Chapter 4

Forgotten

Later that month Talida awoke to a very bad feeling in the air. She had never felt this before and didn't like it. Talida opened her window and the cold night air invaded the warmth of her room. She went out in to the garden and took her form. Talida didn't know if she would be recognised so she added a face mask to it.

Talida flew deep in to town from where the feeling seemed to originate. There were tall blocks of flats and a tall tower painted red. On one of the roofs she saw something that made her heart stop. The guardians she knew for a short time in her life were bound together with rings of darkness. She saw a shadowy figure chasing after Madison whilst dodging Sakura's attacks. Yue and Kiro were telling her which card to use. 'So that's where my uncle's cards have ended up.' Talida thought as Sakura struck a card with her staff.

That's when Madison was knocked off the roof. Sakura tried to get to her friend but the figure was holding her at bay. Then a huge dark bird dived past the roof and caught Madison. Well at least that's what Sakura thought. It was only when Talida slowed down could Sakura and the others make her out. She hovered above them with Madison in her arms. The guardians, Sakura and even the shadowy figure stopped to take a look at the new player in town.

They weren't the only ones to notice Talida's presence either. Someone was lurking in the shadows of a building observing the battle. 'Who are you I wonder?' This person unlike Talida didn't want to be known just yet and stayed put.

When Talida took Madison out of harms way did the battle start again. She put Madison on a roof facing the building. By this time Sakura had used the light card to destroy the shadow and the bonds disappeared around the guardians.

They went over to the roof where Madison was looking curiously at Talida. Sakura and the guardians looked up to see Talida standing on top of a brick wall looking down on them. "Who is she Yue?"

"I don't know. Her wings are like that of a falcon's unlike ours. We'll have no chance of catching her on the wing, you can tell because the feathers are tightly packed in to the wing's structure and streamlined." Sakura looked interested at making a new magical friend and wanted to take a closer look. "I'm going up there."

"She's keeping her distance so she'll run if you get closer." But Sakura wasn't listening and came closer to Talida who was listening to the conversation. Just like Yue said Talida started to jump across the roofs away from Sakura. "Hey! Wait! I just wanna talk to you!" Sakura gave chase and proved to be just as fast.

They jumped and ran across the roof tops with the guardians flying right behind Sakura. Talida may have had a head start but Sakura was determined and the gap started to close. 'I don't need this!' Talida thought irritably.

She took to the air and zoomed upwards to the clouds above. Sakura did the same but Talida proved to be too fast. Yue and Kiro saved their energy by flying slower and eventually caught up to Sakura who was having a hard time communicating with Talida. Each time she moved closer Talida zipped to the other side of Sakura to keep well out of reach.

It was then that Yue noticed her staff and wanted to get closer as well. Talida had just about enough of Sakura's advances and flashed Clow's sign in front of her like a shield as a warning. Sakura understood and went over to Yue for some advice. Talida looked curiously at Yue to see if he recognised her at all. "Stay there, I'll be back soon I promise." Sakura stopped in front of Yue and he looked at her. "I'm trying to see if she'll join us."

"Drifters come and go; I don't see any reason why she wouldn't be one of them. You never know whether they are good or bad so you have to be careful around them."

"I don't think saving Madison's life counts her as being evil Yue."

"Just don't get your hopes up."

"I won't." Sakura and Yue went over to Talida who hadn't moved. They came to a stop when Talida moved away. "What's your name?" Talida didn't answer and just looked curiously at Yue. 'You don't recognise me?' She observed Sakura and Yue with great curiosity.

"Are you a drifter?" Talida shook her head. "Are you a friend or foe?" Talida looked from one to the other before shaking her head. "Neither?" Talida nodded in reply. 'Still so suspicious about everyone Yue? I feel you have become colder since I've last seen you my friend. Oh well, it's not like I'm surprised by the change in you."

It was then that Madison and Kiro had come closer as well. "I told you to wait behind Kiro!" Yue said in an angry tone of voice. "Madison wants to thank the stranger for saving her life."

"Hey Sakura, she's no older than us." Talida didn't do anything and just observed them from a safe distance. 'Kiro too? A double wami? Uncle Clow you have some explaining to do!'

For a minute they were trying to think about what to say to Talida. But Madison had something to say. "Thanks for saving me." She said with a smile. Talida turned her head to Madison and did a little bow. Yue and Kiro still weren't sure about Talida but the girls seemed to like her. Talida was hurt that her friends didn't recognise her and took off Yue's ring. She wouldn't need it if he didn't remember her.

