Man, has time flown by! You guys have NO idea how sorry I am that this chapter has gotten out so late!

Well, instead of me begging for forgiveness, I'll just let you read and decide whether or not to forgive me! I've made this one a smidge longer just to make up for the lost time!

"Where issss the girl?" Cedric asked in his creepy serpentine voice. I crawled into the hole as Aldarn answered.

"She's not here."

Cedric hissed in annoyance. "Do not lie to me, rebel scum." The sound of something being lifted off the floor caused Aldarn to grunt. I guessed he was that thing.

I wedged myself deeper into the tunnel, ignoring the wave of claustrophobia that washed over me. Too afraid Cedric might hear, I didn't turn the flashlight on, and prayed there weren't any spiders or snakes on the way out. I began crawling into the darkness.

When I was far enough away that I couldn't see the entrance anymore, the Heart began glowing more brightly than usual, bathing me in rose-colored light. I held it closer to my eyes to see the image forming inside the crystal. I gasped.

Phobos paced around Caleb, who stood alone. The Guardians were nowhere to be seen.

"With your genius, you could be a valuable ally." Phobos said, stopping to face Caleb. "If Cedric comes back without the girl, I am putting you in charge of my army."

Caleb didn't react. I cringed, remembering how defiant he actually was, how he would have roundhouse-kicked Phobos in the face without skipping a beat if he could. Gosh, I would die if I couldn't control my own actions.

A guard came rushing into the throne room. "My prince, they're gone!"

"What?!" Phobos bellowed.

"The other guards were targeted and taken out by unseen forces. Two of the Guardians were freed and broken from their trances. I was the only one who escaped." The soldier put his hands on his knees and struggled to catch his breath.

Phobos literally shook with rage. "Move the others deeper into the dungeon. When Cedric comes back with the girl, I will absorb the power of Kandrakar. The ones that fled will not have time to save their precious worlds before I conquer the infinite dimensions." He turned on Caleb. "You! Instruct my worthless guards on properly keeping watch over prisoners."

"Yes, master." Caleb said, his voice monotonous and shallow.

The Heart's magical color died down, leaving me in near-darkness again. I clicked the flashlight on and squinted to see what I could of the tunnel. It went straight for about five more yards before it branched off in two directions, one way gently sloping upward, and the other downward. Considering the fact that I had just been in a cave, I took the upward tunnel. My mind raced as I climbed over the rocks and dirt.

Two of them were free! Two! And if Will was one of them, then she could take away the others' powers until they broke out of the trance, too!

I almost grinned despite my less-than-ideal situation. Maybe we could win!

After about ten more minutes of crawling, accidentally slicing my hands open on sharp rocks, and praying for some fortunate twist of fate that I was still dreaming and would wake up back in the caves again, a tiny dot of light could be seen at the end of the tunnel. I gasped in relief and tried to pick up my pace. A warm breeze blew on my face every once in a while as I struggled to propel myself out of the dark, menacing underground.

The only problem with that? The hole that was the exit of the tunnel was about the width of my head.

I pushed my face out of the opening and breathed in the fresh air, and even though it looked like it was about to start raining, there was not a more beautiful sight than the yellow grass and the cloud-filled sky. I couldn't get myself to move from that position, because that would make me realize the reality of this brief pleasure was that I would never be able to squeeze out of that opening even if I lost a good twenty pounds.

Eventually, though, I had to stop to inspect the palms of my hands, which were covered in purple clay from the caves and cut up in some places and bruised in others. I let a long breath whoosh out of my mouth while my brain processed what a pickle I was really in.

Then the panicking started. I stuck an arm out, groping around on the ground for something to chisel at the stone with, and came back with nothing. I reached farther, stretching my arm as far as it could go until the pain of it being bent the wrong way was too much for me to bear. Tears were beginning to form in my eyes. I banged the flashlight against the thinner rock at the opening, which, though it managed to crumble a few pieces, did more damage to the cheap plastic than it did to the stone. Frustrated, I yanked the Heart out from underneath my shirt.

"Get me out of here!" I pleaded. "I have to save Will..."

