Chapter Twenty One:
The Message Behind One's Actions
HuiLing yawned and stretched. It was early morning, and her alarm was going off. She glared at it, not wanting to get out of bed, but knowing she had to turn it off. Her hair was out of its usual braids, and hung loosely all over her shoulders, it stuck up at odd ends because she'd slept on her head wrong. She wore a teal blue nightdress that went to her knees, with a v-neck. Finally she dragged herself out of bed and shut it off with a wide yawn.
She blinked at what she had on the dresser- the Heart of Kandrikar. It gleamed in the morning sun, looking innocent. Like it was an ordinary necklace.
"Right... It's as ordinary as seeing a pig fly." She sighed at the thought as she began brushing her tangle of hair.
"HuiLing, are you up?" Came her mother's voice from the other side of the door.
"Yes, Mom I'm up." She gave another huge yawn.
"Ok. Make sure you're down here in half an hour." HayLin said before walking away.
HuiLing yawned again.
"Whoever came up with the idea of school during times like this ought to be strangled out in public." She said. She smirked at another thought. If she had Wanda's powers, maybe she could get her hair care items to do the work for her. "Quintessence...?" She said, and she giggled as her brushes got to work, untangling her hair without pulling so much as a strand. The comb helped separate her hair so she could braid it. The items went back to the dresser top, and she couldn't have been happier. Well, there were a few benefits to borrowing a friends' powers. She dressed in her favorite teal blue Chinese shirt with golden dragons patterned all over it, black shorts that went to just a couple inches above her knees, a black belt around her waist, black shoes, and white socks. She put the Heart of Kandrikar around her neck, underneath the collar of her shirt, then ran out of her room, grabbing her bulging backpack that sat next to the door.
"HuiLing, you're down here early." YanLin said in surprise.
"I'm just wanting to get an early start this morning, Great Grandma." Smiled HuiLing.
"You have the Heart with you?" Asked HayLin.
"Yup." HuiLing pulled it out from underneath her neck collar to show, before putting it back. "I plan on keeping it safe so I can give it back to Wanda when she gets back." She smiled brightly as though Wanda was just out for a weekend vacation.
HuiLing grabbed a Chinese breakfast dumpling that was on a dinner plate and dashed for the door.
"See you later!" She called through a mouthful.
"That daughter of yours has issues." YanLin said to HayLin, who sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"Hey girl." Cerella waved at HuiLing. Today Cerella wore a pale pink t-shirt, over that was a light orange vest, both of which had a v-neck line. Her hair was hanging loose except for two butterfly hair-clips that glittered in the morning sunlight. She wore blue jean pants with a light pink belt around her waist, and her shoes were white tennis shoes with light pink and orange stripes. Her backpack- light pink and white- hung on her back.
"Going for bright and annoying today I see." Yawned Ingrid, who joined the two. She wore a simple blue t-shirt with a v-neck, dark blue jeans, with a black belt around her waist, and white tennis shoes. Her hair was held up in a messy half knot. She had her black and blue backpack slung casually over her shoulder.
"Well at least my back pack doesn't look like a giant bruise." Cerella flipped her hair around.
It was a good thing that Tress turned up when she did. The two girls were staring daggers at each other, and HuiLing was looking as though she wasn't sure if she should jump in between the two or let them have their catfight.
"Hey, why is everyone so cheerful this morning?" Asked Tress. She had her hair in a fiery orange headband with yellow diagnal stripes. Her shirt was red and orange striped, horizontal, and the sleeves cut off at her shoulders. Her sleeves were small bell shaped, and her pants were black denim flared jeans. Her shoes were white tennis shoes, with fiery orange stripes across at the base. She had her backpack- orange and light yellow with strings of pony beads hanging from the zippers of the same color- on her back.
Cerella glared at Tress, and the gall she showed.
"I hardly call cranky girl here cheerful but ok." Ingrid shrugged.
"Hey, what's with the new hairstyle?" Tress blinked at Ingrid.
"What? You like it? I thought I'd try something different today." Ingrid spun around.
"Finally." Sighed Cerella.
