Waking Dreams
Zadien
Chapter Three- Dream walker
Dedicated to Maya for teaching about the Naval and the Navel, lol. Thanks babes, I owe you!
Michael Roark had designed and built his large fortress on the outskirts of Heatherfield to find some solitude. As a great architect, he was often called away to design modern buildings to suit this new millennium but he had secretly desired a place of his own to call home. On searching for a suitable town, somewhere quiet where he could remain relatively private, he'd remembered the small seaside town he'd visited with his parents as a child.
It had only taken him a few months to secure the sight and a little over a year to get the contractors to build up the home he'd designed. It was too large really to be a family home, more a castle than a house but he liked his space and he needed rooms to house his collections of antiques and historical artifacts he'd collected over the years as a past time. Not to mention the fact that he'd wanted a pool, a gym, a games room and an office and of course a view of the ocean. The view he'd gotten had been amazing. It was far enough away from the public beach to offer him a sanctuary and the stairs carved into the craggy cliff face offered a strange character to the house. For a while he'd been happy with it but soon he found himself staying at his office and going abroad to escape the emptiness of the house.
He soon solved this problem though; it was hard to be alone when there were people in the house. When his brother died from a tragic accident, he had been put in control of his nephew Malachi. The boy had been aloof, quiet and reserved but he had provided company for the architect. It was fun being the boys' guardian; he was no longer just existing in the world but belonging to it. As he took more of an interest in his nephew he was brought into contact with an intriguing single mother, Susan Vandom who he struck up an interesting friendship with. This friendship grew into something more and he soon found more reasons to take up business closer to home just to be closer to her and her charming daughter. A few more months down the line and he'd fallen in love with this woman and had proposed, offering her and her daughter a place in his sanctuary.
She hadn't agreed straight away, she'd had to talk it over with her daughter but the guardians could safely say they were pleased she'd taken him up on the offer because Vance Michael Justin looked incredibly hot on the plasma screen Michael had recently installed. Plus the man had a popcorn machine! How cool was that?
"You struck gold Will." Irma declared grandly as she sank into the luxurious cushions arranged over the most comfortable recliner chair in the world. It was so supple and just hugged her body.
"Oh, close up." Taranee announced.
Hay Lin quickly froze the screen and they sat idly for the next few minutes drooling over their favorite actor. Unlike some of his less dedicated fans, they hadn't abandoned him when he'd become engaged to the latest poster girl of Hollywood, they knew it was only temporary and that he'd be back on the market soon enough.
"Has he had a nose job?" Cornelia suddenly asked, sitting up only to be pulled back down by Will who was plaiting her hair into little braids.
"Oh my god, the little bump is gone!" Hay Lin wailed. "But it was so cute."
Irma rolled her eyes, shoveling more popcorn into her mouth while casually checking her cell phone for any messages.
"Anything?" Taranee asked.
She shook her head, giving her a weak smile. "Not yet."
The others nodded reassuringly. They knew that every night that Irma's father, Detective Tom Lair worked late, that Irma would wait up for her father to make sure he got home safe. If she was away at a friend's, she would text him to let him know and he'd text back. She never let it get her down. She was a police officers daughter; she was used to the fact that every time he went to work, that it might be his last.
"So…" Cornelia began, tilting her head back to look up at Will. "Elyon's not going to be putting herself in any danger, is she?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, she's not going to be fighting people who are stronger than her, is she? Don't fairies live a really long time? And she's only been doing this magick gig for a few years, she doesn't know everything yet. I just don't want her putting herself in danger on my account."
"Wow Corny; that sounded really mature." Hay Lin chimed in as she stroked Toad, who was curled up on her lap.
Cornelia glowered. "Look, it's a good question alright?"
Will nodded her agreement as she separated a strand of spun gold from the loose blonde hair that fell around her friends face. "I honestly don't know, C. The way she spoke, it sounds like it's going to be more of a court thing. I don't think Elyon is going to be fighting anyone." She wasn't lying exactly; Elyon hadn't mentioned anything about her fighting people. "Besides, the Queen wouldn't allow someone to attack anyone as important as Elyon. It would be risking a war or something, I'm sure."
