The next morning Natalia was stuffing her books into her bag as she held a piece of toast in her mouth and slipped her shoes on at the same time. She managed the tasks without losing her breakfast then staggered a few steps because she had forgotten to tie her laces. She reached down and did them quickly, on her toes and ready to run out the door. Her mother called her from the kitchen before she could make her escape to the shed where her bike was.

"Nat"'

"Yeah, mom?" Natalia poked her head through the door and waited. Her mother was just putting some dishes in the dishwasher before washing her hands.

"Remember we're having guests tonight. I need you here to help me out." Her mother gently threw the towel back onto its place after wiping her hands slowly. Natalia couldn't glare at her hard enough.

"Mom, you know I don't like them. And I told you, I was going to do homework with my friends - before you invited them." Natalia leaned on the door to prove her point with a frown.

"I know, but the Spencers have decided to take my side in the divorce and I want to show them appreciation even if you don't." the glassy eyed woman crossed her arms and looked at her daughter as if to dare her to disagree. Natalia didn't.

"Fine, but honestly, if I have to talk to Robbie, I may punch him." she warned. Robbie was the son of the family in question and had a mutual feeling of dislike towards Natalia. Reason being was from a long time ago when both their families were on vacation in the mountains, he had "accidentally" pushed her into a mud hole. Ever since then Natalia and Robbie have had a very hateful relationship, if it could even be called that. It perhaps sounded better than mutual disgust.

"You don't have to stay that long, I just need you to be here." her mother promised.

"Okay. Bye." Natalia turned to leave.

"Nat?" her mother called. The bushy haired girl stopped and turned to her mother once again.

"Yeah?" she asked, a little annoyed.

"Thanks." At that Natalia's face softened and she half smiled.

"See you later, mom."

Once outside, Natalia hurried to her bike and hopped on, peddling quickly to get out of her street.

A few kilometres away, Ashley was getting on her bike too, a younger boy trailing her out the door. He had short red hair the same shade as Ashley and freckles. She shouldered her bag and waved back at her little brother.

"Bye, Patty!" she said and set off momentarily. Patty waved after his sister just as his father came out of the door and ushered the young boy to the car. Ashley was on the main road through town before they even got into the car, her speed faltering slightly as she passed a woman with a pushchair; Ashley swerved sharply and avoided her by going around. The journey to school was short usually but depending on how many drivers were careless enough, it could take longer. Natalia and Ashley would usually meet at the intersection of a branched off street near their school, then would cycle down together.

After the girls arrived at school, they met up as normal, this time Cleo joined them as a new addition to their group. Tia appeared from behind Kara and sat down with the girls. They all smiled and greeted her, all of them just a little bit guilty that they couldn't tell her about the day before and how weird and extraordinary things would be from now on. Who knows what they'll be doing? Becoming a guardian of the Veil wasn't something that happened every day. The guardians would have to make it count. The bell rang soon enough and life carried on as normal.

At lunch, Cleo was first to sit down at an empty table on the edge of the cafeteria; her intention was to test out whether her new friends would actually join her and if everything from yesterday meant anything to them. Her eyes followed each one of them through the lunch queue, spying out each girl as she got her food and started coming towards her. She knew it was a paranoid thing to do, but she wanted to trust them. First it was Ashley and Tia, chatting about something as they reached the table and smiled at Cleo. She smiled back in relief and relaxed as Natalia and Mei Lin came to sit down.

Kara took a long time to get through the queue but she eventually made it, however on the way she was about to collide with a tall boy who Cleo had seen around. He stopped at just the right moment and the two glared at each other for a split second; Kara had to tilt her head to look at him as he was a few inches taller. They tried to move past each other, but each went the same way, thus almost colliding twice more. Finally they split off quickly, each stubbornly moving in the opposite direction to the other and stomping away. Kara looked somewhat mad as she dropped her tray on the table and looked behind her to see the boy staring back. She sat down, her face contorted in anger and she huffed a little.

"Woah, what happened there you angry little munchkin?" Mei Lin prodded her friend's arm to get her attention. Kara pulled her black beanie on the back of her head to make sure it didn't fall off and raised a brow at the question.

"Will, being strange as usual." She picked up her fork and stuck it into a piece of cucumber. "I'm telling you, that guy - he looks down on me, I can just feel it."

"Well, he is taller than you-" Mei Lin was cut off by Kara's glare.

"Listen, Kara. As your friend, I feel qualified to point out that you're not exactly the friendliest to everyone. Maybe he's scared of you, so it's like a preemptive defense tactic." Ashley suggested. Kara half smiled at her.