She held it in her hand and opened it pointed towards Yue. He saw the ring sparkle in the moonlight and had no trouble remembering that. Yue came closer whilst Talida stayed put. He took the ring and Talida immediately darted away out of reach. He looked puzzled as he examined his ring with great interest. "I thought I lost this a long time ago. Where did you get this?" Talida stayed silent and decided to talk with motions and hand gestures. First she pointed to herself before putting a finger to her lips. Yue didn't think it was good enough and lunged at her. Talida flapped her wings and quickly zipped away. 'I think I've out stayed my welcome.'

Talida flew along the clouds at such a speed that they parted before her. Then she flew up and did a nose dive in to them. They swirled down above her and then, she was gone.

"Nice going Yue." Sakura scolded looking at the point where Talida had dived.

But Talida wasn't finished with them yet. She wanted to find out who the guardians were and stayed at a distance where they would not be able to sense her presence.

She followed them as they flew down to the park and landed. She couldn't believe what she saw next and wondered what other surprises they had in store. Kiro took his temporary form and flew in to Sakura's bag. But it was the person Yue turned in to that grabbed her attention the most. 'What the hell?' She watched as Yue turned in to Julian who smiled at them.

They split up and walked down different paths. Talida followed Julian at a distance to his house. She hid behind a tree when he felt a presence and looked around. She saw him disappear in to his house and couldn't believe that Julian was Yue.

Julian had just opened his window to see Talida's form flying away. 'Who are you?' He thought as he got ready for bed.

Talida landed before her window and felt someone was in her room. Winston was looking right at her with his arms folded looking a bit angry. "So this is what you've been doing tonight? You do know school starts in six hours?" Talida took off her disguise and told Winston what she saw. Then he changed from looking angry to understanding in a short time. "Well…try not to get hurt."

"I won't." Talida looked out the window and held her pendant now without the ring. 'Too late Winston, I've been hurt more than you realise. The ones that I once call friends have forgotten me. It was as though I never existed to them. You say no one really dies if you remember them. I do but they don't…so what does that mean?'

The next day she went to school on her board cruising down the road. She wasn't looking where she was going and nearly ran in to Sakura as she passed her. Talida was so lost she didn't even notice Sakura was there. Sakura did but wasn't effected by her close call. A thought had just passed in to her mind as well. 'Are you the one who saved Madison last night?'

It was only natural that Talida should be suspected. She was the new girl and is living in the house where Clow Reed once lived. So it only made sense if she was the person with wings they saw last night.

Talida was more distant today than before and this made Sakura grow even more suspicious. In class she and Madison were looking at her strangely. In the end Talida snapped. "What?" She asked a little louder than she meant to. The teacher heard her and did not look pleased. "Miss. Deer, when I'm trying to teach a lesson I expect no one to talk. I'll see you after school." Talida sighed and got on with her work.

At lunch she made sure no one could find her. She climbed up the tree and sat in its branches well out of view. Even Julian didn't know she was up there until she moved and snapped a twig. He looked up and stopped eating. "You'll get in to trouble being up there."

"I've already got detention after school so what's the point in behaving?" Julian looked curious. "Detention?"

"Nothing important."

Later Sakura and Madison showed up. They didn't know Talida was there and she put a finger to her lips before Julian stopped looking at her. "Have you seen Alidat?" Julian knew she didn't want to be found so he shook his head. "We got her in to trouble by looking at her so much she spoke out and out and our teacher heard her. We want to apologise for suspecting her of being the one we saw last night." Julian made hush sound and Sakura covered her mouth realising her mistake. "You never know who is listening." Julian and Yue still weren't sure about Talida so they decided to keep quiet about their secrets.

Talida however seemed unfazed by the conversation and pretended she didn't know what they were talking about or even care. When the girls left she breathed a sigh of relief. But then noticed that Julian had the same look curious look on his face the girls had in class. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" Julian asked hoping it seemed innocent. "Like you think you know something about me." Julian now looked less innocent and almost challenging. "What do I know?" Talida scowled and looked positively threatening. "Don't play mind games with me! You won't last long."

The bell rang and Talida made a hasty retreat back to class. Julian didn't like this and had a chat with Yue in his head. "Do you think she's like us?" Julian asked, Yue opened his eyes and looked thoughtful. "I'm not sure. She looks as though she's innocent but could be pretending. But why she would hide from us is the question. If she is who we think she is then she knows us and has no reason to fear us."

