Finally!

Have you ever walked into a room with a clear intention of what you were going to do, but then totally forgotten what it was? That's the way this chapter went. I kept on getting these awesome ideas, but then I would get distracted by something else (gotta love ADD, huh?) and completely forget what was going to happen. So...sorry for the wait, but I brought brownies! *hands out human-sized brownies to all followers, reviewers, and favoriters*

Disclaimer: I STILL do not own W.I.T.C.H., as much as I wish I did!

Will's head snapped in the direction I was staring, and she immediately grabbed Irma, who was the closest to where she was, and jumped onstage. "Nina, RUN!"

And we did. We ran like the hounds of hell were on our heels, right out the fire exit door to the right of the stage. We didn't stop until we were at least three blocks away. Will loosened her death-grip on Irma's arm and Irma doubled over, panting hard. I put my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. "What...was...that?"

"Horn of...Hypnos." Irma panted before taking a deep breath and straightening up. She looked at Will, who ran a hand through her hair. "I thought we destroyed that thing!"

Will shook her head. "It regenerates, remember? And if that guy has it, we're in for a heck of a walk down memory lane."

"Wait a second..." I wiped sweat from my forehead. "Hypnos as in...that one god that could make you fall asleep? As in hypnosis?"

"Unfortunately. Did the other three get out?" Will asked Irma.

Irma shrugged. "I don't think they saw us until it was too late."

Will cussed, something I had never heard her do. "We have to find Matt and Caleb, and I guess we'll make a plan from there. Irma, you go to Hay Lin's and get Caleb. Nina, you and I are going to Matt's grandfather's pet shop to get Matt. As soon as we get them, we'll call each other and meet up somewhere safe."

Irma nodded. "Got it." She took off down the sidewalk.

Will turned to me. "Anyone who is under the spell of the Horn of Hypnos will do anything that the person who has the horn wants. And if Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin are under the spell, then that's not good at all. Let's go."

"But what about our moms? And Olivia?"

"They'll be fine...for now."

Meanwhile, at the gallery...

Cedric chuckled as he made his way through the crowd of trance-marchers. The plan had gone perfectly. The rebels believed he had one of their own, and a rescue mission was most likely under way, but without their precious Guardians, only so much could be done. He passed a woman with light blonde hair who stared at him just as blankly as the others did. She held a large black contraption with a lens and a light attached to the top.

"Drop it." He ordered her to test the trance. She obediently let it slip from her fingers and fall to the floor. The satisfying sound of breaking pieces filled the eerily empty room. He smiled. "Tell me your name."

"Natalie Evers." She said in a monotonous voice.

Cedric continued walking to the front of the group until he saw a familiar pair of ebony pigtails. The Air Guardian. Next to her was the one with cocoa skin, and the one with long blonde hair. Fire and Earth. Three down, two to go.

But he never found the other two. Nor was the girl, the leader's cousin, who had been on stage just seconds ago, anywhere to be seen. Cedric growled. They had probably escaped.

He rounded up the three that were present and opened a portal using a magical talisman that His Majesty had given him. They would suffice until Phobos tracked the others.

The visitors to the gallery still stood still and at attention, even though their master wasn't coming back.

At the park...

We met up in the middle of the park, under a huddle of trees. Caleb's head had been in his hands for the last five minutes while he tried to think of a plan, and Matt and Will were whispering to each other a few feet away. Blunk, who had come with Caleb, sat with Irma and me.

"So, uh, you and Andrew Hornby, huh?" She asked in a low voice.

I plucked a piece of grass from the ground. "No. I just met him on the street. That's all."

"You don't have to sugar-coat it for me."

I laughed uneasily. "I'm seriously telling the whole truth. That was the first, last, and only time I have ever met Andrew Hornby. You can have him."

She smiled at me. "Thanks."

Will came back over to us, followed closely by Matt. "Okay, here's the plan: Apparently, Cedric bluffed to the rebels so they would try and attack the palace, which, according to Caleb, is happening as we speak. So the only way we're going to get into the castle is if we open a portal or find one, and even that is risky, considering the fact that Phobos keeps tabs on all the portals that emit people to and from Meridian. We would have to move quickly. Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin are probably being held in a prison close to either Phobos or Cedric. They know we're going to come and save them, and they're waiting.

"Blunk and Caleb, you're going to distract any guards that we meet on the way. Matt, Irma, and I are going to do most of the magical combat, and Nina, you're going to stay hidden if you can. Since we don't really know what's going on there right now, we're mostly going to have to wing it."

"It's a suicide mission, but we have to do it." Caleb finished, raising his head to look at us.

Irma and I stood. "Then let's get a move on." Irma said.

"Guardians, unite!" Will said, and the blinding light once again took over, replacing the girls' normal clothes with their Guardian uniforms. Matt turned into his magical form, and Will opened a portal. "Ready, Nina?"

