Mom didn't know I was missing at all. And you might think I got a good night's sleep after that, but I had a terrible nightmare that night. I dreamed about some fragmented events that I had no experience of having been through in my life. In the dream, I was watching the senseless images of people like a movie, except I felt like I was standing in the middle of the setting while the movie was being made.

I was in an enormous place that looked like a courtroom.

In front of me, there were rows of wooden seats. People were loitering around, dressing in elegant suits. All these men and women looked beautiful like they were in a painting. There were platforms of comfortable seats lined up against the walls like a theater. I could see some of them wore long heavy coats embroidered with silver and gold reeds. I watched a few important-looking men flick through files, talking all the time to one another.

The people on the row behind were also whispering frantically around the courtroom. And when I looked around the place some more, I saw a massive chair, all in gold with the back of the seat narrowed in three prongs filled with precious gems and rubies. This amazing thing could possibly be a throne for a king or a queen.

The throne was empty, but it still looked so majestic and powerful.

All the whisperings and mumblings of the crowd grew louder until the gate at the front of the hall suddenly opened. A troop of guards stormed into the hall with a very ancient-looking man walking in the middle. He wore a long heavy red coat with gold reeds. He was much older than the rest of the people here. Yet the way he moved made him seem timeless as if there was nothing wrong with his aging body. Pale and mighty with a grim mask on his face, the old man seemed like he had just woken up from a tomb.

"Up!" someone's voiced echoed and the crowd silently rose up to bow at the presence of the man.

The old man came to the throne and settled himself. Everyone took their seats again as the guard faded to the background. One of the men in silver reeds coat stepped out to the center.

"Your Majesty," he said with a respectful bow, "I would like to outline the prosecution's case."

"You may proceed, Lord Aldric," the monarch replied in a slurry ancient voice. Then the man turned around to face the crowd.

"Dear all lords and ladies," He started, straightening himself up. "The Vampire House has a great honor to have your company here. However, it's not an ordinary meeting today. We have encountered an extraordinary crisis. With all due respect, Your Majesty. I would like to bring in the case."

Then the main gate groaned open, revealing another group of guards marched into the hall. The silence in the courtroom grew heavier. Coming forward in a graceful walk, I saw a middle-aged man with silky black hair, his eyes sparkled like a gemstone. As I looked at his fair face, there was something familiar about him. Even I couldn't quite pinpoint it, I felt as if I had seen him before. Then something seemed to click between us.

"Dad?" a small voice uttered which must have been mine.

"Prince Vladimir of Russia," Aldric said, "has violated the most important law that forbids the vampire race. It is great irresponsibility as well as a danger to our kind."

"Your Majesty!" another man's voice boomed from the crowd. "My son shall be granted amnesty!"

"Your Highness," Aldric spoke again. "As we all know in this case, it is impossible. The law has stated clearly. No one can change it. However, if Prince Vladimir turns over the human—" he said with a screwed face as if the word was too disgusting to utter. "—we will decide to let it be a memory and there's no more charge against him anymore."

My dad shook his head in protest and said fiercely, "I will not let you destroy my family."

"Family with the human race is forbidden, your highness," Aldric gritted his teeth. "You must reconsider your option. This is the only way we can escape this great loss."

"But Lord, my brother has done nothing wrong!" the young man shouted out of nowhere. Now, I could see the family resemblance with this group of royalty, but the difference was that only the young man had strange piercing eyes that no one in the family had.

"Prince Viktor," Aldric said with a solemn face. "This is not the place for your defense."

"Brother, don't be distressed," my dad said. "I would rather die than betray my own conscience."

"My young prince," this time the old man on the throne spoke. "We have tried to convince you. Our people cannot be endangered again. The Prophecy has been suppressed for thousands of years, you must understand the risk."

"I know the problem I have caused, Your Majesty. Do whatever you see fits," my dad said fearlessly.

"Vlad, please," the man who must have been my grandpa pleaded. "You can have one of the princesses from anywhere in the world. Just forget about the human!"

"I would rather die knowing I have lived with my loved one. I have no regret, father," my dad said, making my supposed grandpa winced, and I saw a few of them turned to the old vampire king.

