I'msorryif some ofmy typecomesoutlike this.I'll try tofix itbut myspace bar iskind of broken . Darnit!!!

PS: WITCH isnot mine !!

Will couldn't remember the last time she took to the sky.

Over the course of years that she had been Guardian of the Veil, her flimsy butterfly wings had strengthened to the point where they could carry her own weight. It had been years since she'd gone Guardian and she missed it like crazy: the adventures, the dangers, the bonds of perilous sisterhood. But she felt like no time had passed now. Hay Lin was totally right:

Flying was the best feeling in the world.

And dream or reality, she was going to make the most of the star streaked sky.

With an extra beat in her wings and a skipped one in her heart, she shot foreword. The winds in her face making her forget to look down or even open her eyes.

She became dimly aware of others joining her flight. Not on one stationary path as she was but twisting and dancing around her like electrons to a nucleus, like ribbons in the wind.

Dragons.

She opened her eyes with delight. Sunlight yellow, fire red, pearl white, and ebony black tails whipped the air around her. She saw the pleasure, the desire, the fire in their eyes as they flew. They missed the sky just as much as she did.

DON'T MAKE SOMETHING YOUR EVERYTHING, MY HEART

Alarmed, Will stopped. The dragons stopped as well and searched above and below them, curious as to the location and identification of the voice. The Keeper, however, remained deathly still, hovering a good fifty feet above the sands below.

WHAT WILL YOU HAVE WHEN IT'S GONE?

She knew that voice.

Will grabbed her pillow and shoved it over her head to block out the blaring guitar music. She got plenty of it from Matt: she sure as hell didn't need from her kid and especially not at seven thirty in the morning.

Will grabbed her pillow and shoved it over her head to block out the blaring guitar music. She got plenty of it from Matt: she sure as hell didn't need from her kid and not at seven thirty in the morning.

When the pillow proved unsuccessful, she let out a loud growl and threw her pillow across the room barely missing her TV.

"Be careful, Mrs. Wilhelmina!" the new TV exclaimed as the pillow fell harmlessly on top of it.

Will sighed, somewhat quelling her fury. She got up and snatched up the bed sheets that had somehow made it to the floor. On her way to her bathroom, she picked up the pillow and tossed it back onto her bed.

"I've told you a bunch of times, Jules. It's just Will" she addressed the new model as she quickly ran a brush through her red cropped hair. She'd kept the haircut this long because it was really easy to manage. "And I thought I told Maxie not to let him play this early!"

"Mrs…Will, you know that Maxie's a big ham. He loves being played" Jules responded sympathetically.

Will grabbed the first thing she saw in her closet and threw it on. "He takes after his owner" she growled.

Will slipped into her slippers and began her decent/stalk down the stairs to the living room. She crossed it quickly and reached the basement door where electric guitar music was coming from and proceeded to shout over the music:

"KENNY OLSEN, WHAT THE FLAMING HECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!"

The music from beyond the door stopped and Will heard shuffling. Finally the door opened to reveal a brunette teenage boy and his zebra striped guitar. Donning baggy black pants with a red flaming dragon crawling up the left leg and a matching black muscle shirt, he looked every bit the rock star. Not to mention the three inch long tussled brown hair.

"I'm playing" was all he said before he made an attempt to close the door again. Will, however, had predicting just as much and had her foot out to stick in the door. The devilish smile she knew he'd been trying to hide now crept openly unto his lips.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious" trying to act threatening and being unsuccessful by the playful glint she caught in her son's eyes. "Why are you playing at seven in the morning?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I was inspired" was his response.

"Well get un-inspired now" she demanded looking at her watch. "You've got to get to school now unless you want another late detention. Where's your brother?"

"You do know that 'Twin Telepathy' thing is a myth, right Mom?"

"Kenny…"

Kenny rolled his eyes and indicated behind him. Will moved to a side to see beyond him to where another red-haired boy was asleep with a book over his face. This one wore beige cargo pants with a blue and green Hawaiian shirt.

Just at that moment, the phone began to ring. Will let out a groan. This was not her morning.

