CHAPTER 4

I didn't know for how long I was awake until I heard a knock at the door. I got up, wiped my teary face and opened the door. Daniel was standing there looking at me. We were both staring at each other again until I said "Daniel, what are you doing here?" I looked at him then I remembered I'm supposed to invite him in. "Come on in" I said moving aside for him. He walked into my room and turned around to face me. I closed my door and looked at him. I may be five feet six but he is still very tall.

"Thanks" he smiled and I did the same. "You were late.....so I came up to check on you"

"Oh. I'm sorry... I got carried away with something" I replied.

"Why were you crying?" I froze.

"Wh..what?" I stuttered.

"I heard you crying" he said. His eyes showed a little bit of concern. Not a lot but with that, I knew. I knew he cared for me and that I could trust him.

"Its nothing"

"Please" he begged. "If someone Is hurting you.."

I finished for him. I said "I'm sorry but why do you care?" He genuinely looked hurt. "I'm sorry" I said again. "If you really wanna know, then you at least might want to sit down" I gestured to the bed. He nodded and sat down.

"what is it that's bothering you?" he frowned.

"This is going to sound weird and crazy but I seriously hope and ask you not to laugh. At least try to believe me"

"Why wouldn't I believe you?' he questioned, as if looking directly into my soul.

"Because......" I sighed and continued. "Every time I sleep,.. I see things...I'm.... I'm not sure what they are- whether they are dreams or visions or nightmares but...." I sighed again. I looked back up at him and noticed he was still as cool and calm as before.

"They are...?" he pushed.

"They are.. well...., about my mother" he looked shocked.

"What are they about?" he questioned again.

"You know......, the time she was brought back here" I replied.

"When did it start?" he asked again and I was getting irritated.

"Look, why are you asking soooo many questions?"

"I just care for you. That's all. You are my student" he explained.

"Fine" I sighed. "It started yesterday" he raised an eyebrow. Great, he too knew there was something I wasn't telling him. "At the party, I had a terrible headache" he swallowed and opened his mouth to say something but closed it instead.

"Sofiya" he said with a faint Russian accent. Boy, if this man was trying to flirt with me, this would be the best way to do it. "I want you to tell me what it was all about" he said taking my hand from my lap.

There I was, sitting opposite of my mentor, Daniel Ivashkov probably falling for him and he just grabbed my hand. I felt a tingle on my skin but refused to acknowledge it. I told him everything and he just nodded all the way through the story. At the end of it all, I asked "Do you think I am just imagining this or going crazy or is something really crazy going on?"

"No. I don't think you're crazy. You could never be that. " he smiled. "But..., every time you have one of these, please don't hesitate to tell me. I might be able to help and maybe I won't but to prevent worrying and all.." he said. Worrying...? What the hell does that mean? This guy is more mysterious that I ever thought.. I thought to myself.

I looked at the alarm clock on my bedside and saw that an hour and a half had passed. "Do I have to replace my training?" I grinned playfully.

"No. It's probably the last thing you should do. You should get ready and have breakfast." Right on cue, my stomach growled.

"Oops. Sorry" I apologized.

"I'll see you later" he said getting up.

He opened the door and smiled. "Good morning, Miss Dragomir" he said walking off. Oh, hell no. This isn't happening. Sarah came into view and closed the door. She started squealing and jumping up and down. "OMG! OMG! I knew it! I. KNEW. IT !" she exclaimed.

"Knew what?" I pretended to be innocent.

"What did you both do?" she winked. I groaned mentally.

"Wh..what?!!!" I exclaimed. "Sarafina Dragomir! I did not do anything. I swear!"

She smirked. Uh, oh. I knew that smirk anywhere. She got it from her father. She was thinking the opposite of what she's supposed to be thinking. "Did he spend the night here?" I shook my head no. "Sad.." she shook her head sarcastically.

"What's with you?" I asked.

"Nothing. Now remember, tell me all the details if there are any and btw, you should get ready. I'm hungry and today's menu is bacon and eggs" she groaned. She always hated bacon and eggs. Except for the ones Christian and Dimitri made.

"fine. Wait for me." I replied.

