Disclaimer: D.J.I.N.N. and other original characters are my own property while the aged (but still kicking) W.I.T.C.H. crew are the property of Disney.

BELANTHA: So I'm PROPERTY, am I?

Uh, only in a legal sense, Bel... is that a new dagger? It's very... sharp...

W.I.T.C.H.: AGED?

Oh, for crying out...

Author's Note: Thanks to all the TomTom's Playground forum members who thought up Truths and Dares for this chapter. Look for their credits at the end of the chapter, they deserve it. And I really apologize for the TWO YEAR hiatus. There were a lot of reasons for the wait but it's still ridiculous to keep you waiting this long.

Chapter Eleven: Ice Cream Headaches

The movie was over, the hero got the girl and the city was safe... but not safe enough that there wouldn't be a sequel, of course. Dee mused that it seemed a lot smoother in the movies in real life, though she thought she could take the film's villain in her Guardian form. Heck, maybe even without it; after the harsh reality of the Spider Ho it was hard to be impressed by a guy in a suit powered by computer-generated effects.

"That was pretty good," Will said as she stretched her arms. "Vance Michael Justin's always been huge even when I was your age, though he doesn't really rock the tights like he used to."

"Since I'm going to be your kid," Dee said, "I guess I should be grossed out that you said that, right?" Will rolled her eyes and chucked a pillow at her grinning ward.

"The chicken's almost ready," Susan said from the kitchen. "Time to start washing hands. Beatrice, go get your father, please. He'll starve if we don't remind him it's dinner time."

Bee left to retrieve Dean as Will began thumbing through the CD rack next to Carlos. "Have you met Carlos yet?" she asked Dee, who nodded. "Let's see if he can play us some dinner music."

"I always have a song for you, mi Corazón," Carlos crooned, causing Dee to laugh.

Will raised her eyebrows curiously. "Let me guess: Carlos was putting the moves on me?"

"Yeah, he..." Dee frowned. "Wait, didn't you hear him?"

Will said nothing for a second as she stared at the picture of the five Guardians dancing across a stage. When she spoke her voice was almost halting. "I... I can't hear them anymore. Not since we quit." Will shook her head. "We'll talk about it later, it's not important. Here, why don't you pick one? I need to wash up myself." Will gave her a fabricated smile that all but screamed to Dee that it was something important before she left the living room.

Dee stood staring after her as she wondered if she had done something wrong. The nasty little voice in her head instantly accused her of doing so, but Dee didn't think she did anything to make Will sad. Regardless, she was determined to try and right any possible error. "Carlos, do you know what Will's favorite song is?"

"Hmmmmm..." Carlos' LCD display flickered as the CD player searched his memory. "There is one disk she ran all the time, and I mean all the time." The CD player seemed reluctant to recommend the CD."But what the lady wants... it's the third from the left, top row."

Dee found the case and was a little surprised that Will's favorite CD was something other than one of those boy-filled bands that were all the rage in the old days. The slip of paper in the front of the case had "W55" on the front and nothing on the back. After opening the case with some difficulty-compact discs had been out of production for several years, after all-she saw the disc had "W55 - Demo" written on it. Dee had no idea what could be on it, but she shrugged and thanked Carlos for opening his CD tray for her since she had no idea where it was located. "Gracias, Carlos."

"Anything for my ladies," Carlos said as the first track began to play.

The quality of the W55 disc was pretty good considering it was probably created in some old clunker of a computer and Dee found herself nodding her head in time to the rock instrumental that started the song off. When the boy's voice kicked in after a few moments Dee was instantly impressed with young vocalist; he sounded like he was Dee's age, but there was nothing amateurish about his performance as he spoke about the struggle with an internal enemy.

"Didn't know why I couldn't fly
Didn't want to be stuck on the ground
I wanted to soar across the sky
But something was holding me down

What had me cower in fear?
What was it I couldn't see?
The answer near, but so unclear
I was fighting the demon in me"

And something about the lyrics plucked at Dee's soul like the strings on a guitar. A dark voice inside that created fear and kept someone from being happy... Dee couldn't even look at Carlos until the singer spoke of defeating his demon and "laid claim to my space." She was smiling at the end when Bee came to get her.

"That sounds familiar..." Bee said. "It's really good, even for such an old format. We're, ah, we're all ready in here."

"Oh!" Dee winced. "Sorry. I got caught up in the song. Who is this W55 guy, anyway?"

"I'm afraid I don't know," Bee replied, looking a little miffed that she lacked the fairly trivial information. "It just sounds really familiar... I'll bet Billie knows, we'll ask her after dinner."

"I don't know if I can eat anything after the Silver Dragon," Dee said to Bee when they entered the kitchen. As soon as she said the words the smell of roast chicken wafted through the air and caused Dee's stomach to growl. "Uhhh... well, maybe I have some room left."

Susan was setting the roast chicken down as they entered the dining room; Dee's eyes widened at the size of the cooked bird and she actually licked her lips at the sight of the main course. "That's... that looks really good."

"Saturday night is family night," Will explained, "So we go a little farther than usual. Most of the time it's leftovers or take-out."

"Or leftover take-out," Bee added. "We're all lazy when it comes to food preparation, which is a good thing for Billie as all her cooking is horrendous." Will took a swipe at Bee. "No need for violence! I was just warning her!"

"Behave, you two!" Susan said as Dean laughed. "We're at the dinner table, so use your manners. You're both role models to Dee now, it's time to grow up." Dee tried not to snicker at the looks on the two sisters' faces as they sat and mock-glared at each other. Dean was straightening his plate and silverware and trying not to notice the cat fight, Dee noticed, which made sense as most guys she had met were either turned on or-like Dean-uncomfortable with women fighting. It probably went double for Dean since they were his daughters and Susan was obviously the boss in this household.

Everyone started to fix their plates from the food in the middle of the table, somehow handing each other a bowl just as they finished getting their portion from it. Dee felt like a fifth wheel in the flurry of motion until Will handed her the plate she was preparing. "Oh... I was going to wait until everyone was done..."

"Moms have to make sure their kids eat first," Will said with a smile, secretly pleased to refer to herself as a mother. "It's a golden rule. Do you want some gravy on your potatoes?"

Dammit, Dee, don't start crying because she offers you gravy! Don't start bawling, you have to impress these people! "Um, sure, but I can get it," Dee replied. She managed to compose herself as she reached for the gravy, but it sucked that she was still that... fragile.

Her shaky emotions made her wish that she could transform into a Guardian again to feel the comforting power and she smiled at the image of her transformed self eating dinner with the Collins. Beating that spider was no trouble at all, Grandma Susan, though I'm sure Will could have taken it out quicker back in the day... oh, god, that chicken smells good... Will had given her a leg and Dee knew now that she really loved the woman.

Will tilted her head as if listening to something. "What's that in the... ohhhhh, my old Wreck 55 CD..." Will smiled dreamily while Susan just scrunched her face in disgust. "Good choice, Dee. They were a great band back when we were in middle school. I could probably sell that CD for big bucks!" Will laughed at the idea, but Dee got the feeling that she was only kidding about doing so. "You can have it if you like it, I have another CD player at my apartment"

"Thanks!" Dee said, not missing the exasperated look on Susan's face; it was may have been because Susan had endured listening to that song when Will was younger. The second song began with a more upbeat tune and more romantic overtones than the first.

"Then everything changes.
She's there. Life rearranges.
Winged angel from above…
Helped me find the Will… the Will to love…"

"Hey, it's got Billie's name in it!" Bee said. "After a fashion. Is there a story behind that, Billie?"

Will smirked. "Sort of. I'll tell you guys... someday."

"No fair!" Bee said, sounding more like an annoyed sister than a budding scientist. "I'll figure it out eventually!"

"Sure you will," Will taunted.

"Alright," Susan said. "Let's eat before the food gets cold."

The rest of the dinner passed casually as the Collins talked about their past week and what plans they had for the next seven days. Dee didn't join in this conversation since her prior week was not something she wanted to describe to anyone, though it was nice to hear about the Collins' lives. One topic that Dean and Bee seemed excited about was the Halloween carnival that was being held at Sheffield Institute the coming Friday and Will quickly joined in with her own enthusiasm. "I love the carnivals! I haven't even thought about what I'd be this year."