I swallowed the nervousness building inside me. "As I'll ever be."

In the castle...

Phobos leaned back in his chair as he watched the five teenagers and the filthy passling jump into the portal. "As soon as they get here, use the Horn on them and bring them to me. Having all five Guardians under my control will greatly increase my power."

"And the otherssss?"

"I will find uses for them." The prince nonchalantly shooed his servant away with his hand. "Now go."

Cedric bowed. "Assss you wissshhh."

And now back to Nina...

The portal landed us somewhere in one of the many halls of the castle. Caleb shuddered. "I have so many bad memories of this place."

"Oh, no, really? 'Cause I have a whole truckload of warm and fuzzy ones." Irma said sarcastically.

I stared at the beams supporting the high ceiling, and then at the columns carved in what I identified as Grecian style. Gosh, the palace would be so pretty if the guy would just get an interior designer. And maybe some lights.

Will held the Heart out. "Lead us to the others." She whispered to it like she would whisper to a precious little baby.

Immediately the pink stone bounded out of her hand, and she grabbed the string so we could follow it. It lead us down so many hallways that I didn't care to count, all with the same beautiful architecture and carvings. The fear that was churning in my stomach almost went away as I admired the artwork while we walked.

Will stopped suddenly. "Guards." She hissed.

A slithering sound accompanied the sounds of dozens of footsteps approaching us.

"And Snakeface." Irma added grudgingly. "Yay."

Everything suddenly went quiet. Will and I exchanged glances as the Heart disappeared from her hand.

"They're waiting to attack. Trying to see if we're going to charge first." Caleb muttered as Blunk hid behind his leg.

I took a deep breath. "Maybe they don't know we're in this hallway?"

The silence was suddenly interrupted by a serpentine voice. "They're in thisss corridor."

"I think they know." Caleb pulled a sword from his belt. "Nina, get in the shadows so they won't see you."

As much as I hated being the useless sixth wheel, I nodded and obeyed. Who was I kidding? Even with my ring I was barely a match for magical creatures of their level. I found a patch of darkness underneath a table holding a vase full of dead flowers and crawled into it.

The guards rounded the corner in large groups. There had to be at least five dozen of them. Had they been that big when they had captured me before? Caleb, with a war cry, bounded forward and began clashing swords with three of them. Will, Irma, and Matt rose into the air to fight together, trying to wipe out as many as they could. Blunk made faces at some of them and ran around their ankles. At least he was sticking to the original plan.

One last group of guards entered the hallway before the giant half-man half-snake I remembered from the alley brought up the rear. In his hands he held the weird-looking trumpet: the Horn of Hypnos.

And he looked so ready to put it to his lips and play it. My heart thudded in my chest as my eyes went back and forth between Will and her friends and Snake-Man.

I had to do something.

Snakeface knocked Irma and Will out of the air, but they got right back up again and fired some attacks at him. Caleb had already finished off his first three guards, but more were advancing, and fast. Matt, on the other hand, was making excellent progress with his laser vision. Blunk was somewhere in the crowd of guards, but I couldn't see where.

A loud crash echoed off the high walls as Will sent a monster flying into one of the paintings. He slumped to the floor, unconscious. Irma trapped a handful of them in a giant floating water bubble and threw them down the hall, while Caleb fended off a pack of five. Snakeface saw a gap in Caleb's fighting, and swept him off his feet with his tail, then in turn knocked a stunned Will and an angry Irma to the ground. Matt fell to the floor from another swipe of the giant tail.

I had to put my hand over my mouth to keep from gasping loudly as Cedric again put the horn to his lips, aimed at my friends.

No! Without Will, Irma, and Caleb (heck, even Blunk), to lead the way, I was hopeless. I couldn't open portals or put up forcefields. I needed them! I began to slide out of my hiding spot.

But then Will, with the wind knocked out of her, caught my eye. She shook her head slightly, then pointed to my right. I followed her finger to find that Blunk was sitting right next to me, his terrible odor filling my nostrils. With a finger to his lips, he showed me the Heart of Candracar glowing softly in his palm. In the little time I had known what Will had called a "passling", he had never once seemed to me to be the quiet and serious type. I guess fighting evil can bring it out in anybody.

The blare of the horn filled my ears. It wasn't even a pretty tune. It was just one flat, unchanging note that swallowed the air like a vacuum. I made a face at Blunk, and he shrugged.

I watched the light leave my cousin's eyes. After the horn stopped playing, she, Irma, Matt, and Caleb were left staring blankly into nothing, slightly slack-jawed and zombielike. It was exactly how hypnosis was in the movies, except without the swinging pendulum or the pretty-colored eyes.

A new thought occured to me: Phobos wanted W.I.T.C.H. because of their powers. And they had their powers because of the Heart. And Will didn't have the Heart because it was currently in Blunk's stinky hands.