"Get him up and grab your books while I grab this" she ordered. Before she turned around, she shot a glare at his Max 7 Guitar which did the equivalent of a cringe. As she turned around to leave she realized the mistake she had just made.

"Yo, Ashton!" Kenny shouted and then struck a high power chord on his guitar which sent the sleeping Ashton shooting straight up in alarm. Will rubbed her temples as the shouting began while she was halfway to the kitchen.

"What is wrong with you?!" Ashton exclaimed. "I was sleeping in case you didn't notice! You are such a—"

She heard another power chord, loud and shrill.

"Yeah, yeah, stop whining. We need to be getting to school"

Finally reaching the phone, Will picked it up without checking the number and hoped her kids would stop arguing long enough to get ready for school on their own.

"Hello?" she asked the receiver.

"Is this the world's greatest manager?" askedthe caller.

Will rolled her eyes but smiled. "Hey you"

The callerlaughed. "Hi Will. Just wanted to let you know that I'll be heading into the airport in a few hours so you better start calling security"

"And friends and family, the works" she replied grinning as she wrote in a pad. "Don't worry, hon. I got this"

"For goodness sakes, Mom! Get a room already!" Kenny exclaimed, emerging from the basement with Ashton and each carrying their books.

"Get going both of you! Throw in the mail on your way out!" she addressed them over her shoulder.

"Already done" Ashton commented before leaving, indicating a single envelope on the dresser near the front door. Taking the phone with her, Will picked it up. Two curves in hot pink formed an oval on the cover. It was the only identification on the envelope.

"Will?"

"Oh dear" she whispered.

Irma mumbled something into the leather steering wheel as she felt someone's hands covering her eyes.

"Guess who?" said a voice to her right. She smiled despite herself.

"It better not be my adorable partner with some lame excuse as to why a caramel mocha frappuccino will not be the first thing I see when I open my eyes" she quipped. She heard a shocked gasp.

"Of course not" The hands removed themselves from her eyes and she looked around the car in search of her drink. When she found none, she shot her partner a playful glare. He laughed.

"It's your adorable and sexy boyfriend with some lame excuse as to why a caramel mocha frappuccino will not—" Irma cut him off with an elbow in the gut to which he playfully whimpered.

"Ha-larious, Xander. Now what did I miss?" she asked picking up her binoculars that sat next to her. Xander gently pressed his lips to her cheek in a 'good morning' kiss as he removed the binoculars around his own neck. She rolled her eyes but still smiled and he pointed to a door at the side of the warehouse where two women and a man were talking.

Pressing the binoculars to her eyes as Xander did, Irma inspected the figures. The two women were wearing sunglasses and long black overcoats. The man was wearing regular jeans and a tight muscle shirt.

"Are we sure that's him?" Irma asked, taking the binoculars from her eyes and searching around the crowded car for the man's warrant. After all these years, she still hadn't learned to be clean. She picked up the manila envelope hidden underneath some other papers and pulled out its contents: the warrant, a phone call list, some surveillance photos and a weird envelope. Its only identification was an aqua blue swirl on the cover.

"You got it?" Xander asked never tearing his gaze from the trio. Irma looked around the rest of the car in surprise and fear for anything else out of the ordinary but nothing looked amiss.

"Um, yeah" she said, slipping the envelope into her jacket pocket. She unlatched her holster with a forced grin and a mental note to make a phone call. She pulled out her gun.

"Let's do this"

Taranee stirred as she felt movement on the bed beside her. Slowly prying her eyes open, she watched a figure get out of bed and timidly stretch. Without her glasses, she couldn't clearly see.

"Sam?" she asked the shape, as she groped around the bedside table behind her to find her glasses. She found them and slipped them on just as the person left the room. Tara couldn't repress the sigh that escaped her lips. It was the same thing every morning.

Throwing her covers off and her robe on over her PJs, she headed out the door to the door of her bedroom to the kitchen where she knew Sam would be.

Upon entering, she spotted the dark skinned five year old girl intently eating her cereal. She didn't look up when Tara entered and she was still in her pajamas.