"Yeah, Will's right. Elyon wouldn't do something like this if there was a risk to her or her people. She'd send a representative in her stead."
"Yeah but this involves Cornelia, Elyon would want to sort this out herself." Taranee broke in softly, ignoring Irma's dark look.
"That's true. Elyon wouldn't care if it puts her in danger. Will, how could you let her do this!"
"Seriously, she's not going to be in danger. And we'll be there and so will her body guards and stuff. It'll be ok. We're just going to ask this guy to leave you alone and everything will be fine. He might be put in jail or something for using his powers for evil instead of good."
"Exactly. Besides Elyon's going to be queen, she wouldn't risk her entire race just for Cornelia. No offence Cornelia."
Cornelia rolled her eyes but relented. She figured Will spoke the truth. After all, Elyon couldn't afford to be selfish anymore. She had to think of her kingdom and her people and make her decisions based on that.
"Oh, oh, I love this part. Vance Michael's voice is so drool worthy in this scene."
Their attention turned back to the screen in time to see Vance Michael stare deeply into his female co-stars eyes and say something deeply profound and romantic, that made the girls sigh longingly.
"He is so hot." Irma said stretching luxuriously, her blue eyes hooding as she lay back on the recliner.
"I've heard that's he's playing a gay guy in his next film. If he gets a good reaction, he's coming out officially."
Their eyes snapped to the figure in the door way. Malachi Roark stood there with a pleasant expression on his face but his eyes glittered with malicious glee at the thought of bursting their teenage girl fantasies.
"No way," The Water guardian shook her head in disbelief. "You made that up."
"I didn't, I swear. It's on his fan site."
Hay Lin's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "That can't be right. He'd lose too many fans, wouldn't he?"
"Well," Taranee paused to push her round frames up her nose, "maybe he's trying to reach out to the gay community."
"They have that Jared guy." Irma muttered disgustedly; then her eyes narrowed on Malachi. "What were you doing on his fan site anyway?" she jibed.
"My girlfriend told me." he replied coolly meeting her dark look.
Will stretched lazily and began to rub her tender neck. "Malachi, stop teasing them. He's not gay, he has a fiancée."
"All for publicity. They know if he came out, he'd lose his female fan base and his career would be over. I mean c'mon people hardly like him for his talented acting; the guy's as wooden as cardboard."
"Blasphemy!" Cornelia shouted, grabbing the cushion that Will had handily provided to throw at him. Putting a little of her guardian strength behind it to at least wind him.
Malachi caught it with an 'oof'. "Jeez, Blondie, you should try out for the football team, you'd make a wicked quarterback and with those shoulders-"
Cornelia let out a scream of frustration before scrambling to her feet only to be tackled by Irma. "Yo, cool it Queen C, Mal's just jealous that he's got as much muscle tone as a cheese string."
"Zing!" Hay Lin cried out in delight with a broad smile and a two fingered pose for victory. "Way to go Irma!"
Taranee smirked as she spun around on the swivel chair she'd been sitting on to access the computer in the corner. "Vance Michael Justin is starring as an ex-police captain who has lost his love for the job after the death of his sister by his nemesis. He soon finds himself falling for his irritating yet stunningly beautiful next door neighbor, a woman who's unwillingly become involved in a dangerous web of deceit and lies. Will he put his past behind him and use his detective skills to help her or will he succumb to the darkness that's eating him up from the inside, blah, blah, blah." she read out.
Irma snickered. "Key word: Woman. I.e.: The female of our species. Now unless he's actually a cross dresser in this or a transvestite, I'm failing to see where you're coming up with the gay issue. Are you unsure what gay means? Because I can look it up in the dictionary for you, I'm sure I'd find a picture of you there so it should be pretty self explanatory." she flashed a grin as his eyes darkened on her. Winding up Mal was so much fun. "Hey, Will, Malachi's gay. He didn't want to say anything out loud but I really think you should- Whoa!" she let out a short sharp scream as she dived out of the way of Malachi's long arm.
