A/N: It's Tuesday and I'm here with a new chapter! I'm glad I got this done on time, because this was actually slow going when I sat down to write it (although not as slow as the last chapter, that was hard to get through). This one, I eventually had fun with and I hope you guys had fun reading it! One of my reviewers suggested I use a page break between my author's note and shout-outs, like I do between sections, so I'll do that from now on.
Also, huge thank you to my new reviewer razmend, who also added this story to her favorite and alert lists! I will be PM-ing you right after I post this chapter.
Without further ado, the shouts outs!
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
Emily: You stole my computer to review my chapter, so no extra special shout out for you! Although, to be honest, running into the boys' room screaming, 'SAVE ME' was incredibly amusing to watch, which is why none of us went after you. And the boys were scared to death. They still don't know you too well. We'll fix that when the four of us live together next year! Be still my beating heart? Really? You make fun of me every time I say that, so clearly you're mocking me. Another reason I'm not giving you an awesome shout out, whatever that is. Anyway, I know you like this chapter, and I'll bet you're happy to see this, because I know you only read half of it. I actually didn't need to correct, cut out, or add anything from the part you read, so you can start from after the bit about the lockers. And, I used your name just like you asked. Only once, but still. I'll try to use your name in one of the three Scorose stories I'm planning to write after I finish this.
Shay: I just realized your name is the last name of one of my characters (Gabi)! Anyway, of course I would answer! I love when readers take an interest in my work. I did remember a couple of other acronyms I played with. I thought about KARMA (Karli, Alicia, Rae, Marina, and Audrey), PEACE (Piper, Elizabeth, Alicia, Caitlin, and Emily), and GUARD (Gwen, Umi, Alicia, Rae, and Diane). I played around with using the initials of the five elements (water-Winnie/Whitney, fire-Francesca/Faye/Felicity, Earth-Emma/Elena, air-Amber/Allie, and quintessence-Quinn). I thought about spelling MAGIC as MAGIK. This was before I thought of Gabrielle, so I used the names Melanie, Alicia, Gemma, Isabelle, and Kaylee. Mel would be the leader, and Alicia would be the mean girl, but I wasn't sure about the others. I even came up with five names I liked and tried to see if they would make a word (Kaila, Sasha, Elizabeth, Caitlin, and Alexa) but no luck. I wondered if I should just use W.I.T.C.H. again and change the names. I played with using Imogen (water), Tarren (fire), Corina (Earth), and Hallie (air), but I couldn't think of anything for 'W' except Will. By the time I thought of a good replacement for Will (Winonna), I'd already decided on G.R.A.C.E., which as I mentioned, I had to use because it incorporated both Rae and Gabrielle, and also gave me Ellie, which is the first name I thought of and the one I stuck with til the end. Also, I'm glad you like the name Piper, because I'm still using it in this story, which you will see by the end of this chapter. And I love how you always seem so excited to read more, even when my chapters aren't that good. I'll be the first to admit that chapter 6 and chapter 8 weren't all that good. Thank you for the review, and I hope you like this chapter! And I hope you don't mind my long response!
SilvenArrow: Yes, Rae certainly seems to be stepping into her role of leader quite well, although she doesn't seem to believe it herself. Caleb is just frustrated that the girls are so prone to mess up in a dire situation. I'm sure if they weren't in a battle and showed Caleb their powers, he'd agree they were shaping up nicely for just four days of training. I definitely think Rae will have lot more mishaps with flying! Keep in mind the fact about Josh living on Earth for the majority of his life. It may not be fact for much longer. I had a simple explanation for Jake knowing all this information about Rae, but it seems boring, so I'm going to see if I can make up a more exciting explanation before it comes time to reveal his secret. I was hoping someone would pick up on Carter Hall, and more people picked up on it than I expected. Yes, Carter Hall is a superhero Easter egg for anyone interested. I named him after Hawkman on purpose. You will hear a lot about Prince Kasson in this chapter. I hear you, I was thinking of adding a page break between the author's note and the shout-outs myself, so don't worry about insulting me! I'm usually open to advice on anything! And finally, I hope you like this chapter!
WaterAmulet: It does seem like a lot of people are in on the Meridian secret, doesn't it? But I had plans for both Frank and Silena, so I needed them to know. It'll help with Rae's storyline. In fact, even Eric and Nigel finding out will be explained later on. Well, every group of friends can split apart or fight. You'll find out a little bit more in this chapter, and a little more next chapter. As for Gabi and Jake, I don't know. I'm definitely going to break them up, and at first, it was so that I could get him and Rae together, but now I'm not sure if I'm going to put them together, or let Gabi and Jake get back together, because I kind of like them together, especially with some of the stuff I have planned for them later on. Yeah, the chapter got too long to confront Hay Lin. I didn't expect that, but I didn't want to make your eyes bleed, so I wrote about it in this chapter. This chapter was also longer than expected, but I couldn't skip over it again.
Taylor: I'm glad you liked it and I hope you like this one as much. And yes, Carter Hall was an Easter egg for superhero fans because it's Hawkman's alias. Glad you caught that.
Misa: Look like you'll be the one with the shortest wait for this chapter, I should get it up in a couple of hours. I'm glad you liked the battle, I tried to make it as interesting as possible because I usually don't like reading or writing battle scenes. I know Rae's plan didn't seem realistic, but it was the best I could do considering I'm also BAD at writing battle scenes. It's true Ellie has no right to be jealous, but she clearly still is. She loves Adam, and she's close with Jade and Milly, but Alyssa was the best friend she ever had. And yes, there is more to the end of their friendship than people think. Their friendship is mentioned in this chapter. Yes, I thought about the girls creating their own name, but couldn't think of any of the characters doing it, except Ellie, who I portray as somewhat airheaded, so I had to make Hay Lin do it. Hope this chapter is to your liking!
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
Ellie yawned, and Caty followed suit. Alyssa rubbed her eyes and groaned.
"Remind me once again why we're walking to school?" Caty whispered to Rae.
"Because we're showing Josh and Sage the way."
"And remind me again why we can't take your limo," Ellie added.
"Because I don't want Gabi to know I have a limo and driver. It'll only be a matter of time before she figures out who my parents are and I don't need her to be pretend nice to me."
"And remind me again why we had to get up an hour earlier than usual to head to school," Alyssa finished.
"Because Gabi always comes to school early and she was going to take Josh with her, and Sage wanted to walk with Josh," Rae reminded.
The girls sighed. It was Josh and Sage's first day of school. Rae said she'd show Sage the way and Gabi said she's show Josh, but Hay Lin insisted all five girls show the two Meridian inhabitants the way together. Gabi said that was fine, but she always got to school early, so if they wanted her to walk with them, they'd have to go as early as she did. Rae had a sneaking suspicion she didn't expect any of the girls to actually agree, which is why she acted like she was fine with them walking with her.
