A/N: Here's chapter four! Below are the rest of the shout-outs. Thanks so much for reading guys!
Guest: Thank you so much! I hope this chapter is to your liking.
Misa: Looks like you were able to review this time. I'm glad! And I'm happy to hear you would've signed in and PM'ed me if it didn't work, that's the highest compliment! Yes, you are right, Taranee married Nigel, which is where the last name Ashcroft comes from, and had Alyssa. I originally planned to make Taranee the new principal at Sheffield, but that was before I planned to make Wreck 55 famous, and I wanted Alyssa to live in the same big house Taranee lived in, so I made her a judge so that Taranee would have the money to have a house like that. Then I realized even with money, the only way Alyssa would live in that house is if Taranee's parents gave her the house so I took that path instead. You got glimpses of Taranee and Hay Lin in the last chapter. There will be more to come in future chapters. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Shay: Thank you! I always hope people think my stories are well written. I try my best, although sometimes I get too into it and my writing suffers a little. I'm trying to actually edit each chapter before I post it, instead of what I usually do, which is read the chapter after I post it and curse myself for not editing. Anyway, I hope you like this new chapter, and if you like my long chapters, you'll love this one!
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
It was an understatement for Ellie to say she was shocked when she saw No Name from her dream in the Silver Dragon the night before. She pointed it out to Adam. He asked if she was sure if that was the girl-if she wasn't confused or scared. Ellie knew it was her. According to Adam, that was the new girl, Rachel Dylan. She'd attracted the attention of Jake Saunders, and was friends with Alyssa Ashcroft. Ellie wasn't sure how to feel about this. Jake was her crush and Alyssa was her best friend…okay, ex-best friend, but still. She haunted Ellie's dreams and now she was in Ellie's life, stealing away her friends.
Okay, so Jake was technically hers. Technically, he was Gabi's, so if Rachel was stealing Jake away at all, she'd be stealing from Gabi. But Ellie always hoped if there was a chance someone could steal Jake from Gabi, it'd be her, not the pretty new girl. And she hadn't talked to Alyssa in six and a half years, and she was kind of happy Alyssa finally had an actual friend, but she couldn't help but be jealous of Rachel.
Besides being jealous, Ellie was also creeped out at seeing the girl from her dreams in real life. She was hoping she'd never see her again. Adam said she was in honors pre-calc and honors biology. If she hung out with Jake and Alyssa, two of the smartest kids in school, she was probably in honors everything. Considering Ellie wasn't in honors anything, she figured she wouldn't see her again. At least, that's what she thought until that afternoon.
As she walked to Chris Lyndon's house, she saw two girls walking in front of her in the same direction. She didn't recognize the one with short black hair, but she recognized the one with the braided black hair.
"Alyssa!" she called out.
Alyssa looked back. "Ellie. Hi," she said, startled. She stopped and her companion looked back as well. Ellie paled. It was Rachel Dylan.
"Hi," Ellie replied, trying to ignore Rachel.
"Oh, uh, Rae, this Ellie Kramer," Alyssa said.
"Nice to meet you," Rachel said uncertainly. Clearly Alyssa had told her she and Ellie used to be friends. "Rae Dylan."
"Hi. So where are you guys headed?"
"Chris Lyndon's house," Alyssa said.
"Oh me too," Ellie said, surprised.
Alyssa and Rae were surprised too, and the three resumed walking, this time side by side.
"I thought you hated Chris. Why are you going to his house?" Alyssa asked.
Ellie shrugged. "He didn't give me a reason, but he said he'd buy me three new sets of sheet music if I came over. I figured it'd be nice to actually save my pay check for once."
"Oh yeah, you work at Applebee's, right?"
Ellie nodded.
"Are you in APUSH?" Rae asked.
"Uh, no."
"I didn't think so. Chris invited us over because he said he needed help with the APUSH homework. I thought that was a lie, and now it's confirmed. He wouldn't invite someone who isn't in the class over at the same time if he really needed help. Which brings me back to this question: Alyssa. How well do you know Chris?"
"Really well Rae," Alyssa said. "He's nice and talented and maybe he lied and I don't know why, but it's nothing to worry about."
"I don't like the guy, but he doesn't seem bad," Ellie piped up. "His dad and Alyssa's were in a band together." Then she gasped. "Ooops! I'm so sorry Lyssa, I didn't mean to let that slip!"
"That's okay. Rae knows already," Alyssa smiled.
Ellie tried to smile back, but she knew she gave Alyssa a grimace instead. She couldn't help it. Another pang of jealousy shot through her. Rae was friends with Alyssa for what, three days now, maybe? And she already knew Alyssa's dad was the bassist of Wreck?
"Wow, Klutzcroft decides to walk the streets of Heatherfield," came Gabi Shay's taunting voice. "No one is safe!"
"You're Gabi Shay, aren't you?" Rae asked, looking at Gabi.
