And we're back! Thanks so much for returning to this story! When we left off, Will was captured by Doctor Samuel Matthews, Taranee got shot in the shoulder, and a folder of information was left on Will's bed.

Looks like things are about to get worse.

Enjoy the read!

W~I~T~C~H

The morning sun did little to soothe Melissa's soul. Today wasn't going to be a good day. She didn't head home, but she didn't return to the site. Too close and she may have been spotted. Too far and she wouldn't be able to act efficiently. If it were up to her, she would have blown straight through all of them. But nay, that wasn't the way. They'll get Will back, no matter what they have to do.

So Melissa watched from afar, sitting atop an old ferris wheel at the boardwalk. The fair was closed and wouldn't be opened. From here she could see the tower, a small beacon in the distance adorned by the rising sun. Taranee had been shot in the shoulder, but she made it out alright. She was right, it was only a flesh wound. According to Taranee, it hurt like hell, but she was doing alright. She would be down for a while until that healed, and there was no telling when that would be.

Now they were down two members.

Melissa sighed through her agitation, kicking her legs at the empty air. Her ankles would bang against the steel of the ferris wheel, a decent theme to their impending future. But what could they do? Hay-Lin was certainly relaying the news to her family and trying to get them to calm down. Once that was done, she would call them all together to work on a plan. Any minute now…

"Girls, regroup." Right on time. "I have Will's folder. Let's check it out and see what's inside."

Melissa wasted little time. She dropped from the Ferris Wheel and slowed her speed to the boardwalk below. Feet on the ground, she changed back into her human state away from her Guardian form. There was no need to be shot at right now.

She jogged from the beach to their little meeting location, where else to review the information but at the same house it lied in? The streets were a lot quieter, as if Earth itself knew that trouble was brewing through the air. Oh what Melissa wouldn't do just to be home in Meridian right now. She and Will could just live out their lives there. Well, as much as they could considering Will's immortal-like state.

They would get that chance. Stars above, Melissa would see to it that they could start a family together. But first they had to get Will back.

The trip to the Vandom household was swift and easy. A full day of planning lied ahead of them. They had to rescue Will, then beat the hell out of Doctor Matthews.

Melissa skipped up the steps, opened the door, and stepped into the house. They were all already here. Hay-Lin, Irma, Taranee, and Cornelia. Melissa was late to join. Mrs. Vandom-Collins and the rest of the Vandom household stood nearby watching the girls work. But it was clear they were worried

Their conversation, whatever it was, died when she stepped inside. The door was shut and she walked over to the table. The flames of sympathy exuded from the Guardians.

"Hey," Irma broke the silence. "How are you doing?"

Her question was ignored. "Is there anything in the folder?"

Hay-Lin beckoned her closer and spread it out. Lying on the table were blueprints, documents, notes, cards, and a small book, big enough to be mistaken for a user manual for a product. There were diagrams of a large tower, an antenna built like a skyscraper.

"Will got us what we needed. Pictures, notes, conversations, prerequisites for this GU Project. What Doctor Matthews is doing. There are three stages to his plan, apart from the Project Management aspect of it: Build the smaller portals, get backed by government officials for more funding, then build even more."

Cornelia jabbed her finger down onto one of the portals on the sheet. "But there's a problem: these things consume energy like humans to water. They require a lot of wattage, more than what the city can provide, let alone anyone else. So he came up with a solution. In his little journal here, he needs more 'Sentrimum,' whatever that is. Once he has that, he can power his antenna."

Taranee pointed to the blueprint that took up the table. "It's supposed to power all these portals here on the East Coast."

oh no. It was all coming together. Melissa leaned over the documents and grabbed a loose sheet she brought closer to her face. She read it to herself, her eyes widening per every word.

"Oh no," she said to herself. An old conversation between her and Will popped into Will's head. "That's too much Sentrimum."

"What?" Hay-Lin queried.