"Your mother and I are going as Antony and Cleopatra," Dean said. "I'll be Antony, of course, the costume would fit better on me than your mother." Susan smiled and rolled her eyes.

"I think you'd be a good Cleopatra, Dean!" Dee said jokingly, then looked horrified. "I mean...!"

But everyone was laughing at the suggestion. "I told you she was great!" Will said as the Collins regained control of themselves. "Oh, man... Dean, you have to do that! Oh, man... well, we'll go by the costume store tomorrow at the mall."

"I think I'm going to be a zombie," Bee said. "I've actually been working out the theory of reanimating human flesh with electric current and I think..."

"No talking about your experiments at the dinner table, sweetie," Susan reminded her youngest. "We've been over this before."

Bee looked sheepish at the slip. "Sorry, Mom. What about you, Dee? What do you want to go as?"

Dee grimaced at yet another simple thing she had never done before; even when she had had the opportunity she had not participated on the grounds that dressing up as something else was akin to changing herself to suit others-which really made her wonder about the whole Guardian transformation deal now that she thought about it. "Uhhhhhhh... I don't know..."

"What's your favorite thing?" Will asked. "That's always a good bet for a costume. I don't how many years I went as some kind of frog." Will remembered her personal favorite was the one where she wore a swim-suit over the frog costume, combining her two favorite things. She also remembered Irma stripping off the top of her bikini at the carnival; even worse, Will had actually covered herself in embarrassment despite the frog suit. Her parental guilt over Dee's biting of Irma lessened a great deal as she thought of Irma's many pranks. Sweet justice...

"Seven," Bee answered Will's rhetorical question about her frog costumes. "Though technically you were a toad last year." Will looked at her younger sister like she was already a zombie. "I did the photo albums, remember? I also noticed a two inch increase in your waistline..." Even Susan didn't object when Will threw a pea at Beatrice and nailed her in the forehead. "Ahem... just go as what you like most, Dee."

It became apparent to Dee that the Collins were waiting for her answer. "Well... I... I kind of have a thing about... pirates. Old movies about them were always my favorites at the orphanage."

Before anyone could ask about Dee's pirate thing the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Will said, mouthing "pirates?" and grinning at Dee.

(Hey, Dee!) Dee stiffened when she heard Ingrid's voice in her mind. (Guess where I'm at?)

(Front door?)

(Ooh, you are smart! See you in a sec!)

Sure enough, Will saw Ingrid through the peephole on the front door and opened it. "Hey, Ingrid. Come to steal Dee away?"

"You bet, Aunt Dubya! And I'll carry her if I have to!" Ingrid looked past Will into the dining room. "You! Come quietly and I won't be forced to dance for you! I'm a really terrible dancer, you don't want to see me break it down!"

Dee rolled her eyes as the Collins chuckled at Ingrid's dire threat. "Fine, just let me clean my plate off."

"I'll get it for you, Dee," Bee said. "I can use your chicken bone's ligaments for the calcium deposits."

"Um... sure." Dee got up and also thanked Dean and Susan for the dinner.

"No problem, sweetie," Susan said as she gave Dee a hug. "Now, go have fun with your friends. We'll see you tomorrow." Dee awkwardly returned the hug and nearly laughed when she noticed that Susan smelled a lot like Will; how weird was Dee that she noticed that?

Will herself was happy to see her mother and new daughter connecting, but was also a little amused that Dee looked more like Susan's third daughter than her grandchild. Ingrid was giving Dee two enthusiastic thumbs up, like she'd made a winning touchdown; Will thought that Ingrid often bore a great resemblance to Irma and the two perpetual jokers would have easily been mistaken for parent and child by Will if she hadn't had the... honor of being present at Ingrid's birth.

She would be there for Cornelia's birth with the twins if her friend needed her... but only if Cornelia needed her. Badly. Life or death sort of need. As far as Will was concerned, Caleb had made this bed and he could be hit on the head with it. It wasn't the best use of the metaphor, but... oh, wait, yes it was.

"Do you want to come, too, Bee?" Ingrid asked Beatrice. "I've got licorice twists!"

"Thanks, Ingrid," Beatrice replied with regret, apparently enticed by the promise of corded confections. "But with Dee's plate I've now got the same amount of calcium as the human body." Bee's bespectacled eyes lit up in a somewhat eerie light. "With all the biological materials in my mini-fridge, it's like I have a whole human being in my room!"

There was a groan from somewhere in Susan's vicinity. Ingrid stared at Beatrice for a second, then gave a cheery "Okay!" while secretly telling Dee, (Your aunt's a mad scientist, by the way. Thought you should know.)

(Uh... thanks. No one's perfect.) Ingrid walked over to Carlos and listened to the music for a few seconds, then grinned widely as if she recognized the song being played. Dee said her goodbyes to the Collins and joined Will and Ingrid at the door. "If you need me in case, y'know..." she said to Will. A giant spider attacks the house or something...

"Relax," Will said. "I'll be okay. Elyon did some magical work on this house before her parents sold it to mine. Anything that tries to break into it will get the shock of their life." Will embraced Dee and the girl returned the hug with a fervor born of impending separation. "Would you stop worrying? Don't make Ingrid have to carry you off!"

"Okay! Okay! I'm going." Dee stepped outside with Ingrid and started toward the sidewalk. She looked back as Will closed the door and caught her parent's smile as it closed.

"Don't worry, boss!" Ingrid said. "We'll come running if there's trouble. I don't think Spidey will want to tangle with you for a while, anyway."

"Probably not," Dee agreed, "especially since I sent her to hell."

Dee had to admit, it felt good to make Ingrid's eyes bulge in surprise.

/-\D/-\

Moments later the two Guardians were at Ingrid's front door as she went through the security clearances again. "Mom has a lot of crazed fans," Ingrid explained at Dee's curious expression. "It's never been a problem, really, but we don't take any chances."

"No one's getting in on my watch!" the security system-Bert-said.

"Thanks, Bert," Dee said.

"You're welcome, young lady. Be sure to reset the lock, Miss Hale."

Ingrid rolled her eyes. "Have I ever not reset the lock?"

"Once, on the seventeenth of July of last year at three-forty-three in the afternoon. I paged the security company to come by..."

"And I got a lecture from Mom and Aunt Will, yeah, I remember."Ingrid finished the security measures with a sigh. "Man, now my house is on my case. There's always a catch." Ingrid opened the door for Dee and-after a few moments of "You go first!" and "It's your house!"-they entered shoulder-to-shoulder with the smaller Dee squeezing by the larger girl.

They were walking by the living room when Ingrid suggested that Dee meet Cornelia's parents-suggested by yanking Dee's arm as she dragged the Keeper to the living room before Dee could answer. Ingrid's mother was talking with her recently arrived father, Harold, a distinguished looking man with a trim mustache and slicked back graying blonde hair; Harold looked like Dean's sophisticated city cousin to Dee. "This is Dee, Grandma and Grandpa. She's totally got Aunt Will under her finger!" Dee winced at Ingrid's playful jab as it sounded like she was manipulative though the Earth Guardian took the edge off the comment with her good nature.

"Really?" Harold said in a voice heavy with old money; he actually sounded like one of those rich people on TV, Dee thought. "Well, you certainly picked an excellent young lady, Diana. Will has taken excellent care of Ingrid over the years."

"Don't mention that, Pops," Ingrid said with a grin. "Dee's the jealous type!"

Dee rolled her eyes. "Thank you, sir. I really like Will and I'll try not to give her any trouble." It wasn't too hard to be polite if other people were nice, Dee was finding out. She was worried what would happen when she ran into the inevitable jerk that was always around, though. In Dee's experience there was always someone who wanted to start something and Dee, in her experience, was always happy to reciprocate.

Elizabeth laughed raucously. "I don't think you could possibly cause more trouble than Ingrid! Not that she's a bad child, but she honestly can't help it." Dee noted that Elizabeth didn't have the "rich" accent, meaning she probably married into that world.

