Disclaimer: I don't own the Gallagher Girl series. All rights reserved goes to Ally Carter, Disney Hyperion, Nelson Agency etc. No copyright infringement intended. No money is being made. This is strictly for entertainment purposes. I also don't own any pictures I may use, I get them off of Google Images.

Warnings: language, blood, explicit violence, abuse, character death

Notes: A new idea that's been in my mind for a while now. Hope you all enjoy it! There are no spies in this, it is AU and noncanon. Please review, favorite, follow but I will not and never tolerate flamers or vulgar reviews.

Part I

The Beginning

Chapter 1

"…the stench of death…"

Guilds were a pack, a family.

Guilds were life.

A set of eight in each one, each an Elemental. There was the Alpha, the Beta, the Hunter, the Protector, the Healer, the Seer, the Elder, and the Scribe. Each role was instinctively known but the element did not choose. Your instincts did during the ritual one would have to do in order to make a proper, traditional Guild.

A flower bloomed suddenly as a finger touched the ground. It was a sunflower, bouncing happily in the sun. Cammie sighed, blowing a raspberry through her lips as she sat, criss-cross, on one of the many fields in Gallagher. Barely anyone roamed where she was, except for the few Earth Elementals the Academy enrolled. Cammie, of course, was one of those few.

Tragedy had struck the small town of Roseville, Georgia. The Elemental Guild called The Circle of Cavan had murdered fellow Elemental, and childhood playmate, Joshua Peters *. Joshua was a Light Elemental, a Seer. He had left with DeeDee Daniels, one of the Earth Elementals, on a car ride outside of Roseville to visit Joshua's sick aunt.

They never made it.

They were found a week later, scorched and burned (giving evidence of it having to do with a Fire Elemental) and they were given to their respective families in pieces.

One by one.

Cammie shuddered before she forced herself to think of something different, less morbid. Something butted her arm and she looked down to see her familiar, Onyx. Onyx was a black wolf pup with clear blue eyes and a mischievous personality.

"There you are," someone said.

Cammie looked up at who was standing in front of her. Rebecca "Bex" Baxter stood in front of her best friend, hands on her hips. The sun's glare was a halo surrounding Bex's form, making her look majestic, ethereal. There was a dark red-orange Celtic tattoo spiraling up Bex's left arm in a delicate design, allowing everyone to know she was a Fire Elemental and sometimes, by default, a vicious Beta in a Guild. Neither Bex or Cammie were a part of a Guild, most of the adults thought it too dangerous, too foolhardy for underage elementals to be part of something so serious, so life-alternating.

Bex grinned impishly at Cammie. "Come on, you're going to miss lunch." As Cammie stood, gathering her bag, she missed the concerned look that flashed over Bex's face before it disappeared as soon as it came. She looped her arms with Cammie's, guiding the Earth Elemental back towards the Academy building, and into the Great Hall.

"Cammie!"

Once she stepped foot in the premises, she was attacked by small arms and blonde hair. Cammie chuckled softly as she hugged Elizabeth Sutton, dubbed Liz by the student body, back. "Hey, Lizzie,"

"I was so worried," The Air Elemental scolded. "Don't you dare scare me like that again, you hear?"

Cammie rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother," she teased good-naturedly.

Liz grinned before she took off down the hall towards the trickle of Air elementals, all bearing the dark gray tattoo that crept on the left side of their neck, curling onto their collarbone. Cammie looked around the crowded Hall, easily spotting Macey with the other Water Elementals, a sky blue tattoo on the inside of her wrist.

She saw Grant Kanavos sitting with the Light Elementals, the white tattoo easily spotted on his right arm in a fashion just like Bex's, and Zachary Goode was sitting with the Dark Elementals, his tattoo a pitch black color on the right side of his neck like Liz's own. Tina Walters was conversing loudly with her group that was mixed with Fire, Water, Air, Light and Dark respectively. Tina was a Dark Elemental and, by instinct, an Alpha, regardless of her reputation as a gossiper.

Earth Elementals had a different tattoo, one not so visible to the public. It started by their right hip before crawling upwards in a curved design to their right shoulder blade, cutting across their back. It was colored a bright and dark green and was hidden easily by clothes.

Cammie sat down with fellow Earth Elementals Ross Aitken, Cara Wilson, Lily Wright, Wilhelm Kruetz, and Olivier Garnier and Bex drifted to her fellow pyromaniacs. "Hi, Cam-Cam!" greeted Lily in her normal cheerful way. She was struggling with her burger.

