I love all my reviewers. Thanks so much for reading this story! Yeah, I took a lot of liberty and some of it doesn't really fit with the original plot line. That would be because when I wrote this, I had only read up to 18 in the books. Now, having read the rest of the comics, I know this doesn't follow. Just ignore that little fact...
Chapter Eight- Portal Traveling
Phew! Kelsey thought with relief. We managed to all meet here at Julia's house, and get Hayleigh up to her room before anyone really noticed how strange she's acting.
Kelsey glanced at her friend. Julia and Lacey had pushed her over to a plush chair, where she obediently sat. But she was not acting like herself. Her head lolled back, her eyes fluttered closed, and she curled up in a tight ball. She looked pale and drained, not her usual bouncy hyper self.
Mandy stood up. "We have to get the Heart back!" she declared.
"But how?" Lacey asked. "We have no idea who has it, or where it is…"
"I bet Hayleigh can find it, somehow, with our help!" Julia said softly. "It's connected to her, and to us."
Kelsey nodded. She's right! Shouldn't we have some strange magical link? Maybe we can find the Heart of Candracar, using that bond!
"Hayleigh!" Mandy shook her blonde friend. "Get up! We are finding the Heart!"
"Heart…" Hayleigh murmured. "Need… we need… the Heart…"
"That's the spirit!" said Kelsey with encouragement. "Now wake up!"
Suddenly. Hayleigh shook violently. Her body trembled and gave off a blinding fuchsia light. She was lifted into the air, her head thrown back, hair streaming, and her eyes still closed.
Kelsey just gaped. What's happening to her? She… she's floating! Then she shrugged mentally. I guess as a Guardian, nothing normal ever happens to me. Or Hayleigh.
Hayleigh descended softly, looking alert and wide-awake, exactly the opposite of what she had been before.
"I saw something!" she exclaimed. "Alison took the Heart! Then she met with someone near her house-a girl only a year or two older than us- and gave it to her!"
Lacey tapped her shoulder. "So where is it?"
Hayleigh closed her eyes, as if remembering something. "Metamoore… the place that voice told us about!"
"And how exactly do we get there?" asked Mandy skeptically.
Julia entered the conversation here. "A portal of course!"
"A portal…" Kelsey said slowly. "Like the ones we closed?"
"Like the one that attacked us? Do we really want to repeat that experience?" asked Mandy.
Hayleigh quieted the girls. "I'm going. We need the Heart!"
Julia jumped happily. "I'm with you!"
Lacey nodded. "Count me in." She put her hand out towards Hayleigh. Her friend smiled and put her hand on Lacey's. Julia's hand came next, and then Kelsey's.
"Me too!" she chirped.
Mandy glared at the circle of hands. "We have no powers! How are we going to fight evil forces or whatever?"
"But we do have powers!" Kelsey pointed out.
Mandy sighed and added her hand to the pile. "I think I'm going to regret this," she muttered.
"Now to find a portal!" Hayleigh stated calmly.
Just then a young girl toddled into the room. She had short, straight blonde hair, brown eyes, and a shy smile.
Julia hugged the girl. "Hi Grace."
"You know Julia," Kelsey said, "You look nothing like your sister."
Julia shrugged. "I know." Then she turned to her sister. "Grace, you have to go by Mommy now, okay?"
Grace shook her head.
"Yes, Grace."
Grace shook her head again.
Julia sighed as the girl sat down on the carpet with her princess doll. "Let's go outside then, before she decides to follow us!"
So they followed their friend down the stairs, leaving an oblivious Grace sitting on the floor of her sister's bedroom with her doll.
Julia slid open the glass door and led her friends to her trampoline.
"Woo!" Hayleigh shouted, bouncing on it happily. Then she remembered why they were here, and fell with a soft thump.
"So, how do we find a por…?" But she never finished her sentence, for at that moment a strong wave of dizziness hit her. She sagged against the net that surrounded the trampoline and closed her eyes.
"That's how," said Julia decidedly. "The portal is right there!" She pointed at the rotating circle of blue lightning that had materialized in front of the girls. She started crawling towards it.
"Wait!" Lacey cried. "Won't your mom worry if we just disappear?"
Hayleigh bit her lip. She hadn't thought of that. Then she had an idea. "I have a plan! But this might sound a little odd. We have to clone ourselves with our magic."
Her friends just stared at her blankly.
"It might not work without the Heart, but we have to try!"
They just kept staring. Hayleigh shook her head.