"WHAT!" Ingrid said, waving her arms wildly. "I have no idea what you're talking about! Name one time... ugh, never mind." Ingrid was aware there were many times she had accidentally caused a commotion... or broken something... or traumatized someone. Accidentally. "We'll be in my room if you need us. Need to have serious bonding with our new group, so no one over fourteen allowed except Napoleon."

"Okay, sweetie," Cornelia said, winking discreetly at the new Guardians. "You guys have fun... and be careful."

"We will!" Ingrid said as she took off for her room. Dee stood staring at the Hales for a second before running after Ingrid.

"She seems like a nice girl," Harold said as he poured his daughter some tea. "A little overwhelmed, understandably, what with the poor thing having to deal with our granddaughter. Hale women are quite formidable." Cornelia chuckled as she thought of her younger sister, not even factoring herself into the equation.

"I found that out as soon as I met your mother," Elizabeth told her husband and soon all three Hales were laughing.

/-\D/-\

"Slow down, Ingrid!" Dee said at she ascended a circular staircase in pursuit of the Earth Guardian. Ingrid had shot up the staircase like a monkey on a tree while Dee plodded along behind her; how someone that tall could move that quickly seemed unreal.

"We're almost there!" Ingrid encouraged as she cleared the stairs, Dee several steps behind her. They ran down a short hall to large door with a sign that read, "Ingrid's Room, Watch for Larveks!" Ingrid threw open the door and slid into the room, causing Napoleon to jump out of the way with a disgruntled hiss and startling the other Guardians. "Sorry, Napo-po. I'm back! And I've brought the guest of honor! Take a bow, Dee!"

Dee leaned against the door frame and gasped for air, the Heart of Candracar dropping to her knees. "Only if I can catch my breath while I'm doing it. I haven't been in gym class in over a year."

"We'll work on that," Ingrid promised. "But first... take off your clothes!"

Dee lost her grip on the door and nearly fell . "What?" What exactly had Dee signed herself on for?

"Ha! Don't worry! We're not nudists, it's just a slumber party! I got some pajamas for you right here." Ingrid held up some sleepwear that was designed to look like the black and white skin of a dairy cow... complete with a pair of udders painted on the stomach. The other girls were wearing more respectable sleepwear, none of which were patterned after farm animals-or their mammaries. "I'm not trying to be funny or anything, this is the only clean pair I have left. Didn't do the laundry..."

"She rarely does," Nola affirmed smartly as she wrote in a small book.

"Ahem... true, true. And it's too small for me, anyway... you can have it if you like, Auntie Hay made it for me for... for some reason, if she even had a reason at all. If you don't like it, I'm sure I can find something else."

Dee probably could have asked Ingrid for another pair, but she didn't want to abuse her hospitality. Besides, Dee had a comedic side to her as well and if the others got a laugh out of it she could deal with the udders. "No, it'll do. Just no milk jokes, please."

"Got it. Though I will make jokes, I can't help it."

"She really can't," Nola said as she kept writing.

"Sheesh! Nollie's really on my case tonight!" As Dee changed into her pajamas Ingrid crossed the room to where her supposedly dear friend was sitting and peered over her shoulder at the book. "Writing in your 'princess diary,' your Highness-ness? 'Dear Diary, Ingrid's incredible looks once again have me doubting my sexuality, whatever shall I do?'"

Nola rolled her eyes and closed the book. "For your information, I was devising strategies for us to use in combat situations. I estimate that we could have finished our battle with the bandits much sooner had we co-operated and combined our powers. Do you agree, Keeper?"

It wasn't until Nola looked her in the eye that Dee remembered she was the Keeper. "Um... I think we did really well, but yeah, we were each kind of doing our own thing earlier. The, uhm... Mrs. Lin's hologram thing showed Guardians working together a lot..." It sounded like a very leader-esque thing to say to Dee... it didn't help, however, that she had put the dairy cow pajamas on with-oh, joy!-Hay Lin's rainbow-colored socks. The fact the girls weren't giving her all kinds of hell for looking so ridiculous spoke volumes for them.

"Like Water and Air making ice!" Ingrid provided as an example of Guardian teamwork. "Or Fire and Earth to make lava! Or Air and Fire to make... really hot air, no, firestorms! Aunt Will told me that one time she and Mom made a giant out of stone to protect a village from raiders and it decided to live there after the battle was over! That was one of my favorite Guardian stories because it was just Will and Mom on their own..."

"There are few subjects that pique Ingrid's interests," Nola said in a amused voice that was the definition of droll. "But anything to do with Guardians is a particular favorite."

"I'm a Guardian Groupie, that's for sure!" Ingrid affirmed. "Just look at my room!"

Dee did take a look at Ingrid's room. It was a large space that was almost as big as Will's apartment, the rectangular shape broken at one end by the turret that Dee had seen from the street; the area inside in the turret had a green half-circle sofa inside and Dee could imagine Ingrid relaxing in the sunlight the turret's large window let in. Jamila was currently sitting on the sofa and staring intently at the flaming finger tips of her right hand, trying to better control the intensity of the flames until they were blue-white from their extreme heat.

Dee quickly noticed that green and purple were the dominant colors in the room and probably what Ingrid had meant when she called herself a "Guardian Groupie." Her bed lay opposite the turret and also circular with purple pillows atop a green comforter; Nestis was laying on the bed and looking fairly tired, Dee guessed because of her hurricane impression in Meridian and upset stomach from a few hours before. The bed itself was big enough to accommodate two more of the girls but looked to be about the right size for the giant-sized Ingrid.

There was a large basket at the foot of the bed that obviously Napoleon's sleeping area... obvious because it had the cat's name spelled on it in large black letters. Napoleon climbed up on his basket and stretched his body before curling up on his purple cushion. He looked at Dee with an amused expression before closing his eyes. Dee was slightly creeped out by the knowing look the animal gave her but continued her observation of Ingrid's room.

The dresser where Nola was sitting was neither green or purple and fit in with the old-style house better than Ingrid's decorating taste. There was the usual girl stuff on it, makeup and lipstick and the like, but Dee was surprised to see a large knife in its sheathe hanging from a corner of the dresser's mirror. The strange squiggly lines on the sheathe reminded Dee of the writing she'd briefly seen at the outpost in Meridian.

One corner of the large living area was set up as a small in-home gym with a weight bench, the accompanying weights and a punching bag hanging from the rafters. The bag itself was custom-decorated so that the surface had two images on it, one side consisting of an attractive yet sinister-looking man with white hair and a matching goatee while the rest of the bag had the image of the creature from Hay Lin's painting done in horrific detail. From the weathered appearance of the punching bag it seemed like Ingrid had pounded on it a lot.

Besides the furniture there wasn't a spot in the room that didn't have something on it. One wall was nothing but shelves filled with things like old toys, exotic looking crystals and a collection of claws and teeth displayed lovingly like Ingrid ran her own "It Can Eat You" mini-museum. In addition to the knife there were several swords and a bow with arrows displayed out of reach on one of the higher shelves. A coat rack next to the shelves had a large brown coat on it that looked like nothing like what a teenage girl would usually wear, but with Ingrid it was impossible for Dee to tell what her idea of "usual" was.

"That's my armory," Ingrid said with a grin at the weapons. "My dad gave me most of them-they were made by godfather's dad, Aketon-but the really pretty one was given to me by my Aunt Ruby. Orube is her real name, she's kind of this... alien-cat-woman-sorta-samurai person who works for Candracar, like we do now. She subbed for Aunt Will for a while as Keeper and she married my god-daddy Aldarn... so, Aunt Ruby!"

"So do you..." Dee started to ask before Ingrid took Orube's sword off the shelf and removed the short broadsword from the sheathe with practiced ease. Dee backed up when Ingrid made several crisp strikes in the air, but none of the swings came near her. "Never mind."

"Nola's not so bad, either," Ingrid said as she sheathed the sword in a fluid motion," But she prefers to scold her opponents to death." There was a quiet "hmph" from Nola's direction. "For a long time I thought I'd be using one of these as a Meridian royal guardsmen-guardsperson-but that was before I was a hundred percent about being a G-girl." Ingrid replaced the sword carefully and gestured to the rest of the shelves. "I have a lot of neat stuff here, most of it from my extended family. Have a look."