"Thanks for that, Ash. But we had our lab partners switched and now we're together. I just can't stand his method of working on the assignment. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I just disagree. It's as if he's trying to blow us up."

"Ask for another switch?" Natalia said with a hiccup. The girls all giggled along as she tried to hold her breath in vain.

"No, he'll know and that'll make things more awkward.. Also, I can at least work it out myself but another poor soul would have to try to keep up with him and I'm not sure that it's easy." Kara picked up another piece of cucumber and popped it into her mouth.

"May I suggest you talk to him about it?" Tia was looking at her food as she spoke thoughtfully. "I think if you can agree or compromise on something then it'll work better and you won't be as annoyed at each other. Besides, Will isn't so bad." She caught herself, worried that she'd said too much, but she had already done it and there was no going back.

"You know him, or something?" The question caught Tia out and she mumbled a quiet 'no' and ate her food. Close one.

"Maybe you're right, I just don't know how to talk to people that well. They're so complicated." Kara shrugged. Her father had taught her and her brother how to understand cars, not people.

"Well what are we, ducks?" Cleo smiled from across the table. Over the noise of the cafeteria, the group laughed all through lunch, each secretly grateful to have some company around.

As soon as school ended, Natalia bolted for her bike, remembering that she must go home to help her mother. Mei Lin hopped away for her own shift at the Silver Dragon, walking quickly through the densely packed streets. Cleo walked to her sister's school so she could be picked up there since their house was too far away to walk. Which left Tia, Ashley and Kara. Tia said that she was going to her grandma's house for dinner and quickly made her escape. It wasn't a lie but the girls didn't know where her grandma's house was. Ashley had taken her bike and instead walked with Kara to her dad's motor shop.

"We should probably try our pixie powers or something." Ashley said.

"I know, I was going to suggest it at lunch but Tia was there and she doesn't know and we can't tell her." Kara replied.

"We should text the girls and say to meet up tonight and do it."

"Natalia's busy for sure, and we don't know if Cleo can make it either." Kara thought about the jewel hanging around her neck. She had it on from yesterday without realising even though it had a most peculiar ability to disappear into her chest where her heart lay.

"Okay, but honestly yesterday I was testing stuff out; I managed to light a candle by looking at it." Ashley giggled and Kara raised an eyebrow.

"That's so weird to hear, y'know?"

"Yeah, but we'll all get used to it soon."

"I hope you're right…"

Kara closed the door of the motor shop and helped her father lock it up. The early evening fog was floating down to the earth and covering the city, making everything look faded and ghostly; as if the world was now just an impression rather than the real thing. Kara was putting on her seat belt in the car whilst her dad activated the store's alarm. They had never been burgled but it was better to be safe than to be sorry.

They drove slowly, zigzagging through small streets to avoid any traffic on the way, the radio humming quietly in the background as the blur of the pavement whizzed past the car's windows. Kara thought about the jewel hanging around her neck; it was hidden at the moment beneath her dark hoodie and also her hair, but the weight of it was still there. She needed to get the others and actually try some of this stuff out. Ashley was right. They needed to be ready. Tonight was a miss however because there were parents and things in the way, but tomorrow was a must. What if Meridian needed them sooner than they expected? It would be very bad if they failed straight away. Failure was out of the question.

"So how was school today?" Kara's dad said suddenly.

"It was fine, except for chemistry; this guy nearly blew us up." Kara shrugged. Her reflection stared back at her in the side window. Beyond that she could see lights from other cars and shops and houses, little orbs shining in the darkness and a weird feeling took hold around her chest. There was something about those lights – they stood up and fought the darkness around them. Suddenly the weight of the Heart of Kandrakar seemed to make sense.

"Well, you have to be careful with fire, you know that right, sweetheart?" her dad asked. Kara laughed.

"Yes, Dad, I'm pretty sure I know that if you mess with fire, you get burned."

"Gotta remind you, so next time, just don't let this boy poke around the fire."

"Oh, I won't. Believe me." Kara turned back to the twinkling lights of Heatherfield, looking at them through the mist.

On arriving home, Kara and her dad saw Michael's bike parked in front of the garage, the slim black metal blending in the darkness around it until the headlights shone on it. Kara's brother was in college and he had a part time job to keep him busy on top of that so he got home at different times. Most of their life, Michael had looked after Kara and these days it felt to her like he was someone different. Sure they would still work on cars and bikes together with their dad, but it wasn't the same any more. It felt like they had suddenly grown up. Kara's gaze lingered on the motorbike for a second longer before she shook herself out of it and went inside.