Gabi nodded. "And you're that new girl that's trying to steal my boyfriend."
"You can have Jake," Rae said, rolling her eyes. "I just wanted to say Alyssa is worth ten of you and if you keep calling her names, being friendless like Alyssa was is going to seem like popularity."
Gabi looked shocked that someone had threatened her. Alyssa was surprised as well.
"Rae, you don't have to do that. I've gotten used to the names."
"Because you've been called Classless-a and Klutzcroft for so long, the names don't seem like a big deal anymore, but they are. I mean, how many people in school even remember what your actual name is? Jake didn't. And that's not okay with me."
Ellie suddenly felt bad. No wonder Alyssa told Rae the secret of Wreck 55. In the three days Rae and Alyssa had been friends, Rae had already done more for her than Ellie had done in their five and a half years of friendship. She wasn't a very good friend.
"Look, I don't know who you think you are-"
"I don't think I'm anyone. I know I'm Rachel Dylan."
Ellie and Alyssa laughed in spite of themselves and Gabi huffed. She took a deep breath and started over.
"Listen, I know you're new and you don't really know how things work at Sheffield, but let me help you out. Ellie is a drama freak. The only people lower than them when it comes to the Sheffield hierarchy are the nerds, and Classless-a."
"Didn't I just tell-"
"You can't threaten me hun," Gabi interjected Rae. "I can make your life miserable with the snap of my fingers. Now, as I was saying, Classless-a is a friendless loser and on the lowest level of the Sheffield totem pole. I, on the other hand, am on the highest level. I'm head cheerleader for the JV team, a shoo-in to be the only junior accepted to the Varsity team, the most popular girl in school, and I'm dating the hottest, smartest boy at our school."
"Your point?"
"Well, I don't do this often, but I want to offer you a special audition."
"Which is…?"
"I'm going to let you try out for cheerleading before official tryouts begin, with a guarantee to be part of the popular crowd regardless of whether we let you on the team or not."
"Wow, sounds like an offer I can't refuse," Rae said, sarcasm pouring out of her mouth by the liters.
Alyssa and Ellie laughed again, and Gabi glared at both of them before turning her glare on Rae. "You don't know what you're refusing. I'd advise you to think about this."
Out of the corner of her eye, Ellie noticed movement and saw Caty Lewis heading towards them.
"Hey guys," she said hesitantly.
Ellie remembered seeing Chris talk to Caty at The Silver Dragon. "Caty, are you headed to Chris Lyndon's house?"
"Uh, yeah. How'd you know?"
"We're all headed there too! Uh, well Rae, Alyssa, and I are. I don't know what Gabi's doing here."
"I'm actually headed to Chris's house as well. Why'd he invite you over?"
"He said he wanted our help with APUSH homework, but I think that's a lie," Rae said.
"Especially since I'm not even in APUSH and he invited me over at the same time," Ellie added.
"Well he asked me over for help with APUSH too," Caty said. "Which seemed strange because he was tutoring people in honors US History last year. And I mean, it's only been two days. What could he possibly need help with already?"
Rae and Alyssa exchanged 'duh!' looks as they realized Caty was right.
"Chris told me he wanted a date with Della Crane, one of my cheerleaders," Gabi said. "He wanted my help talking to her."
"The same Della Crane that asked him out yesterday and he turned down?" Ellie asked.
"Really?" Gabi asked.
Ellie nodded. "His locker is next to mine. She asked him out right in front of me."
"Anyway, Chris Lyndon is one of the most sought after guys at Sheffield. Why would he need help approaching any girl, especially Della? I mean she's pretty and all, but out of all the cheerleaders and pretty girls at Sheffield, she's probably the least pretty," Caty pointed out.
"So that was a lie too. Why does he want us all over?" Rae wondered out loud. "I'm getting nervous about this. Lyssa, you sure we can trust him?"
"He may have lied to us all, but I know Chris pretty well, and he's trustworthy," Caty broke in.
"Then maybe we should just go over there and see what it is he really wants," Ellie suggested. The others nodded and they resumed walking a second time.
"So, you're Rae Dylan, the new girl, right?" Caty asked.
"Yeah."
"You're ranked number four in our class, lowering Misha Zollar to number 5 and knocking Shelia Breslin out of the top 5, thank God. Shelia needs to be taken down a peg."
"Or ten," Ellie muttered, earning a giggle from Alyssa.
"I'd like to invite you to sit with my friends and I at lunch and join our study groups. We're in all the same classes, if you didn't know."
"No thanks," Rae said.
Caty's mouth dropped open and Gabi laughed.
"Please! Why would she wanted to be branded a nerd? I just offered her a special audition for the cheerleaders."
"The only reason you did that is to keep Rae away from Jake," Alyssa said, rolling her eyes.
"Who I don't like!" Rae said, her tone exasperated.
"That's not it. She's too pretty to not be part of my crowd," Gabi defended.
