Alrighty, well I'm finally typing again. I'm sorry for the long wait, but I'm sure that this two story update is a piece of good news. Yes, I am finally continuing What the Future Holds, and of course, bringing the next chap of my Harry Potter crossover, Princess of Darkness(coming within the next couple of days because I had to start all over with it)along with this one, so I'm all typed out for the moment. Here's the next chap then.
Chapter 8: Magic Practice
Rachel's POV
"This isn't real Ona! You probably had a squirt gun in your hand or something. I also probably had too much punch-"
"Yeah right! Too much punch my butt! You turned into a magical being in case you don't remember, Eva!"
"I have to back Eva up on this one. This is all too weird and it goes against all the rules of physics-"
"Oh, could you stop being smart for just once Wei? You have at least sort of faced the fact. I guess Miss Princess over here needs some more convincing."
"Oh shove it. I really don't have time for this. Help me Phoebe."
"What for? You know what I'm going to say."
"Arrgh! Rachel?"
Rachel snapped her head back into focus. Phoebe, Ona, Wei, and Eva were all staring at her now as Rachel blinked with confusion. Phoebe looked anxious and Wei looked torn between what both Eva and Ona were saying, between what she knew to be true and of what she saw just last night. Eva and Ona, however, were looking seriously annoyed.
"Well? Do I have to ask your opinion on this, or are you gonna side with Ona?" Eva asked with force.
Rachel felt bewildered. She had been secretly enjoying playing with little gusts of wind with her fingertips. Ever since she figured out that she was the air Guardian, she had been playing with the wind every chance she got. Now that she had been distracted from the conversation, she felt very lost at what in the world everyone was talking about.
"Uh, run it by me again." Rachel asked with embarrassment. Eva groaned.
"What will get your head down from the clouds, Rachel?" she asked with a little amusement. Rachel gave a small grin.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe a little wind!" she giggled back.
Rachel laid her hand flat in the air in front of her and blew gently. A sudden draft of visible wisps of air raced forward and soared past Eva, who spun to the side and fell to the ground. Her mouth open, she gasped at the circle of air that was now surrounding them and weaving in and out of the girls with a sense of freedom.
"Ha!" Ona yelled in triumph as she stuck her tongue out at Eva. Phoebe smiled at Rachel and she returned a grin, giddy with delight.
This whole magic thing isn't as horrible as Wei and Eva are trying to make it seem, Rachel thought. I feel so light with this power, as if I could run miles and soar through the clouds without worries, and nobody could ever catch up with me!
Rachel sighed and looked at her friends. We have all been brought into this for a reason. What that reason was, she still had no idea since nobody but Phoebe was here to clue them in, but she was sure that there was a good one.
It was still kind of weird to think of all the adventures the girls had during the past few days. They returned from the Mirror Mystery and battle with the Guardians of the Veil in Heatherfield against Phobos with some more weird things going on. Just when the girls started thinking things would actually go back to being normal, Phoebe had to drop a bombshell on us, Rachel remembered. Standing in the midnight breeze of Christmas morning, still in their party clothes, Phoebe had explained everything and connected all the puzzle pieces. She surprisingly brought out the Heart of Candracar and the five girls turned into the new Guardians!
"Eva, Wei, you know we can't force you to believe, but you've got to try to understand." Phoebe said gently. Her eyes were so pleading that Rachel felt some sympathy and turned to look at Eva and Wei. Wei was clicking her tongue and doing some serious thinking while Eva was staring coolly at Phoebe without moving at all. After what seemed like several minutes, Wei nodded her head slowly and Eva rolled her eyes with a groan.
"Okay, fine, whatever. I'll go along with it. Happy?"
"Of cooouurse I am!" Ona exclaimed as she grabbed a surprised Eva by the shoulder. "I was actually right!"
"Oh goodness! We need a parade, a medal, a ceremony in Ona's name!" said Phoebe sarcastically, her eyes twinkling.
"Oh, you're just jealous!" Ona replied with a smirk. Her blue eyes became wide and sparkled with delight as Rachel could tell that Ona's star dreams were carrying her away from the conversation that was starting.
That's Onalia for you, Rachel giggled to herself, always wanting to be the center of attention.