"Okay," Gabi was saying to Josh and Sage. She was walking ahead of the group with the two of them. "So my driver Carson drives me and my best friend Breanna to school on most days, but Wednesdays and Fridays I like to walk because I don't have cheerleading practice and I need my exercise. On days Luc and the she-devil need to get to school earlier, Carson takes them and my dad drives me."
"But today's Thursday," Josh pointed out.
"I work on the school's literary magazine after school on Fridays, but this week the president of the staff needed to move it to Thursday so my co-captain and I switched cheerleading to tomorrow instead," Gabi said.
"She's on the literary magazine staff?" Rae asked, surprised. It didn't seem like something Gabi would be interested in.
"Yup," Alyssa said. It was the art and lit magazine, ZOOM, and she was on the staff as well.
"She's in newspaper too," Caty piped up. "I think she likes to write."
"Didn't expect that out of a cheerleader," Rae said. "And I guess that's why Jake always complains about me stereotyping."
"He does that to you too?" Ellie asked. "He calls me out for stereotyping all the time."
"I'm surprised something like that bothers him," Alyssa said.
"Which is also stereotyping," Caty pointed out and the four girls laughed.
"Are you gonna try out for cheerleading Sage?" Gabi asked. "You definitely have the hair for it."
"The hair?"
When Sage moved into Rae's house, she was fascinated by the vanity in the upstairs bathroom (which was known as Rae's bathroom) and all the makeup. Rae explained she didn't use most of that stuff, but explained to Sage how to use it all. She also introduced her to a hair straightener that Sage loved. Today, Sage straightened her hair and put it in a high ponytail. She looked more gorgeous than usual, with the perfect amount of makeup.
"Yeah, that high ponytail you're wearing. It's a requirement for girls to wear their hair that way during practice."
"Well, whenever Cornelia sees me practice sparring, she says I'd make a great cheerleader," Sage admitted.
"Well, great. Tryouts are next week, but you can have a special audition for this afternoon," Gabi offered. "That means even if you don't get on the team, you're automatically part of my friend group."
"I'm starting to think those aren't as hard to come by as Gabi makes them out to be," Caty said, rolling her eyes, making the others girls laugh.
Sage smiled. "Thanks, that sounds great. You're so sweet Gabi!"
Rae rolled her eyes. She'd learned in the past two days that Sage was very sweet, albeit a bit naïve. Only someone naïve would think Gabi was sweet. From what Rae saw and the stories Alyssa told her, Gabi wasn't even that nice to people she considered her friends, unless of course, you were talking about Breanna Kramer. Rae learned from Jake that Gabi was a different person in front of Bree.
"So what do you guys know about Earth?" Caty asked. "I mean, I know Sage probably isn't familiar with the customs, though I bet Josh filled you in."
"Me?" Josh asked. "How would I know? Because of my parents?"
"Didn't you live here?" Ellie asked. "On Earth I mean."
"No. I was born on Earth, but my parents moved to Meridian permanently before I even turned a year old. My mom wanted to have all her kids on Earth, so she'd come back to Earth during her seventh month, stay with her parents in her childhood apartment, and have her kids on Earth, and then go back. She did it with my sisters and Julian. During that time, Caleb and I visited her, but we never went out. We just stayed in the apartment, so I never learned any Earth customs."
"But Aldarn told us your mom and dad moved to Meridian six years ago after your grandfather Julian died," Alyssa said. "Why'd he lie?"
"That's the story Mom and Dad told everyone to tell. Mom had a huge fight with the other guardians just before they all started college, but they remained civil because they still had guardian duties. But a year before my mother was pregnant with me, their fight escalated and they all lost touch with each other. The guardians were all about the age of 30 then. My mom and dad moved to Meridian and didn't tell any of the other guardians, and told all of Meridian's inhabitants not tell any of the other old guardians they'd moved either because Mom didn't want the other guardians to find her."
"Why not?" Rae asked.
"Probably because of the fight."
"Pretty lame of her to duck and run," Gabi snorted.
"Don't make fun of his mom!" Sage snapped in what Rae noticed was an un-Sage like way. Usually Sage was really sweet. It seemed like she got protective and fierce when it came to Josh.
"But what if the guardians needed help or something?" Caty asked.
"Well, Elyon would know if the guardians were needed, and I'd like to think Mom had a strong enough sense of duty that she'd go back to her old friends if the guardians were ever needed, but they never were after that," Josh explained.
"See Gabi, duty. It's our duty to be guardians and it was your duty as a guardian to go to Meridian with Caty two days ago," Alyssa said.
"Are we seriously still on that?" Gabi asked, rolling her eyes.
"But now Hay Lin knows where your mother is," Caty pointed out, ignoring Gabi and Alyssa.
"It doesn't matter now, does it?" Sage piped up. "Now you guys are the new guardians, and if the old ones really don't like each other that much, there's no reason for them to go looking for Cornelia."
"Wait where do your grandparents-er, Cornelia's parents-think their daughter is living? And what about Cornelia's sister, Lillian? Where does she think her sister is?" Rae asked.
"Aunt Lillian was the old Heart of Earth," Josh said. "The guardians told Aunt Lillian about her power when she was fifteen, when they were 21. She knows about Meridian, the guardians, Kandrakar everything. Aunt Lillian knows Mom is on Meridian. She was the only one they told. As for my grandparents, they think Mom and Dad are living with us all the way across the country in that state where Elyon went to college."
"California?" Alyssa supplied.
"Yeah, exactly. We take a fold to Earth during Earth holidays to visit them like the one with the tree and the presents, and that one with the big fluffy bunny and chocolate."
"Christmas and Easter," Rae filled in.
"Yeah. Easter is our favorite," Josh said, talking about himself and Sage. "Because of the chocolate. We don't have chocolate in Meridian."
"If the Heart of Kandrakar is on Earth, how do you open folds?" Alyssa asked.
"Mom," Sage said. "She's the only one besides the Keeper of the Heart who can open and close folds. Well, she used to be the only one. Now I can open and close folds too."
"Sage's magic developed a lot faster than Queen Elyon's, and she's the most powerful member of her family," Josh said. "Good thing, since she's going to be queen next year."
"Queen?" Ellie exclaimed.
"But I thought the old queen has to die before a new one is named," Gabi said.
"In Meridian, the rule is, the rightful heir to the throne takes their place as King or Queen once they're thirteen," Sage said. "Mom did. She thought thirteen was too young too, so she changed the rule to eighteen. I'm going to be eighteen next year, so I'll be queen. Mom thinks it's a good idea to have us take the throne when we're eighteen, because that a legal adult here on Earth. And we're young enough that the old King or Queen should still be alive and can help us."
"That does make sense," Alyssa agreed.
The others nodded in agreement, and fell silent for the rest of the walk.