There was a lot to see in Ingrid's private museum. Dee's eyes were immediately drawn to five hand-made Guardian dolls that resembled W.I.T.C.H., of which the Will toy the one with the most scuff marks and tears. "Aunt Hay made those," Ingrid informed Dee. "I used to sleep with them every night so 'mean old Phobos' wouldn't get me! I had an Unka Blunk doll... but I think he ate it. Toy cannabalism, huh..."

Next to the W.I.T.C.H. dolls was a rather odd-looking teddy bear wearing a black jumpsuit with a fiery white D on its chest and matching gloves and boots and a tuff of white hair hanging over its green eyes. Dee thought it looked rather creepy for a stuffed animal but the red and black helmet next to it was far more disturbing in comparison, its white faceplate created to look like the front of a stylized skull. "Uncle Zu-Zu gave me that one," Ingrid continued to curate. "An official Fire Nation Army helmet. It was very cool of him to give me it after I crashed a tank... into his house. Man, his wife was mad enough for both of them... and she likes to throw knives-oh! That's one of them right there! I thought for sure it was going in my hand..."

"What's this?" Dee asked as she lifted a circular object off the shelf. It was made of some sort of dense black plastic with a green hourglass-shaped face. Dee tapped a finger on the face of the object... and yelped when a green light burst from the object. The light projected itself into a two-dimensional holographic grid with four red dots on. "Uh..."

"Huh... I don't know what the heck that is," Ingrid admitted. "Just know that my Aunts each have one. Maybe it's some failed video game system of something; the graphics were horrible back in the old days."

"Objection," the device said to the Guardians through Dee's "Appliance Whispering." "Azmuth omega series Plumber Identification Badges are visually accurate for the visual spectrums of over one million sentient species, including homo sapiens sapiens."

"Hey!" Ingrid huffed. "What do these Homo Sapiens Squared have that we don't?"

"I think he means us," Dee said. "Humans, I mean."

"Huh? Ohhhhh... I remember now! It was on my science test... ewww... I didn't do too good on that one..."

"Full access is denied even to those of Plumber descent," the badge explained. "Please refrain from using this device unless emergency circumstances dictate or for identification purposes." With that, the Plumbers' badge turned off its hologram.

"Yeesh! Lot of attitude from a drainage technician's ID," Ingrid muttered as Dee replaced the badge. "Moving on... oh, check out my pictures!"

The opposite wall had a bullentin board like the one Dee had seen on the train station where she had arrived in Heatherfield but this one was covered in photos instead of pamphlets. Ingrid's version of a photo album had pictures of just about everyone Dee had met so far, including Dee herself from the lunch earlier in the day. She grimaced when she saw the glare she gave the camera as Will and Dee embraced; Dee thought she looked like a psycho with that expression.

"Aunt Tara emailed me the photos and I printed them off," Ingrid explained. "You're so scary, boss! Oooooh!"

Dee did what seemed to be her hundredth eye roll since she had met Ingrid. "I'm just extremely camera shy. That's a glare of fear because of my horrible hair. What's with all the posters?" Dee was referring to the posters of celebrities next to the bulletin board. Curiously, the posters were all contained in plastic frames and placed side-by-side like they were more important than the ones from video games and movies plastered over the other walls.

"Oh, those are more of my aunts and uncles!" Ingrid gestured to the posters like a presenter on a game show. "All autographed, too. Surely you've heard of the Danny Phantom, Ben Tennyson, Juniper Lee and Jake Long? All proud members of the W.I.T.C.H. extended family. Plus, they love me to death, obviously."

"Uhm, yeah, I know who they are. Phantom and Tennyson are superheroes and they're always on the news. Lee and Long are musicians, right?"

"Yep, plus they're secretly magical protectors like us, of course that's not on their fan sites. June and Jake were students of Mrs. Lin when they were our age and Danny's family is a friend of Aunt Will's-your family, I should say. Ben's grandpa Max dated Mrs Lin when they were younger, no lie, and the Tennysons visit sometimes. Ooh, they're all coming to Hay Lin's wedding so you can meet them. I think Uncle Ben still has a crush on Aunt Will... ohmigod!" Ingrid jumped up and down in excitement. "If they got together your dad would be Ben Ten Thousand! That would be sick!"

"If you say so," Dee said with none of Ingrid's enthusiasm.

"Beware the matchmaker," Nola warned. "It's Ingrid's favorite pastime after her games."

"But I'm great at it, Nollie, and you know it! Anyway, Aunt June's probably going to play some songs at the wedding and I think Uncle Jake's gonna DJ. You wouldn't believe the guest list we have for this thing, I wouldn't be surprised if the Oracle put in an appearance." Ingrid laughed as she walked over to a min-fridge next to Nola's desk and opened the freezer. "I've only got Neapolitan, hope that's okay." She pulled out a large container of ice cream. "But I do have sprinkles and chocolate sauce!"

Dee was about to object that she had had two big meals with a lot of strawberries and didn't need a bowl of ice cream... until Ingrid said, "sprinkles and chocolate sauce!" Ingrid brought the ice cream over to her dresser with bowls, spoons and the condiments she had promised. "To celebrate our first day as Guardians-and our new best friend and boss-lady-we now partake of the frozen goodiness of Baskin Robbins! I got all your favorite flavors, girls. Which do you want, Dee?"

"Strawberry, please." Ingrid started to scoop out ice cream for the other girls; Dee noticed that she received mostly strawberry while Jamila and Nestis were given vanilla and chocolate respectively while Nola got an equal amount of all three flavors. If these were all the girls' favorite flavors it impressed Dee that someone as lively as Ingrid would take the time to do something like that.

After the girls had flavored their ice cream with chocolate sauce Nola was the first to dig in with uncharacteristic zeal, managing to somehow maintain proper dining etiquette while shoveling ice cream into her mouth like it was the last on Earth. "Meridian has yet to attain ice cream, unfortunately," she explained between mouthfuls. "Truly, this is your world's greatest accomplishment."

"I'd say you were kidding, Nollie," Ingrid said, "But I know you're not. Don't eat too fast or you'll get a headache..." Nola stopped eating and pinched her nose while making a pained face. "Ah, yeah. Every time. So, while Nola is recovering from her relapse into sugar addiction, let me outline the plans for the evening: we have the new superhero movie with Vance Michael Justin-eek!" Dee was slightly alarmed when the other girls eek-ed, too. "After that we will exercise the time honored ritual of sleepovers since time immemorial... Truth and Dare! And maybe we can get in some powers practice before we turn in. Sound good, Dee? Since you're boss and all."

"Uh..." Dee wished they'd stop referring to her as the leader-even if she was. "I think I'll leave entertainment to you."

"Wise choice! I am the life of any party, on Earth or Meridian!" Ingrid walked over to a flat-screen television that had several video game systems around it; she pushed the power button on the TV and the screen popped up with a background that was a picture of Ingrid apparently falling through the air and screaming happily about it. "That was taken while I was jumping on the trampoline in the backyard. Good picture, Nollie."

"You're welcome," Nola said in between mouthfuls of ice cream. Nose pinch. "Oh, dear... I usually show restraint with confections." Once her second ice cream attack subsided she took the ice cream scoop and began to refill her bowl. Nestis looked aghast at the princess' overindulgence while Jamila seemed amused.

Ingrid touched the television screen and a list of commands popped up on the monitor; Dee barely had time to read them as Ingrid went through several menus with the same dexterity she displayed with the sword. The screen blacked out as the movie began to play and the girls moved to the thick rug in front of the TV with their ice cream bowls; Nola took the container itself with her. Dee was less concerned with seeing the movie again than trying to find a place on the rug as each girl had found a space to lay or sit like they had a reserved spot. Dee hovered around the edge of the carpet for a few seconds before sitting on the floor next to Nestis, her bottom hanging half of the rug.

Dee didn't mind that she had already seen the movie butshe quickly learned it was probably for the best as Ingrid and Jamila began to pick apart the flick like two over-enthusiastic film critics. "He's the bad guy!" Ingrid said, pointing at an unassuming character that Dee knew was, in fact, the bad guy. "You can tell by the color of his shirt and his shifty eyes!"