"Wow, you take shallow to a whole new level," Caty intoned, prompting laughter from the other girls.
"Rae doesn't want to be in the nerdy crowd. She wants to be a cheerleader," Gabi insisted.
"I think I've probably said this sentence more times in the last three days here than in the rest of my life, but I don't want to be a cheerleader and I don't want to be popular!"
Both Gabi and Ellie looked shocked. Why wouldn't someone want to be popular? Especially when Gabi Shay was making it so easy?
"Then why won't you join us?" Caty asked.
"Because I'm not interested in being part of any one clique. That's not what I want from high school. Besides, no matter what people say, I like Alyssa and I'm going to continue being friends with Alyssa. And I'm interested in joining any group that won't let Alyssa in."
"What?" Caty asked, confused.
"Alyssa Ashcroft is ranked number 1 at Sheffield," Rae said. "And I know you didn't invite her to join your group or else she'd be part of it already. No one chooses to be friendless." She turned to Alyssa. "I'm right, aren't I? Caty didn't offer a seat at her lunch table and spot in her study groups to you?"
"Well no, but I don't mind if you want to-"
"I don't want to," Rae said firmly.
"Well what if I invite Alyssa now?"
"Too late now," Rae snapped.
"What if I stop calling her Classless-a and Klutzcroft?" Gabi suggested, throwing in a promise she couldn't keep as a last attempt to get Rae to join her group.
"No! You guys were both terrible to Alyssa and trying to be nice to her to get what you want isn't the same as genuine kindness, which is what someone as awesome as Lyssa deserves!"
Alyssa looked at Rae in awe. Ellie knew no one ever stuck up for her like that before. It was supposed to be Ellie's job before she stupidly deserted the best girlfriend she ever had. Jade and Milly were awesome, but they weren't Alyssa. Alyssa came and talked to her because she thought Ellie looked lonely that day in daycare, building a tower with blocks on her own. And she was.
Milly only talked to her because she was impressed with Ellie's voice. Before that, when Ellie first joined drama club in fifth grade, she didn't give her a second look. And Jade was jealous of Ellie and only grudgingly accepted her because she and Milly were best friends. Eventually she and Jade grew to respect each other and became friends in their own right, but in the beginning, Jade didn't even like her! Adam was her only true friend in drama club at first, and even though she loved Milly and Jade dearly, she never felt like to she could confide in them like she could with Adam and like she used to be able to with Alyssa. And Adam was amazing, but Ellie needed a real female friend sometimes.
At that point, they'd reached The Silver Dragon. The five walked in and Chris and his sister took off their aprons.
"Jamie, we're taking our break now, you and Stella have to come back," Cara said.
"But we only got half an hour!" the boy Cara was looking at complained.
"We discussed this," Chris said patiently. "We may take a long break today, and if we do and we can't give you the other half hour of your break, we'll take your shifts for tomorrow and still give you guys the money."
Jamie nodded and walked up to a blond girl who was sipping an iced tea. He said something, jerked his thumb over at Chris and Cara, and put on his apron. The girl sighed and did the same.
"Hi," Chris said, walking over to the five girls.
"You're offering to take shifts without being paid and lying to us?" Gabi asked, her voice challenging. "You must really want us here."
"You lied to them?" Cara asked.
"What did you want me to say Cara?" Chris shot back. "Anyway, I'm sorry I lied to you guys. I don't need help with APUSH or Della. But everything will be explained soon. Come downstairs to the basement with us."
"The basement?" Rae repeated. "I barely know you, yet you invited me over to your house under false pretenses and now you want to lead us into your basement? If you're gonna kill us-"
"Rae, there's no way they're going to kill us. There are a million people up here. They'd hear us screaming," Alyssa assured her.
"Actually the basement is sound proof," Cara said.
"Not helping Car," Chris snapped.
"Oh I know. I wasn't trying to be helpful," Cara replied.
Gabi laughed. "Okay, I like you. What grade are you in?"
"Eighth."
"You gonna try out for cheerleading next year?"
"I was planning on it."
"Why don't you contact me during the summer and I can set you up with a special audition, okay?"
Cara's eyes lit up and she nodded.
"For someone who said she doesn't give out special auditions a lot, you just offered two today. And one for my cousin over the summer," Caty said.
"Shut up nerd," Gabi said, her tone bored.
Chris cleared his throat. "Um, if you guys will follow me."
Rae looked ready to protest, but the other girls followed Chris and Cara, so she sighed and just walked along with them. Downstairs were a man and woman in their early forties. Ellie recognized the man as Eric Lyndon, the guitarist of Wreck 55.
"Alyssa. It's nice to see you again. Tell me, how's your father?" Eric asked.
"Hello Mr. Lyndon. It's nice to see you again too. He's good."
"Does he know you're here today?" the woman asked.
"No, I didn't mention it. Why?"
"Just wondering if your mother might've said something."
"Your mother?" Rae asked Alyssa.
