Plane ticket to England: 1200 dollars. A bottle of scent-masking shampoo and soap to help hide me from vampires: 7 dollars. The look on Roran's face when I finally find him and plant my size seven boot in his face for being so stupid: Priceless.

I wasn't really sure where to start looking for him, but I eventually decided to try his last known location. After all, upon returning to life I had ended up in front of my apartment, so it stood to reason the same logic could be applied to Roran.

The only problem was Roran had told me he had been in Avalon before being sent to purgatory and the last time I checked no one actually knew the location of Avalon. It was supposed to be a fictional, mythical, made-up place for goodness sakes!  Fortunately however, after hours of research and more cups of coffee than should be allowed by law, I had discovered Glastonbury Abbey was thought to be the mythical location of Avalon, so I hopped a plane to merry old England.

The abbey was full of tourists when I arrived, so I hung back and waited for them to clear out before asking any questions. The tour guide looked like something out of a low-budget zombie film: dead-eyed and drained of energy. He barely dignified the tourists' questions with more than a grunt or a head jerk. His dirty shirt had been buttoned wrong, so the collar jutted out awkwardly on one side. I doubted he would be of any help, but at the moment this was the only lead I had to go on.

"Excuse me," I said, getting his attention after most of the patrons had left. "Could I ask you a couple of questions?"

As I expected, he only grunted and shrugged his shoulders. Sensing the reason behind his indifference I asked, "Is there somewhere around here that sells coffee?"

His eyes perked up immediately and nodded. "Just down the street there. I'm up for a break soon. I could show you the way?"

I smiled and tried to look excited by the prospect of having coffee with him. "That would be wonderful, thank you."

After a few minutes he motioned for me to follow him and we set off at a snail's pace down the street. Part of me wanted to scream at him for wasting my time, but I held it in. It didn't take long to reach the little shop and after he had had two shots of expresso and a black coffee the tour guide looked a bit more cheery.

"So I'm Alethea," I said, trying to break the ice.

"Matt," he replied. I waited for him to continue, but he was too busy guzzling his coffee like it was water.

Taking a deep breath and crossing my fingers under the table I asked, "Well, um, Matt, I was wondering, have you noticed anything odd happening at the abbey lately? Anyone strange visiting?"

"I should have known," he replied with a groan and an eye roll. "You're one of them."

I shook my head. "One of whom? I'm not following."

"Reporters," he snapped and slumped in his seat. "I've already told everyone I wasn't there when it happened."

"I think you have the wrong idea. I'm not a reporter."

He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, no?"

"Nope."

"Then what's with all the questions?" he asked. "Why waste your time and money bringing me to this coffee shop?"

I decided to be as honest as possible and hope for the best. "I'm looking for someone."

He smirked. "The bloke who mysteriously appeared out of nowhere in the abbey, I'm guessing?"

"Did he have a shaved head and wore a lot of leather? Orangey eye-- er contacts?" I cringed, remembering Roran's eyes wouldn't seem normal to everyday people.

Matt nodded. "Yeah, but he didn't have orange contacts. From what I've heard his eyes were brown."

"What else can you tell me? What happened to him? Where did he go?"

"I wasn't there when he popped up, but my friend Tom said he must have been totally smashed, acting the way he was."

I frowned. Roran hadn't seen the world since around the year 500, so he must have been completely confused by all the modern technology.

"Eventually Tom said they were able to calm him down, but the bloke ran off before they could get his name."

"Did he say where he was headed?"

Matt shook his head and swilled the last of his coffee around in the cup. "Nah. But he ran in the direction of Bere Lane. Check around there. Someone might've seen him."

Impatient to get started and afraid to waste any more time, I snatched up my bag and rushed for the door.

"Hey, thanks for the coffee!" Matt called, and I waved at him in response.

It only took a few minutes to find the road he had indicated, but I was almost too nervous to ask anyone for information. What if they didn't know anything more than what Matt had told me? My search for Roran hinged on the hope that someone somewhere knew where he was. If left to my own devices there was no way I would ever find him.

One would think all of those episodes of Scooby Doo I watched as a kid would have made me a better detective, but the only real lessons I picked up from the show included how to make an awesome sandwich and when someone says, "Let's split up" it always leads to trouble.

 I closed my eyes and tilted my head toward the sky. Contrary to popular belief, it hadn't rained since I had arrived in England, though it looked like it might. The cloudy sky made me wonder if Roran was out there somewhere caught in a storm without anywhere to go.

