Here's part two then!
Chapter 18: The Meeting in Confinement Part Two
Still Taranee's POV
"Cornelia, when you left, our powers started weakening. We got doors slammed in our faces and you refused to talk to us." Cornelia huffed again.
"It wasn't only her fault though guys." Said Taranee guiltily. "We fought too much and weren't any better. Hay Lin's grandma said that there was a rip in our friendship. We don't work together anymore and-"
"The Heart of Candracar has found a trace of darkness in our powers." Will finished regretfully. "That's why our powers don't work like they used to."
"See Irma, here's an explanation!" Cornelia sniffed. Irma was about to retort until she saw everyone else giving her a warning look. She fell back down silent, but looking very grumpy.
"Well, now are powers are in the hands of evil." Hay Lin squeaked.
"What! Well you didn't seem to mention that, Irma!" Cornelia yelled.
"Yes I did! But I'm so sorry that Hay Lin's house burning caused me to stop in my elaboration!" Irma yelled back.
"Oh!" Hay Lin started and her face was spread with grief. Taranee needed to steer the conversation back to the explanation.
"Hold on a second. Cornelia never learned anything that the Oracle told us about Phobos and the Evil Guardians. And she doesn't know about Will's mom or the agents or Elyon.
"Yeah! I never learned anything!" Cornelia said with curiosity. All her grief and anger seemed to have left her for the moment as she was determined to find answers. That could be a good thing, Taranee thought happily. The conversation was then turned to Hay Lin.
"So, when you were still in your room I guess, we all met up for magic practice. Then, Will's mom kind of walked in on us and freaked. She tripped over a branch and hit a pillar hard and a lot of blood was coming out. Will left in the ambulance and the Agents cornered us demanding questions. Irma let us get away and I don't really know what happened with the rest of you guys, but I went home until Irma called me and told me about the Agents finding Elyon."
"And I'm guessing that sometime between all that, is when Irma came to visit me." Said Cornelia with a sharp jerk in Irma's direction.
"Yeah, I went to the hospital and couldn't see my mom." Will started choking on her words. "And then I, I had another dream with Evil Will and…" her voice faltered and she looked away. Taranee started to think of what Will had said about her dreams that night on the hill, but everyone was looking at her for her to finish.
"Um, right. And then I went with Will to the park and we talked about her dreams and stuff, of that stupid Evil version haunting her. And of her fear that… well, you know." Her voice started to falter too until Irma took over.
"Well, they finally got to my house where Elyon was being held captive by Agents Medina and McTiennan. I think that Taranee used all her strength to contact Elyon, because Elyon came up with a kidnapping story and Taranee got a ferocious headache. Then Hay Lin said that when she called you, you just screamed help and then the line went dead."
"Yes." Cornelia said thoughtfully. "I told you guys, not Will because she wasn't there. I saw a gold mist coming and then I yelled 'help' and I think I fell asleep.
"But then, we all ran straight to your apartment and Elyon went inside to talk to you. She came out really stressed because of the way that you were treating her." Irma said.
"I told you. That wasn't me."
"So maybe that was the Evil Cornelia, trying to get Elyon down before she went to Meridian." Will explained. "Then Elyon went to Metamoor and we were about to follow before we were summoned to Candracar."
"What was Elyon even doing back in Heatherfield?" Cornelia asked with interest. "Getting caught by agents isn't a very good reason."
"She said that things were getting darker and she thought it seemed like when Phobos ruled." Hay Lin said simply.
"Hold on you guys! If the Cornelia that Elyon spoke to was Evil Cornelia, then she would have had to do something to Cornelia to get her out of the way!" Taranee exclaimed jumping up. Irma gasped.
"The golden mist! You said that you fell asleep. Maybe Evil Cornelia used some wacky extra of your power and used it to put you to sleep, then they took you and put you in a prison until you saw Elyon there too!"
"This is a lot of guesswork if you ask me." Hay Lin replied. "But it could be true. We could leave it at that."
"But wait! Nobody's told me exactly how these people got our powers!" Cornelia yelled, getting frustrated.
"We're getting to that." Irma said irritably. Will sighed.
"Okay Cornelia. There is an alternate universe out there that shows everything the opposite of what is here. It was created when Elyon was born because there was too much magic in our universe and it could have killed all of us. All our left over magic got sent there. Since our universes are the opposite of each other, good in our universe would be bad in the other. That's where the Evil Guardians come in. They didn't like having our excess power, so they were seeking a way into our universe and then to break Phobos free and let evil rule the more powerful universe. They couldn't do that until our powers got weaker after we kept fighting. There is a lot of power split between both the universes, with us having the most in our universe, and the Evil Guardians having little in the alternate one. When our powers got weaker, theirs grew. They finally got into our universe and busted Phobos out of the tower and are holding Elyon captive. We know that they have a plan of some kind…"Will broke off in wonder. Cornelia was gaping at all of them.