Cornelia growled. "You're standing on my hair!"
"Well cut it! Whoa, Will call off your cousin."
Will chuckled as she watched Irma leap over the back of the couch to get out of the way of Malachi who was striding steadily after her, his long legs eating up the ground faster than the running Irma. His expression was grimly determined and Will knew that Irma was going to have to do a heck of a lot of running or just give up and apologize, though Malachi wouldn't make it easy. She looked over at Hay Lin who had collapsed beside her. "You ok?"
"Oh yeah. Just disturbed by the image of Vance Michael Justin being gay." she made a face, then quickly added. "Not that there's anything wrong with being gay, I just really wouldn't have a chance with him then."
"Maybe it would be better if he was gay, because honestly, I don't think there's much chance for you and Vance Michael, Hay Lin. For one thing, you live in Heatherfield; I don't even think he's heard of this town."
"Yeah." She sighed dejectedly.
"Don't you have Eric?"
"Oh yeah but there's nothing wrong with having a back up plan."
"Well no there isn't, and I'm glad to see that if you're going to have a back up plan, you're setting your sights so high."
"I have high standards." The Asian girl explained with a nonchalant roll of her shoulders.
"Taranee you hold him, I'll get a bucket of water."
"I'm not holding him; I'm not going near him. I haven't written a will yet."
"Back off girls." Cornelia growled as she strode into the room holding what looked to be a bucket of… Will's eyes widened.
"Corny no-" Will broke off on a wince, as the water sloshed down like a sheet onto the shocked and extremely pissed man. "Oh boy, are you guys in for it now."
Malachi swiped the water from this tanned face and seared each girl with a dark murderous look. His white blonde hair was plastered to his face and looked almost silvery in the light while his dark brown eyes were almost black. "You three are dead."
"Um… gulp?" Irma offered slowly ducking behind Cornelia.
"Oh no you don't, I'm not hiding you Irma." Cornelia growled as she unceremoniously grabbed Irma and threw her into the path of the furious young man.
Irma squeezed her eyes shut as she collided with the solid mass and biting her lip, she peeked open on eye and slowly dragged her gaze up. The solid mass she had smacked into was a highly toned chest and as she looked up, she found herself looking into black eyes. "Oops."
For a split second, his eyes seemed to brighten but she might have been seeing things. All she knew was that she was suddenly upside down and she had a really good view of Will's cousin's ass… oh no. "Guys!"
Will looked up from where she was knelt on the ground, trying to mop up the spilt water, to see Irma being carted out of the room over the shoulder of her cousin. "Bye Irma. Oh Mal, don't kill her, we sort of need her."
"Yeah, the 'I' is the vowel; we need that otherwise we don't have a cool team name!" Hay Lin added.
"Gee thanks!" Irma called back glaring furiously at them as she blew her bangs out of her eyes.
"Well… that was interesting."
Cornelia grinned, and then began to laugh long and loud. She collapsed onto the couch clutching her stomach. "That was… so funny."
"Uh… it wasn't that funny." Hay Lin murmured to Will who shook her head.
"Stress reliever." she explained to the younger girl.
"Ok, whatever. We need to rewind, we've missed… the end? Aw that's so screwed!"
Taranee shrugged and wandered over to sit with Cornelia, stifling a yawn. "We've seen it before anyway. I think we should go to sleep. I'm exhausted."
Cornelia sobered. "Uh… but there are still a few more films to watch."
"Corny, you're exhausted. Look, we're here, remember. If anything happens, we're right here. We won't let anything happen to you."
"Right…" The blonde whispered. "Shouldn't we, you know find out if Irma's ok?"
"Malachi's probably thrown her in the pool again. He's perverse like that."
"Does he like her or something?"
Will shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. Malachi doesn't really show much emotion other than 'Grr-I-want-to-kill-you'." The other girls nodded then looked to the phone as it began to ring. When Will looked down at the caller ID screen, she rolled her eyes before picking up the phone. "Paul's funeral home, how can I help you?"
"…Shit, it's not them you moron… Ugh…
(Hang up dude.)
