ELEVEN
Martea lay on "her" bed, on her stomach, her feet at the headboard, hugging her pillow. It was almost morning, and she had not been able to get to sleep at all. She'd been feeling bad auras and the pain of others. She could swear it was of the other girls. Her chest hurt from the pain, her head spun from the dizziness, and her hand pulsed with the power of the heart. She didn't start to feel it this bad until a few hours ago. She felt like she was losing control over it. Was it something she did? Was it something she was suppose to do? Did it have anything to do with her?
She rolled over, her hair was stuck to the back of her neck from all of the sweat. And to top it off, she began getting bad vibes from her foster parents. She could sense something else with them. Like a form of magic or something. She sat up when the last shot of pain was over. Her pajamas were soaked through including her sheets. She looked at the clock. The numbers 5:07 shone green. She couldn't believe much pain was in their lives. They were almost as bad as hers.
She sensed something the tragedy, and sadness of Agnes first, then the rage and confusion of Gwen. The silent, unwillingness of Imera followed, and finally Carrol's pain and suffering had gotten to her. It all had something to do with the powers they were just given. For she had felt magic travel across the horizon from different places. She then felt a throbbing in her closed fist. Unwillingly, she had released the Heart of Candracar. It floated majestically over her hand.
She looked at its glowing orb center. She looked deep into it and she could see her room, but as a clearer and purer image. She became curious about this. She walked to the door and slowly opened it. She poked her head out into the living room, and looked down the hall. She was surprised to see Hay Lin moving about in the kitchen.
She crept down out of her room, and into the hallway. She slowly moved forward to get a little closer to Hay Lin. When Hay Lin turned her back, Martea held the heart out into the kitchen and looked through it, and was shocked by what she saw. She saw hay Lin alright, but as a much older Hay Lin. Was she some evil witch that befriended Irma, and expected her to give her the heart so she could steal it? Is that why Hay Lin and Eric were the only ones that were willing to take her? She knew it all along. All of a sudden the Heart emitted a bright and powerful light on Hay Lin.
"Ah!" Hay Lin shouted, turning around and shielding her eyes. The light faded and there stood the older Hay Lin. She was hunched slightly, her hair a shiny white, and her clothes were even older looking.
"Y-You.." Martea stuttered in fear.
"Martea let me explain," Hay Lin began, talking in an elderly voice.
"NO!" she shouted. "All you want is the Heart! That's why you let me go with Irma! So I'd get it, then you'd steal it from me! You made it so no one else would want me! You're heartless doing this to an Orphaned girl! Now that I'm in your care you can do whatever you want. But no you wont! Cause I'm more powerful then you!" For the first time, Martea felt her protective shell evaporate. She was no open and ready to take on anything.
"No, Martea that's not it!" Hay Lin protested. "You don't understand. I'm..." Before she could answer Martea had slipped a zap of Pink magic from her palm and it hit the old lady head on.
"You're not taking it from me!" She shouted, tears forming in her eyes. "Too much has been taken from me throughout my life. And this is the only thing that actually is mine. It understands me...It's my family." She felt the heart give her a large amount of power. Her eyes began to shine hot pink.
"Martea no!" Hay Lin shouted. "It's too much for you! Let me..." A light tornado of magic was swirling around her, and some shot out at Hay Lin and hit her. Grief was now filling her, along with loneliness.
"It's the only company I have," she said softly, her hair now riding the magical breeze.
"Martea, just listen to what I have to say," Hay Lin begged.
"And hear your lies?" she shouted. But she gave it a second thought. "What would you have to say."
"First let me say that I am not a witch," she said. "I am a former Guardian, as well as Irma." Martea's tenseness faded slightly.
"I let you go with Irma so you could except your destiny," she continued. "And I admit, I made it so that Eric an I were the only ones that wanted you."
"You selfish..!" another blast of magic shot her.
"AH!" she shouted. "Not for that reason! I know how lonely you are! I'm lonely too." Tears filled her eyes. "I was never able to have kids of my own." Martea started to become sympathetic, but kept her guard up.
"And for some reason we were never able to adopt either. So I used what magic I had left to make myself and Eric look younger," she continued. "So we'd be able to foster you. So I could be able to know what it's like to be a mother." Martea didn't do anything. She just let the magic continue to spin around her.
"Please understand," Hay Lin said, sobbing. Martea began feeling selfish. How could she think all those things? Maybe because she's never been able to trust anyone for a very, very long time. She began to cry, and scared of what she almost would have done. She looked at the helpless old lady laying on the floor. She looked so innocent, so kind, so caring. If only Martea would let her in. That's another reason why she kept moving along. She never let anyone else in enough to know and care about her.
"I..I'm sorry," she said finally. "I'm the one who has been selfish." She became calm, and tried releasing the magic. Hay Lin smiled, and looked grateful, and happy. But it wouldn't disperse.
"Hay Lin," she said worried.
"Yes?" she asked getting to her feet.
"It wont stop!" she panicked. "I can't get rid of it." Hay Lin became worried.
"You called upon too much magic," she said. "You weren't ready yet."
"How do I get rid of it!" she shouted, becoming scared. "I'm losing control! If I let it just go something bad is going to happen." Martea was losing her grip on and connection with the Heart.
"Hay Lin!" she shouted as a blast of hot pink magic shot frying all electronics, and causing things to spark. Martea found herself on the floor next to an unconscious younger Hay Lin. Martea's heart began to pound harder and she crawled over to her in the dark.
"Hay Lin?" she said, shaking her shoulder. There was no response. She quickly went over to the phone and lifted it off the receiver. There was no dial tone.
"Please work!" she begged.
"Dang sister! You really did it now!" she heard someone say with an attitude. into her ear. She pulled the phone away form her ear and looked around.
"Who's there?" she asked.
"Me! The Phone!" said the man. She looked down at it.
"You nearly fried all our circuits!" he shouted.
"Just get me the hospital or something!" she demanded. "Hay Lin's hurt!"
"No kidding," he said.
"NO!" she shouted.
"OK." There was the sound of dialing and then ringing.
"Hello 911, what your emergency?" asked a lady on the other end.
"There's been an accident," Martea said, tears filling her eyes, and she began choking on sobs.