"You've got to be kidding me!" My voice was a mix of amusement and incredulity—and frankly, utter disbelief—as I stared at the rundown, ramshackle building standing before me. It was old and rickety, made of old logs that had darkened with decay and weakened significantly over time, and I swore I could practically see the wood rotting away before my very eyes with each passing second. I just seriously hoped we weren't in store for any high winds or anything, because it looked as if this building was just a light breeze away from blowing away.

"This is no Alchemist institution," I said, narrowing my eyes accusingly at Marcus. "Come on, man, I've seen sleazy strip clubs more fitting to an Alchemist than this slophole. Seriously, I'm getting the clap off this building just from looking at it."

My eyes were fixated on the building, and I was met with a deafening, conspicuous silence that alerted me to the bluntness of my words. I glanced around and saw Rose casting me a sharp look, appalled that I'd even go there—but I could've sworn I caught the slightest hint of amusement hidden in the depths of her eyes. She thought my comment was funny, though she never would've admitted to it. Dimitri's face was schooled to that guardian mask of neutrality that he excelled at, not giving anything away, though I knew that he, too, was properly shocked by my words. The smallest of smirks twitched at Jackie's lips, and Abe made no attempt to cover up his amusement. Marcus, on the other hand, was clearly disgusted by the metaphor, and he scowled at me in response.

"What?" I asked innocently, playing oblivious.

"You, of all people, should know that outside appearances can be deceiving, Ivashkov," Marcus retorted, not even bothering to acknowledge my earlier comment.

I opened my mouth to protest, all ready with a snarky comeback of my own, but he quickly continued on before I could throw in my two cents. "It's an illusion," he explained, with a sharp, pointed look in my direction. "A spell cast over the building to make it look like some old, abandoned factory that no one would have any interest in exploring further. Only a select few know what really goes on inside those walls—what those menacing walls really contain."

"How in the hell do they pull off an illusion of that magnitude?" Rose demanded, looking grudgingly impressed. "The Alchemists might be resourceful, but that's kind of pushing it—even for them, isn't it?"

"Sweetheart, what we don't know about the inner workings of the Alchemy world could fill a book," Marcus addressed Rose, and she made a face at the term of endearment, but in a great show of restraint, she swallowed back any biting comments. Marcus, seemingly oblivious to Rose's irritation, reconsidered his words. "Hell, there aren't enough books in the world to contain all those dirty little secrets."

"Mm, fascinating," I murmured, clenching my jaw in agitation. "But, uh...if you don't mind, I'd say we have far more pressing matters here, wouldn't you agree? What do you say we focus on breaking Sydney out now and investigate the illicit secrets of the Alchemists later? Sydney has to be our priority; we can't lose sight of that. We have to get her out right now."

"Agreed," Rose said, returning to the task at hand and snapping back to guardian mode. "All right, then...So, what's the plan, Adrian?"

I regarded her with a dry smile, eager to get going on my plan and go storming in there and tear apart some Alchemists. And looking at Rose now, I could see that eagerness mirrored in her, and I could see that this rescue mission was just as personal for her as it was for me. "My plan is quite simple, really:" A wry glint filled my eyes with my next words. "Divide and conquer."

And then we did.

Before leaving Court, Lissa and Sonya had graciously pooled their efforts to create illusion charms for Rose, Dimitri, and Abe, so that nobody would recognize them. Jackie claimed that she was taken care of, having her own magical means to mask her true appearance, and I didn't question her further. I figured she knew what she was doing, and so long as everyone here was wearing different faces, none of us could be implicated in the break-in.

That meant that Marcus and I took priority for my magic, so I made sure the former Alchemist stayed firmly by my side so that I could obscure our appearances to the best of my ability. Once our appearances had been altered to my satisfaction, we each set off to our respective locations, and I was surprised to find myself breathing a silent prayer to whoever was listening out there that this mission would go as smoothly as we hoped and that we would get Sydney out without any trouble.

But of course, we should be so lucky.

Marcus and I entered the front entrance, posing as fellow superior Alchemists that were coming to inspect the "prisoner" and "assess her progress for the official records". And as it turned out, Marcus was right about appearances being deceiving. We walked into that front door, and upon passing the threshold, it was like being sucked into a vortex to another dimension, another reality altogether. It took every ounce of strength I possessed to keep walking and to not react to the startling contrast.