"This man is a psychopath. He's looking to shoot off twenty-two thousand Lives of Sentrimum at once to power all of his portals. At that rate, it will destroy the Veil, and not just here."

Taranee shared a look with the rest of the Guardians before resorting back to Melissa. "What is Sentrimum?"

Melissa turned back to the table. "You guys may know Will as the single badass among our group. But what you don't know is that she's also a study freak. Whenever she's not kicking butt or we don't have anything planned, Will would go to Kandrakar and read their texts."

Melissa turned back to face then. "Will knows a lot more about the Veil then you'd expect. She's like a part time genius. When she'd get home, she'd tell me everything she had learned. Will told me one time that the Veil is powered by the people living in it. We all give off what is called Sentrimum."

Interesting. Susan crossed her arms and asked, "Like a gas?"

"No. Like energy. We only give off a little bit. So small, the number is like . . . Point zero-seven-three-four-six, the number goes on. It's really really small. We literally create the veil everyday. All creatures, no matter the world they come from, add to the Veil.

"But Sentrimum can't just be thrown onto the Veil. No, it has to have a certain pressure or else it'll break apart. Like hitting an electronic device with too much current will blow that up and whatever else it's connected to. Or filling up a water balloon with too much water too fast. The highest amount of Sentrimum the Veil can actually take is around twelve thousand every ten minutes, and that can't be in one spot."

Melissa raised the sheet she was looking at and pointed to the number circled in red. "Doctor Matthews wants to force out twenty-two all at once in one location."

"What?!" Hay-Lin snatched the sheet from Melissa's hands and read it for herself. "What'll happen?"

"When Will was trying to destroy the Veil years ago, she said she pushed out around eleven thousand lives in the amount of time it took us to coerce her not to. That took like an hour or two. But in that time, we could see other worlds and rips in space. But this time, not only will those rips be bigger, but things could actually fall through. Creatures we don't want here will interact with these worlds. Like the Butterflies of Metamoor Forest. Or the Snakes of Teralithium"

Oh the horror. Irma shivered and said, "I was almost eaten by those things."

"And there's no telling where these rips may open. They can open in the sky, they could open underground, anywhere where the Veil exists, it can open there."

"Then we can't let him get that Sentrimum," Hay-Lin decided.

"It's too late for that." Melissa wiped her face and told them what they didn't want to hear. "The Remnants hold more than enough. Each Remnant is enough to pack a punch of Lives. He's going to use Will to shoot off that antenna."

Silence reigned over the room. He had Will, he could shoot off any moment. Susan asked, "So what do we do?"

"Well we have to find Will. He's using her to power the machine, so she has to be nearby or something. But I've been reaching out to her and have yet to receive a response. She's gone completely dark."

Hay-Lin slapped Taranee's arm upon remembering. "She touched the folder. Maybe we can track her that way."

Taranee quickly grabbed the folder, berating herself for not doing this sooner. They could have found Will by now. She closed her eyes and focused. Time reversed for this folder. It was packed back up, Melissa left the house, they had their little discussion, then it was carried back upstairs and set upon Will's bedroom.

The Guardians backed away and pointed towards the Envelope before the door was closed. The envelope sat there alone, slowly fading into the night before a Rip was sliced open. The folder flew and threw into Will's desperate hands.

She was lying on the floor outside of the office, in the hallway. Taranee could see the fatigue sketched across her face. That's where she needed to be. Taranee jumped from the memories of the folder to the memories of Will. Now she could see through her eyes.

Time was stopped and pushed forward once more. The folder was shoved into the rip and zipped up before Will focused back on Matthews. Will went dark before so Taranee did what she didn't want: she jumped from Will to him. Sure enough, he pulled out two devices that incapacitated her. That's when they lost her. She passed out.

Doctor Matthews quickly scooped her up like a bride and carried her into his office. He walked over to one of his bookcases, grabbed a seemingly random stick and swiped at the air. Crap. A blue rip was created. One he walked through before everything went black.