As I tilted my head back down and looked around to decide whom to ask first, my eyes landed on a very broad and very familiar set of shoulders walking in the opposite direction toward the bus stop.

"Roran?" I croaked in surprise, but it wasn't loud enough for him to hear.

I cleared my throat and tried again. "Roran!"

He froze in the middle of the street, causing a few people to bump into his back and shoot him dirty looks. He turned slowly, staring at me in disbelief. I raced forward, dodging around people, and surprisingly not stumbling or tripping a single time.

"Thea?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing. "What are you doing here?"

I stared at him, mouth agape, stunned silent by his stupidity. "Oh, you know I was just out for a stroll—" I quipped sarcastically. "What the hell do you think I'm doing here? I came to find you!"

He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.

"Do you have any idea how guilty I felt thinking you had died for me?"

I shoved him, hard, and was surprised when he actually stumbled backward several steps.

"Then I found out you weren't dead but that you didn't tell me because you didn't trust me! How could you not trust me? I saved you life – or I would have if you could have died—"

"Thea!" he shouted, interrupting me. "Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about."

My teeth snapped shut with a click, but not because he told me to. I was so angry my jaw was quivering and I was shaking.

He rubbed a hand over his scalp and took a deep breath. "If I could have told you I would have," he began. "There wasn't a lot of time to explain myself when you were dying."

"You could have told me before I was dying, idiot!" I lashed out at him again, but he caught my wrists. I fell against his chest and he released my hands to wrap his arms around me. Part of me still wanted to fight, but the longer I stood there the more energy seemed to drain away until I was exhausted.

"Yes, I could have," Roran replied. "And I should have. I know that now. But it's in the past and I can't change it."

"Have you been here alone this whole time?" I asked, my words muffled by his grey, cotton shirt. He had ditched all the leather and replaced it with modern clothes. I had to say, jeans looked pretty good on him.

He shrugged and said, "Pretty much. For the first week I just wandered around, trying to figure everything out. There is actually a library not far from here and the librarians were nice enough to explain things to me. They even helped me find a job and a place to stay. "

"I'm surprised the authorities and reporters aren't hunting you after that scene you caused in the abbey," I said, grinning up at him. "It's a shame you no longer have your phoenix powers. That would have been a riot."

He pulled me back by my shoulders so he could look at me. "How did you know I no longer have my abilities? And how did you even find me?"

"Well when I returned from purgatory I ended up in front of my apartment, which was the last place I had been before I died. I figured it would be the same for you," I explained.

I pulled away from him completely and said, "If I'm going to answer your first question we should go back to my hotel room where no one will overhear."

He frowned at me, but didn't put up an argument.

As we walked to the bus I happened to catch my reflection in the windows. Black hair floated in a bushy mess around my head like a storm cloud. I pulled it into a ponytail and hoped that made it look more presentable. It had gotten too long and messy, but I hadn't cared until now. I wondered what Roran thought about how I looked. If anything my looks were an improvement over my appearance in purgatory, so I wasn't too worried.

He was silent until we reached the room and I worried he was angry I had discovered his secret. His posture was rigid and with every second that passed he looked more and more ready to bolt for the door.

"Hey," I whispered, touching his arm to get his attention. "It's okay. I swear I've not told anyone about what you are or about you losing your powers."

Roran looked down at the spot where my hand was touching his arm and clenched his jaw. I withdrew my hand with a sigh and walked over to the window.

"Moroi knows though," I began. "He knows you've lost your powers and he's hunting you. He's hunting us both."

"How do you know that?" Roran asked, and turned me away from the window to face him again. "Has he contacted you?"

I barked out a humorless laugh and replied, "Yeah, you could say that."

"Thea," he scolded, his voice taking on a warning tone. "This isn't a joke. Tell me what's happened."

I frowned and snapped, "You're damn right this isn't a joke! I know that better than you do. I'm the one he tried to kill! He hurt my family!"

After several seconds of nothing but my heavy, aggravated breathing to break the silence I continued, "He showed up to have "dinner" with my family and I didn't even have time to warn them. My mother was able to stake him, but not before he had managed to injure my father. He was there hunting us, Roran. My parents should have never been involved. We need to stop him for good. This can't happen again."

Roran nodded and his once orange eyes, now a dark brown, locked onto mine.

"Don't worry," he said, and his deep voice was familiar and reassuring to me. "I think I have a plan."

...

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