"They used to be friends," Alyssa replied. "Hay Lin and my mother."
"Wait. Hay Lin, you're one of the best friends Mrs. Ashcroft made in high school?" Rae asked and the woman-Hay Lin-nodded.
"But we're not here to discuss history," Cara broke in.
"That's right. Sit down girls," Hay Lin said.
The girls exchanged looks. Chris sat down, and Gabi, reluctantly, sat down next to him. Rae sat down next to her, then Alyssa, then Caty, then Ellie. Cara sat down next to Ellie.
"As most of you know, I'm Hay Lin," Hay Lin said.
"And I'm Eric," Mr. Lyndon said.
"What exactly are we doing here?" Gabi asked.
At that question, Eric began placing items in front the girls. In front of Gabi, he put down a potted plant. The plan inside was nothing more than a sprout. He gave Rae an encouraging smile, as if to say 'I don't have anything for you, but you do belong here,' then put a candle down in front of Alyssa. He put down a glass of water in front of Caty, and told her not to drink it, then put down a stack of papers in front of Ellie.
"What are these for?" Rae asked, feeling more and more apprehensive by the minute.
"I'm going to tell your girls a story," Hay Lin said, which didn't answer Rae's question at all. "We live on the planet Earth and we are under the misconception that our world is the only world out there. That is not true. There are many other worlds out there, such as Meridian. It was 44 years ago when Meridian was ruled by an evil king named Phobos. A veil was put into place in order to separate the evil of Meridian from the other worlds. My friends and I were given special powers to battle the evil, defeat the king, and return to Meridian it's rightful ruler." At this point, Hay Lin jabbed a finger in the air and a picture appeared.
Rae, Alyssa, and Ellie were shocked and mesmerized. Gabi and Caty looked terrified. The picture in the air showed a beautiful palace set upon a luscious hill. In front of the palace floated the image of a girl around Cara's age. She wore a pretty blue and teal dress, her dirty blond hair was in elegant braids, tied at the end with silver bangle looking clips, she wore a necklace with a gold chain and a green pendant, and she wore a gold tiara with a red jewel in the middle.
"31 years ago, my friends and I defeated Phobos and put Phobos's sister, and the true heir of Meridian, our friend Elyon, on the throne. Even though our duty to the worlds was far from over, the veil dropped. But six years ago, Elyon was dethroned yet again and imprisoned with the rest of her family. Now, a new evil has taken over Meridian. No one knows who this new king is or where Queen Elyon and her family is being kept. Another veil has been dropped to separate the evil of Meridian from the other worlds, but it is time once again for people with special powers to rise up, defeat the evil king, and reunite Elyon with the throne."
The picture disappeared and Gabi and Caty looked ready to bolt.
"While this all interesting," Rae said, "why are you telling us this?"
"When my friends and I received this powers, we were known as the Guardians of the Veil."
"Guardians?" Ellie repeated. Did this have anything to do with that terrifying dream about the Snake Monster? She sure hoped not. She'd had enough of Mr. Ugly in her dreams. She didn't need to meet him in real life.
"Yes. And now, the legacy has been passed on. You have been chosen as the new Guardians of the Veil."
The girls all looked at each other. Ellie wanted to scream that this was all crazy and leave, the way Gabi and Caty looked like they were about to, but in her heart, she knew this was all real.
"So what does that mean exactly?" she asked.
"Each of you will have a special power," Hay Lin said. "Now I know most of you don't believe me, but here's my chance to prove it to you."
"I don't want this to proven," Caty muttered.
"I do," Rae said.
"Each of the guardians have power over one of the four elements," Hay Lin.
"But there are five of us here," Alyssa said.
"Be patient Lyss, we'll get there," Chris said. "Mom, I'll take over this part."
Hay Lin nodded.
"Okay, let's start with you Gabi. You have power over Earth. The simplest form of your power to to make plants grow. Try it with the sprout in front of you."
"How?"
"Will it to grow. Make it grow."
"No! This is stupid and fake and you're all putting me on. You can't humiliate the most popular girl in school! Not unless you want the rest of your high school career to be miserable."
Chris raised his eyebrow.
"You probably don't want to talk to him that way," Cara said airily.
"And why not?" Gabi asked, whirling on her.
"Hey, I'm saying this for your protection," Cara said.
"Why don't you show her honey?" Hay Lin suggested.
"You sure about that?" Eric asked apprehensively.
Hay Lin nodded.
"Okay," Chris shrugged. He got up, let out a yell, and before all their eyes, he was no longer Chris Lyndon. Instead, he was taller, buffer, and had longish black hair and wore a gold mask. He also had black wings, like a dark angel or something.
"Oh my God!" Rae cried and Gabi shrieked and jumped back. Caty screamed as well as Alyssa and Ellie, frozen in shock, just stared.
"Told you," Cara said smugly.