…Right yeah, ugh, sorry."
Bemused Will shook her head at the dial tone before hanging up the phone.
"Uriah?" Taranee questioned in a bored tone as she began to unlace her sneakers.
"Yup, he still doesn't get the fact if he's going to prank call someone; he should at least bar his number."
"He's such a moron." Cornelia yawned. She tilted her head back and sighed. "So are we all sleeping in your room Will, or the guest rooms?"
"Safety in numbers?" When the rest of the girls nodded she smiled. "My room it is then."
"I call Will's bed."
"Ok, Hay Lin we get it. You're sleeping in Will's bed."
"I'll sleep on the futon then."
On a tree outside the bedroom of one Will Vandom, a young man sat on a branch with his back to the trunk surveying the sleeping girls within. His green eyes, -which could see incredibly well in the dark after having much training- were alert, capturing every fidget and movement inside. His ears could pick out each and every breathing pattern from the slow deep breathing from the Fire guardian, to the shaky breathing of the shivering Water guardian who had lost her blankets. The Air guardian, tucked up on the large four poster bed beneath a pink canopy, was snoring softly, keeping a steady pattern before the air would catch in her throat and she'd suck in some more, letting out a quivering breath. The Earth guardian was murmuring softly, her hand flexing on the pillow beneath long strands of golden hair that glimmered in the pale moonlight. She rolled over and let out a sigh, then another murmur and a soft moan.
Although she commanded most of his attention, after all he was there to make sure nothing happened to her; a part of him was paying attention to the shallow breathing of the figure lying closest to the earth guardian. Her breathing didn't indicate that she was lost in the land of dreams but that she was awake and keeping vigil on her friend. Every time the blonde girl looked distraught in the dreams, a hand would capture hers and the girl would go back to a safe sleep. Sometimes the light of the moon would catch and glimmer on wary roan eyes as she scanned the room for dangers.
Idly he wondered if she could see him, or did she sense he was near? He never told her where he'd be, he had simply left her to fetch Cornelia and then he'd followed her to her new house. A house that looked more like a castle than anything else. Things had certainly changed since he had last been to earth. It had been Blunk who had shown him the tree, telling him that there was a great viewing spot into the bedroom, before he'd ambled off to god knows where.
She probably couldn't see him, after all, he hadn't moved at all since he'd made himself comfortable. As a rebel and as the captain of the guards, he was used to sitting in uncomfortable positions for lengthy periods of time. It was also a training practice so he was well used to it. Obviously Will wasn't, he thought with some amusement as he watched her thump her pillow in a disgruntled manner while a black and white dog popped its head up to watch her before lowering it again to sleep.
With a contemplative glance that lingered on Cornelia for a little while, he carefully made sure Will wasn't looking before he slid himself out of his position. He may be used to sitting for long periods of time but a man needed to relieve himself at some stage during the day. He looked around as he scratched his cheek, for a suitable place. The woods surrounding the back of the house should do, he guessed, though he wasn't keen on being so far away from the house. However, he had held off on going until the low tickle had become an ache. With a sigh, he strode off down the grass towards the dark shadow of the woods.
A few minutes later, he returned to the tree but a light caught his attention on the lower floor. Intrigued, he jumped down from the lowest branch and steadily, he crept towards the window. The light came from a white box… a fridge, he vaguely remembered from his time helping Yan Lin out at the restaurant.
Frowning, he looked around for an entrance. Noticing a door knob, he twisted it and his frown darkened. Unlocked. Tsk, typical. Slowly pushing the door open, he entered the warm kitchen. From the dim light he could make out the dark shapes in the kitchen but he was damned if he understood what much of it was for. He barely entered the royal kitchens, the chefs were quite temperamental. Worse than the Silver Dragon chef who would hit him with the back of a ladle for coming within a pace of his food.
The fridge door closed but he saw no one. Immediately on alert, he tried to sense who or what was in the kitchen.
Another light switched on, and its warm glow illuminated a disorientated Will standing in the kitchen staring at him. "Uh… Caleb, what are you doing?"
"I saw the light, I came to investigate."