"Well, let's get going before we miss the first bell." HuiLing said before another cat fight started.
The group met Stevie at the lockers in the hall way, where Derek was talking to the boy about his first training lesson, which would be after school.
"Hey guys!" HuiLing said with a bright smile.
"Hey." Derek replied in greeting.
"Derek!" Came Eva's voice from down the hallway, and the girls had a look of dread. Eva wore her golden yellow hair up in a violet headband, she wore a violet summer skirt with the top that had a v-neck, and lilac and white cherry blossom flowers patterned all over. Her shoes were simple yet elegant and violet, with a single violet strap around each of her ankles. At her wrist was a silver diamond poleroid watch. There was a malicious glint in her blue eyes as she walked up to Derek, flat out ignoring the rest of the group. "I heard Wanda's going to be gone with her mom for a while, how bout you and me hook up while she's gone?"
"Sorry, but I don't work that way." Snapped a rather angry looking Derek.
Eva's face fell in a combination of shock and dissappointment.
"Come on, I'm sure she won't mind!" Eva persisted.
"Hey, Prima Dama, if you want the drama club, it's down the hallway. Derek's got a girlfriend." Ingrid said in annoyance.
"Right, that fashion disaster? The LEAST he could do is pick someone with a sense of style." Eva flipped her golden yellow hair in irritation.
"Hey, I like being fashionably hip like the next sane person, but NO ONE picks on my brother's girlfriend like that. Wanda's style is unique to her own self. And just because you don't like her doesn't mean the rest of us have to." Cerella stepped up, a rare look of outrage on her face.
"Fine. I can tell when I'm not wanted. But watch your back, Derek dear, I'll snag you one of these days." Eva looked like she was about ready to pout.
Derek yawned quite obviously, and very wide to show he wasn't interested in her drama as the girl stalked away.
"What was up with her?" Asked Stevie with a frown.
"Getting in touch with her inner jerk?" Tress shrugged.
"Either way, thanks for getting rid of her." Derek looked at Cerella and the others. "She's been a pest ever since Wanda left." He didn't dare say 'ever since Wanda was kidnapped' unless someone was evesdropping and contacted the police. He heard stories about what happened when Elyon first started traversing between Earth and Meridian, and how one of Phobos' spies infiltrated the school and spread rumors that the former Guardians had done something to her.
When they filed in to their class with the rest of their classmates, Dean called them all to silence.
"I have a quick little announcement to make before we start today. We're going in to World War Two History today, and at the end of the week, there will be a test." He said.
A loud groan came from his students and he sighed.
"We're going to be finishing the World War One movie today, and I expect each of you to take notes. Ingrid, would you mind making extra copies for Wanda when she gets back?" He asked, and Ingrid nodded. She was widely known as the best note-taker in class.
"Aye-aye Wanda's grandpa." She gave a mock salute, earning a few well-heard giggles among the class. Even Dean smiled at her statement.
Dean plugged in the television that was mounted on a rather tall, black moving shelf, before grabbing the remote, and walking over to the door, turning off the lights.
HuiLing found it hard to concentrate that day. She kept on getting the feeling that she was being watched, and not by any of her friends or Stevie.
Wanda frowned . She was not happy that Phobos had brought her back before she'd had a real chance to exercise her power. She'd not been able to see Phobos since that day, and she felt restless. All she had were books in her rooms. Today she wore a two layered dress, which was a v-neck, and cut off a few inches just above the shoulders. The top layer of her gown was dark purple, and stopped three inches below the knees to reveal the second layer, which was lilac. The sleeves were long, elegant, and bell shaped. The bottom of the top layer of the dress was lined in gold, as was the neck and sleeves. The dress looked heavy, but was rather light and elegant. Her brown hair was held back in a single French braid. Around her neck hung the Crystal of Cepheus. She sat in a cushioned chair, looking out of a window in her bad mood.
Just as she as musing, there came a knock on her door. When she went to answer it, she saw it was Cedric.
"The master wishes to see you." He said.
