Hey!
Here's the next chapter, the final one in Part IV! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMED: W.I.T.C.H.
-Thirty-Seven: A Proposition-
Since the city was planned to be immense when it was first planned, many parts of it seemed a little big in proportion to its actual size. The park was one—it was big now, but the planners figured that once Heatherfield grew to the size they expected it to be, it would be miniscule in comparison.
Another was the sewer system underground. The founders had figured that, if a city would hold so many people, it would need a large system of sewers to get rid of everything those people… produced.
Most pipes were nearly ten feet in diameter and even had small sidewalks next to the canals that held the rank material. The ones the boys had walked down first hadn't had those sidewalks, so they were forced to wade through ankle deep.
However, soon the branch of pipes that reached across the park had to end somewhere, and that somewhere was an immense, concrete cavern. Three pipes converged in the room, their one sewer line and two storm drains, each ending in a kind of river embedded in concrete for a few feet before cascading down into a trio of waterfalls that dropped almost a hundred feet into the bottom of the cavern, where, underneath the small lake it had made over the years, an immense grated drain took in everything that was thrown down.
It was the point of entrance for Protector City. A small hole chipped into the wall above the sewer drain was big enough for Al, Tro, and Liam to slip into, but Matt, Eric, and Nigel were left outside and told to wait while Al was introduced to the city and explanations were made. The boys sat on the edge of their rived, their legs hanging off the dry sidewalk of concrete and over the swirling spiral of watery doom.
"Geez, never thought anything this big could be underneath Heatherfield," Matt heard Eric say, and he had to agree. "How tall do you think…?"
"At least a hundred feet," Nigel replied. "You think I could climb over to one of the other drains?"
Both Matt and Eric turned to him. Besides being extremely high in the air, each other storm drain and little river was at minimum 20 feet from each other and had soaking wet edges that, if a person had even managed to latch onto after performing the miracle of just getting close on one jump, would let them slip and fall to their deaths.
"…Yup, you're insane," Eric nodded. "Completely and totally 100% crazy. Why isn't he already in an asylum?" he asked Matt.
"They never caught him."
Nigel chuckled and turned his eyes to the distance between him and the closest storm drain. The boys had had to sit still for almost a half hour now, and without at least walking to disperse some of Nigel's newfound extra energy, the boy was becoming a little hyper. His fingers tapped a beat on the slightly damp concrete as his green eyes flicked from one thing to the next, his legs swinging faster than either Eric's or Matt's.
"I think I could make it," he said, looking over the distance.
"I think you'll die."
"Nige," Matt said calmly, "seriously. You won't be able to make that jump or survive the fall. What'll we tell your parents? And how do you think it'll look if one of the Knights dies the first week he's got his powers?"
Nigel humphed and crossed his arms. "I still think I could… hey!" A wide grin spread across his face, both it and his eyes tinged with hyperactive madness. Eric and Matt shared a worried glance. "I've got it! Matt, if you change us, I might have at least a better chance. And even if I miss, Eric'd be able to…"
"#ell no," Eric told him, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Absolutely not. I am not flying a hundred feet in the air above a watery spiral of death to save your skinny, crazy a$$."
Matt had to agree. "I dunno, Nige, that sounds like misuse of our powers," he admitted. "We should be using them for important stuff, like if that guy who's taking the Protectors comes back."
Wait a minute… Matt's mind immediately went into overdrive as an idea evolved inside his brain.
"C'mon!" Nigel groaned and fell back against the concrete. "You said yourself we need practice!" he added, throwing his hands into the air. "And it's not misuse if it's for practice. Plus, storm drain water is cleaner than sewer water, so we can wash off!" That prospect sounded very good to the other two boys. "And, and… and I'm so immensely bored that I'll eventually just leap off the side just to end my boredom!"
Eric snickered at the image but thought it over. "I still don't know…"
"Oooh!" Nigel sat up, another thought coming to mind. "And if Tro and Liam tell the rest of the Protectors that Al came with the Knights of Earth, they'll probably come out and be expecting to see them, not three kids in stinky, ratty clothes! We represent part of Earth's magic, shouldn't we look good for it?"
Matt nodded and even Eric chewed it over for only a moment before consenting. "If only to get me out of these," he said, motioning to his ruined, once-white shirt and jeans. "I'm gonna have to burn them tonight."
"We can have a bonfire in my backyard," Nigel suggested, clapping him on the back. "Matt?"
Matt looked up form his thoughts and smiled. "Okay, fine." He reached into his soggy, smelly shirt and pulled the Heart of Earth from around his neck. With a toss rivaling most baseball pitchers, he threw it to the center of the room and called out, "Heart!"
Three flashes of bright light later, the young teenagers that had once occupied the cavern were replaced by the men that made up the Knights of Earth, standing where they had once been sitting.
"Nice," Nigel said as the Heart floated back to Matt and rested on his chest. "Okay, ready, Eric?"
Eric's eyes bugged. "Wait, what? I told you, I'm not going to…!"
Nigel ignored him and jogged to the other side of the sidewalk, kneeling in a sprinter's position, his eyes set on the other drain. In a bright red streak and an exhilarated shout, Nigel took off and leapt.
Matt and Eric stared as the boy all but flew across the chasm, his arms and legs kicking wildly, as if that would get him further. Amazingly, Nigel crossed the 20 feet of emptiness, even if only barely, grabbing onto the edge with his fingers.
"Nigel!" both his friends cried, seeing the boy hanging precariously off the concrete.
"Don't worry guys, I got this!" Nigel claimed, grinning over his shoulder. With a grunt, he tried to pull himself up, kicking his legs on instinct.
"Who-whoa!"
