Chapter Fifteen

By: Sokai

Disclaimer: I, Sokai, do not claim ownership to the workings of W.I.T.C.H. -- I leave that honor up to Elisabetta Gnone. However, I can and DO claim to own this story and its inspired ideas FROM said series, as well as the original character, Sitara Vandom/Amandella Ember.

Note: You guys actually LIKED chapter fourteen? Are you SERIOUS:Shrugs: Ah, well. I BASICALLY hate EVERYTHING I do, really, so it's ok. LoL Uh . . . what else . . . Oh, right!

Warning:Please do NOT leave me reviews, saying that "that doesn't happen in the books!" or, "You did that wrong! Because in book 9, they blah blah blah" or what have you. PLEASE remember that this story is only INSPIRED by the series, and SINCE it's MY story, I'm entitled to do/write as I please. I could blow them all up, if I wanted and you can't do a thing about it. LoL So, yeah. This chapter, in the beginning, deals with something that was briefly reflected upon in one of the Adventure books (Taranee's, to be more specific), and if it was also done in future books I don't know, as I've only read that one, and books 1-6. So, sue me, hardcore W.I.T.C.H. fans (besides, I know a fair amount of the topic I'm gonna write about and what they did in the Adventure book -- no, I don't practice it religiously, but I have done it a few times in the past and know more about it than the average person, kinda). LoL

This chapter was written/created in April 2006.

"Scrying? Are you kidding us, Cornelia? That's how you expect to find Sitara?" asked Irma incredulously to the expectant blonde, while still seated upon the floor next to Hay Lin.

Taranee immediately tensed up the moment she'd heard the idea, her mocha tinted cheeks growing pale. The last time they had tried that occult form of divination, she'd felt as though she was being pulled by her abdomen straight down into the depths of Hell -- something she never truly shared with the girls and wasn't in any rush to any time soon . . .

". . . D-do we have to do that again? I mean, it didn't even really work for all of us when we'd tried it," she tried to deliver calmly, hoping her valid point would sway the eldest girl's mind.

However, Cornelia merely shook her head as she remained undeterred, the same resolute expression still plastered across her fair visage when she'd first brought up the subject several minutes before.

"No, we don't have to do it again, Taranee, but it's the best chance we have in finding her quick enough. Besides, it did at least work for some of us when we'd done it -- especiallyyou, Irma, as you were the most embracing and open to your magic at the time," said Cornelia from her place upon the kitchen counter, gently clinging to Wilhelmina's arm who stood next to her, as though worried the red head would flee from the premises in hot, blind pursuit of her perpetrating twin sister.

Surprisingly, however, Wilhelmina chimed in with vague intrigue upon the idea, turning her crimson head towards the blonde.

"Cornelia does have a point, Irma . . . but Taranee has a point, as well, Cornelia -- it didn't really work strongly for all of us, if at all, and we were 'bonded' by that point back then, as you'd said. So, I highly doubt that it will be enough to find Sitara now, considering . . ." she trailed off, her brown eyes moving from girl to girl as she was sure they'd understood to what she was unfortunately referring.

"Perhaps . . . but we've also becomea lot more stronger and confident within our magical abilities since then . . . or, at least, we were . . ." countered Cornelia, her own blue eyes also traveling to meet each girl's gaze.

Hay Lin, who was still lightly sobbing and looking completely helpless, softly spoke up as Irma handed her yet another napkin she'd reached up to seize from off of the counter.

"B . . . but h-how do we e . . . even know t-that we still h-have our . . . our powers?" she asked before blowing her nose into the napkin, every girl looking upon her with saddened, sympathetic eyes.

It was still quite the shock to learn that the youngest and usually most cheerful and energetic of the quintet had been reduced to such a pathetic mass -- a mere, unrecognizable shadow of what she'd used to be, all thanks to the drama that they themselves had created . . .

Hopping off of the counter, Cornelia sighed softly as she replied,

". . . That's what we're about to find out . . ."

