I'm baaaaaaccckkk! Back with another chapter, that is! Thanks to all of those nice reviewers out there. I really do appreciate it when people just take a minute to tell me what they think of my story so far. Let's see…

Chapter 9: Normal Life?

Wei's POV

"Yeah right Rachel!" Wei yelled into the phone. "Are you really going to try to make me believe all of this?"

"But, but it's the truth!" Rachel's voice whined back through the phone. Wei rolled her eyes at how pathetic it sounded. "And, well Eva believes it too."

"So you got her into that story too?" Wei said angrily. "And did your little magicians charm her as well?"

"They aren't doing magic tricks and you know it, Wei." A voice through the phone snapped. Wei raised her eyebrows in surprise. Quiet and perky Rachel would never snap like that. It was just a second later that Wei realized that it was Eva who had taken the phone and just voiced that statement. Wei rolled her eyes again when Eva continued talking.

"Wei, listen. I know that it's hard to believe, but your mind has got to expand further than just the scientifical facts of life." Eva told her. Wei felt like hanging up right then and there and to go storming down the stairs, but unfortunately, no body parts seemed to want to move.

"I saw everything. I still don't really understand it all either, but they don't really seem like liars, do they? How can you see them do those things and not believe them in the tiniest bit?"

"But I-"

"If you're not going to believe anything, you're at least going to help us." Eva said finally. Wei was about to retort when she heard a click on the line and a beep. Wei scowled and fell backward onto her bed with a ruff sigh. She stared up at her ceiling fan and watched it go around and around while her thoughts continued to spin in circles. She couldn't think straight! Wei was never in a good mood when she couldn't think.

"Ugh!" she said. She grabbed a pillow and stuffed it on her face and started shaking her head back and forth beneath it. Why, why were they doing this to her? Why were they trying to force her to deal with what they knew she had seen? The thing is, Wei was still in the uncomprehending stage. She was still freaking out about when that jewel came out of that girl's hand and when the other one made the entire street of water start floating around them in the air! Some kind of magical circus act! Now that's the thought that made Wei shiver. Magic? She had read enough books, excluding the fiction ones that precisely talked about that subject, to know that there was no such thing. And Rachel wanted her to believe that what they did was magic? Please, Wei thought with a laugh. There are other things in the world that have more of a chance of being true.

"Wei!" shouted her father from downstairs. Wei scrambled out of her bed and opened her bedroom door.

"Yes Dad?" she called back. She could see her dad's head poke from behind the railings of the stairs.

"Oh, there you are. Have you finished your homework?" Wei sighed. He always had to make sure that she was on top of everything. In fact, Wei stated wondering. It's because of Dad that I can't totally focus on anything but schoolwork in the first place…

"Sun?" he asked. She squinted her eyes together. He always had to call her that. When she asked why, he said it was because she had always loved fire and because she was bright and heated in her arguments. Wei remembered back to when Onalia, Rachel, and Erika were all at her house working on homework together in the third grade when they were each nine years old. She had just moved and was really happy to have three friends wanting to hang out with her after school. Then her dad came in with a tray of peanut butter cookies.

"Hello Sunshine! You mother just made these cookies for you and your new friends to share." He said happily. Wei just stared at him with her mouth open after he used her 'may never be used in public' nickname. Wei's medium black hair whipped around as she turned to see her friend's reactions. Rachel's red, curly hair was bouncing up and down even after she stopped bouncing on the bed once Wei's father came in. Erika's brown eyes sparkled with laughter and had her long, dirty blonde hair in a braid, which was spinning gently as Rachel and her squealed out tiny giggles. Ona just hopped up happily and grabbed two cookies. Wei's face had burned a shade of red and she felt angry that her dad might have ruined her chances with these girls. It was then that Rachel gave Wei a wink to show that they all understood how she was feeling. Wei had felt grateful as relief spread across her face and she sank down to the floor with a cookie. She hasn't ever felt uncomfortable or insecure since.