Ross sighed, "Honestly, just cut it with the knife so it'll be easier."

Lily blinked. "Oh."

"Where'd you run off too?" Cara questioned, eyeing Cammie shrewdly. She flushed as she responded, "Uh, one of the courtyards."

Cara gave her a knowing look, nodding. "Alright, then. You doing ok?"

Cammie shrugged, looking at the table. Olivier was easily cutting through his steak, Wilhelm was stuffing his face with the Chinese variety the table offered, and Ross was teaching Lily how to cut her burger. In many ways, it was a very normal lunch hour.

"How are all of you?" Cammie asked, causing the table to descend in thoughtful silence for a pregnant pause. DeeDee's death had hit them hard, harder than the Light Elementals of the school.

"We'll be fine," Olivier groused through his mouthful of steak. "We have each other, so it's all good and dandy."

"Ugh," Cara wrinkled her nose. "Chew with your mouth closed."

Olivier rolled his eyes. Wilhelm grasped Cammie's hand and when he removed it, a small flower sprouted gingerly in her palm. It was his silent way of giving moral support and saying that he was going to be fine. Cammie gave him a wide smile.

"Have you all heard?" Ross inquired once Lily was happily chewing on her beef burger.

"Heard what?" Cara raised an eyebrow.

In many ways, Ross was just like Tina Walters when it came to gossip and resources. He looked around, albeit nervously, before he explained in a low tone, "Someone in Gallagher created a Guild."

Lily shrieked, Cara dropped her glass on the table, Wilhelm blinked indifferently, and Olivier nearly choked on his piece of steak. It caused a few heads to swivel, especially from the teachers' table. Everyone watched the Earth Elementals when news of DeeDee's death hit the papers. They were a close knit unit because there were only seven of them in the entire school and most thought that her death would cause one of them to collapse with grief and breakdowns.

Oh, they did just that alright but they mourned either in each others' company or their own.

"Uh, there was a spider," Cammie lied in order to ease the suspicion and curious glances. "Ross killed it."

After a few more glances, everyone that had looked went back to their business, and the Earth Elementals turned back to Ross.

"What?" Cammie snapped lowly. "Who? Do you know?"

"Rumor has it that it's Tina and her ilk," Ross informed. "I heard from my Papa that they're sending some representatives from the Royal Guild to scope it out."

Olivier's jaw went slack, chewed steak out in the open, and Cara didn't even scold him for it. You knew there was a problem if Cara never gave a scathing comment over Olivier's lack of table manners.

"The Royal Guild?" Lily murmured in astonishment. "Why would — what's the point? What could the RG even do? Once the Ritual is performed and finished, nothing could break the bond. The Bonds are infinite, forevermore. There is absolutely nothing they could possibly do."

"They could think of punishments," Cammie said. Her mind was still processing the information that someone in their school might've created a Guild, even though it was highly frowned upon in both magical and non-magical parts of the world if said Guild was made of underage students.

Guild was life.

It was forever.

Only Death could tear them apart.

"Like what?" Cara asked.

Wilhelm cleared his throat; they looked over to see a piece of paper in his hands. Written in spidery script was:

They could make them do community service or show them the results of an unfinished Guild that performed the Ritual wrongly.

Olivier's lips thinned. "But a wrongly performed Ritual means death doesn't it?"

Wilhelm and Cammie both shook their heads. "No, it doesn't." Cammie said. "It means insanity, sometimes it means death."

Ross nodded. "You're literally, legitimately, tying your heart, mind, body, and soul to the other Elementals in your Guild. I mean, sure, you can marry someone else who isn't apart of your Guild but in all sense, you only belong to your Guild forever, until you die at least."

The others on the table shuddered at the thought of insanity, death, and being tied forever to someone just because of a Ritual.

"We don't know for sure if Tina has a Guild or not," Cammie frowned at Ross. "You shouldn't rely so heavily on rumors and gossip."

Ross rolled his eyes, like always, and said, "I love you too, Cam-Cam."

Lunch was over quickly and the Earth Elementals split to their separate ways. Wilhelm to the library, Lily and Cara to the gym, and Ross with Olivier to their dorm room so they could discuss and dissect the subject of Tina's alleged Guild. Cammie walked the hallways silently, shifting into the shadows like a Chameleon, and she explored Gallagher Academy once more.