She nodded, knowing better than to argue with Cedric, and followed silently wondering what Phobos wanted with her this time. When she got to Phobos' throne room, she was surprised to find that he was not alone. It wasn't Rhea who was standing by her side, but a girl the same age as she was. This girl had boyish, short hair that was raven black, and her eyes were onyx as well. Her skin was pale, and seemed to glow in the dark atmosphere that was Phobos' throne room. She wore a rather simplified dress- black with a u-neck, lined with silver, and tight fitting sleeves. Around her waist was a silver belt.
"Ah, Wanda. I'm glad you could make it." Phobos rose from his chair as she bowed to him. "This is Cybele. I thought you two could get to know each other. I know you had to be lonely and upset after the betrayal of the Guardians, so I spent some time looking for someone who was willing to befriend one of my best servants."
Wanda blinked in surprise.
"That would be great!" She said happily.
"I'm exited to get to know someone who is so highly praised by our Lord." Cybele bowed to Wanda.
"Thank you, Master." Wanda bowed to Phobos, who was smiling kindly even though the smile did not reach his eyes as he watched the pair leave, talking.
"My Lord... Do you really think it... wise to leave Cybele with such a... delicate situation?" Asked Cedric.
Cybele, while not new to Phobos' servants and minions, had rarely been summoned up until now. But that was only because Phobos didn't have a need for someone with her special talents.
"Wanda needs a reason to want to stay here. So, I decided to bring forth Cybele. She knows what is at stake should she let something slip, or let Wanda leave this castle without my say-so." Phobos replied.
"So what you're saying is Cybele will be able to keep Wanda under lock and key while under the guise of being her friend?" Rhea came from the shadows, to stand next to Cedric.
"Exactly." Phobos nodded, looking at the door to his throne room again. He had sensed Wanda's restlessness when she came back, along with the danger that she might recover her memories and revolt against him if that restlessness persisted. So he summoned Cybele, and told her the trickiness of the situation that she would be placed in before bringing Wanda in. It would be interesting to see how this played out.
Derek and Cerella were staring at their mother.
"What?" Cerella blinked.
"I said my sister Lilian is coming over for a visit this weekend." Cornelia stated a second time.
"And that freaky cat of hers?" Stared Derek. He was not at all fond of Napoleon, who always seemed to want to stick his nose in what he or Cerella were up to, sometimes at the worst of moments.
"Of course. I've told you before she knows all about W.I.T.C.H., and about what's been going on. She learned that she was the Heart of Earth when she was fourteen." Cornelia nodded in a 'this is final' sort of way. "So I want you two to be on your best behavior."
"With everything going on, why couldn't Aunt Lilian pick another time to visit?" Asked Derek. He did not like the idea of his aunt coming here when every one was so distracted, and she would undoubtedly be berating him about his girlfriend who was currently under some sort of spell and fighting against him.
"It's BECAUSE of everything that's happening that Lilian decided to come in the first place, Derek." Caleb had come in to the room. "She wants to be there as support for us."
"Great. Just what we need..." Cerella sighed, just as annoyed as her brother was.
"I expect you to show your respects to Lilian. She's not as bad as you think." Cornelia said, a little softer tone in her voice.
"Ugh, fine." Cerella clearly showed that she didn't want to, but at least she was cooperative.
So at three o'clock, when a knocking sounded from the door, Cornelia answered it.
A tall woman with short, curly blond hair and brilliant blue eyes was at the door, her gray Russian Blue cat Napoleon in her arms. She wore a black shoulder-less shirt, line with silver at the collar and ends of the sleeves. Her skirt was black, and her shoes were black.
"Going for the witch look entirely now I see." Smiled Cornelia as she hugged her little sister.
"Well, considering that's what I am technically." Lilian walked in. She spotted Cerella and Derek. "And how are my favorite niece and nephew?" She asked, walking over to them and hugging each of them.
"We're your only niece and nephew." Cerella smiled her best. She had changed in to a pink skirt with a v-neck, white halter top, and shoulder straps.
Derek managed to wriggle free of his Aunt's grasp.
"So, is it safe for Napoleon to speak here?" Lilian asked her older sister, who nodded.