In the next several minutes, each girl reluctantly (Taranee, especially) helped Cornelia set up the elemental materials they would need to use as their medium in order to effectively receive any results.

". . . Ready?" the blonde asked at her place near and to the left of the front door, where a large potted plant was stationed.

Wilhelmina remained standing next to the counter with her arms folded across her chest as she anxiously awaited the four women to begin.

"Well I am, at least, although I'm not actually doing anything," she replied, biting down onto her rosy lower lip.

The rest of them merely nodded in response, with Irma standing behind the cardinal haired woman at the white porcelain kitchen sink that was now filled with clear, cool water. Meanwhile, Taranee more than apprehensively sat upon the couch before the thick, pink colored candle she had manually lit and then set upon the coffee table; and Hay Lin unluckily stuck her raven colored head out of reopened living room window, getting drenched in the process.

Wilhelmina watched each of them close their eyes hesitantly and begin to take slow, deep breaths in gradual concentration. It was obvious that in addition to possibly having lost their powers, their former selves, as well as their friendship, each woman truly had also lost their sureness within their magical know-how -- effectively reverting back to their beginner stages from when they had first been bestowed with their elemental gifts.

C'mon . . . This isn't the time to be shaky and doubtful about it! We -- I need to find Sitara like, yesterday by now, dammit! She needs to pay for what she's done . . . thought Wilhelmina avidly, taking deep breaths of her own in attempts to calm herself down, as then she remembered of how important it was that all of them remain tranquil while scrying so that accurate results would then occur.

The red head then watched with curious eyes as each girl slowly opened their slightly glazed over orbs and peered expectedly out or into their respected elemental mediums, all four of them simultaneously posing the unanimous question mentally they'd agreed to ask once they began scrying:

Where in the world is Sitara Vandom?

Almost instantly did each woman receive results this time around, as a sharp, unbearable pain coursed throughout their entire being the moment muddled, urgent words filtered into their minds.

Wilhelmina, concern now shining within her brown eyes, helplessly watched her old friends' faces crumple into avid expressions of anguish, while her own faint, but growing pain gradually began to form within the pit of her stomach and caused her to grip the counter top for support.

Save . . . must . . . the world . . . Hay Lin could vaguely hear within her head as her pain picked up and her breathing became increasingly suffocating.

Chaos . . . all over . . . The end . . . is near . . . was what Taranee was able to make out gradually, her body feeling as hot as the small flame before her actually was.

Five . . . become one . . . Two . . . whole . . . saved . . . echoed the cryptic, addled words within Irma's honey brown colored head, her insides drowning with inescapable affliction.

Don't give up . . . on her . . . save them . . . save yourselves . . . Cornelia heard mentally as she felt her body being buried deeper and deeper into agony, desperately yearning to break free out of her trance.

"You guys . . . are . . . are you all right? I --" started Wilhelmina, as suddenly the room erupted into chaos.

Each girl let out a surprised, painful cry as each of their weatherly mediums unexpectedly turned on them. The flame upon Taranee's candle abruptly grew in size and intensity, nearly singing her eyebrows as it lashed out towards her. The dirt surrounding the potted plant in front of Cornelia exploded from out of its protective and nurturing vessel and into her face, covering her entire body.

Hay Lin nearly cracked her skull open as an extremely powerful gust of wind effortlessly toppled her over; and Irma all but drowned as the once still water within the sink swirled and formed a great torrent and cascaded out of the sink, completely drenching her as well as Wilhelmina's back.

"Ahh! Wha . . . what the hell was that all about? Are you guys okay?" asked Wilhelmina shakily, cringing as the water sunk deeper into her partially wet clothes and chilling her naked skin underneath.

"Y . . . yeah . . . Well, I'm not so sure, honestly," Cornelia was the first to reply weakly, all of their shared physical pain beginning to curiously subside as each woman struggled to stand from their places.

