Hey everybody! Thank you all SO much for your patience! Thanks to topazchick08, harryrulesmyworld, Majesty of Dark Water, Silver-Arrow, Celestial Secrets, felinefairy100, babywhale512 and Sokai for reviewing. Here's Chapter 9!

Disclaimer: Let me check…nope, still don't own them.

Chapter 9

Eleka Not Him

The applauding ensemble was music to Cornelia's ears as she nearly skipped down the stage's stairs. The earth goddess closed her eyes, relishing the roars of the students. She couldn't help but feel all warm and fuzzy as she imagined her popularity as one of those test-your-strength games, the little metal square now soaring through the roof and higher until she couldn't see it anymore. But the feeling couldn't replace the tingle she felt in Caleb's arms, the rush as she charged into battle, the even bigger rush knowing he was fighting beside her, the comfort of his lasting kiss…and yet, Cornelia decided, it was good enough for now.

But despite her inner turmoil, Cornelia Hale still had no excuse for not opening her eyes in time to see the dazed young songwriter sidling across her path…and hear his groan of discomfort as she ran right into him.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," she spluttered, her euphoria shattered as she tried to pick herself up from the floor.

"The fault's mine," he replied, gently taking her hand and lifting her effortlessly to her feet. "Surely the Good Witch of the North herself has some forgiveness saved up for me?"

Cornelia let him hear her trademark girlish giggle, feeling her face light up from the hold she had on his attention span. "Of course," she said. "Just let me grab my wand and I'll see if it has a tap or two for you."

"After you," Joel smiled, following Cornelia to the props department and trying not to laugh out of wonderment as she started asking him if her shining wand needed another box of sparkles.

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"Hel-lo, Earth to Irmy! Wardrobe needs you to beam yourself down from the mother ship…like, today…Irma…IRMA!"

The newly green girl tore her gaze away from the pair of blondes gathered around the prop box to face a very confused Paul.

"Sorry," she said. "Spaced out there for a minute."

"Um, no kidding," he said, shoving stage makeup into random drawers and running a comb through Irma's unbrushed brown waves of hair. "Who would've thought you'd be jealous over Joel."

"What?" Irma said, eyes widening, and not from her morning coffee buzz. "Paul Michael Nelson, please go take some matchmaking lessons. Your friend's nice, but do you really think he could handle the," she paused for a minute, flipping her hair flirtily over her shoulder, "Irma Lair?"

"You know," Paul laughed, leading her over to the wardrobe department, "that big old brick wall you've built around yourself to keep Martin out doesn't mean someone like him couldn't get in." He held a midnight gown against her, taking in the effect for a minute or two. "Jealousy could slip in there, too," he added, laying the gown across her waiting hands.

You know what? she thought as she trudged to the dressing rooms. You're right, Paul. I AM jealous. Jealous that once again, Cornelia The Goddess" Hale has another boy snagged in her web of charm…while my little web's getting tired of tangling the same old sweet schmuck, over and over and over again.

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Joel Phoenix loved long car rides. In fact, the only reason he didn't take the bus with the band to school was so he could belt out Broadway at the top of his voice with no one around to hear it. But now, car rides were more…depressing, uncomfortable, downright haunting, to name a few. He covered the miles in silence, the wail of sirens screaming in his head, his drowned begging for them to stop resounding for only him to hear. It was a terrible chorus, one that didn't want to let him go until he faced up to reality. He sighed, pulling into a parking space and quietly opening the car door. There were just some songs you could never sing again. And when Joel heard those sirens scream, he'd never wanted to sing along again.

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"Was that Eric that just walked out of here?"

Will's question reached Hay Lin's ears over the din of the Silver Dragon's lunch rush, turning around to see the whole gang try to pile through the front door at once. The restaurant and house above it had been rebuilt after the flood damage and were up and running faster than ever. Hay Lin guessed the people of Heatherfield couldn't do without their dim sum for long.

"Yes," she answered, plopping a tray of bowls down in front of the waiters and hanging up her apron for the hour.

"And why was Eric here?" Taranee probed, breaking open the fortune cookie Cornelia had handed her. "Unless these need fixing," she said, tapping her glasses, "I thought I saw you two coming down from upstairs."

Hay Lin knew she was beginning to blush. "I was just asking him about a drawing, that's all," she murmured, turning away to grab another bowl of rice.