Her mouth formed a soft 'O' of understanding before she hoisted herself onto a stool by the breakfast bar. "Want some?" she asked motioning to the ice cream that she'd retrieved from the fridge.
"Ice cream? At night?"
"Ice cream is good at any time." Will told him and to prove this, she sunk the spoon she'd been waving around into the creamy mixture and scooped out a moderate amount before popping it into her mouth.
He dismissed the offer but sat down on the stool opposite her, sweeping his gaze around the room. Red brick work lined the wall where the stove was sitting while low lights hung down from the roof to illuminate the small slender table in the centre of the room. It was homey, he supposed but there were definite hints of money in the décor and the various appliances- or he guessed that they would be expensive.
"Nice place." he complimented.
Will looked around while bobbing her head. "Yeah. Mike sure knows how to create an atmosphere and his chef really knows how make great ice cream. Are you sure you don't want some?"
He shook his head. "I'm fine. So how's Cornelia?"
"Shaken, disturbed, take your pick." Will mumbled staring into the ice cream that suddenly didn't seem as appetizing as it had before. "She's scared, Caleb and I'm not used to seeing her vulnerable."
"And that's scaring you." He realized.
She looked up at him, umber eyes surprised by the statement which she could acknowledge was true. She was scared. She looked down again, tucking a strand of soft red hair behind her ear. "Well a little yeah, but this is about Cornelia. I can't let her see me scared… or maybe if I'm scared then she'll snap out of it and… I can't do that." she whimpered dully as she held her face in her hands. Slowly, she looked up at him. "That wouldn't be fair on her. I know that. She has every right to be scared. I've always sort of relied on her, you know. She was always the leader of the group before I came along. I'm only the leader of the group because the heart chose me."
"You're a good leader Will. You don't need powers to show that."
"Maybe, but still, in the fights in Meridian, Cornelia was always the strength."
"You worked as a team. You're WITCH, without you, you're just… itch…?" his brow crinkled in realization as she laughed.
"I never thought of that. I should tell Hay Lin, she'd get a kick out of that." She offered him a smile, as she tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear.
He watched her as she sat hunched over the tub of ice cream. She looked soft and vulnerable in the golden light. The sleeveless top and the baggy flannel bottoms coupled with the white woolen socks made her look younger than she was. As another tousled red strand fell into her face, he found his fingers itching to push it back just to know how it felt. He knew Cornelia's hair was as soft and silky as it looked, but Will's always looked coarse and rough in that unkempt bob.
"What I'm trying to say is that you don't have to take this whole burden on by yourself. You're a team; you should be sharing your fears and worries, not hiding them. That's what got you into the mess in the first place."
"We're a team." she corrected; giving him a pointed look. "Whether you like it or not, you're one of us. Although we can't infiltrate your initial in unless Corny leaves us and you're willing to dye your hair blond and you know, talk to us about fashion."
He snorted. "Not likely to happen."
"Good, I was having really horrible images of you with blond hair."
"So why are you living here?" he motioned to the large spacious kitchen, but he meant the entire house.
Will twitched her shoulders. "This house was built by my mum's boyfriend…" she made a face, "Sorry fiancé. They're getting married at Christmas. Mum wants a winter wedding and Mike will do anything to make her happy."
"So you're happy?" He probed; his green eyes sober and direct causing a tickle to develop in her stomach, then it suddenly and violently clenched. Tentatively she rubbed it but mustered up a casual smile to make sure her answer seemed honest.
"Yeah surprisingly. I haven't run away yet."
He chuckled at the comment, resting his elbow on the counter and nestling his jaw in the cup of his palm. "That's good to know."
"How're you and your father?"
"Great. He's become a royal advisor to Elyon so she can understand proper protocol and on his off days he has a piece of land like the rest of the people in Meridian that he likes to till-" He broke off as an stick thin, brittle looking old man hurried into the kitchen.
