Cheetara rose to meet the beast. "What did you do, Grune?" Cheetara roared at the enormous cat.

"That won't help," Grune said to Horus, who was frantically trying to puff air in through the purple lips of Lion-O's soul. "When that door to the portal got knocked loose, I was at least able to get my soul out to our dimension. Right now I've got my soul wrapped around the inside of Lion-O's throat. I want out. If you don't open that door all the way I'll finish crushing him to death."

"Let go." Cheetara commanded him.

"Open the door." Grune countered.

"Cheetara, you can't let that criminal out of here." Horus stood.

Grune jammed his elbow into the old owl's chest. Horus crumpled onto the floor unable to catch his breath.

"You don't get it," Grune rasped. "Now that the portal is closed - I'm separated from my soul. I've only got minutes left before my body starts to die in here. I can't get it open again. You need to open it. You better believe I'll take your King down with me if you even think about keeping me inside here."

Cheetara lunged up at Grune to bring him to the ground. The giant cat shoved her hard onto the floor, knocking the yellow staff from her hand. Grune picked up the cheetah by her arm and leg and threw her, slamming her head and back against a plastered brick wall. Cheetara fell onto the floor, reeling. Her eyes blurry, she looked over and saw Lion-O's throat and lips begin to swell as Grune's soul tightened his grip around Lion's neck.

"This isn't negotiable." Grune's eyes were wild. "You need to open that door now."

"We'll die first!" Horus stood and glared at the cat.

"Horus, this isn't the time for your grand stand!" Cheetara cried. "I won't let Lion-O die."

"I'll kill him. I swear it," Grune promised.

"All right, Grune!" Cheetara grabbed the yellow staff and pointed it toward the front door of the estate. Horus and Grune watched as the staff glowed in Cheetara's hands and emitted a seering white energy that burst into a gleaming yellow portal before them.

Horus accelerated and blocked the entrance to the portal. "I'm not letting him out."

"Neither am I," Cheetara said.

"Then what would you have us do?" Horus cried.

Cheetara steadied herself and stood behind Grune. "You can bring your soul back in here, but I'm not letting you out," she said.

Grune and Cheetara felt a burst of air rush through the portal from the empty room in the Prefect's Mansion. Cheetara watched Grune's eyes fill with life as his soul returned to him. She swung around to examine Lion-O's soul and saw Lion-O's color return, and the swelling in his lips and throat recede. Lion-O's eyes began to open, and his image faded away from the floor of the estate.

Grune knocked Horus aside from the portal and prepared to make his way through.

"No, you don't," Cheetara shouted. The younger cheetah had somehow drained her abilities, and Cheetara knew that she could not accelerate as a cleric could. She did not have the reflexes to use the yellow staff with any skill. But there was a part of her that she could always embrace, and that was always there, underneath, waiting.

Cheetara buried her claws into Grune's left leg and sank her teeth into his bones, crushing them. She tossed him backward into the Astral dimension and pounced on him. Grune bellowed, writhed, and stared at Cheetara with shock as she climbed on top of him, slinking on all fours, angling for his neck. Feeling the power rushing back to her muscles and joints, Cheetara snatched his knotted black beard between her claws and smashed Grune's head on the marble floor, knocking him unconscious. She reached for the yellow staff and seized it with her right hand. Feeling the hot energy from its magic surging through her, Cheetara aimed the staff at Grune's head.

"Stop, Cheetara!" Horus grabbed Cheetara's shoulders. "Enough! Enough, he's down."

"Move out of my way!" Cheetara roared, her face stained scarlet-red, radiant in the staff's light. "I know who this criminal is. I have the neha and I outrank you! It is my duty to protect us from low-class scum like him."

"And who will protect us from high-class scum like you?" Horus cried. Cheetara looked up at him seeing the fear in Horus' eyes.

"It is my destiny to impose order, Horus! When I rule...my reign will be... My reign. . ." Cheetara gripped the yellow staff tightly.

Cheetara spit Grune's blood from her mouth and inhaled deeply. She could feel another energy rushing through the staff. The energy was like a winter night's breeze from the great lake that divided the House of Lior from the Realm of Jagara. The energy was blue and cold as if coated with ice. Cheetara called to it, beckoning it to come forth. She shivered and felt her heart beating in her ears as four icy figures emerged from the haunting blue light.