The Heart made itself known when Kara was alone up in her room. It shone its bright pink light and floated off her skin and in front of her eyes. She told it to shush and shoved it under her hoodie for the moment. Kara knew though something was wrong.

"Dinner's ready!" there was a shout. Kara left her bag, containing the ancient map, on the floor and went downstairs. Inside it, a blue circle appeared etched onto the map. A portal had opened.

Downstairs Kara and her family ate together, some ready-made lasagne heated up by her brother. It was normal there to just eat something which didn't require much attention – this was a lasagne frozen from about three weeks ago when Kara's dad had a day off. He had made it whilst Mike and Kara helped around the shop.

As Kara swallowed the last few bites of her food, she felt the heart appear out of her chest, through her skin and just under her shirt. She covered it up with a cough and started to clear up as quickly as possible, all the while willing the Heart to stop what it was doing. She made it up the stairs just in time because the Heart then rose up into the air and pulled her forwards to her room. The jewels led her straight to her bag and guided her to it. She huffed and opened it to find the map. As Kara pulled it out, she sensed something weird immediately. She saw the blue circle on the map and gasped. This was so not happening. They needed to close the portal.

She reached for her phone and dialled Mei Lin's number. She must be done with her shift at the Silver Dragon by now.

Mei Lin answered after two rings.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Dude, we have a situation!" Kara said desperately, she was staring at the portal on the map. It wasn't showing signs of changing. "There's a portal near the old rail station. The Heart was acting weird and then I saw the map and that's it. There's a portal and we need to round up the others."

"Okay, slow down, are you sure it's the old rail station?"

"Yes, it's on the edge of town. Nobody goes there, it's like the perfect place for a portal.' Kara recalculated the location of the portal just to be sure.

"Well, that's my point. Do portals just open up in convenient places? Like why is it there and not like in the middle of the city?" Mei Lin asked.

"Probably because whatever is trying to get through doesn't want to be noticed?!" Kara whisper-shouted into the phone.

"Fine, okay, I'll call Natalia and you call the others. Meet at the Silver Dragon since it's on the way."

"Okay, quickly!" Kara hung up and started dialling Ashley's number. She picked up on the first ring.

"Hello? I was just thinking about you, weird you called."

"It's pixie time, there's a portal opened up at the old rail station. We're all meeting at the Silver Dragon. Be quick." Kara was already putting the map into her pocket and lacing up her boots.

"Yay!" Ashley squealed into the phone. "Okay, I'm leaving the house."

The girls hung up and Kara called Cleo next.

"Hey, look we have a bit of a portal problem; we're meeting at the Silver Dragon now. Like literally just make something up and go."

"Oh my god, is it from Meridian?" Cleo gasped.

"I don't know, it's just showing on the map. We'll find out soon enough."

"Okay, see you there."

Kara was hopping down the stairs and into the living room where her dad was watching something on TV. Mike was in the kitchen doing the dishes.

"Dad, emergency study meeting at Mei Lin's. I gotta go, but I'll be back soon." She said as she opened the door.

"Okay, honey, be safe." Her dad yelled behind her. He felt a little puzzled at why she was suddenly leaving but he shrugged it off. He knew Mei Lin's family and they were good friends so she'd be okay.

From each house a girl left, having persuaded their parents with some most likely lame excuse, the four were going to the Silver Dragon. Natalia had been the most relieved about the portal, she no longer needed to stay with her mother's guests. Instead she was on her bike going to be a fairy with her friends. Cleo was walking briskly from her house and into the darkness of the streets around her. The lamps were dim and the fog was woven thickly everywhere.

As Kara jogged slowly, she felt as if there was someone watching her; like they were following her almost. She kept turning around but there was no one there so she ran on, switching to a walk when she came on to the main road. The lights around her helped her relax and soon she forgot about the paranoid feeling.

The Silver Dragon came into view as did Mei Lin who was watching from her window. She jumped up from her position and disappeared. Kara stopped just outside and waited for Mei Lin. She made the same excuse that there was a study meeting and hopped out the door.

"Hey, it's better if they don't see you, they might get suspicious." Mei Lin and Kara walked into the alley behind the restaurant and waited. Soon Ashley and Cleo arrived and now they waited for Natalia who zoomed into the alley with her bike.

"Sorry I'm late. Shall we?" She put down her bike on the side and joined in the circle of her friends. Kara held up the Heart and it started glowing pink once again.