"Oh, yeah," Jamila agreed. Having removed her shawl for the evening and lying on her stomach with feet in the air the Fire Guardian looked like an entirely different person. "Vance Michael thinks he's like a father figure to him, but during the dinner you can see the hints that he's really a crook who wants to use his genetic engineering to rule the world. Even if it's completely fake science."

"Yeah, too bad Aunt Elly couldn't figure that out about her big bro Phobos. I would have had a lot less bedtime stories to listen to!"

"Phobos was known for his trickery," Nola added in an affronted voice. "I hardly think that Mother could be blamed for being misled. And W.I.T.C.H. could have told her of her origin sooner..."

"Oh, lighten up, my sister-from-another-mister! That's what makes it so cool when Aunt Elly cleaned his clock! And she was only thirteen when she did it, that made it even cooler because Phobos was... how much older was he, anyway? I can never tell in the pictures."

"So W.I.T.C.H. was our age when they fought Phobos?" Nestis asked. "I can't believe that they could do that, we-they-seem so young to be doing... y'know, fight in a war. In my tribe everyone is expected to fight if they can, even women, but... seriously, teenage girls saving the world? It sounds like a legend."

"Or a comic book," Dee suggested with a smirk. "Or maybe even a cartoon show with one of those long transformation scenes!" The girls laughed at that as they remembered their first transformation.

"Well, Guardians start their training at our age," Ingrid said to Nestis even as she continued watching the movie, "But I think Grandma Lin said that they don't usually see action until they're sixteen or so. It's kind of unusual for Guardians to start fighting right off the bat and, now that I think about it, W.I.T.C.H. only had to deal with Phobos because Aunt Elly was living on Earth, what with all the portals opening between Heatherfield and Meridian."

"Mother said that was partially occurring because of her location and attachment to Earth." Nola added. "Even after she returned to her kingdom her thoughts of Earth kept penetrating the Veil and creating portals."

"'Portals'?" Dee asked. "'Veil'?"

"Old news," Ingrid said dismissively. "Nothing we have to worry about. Ask Aunt Will about it tomorrow, oh, ask Aunt Hay Hay instead, she's funnier when she's telling stories. Oh, for the love of... throw the truck at him, Vance Michael, don't just let it be product placement! Hmm... maybe I should to talk to Aunt Lily about making a Guardian movie since she's a writer. I could totally play a great Aunt Will! I did dye my hair red at one point..."

"How many aunts do you have?" Dee asked in amazement. "And what planet is Aunt Lily from?"

"Oh, Aunt Lily, she's... throw the gol-dang truck, Vance! Aunt Lily is my real aunt, my mom's little sister. She's away at college or you would've seen her at the dinner, but she should be arriving in a few days. She's great, her and mom fight like mad cats whenever they're around each other!" Dee was mystified when Ingrid giggled, like this was a good thing.

"And Lilian is the Heart of Earth as Mrs. Lin said earlier," Nola added, not wanting Ingrid to leave out that vital information. "Cornelia and Mother taught her to control her powers when she was younger. She is... ah, exuberant like Ingrid in many ways."

"'Exuberant' is a good word, right?" Ingrid asked, to which Nola nodded. "Oh, yeah, Hale women rock! Ha! Rock! As in Earth Guardians! Man, I am freaking hilariVance threw the truck, yes! Oh, and it missed. Tough luck, Vance. Oh, and the bad guy's hitting him in the face. Huh, he needs a Guardian bad. I'll save you, Vance!"

"Ah, but who will save him from you, Ingrid?" Jamila asked jokingly.

"No one, I hope. Rawwwrrrr!" The rest of movie passed fairly quickly until the credits were rolling and the latest pop single from VMJ playing over them; Ingrid stopped the movie by tapping the screen and turned the TV off. "Alright, time for T and D! I already know everything about Nola and Jamila, but I'm looking forward to learning Nestis' and Dee's dirty secrets!"

Nestis looked wide-eyed at the mere suggestion that she could have "dirty secrets" while Dee felt apprehension well inside her. The simple game of Truth and Dare was also something she had never done before in the orphanage and the foster homes as Dee had spent a good deal of her time avoiding people; the other orphans were directly competing with each other to be adopted and have some resemblance of a normal life and the foster homes... Dee shivered and tried to focus on what was left of her ice cream.

The five girls took up position around the rug until they were all facing each other. "Okay, in our version of T and D questions are for everyone while Dares can be for any number of us; makes things interesting! Since I'm so completely shameless, or at least that's what Nola says, I'll take the first question or dare. Who wants to grill me? C'mon, don't be shy..."

"I'll get us started," Jamila said. "Ingrid... who was your first kiss with?"

"Oh, that's classic!" Ingrid retorted. "Obviously it was Benjamin Dunningham... or was it Lee Josteen? Or maybe it was Curtis Langley...? No, it was definitely... or was it..."

"I think we can take that as an 'uncertain,'" Nola said. "Since we go counter-clockwise I believe it's your turn, Nestis." Nestis' eyes widened.

"Yeah!" Ingrid said excitedly. "Tell us, Nessie, who was the lucky first for you?" Nestis looked embarrassed and fidgeted. "Oh, if you haven't had yours yet that's nothing to..."

"No, no," Nestis said, her expression changing from embarrassment to annoyance. "It's just... you don't know him and it turned out bad. Really, I don't think those ever turn out well, right?" The other girls agreed with her, more out of surprise at the sudden shift in Nestis' features than the truth of the statement; the irritated look on her face was a strong shift from her usual soft features. Ingrid was briefly reminded of Nestis' overly harsh and over-protective mother who looked the same when angry. It was not a pretty sight even for attractive women like the Towadis. "Uhm... Jamila." Nestis stared at the Fire Guardian.

"Oh, it's my turn. Well, I haven't had mine yet, but I'm in no hurry..."

"Now Jami," Ingrid grinned. "You did kiss my dad on the lips that one time..."

"That was under a mistletoe!" Jamila said quickly. "And I was nine, that doesn't count!"

"Santa got her letter, alright!" Jamila buried her face in her hands in embarrassment at the other girls' giggles. "Nola, your turn."

"Gulp." Nola swallowed her latest spoonful of ice cream and shook her head. "I have not had one yet, I'm afraid. I am hardly concerned with it, for that matter. Dee, I believe it is your turn?"

"Uh... no, me neither. Sorry, that's not very juicy, is it?"

"That's okay," Ingrid assured her, though she sounded a little disappointed. "Not as scandalous as I hoped, but that just means I need to get on with the matchmaking for my girls!"

"Oh good lord," Nola said in tranquil horror. Ingrid's schemes never ended well. "My turn, I believe: what is a secret ambition you have? Dee?"

"Uhhhh... shoot, I don't have any ambition," Dee admitted. "I guess... when I was on the road... I just wanted to be somewhere safe with good food where people liked me, really liked me." Dee flushed in embarrassment as she realized how much she had given away.

"Ah, babe," Ingrid said softly. "We all like you here and no, it's not just because we're Guardians." She shook her finger knowingly at Dee. "Yeah, I figured that crossed your mind at least once today, but that's not the case at all. Being Guardians doesn't make people friends, being friends makes people Guardians. Don't believe me, ask Aunt Will, she'll tell you. So it looks like your secret ambitions fulfilled, don't it?"

"Looks like," Dee said with a sheepish grin.

"Okay, now that Dee knows we love her to bits, it's my turn. My secret ambition... crap, I have so many of them. The Guardian thing has come true, then there's becoming VMJ's personal masseuse... Nestis, what about you? Want to join me in rubbing up Vance?"

Nestis chuckled and shook her head. "No, thanks. I don't think my ambition is secret, really, I want to have a career that lets me stay in the wild as much as I can, like a park ranger or a naturalist. Most nights I sleep outside if I can, me and Fenrir. Jamila?"

"I am like Ingrid in that I have many ambitions," Jamila said. "I love science and dancing above all, I think I'd like to be like Miss Taranee and pursue them both. And I'd like to be a mother one day, I love children. But my really secret ambition is..." the girls leaned in close to hear. "...is to figure out what makes Ingrid... Ingrid."