The group got to school very early, just like Gabi wanted. She took a seat on the arm of the stairs to wait for the other cheerleaders, and Sage joined her. Josh stood in front of them.
The other girls looked at each other a bit awkwardly. To them, before school counted as outside of school, and the girls never hung out outside of school. Guardian training, to them, didn't count.
After a few seconds, Ellie said, "Rehearsal."
At the same time, Caty said, "Mock trial."
They looked at each other and hurried inside, going in two different directions even though the other members of drama club and the mock trial team wouldn't show up for another half hour at least.
Alyssa and Rae headed to what they called "their tree." The wannabe populars hung out under the tree, but ever since Rae and Alyssa became friends, Rae joined Alyssa atop the tree. Alyssa would work on sketches, Rae would look over her German notes for the daily quizzes they had (foreign language was the only class the two didn't have together-Alyssa chose to take French, and Rae had chosen German because she already knew French and Spanish was boring), and they'd tell each other how the rest of their day after guardian training went.
It was ten minutes before Bree arrived, greeting Gabi. "Who are your friends?" she asked, looking at Josh and Sage.
"This is Sage. She's staying with Rachel Dylan."
"The new girl who turned down admittance into our group?" Bree asked distastefully.
Rae snorted quietly as Bree's comment reached her ears and Alyssa giggled softly.
"Yeah. But Sage is cool. We're giving her a special audition after school today."
"Oh! Well, hi. I'm Breanna Kramer."
"Sage Martin." She looked at Gabi. "Isn't Ellie's last name Kramer too?"
"My dorky cousin. Don't hold it against me," Bree groaned.
"I like Ellie," Sage said.
"Um…o-kay," Bree said, then turned her attention to Josh.
"This is Josh Hart, Sage's best friend," Gabi said. "He's staying with me."
"Hi Josh," Bree said shyly. Josh was hot!
Gabi gave her a look. Bree was not allowed to act shy in front of boys.
"I mean, hey," Bree said carelessly. She looked at Sage again. "How exactly do you know Ellie?"
"Oh, um…"
"Sage and Josh are friends with Chris Lyndon. He probably introduced them to Ellie," Gabi said quickly. "They're friends, right?"
"Uh, no. Chris and Ellie hate each other. Chris said something about 'why would someone who drops someone as awesome as Classless-a be worth my time' or something," Bree replied. "For someone so smart, he sure doesn't know the meaning of awesome."
Alyssa instantly went red after hearing this. She didn't realize Chris thought so highly of her. Rae smiled. She knew she liked Chris for a reason.
"Oh…well…"
"Eric told me about her," Sage said suddenly. "Um, I mean, Mr. Lyndon, Chris's dad. He's the one who got us registered in school, and I chose all these drama and music electives and Mr. Lyndon said to make it easier, the person in charge-"
"Principal," Gabi said quickly.
"-Right, principal, scheduled me with someone named Elizabeth Kramer so I'd have a guide and Mr. Lyndon told me that in front of Chris and Chris said only people with a death wish would call her Elizabeth and told me her nickname."
"Because sympathy and compassion is better than promise of God," Alyssa murmured.
"What?" Rae asked, confused.
"Never mind," Alyssa said. When the two were little, Alyssa told Ellie what the name Elizabeth meant and what the name Ellie meant. She told her she could choose which one she liked better. Before that, she was okay with people calling her Elizabeth, but after she decided she liked the meaning of Ellie better, she wouldn't let anyone call her Elizabeth anymore (except for her mother and father because if they actually remembered her name was Elizabeth and not Emma or Erica, it was a miracle).
"So how come you guys are staying with other people? Where are your parents?" Bree asked.
"They're in California!" Gabi said quickly. "Um, but they used to live here and go to Sheffield so they wanted their kids to go to Sheffield for their last couple of years of high school." As soon as Gabi said it, she realized that was mostly true. Sure, Elyon, Cornelia, and Caleb weren't in California, but they did all go to Sheffield, and they did want their kids to go to Sheffield, if only to protect the guardians.
"Why?" Bree asked, causing Gabi to laugh and Alyssa and Rae to exchange smiles. No one really liked Sheffield even though both Rae and Alyssa knew this was the only school they could attend where they both had a chance of getting accepted to Yale.
"But why are you staying with Rachel and Gabi? How did you know to stay with them?"
"Well, our parents are friends with Mrs. Lin-Lyndon, who owns that restaurant?" Josh said questioningly.
"The Silver Dragon?"
"Yeah! And she said she didn't have any extra rooms so Chris asked if we could stay with Rae because he's friends with her."
"Oh yeah, I did notice he became friends with New Girl," Bree said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, Rae's mom one of us could stay with her, so Chris asked Gabi if I could stay with her."
"Because I have a big house," Gabi added so the story would make more sense.
"Oh, okay," Bree said, seeming to believe them. She sat next to Gabi and smiled flirtatiously at Josh. He immediately went red and Gabi smirked.
Bree and Dalton were both too afraid to make a move. Dalton dating Lana to make Bree jealous didn't work. Maybe if Bree dated Josh to make Dalton jealous, it would give him the courage to ask her out. But what about Sage? Gabi didn't know too much about her, but she already liked her and she already planned to get Josh and Sage together. But maybe she could kill two birds with one stone. Maybe if Bree and Josh started going out, it would give Sage the courage to ask Josh out. But in order for this to work, she'd have to get Sage to admit to Gabi she had a crush on Josh and Gabi would have to talk to Bree and Josh and get them to pretend date.
"We should've prepared their back stories beforehand," Rae sighed, relieved that Bree seemed to be done with her interrogation for the time being.
"Yeah, I agree. None of us thought of that. I should've, or Caty. We're supposed to be the smart ones."
"I'm also one of the smart ones and the leader," Rae said. "I definitely should've thought of it. I don't think I'm cut out to be leader, or a guardian in general."
"What in the world makes you say that?" Alyssa asked, shocked. She had no idea Rae was feeling so down on herself.
"When we were in Meridian, I couldn't do a single thing. I was able to defend myself, but without powers, I couldn't defend the rest of you like you guys were doing for each other."
"It's not your job to protect us."
"I'm the leader. It's practically my entire job. I know Hay Lin said that I'll eventually develop powers, but according to her, it took the last Keeper a year before she developed powers. I can barely fly without crashing into something. How can I protect all of you for a year without powers?"
"Rae, as leader, your job isn't to defend us physically. It's to defend us mentally. You're supposed to come up with smart plans that'll get us out of trouble and help us win battles. And if I recall correctly, that's exactly what you did the other day. It was our first ever battle, we were failing miserably, there were an overwhelming amount of creepy looking monsters, and you stayed calm, assessed the situation, and came up with a brilliant plan that saved all of us. That's probably what Will did too. In fact, Josh told me a story after guardian training yesterday, about the first battle W.I.T.C.H. had. Apparently Will got thrown in a hole or something, where Caleb was trapped, and she'd lost the Heart, so she couldn't fly them out. But the others found the Heart and it led them to Will and she transformed them and she was the one who came up with a plan that helped them save Caleb, defeat the minions that came after them, and got them home safely, even though they were seriously outmatched and hadn't gotten a handle on their powers yet, just like you did with us. You're a great leader. No one is more deserving of this position than you."