"Remind me again what we were wanting to do in the backyard of this abandoned house if all we were gonna do was talk?" Eva asked suddenly.
"Eva's right. We came here to practice magic so let's see what we can do!"
Phoebe closed her eyes and her hands clenched into a fist. Her hair started to flow behind her and she opened her hand. A pink light erupted out of her palm and the Heart of Candracar appeared.
"Guardians unite!" she cried.
The girls' teardrops flew to each of them and started spinning around them in a magical transformation. Rachel smiled and her arms went instinctively above her head as she was encased in a tornado of silver magic. She could feel her muscles strengthening, a purple skirt fall around her knees and a turquoise top cross around her neck, her curly, red hair straightening and being pulled into a ponytail.
When Rachel looked up, she saw that her other friends had transformed as well. Elegant Eva was standing tall and firmly in her Guardian outfit of a long, turquoise skirt, off the shoulder purple top, and the slender boots that hugged her calves. Ona and Phoebe were admiring their appearance of their own Guardian outfits, a purple skirt and turquoise top with short boots and turquoise, baggy pants with a purple top with fabric from it hanging off Phoebe's shoulders, while Wei whistled in her turquoise mini-skirt and purple top.
"Why do I have the feeling that we're getting into something bad? I think we're way in over our heads. You saw those monsters at the bookstore!" Wei exclaimed.
Eva sighed worriedly and Phoebe shifted and bit her lip.
"Yes, we did." said Phoebe quietly. Rachel could tell that the guilt of locking all those monsters inside their world by closing the mirror in Heatherfield was still fresh for her.
"But, but imagine what those things would do to our city if we don't defend this place." She continued. "Would you like to go through life, knowing that you had the power to prevent something bad happening, but you just stood there and watched it all happen because you were too scared, or too angry, or too stubborn to even take the chance to try?"
Ooh, she's got a point there, Rachel told herself. I hope Eva and Wei can see it too.
Eva stretched her arms ahead of her and actually smiled.
"So, let's get started saving the universe then? Ona will need lots of practice time."
"Me! You couldn't even control your "plant-growing" sneezes!" Ona yelled in outrage.
Rachel sighed. Their arguing seemed destined never to end.
Rachel walked away from the group with Wei following her as Phoebe saw them leaving and gave up on the hopeless case of getting Eva and Ona to stop arguing and walked with them. They stood in the overgrown grass and looked around in their practice ground.
"You know, if they sent someone to tidy this place up a bit, it actually wouldn't be a bad place to live." Phoebe said. Rachel nodded and looked around the backyard they were standing in. It was very large, there was a small pond in the middle with a bridge going over it and there was a tire-swing hanging from an old willow tree. Toys and pieces of furniture were scattered in the dirt and grass, Rachel thought them as perfect practice objects.
"Yeah, but the rumor is that this place is haunted," Wei told them as she looked back at the house. "I've heard that there were ghosts here or something. They say that one December night, around seven years ago, a woman passing by heard a baby crying in this house. An old woman used to live here, completely off her rockers and didn't do anything but watch her garden and listen to music all day, and when the young woman came inside to find the baby, she also saw the old woman dead in front of the backyard door. A faint blue light was supposedly surrounding the beautiful garden in her backyard as the woman stepped outside where the baby was still crying. But when she picked the infant up, it disappeared. It's rumored that as she was leaving with the baby; a ghostly tune came from inside the house and caused her to run away without looking back. The song is said to play for the week of Christmas or something."
"Tri la la lu la."
Wei jumped and Ona came up behind her, laughing.
"Since when have you believed in ghost stories, Wei? You were the last person I expected to come up with a tale like that." Eva said with a smirk. Wei shrugged and folded her arms.
"I never said I believed it. I was just telling the story behind the house. If you wanted its architectural history instead, you only needed to ask."
"Uh, no thanks." Phoebe answered. "I'd rather battle Phobos again."
Rachel gulped. She certainly wouldn't want to battle him again. Give me a boring lecture from Wei that I can tune out over getting crisped by Phobos anytime, she thought with a shudder.
Rachel closed her eyes and could feel her power trembling through her. She released her magic on the toys by her feet and started juggling them with the air to a few claps from Eva.