Everyone but Ingrid laughed. "Oh, ha ha," Ingrid said dryly. "What's there to get about me? I'm just perfect, my aunts told me so. Nola, time to reveal your plans for universal domination."

"I think you've confused me for my late uncle." Nola finished off the last of the ice cream and looked disappointed. "I have no intentions to conquer anything, barring another ice cream container."

"Of course you don't mean to," Ingrid said. "But you tend to take over any project you're a part of; we don't mind 'cause you're so darn good at being the boss. I bet when we meet the Oracle you're going to order him to get you a cup of coffee."

"Hardly, Ingrid, but the question is still unanswered. The fact is I don't have any unspoken ambitions, all I want is to be the best I can be in any capacity I serve. Guardian, daughter, princess, friend, I do not want to fail at any of these. And I do not plan to."

The other girls stared at Nola. "Wow, Nollie," Ingrid said. "That was both inspirational and a little scary. Glad you're on our side. Dee, it's all you. Go crazy!"

"Crazy, huh?" Dee thought for a second. "I don't really have a question in mind..."

"You could take a dare," Ingrid suggested. "That means you don't have to take another dare until after your next turn." Jamila, who was sitting where Ingrid couldn't see her, shook her head at Dee and waved her hands in a negative fashion.

"Uh, okay. Dare me."

Jamila shot her a resigned look. (Your funeral.)

Ingrid rubbed her heads together and grinned evilly. "Hee hee... well, since you're so fond of Aunt Irma, I think you should show your affection by... kissing her on the lips tomorrow! In public! While saying, 'Irradicator Tubbs is the greatest!' That's her nickname from work." Dee's mouth hung open in shock. "Sorry, the scared rules of T and D state that all Dares must be obeyed upon pain of death! Well, not literally, but it has to be done."

Dee tried to think of a way to avoid it, but her knowledge of Truth and Dare loopholes was limited. "Uh, I... okay! I'll do it... god, I should have known better..."

"You should have, but that wouldn't be as much fun. Hey, at least Aunt Irma's cute. I could have made you kiss my Uncle Al and, hey, just think how mad you're going to make her!" Dee smiled as she contemplated how irritated the "Irradicator" would be. "This is going to be fun! One thing you need to learn about the W.I.T.C.H. family is we love messing with each other, Mom and Aunt Irma have made a career out of it. My turn again: if you could sleep with one person..."

"Ingrid!" Nola protested. "Don't be crass."

"Okay, okay... if you could have someone's baby, in a legitimate marriage Nollie, who would it be? Nessie?"

"Oh, god, I... don't... someone nice?" Ingrid fixed her with a withering stare. "Oh, fine. That new computer teacher at Sheffield?"

Ingrid and Jamila shrieked in delight and nearly scared Dee half to death. Why did they insist on screaming so much? "Good call, Ness! I'd "have his babies" in a heartbeat, wink wink!"

Nola laughed. "Ingrid, you are the only person I know who says 'wink wink' instead of making the expression."

"Jamila, you don't have to answer," Ingrid said to the Fire Guardian. "We already know your pick. Or is Zeke in the running now?"

"Zeke?" Dee asked. "That sounds like an old man's name."

"Zeke is a nice boy," Jamila said, glaring at Ingrid. "He's our age and it's short for Ezekiel. He's... nice. Stop grinning, Ingrid, I can see your dinner in your teeth. But yeah, I'd take your dad in a heartbeat."

"As my choice..." Nola said, "I must also choose Sir Caleb."

"What?" Ingrid said in shock. "But he's practically your uncle!"

"But he is not," Nola pointed out. "He is... quite hot, to tell the truth. Jamila, you may have first 'dibs', of course."

Jamila giggled. "Thank you, milady. Maybe we can share?" Nola thought about that for a few seconds, then nodded.

Ingrid looked at both of her oldest friends with wide eyes. "What is wrong with you two?" Nola and Jamila laughed with delight at being able to shock Ingrid.

"I really don't have anyone like that," Dee said. "But I think I would like him to be a nice guy that wasn't a pushover."

"Hey, why not take my daddy, too? He fits the bill and you wouldn't be the first to lust after him." Ingrid glared at the Water and Fire Guardians.

"Okay, I'll take him. I saaw a picture of him at Will's and I could see the resemblance."

"Oh, that's right. I got a picture of Daddy on my board..." Ingrid inspected her wall of photos. "Huh... he's not on here. He has been on Meridian a while... oh, here's a picture of him when he was a teenager." Ingrid took the picture off the board and showed it to Dee. "That's him in the coat, trying to grope my mom. Maybe trying to grab Aunt Irma, too, they always liked jousting together a little too much..."

Dee took the photo and inspected Ingrid's parents at a younger age. "Yeah... he is cute."

"We're a cute bunch, my family. I bet my baby bros are going to be adorable to the max. For me it would have to be Mr. Vance Michael Justin, there's something about a man who can act and sing that makes me fangirl like mad, though Aunt Will always said musicians are a bad bet. Nestis is next."

"I am?" Nestis looked panicked. "I... I don't have a question, give me a minute..."

"You could always take a dare," Ingrid suggested slyly. This time Dee joined Jamila in trying to signal to Nestis that this would be a bad idea.

"Um... okay."

"Hee hee hee... as you know, Air Guardian have the ability to go invisible. No one can see them... or what they're wearing. Can you 'see' where I'm going with this?" Nestis looked worried by this point. "I dare you to run around the house while you're invisible... and naked." Nestis' face went as pale as her hair.

"Now, Ingrid, you can't ask her to do that!" Nola protested. "She hasn't even used her secondary powers."

"Hey, this'll be good practice!" Ingrid countered. "Oh, okay, I guess I think up something else... whoa, she's doing it!"

Nestis had disappeared from sight like Hay Lin had demonstrated earlier. "Huh...it's not as hard as I thought it would be... let me get started here..." Ruffling noises drifted through the room until Nestis' shirt appeared in mid-air. After it dropped to the floor more ruffling noises indicated Nestis was working on her pajama pants.

"You're uh, really getting into this," Ingrid noted.

"What? It's just us," Nestis stated, not noticing that Napoleon had buried his head in his cushions. The pajama pants appeared and joined the shirt on the floor. Seconds later, a pair of boxer shorts appeared and went flying into Ingrid's face. "Sorry!" None of the girls believed her for a second. "Okay... so I just run around the house, right?"

"Uh, yeah, down the stairs and once in each room then back up here. If you're having second thoughts we can think of another..." The sound of footeps moved from the rug to the door which opened and closed as Nestis began her dare. "Okay, I think the girl has a wild side we didn't know about. I may have unleashed a monster-a streaking invisible monster-in my own home."

Several minutes later the door opened again and the footsteps returned to the rug. "I had a close one when your grandfather tried to go into the kitchen, I had to get creative with your food cabinet. Oh, you might not want to eat the apples, I'd just... throw them out." Nestis' shirt lifted off the floor and disappeared as she put it over her head; Dee held her boxers out for Nestis who thanked her as the underwear vanished.

"Nice job, Nessie. You are hardcore," Ingrid said with a grin. "Jamila, on to you."

"Okay, I want to do a real truth this turn: Nola, what scares you the most?"

"Oh..." Nola looked taken back. "I'm not sure... I'm not really afraid of anything I can think of. I... I have a dream where I arrive at the royal court and it's full of people, my mother, Sir Caleb and Ingrid and... and I am... undressed. It's my most disturbing dream, I wake up unnerved from it every time."

"For the non-royal people," Ingrid said. "'Undressed' means naked as a jaybird!" Nola flushed and tried to act unaffected by her revelation. "Dee? What strikes terror in you? Is it homework? I'm scared of homework."

Dee shook her head. "No, my big fear is something much worse, something in this room right this minute." The other girls leaned in to hear what the dreaded thing was. "My biggest fear is... hair." She grabbed her short and curly hair for emphasis.