We walked into a clean, sterile space resembling the waiting room of a psych ward that was all white from top to bottom—the walls, the ceiling, the desk centered in the room, and even the woman staffing that front desk was clothed in all white. Looking around in awe, I had to resist the urge to stop and remove my shoes for the fear of tracking in dirt from outside. Honestly, if heaven were to have an administrative office, this is exactly what I would imagine it looking like.

The woman staffing the desk looked up at our approach and offered a small pleasant—albeit, a tight, almost forced—smile. "Can I help you?"

Marcus offered up a curt nod and spared only the smallest of glances toward me before turning his attention toward the woman, since he knew what would be expected in this situation and what should be said to grant us entrance. "Yes, hello, Marilyn. It's a pleasure to see you again."

The woman—Marilyn, apparently—blinked in astonishment. "Do I know you?" she asked uncertainly.

Just like that, like flipping a switch, Marcus turned on the charm and turned his own captivating smile on the woman. "Not officially, no," he said. "But I remember seeing you quite some time back, several years ago, when you were just a little budding seedling starting out in the Alchemists."

I didn't know if that was entirely accurate, but the woman certainly seemed young enough to have only been active in the Alchemist business for a couple years, not looking much older than Sydney. She had raven black hair, pulled back into a slick ponytail, and looked like it was doused in hairspray and gel to keep even the smallest stray hairs in place. She had chocolate brown eyes and a gorgeous bronze complexion that even I could admire. She wore black-rimmed glasses, looking very much like a librarian. But when she rose and I saw a white lab coat with her name: Dr. Marilyn Valdez embroidered in elegant cursive lettering on the fabric, I immediately dismissed that comparison.

"I see," she said, her eyes flicking back and forth between our faces, her eyes lingering on our cheeks, where she hopefully saw the golden lily tattoos that would identify us as fellow Alchemists—if my illusion spell was playing itself out properly, that is. "And you are?"

"A doctor, just like yourself," he told her winningly. "Dr. Ronald Bates," he added, without missing a beat, no doubt calling on one of his many aliases that he used to get by in this world gone wrong. "And this here," he gestured to me, "is my associate—"

"Jet," I interjected, before Marcus could give me some god-awful name from his repertoire. I much preferred utilizing my own aliases here, considering the circumstances. "Jet Steele."

Marcus looked like he had to repress the urge to roll his eyes, but he managed to maintain his composure and carried on as if it made total sense that we would be here. "Our superiors have dispatched us to assess the prisoner in holding cell three, Sydney Sage. Orders have been issued for me to provide a psychological evaluation for Miss Sage and determine what went wrong with her, ah...loyalties."

Marilyn looked slightly confused by Marcus' words, but she wasn't exactly screaming: "intruder!" quite yet. "Really?" she asked, peering down at the computer before her and flipping through several screens before glancing down at some files sitting on the desk's surface. "I've received no verbal or written instructions to that end," she added, still buying this as a clerical error on one of her colleagues' parts. "Would you mind telling me who sent you?"

"Jared Sage," Marcus replied, quickly coming up with the name of someone who would be interested in this case. "The prisoner's father has requested that we perform an extensive analysis on her current mental state and report back to him immediately on our findings."

"Mr. Sage was just in here the other day to see her progress for himself," Marilyn said, her confusion growing even more. "He was briefed on all psychological and physical assessments that have been conducted on her since her admission to this institution. I can't imagine there's anything in regards to his daughter's case that he doesn't already know."

"Yes, well," Marcus returned, sounding rather bored with this woman—like she was some insignificant child taking up his valuable time. "You know as well as I do that Mr. Sage is very thorough, and while he might appreciate and respect your efforts to help his daughter, he wants another opinion, just to either confirm or deny what has already been determined. He wants someone he trusts to run the analysis, someone that can directly report the findings back to him."

Marilyn looked rather insulted by Marcus' unspoken presumption that nobody else here would do a thorough enough job running the assessment. "Are you suggesting that the people working here are not capable of running the necessary tests?" she demanded, indignantly.

