Vivica frantically pressed the center button on her iPod with her purple fingernail and held it for four agonizing seconds. Nothing, the screen was still a dull, black. Her video iPod had finally died after 3 years of drops, spills and other mishaps. Vivica groaned and shoved the broken machine into her messenger bag. Her new discount Payless boots clicked softly on the concrete as she prepared for her depressingly silent walk home. Instead she hummed one of her favorite songs as she started along the sidewalk to her house. She smiled with relief as she saw the tall, imposing brick structure of her high school growing smaller and smaller as she got further away.
Viv lived in a busy city complete with cars, a plethora of people, and way too many discordant noises for anyone who wasn't used to the ruckus to sleep at night. Her house wasn't that far from the school, and although she was 16 and did have her license, she had chosen to be a pedestrian in this case. No use driving such a short distance and poisoning the Earth any more than anyone else already was.
She was walking past a particularly imposing alleyway, lost in her reverie when a hand clutched her ankle. The grip anchored her firmly in place. Fear creeping up her neck, she turned her head to look at whoever had grabbed her with such force. It was a man, kneeling up against the alley wall, shrouded in dirty, ragged robes. Not the kind of hobo you'd see these days... she thought. "Please Miss, could you spare something for a poor beggar?" Vivica looked at him strangely. It seemed as if he were quoting a line from some Dickens novel.
She cleared her throat, feeling awkward. She fished in her jeans pocket and found two dollars. "Um, I'm sorry, but this is all I have." Vivica handed the money to the beggar, whose hand was suspiciously youthful looking when he wrapped his fingers around the bills and snatched them out of her palm. He still had not let go of her ankle. "Um...sir?" She asked, feeling herself beginning to sweat with fear. "I have to be somewhere right now, could you please let go of me?"
The youthful beggar boy released his grip on her ankle and let her continue on. "Thank you for your charity Miss." He said, in an ominous whisper. But Vivica was already past the alleyway by this time and almost at the intersection of the street. He then stood up, pocketing the two bills, although they would be of no use in his world. From his left pocket, he withdrew a small black device and chucked it down the alleyway. With an incredible amount of grace for a rolling object, it managed to avoid everything else and eventually clipped onto its target...Vivica.
She turned around when she felt something hit her boot. As a result, she was almost run over by a car, who squealed quickly to a stop. "Sorry!" She called, giving the angry driver a wave of thanks and hurrying across the crosswalk. Vivica mentally slapped herself for being so stupid. It was probably just a rock that hit her boot. She needed to stop being so paranoid...
Oddly enough, Vivica soon realized she had stopped in front of a charming little restaurant she'd never bothered to notice before. Her eyes scanned the sign posted in the window. "The Silver Dragon is now hiring." She whispered pensively. Vivica sighed aloud and stepped through the threshold. She needed the money, and a job would be the perfect thing to take her mind off things.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was warm and inviting. The place was well lit, yet it still maintained the same warm and friendly atmosphere if it were lit by candles only. "May I help you, dear?" Vivica turned to see a kind elderly lady smiling at her. "Is this your first time in my restaurant?" Vivica was so surprised she could only nod slowly. The woman turned away from Vivica to the five girls who entered the restaurant, talking enthusiastically about something with their brows furrowed.
"My granddaughter, Hay Lin, and her friends." The woman explained. "My name is Yan Lin. I own The Silver Dragon." Vivica shook the woman's hand. "I'm Vivica." She had seen the five girls walking around her school on numerous occasions. Although, she hadn't actually gotten the chance to meet any of them because she was in class 5A at Sheffield Institute, two grades above them.
Vivica couldn't help feeling awkward and voyeuristic as she watched them. She then coughed and turned her attention back to Yan Lin. "I came here because I saw the Help Wanted sign in the window. Do you have a form I need to fill out? I'm sorry, I would have dressed more nicely, but my coming here was a spur of the moment decision." Vivica said sheepishly, looking down at her scruffy t-shirt, baggy jeans and boots.
Yan Lin smiled warmly at her, making the creases next to her eyes more visible. "Your appearance is fine. In fact, I like you so much, and I have such confidence in you that, I'm going to hire you!" Vivica looked surprised. "When can you start?" Yan Lin asked eagerly. "Tomorrow afternoon, I guess." Vivica said. Her mom usually worked late, and she wouldn't notice the difference in times Vivica came home.
"Well, thank you for the opportunity, Yan Lin. May I call you that?" Vivica asked tentatively. Yan Lin nodded. "Of course. Now, I expect you to be here at four o'clock sharp tomorrow. Obviously, Friday is one of my busiest days, and I need an extra hand or two. I'm afraid that all of the server positions are filled up, so you'll have to be a busser. Is that alright with you?" Vivica nodded eagerly. "Four o'clock, I'll be there." She said and quickly left the Silver Dragon, leaving a smiling Yan Lin in her wake.
