help but only because throwing the white blocks helps with the anger.

"Hurl that at the wall again and I'll kill you." He shouts. "The last thing I need is you to be high off your ass."

"YOU MIGHT BE ABOUT TO KILL ME ANYWAY."

He laughs and I hurl a block at him.

It doesn't go well.

Three hours drag and yet fly by. We're now inside the truck, Dimitri strapped in and secure in the back and me in the passengers seat. 'Secure' I fucking hope so.

I watch Spiridon watching his watch. I wonder what Ben would think in this situation or even Dimitri for that matter. Would they agree? I think not but what the hell do I know. They allow themselves to be battered black and blue and run around fighting people.

Spiridon's already removed the ties from the cars ahead of our truck. Two of them are now insecure and free to slide around and crash into anything they like, including us. Thankfully they haven't moved.

I stare at the clock on my phone as it closer to the hour. The gravity shifts in the truck and I drop my phone. We're descending.

I glance at Spiridon, he hasn't moved but still staring at his watch before I snatch my phone from the floor. The cars in front don't move but he said they shouldn't because the brakes were on. I watch the time. Three minutes.

We've made it this far, please let us make it home. Please let Dimitri live.

The time hits the hour.

Spiridon looks up and nods at me. Then he starts messing with the control box for the ramp. The mechanical grind of the ramp opening is quickly swallowed by the air crashing into the hanger space. Spiridon hair is flattened to his head as he starts to move across to the first car. I imagine it rolling forward and crushing him to the bonnet before they both are thrown into the open air.

My heartbeat is in my ears.

The ramp finally gives way to being a large window to ….nothing. Just vast space.

I will myself not to throw up.

Spiridon wrestles open the cars door and in seconds it starts to roll back wards. He gets out but is knocked back by the wind. He uses the abandoned harnesses to right himself and get a foot hold. I watch unable to help but be impressed as he scales the floor to get to the other car. The first one is now near the edge of the opening and then it's gone, launched out into open air.

Spiridon reaches the second to repeat the process.

This is crazy. This is insane. We are going to die.

He's out of the second car and has an easier time of it. The shiny blue convertible starts it's journey to the end.

Spiridon tackles his way to the truck and when he reaches the drivers door I brace myself. The wind rips into the car like something possessed. I grip my seatbelt and reach across to grab his jacket, not that I have much muscle power.

He hauls the door closed. His hair...well is hair is back to looking like how he normally styles it.

He looks over at me. "Ready?"

"No."

"Yeah. Same."

"THIS IS YOUR IDEA."

"Doesn't mean it's a good one."

Oh I'm going to throw up.

The last thing I see of the convertible is it's dark underbelly as it's pulled out into open sky. A few seconds later I swear I hear it crash but I could be imagining it, it's impossible to hear anything over the noise of the wind.

Spiridon's eyes are trained ahead, waiting for the earth instead of the sky.

"Spiridon."

Then there it is, a grey line of tarmac lined with lights, grass on either side and a break of orange in the distance to indicate the sun rise.

"Spiridon."

His mask is on. He doesn't hear me. I look into the back and pray Dimitri is secure enough and this doesnt break his neck. There's a small movement in the rear window before it explodes. My scream is eaten by the wind.

I feel the car jerk as Spiridon releases the hand break and keeps us in reverse as he wait for the right moment. He reaches across and pushes my shoulder down. I glimpse two figures out on the deck, they must be shooting at us.

The hanger door shows the picture of the ground below getting bigger, the tarmac swelling in size as we get closer to the ground.

Spiridon yells something that makes no fucking sense before it feels like we're launching forward in the air. I think i'm screaming. Then we're out of the hanger and my stomach jolts, me bump onto the ramp and it sparks as it hits the tarmac and drags. We fly off it and we're suspended in the air – a lifetime wrapped in a second.

I know we hit the tarmac. I know we hit is back I'm flung forward in my seat, the seat belt tries to cut me half before angrily throwing me back against the head rest. Black spots. Ringing in my ears. I can't feel my body.

It all comes back at once.

"ROSE, WILL YOU CHECK HIM."

I whip round in my seat and let my eyes rake over him. It looks like Spiridon's handiwork with the seat belts and spare harnesses has worked. Or maybe he's dead.