Cornelia opened her mouth to counteract her, like she always did Irma, but a throb of Will's hand and the Heart's not-so-secret emergence drowned whatever words came out of her mouth. The girls immediately crowded into a circle, shielding the jewel from the prying eyes of the ten nosy parkers that were bound to be chowing on their orange chicken only two tables away.

"Will!" the Earth girl hissed to her leader. "What is going on? You sure have a lousy timer on that thing."

"Cut it out, Cornelia!" Will snapped back. "You think I like having this little ball of energy popping out whenever it feels the need for fresh air?" Cornelia rolled her eyes but didn't say anything else, simply waited for a status report from the redhead sitting next to her.

Will peered intently into the sphere, looking past the tendrils of pure fog for a deeper vision, one that was playing hide-and-seek until the leader could yell "Found you!"

She reached out to the jewel; let her being ask it to clear away the blur. Finally, her face relaxed, only to tense as she realized just what it was revealing to her.

"Will?" Taranee said, cautious, her eyebrows knitting together with worry. "Will? What's it showing you?"

Will inhaled sharply before looking up to face her team. "Remember how the Oracle destroyed the Veil? And how he took the portals with it?" The girls nodded at the obvious. "Well…some of the creatures of Meridian that had crossed over with Vathek, way back when he still worked for Phobos, they're still here. They never went back to Meridian." She stopped, letting the information sink in. "They're still hiding out in the bookstore. If the Heart's sounding off a warning bell now, then they must be planning on coming out of hiding. We need to get them back to Meridian," she finished, curling her fist around the orb to make it disappear. "We need to get them up to Candracar."

The four girls nodded. "We'll go now, then," Will decided. "We need to get to them as quickly as we can. Who knows what kind of fight they'll put up." A flicker of uncertainty passed over them at those words, but that was all it was, a flicker. The five of them rose up, abandoning their food, but before Irma could follow the others outside, Will held out an arm to bar her path.

"Will, what are you doing? We have to go. Like you said, who knows how long this is going to take?" Irma quoted as tried to shove her friend's arm away. But her leader wouldn't budge, no matter hard Irma pushed her. "Will, seriously, let's go already."

"Irma…" Will stared at her with her deep brown eyes, trying to send a message with them, but telepathy just hadn't been her thing.

"Oh boy, long, hard, dramatic pause. I don't like where this going," Irma said, trying to lighten her own bad situation rather than the other way around for once.

"Listen, Irma, I just…I just can't let you come, part of this team or not. You have no powers now. Until you get them back…" Will let her sentence trail, leaving Irma to piece it all together.

"Just because I can't work a wave like the best of them anymore doesn't mean I'm complete deadweight," Irma shot back, staring her leader down with artificially blue but beautiful eyes.

"I just can't have you getting hurt, Irma. Please, get it though your head that it's on my head if you get hurt. I don't need you already down and out more than you already are!"

Irma gritted her teeth inside closed lips. Will's words hurt her, pierced the bold that was her character until it was a balloon that wouldn't float any longer. "I'm a big girl, Will," Irma said, trying to keep from sounding dramatic as she failed to disguise her hurt with sarcasm. "I don't need some babysitter telling me that magic's the only strength I've ever had."

"Well right now," Will said, glaring at Irma just as fiercely as the ex-water girl was at her, "I can't say that's wrong." She pushed the door to the Silver Dragon open, looking back just one more time before she joined her teammates. "I can't save you and the world at the same time," she said. "Just…just stay safe."

Irma watched her friends retreat into the blanket of sunshine that covered the day. No matter how bright it was, though, it might as well have been pouring for Irma. Not that she would've minded, of course. Steeling herself against the prickling tear that hung around the corner of her eye, she threw open the door and slowly walked where her friends had not moments before. So they're going to the bookstore… Irma thought, looking out over the expanse of Heatherfield as she glimpsed a flaming mop of hair in the distance. Good to know.

Hope you guys liked it! For those of you who were confused about the mention of the Silver Dragon flooding, please refer to the first story in this series, BFF? It's mentioned in there. Again, TERRIBLY sorry for keeping you guys waiting, but this summer has left me with next to no update time. I promise my next one will be quicker. But if you want to see it, I need reviews! How about…72 of them & I'll update? Okay then! You know what to do!