What happened? Where'd he go? Strange. Taranee could no longer feel his mind. She was trapped in limbo. Taranee's eyes snapped back open to the two world. They stared, waiting for an answer.

"I only have a door," she answered. "Doctor Matthews has some kind of wand that works like the Heart of Kandrakar. It opened a portal. Will was unconscious and he carried her through it. I lost him after that. It was like he never existed."

"So there's no way to track him unless he has his phone or something," Mrs. Vandom concluded. She placed her hands on William. With determination she declared, "We have to search that building for Will."

"We know, but that place is a fortress. Matthews is using the police, National Guard, and whoever else came out to protect him by playing the victim card. And it would take too much time to convince them otherwise."

Hay-Lin gathered the blueprints, the documents, all of the paperwork together in a pile. No more time for planning. "Then we have to do what we never should," she said. "We have to storm that tower and become their logical bad guy."

Cornelia was apprehensive. "Are you sure?" She asked. "I mean, Taranee got shot last night when we weren't paying attention. Earth isn't like the rest of them, these guys can hit us once and we'll be down. We'll have little to no time to react."

"Or we could go with the second option. Both of these are terrible. Either we storm it before he even gets a chance to power-on his antenna and get shot up, or we wait for him to do so and risk destroying the veil, Will, and the lives of the innocent just to clarify that he's the enemy."

The silence of the home was deafening. The intensity of the situation weighed upon their shoulders. Either they go in now and risk getting killed, or go in later and risk letting others die. Either way, there was going

It was Taranee who spoke first. "Throughout the years as Guardians, the Keepers of the Infinite Dimensions, we swore to protect it from hurt, harm, or danger, protecting the lives of those who live within it. This goal has never changed. I'd rather die than let those men, women, and children die."

"As would I," Irma agreed. She grabbed Cornelia's hand and held it up. "We both would. Right, Corny?"

"You can let go now, Irma."

The group shared a small laugh before delving back into the air of despair. "I think this is safe to say," Cornelia mumbled. "That this has been both the most ironic and most dangerous mission we've ever had."

Hay-Lin said, "Well let's begin. But first, let's get our loved ones away from here. Do what you can to get them out of the city, because if we're too late, then Heatherfield will become ground zero. It's safer outside than in."

Irma saluted before Hay-Lin turned to Taranee. "T? I want you to shoot a few explosions on the tower. Draw their attention away from us to wherever that would be coming from." She turned to Melissa. "Take care of their air support. We can't risk being spotted from the air."

Melissa nodded and quickly left for the front door. "And Melissa?" She stopped and glanced sourly over her shoulder to meet Hay-Lin's determined gaze. "We're going to get Will back."

Words are empty if they haven't even begun the journey. Melissa walked out the front door to get to the house across the street without a response. She had to get her parents to leave the city.

W~I~T~C~H

Pain riddled Will's body. One eye was outlined with a deep shiner, the other swollen shut from constant abuse. Blood leaked from her mouth and dripped onto her clothes. Will was sure one of her legs were broken as well. She couldn't feel it anymore. She barely moved, barely breathed to render her logically alive. There was no point. Without her powers, she was nothing but a kid again. A human girl with limits that were being lowered per blow.

One eye cracked open, adding to the dizziness fogging her mind. The last thing she remembered was looking that monster in the eye before taking a bat to the face.

"Ah, you're awake," the monster said to her. His voice echoed around the room. "Good, good. At one point, I thought you died."

Will coughed and splattered blood to the floor. "Sorry . . . to disappoint," she weakfully and sarcastically apologized. "What'd I miss?"

"Oh you missed nothing. As a matter of fact…" Hands walked over, grabbed her face once more and tilted her head back to meet his smile. "You're right on time. The fireworks are about to begin."

Fireworks? He let Will's head fall back down and walked back to the side of the machine out of her sight. In front of him was a graphical interface displayed on a computer monitor, reporting to him the machine's current levels.