And, if Phobos happened to ask where it was, I didn't think that trance-marcher Will would lie to him.

Not good. Not good at all.

Cedric didn't ask, though, so at least that bought us time. Instead, he grinned an ugly, sharp-toothed grin. "Follow me, servants."

The new zombies obeyed and slowly stood, then Zombie-Will, Zombie-Irma, and Zombie-Matt rose into the air, while Zombie-Caleb just walked.

Once they had turned the corner and we couldn't hear them anymore, Blunk stood and held the Heart out for me to take. "Heart be safer with Nina. Harder to track your scent than mine anyway."

I shook my head. "I can't-"

Blunk cut me off by grabbing my hand and putting the glowing gem into it. He wagged a finger. "No time to waste. We need to save girls! And boys!"

"Blunk, we can't do anything. They'll just find us faster if we have the Heart. We need a new plan." I closed my fingers so the pink glow was covered a little. "Is there anyone, anyone you know who could help?"

Blunk was quiet for a minute, thinking. The way he tapped his finger to his chin was kind of cute...I mean, if you looked past the druel, dirt, and weird bumps on his face. Then he held his finger up. "Grandmother!"

"Who?"

"Air Guardian's grandma! She an old Guardian! She can help!"

I nodded. "Okay. So we're going back to Earth to find Hay-Lin's grandma?"

His big eyes glittered. "Yes! She help!" He pointed to the Heart. "Make a portal. Slash it in air!"

I did as he said, almost mimicking what I had done those few times with my ring. Sure enough, one of the blue swirling portals appeared. "Alright, Blunk. Let's get a move on!"

In the throne room...

The Guardians stood before Phobos' throne like statues. He thought it quite funny, actually, that after two and a half years of fighting him, they still ended up losing.

"You're not so rebellious now, are you?" He asked as he descended the steps from his chair. The Guardians still stayed where they were, unmoving, completely vulnerable.

Cedric, who had transformed back into a human, chuckled. "Even the rebel leader is completely under your power, my prince. We can find out where the rebels are holding their base!"

Phobos smirked. "And the other two?"

Cedric wrinkled his brow. "Yes?"

The prince's smirk disappeared from his face. "The other two that came with these four. Where is the leader's cousin? And the passling?"

"Well..." Cedric began to stutter. He didn't want to admit that he had overlooked them, that he had failed to do exactly what His Majesty had asked him-trusted him-to do.

"You didn't get them?!" Phobos yelled in outrage.

"My prince, they aren't important! It's the Guardians you wanted!"

"That girl can open portals! She is still a threat! You let her escape!" Lightning struck just outside the large windows in the throne room, momentarily lighting the prince's angry face so it looked even more menacing and rattling every loose decoration on the walls.

Cedric swallowed the angry retort he was about to shout back. Phobos did have a reason to be yelling; he did not.

"You are dismissed." Phobos waved his hand. "Leave."

Reluctantly, his loyal servant obeyed. Phobos whirled back to face the Guardians. "Give me the Heart of Candracar." He held his hand out so the leader could give it to him.

She didn't stir. "I don't have it."

"What?!" He asked in frustration. "Where is it?"

"With Blunk."

Phobos growled. He turned to the floor where he scried. "Show me that filthy passling!"

The magical sand he threw on it swirled until a picture formed. The passling was sniffing the ground as he walked like a smelly hound, leading the girl-Nina-down a sidewalk on Earth.

"Blunk, where is Hay-Lin's grandma?" Nina asked as she fingered the necklace she wore...the Heart of Candracar!

"At restaurant." The creature paused to look back at her. "Door in back we can use."

Nina took a deep breath. "Okay...but hurry!"

The image disappeared. Phobos bit back his stress. "Kole!" He shouted.

A young boy, possibly no older than sixteen or seventeen, entered the room when his name was called. "Highness?" He asked as he bowed. His shaggy brown hair fell into his blue eyes as he straightened back up.

"I will need you to go back to Earth." Phobos conjured a picture of Nina on the floor. "And find this girl."

The boy grinned. "That won't be too hard. She already likes me." He let his mind go back to when he had met her, bumping into her on the sidewalk. It seemed as if luck was finally back on his side.

Convincing her to come back to Meridian with him would not be hard at all.

I bet you didn't see THAT coming!

Anyways, I am finally answering some of your questions:

1. No, Nina probably won't transform or fly. She has a sort of if-life-gives-you-lemons thing going for her right now, so I'm going to leave her current powers be. I like it better that way. Besides, I REALLY don't want a Mary Sue on my hands, you know?

2. PhobosxNina is most likely not going to happen. It's a little...weird for me. (And this is coming from a huge Phobos pairing fan) Maybe I'll write another OC fanfic where it happens, but I just don't see it happening in this story.

3. The Elyon question will be answered soon...

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