"Guardians unite!" she said. The girls transformed in a flash of light, but since the alley was so secluded, it was unlikely anyone saw it. The group tried their best to fly up as far as they could so that they were well above the city skyline and that they could travel faster by flight. With a surprisingly few wing problems, they made it above the city. The view was nothing like they could have imagined; the small stalactite lights of each street were forming small constellations across the city, igniting the darkness of the night all around them and burning through the evening fog.

"Uh, guys, where are we going again?" Cleo swerved down and up to catch up with Ashley and Kara at the front.

"Old rail station, it's just a little bit further from here." Ashley pointed down to where the mass of lights were starting to dwindle down to dim points to where there were no lights.

"Right, we're just going into the dark outskirts of town at night. Nothing to worry about there." Cleo sighed hopelessly. There was no room for fear, not here, not now.

The girls landed around 100 feet away from the entrance of the abandoned rail station; the desolation all around was covered in dust and sand, leaving the building standing limply at one end. It was from a different time, something left behind as the world around it changed and grew. A sad relic that couldn't help itself. The building was two stories high and made of worn, rust coloured bricks, the cream paint from many moons ago not only chipped but mostly stripped and faded from the walls.

The Heart of Kandrakar around Kara's neck sprung to life once again and pointed in the direction of the building. She took the chain in her hand and wound a finger around to resemble a leash. With a sideways glance at one another, the guardians made for the front entrance, which was a high arc of bricks and what seemed to be remains of a glass door in the middle, however the glass had long since been shattered and lay in pieces on the dust ridden floor. Instead of the door there was now a hole of blackness leading inside.

The rail station invited them in with its open entrance but the drop in the atmosphere quickly became apparent to the girls, the air suddenly ominously thick and unfamiliar. As the pink light of the Heart shone in, the group could see it was relatively reassuring to peek inside the building. Kara led with the jewel illuminating only a spec of the grand open hall, the walls nearest to her glowing pink. Ashley stepped behind her and set her hand on fire; the flame was a soft blend of orange, red and yellow, barely making up for the entire cathedral hall they now found themselves in. From Ashley's fire came shadows, trailing the girls as they stepped in curiously. It was obvious this place had seen better days; a draft was coming in from somewhere and Mei Lin looked up to find that parts of the roof were missing and so only patches of the ceiling were complete. The station was pretty much a haunted ruin. Perfect place for their first mission.

Natalia and Cleo stuck together at the back of the group, looking around cautiously up and down at the dirty and torn apart state of the station. A loud crunching sound broke the silence, echoing loudly through the empty hall. Natalia looked down at the feet as she had felt her boot crush something small and brittle. Ashley turned back and shone a light on it; it being a crumpling skull of probably a mouse or rat. The mistaken step had caused the small skeleton to which the skull belonged to lose its formation; the tiny ribcage had slid across the dust and the tail away from it. Natalia shuddered at the sight, holding back a whimper of disgust, and jumped away from it as noiselessly as she could.

The walls that surrounded the group were in varying degrees of decay, paint somewhat still intact though in some places there was graffiti and as Cleo walked she scanned the walls for all the different drawings. One particular caught her eye, the steady pace of her shuffling interrupted. It wasn't like the rest; it stood out on its own even though there were other drawings all around it and behind it. The drawing seemed to speak something to her. Judging from the edges, it was relatively fresh. Three lines had been slashed across a circle so they looked like a bear's claw marks, and in that circle lay some kind of strange symbol. Cleo stopped and stared. The others were too absorbed in the illumination and shadows all around them.

"Hey, guys?" Cleo mumbled. Her tone was still loud enough for the echo to carry out and seem like a shout in the void. The others doubled back and met Cleo who hadn't taken her eyes off the peculiar drawing. "Look." She pointed. Four pairs of eyes widened in disbelief and curiosity. As Kara shone the Heart on it, the three slashes and symbol in the middle glowed slightly around the edges, a barely white light coming from the drawing. What could it be? It was obviously special but why would it be here in this crumbling mess of a building? And who had done it?

Kara moved the Heart closer but the glowing was already fading.

"Is that like a trident or something?" Natalia asked absentmindedly. She followed the lines of the slashes and the intersecting three lines which would make up the trident's forks. It seemed to fit however the other details of the circle were odd; there was something written in the thick, dark pattern surrounding the symbol. It had only been obvious because of the glow but it was still there, only faded.

