Back again, although it's been about a week. I just now got to think about this chapter today because there's been a lot of family stuff going on around me right now that's really starting to bug me, I'm not going to talk about it though. So let's let on to the story!
Disclaimer: I still don't own W.i.t.c.h or its characters. I'm introducing a new character though, Serenity, and you get to find out what those puzzling whispers to the Guardians are in this chapter. Read on! Part One of this chapter.
Chapter 18: The Meeting in Confinement Part One
Taranee's POV
"Will!" Taranee yelled getting up and running to the window. "We didn't know what to think, where were you?"
Will grabbed a rock near her and smashed the window above them so that she could speak easier. They all held their breath and waited. No alarms or security guards rushing into the cell. Everything was clear.
"Gosh, for teenagers who have supposedly killed me, security isn't very tight around here huh?" Will said jokingly and tried to force a laugh. It wasn't at all convincing and Taranee wondered what was wrong.
"How did you know about all that?" Hay Lin asked losing the anger that she had had a moment ago at the sight of her friend.
"Well," Will started looking around nervously. "I saw everything through the Heart of Candracar. Is Caleb really-"
"Yes." Cornelia whispered in a dead, hollow voice that made Taranee jump up on the bed she was still sitting on. Will opened her eyes wide with shock and then they tightened with sympathy.
"I'm sorry Cornelia." she said quietly, and her own eyes went downcast and Taranee knew that thoughts of her own loss were spinning in her head. "Anybody else want to add to these past crummy days?" Will asked angrily clutching her hands into fists and closing her eyes tightly, but only after a couple of tears had been released.
"Nope." Irma said frustratedly and started counting off events on her fingers. "I think having five other Guardians having most of our powers, you about to move, Cornelia quitting the group, your mom seeing us in Guardian form, then you quitting the group after she died, Phobos coming back and capturing Elyon, Hay Lin's house burning, Caleb being ripped up, and us being accused of murdering you and being locked in a jail cell is a little too much to be going on with right now. Don't you think?"
"Actually, Hay Lin and I were accused of killing her and the guard. They said that you and Cornelia dragged her body away." Taranee said coolly.
"Does it matter? We're all stuck in a cell aren't we?"
"You guys." Will started as all their eyes moved in her direction. She bit her lip and went on. "Just stop fighting, please! It's making all of this even worse!"
"Well who are you to order us around when Irma said that you stopped being our leader?" Cornelia snapped. Will seemed taken aback by her outburst after being so quiet.
"Well excuse me! You left the group first!" Will yelled as a matter of factly.
"Yeah, well I had had a big loss that's now permanent! What have you-"
"MY MOTHER IS DEAD!" Will shouted. Pink sparks erupted around her as her anger rose.
"OUR POWERS ARE GONE! EVERYTHING BAD IS HAPPENING WITHOUT A REASON!" she yelled her face reddening with every word she spoke.
"I HAVE TO CARRY THE HEART OF CANDRACAR! I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED! THAT EVIL WILL IS WHISPERING IN MY HEAD EVERY MINUTE, EVERY SECOND!" she stopped and buried her face in her hands. Then she started clawing at her head.
"She won't leave." Will whispered. "She's not letting go without the Heart."
The other girls looked at each other silently. They could tell that she was suffering through something that they couldn't quite get a grip on. There was a weird ringing in the room. Taranee looked at her friends with worry. What's happening to us, she wondered frantically. What's happening period!
"Will?" Taranee said quietly. "Will we-"
"Ah!" Will's hands left her head and one of them was flying upward and the Heart of Candracar floated above it. Magic started swirling around the cell in a purple mist. The girls all screamed.
"Will! What did you do?" Hay Lin yelled, jumping to her feet.
"I didn't do anything!" Will yelled looking scared. "I can't move anywhere! Something's making me still!"
"It's that mist stuff!" Irma yelled jumping up and wrapping her arms around Taranee's neck. "We're done for! Oh, I hope none of the cops can here this!"
Taranee couldn't see. There was only darkness clouding her eyesight. She couldn't see any of the other girls either. It was so much like the stuff that came out of the Seal of Phobos when they were in Cornelia's room. That seemed like a lifetime ago. She couldn't figure out-
"Taranee?" came an echoing voice. It seemed distant and it sounded like-
"Hay Lin!" another voice yelled. "How come we can hear each other?"