"Did you sleep okay, Sam?" she asked tenderly, running her fingers through the little girl's hair. The girl only nodded once, not smiling.

Taranee put her coffee to brew and came to sit across from her niece. She was so quiet, she reminded Taranee of herself.

"Did the nightmares go away when you came to bed?"

Again, the child didn't speak. She took a sip of her orange juice and never looked Taranee in the face. Another typical morning.

"Sam?" she tried again. Being a psychologist, she worked with troubled children all week long. It truly frustrated Dr. Cook that she could barely breach the defenses of her own niece.

She nodded again. Neither speaking nor looking up, she got up from her seat and went to her room to get her book bag and change her clothes. Taranee let out another sigh, wondering if her Sam would ever speak again.

She got up again and grabbed her coffee and the newspaper to take to work for her secretary. As she removed it from the counter to take to the kitchen table, an envelope slipped out from within its pages. With a curious glance, she placed the paper on the table and picked up the envelope. On the cover was a triangle in orange.

Hoping that Sam would take a while getting ready, she opened the envelope and read its contents, never letting her guard down for the return of the girl.

She read the letter through twice and then quickly grabbed for the phone and began dialing. Just at the moment it began ringing, however, Sam appeared in the hallway dressed for school with her books. She walked avoiding Taranee's eye contact and headed to the front door.

Taranee checked the kitchen clock and noted that if they were going to avoid the morning traffic they would have to leave right then. With some dismay, she shut the phone off and got up to get her keys. Just because Sam didn't speak didn't mean she wouldn't understand what she had to tell Will.

"You ready, sweetie?" Taranee asked with a small smile. Without comment or recognition, Sam opened the door and began walking to the stairs.

Taranee fingered the envelope she had slipped in her purse and as she followed her niece out.

Maybe not that typical of a morning.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Tamaran ran into her mother's room, shouting like a banshee. She leapt on the sleeping Cornelia and she jumped awake.

"Tammy!" Cornelia exclaimed sitting up and clutching her chest, "Jeez, don't do that!" She attempted to calm her breathing. "My God, you scared the life half out of me!"

"Don't use God's name in vain" Tammy chided earnestly. "Mrs. Lam says God said so"

Cornelia couldn't help but smile at her littlest girl as she reclaimed her cool. She messed up her hair and apologized. "All right, all right, 'My gosh'"

"Mommy, Jenna says she's going to eat me" the little girl said, hugging her mother for protection and glancing out the door fearfully.

"Now why would Jenna want to eat you?" her mother responded giving her a hug. "I'm sure you taste awful" she added jokingly.

"No, I taste super sweet" she responded, thinking her mother was serious, "But she says I lost her English paper"

Almost on queue, Jenna came into the room. She had a death glare painted on her face. "Mom" she addressed, gritting her teeth and taking a deep breath, "That demon you brought into the world lost my English paper"

"I did not!" Tamaran retorted. "I never even saw it!"

Cornelia tried not to let her daughters see her humor. "Did you check your bag?"

"Yes"

"Your desk?"

"Yes"

"The couch?"

"Yes. And both recliners"

"Panda's stash?"

Jenna's face softened for a moment in thought. Without another word, she turned around and ran to her cat's 'stash' located under the sink of the guest bathroom. Cornelia rolled her eyes as she stepped out of bed. Napoleon's grandson ate dog biscuits, sniffed fire hydrants and kept a stash of things. The animal thought he was a dog.

Just then the doorbell rang and Jenna called from the bathroom, "Mom, could you get that? I'm practically digging to China under all this stuff and I'm super late!"

Cornelia sighed and shrugged her bathrobe on, Tamaran now playing with her teddy bear on her bed. She descended the stairs of her same penthouse and approached the door.

"Who is it?" she asked as she neared.

"It's Lee," said the voice from behind the door. Cornelia smiled. Lee was the boy that lived in the apartment underneath them and had been Jenna's best friend since he'd moved in when Jenna was five.

Well, maybe 'best friend' wasn't the correct terminology Cornelia mused. More like 'partner in crime'

Cornelia remembered when the pair had first met. Jenna was as talkative as Tamaran was now and Lee barely spoke three words at a time. Lee was helping his parents move in when she sent Jenna to go see if they needed anything from the market as the two of them were heading to one at the time.