The elder breathed, "I have lived for a thousand years. Your family has always been loyal to me. I, myself, do not want any royal member to be wasted away. Although we are not humans, hereafter, I would prefer the Royal Council to decide like any mortal would. We will vote."

"That's a very generous solution indeed, your Majesty," Aldric said with a bow. "Now, I must carry out the procedure."

Some guards started passing the golden envelope to the crowd. Everyone began to murmur to each other, discussing their preferences. I looked at the table where a group of my father's family was. No one seemed to hesitate about their choice, except one person. Viktor's hands were shaking as he held the ink pen. Drops of sweat started forming on his forehead. Why was my uncle so nervous? They collected all the voting papers into a wooden box. A moment later, Aldric came back with two stacks of votes in his hands. He placed them on the table as evidence.

"Fifty votes for Prince Vladimir to stay," He announced in a grave tone. "But fifty-one votes favor his highness to be punished according to the law."

My dad didn't react to anything. He seemed as calm as the ocean, but his brother screamed in protest. "You miscounted!"

"Your Highness," Aldric hashed. "You must respect the court. Your brother has chosen his fate."

Then the vampire lord turned to the King for any official announcement, but the old man just sighed and waved his hand passively. The man bowed in respect and said. "From the Royal Council of Vampires, we have come to the end of our trial. I, Aldric of France, would announce Vladimir, former crowned prince of Russia to be subjected to capital punishment."

"NO!" I cried as the guards came to take my father away. "Don't!". Viktor tried to push his way through the crowd, but his father and the guards stopped him. It might have seemed like a genuine act if it wasn't for the fact that I saw a flash of delight crossed his face.

"Take care of the family, brother," my dad spoke over his shoulder as he was herded away from the court.

I will, Vlad. With you gone, I'll be the heir. Russia will be mine. Viktor's thought echoed in my head like a broken church bell.

I was too shocked. Something told me the one vote that put my father to death was his. Viktor had taken part in the election against his own brother! How could he do this to my dad?

"Dad!" I yelled and tried to run toward him, but I couldn't make myself move. Suddenly, a strange force seemed to pull me back, dragging me away from the scene. All the places and people became blurry and faded away from my vision.

Then I woke up with a cry.

I felt something cold against my skin. Looking down, I realized I was clutching my father's royal crest. The medallion necklace sparkled against the early dawn in my hand.

~*~

Do you know how many things I was thinking when I got down to the kitchen? A lot.

The dream almost drained me out of consciousness. I felt like there was an empty space in my chest as if some parts of me were missing.

Mom was making breakfast as usual. But the thought of her knowing that I had sneaked out last night made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, and I couldn't even imagine what she would do if she knew what I had stumbled upon.

So I chose the next best thing to say. "What's for breakfast, mom?"

"Something delicious, honey," Mom said but when she turned around to see me, her huge bright smile faded away. "What happened to you? Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," I said. "Just some bad dream." And I was glad she didn't how bad my dream was. I sat down on the kitchen table, watching Mom pouring me a cup of milk. She came to kiss the top of my head as he placed the glass down then walked back to the fridge.

"Mom?"

"Hmm?" she said as she was searching something inside the freezer.

"Do you know if Daddy had any siblings?" I asked. Mom seemed to pause for a moment then closed the fridge's door slowly.

"What makes you ask that?"

"I'm just curious," I said. Mom looked as if she was trying hard to remember. I was hoping that whatever I had dreamed was just...well...a dream.

"Yes, I guess so," Mom finally answered. "He had a younger brother."

"Really?" I said, trying not to choke on my milk.

"I don't really remember well, but his name starts with the V, like yours,"

"It's Viktor, right?" I prompted.

"Yes! That's right," Mom nodded but then she started to blink, "Wait, how do you know that?"

So that's it. I wasn't just having some movie episodes stuck in my head. I did have a dream about my father. And it was from the past.

~*~

At the Lunch Hall, I was pushing my food around the plate instead of eating, half paying attention to Cammie and Alyssa who were talking across the table. Bright sunlight shone through the glass wall, casting a column of ray over our heads. The atmosphere in the Ultara Academy was perfectly normal.

