AN: I have totally finished the update for Legend of Shadow Goddess. .; I love Marquette. … On with the story! Oh, yes. I have a small list of songs that I've matched up with different Ocs that I've made. I have personal themes, couple themes… Would you like me to post them for you guys and you can check them out?

Part Five: Stage One

Chapter Thirteen: Solution

School did turn out to be very interesting. Before the morning bell rang, the news of Auriella's angry resignation from the cheerleading squad spread as quickly as a Californian forest fire in July. The stories varied from Auriella cuzzing the coach out to her jumping Rose in a dark parking lot. Each storier was crazier, and she just laughed at them all, not giving anyone a real version of the events. She was happy with the wild rumors flying around about her.

"Ella, I just heard you pistol whipped Rose for giving Gavin a smile, then walked away right befor eyou blew her brains out," Chris told her, a laugh in his voice. "Where did you get the gun?" Ella picutred the scenario, and Chris laughed so loud that people stopped and stared at them when he caught her thoughts.

Torrence smiled with them, "That's just crazy. Ella wouldn't need a pistol. If she wanted fire works, she'd just use that fire burning inside of her."

"Mm." A content smile lit up Ella's face. "It would be interesting, but I'd rather not expose us."

"Your call," Torrence sighed, as if it were such a great loss to not being exposed for what they were.

"What are you going to do now?" chris asked her, his bright blue eyes scanning her face and mind. She felt his easy invasion of it, a soft probing inside of her skull.She knew that he now knew that she had no way of protecting her band on stage. Her eneergy needed to be focused on the men in the audience.

"I'm not sure. Do you think that Gavin will still want to go out with me after all this?"

"He better not break up with you over this," Torrence growled, her eyes flashing dangerously as she took on the mama bear role.

Ella pursed her lips, hoping her friend didn't try attacking anyone. It would be a sad few days without Torrence.

Chris seemed to be on the same wave length—or else he was reading her mind again—because he laid a gentle hand on his sister's similar head. Torrence frowned as though she knew she was being pulled back on the leash only Chris had on her.

"I should go find him," Auriella muttered, walking away from the twins.



xXxXxXxXxXx

Gavin was hanging out by his locker with the some of his football buddies when Ella caught up with him. The players shot her varied looks of varied emotions. Gavin turned and grinned at her, scooping her into his big arms.

"Here's my little hero!" He exclaimed, squeezing her. Well, that meant that he was okay with her decision, then.

"Hero?" She inquired with a perk of an eyebrow.

"Of course. You've stood up to the biggest bitch in this school. Knocked her down on the totem pole, haven't you?"

"Yay me?" Ella faked her enthusiasm as Gavin squeezed her again. He and the players didn't hear it.

"So, is what people are saying true?" One of them—Brad, she remembered—asked. "Like about the red-haired guy?" Brad cast a glance at Gavin.

"Red-haired guy?" Ella asked, eyes wide. Anthony?

"Apparently Rose caught you in the act with him," another player said.

Ella looked at Gavin carefully. His face was pinched, obviously remembering the time he had caught her dancing way too close to a red-haired guy. Anthony. She had told him it was Hailley's brother, and she was just keeping him company while Hailley partied. Of course, that was the biggest lie. Hailley was an only child. It helped, though, that Gavin had never even met Hailley or Blaze yet. But now…

"What red-haired guy?" Gavin quickly asked.

The guys shrugged. Brad answered for them," Rose said it. She probably made it up."

Her boyfriend held tightly to her. Seeing Gavin's face, his fellow players decided to beat it, leaving the two of them alone to sort out their mess.

"Was it Hailley's brother againb?" He asked quietly. She could see in his face how he desperately hoped this was a lie from Rose's mouth.

"I don't even know what they are talking about," she mumbled She had given Anthony a quick peck that day. How could Rose have even seen that?

"How many red-haired guys could you possibly know?"

"I wasn't doing anything wrong, Gavin!"

"Auriella, are you seeing this guy behind my back?"



"No!" She protested loudly. "I'm not that kidn of girl."

"I don't know what kind of girl you are anymore," he yelled at her.

She sucked in her breath, shocked. He stormed off after his outburst, leaving her there in her quiet dismay.

"This are getting out of control," she whispered to herself.

xXxXxXxXxXx

The microphone was an extension of herself. She used it as a way to let her voice reach farther, louder. It touched her motuh, a loving caress against her lips. She breathed her words into the microphone; it was just like breathing air. As she sung, she let her fire loose—the invisible flames that danced with the notes.

A thought came to her. It wasn't her own, and yet… It was. What if she could weave a protection spell around her band amtes?

Auriella shimmied around, trying to look at the boys as she sung, eyeing the all up. Her hips pushed her back to their "audience". She continued singing, building up her energy like she would do in battle. The words coming out of her sounded like the song that Nick wrote, but underneath that was a sound more ancient. The music the boys played became more intense, following the ancient sound of her voice.

Her fire circled the notes, stringing them together like a barrier. The barriers floated along before she driected them to cling to each of her bandmates in turn.

She smiled to herself. I think I just figured out how to keep them safe from Ilahary.

"God, we're gonna so rock this battle!" Ray howled, clicking his drumsticks together.

"Definitely sounds like it," Nick agreed, a grin spreading across his face.

"That fabulous prize is just within reach. Recording contract, here we come!" Ray cried out.

"We still have the competition to beat," Adam kindly reminded the overenthusiastic drummer.

"What competition?" Ray questioned, sincerely confused about Adam's words.

"Ilahary, for one. I saw them perform, and they are really good," Auriella confessed, using the mic stand as a leaning post.

"So that's where Torrence went the other ngiht," Nick mused. There was a flicker in his eye that Ella saw as disappointment.

"You wnet to size up our competion, without backup?" Kane inquired, a frown taking over his face. "That was dangerous."



Ella snorted. These boys didn't quite know what danger was!

"It's not funny," Adam said in response to her mistaken snort. "You're the singer of a popular band. People would do anything to take you out to get to us. Remember Leo?"

The way Adam was making it sound, it was like she was going to be assassinated walking down the street one day.

"We're only a local band" Ella mumbled, certainly chewed out by now.

"Blasphemy! I think you should leave," Ray commanded.

She blinked, confused and hurt. "Are you serious?"

"No." Kane glared at Ray. "He's joking, Auri. It's just that… This band is important, and that makes you incredibly important to us, for both the band and personally."

She felt so chastised, like a little girl stealing a cookie before dinner. She twisted her hair around her finger, eyes lowered to the floor. She knew the band was important to the guys, but not to the point where they worried about her safety.

"I'll be more careful then, if it makes you feel better." She smiled at them all, and they smiled back.

"We'd hate to lose our little sister," Adam told her, and she nodded.

The sensation of warmth that accompanied their feelings for her made her smile all the more brightly.

AN: Oh, the scene where Ella felt the ancient music, I borrowed some elements of that from The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld. Great book, different.

Next Up: Our Beloved Departed goes through the first round of the Battle. Will they be chosen for the finals?