"All of your Remnants' Sentrimum is beginning to overload my machine. It's time to release it. But first, I have a little message to give to all of them out there."

Sentrimum?! Will coughed and said, "You're a monster. You're going to kill people for no gain but death."

"Quite the contrary, Wilhelmina Vandom." He stepped back around into Will's sight and lifted up another black box with a red button in the center. He smiled and said, "You won't be able to see the affect, but believe me, it's happening."

"I don't want to believe a single word that comes out of that mouth of yours."

"Well that's too bad. Because…" He held the remote out to her and jabbed his thumb on the button. It turned green and beeped three times. "You're just one out of a million. The rest of those people out there? They will believe me."

Will grunted and fought against her chains, shouting, "The Guardians will stop you. All of Kandrakar will stop you."

The laugh he let loose was one that did little to soothe Will's attitude. If anything, it magnified her anger.

"Oh, I don't think so. Even your own kind has turned against all of you." He reached down to the TV and flipped a switch on the back of it, turning it on. A slideshow of camera feeds played along the screen, showing the high law enforcement and military presence stationed outside the tower. That must be where the target was.

Will said nothing else. His work was done. Soon, the message will be delivered, then the Veil will come tumbling down. He wouldn't want to be underground when that happened. Grabbing a dress coat, Doctor Matthews turned his back to Will and made for the door. But stopped in his steps and raised a finger over his shoulder.

"Almost forgot!" He turned on his heel and walked back to the machine Will was strapped to. He tapped a few times on a keyboard. "Just in case you manage to somehow get out." One more loud click and a series of beeps resounded from the machine at Will's back.

Now that everything was set. He walked to the door and pushed it open. A smirk was shot back at Will's damaged form before he stepped out, leaving her tied up and defenseless. The beeping stopped and a great light flashed above Will. A violet veil sparkling with energy cascaded around both her and the machine, trapping her inside. There was no way she was going to get out of here now. He jailed her in. The Guardians were outnumbered, the enemy was getting away, and she was powerless to help.

They failed. Will bowed her head to the floor and let the tears fall. Sobs escaped her, mourning the lives that were going to be lost. Mourning herself at losing the battle.

"I'm sorry, girls," she whispered through her tears. "I'm so sorry."

W~I~T~C~H

The day was just beginning. Businesses would soon be booming, breakfast would be made, and schools would be attended. All forms of life were preparing for that hour. Baths were taken and clothes were slapped on. Then a family breakfast before the day commenced. The same went for the Lair household. Irma wasn't around, but that wasn't a problem. She hasn't been around for the last few years, now wouldn't be a difference.

Oh Irma… Anna could barely cook this morning, just thinking of her daughter. The sun was shining through their windows, basking the kitchen in a warmth she rarely feels. Chris was in his room getting ready for school, and Tom was getting ready for work as the Chief of Police. With all his medals and awards. She was proud of her two boys.

But Irma… She was a mystery. A soldier, fighting a war they couldn't see. Strange indeed.

Anna could make out the faint sound of Tom's footsteps thundering down the stairs before she was pulled back into his embrace. It brought a small smile to her face. Her fingers traced his face when he kissed her on the cheek from behind.

"Good morning," he greeted.

"Good morning," she replied. "Bacon or sausage?"

"Whatever you already have out." Tom walked into the living room with his hat in his hand, a black and white suit ordained with awards and his level of staff. He flipped on the TV and grabbed his keys. "Don't want to forget these again."

Anna laughed and said over her shoulder, "You almost had a heart attack last time. Try not to lose them again."

"If you hadn't found them for me, I probably would've died that day." The two shared a half-hearted laugh before quieting once more. Tom sat down on the couch and Anna back to the kitchen.

"How's Chris?" She asked.

"Well he's up and ready for school. So that's something." They tried to avoid the question, but eventually, it had to come up. "Have you seen Irma?"