I heard Rosa arguing over the molecular chemistry. Serena and the other science freaks were starting their experiment on some diet cokes, causing the cans to pop into the air like a rocket. The Art geniuses were making their masterpieces out of junkyard stuff. It was the same old day for the Ultara school, but for once, I felt out of place. I was still thinking about my dream.

"Vivienne," Alyssa called me, "Tell me if you're already halfway to the moon."

"I'm sorry?" I said.

"I told you," Cammie turned to Alyssa with a smirk. "She's spacing out."

"What's on your mind, Viv?" Alyssa turned to me.

"I had a dream," I told the two of them straightforwardly.

"About Octavia, right?" Alyssa said, sounding like a real matchmaker. "I know you guys are going to be..."

But I wouldn't let her finish that, so I just said, "I dreamed about my father."

"Oh," Alyssa breathed. She and Cammie exchanged a look.

"What was it like?" Cammie finally asked in a businesslike voice. Then I told them everything, from start to finish.

"You think that could be a normal dream?" I asked.

"I guess not," Cammie said. "Sometimes dreams are not just dreams."

"But how could we see something that had already happened in the past?"

"Why not? Plato also remembered his past life," Cammie said. "And so did Pythagoras."

"You know, Viv," Alyssa said, "In physics, the past is assumed to exist as a series of events, but in quantum physics, the past, and the future are the same. The past, just like the future, is unclear and exists only as a range of possibilities. If some people can dream of the future, it's not a surprise that you can dream about the past."

"But this is not my past. If I dreamed about what I did yesterday or three years ago, that it would make more sense," I said. "But this dream is about my father's memories, which I had no idea how it entered my brain."

"Well, you might have experienced something greater than just a dream," Alyssa said and paused as if to think of something, "It's called hyper-communication."

"What is that?" I asked.

"Good question," Alyssa said, "But I don't know. Stuff like that, ask Cammie. She's a human encyclopedia."

Cammie narrowed her eyes at Alyssa, but Alyssa just gave her a mischievous grin.

"Hyper-communication is like déjà vu," She turned to me. "Like intuition or special phenomena, which allows you to gain access to something outside of your experience or knowledge, but scientifically, it's caused by phantom DNA."

"Seriously?" I said surprisingly. "What does it have to do with our DNA?"

She gave me a clueless shrug, "You know about genetics, not me."

I blinked for a while, trying to remember what I had learned in Biology. Then I recalled something Ms. Grace had said about the genetics. She said only 10% of our DNA is being used every day. The other 90% are considered as "Junk DNA" or Phantom DNA?

Ms. Grace had also told us that nature was not dumb, 90% of our DNA didn't just sit there doing nothing. Apart from reacting to languages and serving as data storage, it also detects other wave genetics. And if the right frequency is connected, it will work the same as the antenna and TVs.

"So our Phantom DNA can access any information just like the internet?" I asked again.

"That sounds about right," Cammie replied with a nod. "The human brain holds the capacity of five Britannica encyclopediae, you should know that."

"And in your case," Alyssa said, "Assuming that the past is still going on and maybe exists somewhere. So if the right frequency of your DNA is connected, you will be subconsciously plunged by dreams. All you have to do is to let your mind be free."

If our silly theory was right, could I be really connected with my father's memories through dreams? Could I go back to the past using my Phantom DNA, something that we both shared together?

"Alyssa," I said. "Do you think we can travel through time and space?"

"One word —impossible," She sighed right away. "No one can travel back to the past or the future, even though a lot of scientists fantasize about...well... time machines and stuff. But still, it's beyond reality."

"Why not?" I said. "You told me yourself that if we travel at the speed of light, you can travel through time and space. Physics always has answers to everything, right?"

"So can you think of something that can travel at the speed of light without going ka-boom?"

"Well...not even the fastest spaceship on earth," I admitted later.

"Now you get the idea," Alyssa said. "The only thing that can travel at the speed of light...is the human mind."

"Vivienne, we know you feel sad about what happened to your dad, but what is done is done," Cammie comforted me and patted the back of my hand. "We can't change the past."

I managed to nod with a half-hearted smile back.