Wednesday. Kayley jogged up to where Tee and Ash were talking. "Hey," she greeted. "Have you seen Opal?"
"No, why?" Ash enquired.
Kayley dug into her pocket and pulled out a handful of raisins. "She filled my entire locker with raisins."
Tee did a spit take, placing one hand on Kayley's shoulder as she calmed herself.
"How is that funny?" Kayley questioned.
"It's not," Tee replied. "That's why it's so funny!"
Kayley shook her head and scanned around the courtyard, seeing if she could scout out Opal. "I don't know guys," she said, dismally, "If this is Opal's idea of a prank…"
It was at that moment Amethyst strutted up to them and heaved her bag to the ground in an over dramatic fashion.
Ash, reading her expression in an instant, guessed, "Opal got you too, huh?"
Amethyst pulled a face and opened her bag, scooping a handful of the contents. "She filled my entire bag with dried out baby grapes,"
"Don't you mean raisins?" Kayley corrected.
"No," Amethyst maintained, humourlessly. "I mean dried out baby grapes. I don't know when. I don't know how. All I know is that there's a tonne of them."
Amethyst sighed and smiled sympathetically. "Kayley, I wondering if we should call this whole thing off. I mean, the girl just doesn't have a clue."
"Yeah," Kayley agreed. "I feel sorry for her. She had to buy all those raisins. It's more of a prank on her than on us."
"Well, it's our turn next. We'll have to go easy on her."
"Something back to basics," Kayley decided. "Something so harmless you could prank a Kindergartner with it…"
English class. Kayley and Amethyst snuck up to the class five minutes before class commenced. By routine, Professor Blankly would be several minutes late after the bell so that would make the timing of the prank easy to comply to.
Creeping inside, Amethyst took one of the only working board markers from his desk (board markers never seem to work the first time you use them and, out of a pack of six, the red one was the only one with a flicker of life left in it) and began writing.
After the careful Arial Bold craftsmanship put into each letter, Amethyst stepped back to admire the masterpiece. "Ready?"
Kayley smiled, maliciously. "Perfect…" she purred.
Opal strolled into the English class and stopped at the doorway. Amethyst and Kayley were already seated, equipment unpacked, perfect posture.
"Something's wrong…" she observed, carefully edging to her desk. Kayley's and Amethyst's eyes followed her until she sat down and began unpacking. After emptying all the necessary contents of her bag required for the class, she looked to the board.
'Opal loves Blankly to the moon and bak!'
Ignoring her own blushing, she shot an unimpressed glare at the two culprits, both concealing their laughter.
"Really?" she thought to them both. "That is all you could come up with? I am disappointed in you. Oh, and congratulations to both of you - I will be sure to ask Professor Blankly for a spelling test next week."
Amethyst and Kayley's laughter subsided and they glanced at the board, ignoring their own blushing.
The class around them had managed to contain their snickering as Professor Blankly jogged in and viewed the scrawled message.
"Who wrote that?" he demanded in as a serious a tone as he could manage. It came out high pitched and squeaky and made a few of the class giggle at how pathetic he sounded.
Telepathically, Kayley reminded, "Remember Opal, no telling now…"
Opal groaned and buried her head in her hands, wishing she had been quicker to try and rub it off.
"I will get them back for this…" Opal vowed.
After school on Friday, the Guardians were walking home together. Seeing as Opal was grounded, a stop-off at Ash's diner wasn't possible, so they agreed to walk Opal home. The conversation fluttered through the two pranks of the day into casual conversation before Amethyst settled the topic onto a serious note…
"When are we going back to Meridian?" she asked. Immediately, one could see the effects the unwelcome topic change had. Everyone shrunk down and silenced. Amethyst persisted, "Come on guys. It's nearly been a week. We have to go back."
"To be honest, I though the conversation with Cass might have deterred you from wanting to be a Guardian," Kayley confessed, wincing.
"She also deterred me from skipping out on our duty," Amethyst replied. "We gotta do this, guys. We have to go back. That's our job as Guardians."
"How?" Opal questioned. "I am currently under house arrest for the next week and a half."
"Well, we gotta get there somehow!" Ash agreed. "And I wanna go tonight - it's time for action!"
Lorelai smiled. "Despite everything… it was exhilarating last time."
The four looked to Kayley, waiting for one final approval. Kayley grinned. "Let's do this, but not tonight. Opal, didn't you tell me you had two nights of relatives?"
Opal nodded. "My Grandmother is a light sleeper. We have exactly a 0% chance of escaping without waking her."
"We'll go on Sunday then, once everyone's asleep," Kayley decided. "That way, Opal may not get caught."
"But what if my parents look into my room whilst I am away," Opal noted. "If they think I have snuck out…"
"Then we better hope they don't," Amethyst stated, sighing.
Opal quietly hopped down from her balcony, making a light thud on the grass below.
"We must go," she whispered, nervously. "I have never crept out at night before. Come to think of it, I have never crept out during the day either. Nevertheless, I do not have a death wish, so if you please…"
She nodded to Kayley, who raised the Heart of Kandrakar and, with concealed anxiety, swiped the Heart through the air, creating a bright blue fold in its path.
They hurried through quickly and sealed it shut.
Examining their surroundings, they recognized where they were this time, it being roughly the same place they had landed on their last visit.
After transforming, the girls flew into the village and surveyed the area from above.
"So…" Lorelai began. "What are we supposed to be doing again?"
"Look," Kayley pointed to a figure down below and dived towards it. Landing gently, Kayley greeted, "Hi Matthew,"
The boy turned round and gasped, before recognizing the distinctive uniforms of the Guardians. "Hello again," the boy grinned. "What, was last time not traumatizing enough?"
Kayley smiled down at him, wryly. "You've got a big mouth for such a small boy."
"Hey, I'm eleven you know!" Matthew protested, but Kayley just laughed.
"Whatever kid. Listen, we're looking for someone who might be important to talk to. Can you show us to them?"
Matthew did a quick double check over his shoulders and whispered. I can't, but I know someone who can. Follow me."
"The men you want are camping outside Torus Filney, nearest the Plains region in the North."
Ash stared at the frail, old and cloaked man and feared that he might die in the space of this conversation, so thought it best to hurry him along. "In case you haven't noticed, we're from out of town," she said, trying not to be rude. "Can you point us in the right direction or at least to someone that might?"
"Just head north-west until you come to a barren clearing," a young man instructed, appearing form the shadows. He was tall with a sharp dark blue tunic and an even sharper sword at his side. He also had dusty blonde hair and a pair of faded sideburns that were just about noticeable. "They'll be a few dozen mud huts that wheat farmers reside in until the Harvest season. The men you're looking for will be there."
"Well, hel-lo," Lorelai greeted, blushing. Amethyst nudged her in the side and took over, "Thanks. And you are?"
"Jonathon," he introduced, bowing slightly. "You must be the Guardians of Kandrakar?"
"Are the outfits a dead giveaway?" Ash smirked.
Kayley continued, "How do you know they'll be there?"
"I'm one of Captain Drake's informants," Jonathon explained, "He was hoping to meet the new Guardians of Kandrakar very soon. I trust you can find your way?"
"We'll manage," Kayley nodded. "Let's go…"