Chapter Fourteen

"Well," Will said with a sigh, "I think that I can show you this now." She closed her right hand. Suddenly, bright, pink lights shown from it. When she opened her hand, a small, pink orb, with a strange silver clasp was hovering over it.

"The Heart of Kandrakar," North said in awe, "I've heard of its beauty, but I never thought I'd see it myself." She walked towards Will. "Show me what you look like," she said, "Show me what you look like when your powers are at their peak."

Obeying North, Will closed her eyes. "Irma! Water!" she shouted. The Heart shot a blue teardrop at Irma. "Taranee! Fire!" It shot a red teardrop at her. "Hay Lin! Air!" It shot a silver one at Hay Lin. She paused for a long moment. Finally, she whispered, "Cornelia. Earth." A small, green teardrop went towards Cornelia.

The five girls were wrapped in colorful lights. The light were so strong that it whipped their clothes off of them. Suddenly, the girls felt their bodies changing. Their small bodies became taller and more curved. Then they felt their powers surging through them.

Almost instantaneously, they were completely transformed, wearing their green and pink outfits, so retro that they looked cool.

"Wow," was all that East could say. North looked pleased to see that she was right about them. Dark, on the other hand, looked as if he was bored.

"Eh," he said.

"What?" Irma said, walking towards him. "You don't like our new look?"

Dark snorted. "You look like supermodels," was his response.

"Well that's good, right?" Hay Lin asked.

"I hate supermodels," Dark said, "They look nice, but they only care about themselves."

"That's not us at all!" Irma protested. "We help people."

Dark walked to the door of the room they were in. "If you do help people, prove it."

"How?" Will asked him.

"Help me," he started, "I ask this of all my pupils. Give me something that I can't give myself. It's something that you can't buy or steal. Something that you can't take, only give. It's a riddle. If you can figure it out, and give it to me, I will give you all that you want."

"What is this thing?" Cornelia asked.

"That is for me to know, and you to find out," Dark replied. He paused. Then he turned away from the girls. He had been holding the Heart of Phoenix while talking. "Well," Dark said with a yawn, "It's time for you girls to leave. Goodbye." With that, Dark waved his hand toward the door. The door opened, almost magically.

Will and the others transformed back into their original form, and walked out of the house. "Let's go to my house for a snack," Hay Lin said. The girls agreed, and they set out for Hay Lin's house. When they got there, they were in for a shock. Hay Lin's parents were gone! The girls then went to Irma's house. Her parents, as well as her brother, were gone, too.

House by house, the girls found that all of their parents were gone. "Let's go back to Dark's house," Will said. They went back and told him what had happened.

"Well," he said, "get some sleep. Tomorrow, we set out to find your parents."