Prologue:
Willow Vandom looked around at her friends, wondering what they thought she should say. It had been a gruesome battle, but Phobos was finally dead, Meridian was rid of evil, and their job was complete. She couldn't find the words to intimate how she felt at that moment. Pride, joy, excitement, and even sadness overwhelmed her inner being. Pride at how she and her friends had handled the fight and problems with their powers, joy because it was all over, excitement for what was to come, and sadness because she knew it was very likely that she and her friends would return to Earth and go back to the lives they had before their powers. Will and Taranee would be the outcasts once more, sharing little smiles with Cornelia, Irma, and Hay Lin in the halls but nothing more.
Cornelia Hale stood next to Will and panted hard, thinking about the epic battle that had just taken place. She knew that people would be telling the story for hundreds of years to come. The story of how the Witches had beaten Phobos and made the world of Meridian safe once more. But as she waited for Will to tell everyone what would happen next, she had to wonder what it would be like when they returned to Earth's dimension. Would she stay close to the four girls around her? Would she return to the "cool" group and not have the feeling of family anymore? If the latter happened, she knew she would regret leaving them – they were like her surrogate family. Knowing that her parents may have been her birth parents but didn't really know anything about her anymore just made her need the girls of WITCH even more.
Taranee Cook looked around thoughtfully, catching Will's eye and understanding in a millisecond that Will was afraid for this moment to end. What would happen when it did? Because everything comes to an end, even the best things in life, no matter how much she wanted them to last. This feeling surrounding her was so loving, so happy, and she never wanted to leave it. She didn't know how she would survive without these girls she had grown so close to so quickly. And what would happen to Cornelia and Caleb? They were so in love, Taranee could hardly think of one without thinking of the other and how they were always together. And Hay Lin would have to go home to that house and live with the reality that the grandmother she had always loved so much was dead and had left her with so many questions that her parents wouldn't know the answers to. And Irma...oh, Irma would survive. She'd always been one to go with the flow. Why did it have to end?
Irma Lair stared at her feet and willed herself not to cry, barely holding her tears back by the force of her power over water. She knew that she would remain close to Hay Lin and Cornelia when they returned to Earth, but what about Will and Taranee? They weren't "in" with her crowd. She wouldn't get to see them all the time and she wouldn't be kicking bad guy butt with them anymore. It was scary, thinking of a life without her four favorite girls, much less living it two girls down.
Hay Lin was bawling relentlessly. They had won, but at what cost? People laid around her, cold and dead because they had died fighting for what they believed in. Her face was soaked with tears. Yet she was also happy and it was an odd feeling, this happy/sad ensemble of feelings. Yes, they had won, and Will was about to speak. Hay Lin wanted to stay in Meridian and help rebuild, but knew that whatever Will said was what they would do. It had always been that way. And it always seemed to work out.
Will held out one hand into the middle of the little circle, palm up, and allowed the Heart of Candracar to float up slowly. She usually kept the Heart's strongest essence in her hand, at ready use in case of a fight. But now there was nothing to fight, and she wanted the Heart to make the decision of what the members of WITCH should do. The Heart floated for a few moments then floated towards Will's own heart, slowly melding together with it. A few minutes more of quiet and Will's eyes glowed a bright pink. Her lips moved and she spoke, but not of her own accord.
"Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin," she began. "You have all done splendidly, exactly as I had hoped." At this, Irma broke in.
"Who exactly is speaking?" Irma inquired. "Is this Will, the Heart, or someone else?"
"This is the Oracle, and I wish to congratulate all of you on how well you've done. I know you all are dying to know what you should do now that Phobos has been defeated. I must warn you, the fight is not over. Evil is not completely destroyed. It never is. So I have decided to give you two choices.
"One: You may go back home to Earth and your families. I will erase all memory of your WITCH comrades, and you will return to your daily life, without your powers. I recommend this choice, it's much less tedious." Will's pink eyes were now glowing warmly, not just brightly. "Or two: You can go to an in-between dimension called Lacreaux and train young men and women to use magic to fight evil. You will keep your memories of your powers and your friends. This choice must be made as a group. I will now take my leave. You know how to reach me..."