When the crystal didn't respond, I sat against the wall behind me and thumped my head on it, each time feeling a small pain blooming on the back of my head and getting worse and worse. I didn't care.

It wasn't fair. It didn't make sense. How could I come all this way only to die because I'm not small enough to fit through a stupid opening in a wall?

Outside, rain began pelting the earth like a thousand little bullets, and each drop that managed to find its way into the cave landed on my clothes. I curled closer to the hole and let myself sob for a few minutes. It was cruel, to have to die so close to freedom, literally just inches away from the world. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and lightning arced across the sky, beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

I allowed myself to snivel one last time before I decided to to get a grip and think logically. Okay, so there were no means of getting out of that tunnel through the opening. I couldn't go back and risk being caught in a cave in from the battering of searching soldiers the caves were probably taking right about then, or worse, getting caught by Cedric. The only option I had was to turn around and retrack to the second tunnel I had spotted before.

So that's what I did. It took me a good fifteen minutes to crawl at top speed while feeling my way around the darkness (because my idiot self broke the flashlight) without falling face first down the incline, but when I got to the intersection, I went even faster through the second tunnel.

This time, though, instead of the opening leading outside, it brought me into a vast hall where everything-the floor, the ceiling, and the columns between them-was a vivid, emerald green. As I stood, I looked around. Besides the one behind me, there were no walls in sight, even though the space I could see had to be at least two hundred feet in every direction. It was as if the place was...infinite.

The Heart flashed from around my neck and propelled itself forward, tugging me along with it.

"I hope you know where you're going." I muttered as I let the crystal lead me in a random direction.

A shout echoed from somewhere in the place, even though I had no idea what direction it had come from. The Heart continued pulling me, and another shout could be heard. I could tell it was a girl, but there was no way of knowing how close she was to me and whether or not she was a friend.

Another yell, but this time it had an angry tone and a legible message: "That son of a bitch!"

The Heart brought me about another twenty feet before I could finally see two figures my mind immediately recognized: two girls in Earth clothes, one with long blonde hair, and the other with dark skin and feathery dreads.

"Calm down, Cornelia!" Taranee warned as I got closer. "We'll get him back. For right now, we have to focus!"

I was almost overwhelmed with relief. "Cornelia! Taranee!" My breaths were short and exhilerated while my legs carried me in a sprint towards them.

They both took battle stances until I was close enough that they could see my face. "Nina!" Taranee squealed.

"I'm so happy that you guys are here." I said, panting. The Heart shone brightly in agreement.

"Wait. You had the Heart all this time?" Cornelia asked, mouth agape. "Phobos has punished his henchmen so many times because they couldn't catch you?"

I smiled grimly. "I didn't want to lose some of my only friends."

Taranee grinned and embraced me. "Thank you."

"Uh...no problem..." I muttered as I awkwardly patted her back.

She pulled away, obviously as surprised by her strange display of friendship as I was. Cornelia gave me a small nod of thanks as well. "So what do we do now?" She asked.

I bit my lip. "That's the part we need to work out. Without Will to give you your powers, we're all three basically useless. Well, I mean, I can open portals, but that won't do us much good if we want to fight an entire army of monsters and Will, Hay Lin, Irma, and Caleb."

"What about the rebels? And Yan Lin? Heck, even Blunk would come in handy if he's available." Taranee said.

"The rebels were attacked by Cedric, and Yan Lin and Blunk were ambushed by..." I swallowed hard before saying the name that now scared me. "...Andrew. He was a spy for Phobos. He tried to poison us, and when they resisted, he hurt them. I got away by summoning a portal and jumping through it before he could get to me."

The girls' faces fell. "So there's no one." Cornelia murmured. "Except us."

I nodded, my mood darkening with theirs.

Taranee didn't say anything. Her expression changed, and Cornelia and I knew she was working everything out. We stayed like that for several minutes, waiting for Taranee to come up with a plan.

"We need to see if the rebels are okay." She finally said. "Without them, we're a lost cause. And the Council of Kandrakar might be able to help. Maybe-"

"Yeah, um, about Kandrakar..." I interrupted her.

Cornelia whirled on me. "You're kidding me. Them too?"