"Irma!" Taranee yelled, thankful that she could hear them. "Where are Will and Cornelia?"
"I'm here!" another distant voice sounded and Taranee could tell that it was Will. There was a few seconds silence before Cornelia said that she was fine.
"Okay, now the real question is." Will began, obviously looking around. "Where are we?"
("You've come Guardians.")
("We've been waiting.")
("Thing's are getting worse.")
("You need to understand.")
"Oh no!" Will said groaning with desperation. "Not more voices!"
"It's those whispers again!" Hay Lin cried. "What are they talking about?"
Taranee had been wondering the same thing. What were those whispers about? They kept coming and telling them what to do in their heads. She couldn't stay in the dark much longer.
"Who are you." She found her voice echo through the darkness. There was a humming sound vibrating just above her. Taranee tried to look up but still found herself as movable as a stone. Instead she listened closely for any other sound, anything.
("You ask, who are we.")
("You need to know more important things.")
("So let's just say that we are here to help you.")
("We are just whispers from the past.")
Taranee could hear Irma's laughter going in and out in the dark space that they seemed to be floating in.
"I'm sorry but if you think that we are going to just keep it with that, you're out of your minds!"
"Yeah, if we're going to be stuck in the dark for a while, we're going to need more information." Taranee said mockingly like Irma had. The humming of sound grew more intense. What was going on!
("We are former Guardians.")
("Former Keepers of the Heart of Candracar.")
("You need to figure out what's happening.")
("Or suffer in this nightmare.")
"Enough! Why do we have to figure all of this out? Why can't anyone ever know what's going on? Stop giving us these tantalizing hints about 'being friends' and 'working together' or we'll 'suffer'!" Cornelia yelled, her voice ringing in and out in the emptiness. "I'm sick of asking questions! All this bad stuff is happening and we don't know why! WE NEED ANSWERS!"
Taranee gulped and squinted as she tried to look around. Would they finally get some answers after all? She gasped when she saw a silvery light up in the darkness. It was coming down and was sparkling with a brilliant light. Taranee couldn't help being in awe. She barely heard voices in the back round.
("We will show you what we can.")
("But we are not allowed to give you answers.")
("Just follow closely and you will understand.")
("Let me show you how I died.")
"What do you mean you're not allowed to give us answers?" Cornelia shouted but her voice was wiped away after a flash of white light.
Taranee blinked in the bright light and looked around. The five girls were standing on rock outside on a cliff. A breeze swept by them making their hair and clothes flutter in the salty air. A seagull swept through the sky above them and out of sight. Taranee walked over to the edge of the cliff and shivered. It was kind of scary being on a high cliff and being easily able to fall down. She looked to the bottom where there was sand and water with waves crashing over the rocks. Irma came up beside her and whistled.
"Whoa! Imagine falling from up here." She said looking down at the rocks below.
"Don't remind me." Taranee said steeping away from the edge with a sickening feeling in her stomach.
"What are we even doing here?" Cornelia asked pulling on her shawl across her chest at the wind from the waves.
"I don't know." Will groaned angrily. "Aren't we supposed to be seeing how someone died or something? Why are we on a cliff near the ocean?"
"Hey! Look over there!" Hay Lin shouted and they all looked in the direction in which she was pointing to see a girl with a long white dress moving toward them. Hay Lin ran up to her eagerly.
"Well finally! Please, we need your help!" she said stopping right in front of the girl. The girl went right through her and kept walking.
"Huh?" said Hay Lin, confused, as she spun around behind her.
"My gosh! She went through her!" Irma exclaimed, her eyes popping out. "Does that mean that we're ghosts or something?"
Taranee shook her head. There were too many unexplainable things going on. As the girl came closer, Taranee got to see her full features. She had long, straight, brown hair that was pulled out of her face with strands hanging down and hazel eyes clouded with anger and stress. She looked to be about seventeen and was marching forward with pure determination. The girls jumped out of her way even if she would go right through them, and watched her trip and slump down to the ground, shaking with sobs.
"Please! No more, no more! I can't take it! Don't hurt me anymore!" she sobbed into the grass. The Guardians looked at each other and then looked back at the ground.