Will's eyes slowly returned to their deep brown and the Heart pulled itself back out of her chest and hung in the middle of the circle, casting a slight pink glow around itself. She looked around at her friends, but already knew what her decision was. She couldn't say what the rest of the girls wanted, but she knew what she wanted.
"I suppose it should be a majority vote then," Will said with a sigh. "All in favor of going to Lacreaux, raise your hand." Will raised her hand and Hay Lin and Taranee were about to join her when Cornelia interrupted.
"Wait, I really think we need to talk through these options and take our time. We should come to a decision that benefits all of us and not just the majority of WITCH. I mean, seriously, what good is it going to do us if two people are miserable while the other three are happy?" Cornelia said, rationalizing.
Will shrugged her thin shoulders. "I suppose we could do that. I think we should stay because – I don't know about you four – I really treasure these memories of us and I'd rather keep them and never see my family again. All I did with my mom was fight anyways. What do you think Irma?"
Irma blinked back at Will, looking depressed. Will could see the tears in Irma's blue eyes and knew that the only reason Irma wasn't bawling like Hay Lin was the fact that she could control her tears. "I think we should go to the Luhcrow place, or however you say it. It sounds like it could be fun."
"Lacreaux," Cornelia said impatiently.
"Whatever!" Irma shot back. Cornelia was taken aback by Irma's sudden outburst. "Sorry, I'm just really tired. You know I love you Corny." Cornelia smiled, but still looked a little hurt.
"I think there are positives and negatives on both sides of the board. For one thing, if we stay we'll never see our parents again. On the other hand, if we return to Earth, our memories of each other are gone. Poof!" Cornelia said, mentally counting up pros and cons for staying at Lacreaux and going home.
"I want to stay," Hay Lin said softly. "I want to learn as much about this culture as I can. I never got to learn everything my grandmother knew before she died and I want to continue learning in her memory."
"The issue is really which sounds more appealing," Will reasoned. "There are good things and bad things about staying in Lacreaux and good and bad things about returning to Earth. We just have to decide which is more appealing to us as a whole. And I'm not talking about a majority vote either. I'm talking about coming to an agreement right here, and sticking to it."
"I feel that it would be best to stay in Lacreaux. Like the Oracle said, the fight is never completely over. We could use our experience to teach the next generation to fight it," Taranee said, looking slightly uncomfortable. There was a moment of silence while the four girls around her thought about everything.
"I think we should stay," Will said. Cornelia, Taranee, Irma, and Hay Lin nodded emphatically to her and smiled proudly. They had come to an agreement. Will called the Heart of Candracar back towards her own heart. As they melded once more into one, Cornelia prepared what she would say to the Oracle. She was second-in-command after all.
"Have you made your decision?" the Oracle asked politely.
"Yes sir," Cornelia said, looking him straight in the eyes. "We would like to stay in Lacreaux. It seems like a much better choice than going back home and losing the knowledge we've gained. We need to pass that knowledge on to the next generation so they can fight whatever source of evil comes at us next."
Will's head nodded, controlled by the Oracle from somewhere no one knew about. "There is no turning back once this decision has been made. You must understand that after this, all contact with me is severed. Even if the Keeper pulls the Heart of Candracar into her once again, I will never again be able to speak with you. Are you sure about this?"
Cornelia looked at her four friends: Will, unable to control her own movements, but always so sure of her decisions; Irma with her eyes brimming with tears, barely held back; Taranee, looking more determined than she'd ever been; and Hay Lin, hiccupping as she tried to stop crying and look brave. And then Cornelia looked within herself. She thought of how she would have never gotten this far without the girls around her. She couldn't go back to Earth and forget them. Never. She looked back at the Oracle.
"I'm positive," she said, taking one last look around before correcting herself. "We're positive."
Will's head nodded again. And then the Heart left Will's heart and returned to her hand. The five Guardians were sucked into a portal, taking them to Lacreaux and their new lives as teachers.
Author's Note: AHHH. First chapter. You like? Don't like? Whatever, I'm still going to keep writing. Review or don't. It's all up to you.