"Watch!" she commanded.
Closing her eyes, Hayleigh felt a surge of power in her veins. She imagined herself bathed in a warm magenta glow. Then she thought of an identical double of herself stepping away from the glow. It would know everything about her, her secrets, dreams, and wishes. It would have all of her memories, and replace her for as long as she was gone. The girl felt a pang of doubt about this idea. I mean, would anyone even notice that it wasn't her? But she shook the thought away. It's absolutely necessary, she told herself.
When Hayleigh opened her eyes, she almost shouted in surprise. Standing in front of her was, well… Hayleigh! Another Hayleigh was looking back at her, as if a mirror had just appeared in front of her face.
"Whoa!" she murmured.
The clone blinked at her. "Why do you look just like me?"
"I… er-long story," Hayleigh said quickly.
Then she turned to her friends. "Do what I just did," she ordered. "Just close your eyes and imagine your perfect clone!"
With a bit of hesitation, her friends did as she told them to. They closed their eyes and were immediately enveloped in light the color of their magic. Soon a hazy shadow appeared in front of each girl. The shadows took the shapes of their originators. The girls opened their eyes.
"It's incredible!" Julia whispered, reaching out to touch her double's hand.
Mandy looked quizzical. "It's impossible," she muttered to herself. "It's not scientifically possible."
Hayleigh corrected her. "Anything is possible… where magic is involved!"
Julia headed towards the portal again. "We have to go before my mom looks out the window and sees ten of us!"
The girls nodded in agreement and followed her into the swirling circle of light.
Kelsey was last. Why am I doing this? I am chasing a little necklace through a tunnel of lightning, having no idea what is on the other side! The thought almost made her laugh. I have to! She told herself. Whoever stole the Heart could put it to bad use quickly. We need to stop them!
With that though she crawled into the tunnel. It was like being sucked into a giant whirlpool. She spun round and round, coming dangerously close to the stone wall that made up the sides of the portal. Kelsey felt sick. Please let this stop soon! She begged. Please!
Almost immediately she got her wish. Kelsey was launched out of the tunnel like a bullet from a gun. She landed with a thud next to Lacey and looked around. They were in an alleyway, of sorts. But it was nothing like their Clearwater! The buildings were short and made out of muddy straw and stone.
Kelsey turned to her friends. "Where are we?"
Hayleigh straightened up, brushing dust and dirt off her jeans and royal blue sweatshirt. "Well…" she began, as if she didn't quite know how to explain herself. "I think we are in that place, where she took the Heart! But I'm not sure… no one ever told us what it looks like. Come on, let's close this portal." They promptly did.
"You know…" Julia said. "We kind of stand out here." She gestured towards their modern clothes. "We should get some sort of disguise. I think that shop over there sells cloaks."
Julia led the way across the dirt road. She pushed through the wooden door and walked right up to the shopkeeper.
"We need some cloaks. Do you sell them?"
The shopkeeper, who was a large orange lizard with green horns, looked at her skeptically. "No payment?"
Julia bit her lip. She had forgotten about that. She put her hands in the pockets of her jeans and felt around. Then she turned back to her friends.
"How are we going to pay for them?" she whispered urgently.
The other girls dug through their pockets too.
"Do you think he'll take two gold dollars?" Lacey asked. "It's kind of cheap in our world, but hey, it's gold! How can he tell it's barely enough to buy a pack of gum on Earth?"
"Don't say that loud!" Julia hissed, swiping the coins from her friend's outstretched hand. Then she turned back to the lizard man. "How about these two wonderful gold coins?"
The man took the coins and bit both experimentally. He squinted at the woman that they both depicted. "Who's that?"
"Um… a great nature goddess. Can we please have five brown cloaks now?"
The shopkeeper grumbled about his services to cheap travelers but he gave them the coarse cloaks. Julia thanked him and dragged the other girls out of the shop.
"That was close. Put these on."
Hayleigh held hers up. "Is this made out of potato sacks or something?"
Julia shrugged. "Who cares? Keeping a low profile is far more important than style at the moment."
The girls pulled the cloaks over their heads. Hayleigh started off, obviously meaning for the others to follow.
It seemed like hours later when they finally reached the outer wall of the castle. It was gigantic, complete with tall gloomy towers and guards patrolling the entrance.
Hayleigh gulped. "Guards! I forgot about them," she muttered. "How can we get in?"
Just then a cart piled high with straw stopped in front of their hiding place. Hayleigh smiled.