She'd introduced herself as 'Jenna and not Jenny' as she had a few problems with her new teachers saying her name. Lee had introduced him self shyly as Leonardo adding that everybody called him 'Leo'.

The memory of Jenna's response always made her laugh. "Now why would I want to call you what everybody else calls you? How boring! How about I call you Lee?"

The boy had been utterly surprised at her response and blushed. Jenna kept on, however, not noticing and offered that he could come up with a nickname for her too since she was getting tired of people calling her 'Jenna'.

He'd offered to call her 'Jen' then. Jenna, however, took him to mean it all together as 'Jenthen' and the nicknames stuck since then.

Cornelia opened the door where the roguish boy stood, backpack slung over shoulder. The red, white and green cap that covered his short amber hair read 'Life's too short not to be Italian'

"Good morning, Mrs. Hale" he said politely but not exactly calmly. "Jenthen ready yet? It's kind of late…"

"Sorry, Lee" Cornelia apologized, "She's seemed to have lost her English paper"

"Ok, now I'm really panicking!" Jenna exclaimed coming to the door with her messenger bag over one shoulder. "Where else could it be?"

"How about here?" Lee suggested innocently handing her a folder. Jenna's eyes widened as she opened the folder and flipped through its contents. "You wanted me to proof read it for you on the bus yesterday, remember?" he continued.

Jenna sighed, snapped the folder shut, and gave him a quick hug. "Great. Now I have no other option but to marry you"

Lee laughed at her comment. Cornelia noted with a knowing smile that it was that laugh that boys do to keep from turning the color of a fire hydrant and babbling like idiots.

"Bye Mom!" she said, giving Cornelia a kiss on the cheek as she grabbed Lee and dragged him out the door. As the two rushed down the stairs to avoid the elevator wait, Cornelia monitored their conversation.

"Well, we totally missed the bus" Jenna was saying. "How fast can you run?"

"If you want me to breathe ever again, let's not"

"What else can you think of?"

"I vote we sprout wings and fly" he joked.

"Nice idea, Spock. Except that's impossible…" The door to the stairwell just closed and their conversation was lost. Cornelia smiled to herself, thinking of the irony of her daughter's words. Five human beings did fly once upon a time after all.

As she re-entered the house, she spotted Panda walking to the guest bathroom with papers in his mouth.

"Panda!" she scolded. The cat realized he had been compromised and made a break for the bathroom with the envelopes still in his mouth. Cornelia sighed and followed him into the bathroom. Panda was sitting protectively on top of his stuff and hissed at Cornelia when she tried to reach for the envelopes.

"Tammy!" she called up the stairs. "Call Panda, please!"

"Come to mommy, Panda!" she heard Tamaran call. She shook a box "Come get biscuits!"

At the sound of the box, Panda instantly leapt off the pile and flew out the door. Cornelia laughed and set herself down on the floor next to the stash as she pulled out the envelopes from the top of the pile.

The first one was merely a bill from her art gallery for a cocktail party they'd had last month. The second envelope was a child support check. Cornelia frowned at this one and stuffed it into the pocket of her robe messily. She opened the third envelope without looking at the cover of it absentmindedly. The first line brought her back to Earth rather quickly.

To Cornelia Hale-Prant,

Guardian of Earth,

Of the 34th Generation of Guardians of the Veil

She looked at the envelope's cover. It had a green circle with a dot in the center. Her eyes flew over the remaining contents of the letter and she got up from the floor. She passed Tamaran and Panda playing at the foot of the stairs and went up to her office. From a locked desk drawer she pulled out what appeared to be an ordinary mirror and held it up to her face level.

"Show me the queen of Meridian" she whispered. It glowed white.

Hay Lin was roused from her dream by an overpowering need to pee.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes and noticed that it was day already as the sunlight streaked mercilessly in through a window. She made an attempt to get up when the baby in her uterus pushed her bladder and she had to lie back down. She smiled despite herself. She felt like a beached whale.