"Wh-wh-how…"
"Seems like you're humiliating yourself now," Caty smirked, suddenly not so terrified of the dark angel.
In an instant, the dark angel transformed back into Chris. "I got that power from your sister," he said.
"My…who? I don't even have a sister!" Gabi cried.
"Oh sorry. I meant your step sister. Eva."
Gabi glared at Chris, braver in front of his human form. "Eva is not my sister or my step sister. She's a she-devil and not part of my family. Got it?"
"Sure," Chris said, putting his arms up in surrender. "But she's the Heart of Earth."
"The what?"
"That's going to be hard to explain without showing the Heart of Kandrakar," Cara said, making Ellie shudder. Another thing Snake Dude said in her dream. "And we can't do that til you use your power. Unless you want Chris to turn back into Shagon. That's his angel form's name by the way."
"Fine. I'll do it," Gabi said. "But I'm warning you, if you use this to try and embarrass me, I'll ridicule you out of Sheffield and blackball your sister for cheerleading."
"So much for liking me," Cara muttered.
Gabi looked at the plant in front of her, sighed, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she shot her hand out toward the sprout and waited. Nothing happened.
"You need to be more open to it than that. Really want it. And really believe it," Hay Lin urged.
"How am I supposed to believe in something so ridiculous?"
"Think about the picture Hay Lin drew in the air," Alyssa said. "And the way Chris just turned into Shagon. Those things are supposed to be impossible too, but they still happened right in front of our eyes. So maybe you can make that sprout grow too."
Gabi sighed and tried again. This time, the sprout grew taller until a bud formed. As Gabi kept going, the bud opened up and a beautiful daisy was in the place of the sprout. Gabi looked both awestruck and proud of herself.
"Wow," Ellie breathed. And suddenly, she wasn't so scared anymore. "Cool!" she squealed.
"Not cool," Caty disagreed.
Ellie ignored her. "What can I do?"
"Patience," Hay Lin said.
"A word you don't know the meaning of," Eric joked, earning him a jab in the ribs from his wife. He glared at her, she giggled and stuck her tongue out at him, and he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
'Aww,' Ellie thought.
"So who is next?" Rae asked.
"Alyssa," Chris said. "You have power over fire. In its simplest form, you can create flames. Light that candle."
'Shit. Lyssa and fire? Not a good combination,' Ellie thought.
"What? No! I hate fire!"
"The previous fire guardian did as well. She was terrified of fire, as I see you are," Hay Lin said. "But eventually, she learned to face that fear and became more powerful than the fire guardian before her. You may be scared of fire, but it is your element. It bends to your will now. You control it. You don't need to fear it any longer."
Alyssa took a few deep breaths. "Alright. Fine. What do I do?"
"Same thing as Gabi. Will yourself to light the candle and it will happen."
Alyssa nodded. Seeing Gabi use her power probably helped her believe more. Ellie definitely believed anything was possible now.
Alyssa took another deep breath and looked at the candle. She shot a finger out to it, and in a few seconds, the candle was lit.
"You did it!" Rae cried as she and Ellie clapped.
"Good job, both of you," Hay Lin said, smiling at Gabi and Alyssa.
"Okay, Caty? You next," Chris said.
"Let me guess. My power is water?"
"Yup. In its simplest form, you can control water in front of you. Try it with the water."
Caty nodded, took a deep breath, and waved her arm over the water and toward the candle. The water moved and put out the flame.
"Neat," Ellie said.
"Not neat. I hate this," Caty disagreed.
"Are you kidding?" Alyssa asked. "You just had the easiest time with your power and you don't even like it?"
"Why would I like it?" Caty asked incredulously. "I don't want to have freaky powers or fight evil. This is too much for me."
Ellie, getting impatient, said, "Whose turn is it now?"
"Yours," Hay Lin smiled. "You have power over air, which is the element I controlled when I was guardian. My grandmother had that power before me."
"Your grandmother was a guardian?" Ellie asked.
Hay Lin nodded. "The guardians were first formed 3,000 years ago. They always existed. Before we found you, my friends and I were still considered the guardians."
"Cool," Ellie smiled. She was loving this. She always felt weak and vulnerable, but with the ability to control an element, she suddenly felt powerful. "So what do you want me to do?"
"In it's simplest form, air just forms gusts of wind. Use your power to make to those papers in front of you float," Eric said.
Ellie nodded. She waved her arm at the pages and in a few seconds, they picked themselves up and floated in the air.
"Oh awesome!" Ellie said, dropping her arm. The papers dropped too, in a mess. "Oh!" Ellie waved her arms again and willed the papers to put themselves back in a neat pile. They did.
"Okay, is it my turn yet?" Rae asked.
Hay Lin nodded, then opened up an ornate gold box. A beautiful, glowing pink jewel floated out of it. It hung on the end of a chain made of twine.
"Whoa. Pretty," was all Ellie could say.
"Who gets that?" Gabi asked, clearly hoping it was her.