"About time." Napoleon said.
"What the?" Cerella blinked at the cat.
"I've been able to talk since Lilian here was a kid. What's so unusual about that?" Asked Napoleon, jumping down. "I hear you two have gotten yourselves in to quite the fix with Phobos."
"This is gonna take some adjusting to..." Derek stared at the cat.
"Tell me about it. A cat talking? That's just plain creepy." Cerella bent over, looking at Napoleon warily.
"You can stop looking at me like that, doll face." Napoleon said in annoyance.
"Man... wait till Ingrid and the others hear about this..." Cerella jumped back from the cat.
"Lilian, mind if I give these two a talking-two?" Asked Napoleon, looking at her.
"Sure, go ahead. I've got a lot of catching up to do with my big sister." Smiled Lilian. "And don't worry, I had quite the freak out when I realized my cat could talk." She winked at the two who looked far from reassured that they weren't loosing their minds.
"So, somewhere we can talk privately, doll face?" Napoleon looked at Cerella, who nodded.
"Theres...the balcony..." Cerella looked at Derek.
The two left rather quickly with the cat in tow, through the condominium to the balcony on the other end of the living room.
"So, you're the new guardian of Earth, right doll?" Napoleon looked at Cerella.
"Yeah, so?" Blinked Cerella, nonplussed.
"And your best friend Wanda is currently under Phobo's mojo?" Napoleon went on.
"What's your point, talking cat?" Derek was already starting to loose his patience with the feline.
"I'm saying, there's a way to break the mojo that Phobos has put over her. It just takes some persistence is all, D'." Napoleon looked at Derek, who blinked at the nickname, not entirely thrilled. "I did some researching myself. And while I understand that the gal HuiLing is helping the Oracle of Kandrikar find an antidote to the poison Rhea put in her. So, my part should be easy peasy. You guys just need to be persistent... Keep talking to Wanda like she's your friend still, talk about things that happened in the past. Only fight her if you absolutely have to."
"Right. And we should be taking orders from an annoying talking cat we hardly know...why?" Derek was leaning against the wall.
"Well, if you never want your girlfriend back, D, then just ignore me and continue with what you were doing before... Standing around being all depressed and mopey with no clue what to do." The cat said nonchalantly, licking his front paw and scratching his ears as he spoke.
"I hate it when people- and cats- get like that." Derek's eyes went wide for a moment, before he frowned.
"I'll pass the message on to the others." Cerella looked like she was finally used to the talking cat.
"Good... and in the meantime... Who here knows where I can get some good tuna?" Napoleon looked at the two as though this were perfectly normal.
Ingrid, Mimiru, Cerella, Tress and HuiLing were gathered at the Green Dragon restaurant in a corner away from everyone else.
"So... Napoleon's really your Aunt's Familiar?" Asked HuiLing.
"Yup." Nodded Cerella, who looked none too thrilled about that fact.
HayLin came over to the group with a large tray of Chinese food on one arm, and a rack to place the tray on in the other.
"Don't be so surprised, I mean, Mimiru's a cat when she's out and about normally." HayLin said, putting each of their plates in front of them.
"Hey, where's Derek? Isn't he supposed to be here?" Ingrid looked around.
"He said he had something to do before he came over here." Shrugged Cerella as she started on her dinner- a plate of pan fried noodles with a celery and vegetable topping and shredded pork, on the side she was eating sweat n' sour pork, and fried won-tons.
"Oh well, he's the one missing out on this great food..." Ingrid grabbed her copsticks, and started slurping her own noodles.
Tress shrugged, already eating her fried prawns with sweet n' sour sauce all over.
Derek was already in Meridian's swamp land, headed once again to Phobos' castle. This time not to spy, but rather he had something he felt the need to do. It was dark here, and he had his sword out just in case he came across anyone unfriendly. He ducked behind a thick, molding log near the castle as he watched the guard around the entrance. Looking up, he saw the windows of the castle. He
couldn't see what he was looking for in any of these.