"Not since Saturday. She's an adult now, tracking her isn't as easy as it were years ago."

Tom chortled and said, "Apparently, she was saving the world."

Anna abruptly ceased her cooking and turned off the stove. "She was putting herself in danger. Irma shouldn't have been doing things like that. She should've just been worrying about school and . . . And boys, or something." She whipped around and crossed her arms at Tom. "Instead, we find out she has powers from the police after her friend nearly destroys the city."

"Anna," Tom warned. He walked back into the kitchen and wrapped Anna in a hug, full of warmth and love. She's been distraught ever since that day they disappeared. There was no way to track them. They simply disappeared. When Tom brought her home . . . Oh what a beautiful sight.

Days Prior

The afternoon was descending upon Heatherfield. Chris had just returned home from school and Tom would soon be arriving. There was no given time.

This was one of those rare moments in life, the one they all dreamed of. Where you could sit back and indulge in silence, watching the sun dip below the horizon. If only this were every afternoon.

Anna was tempted to stand outside and listen to the wind blow, the chirping of the birds, the great songs of nature. But alas, that wouldn't be today. Someone was unlocking the front door. Two voices were whispering outside that caught her attention.

Anna stood up and stretched her body before the handle rotated and the door cracked open an inch. Tom's smiling face poked in.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said.

What in the... Anna crossed her arms and smirked. "Hey, yourself. What are you doing?"

"Someone turned up today," he said. Wait, his voice was wobbly. His eyes were red with…

Anna's smile dropped. "Tom, why are you crying? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's a lot better now." Before Anna could question that, Tom pushed the door open and revealed the girl standing on the other side. A person that made Anna stop walking.

Irma stepped into the house in a baseball uniform and a small smile on her face. It was like staring in a mirror. No one else had that face. No one but…

"Irma?" Anna whispered.

Irna slowly nodded her head and walked closer. "Hey, mom. I'm back."

At first she couldn't believe it. Anna walked up and placed both hands on her face, staring into her eyes. "Irma… oh my god, Irma! Irma!!"

Anna threw one arm around Irma's back and the other on her neck. She yanked her in tight and held her, crying into her daughter's own tight embrace.

"You're home!! You're home!!" She pulled back and placed kiss upon kiss on Irma's face. "Oh where have you been?!"

"I've been saving worlds, mom," Irma said.

Anna didn't understand. So Irma grabbed her and Tom's hands, pulling them over to the couches. She told them everything they needed to know. She told them about how she was a Guardian, about her peers over water, and, because she asked, that she was still single.

Present Day

Tom kissed her cheek before Anna spoke. "I just… I miss that girl, not this soldier, because I feel like I don't know her."

Someone tinkering with the front door brought them back to the present. It was opened and Irma stepped in wearing her Guardian uniform.

There was no good morning. She wasn't smiling like she's been the last few days. She closed the door and faced them. "Mom, dad, I need you to take Chris and leave the city."

"What?" Tom let Anna go and crossed his arms at her. "And just why would we uproot like that?"

"Because Doctor Samuel Matthews has Will. He's going to use her to punch a hole in the veil strong enough to open portals and rips, and there's no telling what comes through. All the monsters and creatures only we could beat could come through and start eating citizens. Innocent civilians of other worlds could fall through. Either way, today decides the fate of the Veil and all the worlds in it.

"So please, for your own safety, leave the city."

Tom and Anna shared a look before the TV decided to change channels from the news to static, so loud it caught their attention. It didn't seem important, just static until that face replaced it.

Doctor Samuel Matthews. Staring at them from every TV screen, interrupting every radio station, and intercepting every phone. His voice was everywhere. He was sitting behind a desk in a suit and tie, smiling like the crook he was.

He was seen in the Vandom residence, the cook residence, the Hale residence, the schools, on the streets, anywhere there was a speaker or a screen. All motions ceased and slowly focused on the man on the screen preempting their original programming.