"This is the Heart of Kandrakar, the source of your powers. Four of you control one of the four elements, water, fire, Earth, and air," Hay Lin explained. "One of you unites the others and allows you to use your abilities, with the help of the Heart. She is known as the Keeper of the Heart, the leader." The jewel floated over to Rae. Rae held out her hands, mesmerized, and jewel set itself down in her hands. "The Heart has chosen you Rae, to lead."
"Lead? I'm not much of a leader," Rae admitted.
"I am," Gabi said greedily, lunging for the Heart. Chris held her back.
"The Heart has chosen Rae," Hay Lin said sternly. "Only she can unite you and lead you. And don't worry Rae, the old leader didn't think she had it in her either, but she eventually grew into her role and did amazing. She was a lot like you actually-tomboy, short hair, new in Heatherfield and at Sheffield for only a few days before she found out she was a Guardian. And she was closest to the fire guardian."
"Really?" Rae suddenly felt better.
"Time for the next step. Hay Lin will go with you, but the rest of us need to stay here," Chris said.
"We need to get back to work," Cara said. "If we go back right now, we can give Jamie and Stella their other half hour and won't have to take over their shifts."
Chris nodded and the siblings rushed upstairs.
"Come on," Hay Lin said, leading the girls up the stairs and outside. She took them to a clearing a few blocks away from the Silver Dragon. The only things near the clearing were old, decrepit, abandoned buildings.
"Why are we here?" Gabi asked, looking around distastefully.
"To practice with your powers. In your human form, you can use your powers to a limited extent. You are much more powerful in your Guardian form. Rae? Go ahead and unite the guardians."
Ellie hopped from foot to foot, excitedly and anxiously. She could feel even more powerful than she already did?
"How?" Rae asked.
"Take out the Heart. You'll know the rest.
Rae nodded, took out the Heart, and dangled it in front of her. She had an overwhelming urge to say two words, so that's exactly what she did.
"Guardians, unite!" she cried.
Suddenly, Rae started to float in the air. Before the other girls could comment, they were floating as well. The next thing Ellie knew, she was being surrounded by a swirl of air. It was a nice sensation.
She hear the voices of the other girls, first Rae, then Caty, then Alyssa, and then Gabi.
"The Heart!"
"Water!"
"Fire!"
"Earth!"
After Gabi said her piece, Ellie had an overwhelming urge to state her power as well.
"Air!"
Ellie felt a surge of power as the girls looked around at each other in awe. They weren't in their old clothes anymore. Instead, they were a bit taller and in brand new outfits.
Rae was wearing a pink shirt with flare sleeves at the end that exposed her midriff. She had a teal skirt on over turquoise and green striped tights and shin high purple boots. Caty looked disgusted at the outfit she was wearing. She had on a teal, full sleeved, midriff top and a pink skirt over green and turquoise striped tights. Her skirt had a slit on the right side and she wore short purple boots. Alyssa's midriff top was pink, like Rae's, but it was sleeveless. She had on the same tights on as Rae and Caty, but instead of a skirt over it, she wore teal shorts and purple sneakers. Gabi seemed to love her new outfit. She wore a teal, off the shoulder midriff top, with full sleeves, a long pink skirt with a slit on the left side over turquoise and green tights, and knee high, high heeled purple boots. Ellie looked down at herself and realized her outfit was different too. Like the other girls, she had on turquoise and green tights under a pink skirt that went a little past her knees and had a slit on the right side. She wore a teal midriff top that had curled sleeves on her shoulders, and purple flats.
"What are we wearing?" Caty cried indignantly.
"Uh, the cutest clothes ever," Gabi replied in her best 'duh' voice. "These look better than some of the things Silena Shane herself designed."
Rae flinched at the name Silena Shane, but Ellie didn't have time to dwell on why before Hay Lin spoke up.
"These are the outfits you get when you're in your guardian form," she said.
Ellie nodded. She remembered these clothes from her dream. Alyssa didn't look too surprised either.
"Um, guys?" Rae said tentatively. "Is it just me, or do we have…wings?"
"Wings?!" Ellie squealed excitedly. "Does that mean we can fly?" She started hopping up and down, not even caring that she looked like a dork in front of Gabi. She looked behind her and tried her hardest to flap her wings. It worked and she began to float.
"Oh wow!" Rae breathed.
"Man, I hate heights!" Alyssa moaned.
"So did the old fire guardians. She got over that too," Hay Lin said.
"Who were the old guardians anyway?" Rae asked.
"We'll get to that tomorrow. Right now, you guys need to practice."
Rae took this to mean flying practice and immediately flapped her wings. She started to float as well.
Ellie started flapping her wings faster and went higher and higher in the air.
"Be careful!" Caty called. "You don't want people to see us!"
Ellie wasn't listening. She just flew higher and higher until she was above the clouds. She giggled and gave a smile to some pigeons that were flying with her. Did they look confused?