"This is indeed a mystery. One that will be solved in the end, if I understand the way this seems to work." Yue looked very curious to know what Julian meant. "The way what works?"

"Never mind." Julian stopped talking to Yue and became one person again.

Talida served her detention writing fifty lines. 'I must not talk in class.' Which was frightfully dull and knew she wouldn't make the same mistake again. She finally left the classroom to see Sakura, Tori, Julian and Madison waiting by the gates. She had a bad feeling they were waiting for her. Talida decided to escape by climbing over a wall. She succeeded in not being seen and would never moan about Winston training her in evasion ever again.

She skated to the park and ended up in the heart of it. A circle of asphalt sparkled in the sunlight and a tree surrounded by a short fence resided in the middle of it. She skidded to a halt when she saw the skater gang were there. They noticed her immediately and formed a circle around her. Talida felt like the tree and knew things were going to get rough.

They had menacing looks on their faces and she waited for them to attack. Then one rushed at her and she used a move to throw him in to the others like skittles. There were ten altogether and she had managed to take four of them out. 'Four down, six to go.' She did the same with the rest of them with only one left. But this one knew how to fight and was the leader, they called him grinder.

Talida and Grinder fought for ten minutes straight whilst the others tried to recover. They were getting tired by this time and were on their last legs. But one of the other members of the gang was on his feet and heading towards Talida with a board in his hands. Talida noticed this a second too late and used her left forearm to block the attack. But the boy hit it down on her arm with such force she thought it had been broken. She didn't make a sound and kicked him in the stomach. Then she finished off grinder and the skaters ran away.

When they were gone she fell to her knees clutching her arm in agony. It throbbed painfully but thankfully wasn't broken. She knew what a break felt like and this wasn't it, but she knew that her arm would be heavily bruised and sore tomorrow.

A few minutes later Julian was on his way home through the park and saw Talida on the ground. She looked hurt and silent tears were rolling down her face. Yue didn't think this was a good idea but Julian was here now so he took charge. He went over to her and saw where she was hurt. "What happened?" He asked with his voice full of concern. Talida pulled herself together and stopped crying. "Nothing, nothing at all. I just f-fell off my board." She reached down for her board and Julian touched her arm. "OW! What the hell did you do that for?"

"Come with me, that arm needs to be looked at and my house is nearer than yours." Talida stepped back and looked very defensive. "I don't need any help!" Julian looked cautiously at Talida. "Why?" Talida became lost and confused. She tried to find a good reason but came out with something pathetic instead. "I-I just don't ok!"

The next thing Julian knew Talida was speeding down the path on her board as fast as she could. Her arm was folded across her chest with a pained expression on her face. Yue was really suspicious about her now, he was thinking she knew something and Julian agreed. "We should keep a very watchful eye on her from now on. I'll ask Kiro to see if she's alright later."

"Is that concern Yue?" Yue glared at Julian and turned away. "I was only teasing."

"Very amusing." Yue said in a sarcastic sort of way. Julian smiled awkwardly and nothing more was said.

Later that night Yue had asked Kiro to see if Talida was alright. Kiro was in his temporary form and could easily take a look through the window. He saw Winston tending to her arm. It was very red and started to turn a deep shade of purple. Winston placed a wet cloth on it and Talida breathed in quickly through her teeth hissing with pain. Tears were rolling down her face and Winston stroked her head. She hadn't told anyone about what really happened and kept it that way.

Kiro went back to Yue and told him what was happening in Sakura's room. "She said she fell off her board."

"You don't believe her?" Sakura asked. "No. I believe that she was attacked."

"By who?" Yue didn't know and Kiro didn't hear Talida say anything else. "She's strong I'll give her that, but if she gets attacked again then who knows what might happen."

"I'll keep an eye on her at night when Julian goes to sleep. I can't do much more than that."

"I'll try to walk home with her everyday." Sakura looked angry and so did the guardians. "I still think she's like us, I don't care if she doesn't want any friends. She'll get them whether she likes it or not." Yue flew out of the window and kept watch over Talida's house that night. Talida knew someone was there but was in too much pain to care about it. He was directly over Talida's room and could hear her crying herself to sleep. She clutched her arm and held it close to her body.