"Hello, you poor people of Kandrakar," he greeted. "I made a promise to deliver you faster transportation. But before that, I also made a promise to break down the support structure that you cannot see. Kandrakar wants to keep us all governed under their laws and rules, and imprison those who defy them. It has been like this for centuries.

"But no more, for today things will change. I will destroy their veil and free us all from Kandrakar's tyrannical rule, and with it, their worlds."

He leaned in close to the camera. "You can't stop this, Guardians. It's going to happen one way or another. Enjoy the show."

He reached over the camera and cut the feed back to their original programming. Or in Irma's case, the News. Confusion riddled the host's face before all energy was wiped. The TV cut power, the stove switched off, the refrigerator stopped running, and Chris's radio upstairs stopped bumping whatever the heck that boy was listening to. There wasn't even a hum.

"Everyone outside," Hay-Lin pinged. "The plan flopped before it could even begin."

Irma rushed to the door but pointed to her mom, dad, and Chris coming down the stairs. "Get as far away from the city as possible!" She shouted. "And no matter what happens, don't come back until it's safe!"

W~I~T~C~H

Chaos was beginning to reveal its ugly face. In the time it took for Irma to leave her house and meet up with the Guardians hovering in the sky, the police on the ground were racing for that tower in the distance. That was the only location where that signal could've originated from.

The Guardians were watching from above, waiting for the first sign when she stopped next to them. "What's the plan?" Irma asked.

Hay-Lin shook her head and answered, "The citizens are first and foremost. This is going to be a battle the likes of which we have never seen. We have to evacuate the city to avoid any injuries or fatalities. I'll tap into their emergency broadcast system and inform—"

Irma was cut off by a loud song similar to the ringing of a wobbling gong emanating from the tower. All focus was placed on that. A small light was appearing above the tower, on the tip of an antenna. It shone bright, blinding to the point that cars had to pull over to avoid getting in a car crash. Citizens stepped out of their cars as the seconds creeped by, watching with open mouths. The noise it released was stentorian, so great even the deaf could feel its vibrations traveling through the air.

Hay-Lin knew what they had to do. "Give it everything you got!!"

The battle had begun. They speared from their still location through the skies, screaming over the frozen parts of Heatherfield for that tower of light in the distance. Screw the aircraft carefully circling. Screw the police at the bottom watching. Even Tom Lair.

Taranee fired the first shot. She clasped her hands together before pulling them apart. Ten orbs of fire circled around her body. "Split!" She pinged.

Irma and Melissa dipped in one direction, Hay-Lin and Irma in the other, leaving Taranee on a direct course for the tower. With a flick of her wrists, the orbs flew from her control and through the air with a projection for the building's glass walls. Taranee flew up once they hit. Ten explosions big enough to blow wind downwards.

"Holy—!" Tom and his partner ducked behind his police vehicle and covered his head while the vibrations rattled his core. Citizens screamed and ran for cover. Any vehicle still moving screeched to a halt crashed into static objects. At least no one was hit.

Tom slowly uncovered his head and looked up to the tower to survey the damage. But… "Impossible," he said. The tower was untouched. There was no damage, despite the smoke in the air.

His partner glanced his way, "What the hell?"

"I don't know, I don't know!" He turned to one of his Lieutenants and pointed back to the people. "Start evacuating the city! Tell everyone to take the Central Freeway Northbound now!"

The Guardians were just as stunned. Taranee looped around and threw another with a destination for the actual antenna. It flew through the air and hit against what seemed to be a violet barrier. It flashed into visibility on impact, but disappeared once absent.

"It has a freaking shield!" She shouted.

What?! Hay-Lin and Melissa joined her on the other side once the loading reached its zenith. The sound it was giving off was its highest pitch, and the little beacon of light at the top finally released as a small beam to the blue skies. Sentrimum. Irma and Cornelia ceased their descent to the ground and their eyes followed it. All eyes tracked it to the sky, waiting for what it would bring.

Not a single person was prepared for it.