W.I.T.C.H

Chapter 21

Sacrifices

Heatherfield

Riddle looked at his captive, and his captive looked back. Despite their positions, it was Will who was smiling, and Riddle who wore a frown. It had been three days since he had captured Will, and still he had yet to benefit. He glared at the Heart of Kandrakar, lying still and useless in its glass vial attached to the wall. This should have been a fairly simple matter. The machines were all on and working, so why wasn't he getting any power? What did she know that he didn't? And what in the world was happening on the monitor?

Kevin Davies had been a security guard for ten years. In that time he had worked for just about every type of person, on both sides of the law. So it was nice to know that even after all that time, he was still seeing new things. For example, he had never worked with so many people before. His daily report said that there were 402 people in the building at any given time, 400 of which were guards like him. Interestingly, there had been only 401 people up to three days ago. He had also never seen so many zeros on a paycheck. Nor had he seen his boss, or what he was guarding. Not that he really cared, mind you. All he cared about was his family. He hoped that this job would pay for his daughters' college education. Those hopes disappeared as a bright green beam of energy flew past his face, followed by part of the front door.

Matt flew through the newly enlarged entrance, followed by a ten-foot cat and a ten-foot mouse. He looked around. There must have been about 30 or so armed security guards surrounding him. They didn't know quite what to make of this strange group, but they were professionals and quickly got their guns ready.

"Girls, wait outside for a few moments."

Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin looked inside the building and decided to obey Matt's command. For about a minute, all they could hear was the sound of gunfire, energy blasts and groans. Then it went silent.

"Okay, you can come in now."

The girls peered into the building and saw Matt, Mr. Huggles and Napoleon standing in the midst of about 30 or so unconscious security guards.

"Woah." Hay Lin said. "I almost feel sorry for this guy."

Just then, metal shutters fell across all four walls, shutting the group in the room. Once the shutters were in place, multiple nozzles came out of the walls and started to admit a thick, pinkish gas.

"I don't." Cornelia said. "Hay Lin?"

"I've created an air shield around us," Hay Lin replied, "but without the Heart, it won't last long."

"Matt, any ideas?" Taranee asked.

Matt looked up.

"She's up there." he said. Then his eyes turned green and a large section of the roof disappeared. He grabbed Cornelia and Taranee and flew through the hole. Mr. Huggles and Napoleon grabbed Hay Lin and Irma and leapt through the hole as well.

Many floors above them, Riddle watched his monitor with growing concern. These girls were quite resourceful, he thought, switching to the second floor feed. How did they know where he was, and what were those creatures?

"It's over Riddle." Will said from behind him, "You can't get my power, and my friends are here to rescue me."

Riddle quietly walked over to the corner of the room, and retrieved a needle.

"You can knock me out as many times as you like," Will said as Riddle walked towards her, "But you know I'm right."

Riddle inserted the needle into her arm.

"Sodium Pentothal." He said, "Lying is a complicated mental procedure. This drug temporarily, but effectively limits your mental capacity, meaning that lying becomes impossible. In other words, it is a fast acting, short-term truth serum. What is your name?"

"Wilma Vandom." Will said slowly.

"What are the names of your biological parents?"

"Thomas and Susan Vandom."

"Why can I not access the power of the jewel?"

"Because magic cannot be stolen, it must be given willfully by the rightful owner, or inherited."

Riddle took a step back. He did not know this. There was no way that he could convince her to give him her power, not before her friends reached him. It was over. Once again, the fates had stopped him from having any happiness. But he was so close, so painfully close. No. He was too close. He had worked too hard to be stopped now. He would find a way. He turned the sound on his monitor.

"…they took her Raythor! They took the girl I love and now they're going to pay!"

Hmmmm, Riddle thought. So the bird creature loved her. Perhaps, if only the serum hadn't worn off.

"Who is that winged creature downstairs and what does he mean to you?" He asked Will.

"He's name is Matthew Olsen, and he is my boyfriend."

Riddle smiled. A change of plans was in order.

Irma surveyed the chaos. She had been in battles like this before of course, but rarely without powers. She hated feeling helpless, having to cower behind pillars and walls, but she had no choice. Bullets and energy ripped through the air. The Regents were fighting well, and given time they might be able to defeat the guards, but they also had to watch the girls. Despite their great power and effort, Irma knew it wasn't going to be enough. She turned and found her self facing one of the guards. The guard, excited to see someone who wasn't about claw his face off, raised his gun, and pulled the trigger. Irma closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

It came, but from the side, not the front, and it didn't feel like a bullet. Instead, it felt like a person. She hit the ground and opened her eyes to see Walli leaning over her.

"Are you all right?" He said.

"Yes, I'm fine. You're Walli, right?"

"Yes. Irma, correct? I'm very pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine. I'm sorry that I don't know you better. Were you part of the rebellion?"

"No. I come from a small town called Avalon. I was helping the Caleb with the situation on Meridian and decided to help here as well."

"Well I for one am glad you decided to come."

"Yes, I think I'm glad I came too."

"AHEM! If you two are done getting to know each other, we do have a battle going on."