"What I am saying," Marcus snapped, his face perfectly schooled to that Alchemist look of superiority and arrogance, "is that I have been given a job to do, and you are wasting my time here, arguing semantics. Are you really going to deny me access, when Jared Sage has issued the orders himself for me to personally run these tests on his daughter?"

"Of course not," she said, that fake smile plastered on her lips as she reached for the phone. "I'm just going to call and confirm these orders with Jared, if that's all right with you—"

"We don't have time for this," I snapped, pushing my way past Marcus and putting myself directly in Marilyn's line of sight. I fixed my gaze on her, hard and commanding, and—leaving no room for arguments or resistance—I offered up the command, making my voice as sweet and cajoling as possible in my current agitated state. "Put down the phone," I ordered. "Now."

My voice was silky smooth, and Marilyn paused, her eyes glazing over as the compulsion sunk in. Her body locked up, seemingly frozen in space, and just for a second, it looked as if she might resist the command. But eventually, the command made its way through to her, and she slowly lowered the phone and hung it up.

"Very good," I said. "Now, take us to Sydney Sage's cell."

"Why on earth would I—?"

"Do it!" I interjected, and her face relaxed into total compliance as she completely succumbed to the throes of my compulsion. "Make sure that we won't run into anybody."

She nodded wordlessly and then retrieved her employee key card that would grant us entrance past the giant metal door that was behind her.

"Dr. Bates," I said, keeping my eyes locked on Marilyn so that she wouldn't break free of my compulsion. "You stay here and make sure the surveillance system has a convenient malfunction for about the next twenty minutes or so, at least. Disable it as quickly as you can, and then get the hell out of here. We'll take it from here."

"But I wanna help—"

"No!" I snapped. "There's nothing more you can do for us. Your job here is done. Do your part and then get out of here. Everyone else will meet up with you when they're done, and they'll make sure you get out of here okay."

"Okay," he said finally, in a small voice. I knew he wasn't happy about his role in all of this, and he wanted to do more to help, but I couldn't risk him getting caught. This rescue mission fell to me now, and I wasn't going to let anyone else take the fall here.

While we had been conversing, Marilyn had swiped her card and gotten the door leading to the cells open. She then stood aside and waited for me to follow her inside before closing the door behind us. The door slammed shut with a loud clang, and I winced at the loud noise it made, but otherwise stayed focused on the task at hand.

Marilyn began leading me through a brightly lit corridor with white walls, mirroring that front room perfectly, again giving me that sense of walking right into a psych ward. I almost expected to see the Alchemist prisoners chained to the walls and crying out in agony while the Alchemists literally cracked their whip. Instead, being led through this sterile, dead silent environment was almost scarier than all the lashings and screams in the world ever could be. It's amazing, I thought, how terrifying utter silence can be, given the right circumstances.

I shuddered at that thought, but otherwise maintained my cool, determined exterior as I was led even further into the Alchemist compound. "Stop," I cried out suddenly, and my guide immediately halted in her tracks and mechanically turned to face me. I grimaced at how dutifully she complied with my requests, the sure fire sign of just how effective my compulsion could be when utilized to its full capacity. It killed me to resort to this and remove another person's will so that I could enforce my own will upon them, but Sydney was far too important, and I couldn't get caught up in the logistics of morality right now.

I had called for us to stop, though, because up around the next corner Marilyn was leading me around, I could sense three auras approaching, no doubt some Alchemist douche bags that were here striving for world domination. I caught hold of Marilyn's upper arm, my fingers biting in hard, and she winced at the pressure, but otherwise kept that complacent, glazed-over look of someone being compelled to complete docility. "Not this way," I told her, keeping my voice pitched low so that the newcomers hopefully wouldn't hear me. "There are people heading this way, and I don't want them to see me here. Take me another way. Now."

Without another word, Marilyn spun on her heel and began leading me in another direction. I kept my hand on her arm and picked up my pace so that we could hopefully avoid more Alchemist eyes. There were a lot of twists and turns, and I hoped I would remember how to get out of here once I found Sydney. We walked on without incident for about five minutes straight, and then, we happened upon another large metal door with a key code that had the words: "WARNING: AUTHORIZED PERSONELL ONLY. ENTERING PRISONER HOLDING CELLS 1-5."

