Okay, POV is going to be jumping from Irma to Taranee the whole chapter, so I'm not going to bother specifying one certain POV. Whoever you see the part being centered around is the POV, lets put it that way. Now, on with the chapter.

Chapter 22- Problems Not Quite Solved

Irma read the note over a few more times, not daring to believe what she was reading. Will had run away? Will had run away? But why? Why would she just leave them, how could she abandon them like this…

Cornelia. The thought hit fast. Cornelia. After what she'd said to Will, of course Will would take off! The shock started to wear off, and was replaced with anger. She thrust the note at Taranee, and stalked out of Will's apartment, completely ignoring Hay Lin, who yelled, "Irma, wait!"

She stalked down the street, in the direction of Cornelia. What she wanted more than anything was to give Cornelia a real piece of her mind. She'd caused too much trouble. It was time for someone to put her in her place. Irma knew that she was the only one who would do it. And she was just fine with that.

Taranee looked after Irma, and as soon as the girl had disappeared around the corner, looked back at Hay Lin, who shrugged as though to say, "Don't ask me"

"So what should we do?" Taranee said after a minute, "We can't let Mrs. Vandom see this note, it'll bring up too many questions. But she's going to want to know what happened to Will. So should just show her the note, or make up an excuse?"

"We could make an astral drop", Hay Lin pointed out.

"Yea, but something about that feels wrong", Taranee said carefully, "I mean, I realize we've made them plenty of times before, but it was an emergency then, we didn't have a choice. This though…well, I just think Will's mom deserves to the know the truth"

"The truth about what?"

Taranee jumped a mile and whirled around. Mrs. Vandom was standing in the doorway, a completely confused expression on her face.

"Okay, Cornelia, I'm going to talk, and you're going to listen", Cornelia jumped up from the couch and looked over at Irma, a mixture of shock and anger lit up on the blonde girls face.

"Ever heard of knocking?" she snapped, glaring at Irma angrily.

"Right now, I don't care", Irma said, "All I really care about is letting you know just how much trouble you caused. And trust me when I say you caused you a lot"

"And just what is that suppose to mean?" Cornelia asked angrily.

"It means, you cause trouble!" Irma yelled, "How can you be so completely oblivious! Because of what you said, Will ran away! Is that what you were aiming for? Well!"

"Who needs her anyway?"
"Cornelia!" Irma exploded, "How can you say that! She's supposed to be your friend, remember! She didn't ruin our lives Cornelia, none of us did! But you treat Will like it's all her fault! And now you've got her convinced that it is! How can you say things like that! I thought you were our friend! Evidently I was wrong!"
"Come on Irma, think about it!" Cornelia yelled, "Our lives were better before Will moved here, admit it! Haven't you ever wondered what life would be like if Will hadn't moved here!"

"Maybe I have, but that doesn't mean I think this whole thing is Will's fault!" Irma shot back.

"You just don't get it!" Cornelia cried, "My life was practically perfect before Will moved here, and now…and now it's horrible! All because of her!"

"So this is just some selfish sort of thing then!" Irma asked angrily, "It's all about you then! Cornelia this, Cornelia that, the rest of the world doesn't matter as long as Cornelia is happy! Well I'm sorry to break this to you, but the world doesn't revolve around you! I know you suffered some losses through this, but let me tell you, it isn't anyone's fault! And the sooner you realize that, the happier we'll all be!"
She whirled around and stormed out of the apartment, nearly running into Lillian and Mrs. Hale, who were coming in. As she stormed down the hall she heard Mrs. Hale say, "Cornelia, is something wrong?"

She didn't hear Cornelia's answer. She wasn't sure she wanted to.

Taranee bit her lip. She looked hesitantly at Mrs. Vandom, who looked ready to cry. Well duh, she told herself, We just told her that her only daughter ran away, she's probably blaming herself!

