Prologue

RPOV

"Rose… Rose, wake up, it's time for school." My sister, Lissa, whispered while shaking my shoulder.

"Five more minutes…" I mumbled. I shoved my pillow on top of my head to block out the sun.

"Nope," she snatched my pillow away. "I know exactly how long it takes for you to get ready. If you wait five minutes you'll be late." I knew she had a point. I sat up with some difficulty, because I was tired as hell, and climbed down to the floor. I made my way to the closet and pulled open the doors.

I started to reach for a plain white tee that had a pocket on the front when Lissa reminded me that our new school has uniforms. I looked to the corner of the closet. Sighing I grabbed the white blouse, black blazer, and pulled a black pleated skirt from the dresser. After I got dressed I went downstairs to grab a bowl of cereal before I finished getting ready.

"So, how'd you sleep?" Dad asked as I poured my milk.

"Fine. I wasn't happy that I had to wake up and be reminded that I'm wearing a uniform to school now."

"Well, if you didn't get expelled from every school you went to I wouldn't have to resort to private education."

"And it's not my fault that those schools sucked at giving a good education," I stated. I took my seat at the table and started to eat.

"It-" Brriiing! Brriiing! Dad picked up the phone. "Hello? I told you not to call the house phone." Dad walked outside closing the door behind him.

Saved by the ring.

I quickly finished my breakfast and ran back up to my room. I brushed my hair and teeth, put on a light coat of makeup, and packed my backpack. I turned to my dresser and opened it. I packed a small bag of things other than my uniforms. Yes, unfortunately, my new school is a boarding school. At least partially. If you lived close enough you could go home on the weekends. Other kids though that didn't live close enough had to suffer there on the weekends too. Lissa came over to where I was and started watching me.

"It won't be so bad. We'll still come back on the weekends, and it'll give us experience for college," she said leaning against the wall.

"Bold of you to assume that I plan on going to college."

"Come on Rose. You know you're gonna miss me too much if you stay home while I'm away. And besides, I left every school that you got expelled from because I wanted to stay by you. Could you at least do this for me?"

"Fine, but don't expect me to try and do good."

"You will if you want to graduate at the same time as me."

She had a point and she knew it. I grabbed all of my things and hauled them down to the door. I peeked into the shoe cubby and pulled out a pair of ankle boots. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Lissa was already ready and looked perfect as always. I, on the other hand, had to keep my thick wavy hair in a ponytail just to keep it tame and out of my face. Just then, Dad came in with an exasperated look on his face.

"What happened?" I asked as I got up from the floor. By this time Liss had gone back upstairs.

"A piece of evidence just fell through on an investigation," No, my dad, Abe Mazur, was not a cop (he never would've even made it through police academy), instead, he found a career where he didn't have to abide by every law. A lawyer. "Without this evidence, my entire case falls through." He straightened out his blazer and a button-down shirt. He was wearing a silk violet shirt with a matching handkerchief in the breast pocket of his charcoal blazer. He was wearing the gold chain necklace my mom had gotten him (she had a matching bracelet), and a small gold hoop in his left ear that Lissa's mom had gotten him.

Yes, I and Lissa are sisters, but no, we aren't full-blood relatives. Even though we were born on the same day we had different parents. And with different parents comes a different heritage. I am Scottish and Turkish and Lissa is Turkish and Romanian. She inherited her mom's pale skin and fair, blonde, straight hair; whereas I have tan skin with thick, wavy, dark-brown hair. We earned our mother's last names Dragomir and Hathaway. We lived with our mothers for a while but dad won custody claiming that he was always babysitting us and that we hardly saw our mothers despite them having custody. He, being a lawyer already, won the battle over custody and we grew up with him in his house.

"Come on Liss, it's time to go!" I hollered up the stairs. Liss had probably forgotten something. She started running down the stairs or rather stumbling down the stairs.

After about a half-hour of driving through the wet and rain of Montana, we finally approached the looming towers of St. Vladimir's Academy.

DPOV

Buzzz!

I heard the buzzer of the chain-link gate go off as it opened, releasing into the real world once again. The guard that signed my release forms handed me a bag of my personal effects before I left the yard. I stepped past the gate taking a deep breath of fresh, crisp air as I closed my eyes and lifted my head into the sun. A car honked. I looked back down. Sitting on the curb was my mom in the car waiting to pick me up. As I got closer I noticed the tears streaming down her face. She ran up to me and wrapped me up in as big of a hug as she could.

"Oh my. You've gotten so strong. Was exercise all you did in there?"

"It's pretty much all you can do," I replied.

"Didn't they have any books? I know you love to read."

"They didn't have any westerns. And the ones they did have weren't interesting."

That was yesterday. My family had insisted on throwing a feast to welcome me home. I had told them that I was tired and just wanted to rest. Thankfully, they let me. Today though I would be heading to America to attend school at St. Vladimir's Academy. It was a boarding school and because I lived so far away I can only go home on holidays. My mom told me on the way home yesterday that she had been saving up the family's money to move to America with me so I could go home on weekends.

After a half-hour or so of recalling the events of yesterday I got out of bed to pack and get ready for my flight. It would take 21 hours with one layover, and the time in Montana is nine hours behind us. I packed a big bag of my new uniforms as well as all the things I wanted to have with me right away when I got there. I did my best to do all of this quietly in case everyone was still asleep. I crept down the stairs planning to write a note saying goodbye. But, of course, my mother was already awake and making breakfast.

"Dimitri, come and eat. I don't want you leaving on an empty stomach." She instructed as she set a plate of food in front of me. I ate in silence, not knowing what to say. I mean, what were you supposed to say when you killed your abusive father? 'Hey, how was the weather while I was in prison?' Yeah, no.

"How did you sleep?"

I turned to my right, " Hello babushka. I slept fine." I replied giving her a smile that didn't quite reach my eyes. "THat's good." She walked by and squeezed my shoulder in reassurance.

"Mom?"

"Yes, dear. What is it"

"I'm sorry about dad…" I said quietly, staring at my plate.

"Why? I didn't love him anymore. Yes, I did grieve but that's a normal thing to do. I planned and your father's family paid the expenses. You don't need to be sorry. You saved my life that fateful day, probably your sisters too. There is nothing you need to be sorry for." She looked at me with kindness in her eyes. She truly was grateful.

So why do I feel so bad about it?

I inhaled my plate of food, brought the plate to the sink and kissed my mom and babushka goodbye, and left for the airport.

The security there checked manually through my luggage as soon as they saw who I was. I stood there patiently in the knowledge that I had nothing to hide, and that they were just doing their jobs.

After about an hour of more security I finally made it onto the plane (almost missing it) and relaxed in my seat.

The plane landed around 2:00 a.m. and caught a taxi to the school.

Man, why is it so wet here?

It took another hour to get from the airport to the academy. When I looked up at the old-timey towers on the buildings I was put on edge. The location was pretty remote and it looked like the campus stretched pretty long ways, a few acres maybe more.

As I approached the campus my school ID was checked to ensure I wasn't an intruder. After that, they let me in and I "began" the school year.