"Sorry Caleb."

The addition of the Honor Guard quickly turned the tide of the battle. It took only minutes to clear up the rest of the guards. It wasn't good enough for Matt, however. He swooped down on one of Riddle's men, and shoved him against a wall.

"Where is she?" He shouted at the guard.

"I… I don't know." The guard said, shaking his head. Sweat was pouring down his face.

"Do you have any idea what kind of power I wield?" Matt said, his eyes starting to glow, "You will tell me where she is."

"I swear I don't know." the guard said, "We've never been told anything."

"Fine." Matt said. "You'll be the example for the others."

Matt's eyes glowed even brighter as he prepared to unleash a blast. As he fired, he was hit hard in the side of the head. It knocked his blast just wide of the man's head. He turned to see who had hit him and found Raythor staring back at him.

"Raythor!" He screamed. "What are you doing?"

"Saving you from yourself." Raythor said back. "You were about to kill that man."

"So?" Matt said, eyes still glowing. "They took her Raythor! They took the girl I love and now they're going to pay!"

"It's not worth it."

"Excuse me?"

"It's not worth it. It never is."

"So you would have me spare him?

"Yes. If not for me, for her."

The glow faded from Matt's eyes when he heard this.

"I've killed people before Matt, under Phobos. I thought I was doing the right thing, that it would protect the people I cared about, but it didn't. There's not a day that I don't regret all the lives I've taken. It changes you. Forever. You're a good man Matt, better then I'll ever be. If you kill that man now, you'll be changed too, into something that you're not. I've seen it happen to too many good people, I don't want to see it happen to you. And I'm guessing neither does she. Walk away."

Matt dropped the guard.

"Now," Raythor said, "whoever this guy is, he didn't think we had anyone who could fly. That means he most likely put himself, and probably Will, as high as he could. Which means we have to go up."

"How?" Matt asked. "He put a shutter on the ceiling too. I don't think I can blast through it."

Suddenly, the elevator dinged and another large group of guards exited.

"If people can come down, they can go up." Raythor said, pointing to the elevator.

"Up the elevator shaft. Nice." Matt said. "But I can't carry all of you up there."

"Just go!" Raythor said. "We'll handle these guys."

"Thanks Raythor." Matt said. Then he took off, blasted through the elevator and headed up the long, dark shaft.

Once more, the room burst into chaos. Irma and the rest of the girls ducked for cover yet again. This time however, it was a much more even fight. It was clear that the well-trained Honor Guard, combined with the mystic might of the Regents, were too much for the mere security guards. But all it took was one lucky shot. Irma saw it first. One of the guards had slipped behind Walli, and was lining him up in his sights.

"Walli, watch out!" Irma shouted.

Walli and faced the guard but it was too late. Walli had no time to draw his bow, and no one else could get there in time. Walli closed his eyes, and waited for the end.

Will hit the ground. She stumbled around, stretching aching muscles. She was free! How? Riddle? No, he was nowhere to be found. The girls! Matt! She remembered now, they had been on the monitor. But how had they found her? It doesn't matter. They were here, and they needed her help. She looked at the Heart, still sitting in a glass vial attached to the wall. She walked over to the table where her stuff had been placed and picked up her coat. She wrapped her hand in it and smashed through the glass. It shattered and the Heart fell to the ground. It sparked and glowed as she picked at up and held it in front of her.

"Guardians unite!"

Irma panicked. There was nothing she could do. Walli was going to be killed in front of her and there was nothing she could do. But she had to do something! She closed her eyes and focused on the guard. She concentrated, and released all of her power. She opened her eyes. The guard was halfway across the room, soaking wet. She had done it! She had saved him! She looked down. She was in guardian form, fully transformed, just in time to save him. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Walli. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Wait a minute." Taranee said from behind Irma. "If we're Guardians again, then that must mean…"

A bolt of lightning struck down a guard.

"Will."

With the combined might of the Guardians, the Honor Guard and the Regents, the security guards were defeated in a matter of seconds. The Girls barely had time to give Will a hug before…

"The Guardians. In all their glory."

The girls looked up to see that a large screen had lowered itself from the ceiling. On it was Riddle.

"This is the guy who kidnapped you?" Hay Lin asked.

"Yeah." Will said. "His name's Riddle and he's more dangerous then he looks."

"We're going to get you Riddle." Taranee said. "Even if we have to tear down this entire building."

"No, you won't." Riddle replied calmly.

"Why not?" Will asked.

"Because," Riddle said, "there are only two ways to free the locks that held you in place, Will. The first way is by entering a 12 digit key code, and then pressing a small, unmarked button in my office. Since no alarms are going off, no one has entered my office. Which means you were freed using the second way. That way involves manually ripping out the cords supplying power to the electronic locks that kept you in place. Whoever did rip out these cords would also receive a 2500-volt shock while they did it. That's more then they use in electric chairs. So you could hunt me down, or could try to save the person who saved you. By the way Will, isn't someone missing from your group?"

Will looked around and felt her heart sink. There was only one person who wasn't there. Only one person who was missing.

"Matt!"