"Ah, Miss Will. There you are. Miss Taranee is looking for you. She says that the matter is of great urgency." The man's watery blue eyes swept to the young man sitting opposite his ward. Slowly he assessed him before looking to Will for answers. The young mistress was already on her feet with a determined look her mother rarely saw on her face. She was suddenly more mature than a seventeen year old should be; taking control of a situation he wasn't knowledgeable about. But he knew that should she ever need help, she would come to him or someone. She was a smart girl; she and her friends had their heads screwed on. They didn't indulge in drugs, drink or criminal activities or in any thing that the youth of society was plagued with in these times.
"Thanks Collins." she smiled gratefully, before looking to the boy. "Come on."
He watched as the boy, who must have been approaching his twenties, got to his feet and inclined his head in greeting before he followed the girl up the back stairs that led to the second floor.
"Be careful Miss Will." he murmured as he listened to their frantic whispers and their pounding footsteps fade.
The night breeze swirled in the open window and toyed with the blonde hair of a slumberous young woman walking easily along an elongated tree branch. The air constantly pressed against her, as though holding her steady with invisible arms.
"She's going to seriously hurt herself." a voice said softly as perspiration broke out along Hay Lin's alabaster brow.
"Shush, Hale's concentrating." Another voice commanded.
Hay Lin squeezed her eyes shut. Cornelia was going to get hurt if she couldn't keep her concentration up and she wasn't the type of a girl who had a good attention span. She was as flighty as the air, toying with everything and anything in her path but never devoting herself to anything. At school she signed up for everything that caught her eye but she rarely did more than she had to for it. None of those extracurricular activities became her life. She just wasn't the sort to have her life revolve around just one thing when there was so much in life she wanted to try.
However, this wasn't school; this was Corny who was swaying perilously two stories up from the ground. This was Corny's life that was in danger and she was the only one who could help keep her safe, but since she wasn't in her guardian form, her powers weren't very strong.
"I can't hold her." she cried, her face going red with exertion.
Irma watched the anguished expression on the girls face and scowled. "Right, I'm going out to get her."
"No you'll fall!" Taranee exclaimed catching Irma's hand before she could reach the window.
"Someone has to go get Corny before she falls!" Irma snapped back. "And you can't do it because you're afraid of heights."
She shrugged off the mocha skinned girl before marching to the window. Taranee watched with a hand over her mouth. She was going to lose two friends. "Hurry up Will!"
As though to answer those prayers, the door burst open as Will raced in with Caleb right behind her. Russet eyes swept over the room assessing the situation quickly as she'd trained herself to do. Despite her fear at seeing her friend out the window, she managed to keep her cool. She couldn't afford to lose her cool, if she did, she'd lose Corny.
"Irma, get away from the window! Caleb." she looked at him but she didn't need to say anything as he was already climbing out the window, balancing precariously on the intertwined branches that Cornelia was walking. Without wasting anymore time, she yanked out the heart of Candracar. "Let's do this. Guardians unite." she commanded quickly.
Responding to the urgent words and the emotions powering them, neon pink light spilt from the orb illuminating the room. The air suddenly became heavily charged with the magick from the crystal heart and lights zoomed around dizzily.
Caleb didn't bother to stay to watch the show. He'd seen it too many times in the past to actually be as fascinated with it as he had once been. Now his attention was focused solely on the young woman meandering drunkenly on the twisted vines. He didn't know what she thought she was doing. The branch wouldn't hold her weight, not stretched to this limit, he thought as he forced himself to move faster over the skeletal limb. Only the fact that she was the element of earth was keeping her safe.
An orb of vine green light flew past him and began to circle Cornelia, spiraling up her body like a ribbon of pulsating light that fused together to form a bubble. She floated above the branch, cocooned in the bubble of power as he covered the small space that had been between them. Behind him he was aware of the branch residing, following him back to the tree as it began to return to its normal size now the guardian of earth was paying no attention. However, he had to get to Cornelia before that and hope to god that he was able to cushion her fall.
The bubble dispersed in a shower of glowing motes of light leaving the Guardian of Earth floating in the air in a tranquil pose. Her long blonde hair fell to her waist, the ends fluttering gently in the night's scented breeze. Her skin was as flawless as ever but it lacked the flush of life, leaving it paper white in the moonlight while sooty thumbprints had been brushed under her eyes. Will was right to be worried.