"Yes. I've got it all done." Wei told him as she broke out of her train of thoughts. She could still hear the giggling of them as girls ringing in her ears…

"Oh, that's good. Your mother and I need to go to dinner with someone from the office. I need you to-"

"Baby-sit Fai." Wei answered. She was used to this by now. Her father was always having a business dinner with someone from his work to try to discuss things at the office or to get a promotion. Wei had actually started to wonder if they were really going out to dinner. Maybe they would go out on a date or to a party, although why they wouldn't want to tell Wei was beyond her. She almost laughed at the thought of her strict father taking off his tie and doing the limbo or something. He smiled up at her and she turned back to her dad.

"Would you?" he asked. Wei nodded glumly. She just hoped that her baby brother would behave tonight. She still felt grumpy and confused at that whole 'they are magic' thing her friends were trying to pull off with her, and was in no mood to deal with a gripy toddler who didn't want to eat his carrots. Her father shut the door behind him and Wei's face fell when she remembered why she was feeling this way in the first place. She did not feel like even trying to believe everything that, what were their names, Will and Irma had shown her. Wei started to feel really tired after feeding Fai (and yes, he was gripy about the carrots) and putting him to bed.

Wei sighed and snuggled up on her favorite rug by the fireplace. She grabbed a pillow and laid down, feeling content and peaceful as the warm flames tickled her body. She sat up and looked into the fire. The orange flames swirled and flickered and sparks flew upward and then died out. This was actually one of the times where she relaxed, from schoolwork, from her family, and sometimes from her friends. Wei hugged the pillow in her lap. She really didn't want to think about her friends, because that would mean that she would have to think about what Rachel and now Eva were trying to convince her of. So, those two girls had magical powers? And Phoebe and Ona were in another world were they? Well, Wei would bet anything that by Monday, Ona would annoyingly go around asking for help on her History notes even though she had had all weekend to study. Phoebe would be trying to tell her that it wouldn't be too hard, and then she would nod reluctantly whenever Wei got her point across about studying. Everything would be like it always-

Wei gasped and rubbed her eyes. She really was tired and stressed out about that magic problem. A picture was forming in the fire! Wei was about to scream but she held her mouth open in a petrified state. She wasn't sure what she was seeing. She looked closer and strangely, the heat wasn't hurting her face at all as she got nearer. There was a baby lying abandoned on a road surrounded by Medieval looking houses. Her brown eyes starting pouring out tears, when a man with a lot of blonde hair tripped over her. Wei saw a beautiful woman, who looked in her twenties with her curly strawberry-blonde hair, standing in front of a swirling blue mirror and clinging to a crystal that looked oddly familiar. She gasped again when she saw what was unmistakably Phoebe and Onalia in front of a mirror with sparks flying everywhere! They walked right through it!

"Ah!" Wei jumped up after uttering a small scream. "I'm way too tired!" she ran up the stairs as fast as she could and shut the door while scanning her room carefully with scared eyes.

"Not possible, not possible." She muttered while taking deep breaths until she regained her composure. She looked around her room again before shaking her head irritably and changing into a t-shirt and some shorts. She climbed into her bed grumpily and turned off her lamp before sliding fully into her bed after the light was gone. She sighed with the thought that she could escape the truth, if any, and her friends until Monday. They were definitely going to try and make her help for whatever those girls needed help with. Wei could not, she would not believe that there was anything special going on. Her thoughts went back to Phoebe and Ona disappearing through a mirror in her fire. She gritted her teeth.

"Not possible." She told herself angrily before rolling over and instantly going to sleep.

"Wei, come on! You have to at least try to understand!" Wei could hear Rachel's voice say. Wei groaned. She was even dreaming about the dreaded! Could they ever leave her alone?

"She's right." Will answered. "It may seem weird, it did to us too, but can you just help us?"

"A lot that's going to do." Irma said. "She's still asleep."

Huh? Wei opened her eyes and immediately saw four girls standing in front of her. Okay, Wei thought awkwardly. I guess they really were here after all.

"You have been avoiding us all weekend." Eva said straight forwardly. "You can't have been dreading us getting to you that badly." Wei growled and stepped out from underneath the covers.

"Okay! You found me out. Now what are you doing here in my bedroom?"

"We've come to pick you up." Eva said shortly. Wei looked at her with an annoyed expression. She blinked at her innocently.