The girls stared at her for several seconds, then burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, Dee gets a free pass for being funny, that was a good one," Ingrid said. Dee smiled widely even as her heart fluttered in her chest; her joke had been a deflection from the truth of what really scared her deeply. She hoped that would be far behind her now with no chance of reappearing. "Like I said, I fear schoolwork. Book reports, especially. I'm not a big reader in the first place and... I don't get it, you're supposed to write about something you read but isn't that redundant? Writing about writing? What's that prove? I..."

"Thank you, Ingrid," Nola said. "If you put as much effort into your schoolwork as you did complaining about it your scores would be as high as Jamila's."

"Yeah, but she'd still be smarter than me, what's your point?" Jamila tried to look modest and disbelieving about her own intellect and slightly succeeded. "Ness, it's you again. Remember, Guardians aren't afraid to be afraid."

Nestis briefly grinned at Ingrid's play on words before becoming anxious-looking. She stared at her hands which turned invisible. "I... there are a lot of things to be afraid of. I don't know..."

"Oh, c'mon!" Ingrid prodded. "What's the one thing that makes your skin crawl like mud slugs?"

"Ingrid..." Nola said in her warning tone of voice. Ingrid, though well-intentioned and friendly, often went too far in her dealings with people.

"No, I'm going to answer it," Nestis said suddenly, taking a breath before speaking again. "I guess... the one thing I can't stand is... really can't stand is storms. Thunder storms. With lots of wind that shake a house like it's... being torn down. I hate that." The Air Guardian lapsed into silence again and stared at her flickering hands as they winked out of sight in time with her fluttering emotions.

The other Guardians felt vaguely uncomfortable at the second of Nestis' reluctant confessions. Ingrid came to the rescue in the only way she could think of: smacking Nola in the face with a pillow. "Surprise Pillow Fight!" Jamila and Nola snatched up the pillows they were laying on and began to attack Ingrid. "Hey! No sides, no sides! You're double-teaming me!"

Nestis and Dee watched the other three girls battle without joining in. Nestis picked up a small pillow and threw it half-heartedly at Dee. "Ow," Dee said in a deadpan voice. "You'll pay for that." She picked it up and tossed it on Nestis' lap.

"You got me," Nestis commented with a grin. "I really don't see the appeal."

"It's probably getting to hit Ingrid," Dee suggested.

Eventually Jamila and Nola got tired of pummeling Ingrid and returned to their seats. Ingrid had to stop herself from giggling as she resumed her position in the circle. "Uh, I got my butt kicked. You guys better join in next time to help me. Jamila?"

"I fear nothing," Jamila said, tilting her chin up haughtily. "I am indestructible and unstoppable."

"Oh, well, that's not really an OHMYGODSPIDER!" Ingrid pointed at a spot near Jamila's bare foot.

Jamila shrieked and stumbled away from the alleged spider, her cry loud enough to cause the Hales to look questioningly at the ceiling. Ingrid fell over laughing when Jamila noticed that the "spider" was one of Ingrid's dirty socks. The Fire Guardian's eyes narrowed and burned with an unearthly light before she grabbed a pillow and flung it at Ingrid's head with enough force to knock her over. "I... I have a little problem with spiders," Jamila admitted with a blush.

"A little?" Ingrid said as she rubbed her head. "You better get over that before we meet up with the spider lady again. Or you could just roast her, that works. Anybody who hurts Aunt Will gets no mercy, right Dee?"

"Yeah," Dee agreed as sparks of Quintessence shot through her dark hair. "She'll get none from me, that's for sure."

Ingrid chuckled approvingly. "Okay, now I'm a little scared of our boss lady. Nola, got a question?"

"Hmm... to be honest, Nestis' display of her secondary powers has me wishing to try my own. I may regret this, but do you have a dare for my ability to alter pigmentation?" Ingrid stared at her with a blank expression. "Change colors?"

Ingrid scratched her head. "Hmmm... lessee. Water Guardians have a little bit of mind control-not that you have any problems ordering people around, Nolls-and changing colors, like when Aunt Irma changed all my dad's clothes pink. Hey, see if you can make my hair the color of Dee's socks! Take revenge for the Threbian beetles I ground into your locks! Hey, that rhymed!"

"Uhm, very well." Nola looked at Dee's socks, then closed her eyes to concentrate. A whoosh of air and sparkles of light tossed Ingrid's hair around as it changed to the many colors of the rainbow. "Well, that went well, thankfully."

Ingrid stood up and went to look at herself in her dresser's mirror. "Freakin' awesome, Nollie! I could never have done this on my own! I'm keeping this at least until we get back from the mall tomorrow. And don't worry, Nollie, it's not permanent; Aunt Irma left Dad's wardrobe pink for a a year until she changed it back. They must have been really fighting at the time."

"I guess it's my turn again," Dee said as she tried to think of a good question.

"Make it a good one!" Ingrid said as she brushed her new hairstyle. "Heavy stuff, life or death kind of thing."

Death... "Who would you kill?" Dee said without thinking.

"What?" All the girls were looking at Dee. "Where did that come from?" Ingrid asked.

"I..." Dee shook her head and shoulders as if shaking off some unseen pressure. "Just the first thing that popped in my head. Ingrid?"

Ingrid tapped her brush against her chin. "Who would I kill? If it was just one person?" Jamila and Nola looked at each other as if they already knew the answer. "It would have to be... SYNTHIA! The witch of Sheffield Institute! The scourge of Heatherfield! The meanest girl to ever sell her soul for designer wardrobe! I want her dead! DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD! DEAD!"

The rest of DJINN stared at Ingrid now. Jamila turned to Dee. "So there's this girl named Synthia that Ingrid doesn't like."

"I gathered. Is she that bad?"

Ingrid shook her head. "Oh, sweet naive little Dee. You have not seen evil until you've faced Synthia "Cutthroat" Cuthoros. She is selfish, nasty and plain vicious. She thinks she runs Sheffield like it's her own kingdom, she's the reincarnation of Prince Phobos and possibly the daughter of Satan, we haven't confirmed. She's got all the adults fooled, even Aunt Hay, and the only ones resisting her evil influence are the Sheffield Freedom Fighters, a brave group of smart, sexy girls with the willpower to match!"

"The who?"

"Me, Ingrid and Nestis," Jamila said. "Nola's a part-time member and, uh, I think you just got drafted. Mostly Ingrid fights with Synthia and we try to keep it from escalating into assault."

"Synthia is very nasty to everybody," Nestis said. "She made fun of my hair and skin until Ingrid, well, shoved her into a locker. And kicked it. Several times." Nestis smiled at the memory. "Ingrid said it was worth the detention, I knew she was my friend after that."

Jamila laughed. "Yes, Ingrid likes to rescue people. She says it runs in the family."

"It does!" Ingrid reached for the knife hanging from her dressor and pulled it out of the sheath. The girls leaned away from the serrated blade even as Ingrid pointed it at the ceiling. "As my father and mother fought against tyranny, so too does their only daughter! Synthia won't take over the school without a fight, not on my watch! Join us, Dee, in repelling this evil creature with our every breath!"

The girls looked at Dee with amused expressions. Dee shrugged and said, "Okay."

"YES! Now we're truly a team!" Ingrid looked at the knife in her hand. "Hey, where did this come from?" She put the knife back in its sheath. "Ness, who do you want to off? I've called Synthia already."

Nestis grinned and shook her head. "In that case I don't have an answer. I don't have anybody else I dislike that much. As my uncle always said, 'Respect your enemies or you can't respect anyone.'"

"That's a great saying," Ingrid said, "But it's impossible for me to respect Synthia. Oh, wait, I do respect the fact that she's got the guts to stand up to me since she's so spoiled she couldn't win a fight against Tom-Tom. Does that count?" Nestis shrugged and nodded.

"That goes for me, too," Jamila said. "I mean, there are certain kinds of people I don't like: the ignorant, the judgmental, the mean-spirited. I like to think no one is perfect, but if we took out everybody I didn't like... we'd never have time for sleepovers." The girls laughed at Jamila's idea of a scheduling conflict.

"It isn't proper for royalty to contemplate assassination," Nola said as straightened her long hair. "Besides, WITCH already dealt with my dear uncle years ago."