"She knows us," one of the figures spoke. The voice was silky and deep, and Cheetara recognized it as her father's.

"She has failed. She is not ready." A second figure spoke. A lithe woman with yellow hair and brown spots stepped out of the blue light and stood before Cheetara.

"Chiana?" Cheetara asked.

"No, Cheetara. You've chosen to view us through the images of those close to you."

"She did not fail. She called to us for help. That shows wisdom on her part." The voice came from a young woman with wild red hair and kindly blue eyes. Claudia. Cheetara bit her lower lip. Does this mean you are dead? Cheetara thought.

"Do you know who I am, Cheetara?" The fourth figure knelt beside her. His orange and black striped fur was warm nestled against her back and shoulders. His face drew near hers, and his soft skin rested against her cheek.

"Yes," Cheetara whispered. "You are love. You are the power and peace that has always soothed me. You are ancient and kind. I'd recognize you anywhere. Ancient Spirits of Goodness, you've come to save me."

"No, Cheetara," the image of Chiana spoke to her. "When you are ready, you will come to save us. Now, give us back the Staff of Panthera."

Cheetara reached up to give the yellow staff to the image of her mother.

"Wait," one of the Spirits cried. "How will she learn to balance this power if we take it away now? We need her to struggle with it. To know it. Or she will be unable to use it in our time of need. She should make her mistakes now, rather than in our time of trial."

"Agreed." The other Spirits nodded.

The Ancient Spirits of Goodness hovered silently above Cheetara.

"I am willing to give you the staff," the image of Chiana said finally. "But you must recognize that you are conflicted about your role as cleric. You are not just a warrior. As Head Cleric, you must act as the Guardian of the Gateway. You must use your abilities to lead."

"But what does that mean?" Cheetara asked. "All these years, I've trained to protect the Crown. To be a warrior and to serve. And I'm good at that. Jaga and I, I guess when I accepted the neha, I didn't have time to understand what it would mean. I know Jaga was an advisor. A mentor. A ruler, I guess. I guess he used his magic to keep order. But I can't stand the idea of using power that way."

"Cheetara, in the Astral Plane, one often learns to face one's greatest fears, rather than one's desires," the Spirit said.

"Well, now I know for sure. We all know it now. I'm not the right person to bear the neha. And I definitely shouldn't have the staff. This staff just intensifies my abilities, and opens me to feelings I hate." Cheetara said. "I can serve as one of the King's warriors. But I should not rule as head cleric," Cheetara held the up the staff to return it to the spirit.

"Cheetara, perhaps it will help you to consider that there is a difference between ruling and leading," the Spirit said.

"In your disgust for the former, you must not fail to do the latter. You are quite . . . confident . . . in your speed and power as a warrior. But that isn't what is special about you. Your greatest strength is your wisdom. You have the wisdom to see the big picture, and to know what really matters. And it is that ability that will make you a great guardian, and that will help you to control the power of the spirit realm. As Head Cleric, you must grow to use your wisdom and magic to lead - as well as to serve others. You must find this balance for yourself. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Cheetara dropped her head, and drew her shoulders to her chin.

"No, you don't, but you will. For now, you will retain the staff. Meditate and decide if you will choose to keep it. And now, we ask that you use the staff to bind the traitor cat to this realm. And you must not speak of its origins or its potential to anyone. Can you do this?"

Cheetara straightened her back and nodded sharply.

"Very good," the image replied.

The staff flashed a warm golden light into Cheetara's face and forced her to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she stood facing Horus, who was patting her cheeks, trying to rouse her consciousness.

Cheetara looked down at Horus. "What happened?" she asked.

"You mounted that beast Grune, and got your little dress dirty." Horus scoffed.

"What did you see?" she looked at Horus wild-eyed.

"I saw you stand up, blank out and mumble to yourself, instead of tying up this large cat beside you!" Horus said.

Cheetara squinted at Grune, now a brown bleeding heap on the floor, and pointed the yellow staff at him.

"I said don't!" Horus cried.

"Don't worry, Horus," Cheetara said gently.

"This will not kill him. It will only bind him here so that neither he nor his soul can escape again."

Cheetara exhaled and directed a small energy burst at Grune hitting him in the chest.

She directed a second burst at his leg to heal it.

"It's done," Cheetara said to Horus.

"Then, come on! Let us get out of here!" Horus said.