"What? I always come to walk with you to school. Is this any different?" Eva asked.

"Yes." Wei said curtly before heading toward her bathroom. "I know I'm about to get unwanted news." Once in her bathroom, she slipped into her plum colored skirt and Hawaiian t-shirt with purple flip-flops. She whipped her hair up into a high ponytail and turned to the side. She sighed. Her hair was just too long, in a ponytail and still swaying at her waist. Wei wanted to cut it like about six inches to where it was still really long, but not past her back, like Phoebe's. But no! Her mom liked it long! So long it stayed. Wei opened the door and groaned again. Right on cue, her alarm started blaring.

"Ugh! I can't ever-" Wei stopped in her tracks and her mouth dropped open. It was unnaturally quiet. Not because of the fact that her alarm clock was turned off. Oh no. It was how it was turned off.

"Off." Will said simply while pointing at the alarm clock. It immediately fell silent at her command. Wei couldn't even pressure herself to blink. Rachel's eyes spread with enjoyment and amazement, while Eva looked almost like she did- sick to her stomach.

"Wow! Is that your power? You control energy, don't you?" Rachel asked eagerly.

"Uh, I um, yeah. I guess I do. It's kind of confusing though." Will admitted shyly. She kind of looked at Irma for an explanation, but she just shrugged her shoulders. Wei looked around at the group of girls standing before her after she had gathered her books into her backpack and started dangling it loosely on one shoulder. Rachel had her hair up in a half ponytail with her hair curling just past her shoulders. She had a pink jacket and a blue turtleneck, short-sleeved shirt with a long blue jean skirt. Eva was standing with her hands on her hips and clucking her tongue impatiently. Her many braids moved around freely from a ponytail and her tight, white shirt just reached to where her glittery belt sparkled from around her slender denim jeans.(what Will and Irma have been wearing.) Wei looked again at her alarm clock that read that it was 8:35. Her stomach felt queasy again when she remembered seeing Will turn it off.

"Let's go." Wei said as she started to walk quickly through the door.

"You know that we need to talk still!" Eva shouted. "We'll start after we start walking to Cradd." Wei shook her head at her mother's feeble attempt to get her to eat some breakfast.

"No Mom. If I eat now, I definitely won't be able to keep it down on the walk to school."

"So, Wei." Rachel began as they shut the door, well out of the earshot of her mother. "Do you want us to begin with trying to convince you that these girls are magical and have come from another world where Phoebe and Ona just got to through a mirror? Or do you just want to skip the persuasion and believe us so that you can help us figure out how in the world we can get everything back to normal?" Wei stopped in her tracks.

"You know, forget about keeping breakfast down. I'm going to throw up now!"

"Wow! So this is your school?" Irma asked as they walked around the corner of houses and started down the front lawn to the school.

"Yep!" Rachel answered happily. "Cradd Jr. High! You'll probably like it."

"Yeah, it's okay." Eva said, looking sidetracked. "What's best is that the high school is like right next door. All those high school boys are so fine!"

"But we don't have any classes with them." Rachel asked with a puzzled expression. "You're acting like you can just see them any time you want."

"No, but the high scholars have lunch at the same time as us. They also come and help out in the building if they are aides or something in their time off." Wei explained, starting to feel sidetracked also. She wasn't wiggling her fingers flirtily either like Eva was doing right now. Wei was too busy freaking out, and trying not to show it. They had explained what seemed like everything. Will and Irma had told of how crazy it seemed when they first got their 'powers' and fighting off some kind of monsters. Wei heard them, she saw them do unexplainable things, yet, she still could not bring herself to fully believe them. It was too hard. She somehow couldn't just throw away everything she had known about life away just to believe in some girls who seemed to have come out of nowhere, or else, somewhere that weren't here. Helping is one thing, but believing…that was a whole other story that would take Wei a long time to figure out and understand alone.

"Wei? Are you going to believe them, or what?" Rachel questioned after waving at Erika. She made a motion to say 'in class' and hurried ahead of them into the building.