Rae smiled bashfully. "Thanks Lyssa. That made me feel better." She thought of adding 'That's probably why Ellie misses you so much,' but decided to hold her peace. Ellie and Alyssa should become friends again, but they had to do it on their own.
"I'm glad. Hey, I have a question though. Why is it your mom is only letting Sage stay with you guys? Your house is big enough for both of them to cstay."
"Honestly, I don't know. I thought at first it might be because she wasn't comfortable with a boy staying in my house, but then she told me to let her know whether it was Sage or Josh that was staying so she can prepare the room appropriately. She put these bubblegum pink sheets on the bed. They make me cringe, but Sage likes them. If Josh had stayed, she had these blue sheets with anchors on them ready, so she was clearly okay with either of them."
"Hmm, that's strange," Alyssa mused. "Do you like living with Sage?"
"It's only been two days, but it's been okay. It's sort of like having a sister, and I have always wanted a sibling. And Sage is really sweet, although she did weird my mom out a couple of times."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, she's not used to Earth customs. She freaked out at the sight of my cook frying eggs on the stove. Apparently in Meridian, they cook over a fire on hot coals for every meal. In the castle, they have a kitchen, but they still use a fire over hot coals, as if they're camping every day. She was used to basic lotion and stuff because Elyon kept that stuff around, but she was fascinated by makeup. I don't wear makeup and told her my mom knew more about it and she asked her questions that are common sense, like why is lip gloss so shiny."
Alyssa chuckled.
"That's not even the worst of it. As if my mom wasn't already a little weary of her, Sage accidentally dropped her plate yesterday as she was carrying it to the sink. It's a ceramic plate and it broke, but Sage used her magic to fix it, but not before my mom was sure she saw it break."
"Does she suspect Sage has magic?"
"I don't know. She said she thinks she's going crazy, and a few days ago I would've believed that's what she actually thought, but now that I know she knows about Meridian, I don't know what to believe. She's Cornelia's youngest son's god mother, and Elyon's youngest son's god mother, so she must know about magic."
"Wait…Rae, what did you tell your mother about who Sage was?"
"I said Sage was my pen pal. I had a pen pal in kindergarten, Emily, and even though we only had to write to them in kindergarten, she and I kept in touch through middle school. My mom remembered I had a pen pal, but couldn't remember her name. I said it was Sage, and she and her best friend Josh came here to attend Sheffield, since it's one of the best high schools in the country."
"She knows that's a lie!"
"How do you know that?"
"You said it yourself. She's the god mother to both Cornelia and Elyon's youngest sons. She knows about magic. Doesn't that mean she knows Sage?"
Rae gasped. "You're right! She has to know who she is! But…doesn't that mean Sage knows my mother?"
"Did she act like she had no idea who she was?"
"Yeah."
Alyssa climbed down the tree. "Let's ask her."
Rae followed her and walked up to Sage.
"No!" Gabi cried. "New Girl, Classless-a, there's only so much time left before the other cheerleaders get here, and I will not have them see me near you."
"What are you even doing talking to us anyway?" Bree asked. "Don't you know people on your level socially aren't allowed to talk to us?"
"You've got to be kidding me!" Rae cried. "Why don't you take your pompous, stupid high school hierarchy rules and shove them up your-"
"Rae, calm down, the mindless airhead's not worth it," Alyssa said.
"HEY!" Bree cried, angry and indignant.
"Anyway Gabi, this'll only take a minute," Alyssa went on, ignoring Bree.
"Sage, I wanted to ask…do you know my mother?"
"Your mother?"
"Because she's your brother's god mother."
"Wait you have a brother?" Gabi asked.
"Yeah, Cameron, but everyone calls him Cam. He's 16, and he's almost as close to Josh as I am. And then there's Phil who's 13, and Shane who's 7. And I have a sister Alexa who is 5."
"Well your mom was busy," Gabi muttered.
Ignoring her, Rae went on, "And my mother is Shane's god mother, right?"
"Uh huh."
"So why did you act like you don't know my mother?"
"Cornelia told me to. Because if she knew who I was, then she'd wonder why my mother would send me to Ear-uh here, and then I'd have to tell her Mom was cap-uh, isn't at home anymore. And that Dad and my siblings are with her," Sage explained, trying to remember she couldn't say anything about Meridian in front of Bree.
"But my mother must've seen you before. So how do you know she didn't recognize you?"
"I don't," Sage admitted. "But the last time I saw Silena, I was 11. I look different for sure. If Frank saw me though, he'd recognize me. He came to Mer-uh, my house, for my 16th birthday." She lowered her voice. "Mom said 16 is important here on Earth."
"It is," Rae agreed in a low voice.
"Wait. Who are Silena and Frank?" Gabi asked.
Rae went red, realizing now that Gabi knew her mother and father's first names, it would only be a matter of time before she figured who Rae's parents were. She had to distract her.
"My mom and dad. Elyon was best friends with my dad and she and Cornelia were both good friends with my mom and Elyon was the whole reason my parents met, and apparently Elyon and Cornelia told them all about Elyon's real home and Cornelia and Elyon's duties. My mom is Elyon's youngest son's god mother and my father is Sage's god father."
"But you parents never told you that?" Gabi asked.
Rae shook her head, sighing in relief. She'd successfully distracted Gabi from her parents' names.
"There seems to be a lot of that going around," Gabi said, looking at Alyssa.
At that moment, Rae saw a lot of drama kids walk inside the building, followed by Caty and Brian's friends, and Shelia Breslin's group of nerds.
"The nerds and drama freaks are here," Gabi said. "They get to school twenty minutes early. It's only a matter of time before the other cheerleaders get here. Go away."
"Fine, but in case you forgot Gabi, we're supposed to help Josh and Sage out once the bell rings," Alyssa taunted as she and Rae headed back to their tree.
Gabi just groaned. She wanted power, but this guardian thing could end up dragging her down socially and she could not let that happen before she had enough power to scare and control Lana.
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
"This place is big," Josh said as he stared down the empty hallway. He, Sage, and the guardians had gone inside ten minutes before the bell rang. The only students inside at this time were the drama kids and the nerds, to rehearse or have a meeting of mock trial or model U.N. or debate team, and they were all shut away in classrooms. Ellie and Caty had to ditch their friends to be here. Neither group was very happy. Ellie had the solo in the song she and her friends were rehearsing when she'd run out, and Caty was about to win the case of Mrs. Thruber (Nina) vs. The Board of Education (Nick and Travis) with Brian as the judge when she ran out, losing the case.