My heart rate picked up into overtime with the realization that I was almost there. Only a door or two stood in the way of me and Sydney being reunited once more. Oh, God, I thought eagerly. This is it, this is it. Marilyn opened the door with a quick swipe of her card, along with punching in a key code that was about twenty digits long. Dear God, how could anyone remember a series of numbers that long? With my superior Moroi vision, I saw her punch in the numbers: 839483... and then I lost track of where it went from there. Her fingers moved fast and furious along the keypad, until at last, a beep signaled that the correct code had been entered and the light flashed green, granting us access to this so-called restricted area.

As soon as the door swung open, we happened upon the sounds of fighting issuing from about thirty feet or so ahead of us, as well as someone fast approaching off to the right of us. A flash of light ahead of us signaled that Jackie was making her way toward us and using her magic to fight her way through to Sydney. Unfortunately, as soon as I entered the dark and dingy corridor, I was met with a mini-army of Alchemists that were apparently ready and waiting for me. There must have been some silent, immediate alert system that was sent out as soon as my accomplices had broken into the compound.

"Marilyn!" One of the Alchemists shouted angrily at the woman standing beside me, still under the full throes of my compulsion. "What do you think you're—oh, my God! It's one of them!" the man yelled, managing to convey fifty shades of disgust and revulsion in that one word. He immediately rushed me, while his colleagues began drawing out automatic weapons, thinking of much simpler—and frankly, faster—ways of dealing with this problem.

Fortunately for me, while I might not have been an athlete or had the reflexes of a dhampir by any stretch of the imagination, I did manage to retain the training I had gained from Wolfe, the man who had taught Sydney and me basic self-defense, and calling on every ounce of that training now and summoning up all my strength, I threw myself into battle mode and easily evaded the man's attempt to grab me. Instead of getting my hands dirty, though, I simply stepped aside—my reflexes much faster than any human's could ever be—so that the man coming at me wound up slamming into Marilyn instead. He came at her with such force that they wound up stumbling into the corridor on the opposite side of the metal door, and I didn't waste a moment in slamming the door behind them so that they couldn't get to me.

I think the other three Alchemists there would have attacked me, if not for the fact that Rose and Jackie had reached us, and suddenly, they were deemed the new threat. One of the Alchemists—a woman with blonde hair chopped crudely into a pixie cut—aimed her gun at Jackie, but Jackie waved her hand in a delicate maneuver that flung the gun from the Alchemist's hands, and then Rose took over and lunged forward and punched the woman. The woman staggered back from the impact and let out a small cry, but otherwise maintained her cool Alchemist exterior and attempted to respond in kind by delivering a blow of her own. Jackie worked her magic again, and suddenly, the woman collapsed to the ground—her legs suddenly becoming jelly—and she clutched desperately at her head and began crying out deliriously. I didn't know what the hell Jackie did to her, and frankly, I didn't care.

Because at that point, I saw a man sneaking up behind Jackie, raising his gun so that he knock Jackie unconscious with it. And I couldn't let that happen. "Jackie, look out!" I cried, making her whip around frantically and catch the blow on her shoulder instead of her skull. "No!" I made to lunge toward her, but she still had a few tricks up her sleeve and she cried out an incantation that Sydney had once told me about that caused the target of the spell to go blind temporarily. The man cried out and Jackie responded in kind to his temporary distraction by delivering a solid blow to his abdomen that I never would've thought her capable of.

At that point, I noticed that Rose was battling two Alchemists—a man and woman—both of whom kept trying to get the jump on her, but if they had known her even a little bit, they would've realized how futile their attempts were. Rose's attention was more focused on the man, who kept trying to renew his attack and catch her by surprise, but honestly, he was seconds away from being rendered unconscious. I knew that. But it didn't make me any less nervous when he went to attack her at the same time that the woman drew out a gun and aimed it at the back of Rose's head.