"He's fine." I hear myself say.

I turn around and for some reason it's surprising to see the bonnet bent up oddly. Spiridon's heads bleeding again.

We're still driving.

I look back numbly and can see smoke and huge plane in the distance, it's landed but there's a fire. Cars are rushing to it. I turn back and it doesn't even phase me we're smashing through a barrier before we're out onto a road.

"That" Spiridon says when we get onto the highway, "Is why I love my job."

I stare ahead at nothing. "Shut up."

We pull into a diner off the highway. The world seems to quiet, despite the rush of cars. I feel like we should be speeding and there should be more noise. Or I could spring out through the roof.

That's the adrenaline for you.

Spiridon slowly and awkwardly gets out of our wreck. The bonnets leaking steam. An older woman stops on her way to the diner entrance and says something to him. He tells her to piss off.

I climb out.

We stand there for a while not saying anything as the adrenaline ebbs. My phone starts to ring and I pull it out and offer it to Spiridon.

"White?" He says. "Yeah...Just about...I'll explain later. Where are we headed?" He stands up straighter. "What? Who told her?"

I can't find it In me to react to his sudden change of body language.

"Right… send me the co-ordinates. There's medics right? He's stable, just about but we need looked at too. Let's just say I made my own Jason Statham movie."

He hangs up and turns to me. "Pick a car, any car."

We're stealing again and in broad daylight. Great. I point at the closest one. He pushes off our wreck.

God knows how we got away with it. Moving Dimitri out of a war zone car into someone else's preppy little yellow one, who was inside enjoying some pancakes or waffles, looking like two hospital escapee's. No one says anything to us. No one comes out shouting.

"Ten minutes." Spiridon says in a low voice.

I don't even ask 'until what?'. I don't know where we're going. I can't find it in me to care much. I look back at Dimitri. I want to brush his hair out of his face but I cant reach from here.

Something familiar comes into view in the sky. "Another aircraft? Are you serious."

"Private jet this time."

Hope ignites in my stomach. "Are they here? Ben?"

"No."

And it dies.

There's a checkpoint and it's refreshing to here an American voice. They clear us and be drive out onto the open tarmac and toward a white jet.

Thank god we're near the end of this. We're nearly home. It doesn't seem real.

There are a cluster of people waiting around the bottom of the jets steps and as the car gets closer they start moving toward us. They're pushing a flat bed on a trolley.

Our car stops and they're already opening the rear doors. "What are they-"

Spiridon's already out and jabbering away instructions as they lift Dimitri out of the car. I rip my seatbelt off and get out. I want to bat their hands off him, it seems wrong, they don't know how badly he's hurt but the only thing that holds me back is Spiridon is trusting them. The put him on the trolley and push him toward the jet.

Numbly I follow.

There's a pattern on the jet that tugs at my mind, but the sunlights blinding me to the whole thing but as I get closer it becomes clear. I stop still.

I know that pattern. I know that crest.

Someone grips my elbow.

"Rose, it's time to go." The urge to flee is bubbling, I'm leaning away from his grip. Spiridon's eyes are worn metal. "They're not here."

"That's theirs. That's -"

"They are not here." He yanks me forward after I step back. "Get on the plane. Belikov needs help."

I take deep breaths and make my feet carry me forward. One step up and then another until I'm inside the Ozera's plane.

Spiridon's right they're not here.

I allow myself to be manoeuvred and pushed into a seat by a small blonde girl. Sunlight glints off her face. She looks pissed off or like she smells something bad. Maybe I smell. She asks me something but I can't hear her. I watch three people working around Dimitri at the back.

"My shoulders dislocated." I hear myself say.

"Take my hand." I do and she starts rotating my arm. "This is going to hurt."

"It's not the first time."

The pop makes me curl in on myself. She pushes me upright and I let her do whatever she needs to. At some point it clicks that these people are all alchemists.

I look across aisle. "Is he going to die?"

Spiridon's eyes are trained behind me, where they're working on Dimitri. "After all this? Not a chance."