"Mrs. Vandom?" Hay Lin said carefully, "I know this is a rotten way to find out, but…"

"Why?" was all her mom could say, "Why would she do this? Was it something I did? Or…"

Taranee and Hay Lin exchanged guilty looks. They'd neglected to show Mrs. Vandom the note. They didn't want to raise questions. So all they'd done was say they'd come over, saw the door was unlocked, and then said they were unable to find Will anywhere. Now they were thinking they would have been better off showing her the note.

"I'm really sorry Mrs. Vandom", Hay Lin said carefully, "I don't think it's your fault though. After…After what happened, Will was worried sick, she wasn't sure what to do or anything…well, I honestly don't think it's your fault she ran away"

Mrs. Vandom didn't answer; Hay Lin and Taranee exchanged another glance, feeling more and more like scum by the minute. Taranee had the note buried deep in her pocket.

"Irma! Irma, wait", Irma whirled around only to come face to face with Cornelia.

"What, do you want to fight some more?" Irma snapped, "Call me when I'm in the mood"

"No, wait, it isn't that-"

"Look Cornelia, I'm not in the mood, so if all you want to do is cause problems-"

"I'm sorry"

"I'm really not in the mood so…wait. What?"

Irma looked at Cornelia like she was nothing she'd ever seen before. Now she knew how Will had felt when she had said sorry. For a second, all the two girls could do was look at each other, before Irma finally mustered the courage to find out if she was going crazy, "Did you really sorry?"

Cornelia shifted around uncomfortably, "Yea…"

"So wait", Irma said, "Sorry as in a 'Irma, you were right, I was wrong' sort of sorry?"
"Don't push it", Cornelia snapped, her usual brisk manner returning, "Maybe I was wrong, that doesn't mean I'm going to admit it. But, well…It is our job after all, being the Guardians and all, and, well, we're going to need Will to do it, so…"

Irma smirked; Cornelia might as well have admitted she was wrong, and that was all she needed. "Well then", she said, "I guess that means your with us for the time being?"
A small smile crept over Cornelia's face, "Of course"

Taranee and Hay Lin carefully stepped out of Will's apartment. They felt like her mom deserved to be alone, and they wanted to find Irma. They both had a theory on where she'd gone. Thy both hoped they were wrong.

"She wouldn't really try and go talk to Cornelia, would she?" Taranee tried to reason, "I mean, even she knows she would just say something to make things worse. She wouldn't really try to talk to Cornelia. Would she?"

"I don't know"

Well that's reassuring, Taranee thought as they walked, Will disappeared, Irma could be trying to murder Cornelia now for all we know…this could not possibly get any worse

"Is that Irma with Cornelia?" Hay Lin asked suddenly. Taranee looked around, positive Hay Lin was just seeing things. But no, there they were, Cornelia and Irma, walking down the street towards them, both with small-very small-smiles on their faces.

"I'm seeing things right?" Hay Lin asked as they approached, "Because there is no way Irma and Cornelia can be walking together without fighting, and yet here they are…"

"Very funny Hay Lin", Irma said with a smirk, "Evidently I'm not the hot tempered girl you thought I was, cuz something I said got through to Cornelia, so there!"

"Said?" Cornelia asked, "Try yelled"

"Hey, I needed some way to get through to you"

"I don't have a problem with my hearing you know"

"Don't fight!" Hay Lin and Taranee yelled at the same time. They had enough problems right then, without having to worry about a fight.

"Right", Cornelia said quickly, "Right, we still have to find Will, we shouldn't waste time…okay, any ideas on where she might be? Any place she might go, things like that?"

The girls tried to think for about five minutes, and in the end, came out with nothing. Well, almost nothing, "Fadden Hills!"

"What?" the girls looked around at Hay Lin, whose eyes were bright.

"Fadden Hills", Hay Lin repeated, "Wills hometown, maybe she went back there!"

"That's kind of far to walk though", Taranee pointed out.

"True"

But that was the only idea they came up with.

Will wandered through the woods, not completely sure of where she was going. All she knew was, she could never go back to Heatherfield. Never.

I came up with the last part at the last second, I had no original intentions of putting that in. Anyway, the next chapter will mostly just revolve around Will, with a little of the others there, trying to come up with ways to find her. Please Review, and let me know what you think!