"It probably really easy to get lost," Sage added.
"You'll be fine," Ellie promised. "You're scheduled with me and Josh is scheduled with Chris. We'll go with you to every class."
"Where are Chris and Cara anyway?" Rae asked.
"Cara's still in eighth grade," Alyssa reminded. "So she's probably in the middle school building."
"But here comes Chris," Caty said, nodding toward the boy.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Ellie huffed.
Alyssa went red again, remembering what Bree said. Ellie and Adam were fine with Chris when Alyssa was still their best friend, so she never knew until today what happened between them. Now she put it together. Chris hated Ellie for dropping Alyssa and Adam for following suit. He'd probably yelled at Ellie, which is why Adam hated him, and Ellie probably hated him because Chris didn't understand what really happened between Ellie and Alyssa and no one could tell him.
Alyssa wondered if Ellie had told anyone else. Had she told Adam? Had she kept her promise? Alyssa had so many questions, but she knew from experience Ellie wouldn't answer any of them. She'd wanted to ask Jason what was going on when she saw him a few weeks ago, but if she was being honest with herself, she didn't want the answer.
If Ellie had kept her promise, then she probably wouldn't still be living with her mother and Jason wouldn't be living at home, so she suspected Ellie hadn't kept her promise. And if that was true, then Alyssa and Ellie ended their friendship for nothing, and now Alyssa had no advantage. In fifth grade, she could help Ellie because they were best friends. But if Alyssa found out for sure now that Ellie hadn't kept her promise…well, she had no way of helping a girl who hadn't talked to her until she was forced to.
"So…what exactly are these things?" Sage asked, touching a locker.
"That's a locker," Chris said as he reached the group. "You open it with a combination of three numbers and you can put your stuff inside it so that you don't have to carry around as much. Let me see your schedules."
Sage and Josh handed them over.
"Okay, so Josh your locker is right next to mine, and Sage, yours is between mine and Ellie's. Come on."
The seven followed Chris to Sage and Josh's lockers.
"Okay, Sage open yours. The combination is 32-34-12. What you're going to do is twist that dial to right. Pass the number 32 three times. The fourth time around, stop when you reach 32."
Sage looked confused, but did as she was told.
"Okay, next spin the dial to the left and pass the number 34 once. The second time around, stop on it."
Sage did what Chris said again.
"Okay, now spin the dial to the right and stop at the number 12. Then push up on the black thing above the dial and pull."
Sage did so and her locker opened.
"Wow!" she exclaimed.
"And this lever inside," Ellie said, pointing to something, "opens the compartment on the top. Just push it up."
Sage pushed it up and sure enough, the overhead compartment opened too.
Sage laughed. "So what should I put in here?"
"Everything you don't need for your first two classes," Ellie instructed. "I always come back here after English to get stuff for Dramatics III and Music III. How'd you get in the honors music and drama classes anyway?"
"Mrs. Ashcroft," Sage said.
Ellie looked at Alyssa.
"My mom is a respected alumni here. She was only student in Sheffield history to get accepted into all 8 Ivy League schools. She can always pull a few strings every now and then and she assured Principal Walsh that Sage had enough music and drama training to be in the same level classes as you."
"Why would your mom do that? Does she even know Sage?"
"Hay Lin called her and explained who Sage was and what happened to her family and said she really wanted me to join the rest of you guys, but she'd keep me off the team if Mom did this for her."
"She's not really going to keep you off the team is she?" Caty asked.
"No, of course not. It was just out way of getting Mom to help Sage. She's also the one that assured Principal Walsh that Josh was smart enough to be in honors English and APUSH, the honors and AP classes Chris is in. She got Principal Walsh to accept them without any transcripts or anything."
"Hay Lin must've hated lying to you mom," Ellie said.
"She looked like she was in physical pain," Alyssa agreed.
"Oh I'll bet," Rae said sarcastically. "She had no problem lying to us about Kasson."
"She didn't exactly lie. She just didn't tell us everything," Ellie said.
"A lie of omission is still a lie," Caty said.
"Do you really believe that?" Alyssa asked.
"No, but that doesn't mean I agree with the omission. She should've told us about Kasson. He's our enemy, we deserve to know everything about him."
"We forgot to confront her the other day, but we'll do it today during guardian training," Rae decided.
"Who died and made you leader," Gabi scoffed before realizing Rae was the Keeper, and therefore the leader of the guardians. She blushed as the other girls, Sage, Josh, and Chris laughed.
Sage and Josh closed their lockers.
"So no one else can open these?" Josh asked.
"Just the people who have the combinations," Chris said. "The combinations are on your schedules. I suggest you memorize them, then cross them out on your schedule so no one else can steal the combination."
"Is the combination a locking enchantment?" Sage asked.
"Nope. Just good old Earth technology," Chris replied, a laugh in his voice.
The first bell rang, and Josh and Sage, who hadn't realized the bell was that loud, jumped.
"What's going on? An attack?" Josh asked, reaching at his side for his sword before realizing he was wearing the jeans Hay Lin bought him and didn't have any weapons with him. Sage too, reached for her dagger, her weapon of choice, before realizing she didn't have it with her.
"Relax man, that's the bell telling us class is going to start in ten minutes," Chris explained. He looked at the guardians. "Back in Meridian, most sounds like that are warning of an enemy invasion or attack."
Sage and Josh relaxed as other students started to flow in.
In six more minutes, the warning bell rang. Sage and Josh jumped again and reached for the weapons they still didn't have,
"We don't have enemy invasions or attacks here," Gabi said. "You guys need to calm down."
The two nodded before following Ellie (in Sage's case) and Chris (in Josh's case) to their classes. Gabi followed Ellie, having Algebra 2 with her and Caty, Rae, and Alyssa headed to honors pre-calc, amused at Josh and Sage's actions. They were definitely going to be interesting friends to have.
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
"What is this exactly?" Sage asked at lunch, poking what was supposed to be sirloin.
"Nothing you actually want to put in your mouth," Breanna advised.
As soon as Ellie and Sage walked into the cafeteria, Gabi and Bree ran over and insisted Sage sit with them and the other cheerleaders. Ellie, who, despite being envious of Sage's natural talent, actually liked her, and hoped Sage would sit with her and her friends during lunch. No such luck.
Josh walked in with Chris, and was going to sit with Chris's friends at lunch when Gabi waved him over as well. There was plenty of room since the LAX boys had a team meeting today. Jake got out of it by lying and saying he had a test to make up at lunch because he wanted to spend whatever time he could with Gabi.