The Academy was built from stone and, in a way, the stone used was once tied to the earth in some form. Like any of the other Earth Elementals, the walls of Gallagher spoke to them, whispered in their ears about the comings and goings in the halls, so it was no surprise to Cammie when the Academy murmured in her ear that afternoon before dinner. However, she was flabbergasted to realize what was going on.

The alarms screeched and blared in her ears, making them feel as if they were bleeding. Cammie tore through the halls, down corridors, and pushed passed the panicked underclassmen while the upperclassmen tried to calm everyone down. She bumped into Grant and Zach, who crashed into a suit of armor.

"Cammie," called Zach as the Light and Dark Elementals scurried after them, catching the attention of Madame Dabney, who was frighteningly fast at her old age, who chased after them.

"Cammie!" Grant called, a bit desperate.

No one knew why the alarms screamed, why it was pulled, or what was going on. Mr. Solomon soon began to run after Cameron Morgan as well. They didn't know that she was running right into the murder scene.

All that flashed through Cammie's mind was a courtyard, green and beautiful in the moonlight. A figure was sleeping innocently by the large oak tree, their chemistry books scattered around their legs. It was a female since the busty chest was a dead giveaway. Cammie knew the hideout; she was there for half the morning.

Then, there was another figure, this one sketchy enough, wearing the Circle of Cavan emblem. There was a knife, a short scream, a burst of body-freezing fear, blood, and the stench of death.

"No!" Cammie screamed out into the cold air of the November night as she slammed through the doors leading to the courtyard. The murderer was gone but the girl was still there, blood seeping through the open wounds, bloodied knife nowhere to be found. "No!"

Not Joshua…

"No!"

Not DeeDee…

"No!"

not her…please, no…

Her blood was staining the Earth as if it were being burned by a fire.

Grant cursed expletives intensively; Zachary threw up his lunch, Madame Dabney drew in her breath and looked her true age, while Cammie still ran and Joe Solomon still trailed behind her.

Ella Johnson was a Light Elemental, an eighth grader. She was only thirteen years old and she was dead.

"Does anyone know what happened?" the Headmistress, Rachel Morgan, Cammie's mother, demanded immediately. "I need to know, now."

Cammie was swaddled in a blanket, perched on her fathers' lap even though she thought she was way too old and big for that. Her hands were stained a pinkish-red since she was desperately tried to stop Ella's corpse from bleeding any more. She tried to pump life through the broken body but it was no use because her teachers pulled her away kicking and screaming from Ella and into Zach's dutiful hands, who had then used his Element to encase her in a soothing darkness.

"Why didn't I see this?" Grant had muttered into the night. "I should've seen this."

"Cammie?" Her mothers' head swiveled to her own. "Do you know what happened?"

Cammie didn't even recognize her own voice as she whimpered, "Blood…so much blood…oh, God…"

Her mothers' eyes softened but she was determined to know the truth. "Cammie," she said, "Do you know who did this?"

Cammie let out a jerky nod and a moan, "yes…"

The others populating the room, her teachers, parents, and six members from the Royal Guild, along with the C.S.I. and police, all shared shrewd looks. "Who did it, then, girl?" questioned an impatient RG member. He had the power of Fire.

"Xavier," another hissed. "Behave."

Wisely, he fell quiet.

Cammie mumbled something underneath her breath but no one caught it so she was asked to repeat herself. She closed her eyes, seeing the blank eyes of shock, pain, and terror… "The Circle of Cavan did it," Cammie said as loud as she could manage. "I saw it."

"You're a Seer?" An RG said in shock. She was very pretty with blonde curls and a calming presence.

Cammie shook her head. "No, but the Academy was built with stone, which is tied to the Earth is some way. If I listen close enough or look hard enough, I can notice everything that happens in Gallagher. However, I didn't see Ella until it was too late."

"Oh, Cammie," her father gripped her tight even though his arms were shaking. No one blamed him.

"This is getting out of control," an RG member shouted. "That Guild needs to be shot down. Why are they doing this? Is it just for fun?"

"Apparently," someone says.

"Honey," Rachel smiles at Mathew, but the order is still there. "Take Cammie to the Infirmary, please."

He nodded and soon Cammie was swept out of the room, away from the debate and rising voices over what to do about the Circle of Cavan. She fell asleep to vacant eyes and a bloody knife.