It was a good five minutes before Ellie joined the rest of the girls. In that time, the others were trying out their wings. Rae kept crashing into things, Gabi kept saying she wasn't afraid of heights, but she felt sick every time she got a few feet off the ground anyway, Caty was feeling out the feeling of flying, going slowly so she wouldn't crash the way Rae was, and Alyssa kept refusing to fly no matter how much Hay Lin and Rae pushed her.
"Maybe if you stopped going so fast, that wouldn't happen," Caty said in her best know-it-all voice when Rae landed in a dumpster.
"I'm not trying to go fast," Rae snapped. "I can't control these wings."
"I'm feeling super woozy," Gabi complained.
"This is the best feeling ever!" Ellie whooped.
"Why are you having such an easy time?" Rae complain-asked.
"The air guardian always has the easiest time flying," Hay Lin explained. Rae, Alyssa, and Caty nodded. That made perfect sense.
"What about my wooziness?" Gabi demanded.
"You'll get used to flying soon enough," Hay Lin promised. "But initially the Earth guardian is woozy when flying because their powers are stronger when on the ground."
"Lyssa, come on," Ellie said. "If you don't want to fly yourself, then let me take you."
"No way!" Alyssa refused. "I saw those aerial loops you did. Not happening. Never ever. Ever!"
"I tried to ask nicely," Ellie shrugged. She grabbed Alyssa and shot into the air. The African American squealed wildly.
"Ellie, no! Put me down. You know better than anyone I'm terrified of heights!"
"Flap your wings and I'll let go," Ellie taunted.
"What? But…no!"
"Come on Lyssa, what's the worst that can happen?" Ellie cajoled.
"Uh, I could fall and break all my bones or bleed everywhere or, I don't know, die!"
"You are just like your mom," Ellie sighed. "Even so, I'm not gonna let go til you flap your wings."
"Elizabeth Kramer, you will fly me down there now!" Alyssa exclaimed
"You're not that scary Lyss," Ellie shrugged. "I promise I won't let you fall. I have air, so even if I'm not fast enough to catch you, I can use my powers to lift you."
Alyssa sighed, knowing there was no way to get out of this. She didn't even bother to point out Ellie couldn't possibly have control of her air powers. She started to flap her wings. When she got to a steady pace, Ellie let go, and to Alyssa's immense relief, she stayed in the air.
"Oh thank God!" she cried as she followed Ellie back down.
"Okay guys!" Hay Lin said, clapping her hands together. "My friends and I didn't do much training with our flying. Instead, we ended up getting more scratches and bruises from our mishaps in the air than in our battles."
"Battles?" Ellie squeaked.
"Bruises?" Alyssa squeaked at the same time.
In all the excitement, Ellie had forgotten about her dream. Snake Dude was most likely real considering No-Name was real in the form of Rachel Dylan and all the powers she'd dreamed up for herself and the other girls were accurate. She loved flying and the air power was pretty cool, and she was totally down for training, but Ellie was not a fighter…at all. She was more of a 'sit there and take it' girl, as her mother and brother knew. She could not fight. As for Alyssa, she looked ready to pass out at the prospect of having to go back in the air.
"See, you guys got hurt because of flying. That's exactly why I don't like heights!" In her fear, she accidentally sent a fireball into the dumpster setting it on fire.
Caty squealed, then realizing she was water, sent some water from the lake into the dumpster. She missed.
"Calm down and concentrate," Hay Lin instructed.
Caty took a deep breath and tried again. This time she successfully put out the fire.
"And that's why I don't like fire," Alyssa moaned.
"You're exactly like your mother, you know that?" Hay Lin asked.
"My mother?"
"Yeah. She was scared of fire. And heights. And spiders."
"They have eight legs! How is that not creepy?!" Alyssa cried.
Hay Lin laughed. "I think they're cute."
At this, all the girls gave her strange looks. Spiders may not be as scary as Alyssa thought they were, but they were definitely disgusting!
"Anyway, we need to avoid getting hurt when you fly, so we'll work on that today. Caty, you seem to have a good handle on the flying, but you can't go that slow forever. You need to work on your speed. Gabi, you need to be more comfortable in the air. Rae, by the end of the day, I want you to finish a two minute flight without crashing into a wall. Alyssa, you seem to be a pretty good flyer, but you need to be more comfortable too. Try to get over your fear. Rae, come here and let me patch up your cuts. And Ellie, you, like me, are a natural. As the air guardian, you should be able to be the fastest flyer, so just see how fast and how high you can go, but other than that, just have fun today."
Ellie, suddenly feeling better, grinned, nodded, and took off. Rae went over to Hay Lin so she could get patched up, not that she really saw much of a reason for that. She was just going to cut herself all over again.