Jake wasn't sure about how he felt about Gabi asking Josh to sit with them. Gabi had never waved another guy over to their table, and he already didn't love that some guy he didn't know was staying at Gabi's house, but she assured him she and her dad mainly agreed to let Josh stay with them so that Luc would have someone to talk to. Gabi loved Luc with all her heart, but she knew as a girl, she couldn't help him with everything, and with Michael away, she had been worried Luc would feel alone. Jake tried to accept it, but he was still a little jealous.
Jake had liked Gabi for years, and he'd been a major player in the past because he was always waiting for Gabi to come around and finally say yes when he asked her out. That was reason he bounced from girl to girl. He was never serious about anyone else because he only wanted Gabi. And this summer, they'd hung out all the time, and she finally agreed to go out with him. He'd asked her to be his girlfriend the last day of summer. Literally two days later, she spent all her time cheerleading instead of with him.
"So what are we supposed to eat?" Sage asked.
"That apple's probably safe," Carrie shrugged. "But you shouldn't buy lunch here."
"Get your mother to pack you something," Stephanie said.
"Or whoever you're currently living with," Bree added. "I'm sure Mrs. New Girl's mom-"
"Ms. Shane," Jake corrected.
"-Whatever," Bree replied. "I'm sure she'll be fine with packing you something. She does it for New Girl."
"Actually, it's Helen that packs Rae's lunch," Sage said. "And Rae did warn me not to buy lunch. Guess I should've listened."
Sage didn't know many Earth foods, but Rae's lunch today was so simple that she wanted to buy something so she could try actual Earth foods instead of something as simple as a sandwich and a bag of chips, things she'd already had when she accompanied Josh's family on their visits to Earth.
"And Helen is who exactly?" Gabi asked.
"And why are we hanging out with someone who walked in with a drama freak and calls New Girl by name?" Lana butt in.
"She may not make the right friends, but Sage is cool," Gabi insisted. "Traci agreed we can give her a special audition." Traci was the senior JV co-captain. Special auditions were something Gabi developed, but Traci had to agree to it as well for Gabi to give a girl the audition. If Traci didn't agree, Gabi automatically inducted the girl into her group anyway and just told her to audition regularly. "Now again, Helen is?"
"Rae's cook."
"New Girl has a cook?" Lana asked, frowning. "She must come from money."
"She has a huge house," Sage agreed. "And a guest house."
"A guest house?" Kelli repeated. "I thought the only houses that had guest houses are on Larson street."
"They are," Gabi said.
"That's where you live, isn't it? Larson street?" Josh piped up.
"Rae lives there too," Sage said.
"Wait, we're on the same street and we never knew?" Josh questioned.
Sage smiled at this news.
"Sage, are you sure?" Gabi asked.
Sage nodded and Gabi frowned. Everyone on Larson street was insanely rich. And the people with guest houses were richer than rich. Those people had more money than Gabi's family, which was saying something, but as far as she knew, all the houses with guest houses were occupied by elderly people…except for that white one with teal shutters. That house was empty…Rae just moved town…
"Oh my God, she lives in Jeff Boudreau's old house," Gabi gasped.
"That house is huge. It's bigger than mine," Lana said.
"And mine," Gabi replied.
"How did she afford that?" Bree asked.
"Jake, what do her parents do?" Gabi asked.
"Her dad's an inventor. Her mom is an artist."
"Wait!" Bree cried. "You said her mother goes by Ms. Shane, right? But Rae's last name is Dylan."
"Her parents are divorced," Jake replied.
"Sage, what's her mother's first name?" Gabi asked.
"Silena. And her father's name is Frank."
" .God," Bree breathed.
"What, what?" Kelli asked.
"You dummy!" Lana cried. "Her parents are Silena Shane and Frank Dylan. Makes sense. Frank is an inventor, and Silena designs clothes, with is kind of an artist."
At this, every cheerleader's mouth dropped open and they looked at their clothes, phones, and laptops. Everything they owned was from New Girl's parents.
"No way. No freaking way!" Lili cried in shock. Caty was friends with Rae, meaning her own cousin was hanging out with Silena Shane's daughter! Could Caty possibly help get her that internship she wanted?
"Gabs, you have to make her a cheerleader now," Lana insisted.
"I don't have to do anything. No matter what that girl is never getting on the squad!"
"Why not?" Jake asked. "You said you'd give her a special audition!"
"I offered, she declined. It's too late now."
"Who in their right mind would turn down a special audition?" Bree asked, rolling her eyes.
"Clearly, New Girl's not in her right mind," Summer piped up.
"Why do you think she hid who her parents were?" Holly wondered.
"I wonder who else knows," Missy added.
"She probably doesn't want anyone to know," Jake cautioned.
"She'd be instantly popular if everyone knew," Jaimie said.
"I know Rae. She doesn't care about popularity," Jake replied.
"Wow, you sure know a lot about New Girl," Gabi snapped. Could he even remember her dad does for a living?
"Wait, who are Frank Dylan and Silena Shane?" Josh asked.
"Silena Shane designed every piece of clothing the other cheerleaders and I are wearing right now, plus all the clothes half the girls at this school and some of the boys are wearing. My entire wardrobe is Silena Shane clothes. Frank Dylan is the CEO of Grapple, the biggest electronic company internationally. He is the inventor of every phone, laptop, tablet, television, radio, desktop, and gaming system everyone owns, not to mention several stereos, sound systems, and countless other entertainment products.
Josh tried to keep up. From his grandmother, he knew what televisions, laptops, and phones, but he wasn't sure what the rest of the stuff Gabi was talking about was, but clearly Frank Dylan was a big deal.
"Your phone was made by Frank Dylan," Jake pointed out. "How do you not know who he is?"
"And didn't Silena Shane design that shirt?" Stacy added.
"Um…" Hay Lin had bought him a couple of outfits and a phone. She'd done the same for Sienna. He had no idea who made any of it.
"Josh's parents are super conservative, so he doesn't know a lot of the stuff we'd expect him to," Gabi lied.
"How do you guys know each other again?" Skye asked.
"Um…he's friends with Chris," Gabi said, hoping that was the same story she'd told Bree that morning.
"Rae said Sage is her pen pal," Jake said, confused.
"She is," Gabi said, wondering why Rae had never told her that's what she was telling people. "But they also both know Chris."
"Oh yeah, we've been friends with Chris for a long time. Six years now, right Josh?" Sage put in helpfully.
Josh nodded. "We've both got friends back home, but Chris is our best friend…besides each other of course."
"Aww, you guys are so cute! Why aren't you dating?" Bella cooed, making Sage blush.
Josh just laughed. "We're just friends. I don't think we'd ever date," he admitted. Sage bit her lip and nodded.
'Ouch,' Gabi thought. She couldn't tell if Sage was really friend zoned or if Josh just never thought Sage would ask him out.
"So that makes you single and…available, correct?" Bree asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Uh…" Now Josh went red. "Yeah," he nodded fervently and Gabi noticed Sage's chin tremble before she got up.