"NO!" I shouted, lunging for the woman and knocking the gun out of her hand. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one packing weapons and I saw the man Rose was fighting use the moment of distraction to draw his own gun on her...at the same time that Dimitri had entered the fray. Dimitri charged forward and yelled: "Roza!", throwing her against the wall and shielding her body with his own right as the gunshot sounded. I saw the bullet barely graze the fabric of the bottom of his duster, but he didn't even seem to register it. His attention was fixed solely on Rose and making sure she was uninjured.

I noticed then that the man was trying to get off another shot, while Rose and Dimitri were distracted, so I cried out a warning to them, even as I lunged for the man and knocked him to the ground in an elaborate maneuver, rendering him unconscious myself. Rose and Dimitri turned to face me, their eyes nearly bugging out of their skulls at this very uncharacteristic act of violence on my part. "You're welcome," I said dryly. My chest rose and fell rapidly with each forced gasp of air I took, but I had no time to calm myself down, because it was at that point that the woman had recovered her gun and was now aiming it at me. Apparently, it was my lucky day, though, because I spotted the gun from the man lying on the floor and I lunged for it, aiming it at the woman and firing off a shot that took her shoulder. She cried out at the agony of the bullet penetrating her skin and collapsed to the ground, clutching her shoulder and fixing me with a look of pure hatred.

Before I could even muster a response, I was suddenly being tackled by new Alchemists that had entered the scene—one flanking me on either side—and before I could respond to their attack, I was being tackled against one of the cell doors, my face right up against the window looking into the cell. I pushed back against my captors, struggling to break free of their hold on me, but I suddenly froze up when I recognized a familiar blonde figure sitting inside the cell I was facing, with her knees drawn up to her chest and her head resting against her knees, her hair spilling over her face, partially obscuring her features. But I didn't need to see her face to recognize Sydney. I knew her by heart: every line, every curve, every last detail that marked her as my Sydney...and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was looking at her right now.

"Sydney..." I murmured, my voice catching with the realization that I had made it. I was here. I was so caught up in the whirlwind of my own thoughts that I didn't even notice that my captors had been ripped away from me and were now getting their asses kicked by two of the best guardians in the world. "You deal with them," I ordered, not even knowing if anyone had heard me, much less if they processed my words. "I'm getting her the hell out of here."

I immediately went to open the door, but naturally, it was locked. Not that I should've expected anything less. Damn it. I glanced around frantically for some means to open the door and help came in the surprising form of Abe. "Here, allow me," he declared, holding up a set of keys that he had no doubt swiped from some Alchemist guard here. He casually stepped forward and inserted the keys into the lock at random until he found the correct key to unlock this cell. While experimenting with the keys, he glanced casually in through the window and assessed Sydney's condition from here. "Huh. Looks like our girl has really been put through the ringer these past few weeks," he observed. "Wouldn't you agree?"

It took me a moment to remember that Sydney was sitting in there, still naked and malnourished, courtesy of the Alchemists, and that didn't sit well with me. "Hey, don't look at her!" I snapped, glaring at Abe accusingly.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he chuckled. "And there you are!"

I flung the door open without another word and crossed the few steps separating Sydney and me within seconds. "Sydney!" I crouched down beside her and she slowly, reluctantly lifted her to meet my gaze. "Hey." A small, pained smile twitched at my lips as I reached forward to brush the unruly strands of hair that had fallen forward back behind her ear. "There's my girl."

"Adrian?" Sydney spoke my name uncertainly, like she couldn't believe I was actually here. Not that I could blame her. I almost couldn't believe it myself.

"Yes," I said gently. "It's me. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" I assessed her for physical injury and noticed several scrapes and bruises, but nothing too severe. Honestly, those looked like they were caused more from malnourishment and crawling around and bumping into things around here than anything else.

"Adrian." Realization dawned on her, and her eyes lit up with the first spark of life I had seen in a long, long time. "You're here. You're here? You came for me?"

Pain distorted my features as I took in her response. "Of course I came for you, Sage," I told her, slightly insulted that she even had to ask that question. "I told you I was coming. I told you I'd get you out of here."

"But how did you—? You mean, it was real? Those last two spirit dreams? I thought they were fake, the Alchemists—they would thrust me into simulated spirit dreams, making me think I was actually seeing you, but I wasn't. Not really. But those last two times were real?"