"Lay off her. Wei's gonna need time to think everything through." Eva stated. Wei was grateful that at least Eva understood. Best friends really do understand every thought that goes through your head…

"Oh, cool." Will said as she looked around at all of the teenagers running into the school. "Everything is a little different, but not by much." She looked over at them before the girls walked through the doors.

"Um, so how are you going to explain us being here?" she asked suddenly. Eva and Rachel stopped mouthing a small 'o'. Wei rolled her eyes with annoyance.

"Come on, we'll think of something." Wei announced before walking fast down the hallway. She had never been late to class, and she wasn't going to start now. Wei rounded the corner and squealed after almost bumping into the principal.

"Oh! Mr. Wilson! I'm so sorry." She said apologetically. He just smiled and shrugged it off.

"No harm, unless you would have made me spill my coffee. Black spilling on black skin wouldn't make anything but a scorching hand." He joked while looking over the group curiously. If Wei wasn't in such a hurry, she would have gotten his joke. "Um, hello. I don't recognize these two ladies." Said Mr. Wilson while gesturing to Will and Irma. "Are you new?"

"Yes." Will said. "We were just visiting-"

"Me." Rachel piped up. "We're cousins. Their parents still want them to get an education so we decided to take them here." Wei looked up into his eyes.

"Is that a problem Mr. Wilson?" she asked. "They will probably only be here for a day or two, and if they're here longer-" Wei stopped briefly to see short panic travel through the two girls and continued. "We'll get their parents to tell you and sign something or whatever." Mr. Wilson still look dubious, but he just shook his head.

"Just make sure, Miss Tran, that all of this will be sorted out soon. Go to the office then and get Mrs. Britton to give you schedules with opening in our classes. What are you're names?"

"Will Vandom." Will answered automatically. Wei swore that she heard Irma cough 'Wilma' before Will turned around angrily at the precise moment that Irma gave her name.

"I'm Irma Lair." She answered. He nodded and pointed them to the office.

"You girls better get to your classes considering that the bell rings in two minutes. Rachel, you may guide your cousins through the school and to their classes, but make sure and get a pass at Mrs. Britton's. As for you two," he started, turning over to Eva and Wei. "I suggest you run."

He didn't have to tell her twice! Wei and Eva had already started bolting down the hallway.

"See you later!" Eva called out before turning into the choir/band/orchestra hallway. She's so lucky, Wei thought sourly as she started sprinting up the staircase to the second floor. Eva will only get a tardy slip if she goes into the choir room late. Now if I'm late, well, I'll be lucky if Mrs. Pattrick only gives me lines. Oh! I can't be late for English! Just as soon as she thought this, she came upon the door to her English class and opened it at the exact moment that the bell rang. Wei stared at Mrs. Pattrick hopefully. She shrugged and nodded and pointed her to her desk.

"I'm not counting you tardy, Wei. Just try to make it inside the classroom before the bell rings next time." Wei nodded and wiped some sweat off her forehead and sat down near the back corner of the room. She took out her notebook while trying to catch her breath. She was barely conscious of her grabbing her pen and started to write a quick journal entry on the topic that the teacher had written on the chalkboard. Wei paused and lifted her pen back up. Huh, she thought with surprised eyes at the chalkboard. 'Write about one thing that has made an important impact on your life' is what she read again in her mind. Wei shivered and thought back to all of the stuff that had been happening lately. Hmm, Wei thought dryly. Would that be talking about Phoebe and Onalia leaving us to another world, or her seeing all of those people in the fire, or even maybe Will and Irma coming into this world with a bunch of strange magical powers…

The door opened and Wei looked up from her still blank paper. Will walked in nervously with a shy wave. Wei could tell that she wanted to sink into the ground, but she was still standing tall when Mrs. Pattrick curiously walked over to her.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Will smiled politely.

"Um, I'm a new student." She told her while handing the note into Mrs. Pattrick's hand. She read it quickly and nodded.

"Okay everybody. We have a new student here today, Will Vandom." She spoke softly to Will. "Well, why don't you take an empty desk and we'll have someone fill you in on our work and everything about the class, okay?" Will shrugged with a nod as Mrs. Pattrick's eyes moved across each desk in the classroom. Wei glanced to her right and noticed that the desk next to her was empty. She raised her hand.