I hang onto that. My chest is tight and I tug at the bandages through all my clothes. I want them off. They were filthy with sweat. Im half way through fighting to loosen them when I remember why I can't. I drop my hands and heat crawls around my neck. I'm sick of cars but seeing familiar signs and stores fly past is helping the agitation. Sort of. The green helps. All the green is back.

"Is Dimitri dead?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

Spiridon sighs. Maybe i'd asked that too many times. I wince as the seatbelt bites into my shoulder as I lean forward. We turn into the private road that leads to Victors house. I feel like at any moment I could wake up and this will all be gone.

Then there it is.

The car stops and everyone files out. Numbly I step out and breathe in that fresh, crisp pine. I grip the car to steady myself. Safe, we were about to feel safe again for the first time in days.

Then she steps out onto the porch, two people in white flanking her and then they run over the flag stones to where Dimitri's being moved on his stretcher.

I feel everything in me still.

"Get inside the house, Rose." Spiridon calls.

I don't move. How can I? She tucks her hair behind her ears as she watches everything in the drive way. Her bangs have grown out. She stands aside as they push Dimitri through the door and then follows them inside.

Spiridon's pissed face takes up my vision.

"Why is she here?"

"She sent the plane." He says levelly.

"She...she did?"

"Yes."

"She's in the house."

No longer a haven.

"Go inside. Now."

The blonde alchemist from the plane appears at his elbow. I don't hear what she says but maybe because my feet are walking me backwards but I don't want to go backwards. I need to stay with Dimitri.

What if he's dying?

Spiridon grabs me and I try to push him off.

"Is she concussed? She's babbling." He's not talking to me. "Do I slap her?"

"Is your answer to everything violence?" The alchemist snaps.

"What do you propose? We pray?"

"I need to run." Spiridon is now looking at me like I'm crazy but he doesn't understand. I feel like I need to run out of my skin but I can't leave Dimitri. He wouldn't leave me. "GET OFF ME!"

"Rose, you are in shock and the best thing for you to do now is to go inside the house. You can get a shower, get into fresh clothes and get into your bed." The blonde says holding up her palms. Her hazel eyes are not as kind as her voice. Alchemist hate our kind.

I glare at her before turning back to Spiridon. "Where's Natalie?"

"At school. Get inside." I don't move. I can't think. "Fine." He releases me and stalks away. After an awkward minute the alchemist follows. I stay there unable to move. The rain starts at some point. I should go inside. I belong in there more than she does… don't I?

I'd driven us to the motel. I'd helped Spiridon change his IV and morphine, I'd kept watch when Spiridon slept, I'd checked his pulse, I'd given him water, I'd wiped the blood off him. I'd made silent promises we'd get him home and do whatever it was Spiridon told me too.

So why am I standing outside?

Numbly my feet carry me to the door and a Guardian I don't recognise opens it. They've pushed all the living room furniture out of the way and set up a mini hospital. They've even got those curtain dividers up. I drift up to my room. Ignoring all the noise behind me in the living room. I hear Spiridon shouting my name.

I close the door, sealing the noise out as I turn the lock.

My beds exactly how I left it. Natalie's cardigan flung onto the bay seat by the window.

It smells the same.

It hasn't changed.

But I have.

I'd left here made naïve because of this room. It had become a haven to me, a bubble to escape the violence. Then I left it and the real world woke me up. Then I returned to my 'haven' only to have Natasha Ozera waiting in the god damn driveway. I slide to the floor and hug my knees. I let it all wash over me. The pain, the terror, the stress, the confusion, the anger and the helplessness – everything I'd held at bay. I let it drag me under and I drown it but i do not break.

Later, when I resurface I crawl into my bed. I ignore knocking on the door, mixed voices call through it but I tune them out. The bandages are biting at me, my jeans uncomfortable, jumper and coat bulky and making me sweat. I wriggle out of them all and curl up.

I'm so tired I can't find sleep so I wait until it finds me, letting the my thoughts and emotions rage together. I would not let an Ozera terrorize me ever again, they have no rights, no power over me. I would not serve her or subcummb to the fear of what she represents.

I have come so far. I have been so free. This is my space. I am learning, I am fighting, I am made of iron and I am full of rage and it's in that fire I'm sure of myelf.

I am tempering.

Next chapter we jump ahead a month x