He ducked down as one of Phobos' sentries marched by. He slipped through the trees, until he reached castle wall, unnoticed. Looking up, he scanned each of the windows before sliding to another side of the castle. Finally he reached the western side. After making sure no one would see him, he slipped through the swamp trees until he could look up at the windows. Finally he saw what he was looking for.
A familiar silhouette was standing on a balcony on the fourth story. He felt his heart clench at the sight as she turned her back to the scenery when someone unfamiliar came on to the balcony, offering her a goblet. He couldn't hear what was being said, but the unfamiliar girl soon left. He saw his opportunity.
Quickly and quietly he found a vine. Then, sheathing his sword, he started climbing using his hands and feet. He climbed until he reached the balcony that he'd seen her standing on. He was glad that she was still there when he got there.
Wanda heard the noise of someone climbing the wall, turned, and blinked.
"You..." She frowned. It was not a welcoming gesture at all when he jumped over the edge of the balcony to the platform.
Derek blinked at her. She was totally different than what he'd known her as before. He never would have seen her in such an elegant dress so willingly, or wearing her hair braided in that French Princess braid either.
"Wanda... I came to see you." He said as she pulled out the Crystal of Cepheus from the left sleeve of her dress.
"Well, that was a mistake. Brave, but foolish. I wonder... are all men like that?" She asked.
"Wait! Wanda... Don't transform... I didn't come here to fight." Derek said quickly, stepping forward. He was quicker than her even now. He ran up to her and grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the Crystal of Cepheus. He held it tightly in his own hand, and with his other hand, grabbed the ribbon that was in his pocket.
Wanda was blinking rapidly as she struggled to break free.
"How dare-" She began, but he cut her off.
"This... Remember this?" He asked her, holding up the ribbon. "I made this for you, gave to you as a birthday present."
"Why would I remember something so idiotic?" She glared at him. "Release me!" She raised her voice, and he put his hand over her mouth to quiet her.
"Listen to me... I'm telling you this because I care about you... I love you and don't want to see you go down the wrong path that you are starting." Derek looked at her, his blue eyes staring fiercely into her own red eyes. "Believe me when I'm telling you that you're under Phobos' control, Wanda. He's lying to you and infected you with Rhea's poison. He intends on using you to kill us all just to steal the Heart of Kandrikar. I know the real you won't let that happen."
Wanda brought up her other hand to push him away, but he was much stronger than she was. And with his hand covering her mouth, she couldn't say the word needed to transform. Far from making her upset, she was angry at him. Yet at the same time, she was confused at the feelings that came up when she was near him, or saw him. A part of her didn't want this conflict, didn't want to see his wrath directed at her. Though she did not remember him at all or why he was so stubborn about this situation, something about her remembered his touch, and was drawn to those eyes of his.
Derek blinked, seeing a hint of recognition amongst all the confusion in her eyes. It was faint, but still there. He could hear footsteps, and knew he had to leave before he got caught.
"Keep this... don't throw it out." He said, placing the hair ribbon in her hand gently after removing his hand from her mouth.
She looked at the ribbon in her left hand, blinking. When she glanced back up at him, she noticed how close he really was to her.
"What the...?" She tried stepping back, but he reached forward once more. He grabbed her chin, and pulled her towards himself with a smile on his face.
He kissed her, with pressure behind the action. It was brief, because he heard the footsteps getting closer. But when he pulled away, she was blinking, flabbergasted at him and the gall he showed.
"Please remember everything, Wanda. Before it's too late." He said before running to the edge and jumping over.
"Hey!" She called out, but when she reached the edge, he was gone.
"M'lady... is there something wrong?" Cybele's voice came from behind.
"Uh...no. Just thought I saw something out there but it was nothing." Wanda smiled back at her, stowing her two objects in to the pockets of her dress before Cybele could see what they were.
Cybele smiled.
"Come on, then. I want to show you the gardens." She said, running over to her and grabbing her by the arm.
Derek had already reached the ground, having slid down the wall using the vine as a guide. He glanced back up, seeing Wanda walking away with the girl like nothing had happened. He sighed in annoyance. This was going to be harder than he thought. He ran his hands through his dark brown hair, before slipping away from the castle.