I went into my bathroom and had a nice hot bath to rid me of all the thoughts and crying I did last night. Once I finished, I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed I had eye bags. I sighed and walked out. I took my clothes from the drawer and went back into the bathroom, ignoring Sarah's staring which kind of creeps me out sometimes.

I came out and said "Done". She dragged me out of the room and into the cafeteria. I saw the rest of the gang already there eating their breakfast. Mikael waved at me.

I smiled back at him, got my food and returned to the table with Sarah by my side. "So.. How's training with Guardian Ivashkov?" I looked at Mikael questioningly. "We've decided to call him that so there's no mix up between Guardian Belikov and... you know," I nodded.

"Good morning" a familiar voice said making me jump a little.

"Mornin" everyone greeted.

"I didn't catch you running today" said Dimitri.

"Oh......i.....um.. was not feeling well so Da...Guardian Ivashkov cancelled practice. He raised an eyebrow. I sighed. "Right..." I said awkwardly. "We" I said gesturing to everyone " decided to call him that to prevent a mix up"

"How's the food?" then it clicked. No wonder Sarah ate it quite quickly without complaining.

"You made it, didn't you?" he smiled.

" I had lots of help"

"From who?" asked Val.

"Christian.., Rose and all your parents"

"Interesting" Mason concluded.

"I have to go. I hope you enjoyed it." He left.

Just then, Andre, Sarah's older brother walked up to us. "Hey, sis, I need to talk to you" Sarah looked at him and sighed. She gestured for him to sit down and he did. "Mom has invited all of you to court tomorrow for the weekend. She asked me to tell you this. And, sis, she's asking for you. She's at the guest room"

"Oh. Okay. See ya later guys" she finished the last of her bacon and walked away.

"Oh. And Sophia, she told me to ask you to invite Daniel Ivashkov too" I nodded. He got up and walked away.

"Hey, Soph, what's going on with you and Ivashkov?" Mikael asked.

"Mike" I threatened. "Nothing. Why?"

"Oh. It's just that you guys have been spending a lot of time together, lately.." Val answered.

I scoffed. "what? You guys are just overreacting" I got up and jogged to my next class. Sadly, like my mother, I hated Guardian Stan Alto's class. It was absolutely boring. Once everyone started filling in, my mother walked in. oh, great.. just what I need. I sank in my seat and waited for the class to end. Mikael came in and sat beside me.

"Woah! Looks like your mum's our teacher today" he said.

"Tell me about it"

"More surprises" he said amused.

I looked at the door and saw Dimitri with Eddie and my grandmother standing there in the front of the class. The class became quiet and everyone was just staring. If my grandmother was here, that meant Abe was also here. Stan came in saying "Class, today we have a surprise. Guardian Hathaway- Belikov, Guardian Belikov, Guardian Castile and Guardian Hathaway are here today to share their experiences in the outside world against strigoi" I groaned.

The class clapped and cheered. If possible, I sank in my seat more."Guardian Hathaway, begin" my mom rolled her eyes and my grandmother started. The way my mom looked, she has probably heard the story before. I smiled at the thought. "Any questions?" no one raised their hand or asked any questions.

Next, my mom told the story of when she was in Russia. Everyone either stared, gawked or listened to her in awe. I swear I saw a guy drool. Even I actually listened. "Any questions?" she asked. I raised my hand and asked "How many did you actually kill?" everyone started whispering and looking back and forth between me and my mom. "I lost count. That's why they gave me, zveda, the battle mark instead"

After her was Dimitri. He explained about the attack on St. Vlad's around the time my mom was seventeen. I listened carefully, actually paying more attention. I could picture how it was in my mind. One reason is that I read too much and another is because I've seen half of it. The visions are jumble up but I know what I saw. Soon, it was Eddie's turn and he talked about the time he went to save Sydney with Adrian, Dimitri and the alchemists.

Classes before lunch finished pretty quickly and I was quite happy about it. I walked to the cafeteria and saw Valerie and Sarah talking at the table. I grabbed some food and walked to them.

"-We should. Ikr." I heard Val say.

"What?" I asked sitting beside Sarah.

"Do you want to go to a spa tomorrow? I mean before the dinner?" Val asked.