"I'll help her." Wei called out to the great relief of Mrs. Pattrick and Will. Will hurried over and sat down with a slight shiver. Wei continued to look at her. She must feel scared about being here, Wei realized. So, if she did come from another world…well, how did she get here in the first place? Wei didn't feel like comprehending all of this magic stuff, but maybe if she believed them, just a little, she could probably help them. She did believe them on a certain note, but the rest was confusing and unbelievable. Mrs. Pattrick waved her hands for Wei to start explaining while she went on teaching. Wei took a breath and sighed before leaning in toward Will.

"I'm going to help you." She spoke softly. Will's eyes shot up.

"Really? That's great, but I'm guessing that you don't totally believe us."

"Well, it's not totally that I don't believe you, really it's not. It's the fact of what you're trying to tell me and show me that's unbelievable, it's too hard and confusing, this coming from me isn't very good but…" Will leaned in too so that no one could take part in their conversation.

"If you really are from another world or deminsion, whatever, what happened to my friends?" Wei asked.

"They would most likely be in Heatherfield where my friends are. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Cornelia, Taranee, and Hay Lin found them like we found you. There seem to be a lot of strange coincidences going around." Will admitted glancing toward Mrs. Pattrick quickly who was working with the class on using figurative language to make writing more interesting.

"Well, Rachel said something about them going through a mirror, so you must have gone through too. The question is, why? Why would Phoebe and Ona and you and Irma go through that mirror?" Wei questioned. Will glanced back to stare into Wei's eyes.

"You know, I'm not so sure. The magic was calling us. It happened so quickly but…" Will dug in her pocket and took out a book receipt and handed it to Wei. Wei took it curiously and read it silently. Wei looked up with confusion.

"Chosen ones?" Will nodded.

"Yeah, that's what me and my friends are. We're Guardians who protect, well, we don't exactly protect the Veil anymore but we still defend the universe from evil." Will explained. Wei shook her head and went back to the note in her hand.

"Where did you find this?"

"It was carved into the back of the mirror that we came from." Will answered automatically.

"Elements meet their twin. Does that mean that you control elements or something?" Wei asked. Will nodded and Wei turned back to the inscription.

"A.W. to P.W., that must be Amelia Whitfield to Phoebe Whitfield." Wei said, more to herself. Will heard though and was looking up with curiousity.

"Amelia? How do you know that?"

"Well, we did a history project last year about our family trees and Phoebe had a great-great grandmother named Amelia Whitfield. I remember it totally now. They had a son, who had a son, who had Phoebe's father, who had Phoebe. But what does she have to do with any of this stuff? Ona and her were probably in the wrong place at the wrong time!" Wei exclaimed quietly.

"But I can't think that it's a coincidence." Will told her. "There has to be a reason for all of us going through different worlds but-" Will stopped talking when Wei interrupted her with a loud gasp. Her eyes bugged out and she started clutching the paper with white palms.

"What's the matter?" Will asked frantically. "What did you figure out?"

Wei shook her head with confusion. She couldn't believe it! There was no possible way! It was hard enough to believe that Will and Irma were magical, let alone this! It can't really be happening. This was just a coy to freak her out. But it would explain my fire, Rachel's hearing, and Eva's flowers. No! Wei started to feel like hitting her head on the wall to stop her horrible thoughts. They were probably true, and Wei was screaming inside her head knowing that fact. What happened to her normal life? Was it ever truly normal in the first place, or were they all just blind to everything that had happened in their lives? When had she ever started doubting herself? The last time she felt like this was when Erika, Rachel, and Ona came over to her house in third grade. When did Wei start to believe in magic? She hadn't bothered before when Will and Irma showed her their powers. But now, after understanding, she started to believe it was possible. Normal life? Nothing will ever be normal again.

Not since the day she opened her mind.

Not since she read the inscription from that magical mirror.

And understood it.

"Wei? You've got to tell me what you just figured out. This is too big a deal to keep to herself." Will said strictly. Wei gulped.

"I- I don't like this one bit but…" Will looked at her expectantly and Wei sighed with defeat.