"Nice trick, now let's see what I can do." She said with a smile.
Eva walked over to the willow and put her glowing, green hands to the ground. The tree seemed to come alive and started waving its branches in a smooth dance to the wind.
"Stop it! You do remember that we're still in a backyard with houses nearby!" Phoebe yelled. Eva dropped her hands and the tree instantly swung back to the stillness it had started out as.
"Okay, I'm thinking of some target practice. Ona said. She raised her hand and water from the pond rose up in the air. Ona shot it toward the middle of the tire swing and missed it going through by inches.
"Darn it." She breathed.
"Let me try." Wei said as Ona moved aside grumpily. Wei aimed a fireball and it went smoothly through the hole of the tire and landed in the dry grass.
"Watch it!" Eva cried as she ran away from the fire and Ona directed some water to put it out.
"I think we ought to be a little more careful." Rachel said with Phoebe nodding.
"Alright, I got it." Wei said as she looked at her feet guiltily.
Ona and Wei went on a little battle against each other and Rachel sat down for a breather.
Whew! Who knew that I could have magical powers in the first place, Rachel asked herself with a relaxed sigh. That is we, we all have powers together. We're supposed to be a team, five powerful girls who save the city and possibly the world! Yep, I could sure get used to the idea.
A sharp intake of breath came from Rachel as she glanced over at Eva standing a little away from the group staring coldly the other three still practicing. Ona and Wei seemed to have given up on fighting each other and were now attacking Phoebe.
"Hey! You two can't team up against me!" Phoebe yelled at them as she started taking small steps backward. Ona gave a satisfied smirk.
"So, let's see if our little Phoebe here can dodge the power of water and fire."
Ona threw a water ball at Phoebe at the same time that Wei did a fireball. Phoebe yelped and flung her arms in front of her. A pink force field erupted from her hands and shielded her from the attacks. Rachel looked back at Ona and was confused that she was actually grinning.
"We had to get your powers out of the dark somehow." Ona said dismissively. "After all, you are our leader now."
"Le-leader?" Phoebe said. Her eyes quickly went from happy and laughing to cold and scared.
Uh oh, Rachel thought. I guess it's all fully sinking into her now. Rachel could somehow feel how Phoebe felt. Phoebe was the newest one of the bunch, not the comedian, the popular gymnast, the science fair winner, or the carefree, star track runner. She was the shy and sweet girl that Rachel had first met a year ago, but she was still a brave and caring person and could lead the group, though Rachel knew that Phoebe herself, and some other people didn't think that she could be leadership material.
"Come on Phoebe." Rachel said reassuringly. "Don't be all scared about it. You have been great so far. Remember the mirror? Discovering your ancestor's past, and your future and then helping us and the Guardians defeat Phobos?"
"And letting his main lizard henchman loose on our streets," Phoebe responded with a pain-stricken face.
Rachel chose to ignore her comment and shook her head.
"Yeah, well even Will had a hard time with it at the beginning." Rachel continued and looked at Eva, standing with her arms still folded and staring at the two of them coolly. "She didn't seem like the perfect choice for a leader, but everything always worked out, am I right Ona?"
"Perfectly," Ona told her with a nod. "It's not like you're alone on this, Phoebe, so put your game face back on. The difference between you and Will is that we've known you longer and can trust you, and you trust us. Right Wei, right Eva?"
"Definitely." Wei said with a wink.
"Yeah." Eva responded. Her gaze went far off and she didn't look at anyone as the seconds passed by. Seriously, what was her deal?
Phoebe shrugged with a small smile that she tried, unsuccessfully, to hide.
"Let's just change back and head over for an ice cream cone before dinner or something. I think we've done enough for today."
Phoebe brought out the Heart of Candracar from her hand and stared at it, speaking to it, Rachel guessed. Rachel started to feel some of her brilliant energy and power being released back into the Heart and her own shorts, sneakers, and baseball hat returning to her normal, skinny teen body.
The other girls let out a breath of sadness as they took in their old appearances.
"You know, after being in Guardian form, it's kind of a drag not being able to have a beautifully form-fitting outfit in real life." Eva said with some disappointment showing. Rachel sighed.