"Nobody messes with Nola and Dee's mamas," Ingrid proclaimed with smirk. "That's a bad idea! Dee, I bet you have someone special in mind since it's your question."

Dee started to say something but stopped. When she did speak it was almost in monotone. "No, it just popped into my head. Is it your turn again, Ingrid?"

Ingrid found it strange that Dee wouldn't have an answer for her own question but didn't want to call her out for it. "Well, I think it's fair that I take a dare myself. Who wants to give me one?"

Nola raised her hand. "Please, let me have this one." The other girls nodded. "I dare you, Julianna Ingrid Nerissa Hale, to... say nothing, verbally or telepathically, for the rest of the night." Ingrid's eyes widened and she opened her mouth even as she silently accepted the dare. She glared at Nola's satisfied expression as she nodded and made a zipping motion across her lips. "At last, peace and quiet!" The others laughed at Ingrid's exasperated expression.

"My turn!" Nestis said. "I got a good one: if you could change one thing about the world, what would you do?"

Jamila thought about the Air Guardian's question for several seconds. "That is an interesting one, Ness. I suppose I would make sure that everyone received a good education, as nerdy as it sounds. I think ignorance is the leading cause of a lot of people's suffering." Nola applauded Jamila's suggestion while Ingrid looked like she wanted to say something, then retrieved a pen and notepad from her desk.

Ingrid wrote something on the pad and showed it to the other girls. JAMILA SAHRZAD FOR PREZ, '25. Jamila laughed the same enchanting way she had when Dee had first met her and Nola nodded her approval. "Were I a citizen I would vote for Jamila... and your pen-man ship is improving, Ingrid."

Ingrid sketched something on the pad; it was a smiley face with its tongue sticking out, presumably at Nola. "Oh, how clever. If I could change the world-this world, I should say-I would like to do something about the pollution that has resulted from Earth's industrialization." Ingrid altered her writing to read SAHRZAD/BROWN '25 which got a short laugh from the two "running mates."

"To change the world..." Dee repeated the question to herself. "I guess... I would make it so everyone in orphanages got adopted by good people. That's really corny, but..." She shrugged and stared into her empty ice cream bowl even as Ingrid knelt next to her and gave her a tight embrace.

"That is a commendable goal," Nola said. Nestis and Jamila nodded their agreement. "Ingrid?" Ingrid took several minutes to write something on her pad and handed it to Nola. "Hmmm... I do believe this is a drawing of Synthia being ran over by a large truck driven by Ingrid and... Vance Michael Justin?" Ingrid nodded furiously. "I see... I have no comment on this, it's beyond my reasoning."

Ingrid wrote something else on her pad. "Ah... Ingrid wishes to propose a "Dares Only" change to the game. I'm ambivalent myself, do we have a second?" Ingrid looked alarmed and scribbled a question for Nola. "No, Ingrid, ambivalence has nothing to do with my urinary system."

"I second," Jamila said. "And I'll take my dare now. Any suggestions, Nestis?"

Nestis scratched her chin. "Well... I'm not sure..."

"Make her use her powers for something!" Ingrid suggested.

"Oh..." Nestis' face turned mischievous. "Set your head on fire like you do with your fingers!"

Ingrid clapped her hands. "Good one, good one!"

Jamila's eyes widened, then she grinned and began to concentrate. After a few seconds the air around her head and neck began to shimmer with heat, then suddenly burst into flame. "It feels nice, actually," Jamila said from somewhere in the fireball. "It's driving me crazy on how the fires burning without fuel, but science can't explain everything. Maybe I'm creating a perpetual loop of thermodynamic energy..."

"Marshmallows!" Ingrid said as she smacked herself in the head, then wrote the word "Sorry." Nola sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as Ingrid and the lingering effects of the ice cream headache combined to create another migraine. Jamila willed the flames to dissipate until they were out. She started to speak before reaching behind her to pat down the still-burning nape of her neck. "The turning off is the hard part."

Ingrid scribbled furiously for a few moments on her notepad and handed it to Nola. "Ah, it appears Ingrid has a dare for Dee and I. Diana, do you wish to try this?"

"Sure, let's do it. As long as we don't have to kiss or anything. No offense, Nola."

"Oh... none taken. Let me recite Ingrid's challenge. 'When we go to the mall tomorrow you'll go into that fancy longeray place and pick out two G-strings and make a big deal about them. You don't have to wear them, just make sure everyone knows you're interested in them. Oh, and they have to match your Guardian colors and that means that Dee's getting a hot pink thong! Sound good?' That's not how to spell 'lingerie', Ingrid, but I get your meaning."

Dee and Nola looked at each other with hesitation but also defiance at being Ingrid's playthings. "Sure, we'll do it," Dee said. "No problem. I was going to pick up one, anyway." The fact Dee had no money wasn't going to contradict her claim. Ingrid gave an eager thumbs up at her oldest and newest friends as she grinned widely, then yawned loudly. She then picked up her notepad and wrote, Doesn't count!

"It is getting rather late," Nola said. "I myself may turn in soon. Ingrid, you shouldn't stay up all night playing your video games." Ingrid pouted before yawning again and raising her notepad to indicate she hadn't broken her Truth and Dare vow; she reached under her bed and pulled out two sleeping bags and gestured to Nola and herself. "Of course. The floor is no worse than the ground of the wilds of Meridian. Jamila, Nestis, Diana, Ingrid wishes you to take her bed for the night."

"Thank you, Ingrid," Nestis said. Ingrid wrote out Host with the most! in reference to herself and earned the other girls' laughter. Nestis wearily climbed into Ingrid's extra large bed and was half asleep before Jamila placed a sheet over her and lay beside her .

Dee took off the Heart of Candracar and searched for a place to lay the talisman only to find Ingrid's shelves and furniture loaded with miscellaneous items. A tapping on her leg caused her to glance at Ingrid who already in her sleeping bag; the "Host with the most" pointed at several small hooks in the ceiling where even more of Ingrid's collectibles hung from. "Oh, thanks. I didn't want to put this on the floor." Dee hung the Heart on an empty hook and watched it slowly twirl and glimmer. "Huh. It looks like a really fancy... disco ball." Ingrid silently chuckled and shoved the notepad in Dee's face. G'night, boss.

Dee chuckled. "Good night, Ingrid." Ingrid clapped and the lights in the room went out. Dee yawned and closed her eyes, the last thing she saw was the Heart spinning on its string and shimmering in the darkened room. Heh... disco ball. The disco ball that changed my life. Thanks… "Good night, guys."

"Good night, Diana."

"G'Night, Dee."

A snore was Nestis' only response.

"Good night, ladies," said the gruff voice of an adult man.

Dee shot up in bed and turned every light in the room on with her powers. Jamila was also sitting up and looking around for the man who had gotten by the Guardians.

Ingrid was laughing as her vow of silence broke under her amusement. "It's alright," Nola reassured the two girls. "That was simply Napoleon."

"The... cat?" Dee asked.

The cat himself jumped onto the bed and grinned at her. "Nice to meet'cha, doll. Ain't this a kick to the ole noggin?" The two girls stared at the cat while Ingrid continued to chuckle insanely.

Nestis snorted contentedly in her sleep, dreaming of rainbow-colored cats and laughing disco balls hitting her in the head.

Author's Note: Let's have a big round of applause for the Truth and Dare contributors for this chapter! Go on, clap at your computer.

XV-Dragon

Dee - To kiss Irma on the lips

DayDreamer9

Nola - change the color of Ingrid's hair

Nestis - "invisible streaking monster"

Obiki Doragon

Dee and Nola - g-strings

(I have to write that... good god.)

Greki

The "Irradicator Tubbs" addition to XV's challenge.

Do you think Baskin Robbins would sign an endorsement deal with a fanfic writer?

Nola: Greetings, I am Princess Nola Escanor Brown of Meridian and whenever I am on Earth I always stop at the Heatherfield Baskin Robbin for a cone of vanilla ice cream. And a chocolate one. And a rocky road. And mint and... er... Baskin Robbins, Guardian approved, endorsed by royalty.

And we now return you to your regularly scheduled fanfiction.