"So, what you're saying is, that we basically gave them our powers!"
"Well, it sure seems like it." Hay Lin answered. They sat there, watching her.
"I know that you all are thinking that this is all my fault!" Cornelia yelled with rage and suspicion.
"Actually, if you think about it, it's all of our faults." Taranee said quietly. "None of it wouldn't have happened if we hadn't have treated each other badly."
"It's Phobos." Will said quietly but angrily. "Without Phobos, Elyon would have had the throne long ago."
"But then I wouldn't have ever know my best friend!" Cornelia said with shock.
"And, we probably wouldn't be Guardians." Hay Lin whispered. Will was about to speak, but then thought better of it. A few seconds later, she tried again.
"Well, maybe after all of that. If it wasn't for Phobos, Caleb would have still been alive. Then Cornelia wouldn't have left us. If it wasn't for Phobos, the Evil Guardians wouldn't have been wanting to break free of their universe so badly to free him. If it wasn't for Phobos, Elyon would still be in her throne in Meridian instead of in a prison, and…" Will stopped suddenly and her eyes went wide.
"Guys, what's a Dream Catcher?"
"Now that does it!" Cornelia yelled jumping to her feet. "It's that stupid Dream Catcher I keep thinking about!"
"But wait, I think what happened next was where everything started to get weird. Let's continue or I'm going to get confused." Taranee said rubbing her head.
"After we got back from that so confusing trip to Candracar, we went to Meridian and faced off the evil versions of ourselves. They said that they had Corny or something." Irma stated. "Then, they ran away saying that Cornelia was going to suffer for Will not giving up the Heart. We ran in an alley and that's when we first heard the whispers. Then, a black shadow crossed over us. The next thing I knew was that I had just woken up."
"Yeah, me too. I woke up in the hospital and that's where I found out, that, that my mom was dead." Will spoke quickly.
"Whoa! After I found myself tied up in Phobos's castle, I saw Elyon beside me. Then I think Phobos said to release the Dream Catcher and, um, something about some others." She said, furrowing her forehead with concentration. "I can't remember, it's too hard."
"Try." Taranee pleaded.
"Okay, a black shadow came over me too. Then I woke up and went to go find Will where I found her note at her house. Then I went to Taranee's for an explanation."
"Will came to me when her mom died. Then Hay Lin and Irma came over and then Will took off because it all seemed to be too much." Taranee said. Will looked behind her back uncomfortably.
"Cornelia came half an hour I think after Will left. Then we went looking for her when we saw a man coaxing her into a car. Then he said something and Corny started running and I chased after her." Irma told them.
"That wasn't a man." Will said through gritted teeth. "That was Cedric trying to kidnap me and head you guys off."
"What!" Cornelia and Irma yelled together.
"Yeah, we kind of figured it out when a big tail knocked us backward when we saw Will in the car." Said Hay Lin irritably. "We went to Simultech where I found Cedric dangling Will out of a window and Taranee found a dead man. Cedric made all the alarms go off and then dropped Will. I tried to keep her up and it barely worked. A bunch of cops then came and arrested us and Will had disappeared."
"We went to court and were almost found innocent until Cedric came in. We saw a purple mist and the Whispers came yet again. Then everybody was weird, like they were hypnotized. They found us guilty of 'supposedly' killing Will and sent the Agents to get Cornelia and Irma for dragging her body away." Taranee said.
"Corny and I kind of had a fight. Then we saw Cedric by Hay Lin's house burning and went running off to Cornelia's apartment where we found Caleb ripped up. Then the Agents took us here without a good enough explanation. They did seem kind of hypnotized to me. You know what, I think Cedric was the one who ripped up Caleb and set the Silver Dragon on fire." Irma exclaimed.
"Good going Sherlock." Cornelia retorted.
"Knock it off you guys. Irma has to be right." Will said pulling a hand through her hair. "Listen, when I woke up in a car after Cedric slapped me, he told me things. It's horrible."
"You're not telling me that you believed that fat, lying, cheat!" Irma yelled. Will shrugged and kept her eyes downcast.
"Then, Cedric left and I was trying to get out of my magical ropes around me. I was really angry, angrier than I ever think I have been before. I clutched my hand into a fist and, I don't know how I did it, but I broke free. I didn't have any energy left. I collapsed behind the nearest bush." Will said sadly. They all looked at her again.
"Wow, okay. Hang on. Didn't Serenity say something about Phobos has the Dream Catcher?" Taranee asked getting really excited. "Maybe, just maybe-"
"That shadow thing was the Dream Catcher!" Hay Lin yelled. "That would make sense! But what does being clouded by the Dream Catcher mean?" Cornelia cleared her throat and started.