"Where are you going?" Josh asked.
"She said she'd come with me to get a snack," Gabi answered for her, grabbing Sage's arm and pulling her towards the snack line. "The food here sucks, but they have these amazing cookies."
"Chocolate chip?" Sage asked hopefully. "Josh's grandma always bakes chocolate chip."
"They have everything and the chocolate chip ones also have M&Ms baked into them!"
"What are…?"
"Candy," Gabi said.
"Hmmm. I never got anything called M&Ms in my East baskets."
"I think you mean Easter," Gabi giggled. "And if you've never had M&MS, then you're missing out!"
"Why is this line so long?"
"Because most people do the smart thing and buy snacks instead of lunch," Gabi said. "Since all their snacks, not just the cookies, are good." She smiled and went on to more important topics. "So, you and Josh are best friends, huh?"
Sage nodded. "Since birth. We were born within two days of each other."
"But you want to be more?"
Sage blushed, but nodded.
"You're in love with him aren't you?" Gabi asked, sure Sage's feelings went past a simple crush.
Sage nodded again. She took a deep breath. "It goes past that though. We're…or I guess we were betrothed."
"Like…you guys are supposed to get married?" Gabi asked. At Sage's nod of confirmation, she grew angry. "Well that's disgusting! I hate that your families can think they can decide who you get to marry."
"They don't," Sage said. "It was a royal rule that the heir to the throne was supposed to marry someone by her twenty first birthday. And the king and queen had to decide who their child would marry by the time they were thirteen. Usually, it was supposed to be a noble or a royal in another world, but the kids of guardians are highly respected, like nobles, so Josh was a valid choice. So my mother decided I'd be betrothed to my best friend, because as long as the rule was there, she figured I'd be happy with Josh even if I wasn't in love with him, which I wasn't then. Of course we asked Cornelia and Caleb first and I told Josh he had the right to decline or back out at any time. Josh said he'd be fine with it. After all, we were only thirteen, and even though we'd had crushes before, at that time, we couldn't see ourselves being happy with anyone besides each other."
"Did you mother have to do this too?"
"Well, since my mother was raised on Earth, and was only brought to Meridian just a few months before the old guardians defeated my evil uncle and put Mom on the throne, they gave her til she was sixteen before her parents picked her future husband. And she fell in love with Dad in those three years, and even though she's usually supposed to marry a noble, there was no rule against her picking Dad, so she picked him and got married when she was 21. All the guardians attended, and I think that was the last big social event they attended together."
"Is your dad not a noble?"
"No, Dad is a good friend of Caleb's. He was part of the rebel army, and he was part of Mom's royal guard after the war."
"Wow. So what happened with you and Josh? You said you were betrothed."
"My mom still didn't like the rule. She thought it was unfair that she got to fall in love at an age where love made sense, and I had to pick someone to marry before I even had a chance, so she searched and searched and finally found a way to abolish the rule. It was actually really recently, nine months ago. Josh and I had both turned seventeen, and he'd started developing crushes on other girls. He didn't pursue any of them, because he didn't want to break his promise to marry me. He knew there wasn't any other guy I'd want to be with, but that was because by the time my mom broke that rule, I'd fallen in love with him."
"If your mom had known that, would she have abolished the rule?"
"She did know that and she did it anyway, and she talked to me about it. She wanted to make sure I wouldn't be angry at her, and I told her I knew it wouldn't be right to keep the rule for my own selfish reasons. I may be in love with Josh, but he doesn't feel the same and it's not fair to keep him to myself. Any girl would be lucky to have Josh."
"Well why shouldn't that girl be you?"
"Because I'm not the girl that can make him happy."
"And how exactly do you know that?"
"You heard him at the table. He doesn't see as anything more than best friends. He's been saying that a lot since Mom abolished the rule. I think he's relieved."
"You ever think he may be saying that because he thinks you're relieved?"
"You think?"
"Anything's possible!"
"I don't want to get rejected. I'm way too scared to ask if would actually want to marry me."
"Maybe don't start with marriage," Gabi advised. "Ask him out. People date on Meridian, don't they?"
"Yeah, of course. But I'm too scared to even do that."
Gabi frowned. Sage looked so sad, but her mind was clearly made up. She wasn't going to ask Josh out. At least, not without a push. And Gabi was just the person to give her that push.
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
"We want to know about the Dark Prince," Rae demanded as she and the other girls entered The Silver Dragon's basement that day. Sage, Josh, and the Lyndons walked in behind them and gave Hay Lin a 'why are you hiding stuff about Kasson from them' look. The Lyndons went to one corner of the room and sat on the beanbag chairs. Josh and Sage went to another corner where their weapons lay. They seemd eerily relieved to be by their sharp, point, dangerous objects again. The guardians sat down in front of Hay Lin, waiting expectantly.
"I told you about him. He's an evil greater than any we as guardians ever faced and he dethroned Elyon."
"You know a lot more about him then you're letting on. Just about everybody we met in Meridian does," Caty said.
"Aldarn had to tell us his name. Kasson," Rae added. "We want to know why you weren't the one to tell us. How do you expect us to protect ourselves and save Elyon and Meridian, if you won't even tell us what we're up against?"
"What aren't you telling us?" Caty interrogated.
Hay Lin sighed, looking worried. "Alright. I did keep a lot of Kasson's life from you guys, things I should've told you. I'll tell you now."
The girls waited and Hay Lin sat down in front of them to tell them everything you knew.
"Kasson is a real prince. He is the prince of Eldantia, another realm. He was Kasson Durange, a part of one the most powerful magical families in all the known words, a practicing sorcerer, and he used to be an ally of Elyon. His father used to talk trading policies and peace treaties with Elyon a few times a year, and Elyon and Kasson would hang out. He was quite in love with her, but Elyon loved Drake. When she told Kasson they were going to get married, Kasson was heartbroken, but soon found another love of his own. Cassandra Mercandy, a noble from Tentallor."
"And that's another realm?" Alyssa asked.
Hay Lin nodded.
"How do they think of these names?" Gabi asked no one in particular.
"Because Earth is so much more normal sounding," Josh piped up.
"It is!"
"Only because we're used to it," Caty admitted. "If we grew up in Meridian, we'd probably think that sounds normal."
"If I were Elyon, I'd rename the place after myself," Gabi declared.
"It just so happens that most of the world isn't as self-centered as you," Rae bit back.
Alyssa cleared her throat. "Weren't we the ones that demanded the story of Kasson? We're not doing a very good job of listening to Hay Lin."