". . . Remind me never to do that again . . . Did anyone else feel the great deal of pain accompanying the 'bonding' moment with our elements?" asked Irma, groaning after spitting out some water from out of her mouth and back into the sink.

Hay Lin nodded slowly as she once again closed the window, this time with Cornelia's help, before leaning on her for support.

"Y-yeah . . . it was too much to bear . . . It was almost as though . . . it was more so the air was in pain, versus myself . . ." she said, sneezing loudly as Cornelia helped to push some of her soaking hair from out of her eyes and Wilhelmina handed her a dry towel from the linen closet near the living room she'd just then moved from.

Taranee shivered at the thought just then and frowned deeply as she backed away from the candle she'd promptly extinguished after nearly being barbecued by it.

". . . It was like it was . . . dying, the fire . . . and me along with it . . . I told you scrying was a bad idea!" she said hotly, wrapping her arms around herself in comfort as she maneuvered around the couch and joined the three women by the window.

"Dying? How can that be? Although . . . come to think of it, I sort of felt that way as well while you guys were in your trance . . . I have no clue what it could mean, though. But, did you at least find out anything about Sitara?" asked Wilhelmina, again looking the most drained of them all.

Irma shook her wet head as she wearily approached.

". . . Not about Sitara, no . . . It was all jumbled together, the words, that I could only pick up a few at a time -- and even then it made no sense . . ." she sighed heavily, sinking to the floor as her bruised ankle had by then become inflamed and too painful to walk upon.

If we ever find that psychotic bitch, I'm gonna give her the beating of her life . . . she thought bitterly as she rubbed her ankle.

Suddenly, Wilhelmina left the fatigued women and reluctantly went down the demolished hallway into her bedroom without a word. When she'd returned a few moments later, in her hands was a large map of the American country, as well as what appeared to be Sitara's white ski cap she'd obviously left behind in her haste to leave the premises earlier that night . . .

"Will? What're you doing?" asked Cornelia curiously.

"You're not the only one who's read up on scrying, Cornelia -- it's my turn to try . . ." she said with determination as she spread the map over the kitchen table and placed the ski cap on top of it thereafter.

"What? But we just tried, Wilhelmina -- it didn't work. Well, not in finding Sitara, anyway," said Taranee, clearly the most shaken up and affected by the experience.

"Besides, you look like you're going to keel over at any second -- we all do, but you especially," said Irma, wincing in pain as she tried to flex her ankle.

Wilhelmina let out a tired, impatient sigh as she shook her head and frowned.

"I'm fine, okay? I just . . . just need to find her -- to try this, all right?"

"Wait . . .you're going to do a votive scry, aren't you? But you don't have a crystal with which to act as your proper medium," said Cornelia as she finally realized what was going on, moving towards the red head.

Wilhelmina only shook her head.

"Not true. I figure if anyone can find her, it's me: magic finding magic; sister finding sister . . . even if it's only in name and by blood . . . And as for the crystal, what better, stronger 'crystal' than the Heart of Candracar?"

At this, the rest of the girls moved over to the table, with Hay Lin and Taranee helping Irma in the process.

"But . . . do you think you can still summon it? That you still have it?" asked Hay Lin, peering down at the map, which made her a bit nostalgic for her departed grandmother, and of the mystical map of the city she'd given to her that indicated where each of the portals they'd now closed had been located.

You must be truly ashamed of me and how I'd turned out, grandma . . . I've let you down . . . she thought morosely, new tears forming.

Wilhelmina l;looked from girl to girl with a light furrowing of her brows and replied,

". . . If you guys can obviously still be, at the very least, connected to your individual element if you can no longer utilize them, then I'm almost positive now that the Heart's still within me . . . Only one way to find out . . ." she trailed off into a whisper before closing her eyes in concentration.

. . . Heart of Candracar . . .please . . . I know you still dwell within me somewhere . . . you just have to . . .I know I no longer deserve to be your Keeper, but . . . If I don't find my sister soon, others within the world may suffer the consequence . . . So, please . . . come to me . . . she thought desperately, hands draped across her bosom while her right became clenched.