"Yes, that last one was real," I assured her, not sure what she was referring to about the second dream. "I told you I was coming for you, and here I am. I would never give up on you, Sydney, I'd never let you stay in this godforsaken place."

She flinched at my words and her eyes widened with realization. "That...wasn't the last one. That was the first one." She sounded so confused, it broke my heart. "The last one was you—or future you—telling me that we made it out okay and go on to have a life together. It couldn't possibly be real, though, so I thought it was just wishful thinking, but you swore...he swore it was real. That it was some vision or something that he—or you—can tap into in the future to prepare me for what was to come."

My blood ran cold with those words, with the realization that she apparently had the same second spirit dream that I had. I thought that was just me going crazy, but if she had the exact same dream with three years from now me...well, maybe it wasn't as far-fetched as I initially thought.

"It doesn't matter," I said frantically. "We'll talk about it later. Look, we have to go now."

She nodded and wrapped her arms delicately around my neck, using me as support as she scrambled to her feet. Her legs gave way beneath her, though, and she collapsed, unable to make her limbs work properly. "Sydney!" Panic raced through me, as I tried to figure out what was wrong. "What is it? What's the matter?"

"The drugs..." she murmured, looking to me desperately for help. "They've kept me drugged...between that and no food, I can't...I don't...I can't walk. I can't move. I can't function. I can't do anything...I'm too weak."

"You," I declared, "are the farthest thing from weak, Sage. Believe you me, you are without a doubt the strongest person I've ever met. Don't worry, I'll make it better. I'll make it go away." I swept her up in my arms and cupped her face in one of my hands, fixing my gaze on hers and sending as much spirit as I could muster into her, feeling the healing magic work its way through her to negate the effects of the drugs and bring her back to full health.

"Adrian, no," she cried weakly. "No, please. Don't. Not on me. Don't waste it on me."

"Do not argue with me," I said adamantly. "Too late, it's already done. I'll do more later, but for now, we have to go." I realized then that she was still naked, and I didn't exactly want her to be flaunted in this condition. I quickly removed my jacket and wrapped it around her. Since she was so much shorter than me, it fell to about her mid-thigh, but we'd have to get her real clothes eventually.

I made to walk out of there with her, but she tightly fisted her hands around the fabric of my T-shirt and shook her head frantically. "No, wait! Not yet. We can't go. Not without my necklace."

"Necklace?" I asked, knitting my eyebrows together in confusion. "What necklace?"

She reached out and grabbed hold of the necklace I had given her when she had lost her gold cross necklace, her most prized possession, thanks to my stunning charm when we'd found ourselves in a rather compromising position while investigating Alicia DeGraw, the evil sorceress that had been after Sydney. Now, I liked to think the necklace I bought her was her new most prized possession, and a warm, swelling feeling rose up in my chest with the realization that she refused to leave it behind.

"Okay," she said at last, offering me a small, weak smile. "Let's get the hell out of here."

By the time we made it out of the cell, Rose and Dimitri had already dealt with all the Alchemists that had come down on them and cleared the way for us to escape. They both assessed Sydney with that look of guardian efficiency to make sure she wasn't injured, similar to the assessment I had given her, and then I offered up a curt nod, letting them know we were good to go.

"All right," I said, "let's get out of here. You guys watch my back, make sure no one follows us."

And then, without another word, we tore out of there, Rose and Jackie in front of us and Dimitri and Abe behind us, and after what felt like a lifetime, we managed to escape the compound and made our way to our respective cars with no additional encounters. That didn't mean we were even remotely safe, though. It was only a matter of time before this got out, and I wasn't taking anything for granted.

I took Sydney to our car and gently set her in the passenger seat before scurrying over to the driver side. I got in and noticed that Rose and Dimitri were still standing nearby to make sure we got in the car and away from the compound okay. I rolled down Sydney's window so that they could see for themselves that she was okay.

"Hey. Sydney," Rose said kindly, offering her a warm smile. "You gonna be okay?"

Sydney nodded and somehow mustered a small smile for Rose. "I'll be fine. Everything will be okay now. And I have you to thank for that. Both of you." She looked at Dimitri with those words and he offered her a nod of acknowledgment, his lips twitching into the smallest of smiles for her.