"Well, I started to think that it might capture dreams or something. I don't know. We all get passed by some shadow, and we could barely remember things when we woke up. There are too many questions. What is it exactly? How come we were all someplace else until it passed us and then we woke up? Was everything that happened before that a dream, and if it was, how come all of us remember being together? It doesn't make sense!" Cornelia shouted. She sat back down and lay her head on the pillow as tears started rolling down her cheeks.
"Why? Why is all this bad stuff happening? Caleb got taken from me once and now he's been taken from me forever! I can't I can't-" she turned her head over and started to cry into he pillow. The girls watched in silence until Taranee spoke up.
"But, but what if everything that happened before that was real? What if, what we're in right now is a dream? The Dream Catcher gets us, and then all this bad stuff is happening. Maybe there's some sort of reason for this. What if it's Phobos?"
Taranee began to wonder again. What if all this bad stuff happening was Phobos's plan? He would relese the Dream Catcher to do something to them! But what was it?
" 'He has the Dream Catcher.' So, it's obvious that Phobos is behind all this. But the question is, how is he doing this and what is he planning to do?" Will questioned with a pondering expression on her face. She looked behind her again for a long moment, and then turned back to the window.
"But how do we know? Are we living in some wacky dream right now, or is all of this real?" Hay Lin asked. Taranee shut her eyes tight. All this thinking was making her head hurt. They had figured out a lot, guessed a lot, and had a lot more questions. This was the most confusing situation that she had ever been in!
"Um, you guys. When Cedric was talking to me he uh, a lot of the things he said were true." Will spoke out with dread.
"What do you mean? How could snake man possibly tell the truth?" said Irma who was looking very confused. Cornelia's sobs were slowing down. Taranee thought that she was falling asleep.
"This is all my fault."
"How?"
"This is all my fault!" Will screamed with rage and tears as she buried her head in her hands.
"My mother is gone because of me, all this bad stuff happening, it's because I didn't give up the Heart!"
"But Will, you can't give up the Heart! Don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise! It's your duty!" Hay Lin yelled getting scared.
"AND I HAVE A DUTY AS A FRIEND!" Will yelled. "He said it would be easier to hurt you while…you four were behind bars. Don't you see! Everything they warned me about is coming true! They broke Phobos out of the Tower of Mists! We've had to suffer through this nightmare! She said that she had our powers! They were all right!"
"Will, what is so horrible that you would feel like giving everything up?" Taranee asked while she looked up with concern. "It's not like-"
"THEY ARE PLANNING TO KILL YOU?" she shouted. Will gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth and started shaking her head. Hay Lin and Irma looked at each other, numb with amazement and shock. And Taranee realized that this is what Will's been afraid of, this is what was making her tremble when she thought of the dream that Evil Will gave her. She talked about it that night on the hill. How could she have forgotten! Taranee thought that it must feel horrible to have to carry a burden like her friends' lives on her shoulders. She looked at Hay Lin who was still shaky, but she nodded at her. Taranee turned back to Will.
"Will! Just don't-"
"Ahh!" Will screamed as she rolled over and out of view of the window. In her place, a large scaly tail thumped the ground and there was a roar of rage. Taranee's eyes opened wide with horror and Taranee and Irma scrambled up to Hay Lin to look out the window. They couldn't see anything for a moment.
"Ah! Get away from me!"
"Come here Guardian! Yow!"
"Oh, your poor tail."
"Grrr! You'll pay for that!" Will's body came into view again as she ducked behind a tree as Cedric swung his tail forward.
"How much do you want to bet scale face!" Will laughed.
"How much do you want to bet on the sake of your friends?" Cedric growled. Will ducked again and looked over to the window. Cedric made a grab for her but she started running toward the window and stopped.
"Will we-"
"No! I can't even give them the chance to hurt you!" Will said and she ducked Cedric's tail again and ran out of sight with Cedric chasing her down. Hay Lin bit her lip.
"Do you think she will be okay?" she asked.
"What about us! Did you hear what Will said?" Irma said loudly.
Taranee looked off in the distance. Some pieces of this puzzle were falling together. And some were still missing. We need to piece this together, Taranee thought frantically, looking at Irma and Hay Lin. They couldn't let Phobos steal any of the pieces from them! Taranee knew that they had gotten somewhere. They didn't know everything but they knew about enough. Phobos won't be happy, she thought again with a small smile, that we are on to his plan.
Way too much writing if you ask me. A little overboard, but I hope anyone will be satisfied with nice long chapters. I made an update on my profile page, so anyone who's read 'Through Different Worlds', my other story, can check out the girls' bios and stuff there. Chapter 19 should come anytime within the next week. Until then I would really like the reviews!