"Sure..... I guess"

"Great"

Sarah and Valerie begin planning and did so during the whole lunch. Mikael was too busy talking to my mom and the others about being a guardian and Mason was off with Joseph to do a project in the commons so I was alone. Lunch soon ended and I was off to the gym for my next class. I had to learn how to fight and I was hopeless at it. Not because I didn't want to learn it or was bad at it but because I hated the teacher teaching it and purposely failed exams.

Daniel was waiting there. Somehow, I didn't notice him today. I smiled at him and went to change. When I got out, everyone was already sitting on the benches waiting for their names to be called out with their sparring partners. Of course, my name was called out and my partner was Iris. We went around in circles before she lunged at me. I moved but not quick enough. She pulled me down and pinned me down. She mouthed a sorry and got off. "Still not good enough, huh?" I heard someone say.

I got up and waited on the benches for the class to finish. After, I walked straight into the locker room and took my bag. I walked out and locked myself in my room. I didn't know why I was getting so emotional these days. I started to tear up thinking I'll always be compared to my mom because of her reputation and I'll always do badly. Luckily, I had Daniel to teach me and I appreciated it now.

I drifted off to sleep but woke up to another memory. I was panting and had sweat covered on me again. I walked into the bathroom and took a bath. By the time I got out, I was late for practice..... again. I practically ran all the way to the gym. I was panting and had to catch my breath a lot. "Sorry, again" I breathed.

"You're late again. You also weren't at class"

"Yeah..sorry"

"Sorry's not enough" he said almost shouting. I flinched. "When are you going to understand that?" he ran his hand through his hair. I winced at his certain outburst. I backed away and started my laps without telling me to. Tears stung in my eyes. He caught up with me and gripped my hand. That stopped me. I looked at him and he said "I'm sorry. I'm just ...."

I cut him off. "Stop it. No need to explain. I get it. You're depressed by getting a crappy student who apparently is the daughter of Rosemarie Hathaway and grand-daughter of Janine Hathaway. Oh, and not to mention, your dad and my mom used to date." He winced. "Sorry. I've just been very.."

This time, he cut me off. "No need to explain. Don't worry. Just continue your laps." We continued running and running and running until I was totally worn out. When we stopped, he showed me some cooling down exercises. " oh, and Sophia, do not ever start running before warming up"

When I reached my dorm, I fell flat on my bed. My muscles were aching all over and I could barely stand. I slowly got in the shower and washed myself. When I came out, it was already dinner. I decided to skip it and just sleep. I got sucked into a spirit dream, I think, making me groan. At least it wasn't those stalker-ish visions about my mom. It was my aunt, Sonya Karp. "Hi" she grinned.

"Hey, aunt Sonya"

"How's life?" she asked.

"Great" I replied.

"Are you coming to court tomorrow?" she questioned.

"Shit!" I exclaimed. "Um, I have to go. I have to tell someone something" she nodded. I mentally cursed myself for not inviting Daniel to court tomorrow.

I woke up and sprinted out of my room. All I knew about Daniel was that he stayed in the boys' novice dorms. I headed there and told the matron it was urgent. When we reached his room, the matron knocked on his door and he answered. Still in clothes, at least.

"What is it?" he ran his hand through his hair.

"Miss Hathaway here has something to tell you and according to her, it's very urgent." Said the matron.

The matron walked away and I looked back at him. "Umm... I was supposed to invite you to court for the weekend. Orders from the queen. I kinda forgot and...." I bit my lip.

"oh, um.. okay"

"So, are you coming, then?" I asked.

"I'll see first"

"you should... I mean take a break"

"I'll see. Now, you should go back. Let me grab my coat and I'll walk you back to your room"

"No. it's alright"

"I can't allow a student wandering after curfew"

He got his coat, locked his door and we started walking back. There was comfortable silence all around. Although, it was still pretty nerve- wrecking if you could imagine. At my door, he said "Good night" . I nodded and replied the same thing. I closed my door and plopped on the bed. I drifted off to sleep and dreamt. Of my mom again. And this time, it was slowly feeling more real, making it more creepier. My mom was talking to Lissa about Christian and Valerie's father, Aaron Drozdov. Interesting....