"Perfect! Hide in the hay girls!"
Mandy looked at Hayleigh as if she were nuts. "The hay?"
"We have to get in somehow," she explained. "Now get in! We only have about thirty seconds before this thing starts moving again." She carefully climbed into the wagon and buried herself under heaps of yellow straw.
Julia shrugged and copied her. Kelsey, Mandy, and Lacey looked at each other and back at the cart.
"Here goes nothing," Kelsey mumbled, her voice muffled by the hay. Lacey and Mandy soon settled themselves in, and not a moment too soon. With a creak and grinding of gears, the gate lifted and the cart rattled along the stone floor of the palace.
After only a few minutes, the cart stopped. A gruff voice ordered for someone to begin unloading the hay.
"You guys!" Kelsey whispered. "They're going to find us."
The four girls turned to Hayleigh expectantly.
She looked worried. "I don't know. What could we…?" She trailed off as an idea came to her. "Let them find us."
Julia gasped. "But Hayleigh, what if they hurt us?"
"We'll be in big trouble."
"Mandy and Julia are right, Hayleigh," cautioned Lacey. "How are we going to do this?"
Hayleigh hushed her friends. "Listen. When they find us, they'll take us to whoever is in charge. And that will probably be the person who has the Heart!"
The others had no chance to protest, for at that moment a portly violet frog-like creature lifted the straw off of them. A muscled guard grabbed Hayleigh's arm.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"I am… um… I am lost!" she stammered.
He glared at her suspiciously and grabbed Julia also. "Nytar!" he yelled to his companion. "Take the others and follow me. We are going to see Nerissa!"
Hayleigh tried to look scared, although inside she was cheering. Perfect! she thought triumphantly. I bet this Nerissa person has the Heart of Candracar!
The guards dragged them down numerous corridors. The passageways were dark and grim, and there seemed to be millions of them. Like a giant maze, Hayleigh thought.
Finally the guards stopped. The one holding Hayleigh threw her to the ground, keeping a tight hold on Julia.
Hayleigh stayed on her knees but looked up cautiously. In front of her was a gigantic throne. It was made of violet-grey stone, and vines bearing velvety black roses wound around it. On the throne sat a girl. She seemed only a few years older than Hayleigh. The girl was lovely, with ebony curls that fell past her waist, porcelain skin, and big dark eyes. But her eyes were full of hatred and malice, pretty much ruining the elegant effect given by her looks and her wine colored gown.
"Your Majesty, I found these girls in a shipment of hay. This one appears to be the leader." He gestured toward Hayleigh who hugged her knees and glared at the girl defiantly. Your Majesty? Hayleigh thought, puzzled. Then she saw the silver crown that the girl- Nerissa, she supposed-wore on her curls, and the silver staff she held in her right hand. Hayleigh wondered what the symbol that topped the staff meant. It was a circle, surrounded by a half circle. A jagged line cut through the middle of the design.
"Thank you, Tiblan, I shall take it from here. You are free to go." Her voice was sweet and lilting, but there was a touch of evil in it, and Hayleigh suspected that there was a lot more than a touch of evil in this Nerissa person.
"I know who you are, Keeper of the Heart," she said, turning back to Hayleigh. Then Hayleigh realized what the symbol represented. The Heart of Candracar!
"Silly Guardian," she continued. "The Guardians all insist on using their tremendous power for good. Do you know what you could have used the Heart for?" Hayleigh shook her head. "Of course you don't. I doubt anyone but me could use the Heart of Candracar to its full potential. Except for me of course." She turned around and picked up a velvet box. Opening the box, she faced Hayleigh and showed her what was inside.
Hayleigh gasped. It was the Heart! Of course, it looked dead and dull, not being in the hands of its rightful keeper. "It is being a bit stubborn, but I suppose that won't be much trouble. It won't dare defy me for more than a few hours."
Hayleigh couldn't think straight anymore. She needed to rescue the Heart from this villain! "Now girls!" Pushing every ounce of her power out of her body, she fired a bolt of magenta lightning from her hands.
Nerissa wobbled, caught off guard for a moment. Then she cackled even when Mandy sent a stream of water to spin around her.
"You cannot defeat me you foolish children! You do not even have your full powers!"
Lacey clenched her fists. When she relaxed, a small fireball danced in each of her palms. She tossed them towards Nerissa, who only laughed and waved them away with her hand.
"I told you! See, I am the only one with the right to these powers. You do not deserve… Hey!"