"I think I know exactly what the inscription means. It's crazy! It's really… How can it-"

"Wei. No matter how crazy or unbelievable it seems, you have to say what the message is saying. It might be our only hope to figuring out this mystery and getting back home." Will explained. The bell rang and the students started piling out the door for their second period class. Wei started walking hurriedly away through the door, but Will was bearing down on her in the hallway. It was crazy! It was just a stupid message on a mirror. It didn't mean anything or even speak the truth or of what was to happen for that matter. And besides, Wei could have understood it wrong. No, that's not possible, Wei thought dreadfully. I know what I read, and what it means. It's the fact that it might be true that scares me!

"Hey!" Irma called. She ran forward with Eva and Rachel at her heals. Another girl started running up behind Rachel. Wei watched Erika's long and straight dirty blonde hair swaying gently behind her as she ran. They came up to Wei and Will and she introduced herself to Will.

"Hi, I'm Erika. You must be Will." Erika said with a big smile. Will shook her hand as Erika's brown eyes looked warm and inviting.

"Um, hi. Yeah, I'm Will."

"Rachel told me that you were visiting here. If I was visiting, I wouldn't bother going to school." Erika admitted. Will's shoulder went up.

"Um, well, parents, you know." Will answered. Erika shrugged.

"Not totally. I just live with my mom. She's finally started acting like a real mom after- well, just after a while." Wei looked back curiously at Erika and smiled when she noticed Rachel frowning at Erika. Erika seems to have a secret that Rachel is definitely determined to find out what's on her mind, Wei thought. While I now have something on my mind that I definitely want to keep secret!

"Well, I gotta get to Mrs. Pattrick's class now. It was nice to meet you both. Maybe I'll see you in another class and at lunch." Erika said with a wave goodbye. She started heading toward the door from which Wei and Will had just emerged. She stopped only a few feet from moving and looked back.

"Hey, Eva. Are you coming? I'll see you guys later okay."

"Yeah, I'm coming." Eva answered she waved at the group and started following Erika.

"You know, what's up with Phoebe?" Wei heard Erika ask Eva as Astral Phoebe walked boredly into English class. "She seems a little…off today. She isn't normally the one to drag through school. I wonder if she's feeling normal."

There was that word again.

Normal?

Not after Wei said what she knew Will was about to make her say in about…three seconds.

"Wei! You need to tell us! We need to know if anything weird is happening like a magical-"

"You guys, 'Drawn to the mirror, where the elements meet their twin' 'they must both pass through different worlds…' 'I bless my very first daughter in some generations to come'! Phoebe is her very first blood daughter! You four past through the mirror into different worlds! That means that Phoebe has a secret of some kind."

"Whoa! Confusing much?" Rachel exclaimed. "And the part about where the elements meet their twin…"

"Phoebe and Will and then Ona and Irma." Wei reasoned.

"So what exactly are you saying?" Irma asked.

"If it's saying what I think it's saying." Wei started regretfully. She sighed and thought about what she was actually saying. It was a little too late now since everyone was staring at her expectantly. Well, maybe they'll just laugh, Wei said to herself. It is kind of funny now that I think of it…

"Wei!" Will yelled. Wei sighed.

"It's saying that Phoebe, Ona, Eva, Rachel, and I, that we must have powers too." Wei cringed. She had gone and said the dumbest thing that had ever come slithering out of her mouth. No one laughed though. No one said a word. Not until Will broke the silence.

"New Chosen ones?"

Well, that's it for this chapter! Another cliffy! Ha ha, well of course I love em! Nobody else is very fond of them though… Some of the really sharp people at riddles would have guessed everything, although it could have been that obvious, that's not really for me to know since I made it up! What is the ring though? Phoebe's secret? The other girls go on the journey to understanding those in chapter 10! The answers won't come until chapter 11 and 12 though. Stay tuned on my bio page for the next chapter previews and other info about the stories. You can go to my bio page now and see a preview for my next chapter of this story and the next one for 'Whispers From the Past' and you can now also see most of the bio for Erika since I have introduced her at least to this story. Bye-bye now and I hope to get a couple of reviews!