"What the hell happened last night!" Yan Lin shouted with anxiety when she arrived at school and saw Cassidy and the others.
"Last night? What did you do last night?" Nerissa asked curious.
"She had to meet Edward" Yan Lin answered, without turning away from the redhead.
While Nerissa showed an exaggerated smile on her face, Cassidy was trying to find the most appropriate words to define something she couldn't explain.
"Want to tell what the hell it's happening here? What did you do last night?" Kadma asked, with the tone of someone who thinks to be excluded from the conversation.
"I was trying to contact her telepathically, but it was as if…the signal was not good…" Yan Lin tried to explain.
"Maybe she was distracted and I guess this is the most reasonable answer, considering that she was…busy" Halinor said, grinning at Cassidy.
Yan Lin looked at the blonde girl confused.
"I perfectly understand you Cass" Nerissa said placing a hand on Yan's shoulder "If I had been you, I wouldn't have even heard".
Yan Lin glanced at her.
"Yes, I know Yan" the redhead said "I remember what you told me, and I really tried to be the more distant I could. I realized I couldn't hear you well when I was near him, that's why I suddenly stood up and went out, at least for a minute".
"You left him in the restaurant alone!?" Nerissa shouted, shocked "Baby, you haven't learnt anything yet".
Yan Lin breathed in deeply and turned to Nerissa. "Could you please shut up for just a few minutes, please?".
The black haired one became suddenly serious. "Sorry".
The Chinese girl looked at Cassidy with a pleading gaze. "Cassidy, please…stay away from him. We don't know almost anything about our enemies, and we can't know who he could be".
"Stay away from him? How is that possible?" Nerissa asked with a sarcastic streak.
On the brink of hitting the roof, Yan Lin exclaimed "Look! There's Steve over there!".
"WHERE!?STEEEEEVE!" Nerissa shouted with joy and ran to the other side of the courtyard, where a group of friends was talking and laughing.
Three of the four remaining girls were looking at that scene. Kadma was standing covering her eyes with a hand "Don't let me see…".
"Anyway, you remember what I told you" Yan Lin said, seriously. Cassidy nodded.
"Thanks to Halinor, we know something more even about him, and that's not something good" Yan Lin added.
The blonde girl looked at her, confused "What?".
"You came to the restaurant last night you remember? And you told me about Edward contacting someone beyond a portal" Yan Lin answered, a little annoyed.
Halinor rubbed her head "Well…I don't…don't remember well. But I got it".
Yan Lin looked at her, worried. "Are you kidding me?".
The bell rang.
"We have to go" Kadma said, grabbing her schoolbag.
From the other side of the yard, they heard a girl shouting. They turned and found her friend pitching into a boy to kiss him.
The four girls stared at them in shock.
"Oh – my – gosh…..".
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Karesh was admiring the view out of the window: it wasn't a sunny day, the sky was cloudy and rain was imminent. Serke was standing behind him, with his hands behind his back. He was waiting for anything his master could say.
Karesh breathed in deeply before starting talking.
"What do you think about it?" he asked his servant.
Serke didn't say anything at first. Then spoke.
"I fear he's losing sight of what he must do, sir. I think he's too vulnerable, I almost think he doesn't care of what happens here on his world. After all, he's a kid".
Karesh grinned. "Yes. He's a kid. Like those guardians, after all. But what perceive them is the ability to understand what's duty and what is not. I sometimes think Edward doesn't get the difference".
Serke was listening carefully.
Karesh was standing there, imperturbable. And then turned to his servant.
"He's doing great, Serke. Great".
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Nerissa had opened the emergency room's door with violence, completely wet and with fear in her eyes. She had quickly looked around to see many people looking at that frightened and wet girl she had just arrived.
"Rissa!" a girl called.
"Katherine! Where is he?" she asked.
"Come with me!" the girl took Nerissa's hand and they headed to a room.
Steve was laying on the bed, the bandages was all around his leg and arm, half-bloody.
"Steve! What happened?" she asked, coming close to the bed. In the same room there were also her friends, Katherine Knicherbocher and Patrick, who was Steve's friend and Kathrine's boyfriend.
"I don't know, really! A giant dog attacked me, all of a sudden! We had gone out for a beer, and when I went out of the pub for a cigarette I was attacked" the boy tried to explain, but he was still visibly upset.
Nerissa looked at him worried.
"I didn't know you're a smoker!" she exclaimed.
Kadma sighed.
"It was giant" Patrick said "A very big dog. Stray, I think".
"How did you make it run away?" Halinor asked.
"Katherine and I got out when we heard him screaming. I took a cane near a trash can and tried to hit him. It then ran away".
Yan Lin looked at both Steve and Patrick. "Can you describe the dog?".
Patrick glanced back at her, surprised for the question.
"It was very big and white…some sorta of german shepherd, but bigger and white" Katherine answered, taking Patrick's hand.
Halinor held her breath, without saying anything. Images started to run through her memories. She could still feel the humidity of the tunnels, the smell of the backwater, the screams of the prisoners and all the tension inside her. And the iron bars of the cell, too heavy and large to melt, the rifles pointed, Cassidy, and…
"I don't like it" she finally said.
"You'll see, they'll catch it and bring it to the kennel" Patrick said, very calm and quite.
"Well, I think it's better for you to rest Steve" Kadma spoke, directing a polite smile to the boy "You really had a nasty moment, after all". Steve smiled back nodding, assuring there was no problem for Kadma invited her friends to follow her out of the room.
"But, but…how can you play the sax if you smoke, and then it's not good for your health, and…" Nerissa kept on telling Steve, until Yan's hand grabbed her collar and trailed her away.
Just out of the ER, Kadma stopped to look at the rain coming down heavily on the asphalt. "I want to go to Aquardas".
Her friends looked at each other, but they didn't know what to say.
"It's time to act, girls. I don't believe in coincidences, or at least I stopped believing in them since I knew Kandrakar and all…the beast that attacked Steve wasn't earthling, it's here for us and this is just a warning. You both saw it in Aquardas and tried to kill you Cassidy, we can't just sit here and let it happen…or his next goal will be us" Kadma said.
"She's right" Yan Lin agreed, looking at Cassidy.
"The only main little problem is that it could be the Prince of Aquardas, you remember? Or at least it was what Aswin's soldiers told. And if it's so, you know we should protect him, you know?" Halinor pointed out.
Kadma sighed, and glanced at the redhead, who didn't say anything but glanced back at her.
She then took out the Heart.
"I don't think we have any choice".