While she hand been talking, Julia had whisked the Heart out of the box with a gust of wind. It floated gently down to Hayleigh.
"Guardians, unite!" she called.
A colorful teardrop flew out of the orb to join each girl. Kelsey gladly beckoned to her emerald one. It spun around her, faster and faster. The air smelled of grass and flowers. Kelsey closed her eyes and enjoyed the scents. She felt her plain sweatshirt and jeans give way to a wide-necked turquoise shirt and graceful purple skirt. Wings unfurled from her back, and her hair lengthened. When her transformation was complete, the magic set her back on the ground. She turned to face Nerissa.
"You can never defeat me with your measly powers! Even without the Heart I am stronger than you!"
What she said was true, they soon realized. Their powers at full force, the girls combined the magic to throw an enormous, glowing ball of energy at Nerissa. Nerissa laughed, and blocked it easily. Her magic still took on the fuchsia color it had when she was a Guardian.
Hayleigh struggled. "We can't hold her! We have to escape!"
"But how?" Kelsey asked, breathing heavily.
Hayleigh held up the Heart. "I wish this could help us!"
Mandy sighed. "I am tired of getting into huge trouble and then just hoping the little glass ball can get us out of it! Someday it will stop working or something, and then I will say…"
Hayleigh held up a hand, telling Mandy to be quiet. "What's that, inside the Heart?"
A small shape was taking shape inside the glass orb. It was a circle, green with a white 'C' shape cut out of it. A narrow triangle, half green, half white, was on top. On the bottom of the circle was a similar triangle, but it was shorter and fatter.
Lacey bent her head closer to the Heart. "Don't you hear that whispering?" Her friends shook their heads, bewildered. "There is this voice, and it's saying…" she paused, leaning towards the orb. "Phobos? Who's that?"
"What? I think we all missed something," Julia said to Lacey.
"This thing… the voice says it's the Seal of Phobos."
"What's that?" asked Kelsey.
Hayleigh shook her head. "I don't know. But I remember that name from somewhere." She thought for a few minutes, her eyes shut tight in concentration.
Phobos, Phobos… Something about supporters and Nerissa… And something else about defeating a prince… Wait! He must be the one the Guardians defeated… And then they put someone on the throne… Light of Meridian? Nerissa can't be the Light… Wait, they said the Light was missing… So we have to find her? Okay, later Hayleigh…
"Prince Phobos! He's the one the Guardians defeated seventy years ago. Remember the video?"
"Well that's all wonderful and everything," Mandy interrupted. "But we are pretty much goners if that little seal thing can't help us get out of here."
Hayleigh held up the Heart. In a flash of blue light, a portal appeared! "Where did that come from?" she asked quietly.
Julia pointed excitedly at the Seal of Phobos. "It was that thing! The Seal! It can open portals."
"Everybody, come on!" Hayleigh shouted over the roar of the portal. "We have to get through and close it before Nerissa makes it to Earth!" She dashed through the circle.
Her friends shrugged and followed. The portal was not nearly as uncomfortable this time, and spit them out almost immediately. They looked around them. Where had they landed this time? It was a patch of trees only as wide as the five of them standing in a line. And through the trees they saw a trampoline, a house, and…
"It's us!" Kelsey whispered, pointing at the five girls who were bouncing on the trampoline.
"Hurry up then," Hayleigh urged. "We have to close the portal. Together!"
Six streams of liquid light banded together. The portal shrank quickly, and the girls lowered their arms.
"Back to normal, Heart of Candracar!" The Heart absorbed the colorful magic, leaving each girl an average teenager again.
Hayleigh crept towards the trampoline and beckoned for her friends to follow. "Psst!" she hissed at the clones. "Come down here."
Their copies nodded and joined the girls behind the trampoline.
"We should call them something." Julia thought for a moment. "They are a part of us, and anyway, something tells me that they already have a name."
"Well, what is it?" asked Mandy testily.
"Astral drops!" Julia pronounced. The second she spoke those words bright light flashed around the girls. When it dimmed, the astral drops were gone.
"Well then. That was interesting," Lacey said. "Thank God it's Friday!"
"And we have no school next week," Kelsey added. "We're going on that camping trip thing."
"That's a comforting thought."
Hayleigh just smiled and looked down at her palm. Knowing that the Heart of Candracar was right where it should be was the most comforting feeling in the world.
So the Heart is back and all is right with the world... or is it? Stay tuned for the next chapter, coming after my week long vacation starting July 28.