Then, as one hand tightened on me and his other ran gently over my hair, I noticed something. He didn't smell right.

We can't do this without you," I managed at last. "Everyone talks about my powers, but you're the badass here.

There was no "me" in Alchemy. Well, phonetically there was, but that wasn't the point.

All that mattered was that he was Adrian, my Adrian. My match. My partner in crime, in the long battle I’d just signed on for to right the wrongs in the Alchemist and Moroi worlds. Maybe Marcus was right that I’d also signed myself up for disaster, but I didn’t care. In that moment, it seemed that as long as Adrian and I were together, there was no challenge too great for us.

Life, unfortunately, doesn't seem to care what we want.

Well...I'm on birth control" I was drinking the water again and choked on it. It took several moments of coughing before I could gasp out. "What?" "It takes a while for it to start working, so I figured I should be prepared, just in case." "Just in case," I repeated, still dumbfounded.

Everyone has light around them, except for you. You have shadows.