Hey guys! Happy summer! :)

I hope this is what you've been waiting for!

Andrew took a look around Will's room and whistled. "Wow. You two are slobs."

I laughed and sat on her bed. "So what do you want to do?" Despite what was going on in my life at that moment, I completely forgot about it and actually let myself be in a good, flirty mood.

He shrugged, still keeping a safe distance away from me as he leaned against the wall. "I didn't have anything planned."

"What's that behind your back?" I spotted a brown paper bag in his hand, which he quickly hid behind him.

"It's...uh...herbal tea." He pulled a teabag out of the sack. "I brought it with me in case...in case we got thirsty..." His face turned a shade of red, which made him look even cuter.

I laughed. "You have a weird way of surprising girls, you know that?" He grunted, a small smile on his lips. I fell back onto Will's amazingly soft comforter and looked at the ceiling. I could feel Andrew's eyes on me the whole time, like he was scrutinizing my every move. To make it less awkward for him (or it might have made it more), I propped

my head up on my arm to gaze at him. "So, um, you're in Will's class." I stated, trying to make conversation.

"A couple grades older, actually." He said, eyeing me like I was a bomb he was about to set off. "And you're her age, I'm assuming?"

I smiled at him. "Yeah. She's a few months older than me, of course, but we're both sixteen right now."

He messed with the teabag in his hands. "You know, I dig the red highlights."

"What?" I put my hand to my hair. "Oh, right." It did, in fact, have red highlights, giving it a strawberry blonde color. Red hair ran in Will and my family; she had just gotten hit harder with that gene than I had. "Thanks." My suddenly flirtatious attitude flew out of me like air from an un-tied balloon, and I was back to being my normal, not-so-bold self. My cheeks flushed.

There was a crash from the kitchen, making both of us jump. With mutually confused looks at each other, we made for the source. My mind involuntarily began conjuring gruesome scenes of Yan Lin and Blunk being attacked by some of Phobos' monsters, or worse, Cedric. When we rounded the corner, however, we found a perfectly okay Yan Lin glaring sternly at something under the table. I guessed that something was Blunk. She spent a few seconds holding the stare before she realized that we were in the room, then plastered a fake smile on her face. "Just a plastic bowl dropping. Nothing broken." She assured us. "I was making tea. Good way to de-stress. Would you like some?"

"Actually," I said, glancing at Andrew, who was also glaring under the table suspiciously, "Andrew brought an herbal tea mix. Maybe we could try his."

This snapped him back to attention. "Oh, right. My tea. Yeah, it's really good, not to mention good for you. Allow me; you should rest." He told Yan Lin, who had been nodding and holding her hand out for him to give her the tea packets. She smiled appreciatively at him, then showed him where everything to make tea was in the kitchen.

While they were occupied, I crouched down next to the table and peeked under the floor-length cloth. Sure enough, Blunk was hunched in the corner. He gave me a totally innocent look, but I wasn't so easily fooled. "Blunk try to warn you about boyfriend," he whispered, "but you no listen, so Blunk decide to show you that he is what he smells like. Monsters smell bad."

I checked over my shoulder to make sure neither Andrew nor Yan Lin was looking my way before I turned back to Blunk. "Listen, Blunk. First of all, he is not my boyfriend. Second, he is absolutely not a monster, so stop calling him that. And third, have you even smelled yourself?"

"Nina?" Andrew asked from the counter. "What are you doing?"

Thinking fast, I took my shoe off and stomped it on the floor. "Spider," I said as I met his ocean-blue eyes across the room. He smirked at me like we shared an inside joke.

"The tea's almost ready," he told me as he turned back to the pitcher of hot water.

"This is not over." I warned Blunk, putting the tablecloth back down.

Yan Lin appeared by my side. "Better get up or he will think Will's apartment is having an infestation."

I obeyed and followed her into the living room to watch TV while Andrew finished up with the tea. A few minutes later, he handed a steaming mug to me and one to Yan Lin. "Nothing more refreshing than a hot cup of joe." He said cheerfully, sitting down beside me on the couch, another mug in his hand.

"Thanks," I said. I wrapped my hands around the ceramic dish, letting the warmth from the liquid inside chase the cold from my fingers. Andrew was sitting so close to me that his leg brushed mine...not that it seemed to bother him. He kept his eyes glued to the TV, obviously interested in the baseball game Yan Lin had switched it to. I raised the mug to my lips and took a small sip. It tasted like heaven had been turned to a sweet-tasting nectar that spread a fuzzy feeling throughout my body as I swallowed. I took a bigger drink this time, not even minding the burn on my tongue from the tea being too hot. When I swallowed this time, I nudged Andrew with my elbow. "This stuff is amazing! Where did you get it?"

Yan Lin set her mug on the coffee table. For a second, her face, which was lit up by the light from the TV, had an almost eerie expression, like she was frowning in anger. But that went away, and she turned to Andrew with a smile. "Very good. Maybe you should come over more often, eh?" I blinked. Maybe before had only been a trick of the poor lighting.

Andrew laughed. "I knew you'd like it." I envied him - how chill he was around people he wasn't familiar with, and how easily he could win their respect. A new idea occured to me. My friend back home, Leslie, would die if she heard that I had been flirting with a boy that looked like a celebrity just waiting to happen. I had to take a picture with him. I got up to get my cellphone.