"Who was that Grandma?" Hay Lin asked with a puzzled expression on her face. "Yeah, I've never seen here before." Will concurred. "She looked kind of suspicious to me." Cornelia said. "No need to be mean, Corny." Irma chided. "I wasn't...Irmy." Cornelia said flippantly. "I'm surprised you're not suspicious. Did you seethose boots? They alone are enough to think she has some sort of hidden agenda." Irma rolled her eyes. 'Yes, Corny. Those boots were just screaming unstable psycho maniac." She said, her voice dripping with the usual sarcasm. "Gosh, do you two always have to be at each others' throats?" Taranee asked exasperatedly. "Girls, be nice." Yan Lin warned. "Vivica is a very sweet girl. She's two grades above you and you'll be seeing a lot more of her now that she's going to be a busgirl here."
Hay Lin was puzzled. "I didn't see a help wanted sign when we came in. Are you trying to pull one over on us, Grandma?" She asked. Yan Lin shook her head. "I posted the sign this morning, but you were all far too distracted to notice. You were talking very animatedly when you came in." Hay Lin nodded. "You may be right. But, come on Grandma. I know you better than this, there must be another reason why you need "extra help." Will interjected before Hay Lin's grandmother could speak. "Uh...guys. The Heart started to glow really brightly when Vivica came in. You didn't see because you were all too focused on other things...like her clothes." She said, shooting Cornelia a look.
"But, how can that possibly be?" Taranee asked. "We'rethe five guardians of the veil." Irma nodded. "Taranee's right. There can't be six guardians. It's impossible. Yan Lin would have called Vivica here when she first told us about our destiny." Cornelia mulled this over before she spoke, "It totally wouldn't make sense. There are five elements, not six." Will sighed. "Wait guys, can you hear me out before you start to jump to conclusions? Maybe she's not a guardian. Maybe she's just supposed to help us."
"Will has the right idea." Yan Lin said. "I've been wanting to show you girls something that I think you will find very useful to you."
Yan Lin dimmed the lights in the room and created a sort of scrying picture in the air. "You gotta teach me how to do this sometime." Hay Lin said, still fascinated by the trick. The surface of the image ripped, and it revealed Meridian. The image then switched to the inside of Prince Phobos's castle and panned along the hallways until it stopped, curiously, at one of his servants polishing a candlestick.
She looked harmless enough, and the girls were confused as to what her importance was. "Look!" Cornelia said, pointing to the lock of hair escaping from the cap that kept the girl's hair out of the way as she worked. The reddish-brown locks were unmistakable. It was Vivica alright. But why would she be serving Phobos? She had no clue who he even was.
Yan Lin made the image disappear and turned the lights back on. "You see what I mean, girls? You can't always pick your allies. I don't think it's fair for you to judge Vivica. You haven't even had the chance to meet her yet. " Cornelia sighed, feeling remorse for her earlier made remark. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try to get to know her. But, that's going to be difficult, since she's two grades above us, and each grade has separate lunches." Taranee snapped her fingers. "I got it! She's the new girl who just moved in near me. She lives two houses down from me, actually. But, my mom and I never bothered to go say hi. We've been really busy lately."
"How about we throw her a welcome to the neighborhood party?" Cornelia said with a smile. "Good idea Cornelia! We can invite her over to my house after her shift is over." Irma agreed. "Whaddya say Will?" Hay Lin asked. Will nodded. "I think it's a great idea...but there's one problem. This still leaves the matter of telling her what we need her to do..." Hay Lin sighed. "You're right....she's never going to believe us. But...she probably will believe my Grandma. Vivica does seem to trust her."
The other four girls nodded. "It's settled then." Will said. "We'll try to be her friend first and gain her trust. Once she's gotten her bearings, we'll tell her what she needs to know." Taranee nodded. "I wonder what she's doing working for Phobos though. I feel bad that she has to work for an evil prince bent on world destruction, which earns him a ten on the Creeper Scale." Hay Lin turned to her grandmother. "She's a spy for us, right?" Yan Lin nodded and looked at the clock on the wall. "I think it's time for you girls to be getting home. And remember, Vivica will most likely try to run away from her destiny. It's up to you to help her realize her potential and give her the confidence to face it."
Everyone said their goodbyes to Hay Lin and her grandmother and filed out of The Silver Dragon. Hay Lin walked back to the house while her grandmother remained in the restaurant. She had a whole pile of homework to tackle and she was more than glad she wasn't needed to help. Plus, she had to get to work on planning this party. Hopefully she wouldn't be needed to defend the veil anytime soon.