"It was nothing," Rose instantly assured her, "nothing at all. You would've done the same thing for us. Hell, you have done the same thing for us," she added, earning a small chuckle from Sydney. "I'm so sorry you had to go through this, Sydney, and I promise you that you will never go through anything like that ever again. You have my word. We're going to do everything in our power to hide you and protect you from the Alchemists."

Sydney surprised me by reaching over and clasping my hand in her own. "I know you will," she said. "And I appreciate that. Thank you so much, Rose, for everything you've done for me. If it weren't for you, I never would've had the courage to stand up to them, to my father...I'd still be a part of some corrupt organization that's looking to tear your people apart. So thank you. Thank you for saving me from that."

Rose gave her a small, wry smile, ever the advocate for rebelling against the system. "You bet. Anytime you ever need help rebelling from some organization that wants to use and abuse you, you give me a call, and I will be right to help you kick some ass. You can count on it."

Sydney's smile was more genuine this time. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

Rose leaned in the car to give Sydney a hug, squeezing her tight and closing her eyes in relief. "You guys be safe, okay? Keep in touch, and if you ever need anything, let me know. You both have my number."

At that point, Dimitri touched Rose's arm, a sense of urgency filling him. "Rose," he said, a note of warning in his voice. "We should let them go. The Alchemists are going to have the authorities here within minutes, and we need to make sure none of us are anywhere near here when they arrive."

Rose nodded her understanding and offered us both another sad smile. "Okay. Bye, guys."

"Not bye," I reminded her. "See you later. Remember?"

"Ah, right," she said, an amused glint covering the worry concealed in her eyes. "How could I forget? See you later."

We exchanged a few more parting words, and then I floored the gas and got us away from the compound as fast as possible. The car was filled with unbearable tension as we fled the compound, but slowly, it faded away the further we got from the Alchemists. Within minutes, we hit the freeway, and I made it a point to go at least fifteen over the speed limit for as long as I could get away with.

When we were approaching the border to Mexico, we swung by a small store and stocked up on lots of food and even several changes of clothes for Sydney. Before leaving the store, I grabbed Sydney's hand and said, "We probably shouldn't cross the border with you in this condition." I gestured to my coat, which she was still wearing. "It might be rather conspicuous. I suggest putting some clothes on to reduce suspicion at the border."

She nodded her agreement. "That's a good idea." She made to walk off toward the women's bathroom, but I shook my head and inclined my head toward the family bathroom.

"I'd much prefer not to let you out of my sight," I said truthfully. "Change in here, that way I can keep an eye on you. Also..." I pulled a T-shirt out of one of the bags I was carrying, one that she knew well. The purple T-shirt I had made for her with the heart design on it. "I have just the shirt for you to wear."

Emotion flickered in Sydney's eyes, and I knew she was using every ounce of her strength not to cry. "Adrian..." she murmured, blinking back tears. "I can't believe you actually got that for me."

"Not just that," I told her, earning a confused look from her. I reached into my shirt and removed my necklace that had Hopper on it.

"Hopper!" she said, her eyes glinting with relief and utter joy at the sight of our dragon love child. "You actually kept him all this time?"

"Of course I did!" I said, indignantly. "No way would I abandon Hopper to the wolves. That'd be just cruel. And...I know for a fact that he missed his mommy." I leaned in to whisper that last part conspiratorially in her ear.

She laughed. "I'm sure he did." She took him from my hand, and then clasped my other hand in her free one. "Come on," she said. "We should probably take him somewhere private to bring him to life here."

We walked into the family bathroom and the second the door was closed, Sydney instantly let my jacket drop to the ground and then reached for one of the bags to pull out a pair of jeans. My eyes lingered appreciatively on her perfect form, though, basking in that contact I had long missed. My God. Even malnourished and with her ribs practically protruding out of her body, she was still so agonizingly gorgeous that it was like someone was plunging a dagger into my gut.

"What?" she asked, noticing my gaze and sounding rather nervous with the realization that she was standing before me, completely nude, completely vulnerable. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because you're still so beautiful, even after everything..." I broke off and shook my head, at a complete and total loss for words. "It's amazing, really. God, I've just missed you so much."