As soon as her feet touched the branch, he was there to catch her as she slumped against him, ever so careful to avoid crushing the wings that were furled on her back. Tenderly he held her, while he tried to figure out what to do.
He could hear the groan and creaking of the branch as it slithered back into place. And suddenly his legs went out from under him. He yelped -naturally in a very manly manner- as they descended down through the air. Out of instinct, his hand whipped up and latched onto the first thing it came in contact with, namely the tip of the branch that had whipped out from under him just minutes before.
Cornelia was cold. So cold. There was a breeze around her legs. She groaned. She must have kicked off the blanket, she thought with an annoyed grunt as she felt about for it but she couldn't grab it. Giving another growl of annoyance, she tried to latch onto it but couldn't. Maybe she could go without it… but her legs were really cold now… Wait. She'd been wearing silk pajama bottoms so why were her legs naked?
"Cornelia, quit moving around." a male voice growled in her ear.
Her eyes snapped open. Male? For a few seconds she lay there, trying to breathe, chest heaving frantically while her heart beat violently against her rib cage. It took another few seconds for her eyes to focus but during those few seconds, her other senses were on overdrive. There was a breeze rushing around her legs, her pillow was hard and she wasn't lying horizontally. Nor was she, when her eyes finally adjusted to the dim light, inside Will's bedroom. Oh god, she thought panicking. Had he come for her? The girls said they'd take care of her, that they wouldn't let him touch her.
"Cornelia." the male voice hadn't been in her dreams but very real and reverberating in her ear.
Letting out a shriek, she twisted in his grip and violently pounded at his chest to be released. "Let me go, you sick bastard! You let me go now or you'll be sorry!" she growled icily.
"Don't do that. Cornelia, stop it. You're going to hurt yourself!"
She shook her head and continued to pry his grip from her. As soon as she had loosened it, she wriggled out of his grip only to realize that gravity was pulling her down to earth in a very rapid manner. A hand caught hers as she screamed and she looked up to see… "Caleb?" she breathed.
"Cornelia, hold on, the girls will be here. Just hold on." he urged her, his grip tightening on her hand.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was she dreaming? Was this another spell? No, she could feel the warmth of his hand encompassing her deathly cold one. She looked around her frantically. She was dangling above Will's garden; she could see the line of trees that surrounded the garden's perimeter like a black wall. Oh god. "This is not good."
"Don't worry Cornelia, I've got you."
"Yeah but who's got you?" Cornelia wailed.
"That would be me." Will said as she fluttered before her. "Or will be. You ok?"
She nodded but the shock was giving way to the fear that she'd almost died. A lump formed in her throat but she swallowed it down. "Yeah."
Will gave her a bolstering smile as she flew up to catch Caleb's hand as Taranee and Irma caught Cornelia's. The blonde guardian looked up at her friends. Irma was in her guardian form as was a teary eyed Taranee. It was a strange sight to see them all in their garments once more, it had been so long.
There was a shout and her eyes picked out the form of a Caleb hanging from Will who was hunched over him, her wings beating frantically in an attempt to keep him from falling to the ground and pulling her with him.
"Caleb."
She wasn't sure if she had said his name or not but no matter, he still turned to seek out her face.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
His lips tilted up briefly and despite the dark, she knew his moss green eyes warmed with the smile.
"Guys, a little help."
"I told you, you couldn't lift me on your own."
"Caleb, I'd advise you to shut up right now, or I'm dropping you."
Hay Lin circled them to come up beside Will and catch hold of Caleb's other hand. As Cornelia looked on, the two girls exchanged a look to which Hay Lin answered with a shake of her head before they dragged Caleb between them back to the house. She followed with her hands clutched in the water and fire guardian's capable hands because at that precise moment, she didn't feel strong enough to fly or to do anything except cry. And that was just unacceptable.
Sorry about the long wait but my internet has been acting up. Anyways, a tiny teaser of action for you there and some Caleb and Will stuff too. Hope there will be more soon. Enjoy and review, please.