Rae and Caty immediately turned back to face Hay Lin. Gabi just rolled her eyes and Ellie shifted uncomfortably. Their first battle at Meridian scared her bad enough. She had not stopped dreaming about it. But in her dreams, as soon as Rae's plan had worked, the girls didn't have time to celebrate because the dream shifted to the one she had of all the guardians fighting Snake Dude. Her only relief was that they seemed to have full control over their powers at that time, and right now, they still made every mistake possibly, meaning the battle with Snake Dude was still a while away, if it came true. Maybe she should ask Hay Lin about that…
"So as I was saying, Cassandra was a noble, but not a royal. Tentallor was founded by Cassandra's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great…wait how many greats was that?" Hay Lin asked after losing track. She started counting on her fingers, then gave up and said, "Her 22 times great grandfather. His name was Seamus Mercandy. He'd founded the land, named himself King, and named the land after his wife, whose maiden name was Tentallor."
"If he was king, why isn't Cassandra a princess?" Ellie asked.
"Because Cassandra's family was overthrown about 20 years ago. She was a young princess then, and as an only child, she was the only princess of Tentallor, and you can imagine how she took the news. Sure her family was still rich, but she once had the opportunity to be queen, and now the promise of the kingdom was gone.
"In order to continue the good relationship between Eldantia and Meridian, Kasson was supposed to marry a noble or royal of Meridian, even if it couldn't be Elyon herself. But Cassandra, wanting to be queen of something, wormed her way into Kasson's heart, and he chose to marry her over any of the Meridian girls wanting to marry him."
"But if Kasson and Elyon were such good friends, and he wasn't even angry about her choosing to marry someone else, and found another love, why would he take over her land?" Rae asked.
"I'm not sure," Hay Lin admitted. "The last time Kasson and Elyon interacted was at the party held to celebrate Sage's birth, who was born a year after Kasson's own daughter Piper. Elyon said Kasson was just as friendly as always, but Cassandra, who she'd met for the first time at Piper's party a year prior, was rude and mean, just as always. She was also power mad and scared Elyon a little. The Council thinks Cassandra is the one who wanted Elyon overthrown so that she could expand what will one day be her kingdom."
"One day?" Ellie repeated.
"Right now, Cassandra is still princess because Kasson is still prince. His father is in his 70s, and still ruling."
"What makes him so dangerous? How did he defeat Elyon?" Alyssa asked.
"That's also because of Cassandra. See, the Mercandy family aren't just a bunch of royals. They were also children of magic. Seamus was a powerful sorcerer, and every one of his descendants were more powerful than the last. Cassandra's father Cornelius abused his magic and used to cruelly on his people, which is why a rebellion arose, and he was overthrown. But their family talent made Cassandra the most powerful Mercandy sorceress at one point."
"At one point?" Ellie repeated.
"Kasson and Cassandra had a kid, didn't they?" Alyssa said. "So that means their kid is the most powerful right now."
"Please tell me they only had one!" Caty begged.
"Afraid not," Hay Lin sighed. "They had four kids. Piper, who is 18, another daughter who is 16, and two sons who are 14 and 17. I don't know the names of the other kids."
"So that makes Piper the most powerful sorceress?" Rae asked.
"Not exactly," Hay Lin said. "Piper was born without magic."
"That's good right?" Caty asked. "She can't pose a threat with no powers."
"Whoa, wait," Hay Lin said. "I said she was born without magic. Not without powers."
"So what powers does she have?" Gabi asked.
"She is probably the most powerful of the Durange," Hay Lin said, "because she has the ability to syphon the powers of others."
"Chiffon?" Ellie repeated. "Isn't chiffon a type of fabric?"
"How do you know that?" Gabi asked, wondering how a drama freak had knowledge on clothes.
"Not chiffon dummy, syphon," Caty said.
Ellie rolled her eyes at Caty's 'I'm so much smarter than everyone in this room' act. And it was an act, because everyone knew Alyssa was the smartest person in the room.
"Syphon?" Rae asked. "Like, one of those devices that control the flow of liquids?" She looked really confused.
"I think in this context," Alyssa said, "she means Piper can take other people's powers."
"Exactly. Except it's only with magic. She can't take your powers."
"How does she chiffon…uh, I mean, sy…phone…"
"Syphon," Caty said, rolling her eyes.
Ellie glared at her, but nodded. "Yeah. Syphon. How does she do that?"
"All she has to do is touch you. The longer she keeps contact, the more power she can take. It's only available for a limited time, unless she takes all of your power."
"She can do that?"
"Yes. Even then, there's a time limit, for a longer limit. If you syphon all of someone's power, it can last anywhere between two weeks to a month. If Piper syphons the magic of someone as powerful as Elyon, it would last a month. Then the powers return to the person she stole from, but she can steal from the same person over and over again. There's also a ritual in one of Kasson's old family grimoires that can help her keep all the power, but as far as we know, she hasn't found the ritual yet."
"A grim reaper?" Ellie said, confused.
"Grimiore!" Caty cried, fed up with Ellie's air headedness. "It's a book of magic. Legends say witches used to write down all their magical findings, spells, and potions in a book and passed it down to their decedents. Those books are known as grimoires. The more you have, the more powerful you are."
"And since the Duragnes and the Mercandys are the most powerful magical families out there, they have a lot."
"Are Kasson and Cassandra more powerful than Elyon?"
"No, they are equal in strength, and they are weaker than Elyon's kids, but their kids are more powerful than Elyon and her kids. Except for Sage. She's more powerful than Kasson's kids, but she wouldn't be able to face all of them at once."
"Sage, how did you escape Kasson and his family?" Caty asked.
"When Kasson, his family, and his army invaded the castle, I wasn't home. I was in Scorosa with Josh."
"Sco what now?" Gabi asked.
"It's another realm," Josh explained.
"When we came back, everyone knew Kasson had taken over," Sage added. "So I went to Josh's house. I've mainly been hiding, but I go out every once in a while. The last time Kasson saw me, I was only a couple days old, so he doesn't know how I look now, and no one from Meridian is going to give me up."
"Wow, you were lucky," Caty said.
"Luckier than you know," Sage agreed. "Josh was feeling under the weather that day and if I hadn't insisted, we wouldn't have gone Scorosa at all. I would've headed back to the palace and been captured with the rest of my family."
Ellie wondered why Sage always sounded so casual when she talked about her family. Isn't she supposed to be sad?
"Well at least you're well protected," Caty said. "Like you said, no one in Meridian would ever turn you over to Kasson."
"But there are a few Meridian inhabitants that switched sides, and pledged their allegiance to Kasson, so we have to be careful," Josh said. "Although, some who switched sides are just spies for the rebels," Chris said. "It's a lot to keep track of."
"This whole thing is a lot to keep track of," Caty moaned. "Is there anything else we need to know about?"
"Not that I can think of," Hay Lin said.
"There's something I can think of," Ellie admitted. All eyes turned to her and she said, "I've been having this dream…"
A/N: So what did you think? Like it? Love it? Hate it? I had fun writing this chapter and I'm pretty excited to get into the next chapter. I hope you guys like this installment. Review guys!