"Come on, we can come back for that later, we need to take care of the portal." Ashley quipped up from behind the others; she was holding her fire away from them so she couldn't inspect the painting for herself. Cleo glanced back one last time before they continued with their search by following the crystal. They turned a corner and one of the broken signs on the wall pointed to the platform just a little further on. Finally, they were getting somewhere. But in that new direction, the signs weren't the only noticeable things. On the other side of the hall, dimly lit by Ashley's fire and the jewel, the same painting loomed ahead. A breeze blew in from behind the girls eerily as the symbol glowed like its twin just a few tens of seconds ago. Ashley's flame danced as the breeze swayed it down a little, delicate wisps swirling around her hand.

"Okay this is officially freaky." Mei Lin whispered. Kara trained her gaze on the trident, trying to make a connection which wasn't there, her brow scrunched in concentration, she suddenly felt like she was being watched again. Her mind was on high alert, wondering if they had been careful enough not to have been seen. After all they were in their guardian form and that was sorta hard to miss what with the wings and all.

"Things got freaky yesterday when the cupboard started glowing, we're well past freaky." Kara turned around to inspect the falling shadows. Nothing. So why did she feel eyes glued to her?

The group followed the Heart to the platforms, trying to keep their minds at bay since the symbol had almost gotten under their skin. This wasn't an ordinary painting or whatever, there was something that the guardians could feel in their blood and they had to find out what it was. A different light came from around the corner, somewhat blue and electrifying. It must be the portal. They sped up a little and turned the corner to find their destination. The portal was circular and blue just like the one they had seen in Kandrakar except this one was a little more present rather than ghostly like in the light world of the high council. The darkness around this one accentuated its powerful glow.

"Well, let's close it and hope nothing got out." Natalia laughed nervously. She was looking around the platform's emptiness; the tracks were old and tattered as everything around here and it looked like there hadn't been a train for at least 60 years or something. Various greenery had grown here and there, sprouting from a crack, maybe some dusty leaves sitting on the concrete – it was all a little sad how abandoned this place was. There was a time when it had been buzzing with life, a sense of adventure and hope filling the air as each passenger headed out on a train for something special. Now it was dead and empty.

"I suppose we'll never know if anything got out." Kara said as she held up the crystal to close the portal. The blue circular void closed in a flash, nothing but a light breeze remaining as evidence of activity.

"Well that was easy." Ashley had stopped her fire whilst the portal was illuminating them but now the darkness of the night had caved in on them once again. Relieved sighs and smiles washed over the guardians. As they walked back the way they came from, the wind had picked up, blowing dust around and playing with Ashley's fire. The symbol was just there on the wall as they walked to it; no glowing this time or anything. Just the confusion hanging in the girls' minds.

"I'm just saying what we're all thinking; but that feels really creepy for some reason." Natalia said.

"We could look around my grandma's memoirs and we could find out if it's from Meridian." Mei Lin suggested.

"That's a good idea, but something tells me that it won't pop up." Kara replied.

"I'll research this as much as I can." Mei Lin said determinedly. "If not, we can ask grandma."

"Okay, I need to get back, my mom will kill me." Natalia sighed in frustration, they had only been gone for almost an hour which was fine for most of them, but the excuse Natalia had given didn't involve an hour's absence on her behalf.

"Right, yeah I have stuff too." Cleo shrugged, hoping to get out of there as quickly as they could. It was creepy and too late to be out in some abandoned rail station, who knows how stable the structure was anyway? They continued on their way out. Ashley leading at the front and Kara supporting the back. Cleo stared at the symbol as she passed, mesmerised but the uniqueness of it and also the strange feeling pooling deep inside her chest. It had been grasping at her lungs since she saw it first but didn't realise until now that the feeling had remained. It made her scared, something was wrong so it was better not to hang about for too long. Not in the dark anyway.

Ashley put out her fire as they made it out of the bricked arc, the guardians' footsteps quiet in the silence of the night. Kara was going slower so that she could have a moment to think; throughout the entire time there was a lurking of anxiety in her chest as if there was something breathing down her neck. It had started slow at first, just a pang but now it was full blown fear inside her mind. There was someone or something behind her and she knew it. It had been there all night and this was her last chance to notice anything before they disappeared. It had been watching.

For a second Kara paused just before passing through the door, turning back and inspecting the hall only to see nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing but the moonlight coming through the holes of the ceiling. Or a particularly bright star being reflected from behind one of the exchange desks. It was a pretty star but seemed only a spec of golden light from where Kara was standing. Perhaps it was just some left over shiny surface doing its thing and reflecting images. Kara picked up her step and followed her friends out into the night just as the little star shifted down and disappeared, its owner standing up from a crouching position behind the desk and looking after the girls in confusion…