"I was so stupid! Serenity, how could you have been so stupid! They're all gone! No more Guardians! No more friends! It's my fault. All my fault!"
Taranee looked around as she heard a gasp and saw Will with her eyes widening. She started to tremble for some reason and kept opening and closing her mouth without any sound. The girl, Serenity suddenly stood up with angry tears running down her face.
"I can't take this anymore! Everything worth living for is gone! I hope you're happy Oracle! And here's your stupid Heart of Candracar!" Serenity unleashed the glowing amulet from her body into her hand. She stared at it for a few seconds and then threw it as hard as she could outward until it started falling into the sea. She gasped and her eyes went big as if she had made a huge mistake.
"No!" she whispered leaning forward. "No, I'm sorry." The girl fell forward off the cliff with her arms outstretched. Something was making Taranee lean forward too.
"Oh no! I don't like the way that this is goiinnnnggg!" Hay Lin screamed as they all fell forward off the cliff, hurtling toward the dangerous waters. Taranee's stomach lurched and she screamed before she hit the sharp rocks.
Strangely, she didn't feel pain, but she knew that she must be dead from falling on to those rocks. She was out of breath when she finally opened her eyes and noticed the other Guardians doing the same.
"Are we dead?" Irma asked, rubbing her back.
"I don't think so." Taranee answered checking her glasses, which were, thankfully, still in one piece. She looked around. This place seemed familiar…
"It's Phobos's castle!" Cornelia yelped. "Wait a second. Something is starting to connect, it's familiar…" Taranee stared at her as Cornelia scrunched her eyes up in confusion and concentration. Her eyes then wondered over to a body sprawled on the floor. Serenity was in a pool of blood and was struggling to breathe.
"No!" Will said as she scrambled up beside the girl and grabbed her hand that was lifting up to the sky. "Wait, what is she doing?"
Something bright was coming out of her hand. It was the Heart of Candracar, shining with all its glory. The Heart seemed kind of fuzzy, blurred kind of. It rose up until it leveled with Will's eyes, where you could see the reflection of the crystal shimmering in the glossy brown. She looked down at her own hand and brought out the real Heart. She squinted her eyes at the two of them, and then looked back down at Serenity. All the girls crowded around.
"Death, is, the only way, out." She gasped, trying to get air. Blood was filling her. She was losing consciousness. "Phobos has…Dream Catcher…" her hand fell down. The Heart disappeared. The girls were staring at her lifeless body in Phobos's castle.
Taranee blinked. She blinked again. They weren't in the throne room anymore. Two bunk beds were on either side of a cramped cell and a small window was up in the corner. Will's face was even visible through it as she stirred. Everyone else was rubbing their eyes on the beds.
"Okay…" Irma said. She was interrupted however.
("You just witnessed my death Guardians.")
("It's the same thing that is fated for you unless you work together.")
("No more arguing, listen to each other.")
("Or Phobos will succeed in his plan.")
"Wait! What plan? Phobos is behind this?" Cornelia yelled.
("No more.")
("Fight this darkness, and defeat this evil plan.")
("Be true to your heart.")
("And you, the Guardians of the Veil, will be united once more!")
The humming in the air stopped and everything felt eerie. Taranee knew that the Whispers were gone. She faced the other girls who were wearing looks of confusion on their faces. With a sigh, Taranee decided that she should start.
"Well, we do need to talk to each other and get to the bottom of all these bad things happening." She said looking around for somebody to agree.
"You're right, Taranee." Said Hay Lin as she pulled her knees up to her chin. "Can we just hold the arguments so that we can speak fully to each other, without distractions.
There was a half-hearted agreement between them. They muttered a little bit and then settled down. Cornelia shot a quick glance at Irma, then at Will and huffed. She turned on to her back and started to sulk. Taranee knew that she was listening though. She wouldn't pass up any explanation to what was going on.
"Okay, right then. Let's start at the beginning, when everything started to go wrong. When we got back from Meridian."
That was just part one of two. I had to split them on because this was a really, really long chapter that was on like the 10th page on Word. I'm posting these at the same time so the discussion they have is right after. Keep going! (Warning: The next chapter is a lot of talking because the girls are trying to figure out everything.)