At first, she felt nothing. After several minutes had gone by without so much as a tingle, Wilhelmina began to feel discouraged. Then, suddenly, she felt the familiar sensations of something hard and warm beneath her right hand. It throbbed and almost hurt as the heat that was forming within it became greatly intense. The increasing energy within her palm burned as it prickled and sent atmospheric electricity up her arm. Wilhelmina's heart slowed down as the energy shot from out of her curled fist to her entire body.

Gasping, Wilhelmina opened her brown eyes and smiled faintly at the familiar, frequently comforting sight of the silvery medallion with its hilly, 3-D like glass capsule that had emerged magically from out of her uncoiled, extended right hand and now floated above it expectantly.

". . . I guess she still had it within her after all," Irma maundered the double meaning thoughtfully, as all eyes remained glued upon the acquainted jewel.

Taking a deep breath as she truly and definitely felt that she would collapse at any moment after that great magical willing, Wilhelmina gently seized the Heart with one hand while pulling a silver chain from out of her pocket with the other. Without a word she quickly pulled the chain through the small hole on top of the gem, then wrapped the top of the chain around the momentarily forgotten ski cap.

"So that the Heart will act as a pendulum over the map while the cap, which is owned by Sitara, will channel her relative energy into the Heart to show me where she is," she murmured, answering the obviously unanimous question that had formed upon each girls' face save Cornelia's by then, who apparently had been studying the mystical practice a lot on the side throughout the years.

Slowly beginning to swing the Heart over the map in a broad circle, Wilhelmina put the remainder of her energy and concentration into it as all five pairs of tired eyes focused upon it.

As though that been the trigger, the Heart suddenly stopped swinging and jerked itself roughly to the right side of the map.

Taking a closer look, Hay Lin scratched her moist head as she let out another sneeze.

"Oh . . . sorry about that . . . Anyhow, where did it land? Where's Sitara? I can't tell," she inquired softly.

". . . Fadden Hills . . . That's where . . . where you were from, Wilhelmina . . ." said Taranee in recollection after taking a better look at the map.

Wilhelmina frowned at the map for several moments, and with a very fatigued yet determined voice stated,

". . . And that's where I'm headed . . ."

-- End of Chapter Fifteen

(A.N. If this chapter's hard to read or I missed out on crap I usually catch when editing, sorry. But it IS 1:54 am right now, and I am BEAT. Anyway, I was going to continue -- I always say that LoL But the scrying and writing it out efficiently and with great detail took longer than I thought. So, I just left it like this. Anyway, so now chapter sixteen is where the final battle begins . . . Final? More like first since they haven't fought at all yet, but yeah. I honestly dunno what number the last chapter will be, but I don't think more than twenty it'll go plus the epilogue. So, yep. Again, no reviews about the scrying or how I "stole" Will's way from "Charmed," because THEY "stole" it from the real life/actual scrying techniques out there, itself. I've never tried votive scrying before, but I know about it obviously, and have tried the Hydromancy form of scrying several times in the past. Actually worked each time I've done it, so yeah. Go me. Guess I just have that "magic touch" in me. LoL

Did anyone else think of "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiago?" when I wrote the "Where in the world is Sitara Vandom?" part? I started singing the theme song after that LoL Anyway, I'm sure most of you would have caught it, but in case you haven't, I instilled some of the girls' elemental orientations during the part where each turned on them. You know, the descriptions? Yeah. How I was like Cornelia felt herself getting BURIED deeper and deeper in pain, and you know, she's the EARTH Guardian and you traditionally think of DIRT when you see that something was buried. LoL Or Hay Lin ironically feeling SUFFOCATED during her painful "episode," and she's the AIR Guardian, etc. You get me. LoL I like doing "sneaky" stuff like that. LoL

Anyway, thanks for the support, everyone, again, AND your newfound support for my "Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds" story as well. I'm surprised . . .)