"Shenny!" she called out the open door. "Shenny, can you help me up, honey?"

Hay Lin watched as Shen Jay reluctantly entered the room, with her backpack already swung over her shoulder.

"Mom, I'm going to miss the bus for school" she said with the smallest hints of a whine in her voice as she approached her mom. Hay Lin beamed at her daughter's timid response.

"Nonsense! It takes two minutes to help me up and if worse comes to worse, I can drive you to school in a jiffy!" Hay Lin was focusing on Shen Jay's arms and pulling herself without spilling her bladder so didn't notice Shen's fearful look.

"No! I mean…you don't have to drive me to school. I'll just ask, you know, Aspen to pick me up on the way" she said hurriedly. She gave her mother a tug and she managed to scoot Hay Lin foreword in her seat a few inches.

"Ouch! Careful with the baby!" Hay Lin exclaimed with a laugh. Her daughter's skinny arms were stronger than they looked. "You don't want your brother or sister here that badly, do you?"

This time Hay Lin looked up at Shen Jay's face and saw the embarrassment there, her eyes were avoiding her own. "I'm so sorry, mom. I'm just…in a hurry. I don't want you to—"

"Shenny" Hay Lin spoke calmer now, still smiling as she stroked her daughter's cheek. "I was just fooling around. I didn't mean it" Shen was even more embarrassed now but she tried not to show it as she slowly helped her mother up. Hay Lin couldn't believe how much of a contrast the shy, timid little girl was to her own creative and energetic self.

Finally, Hay Lin found her feet and lifted herself up the rest of the way with'oof'. "Well, you can run off to school now. I don't think I could fit behind the steering wheel even if I did want to drive you" she commented grinning. Hey Lin knew full well that her grin was contagious and evoked a little curl in one of the corners of her daughter's lips.

"Bye mom" she whispered, giving her mother a kiss that Hay Lin returned eagerly with an additional hug. "Have fun at school!"

Shen Jay exited the room without further comment as Hay Lin stumbled quickly to the bathroom. Upon lowering her PJ's and sitting down to pee, she noticed an envelope on top of her toilet paper. On the cover was a silver swirl and nothing else.

A wave of excitement rushed over her. Whether it was the hormones or not, she wasn't sure but she ripped into the envelope giddily and read through the letter. Her smile never wavering she reached for the newly installed bathroom phone. Almost as if it read her mind, the phone rang as she held it. The caller ID read 'Irma Lair'.

"Irma! Oh my gosh! Did you get the news?" she babbled speedily into the phone before Irma could get in anything.

"Nice to hear from you too" Irma quipped, considerable less hyper than her friend but still cheerful. "Yeah, I got an envelope too"

"Isn't it exciting?" Hay Lin squealed. She hadn't felt so giddy since…well, yesterday. It was definitely the hormones. "A real ceremony! It's been so long since we've been to Candracar…"

"Yeah, I know" Irma replied. A little wistfulness had crept into her voice. "I'd really thought it was over"

"We need to get in touch with the others right away" she told Irma. Then she added for a second time, "I real ceremony! Grandma told me they hadn't had a chance for one in centuries…"

"Don't go into labor on me, girl" Irma laughed. "I'll try to get in touch with Will and Tara if you'll try Cornelia"

"No problem! See you later!" Hay Lin hung up the phone, her smile never wavering. She picked up the letter again.

Here it goes again

Just an insight into what's been happening with WITCH. Also, in case you couldn't catch it, my story takes place in the comics universe. However, since so much time has passed, I've taken some creative liberties and made it similar to the series universe. Any proir history you need to know to get the story, I'll add for the benefit of series fans. :)

Can't wait for the ceremony? Neither can I which is why chapter 3 is already in the works! With spring break, I might post sooner than usual :) Here's a sneak peek.

"And furthermore, I demand that you convince mom to let me join parliament the second I turn eighteen"

"Moze! You just turned thirteen!"

"I'm simply letting you know ahead of time so you have a full five years to grovel" she said mischievously. Caleb sighed.

"Alright, alright. Will you untie yourself from the bedpost and come to breakfast now?"

"No"