She smiled. "I've missed you too. You have no idea how hard that was for me."

A sad smile played at my lips. "I think I might have the slightest clue as to how hard that was." My gaze once again swept her hungrily from head to toe, taking in every last inch of her glory, and I shook my head again, but this time, it was out of sadness. "My God...I'm so sorry, Sage. What they did to you, that's just awful...but to deprive you of food for so long, that is unforgivable. I suppose it's a good thing we're going to Mexico...because I'm gonna make sure to load you up on all kinds of Mexican food. No worries. We have so many choices, with barbacoa, menudo, guisado...we're gonna eat til we fall into a food coma. And with all that grease, we'll get your figure back in no time."

She grimaced. "Ugh, God, Adrian no! I'm willing to eat food and get back to a perfectly healthy weight, one day at a time...but that is way too much grease for me. I'm not starving myself purposely anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go off on eating binges just to get back to a normal body weight."

"We'll just see," I said, offering her a broad smile when she turned to roll her eyes at me. She slipped on her jeans and the T-shirt and then began walking towards me with Hopper sitting in her palm in his statue form.

"I'm not..." she said uncertainly, "I'm not actually sure I can do this. The drugs affected my magic, I'm not sure I can actually revert him back."

"If it works like vampiric magic, then the drugs are out of your system, and your magic should be unaffected in the long term," I told her. "You should be fine."

She stood right before me and held her palm out so I could see Hopper too. Then, slowly, tentatively, she brought her hand up and gently touched Hopper's inert form. She muttered the Latin incantation that always brought him to life, and sure enough, the stone creature stirred to life, transforming into the little scaly dragon we both knew and loved.

Hopper's eyes flitted over and met mine and Sydney's gaze, adoration radiating off the creature. "Hey, little guy," I said, with a small smile, reaching out to lightly brush my fingers along his scaly back. "Look who's back. Did you miss your loving mother as much as I did?"

Hopper fixed that beady gaze on Sydney and that adoration grew by leaps and bounds. If baby dragons could smile or give giant bear hugs, something told me he would've definitely given her one, no questions asked. Sydney offered him a small smile, and words seemed to escape her as she reached out to pet him as well.

"I did it," she murmured softly. "I can't believe I did it—" Her words cut off abruptly as her fingers brushed mine, and a small gasp escaped her at that mere contact.

"I knew you could do it," I told her, as her gaze met mine. I thought I had never seen a look so full of love and affection as Hopper had gazed at Sydney, but I instantly knew I was wrong as Sydney's gaze met mine, and I could see just how much she loved me. "You're Sydney Sage," I reminded her. "There's nothing in this world you can't do."

She laughed and shook her head. "Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that...but uh, we should probably get going. There's no telling how far reaching the Alchemist's influence travels out here, and I don't wanna risk getting caught again."

I definitely couldn't argue with that, and within minutes, we were leaving that store—after having switched cars, of course, so that we could make sure that no one knew what car we crossed the border in. Once across the border, we'd buy a different car that the Alchemists would have no way of knowing about, since we would buy it under fake names.

We spent about an hour on the road before we finally happened across the border, and at this point, Sydney was well enough to be in the driver seat—after I had made her stuff her face full of food until I was satisfied she had eaten enough, of course. I figured since she spoke Spanish, she'd be our best best for crossing the border. Luckily, there weren't too many cars in line, and once we reached the check station, Sydney rolled down the window and to speak to the border patrol agent manning this window. The man looked into the car, his gaze flitting between her and me, and he rattled off something in Spanish that sounded curious and friendly, to which Sydney responded with an equally friendly comment. The man seemed surprised that she spoke Spanish, but she spoke the language so flawlessly, that he waved her on without any further questioning.

Once we cleared the station, I couldn't help but ask, "What did he say?"

"He asked: 'What brings you kids to Mexico?'" she replied.

"I see," I said, a little curious about the wry glint playing in her eyes. "And what did you tell him?"

Smirking, Sydney turned briefly to cast me an amused, knowing glance. "What do you think I told him? Beaches and margaritas, of course!"