Since it was early September, the sun didn't set til eight o' clock, so it was another four hours before Ellie came back down. The other girls were doing better. Caty was able to go faster, though not by much. Even though she didn't have Ellie's dream (as far as Ellie knew), she seemed to be the most scared about this guardian business, even with Alyssa fearing both heights and her power.
Speaking of Alyssa, she was doing better too. She wouldn't go too high, but she managed to go faster than the other girls, besides Ellie. Rae still couldn't control her flying too much, and she still crashed a lot, but she managed to stop herself half the time. When Ellie came down, Rae had just successfully completed her two minute flight with no crashes. Gabi was able to up fifteen feet before she felt woozy, which was triple the height she was able to go when they first started. And at one point, Ellie felt like she was going so fast, she could beat her brother's favorite superhero, the Flash, in a race.
"Alright girls, good job. You can head on home now," Hay Lin said after she finished patching Rae up for the fourth time that day.
"Wait, that's it? But what about our elemental powers? I didn't get to practice with air at all!" Ellie complained.
"You needed to get flying down first. Don't worry, we'll get to your powers. And as for you, you can practice little things without being in guardian form like making things move or blowing up Chinese lanterns. That's the way my grandmother showed me my powers."
"I don't have any Chinese Lanterns. Will it work on balloons?" Ellie asked.
Hay Lin nodded. "Yup."
"Cool!"
"Come back to The Silver Dragon at the same time tomorrow, and you guys can head directly down to the basement. We'll do a lot of explaining, so you guys can grab a drink on the house if you like," Hay Lin instructed.
"Including those amazing Shirley Temples Chris makes?" Ellie asked hopefully. "It's like the one good thing about him."
Hay Lin laughed and nodded.
"If you think I'm coming back to do more of this, you're insane!" Caty burst out.
"What?" Ellie asked.
"I don't want to learn to fly or control water or put out fires or battle and get hurt. I didn't ask for any of this! Take it away!"
"I can't," Hay Lin said. "You have the power, and it's yours until the next generation of Guardians are born. And actually, even then the power is yours until the Heart decides it's ready to move on to the next five."
"I'm stuck with it?!" Caty cried, looking disgusted.
"I wouldn't really call it stuck. In fact, you know how Ellie is really excited and thinks this is all cool? That's how the old water guardian reacted."
"I don't care! Just because Rae is like the old leader and Alyssa is like the old fire guardian and Ellie is like you doesn't mean I'm like the old water guardian. If you want to see them so badly, then you guys should've stayed guardians. I want no part in this!" Caty fumed. She looked at Rae. "Change us back."
"Uh, how do I…?"
"Just concentrate and ask the Heart to change you back," Hay Lin sighed sadly, obviously hoping none of the new girls would react that way, but expecting it anyway.
Rae nodded and did so. Within seconds, the girls were back to their old selves and Caty stormed off.
"Too bad. Classless-a almost got that nickname repealed with the guardian clothes," Gabi taunted.
"Didn't I warn you about calling Alyssa names?" Rae snapped threateningly. Gabi just smirked.
"Who cares? I have powers now and in case you haven't noticed, you're the only one of us who doesn't have any."
"That's not true! Rae is the one who can transform us. She gives us our power!" Alyssa reminded.
Gabi rolled her eyes. "She gives us more power," she corrected. "But we can still use our powers without being in our guardian form. The only thing Rae can do is fly, and that's only when she in her guardian form."
"You know, it is strange that Rae doesn't have any physical powers like the rest of us when she's the leader," Alyssa mused.
Hay Lin shrugged. "The old leader made it work."
"You know Caty's right. You should really stop focusing on the old guardians. Living in the past is super pathetic," Gabi taunted their teacher.
"Shut up Gabi," Rae muttered.
"Whatever. I have power now, and I only need what I can get in human form. I'm out too."
"Wait, what?" Alyssa asked.
"I'm not doing this saving the world stuff. It's not our world, it's not my problem."
"Why did you spend so much time training with you flying if you were just going to leave?" Rae demanded.
"Honestly? At first I wanted the Heart. But then it fused with you when you changed us. I stayed because everyone else did and I didn't know we were allowed to leave."
"You're not," Hay Lin protested.
"Nerdy Caty did," Gabi snorted.
"We have to get her back."
"She doesn't want to be here," Rae said.
"It doesn't matter. The Guardians are always stronger together and will only succeed if all of you work together. No matter what the guardians always do worse in battle if one of you is missing, even if you do win. With two of you missing…"
"Tough," Gabi said as she too walked away.
"Now what?" Alyssa asked
Hay Lin sighed. "I'll work on getting them back. You guys just make sure to show up tomorrow. And Rae? Make sure you keep the Heart close to you at all times and don't let anyone take it away. Without it, you have no chance in a real battle."
Rae nodded and with that, the other three left as well, their heads spinning with the events of the day.
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
A/N: Finally, I got to the guardian stuff. From here on out, the chapters should be shorter and more to the point, now that all the girls know about their powers. So what did you guys think? Let me know!