The next day she had a bandage on her arm hidden under her jumper. When she sat down she knew Julian must've told the girls about her injury. They looked very concerned but Talida shook her head telling them not to be. She kept her bruised arm out of harms way and went to places to be alone.

At lunch she didn't go to the tree this time and Julian waited for her. Sakura and Madison were there too but still Talida didn't come. "Do you think she went home?" Madison asked. Sakura shook her head. "It's like Yue said. She's strong and we know she doesn't like to show any weaknesses so I don't think she left school."

Talida had gone to the library at lunch and became very bored. She decided to do something when she was sure no one else was around her. She sat down and began to draw one picture after another of her memories. They involved Clow, Yue, Kiro, Sakura and Madison that night on the roof tops. She drew pictures of Julian, Tori, Madison and Sakura in their everyday lives. These were placed on top to cover the other pictures.

When the bell rang Talida kept her head down not looking at Sakura and Madison. The next lesson unfortunately had to be P.E and that meant wearing a t-shirt. This revealed her bandage and made the girls even more concerned. Nikki and Chelsea still didn't like her but weren't completely heartless and looked concerned as well.

The teacher wanted to keep her out of it due to her arm but Talida was having none of it. She matched Sakura's standards in gymnastics with her arm throbbing something awful by the end of it. She didn't cry and didn't allow it to slow her down.

The next section was to learn how to use a trampoline. That's when something that the teacher feared would happen. Rita was in front of Talida and tried to get on the trampoline which was quite high off the ground. She fell off and Talida had to save her. But this meant using both arms and Rita fell right on top of them. This time she couldn't shake it off and clutched her arm in pain after another act of heroism.

"I think you should stop now before you cause yourself some permanent damage." Sakura said as she helped Talida to her feet. "Why are you helping me?"

"You may not want help but it's the right thing to do." Talida sighed as Sakura helped her out of the lesson. They went to the changing room and changed back in to their clothes.

Talida opened her bag and the pictures fell out. Talida froze as Sakura looked at them. "These are very good. Do me and Madison really smile that much?" Talida nodded. Sakura looked at the others of her friends in their everyday lives. But then Talida noticed that the next picture was going to be one of Kiro and Yue. "The rest are spare sheets of paper." She quickly lied and Sakura returned them.

At the end of the day Talida heard the teacher announce tomorrow the whole day would be spent in the town gardens. They would be taking a coach and some of the students in the school next door would be coming too. Sakura groaned when she heard Tori was coming. Talida was relieved that none of the skater gang would be coming and decided to go.

When Talida left the school she quickly cruised down the road hoping not to run in to Sakura and her friends. But Sakura had her blades on and quickly caught up with her. "Alidat, wait up!" She called and Talida slowed down. "Yeah?"

"How's your arm?" Talida glanced at her arm which still hurt. "Fine." Talida and Sakura had a very short conversation when they reached the cross roads. Sakura did most of the talking whilst Talida said a word or two. She wondered why Sakura was so adamant about being her friend. Talida didn't want any but just couldn't shake Sakura off no matter how hard she tried. In the end she gave up and just let Sakura skate beside her on the way home.

But when they passed the cross roads the skater gang spotted her again. "THERE SHE IS!" One member cried. "GET HER!" Grinder ordered sending in the gang towards the two girls. "What's going on?" Talida smiled. "Nothing I can't handle." Sakura looked frightened at the angry looking skaters heading their way fast. "But-"

"Don't worry; I do this for fun everyday." Sakura stared after her in disbelief as the skater gang passed her. Talida zoomed off with the skater gang hot on her tail.

Tori, Julian and Madison ran up to Sakura looking worried. "What's going on? Are you ok?" Tori asked his little sister who was still staring after Talida. "Their after Alidat."

"Why?" Madison asked looking just as worried as Tori. "I don't know, but she said she does this everyday…for fun."

"If I've said this once I'll say it again, but that girl is very strange."

"Tori!" Sakura said looking angry. "What? It's true, she's weird." Tori turned to Julian but he wasn't there. He had turned in to Yue and was keeping tabs on Talida's run through the town. She held on to a tram that was going up a very steep hill. The skater gang couldn't keep up and gave up when she skated down the other side of it. 'Well done.' Yue thought as he landed on a building above her.

He kept watch over her house at night but didn't feel the need to. He now knew who hurt her but kept an eye on her house that night just in case. Nothing happened again so he decided not to come back at night anymore.