Normal life all over again.
Hmm, I actually don't think that we girls will ever have a normal life ever again.
Phoebe was the last to sigh and pushed her hair out of her eyes with a really serious face for once.
"Okay, I guess you guys are right. I'd like to think that it will be easier for us to go through this because of all that we know from the W.i.t.c.h. universe, but I have the feeling that things are going to be very different."
"Yeah, we need to study, practice, and plan out what we need to do next." Wei said.
"And keep our eyes wide open." Phoebe added.
As if right on cue, Phoebe tripped and fell face forward into the grass.
"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" Rachel cried as she raced forward to help her. Ona and Wei started howling with laughter and Ona fell to the ground as Wei held her stomach with tears coming out of her eyes. Rachel looked back at them and gave a warning glance as Phoebe tried to sit up and laugh it off.
"Yeah, I think I need to practice on my coordination skills though. I always seem to fall down." She told them with a laugh of embarrassment.
"Yeah, you do!" Ona half-screamed. "You should have seen your face! You are talking, and walking, and then-splat. That was hilarious!"
"Oh ha ha. Very amusing." Phoebe responded with a roll of her eyes. "I guess I know who's paying for their own cone now."
Ona's eyes came together quickly with a pleading expression.
"But, but I used all my money for lunch! How am I supposed to-"
"Shhh!" Phoebe suddenly whispered harshly. She was still on the ground, but turned on all fours and stared at the bushes a few feet in front of her.
"Did you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" Wei asked.
"Something, someone in the bushes just said something." Phoebe told her without lifting her gaze. Rachel and Ona looked at each other before kneeling down beside Phoebe and staring inquiringly at the bushes.
"Maybe we ought to take a look." Ona said as she moved forward. A sudden shifting in the bushes took her by surprise and she leaped backward with fear.
"Uh oh, I think it's coming out Phoebe!" she cried.
The bush rattled some more, and then a squirrel climbed out, sniffed the air, and darted up the nearby willow tree.
"See? There's what you guys are all crowded around the bushes being scared at," Eva told them with a sniff and small laugh. "A tiny, defenseless animal."
"Yeah, well just be quiet Eva." Ona sneered as she got up. Rachel stayed beside Phoebe who was still staring intently into the small, green leaves.
"I could swear I heard a voice." She whispered. Rachel nodded and then she looked in the direction her friend was looking in. A sudden thought took over her mind and she stood up.
They are only the voices of the wind…
"Come on, Phoebe. Let's get out of here." Rachel said at last, walking to join the other three girls already starting up toward the house. Phoebe shook her head and blinked her eyes and then ran to catch up. The five girls were in the middle of the garden that the old woman had planted. Beautiful flowers that lived as vibrantly as if her soul was still giving them the tender, loving care they needed and having the will to live and shine more brightly for the next new day.
Whispers of love, emotion, and life…
Eva opened the door and Wei hurried through it.
It's all in your head…
Ona looked back at Phoebe, as if daring to ask her if she really wasn't going to buy her ice cream and she, too, disappeared behind the screen door inside the house.
"I must have been hearing things." Phoebe told her. "It was probably just the wind."
You aren't alone anymore…
Rachel took one last glance at the old Willow waving in the evening breeze.
Have trust in your friends and in your power…
"Yes," she whispered reluctantly as the screen door shut and she started to follow Phoebe out the front door.
"It was only the wind."
Yay! I have been waiting SO long to finally publish this chapter, and I'm sorry that I haven't been able to. I am fully back with writing because I suffered so much with my home life and not being able to write. I'm a lot happier now that I get to type again! Well send a review please! Happy 4th of July!
Onalia: Woohoo! Celebrate our Independence Day!
Eva: Although, based on the next couple of chapters, our freedom is far off.
Rachel: Oh, don't drag everybody down, Eva! Though, our every move is being watched by unlikely characters…
Phoebe: Right, and I find out that an old enemy is on our tail
Wei: And an old friend has a secret identity
Onalia: Oh! I know! It's-
Everybody: Shut up Ona!
Onalia: Okay, he he. I guess you have to wait until the next chapter then. Adios!