Only to get a head rush. I held my head. "Dang," I whispered.

"Nina? You okay?" Andrew asked, taking my hand. My skin tingled. He just touched my hand!

Whoa! What the heck was wrong with me? Since when did I go ga-ga over a boy I just met, like, literally two days ago?

I pulled my hand away. "I'm fine," I told him, starting for Will's bedroom.

Big mistake. I had only gotten to the hallway when I lost my balance and fell into the wall. Behind me, I heard Yan Lin stand quickly. "Nina!"

"Leave her be," said Andrew in a strangely calm voice, "she said she was fine."

Shuffling followed. "You." Yan Lin uttered, venom laced in her tone. With an "oomph", something was thrown into the couch.

Using the wall as support, I turned myself around to see what was going on between those two. I couldn't believe my eyes. Andrew stood glaring down at Will's now-ruined sofa, in which Yan Lin lay, gasping for air.

"A-Andrew. What are y-you doing?" I stuttered groggily. Why did I feel so tired all of a sudden?

He flashed me one of his killer grins, only this time, I saw a new side to it: dark, feverish. "My job."

Blunk emerged from under the table, weilding a stainless steel pot from one of the cabinets in the kitchen. "Monsters never win! Always lose in end, yes!"

With a clang, the pot collided with a bolt of magical energy that came from a magical talisman that Andrew held in Blunk's direction. "You silly passlings always think you can evaluate everything. But you can't. Which is why" - Andrew grabbed Blunk from midair and threw him into the TV, sending glass and sparks everywhere - "it is so easy to kill you."

If I had been more alert, I would have rushed to help. But now I could barely gasp in shock. Why hadn't I listened to Blunk? Passlings can smell anything, Yan Lin had told me about an hour before. Even disguised monsters. I was so stupid!

I slid to the floor, unable to watch Blunk writhe in pain from the electricity coursing through his body. The apartment spun around me. I clutched the Heart of Kandrakar underneath my shirt.

No. This was not how the world would end. I wasn't going to let some psychopathic tyrant from another dimension take over Earth in his thirst for power. And I definitely wasn't going to allow a monster who had been posing as a hot guy drug me and get away with it. My fists clenched as I realized my only way out.

Andrew dusted himself off. "How are you feeling, Nina? Tired or exhausted? You know, most people would be sleeping like a rock by now. You never cease to amaze me."

I tried to push myself from the floor, but I was too weak. I had to be able to get up to carry out my plan. Where was adrenaline when I needed it?

Andrew didn't look like he was in any kind of hurry. He watched my pathetic display with a sneer on his face. "Give it up. You're not going anywhere." He chuckled. "Well, except Meridian. The prince will be so happy to see you again. He asked for you personally, you know. Apparently you're quite the portal-hopper."

"Pl-please." I said in my most miserable voice, trying to stall. "Help m-me."

Another short laugh. "Just sleep. It will be easier for you and me."

"Don't count on it," I muttered. With a new strength, I jumped up from the floor, and, before Andrew even had time to react, I had swiped my hand across the air and thrown myself into the portal I had opened. It closed behind me immediately.

I landed in a crumpled heap on a rocky surface. The new strength left me.

The last thing I remembered before I blacked out was a flashlight shining in my face, even though my portal had taken me to Meridian.

3rd POV

Aldarn knelt down next to the girl. She didn't look any older than the Guardians themselves, and she was certainly dressed like she was from Earth.

One of his men grunted from behind him. "What are we going to do with her?" He asked.

Aldarn was about to answer when he spotted a soft pink glow coming from the trinket the girl wore around her neck. The Heart of Kandrakar! How she had it, Aldarn wasn't sure, but he wasn't about to let this girl wander off without questioning her first. "Take her to the infirmary."

"Is that-" The guard asked, noticing the necklace.

"The Heart of Kandrakar; yes." Aldarn answered. He stood and turned to the group of three men behind him. "If she has the Heart, maybe she can tell us where the Guardians and Caleb have gone."

His men nodded and picked up the girl, who was taken to the rebel base.

Aldarn took a deep breath, looking at the palace in the distance; it seemed even more sinister than before, if that was possible. "Something big is coming." He said to no one.

Meanwhile, in the castle...

Phobos slammed his fists on the arm rests of his throne. "How could you let her slip through your fingers?!" He shouted in anger. His voice carried through the enormous room surprisingly well, echoing in just the right places to intimidate the poor boy.

"She was about to pass out from exhaustion." Kole replied calmly. "I don't understand how she managed to stand, much less summon a portal. It won't happen again, I assure you."

Phobos held a hand up. He had felt something. A surge of power that could mean nothing but...

"Cedric!" He thundered. His humanoid servant appeared next to Kole. "Bring me the girl. And this time, don't. Let. Her. Get. Away." Cedric bowed and left the room. Phobos turned his attention back to his only truly human soldier. "As for you, there won't be a next time. You shall rot in the dungeons for eternity."

I guess Andrew had it coming, huh?

Please review and if you have any questions or ideas as to what has happened so far/what should happen, just let me know. Seriously, guys...I love getting new ideas! Don't be afraid to give me some for what you want to happen next! ;P