The slippery wet edge hadn't allowed Nigel to make a good grip, and the boy lost his handholds, falling from the edge with a piercing scream.
"Nigel!" Unable to do anything, Matt just knelt at the edge, watching the redhead fall. Eric, however, was able to do something to save his friend.
"I'm coming, Nige!" he yelled, running and diving off the end of their river.
Eric's eyes narrowed as the wind blew his hair back and pushed the glasses all three of them wore against his nose. Nigel was a few feet below him but was gaining speed fast—he'd hit the water before he had a chance of grabbing him.
A part of him saw the swirling blue and brown spiral far below them and a pang of fear ran through his body, memories of a Hawaiian Observatory flashing through his mind…
No. Save Nigel. Forget that.
More instinctually than anything else, Eric put his hands on top of one another and extended his arms above his head, pressing his biceps to his ears in a streamline position he'd learned at his old swim classes.
Nigel's falling shape began growing larger as he steadily grew closer until…
"I gotcha, buddy!" Eric said, hooking his arms underneath Nigel's shoulder. Nigel stopped screaming and looked up, his terrified face replaced by a grateful one.
"Thanks, dude! Now pull up!"
"Oh, uh, right!"
Eric closed his eyes focused on the weightless feeling again and felt it appear much more quickly in his core. UP! He ordered himself, and slowly, he felt the wind that had been pushing against him switch directions.
When he opened his eyes, they grew wide. Matt's relieved and happy face was coming closer to them as they rose through the air slowly, coming closer and closer to the edge.
When they reached it, he hovered a foot above the ground and gently let Nigel drop onto the concrete, himself staying in the air. Matt clapped his oldest friend on the back comfortingly and grinned proudly at his newest friend.
"Good job, Eric," he said, nodding.
"Thanks. You okay, Nige?" Nigel grinned and nodded. "Good." Eric landed easily, narrowing his eyes at him. He walked forward and jabbed his chest with a finger. "Cause if you ever try anything like that ever again, I swear to God I will kill you, Ashcroft."
"Nice to see a bunch of friends can treat each other so well." The boys looked up and saw Al standing on top of the drain, her arms crossed. "Never took you as the suicidal kind, Nigel."
"Suicidal? No!" Nigel claimed, shaking his head. "Thrill-seeking is the word I use."
"Where's Liam and Tro?" Matt wondered.
"They're coming. Why?" she asked in reply.
A smirk grew across Matt's face—the same one he'd had just before turning the rain intangible. Nigel and Eric both took a step back, now wise to that particular look.
"I have a proposition for them."
"Are you freaking insane?" Tro, Al, and Liam screeched as one once hearing Matt's plan.
Nigel nodded. "I'm starting to think so," he admitted, looking at Matt oddly.
Matt rolled his eyes. "Look, it's simple. Whoever is kidnapping Protectors is obviously tracking them by magic. There's no other way of finding them. So if we bring a couple Protectors together in one place, their magic radar or something'll go off and they'll come running."
"And then we die!" Liam continued.
"No, then you don't die," Matt said. "You guys aren't defenseless anymore. You have us." Nigel and Eric gaped at him. "We'll be able to fight off whatever they send to capture you… and maybe we can figure something out about them."
"You can't use Protectors as bait, though!"
"You won't be in any danger," Matt promised him. "All you have to do is hide nearby. Once they're there, you can run into the sewers or something and we'll handle the rest. All we need is their truck and we'll be able to find out who sent them. If they're the kind of bad guys stupid enough to spout out their plans, we can even get why they're after you guys."
They still seemed hesitant. Matt sighed. He didn't want to use this tactic, but… "Guys, think about the friends and family you've already lost. You have a chance to help find out what happened to them, why they were taken and by who." The three beings grew silent. "These guys took your loved ones. Only the lowest of the low goes after family and friends in a battle. Don't tell me you don't want to try and take those suckers down before they can steal any more Protectors."
Liam looked away from Matt's gaze. "We'll… ask the council in the city."
Twenty minutes later, the three Protectors returned from the city. Al sighed and walked forward, the most comfortable around the boys.
"The bigheaded prats…"
"She means the council," Tro spoke up.
"Whatever, they don't want to help." Matt sagged a little. He'd thought for sure they could… "But I do."
The Knights looked up, surprised. Al looked at them with a green-eyed, fiery glare that seemed to be aimed at whatever entity had stolen her entire life from under her. "My grandma told me when I was younger that no matter how small a Protector is, they have to be big in courage, because when it comes down to it, if they have to fight, they're not just fighting for themselves. We're fighting for our community and the Earth whose magic we Protect."
Tro nodded and stepped up next to her. "My mom told me the same thing." He kicked his head backwards towards the hole. "They might not understand it, but unless someone does something, eventually our population's gonna start shrinking faster too. It's our turn to do something. We've gotta be big in bravery."
Liam crossed his arms. "I say you're all insane," he added, "but… not many people are out looking for magic in Heatherfield. One of them is the company that Mariko disappeared from, and if this gets me closer to her again, I'll do anything."
Matt smiled gratefully at the three brave Protectors. "Thanks guys. You won't regret this."
"We'd better not," Liam grumbled.
While walking back to the surface, Nigel and Eric pulled Matt closer. "How exactly are we supposed to protect them?" Nigel demanded. "We got our powers three days ago! We don't even know how to fight!"
Eric shook his head. "I'm not even totally sure I wanna try flying again," he added.
Matt looked them directly in the eye. When he'd told them of his plan while Al was retrieving Tro and Liam, they'd had the same protests as they had now. "That's why we practice," he told them.
Both boys froze in their tracks.
"Practice?"
Next chapter starts Part V!
~Tibki