I shrugged. "I can't say for sure. When I was there with Yan Lin and Blunk, something weird happened...the place started shaking, and it sounded like they were being seiged."

"But isn't that, like, impossible?" Cornelia asked. "I mean, isn't the only way to Kandrakar through invitation or the Heart?"

Taranee nodded. "As far as I know."

"Like I said, I only heard the sounds. I didn't see anything. For all I know, someone could have just accidentally done something to make the place shake, and then people freaked out." I was glad my mind came up with some kind of explanation that didn't involve Phobos taking over other worlds already. At least with a cover-up, I felt better.

Taranee sighed and exchanged glances with Cornelia. "Well, then I guess there's only one thing to do while we're here."

"What's that?" Cornelia and I asked at the same time.

"We have to check on the rebels."

Meanwhile, on Kandrakar...

The Oracle tried his hardest to maintain a calm composure as he studied the monster that, just hours ago, had been one of his closest friends. It was trapped in a cage of it's former self's own design, created in case the Guardians were ever coaxed to the other side, able to contain even the strongest of magic and withstand the most powerful attacks.

"What has happened to you, Tibor?" The Oracle asked solemnly.

The beast roared in response, scratching at the walls of the barrier. Its yellow teeth were bared, and its long, tousled black fur was standing on end. The Council was lucky that they had contained it so quickly-a monster of that size would have destroyed the floating palace in the blink of an eye.

"Oracle!" Luba shouted from the room containing the aurameres. Her voice carried two notes in it that the Oracle never wanted to hear coming from her: worry and fear.

He rushed away from the monster and hurried to bring himself in front of the pedestal that held the sources of the Guardians' powers. "What is it, Luba?"

From the other room, the beast shrieked in anger. Luba ignored it. "The Keeper's auramere has begun to become partial to the girl." She pointed to the rose-colored sphere. "I can feel it. There is a connection strung from her ring to the Heart."

"What does this mean?" The Oracle asked as calmly as he could.

Luba shook her head. "There is a number of things that this could mean. But I believe the Heart has started to recognize the Keeper and her cousin as the same entity, therefore allowing the both of them to share the same auramere. This could be beneficial in the absence of the Keeper, but if the girl is captured by Cedric, or worse, Phobos..."

The Oracle nodded in understanding. "We will just have to keep an eye on her, then."

Now back to Nina...

It took us what seemed like forever to find the caves back, but when we searched them, we saw that most of the passageways had collapsed, with no way in or out. Cornelia moved rocks out of some of the tunnels, though we never uncovered any rebels. By the time we had gotten deep underground, I was frustrated beyond belief.

Cornelia moved one last boulder out of our path and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Nothing. Again." Even her voice carried a tone of annoyance. "That's all I can do without transforming, Nina. I'm sorry."

Taranee leaned against the wall and pushed her glasses further up her nose. "The only chance that we would find someone is if they were crushed. They obviously evacuated."

"Yeah, but where?" I threw my hands up in the air.

"Maybe they went back to their hideout in the infinite city?" Taranee mused. "Or they're taking refuge in the village..."

Cornelia and I had a mutual frown plastered on our faces. "We can't search all of Meridian for them." I said impatiently. "That'll just waste time."

But Elyon... A voice nagged in my head.

"That's it!" I said a little too loudly. Some rocks fell from the ceiling, and Taranee and Cornelia looked at me like I was insane. I kept talking. "We have to find a grotto. In a forest."

"Because that gives us so much to work with." Cornelia muttered under her breath.

I ignored her. "I saw it in a vision. Aldarn said he knew something about it, but Cedric attacked us before he could tell me where it was." I looked at Taranee desperately. "Elyon was there."

This made Cornelia jerk out of her sarcastic stupor. "Elyon? You saw Elyon?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I think she was telling me to find the grotto, but without Aldarn, there's not much we can do."

Cornelia grinned and pushed past Taranee and me. "Well, let's go find that grotto!"

Taranee and I exchanged bewildered looks, then rushed to catch up with the determined blonde.

"Cornelia, you don't even know where you're going!" Taranee said as we emerged from the caves into the rainy evening.

"But the earth does." Cornelia shot over her shoulder at us, still walking at full speed. Since her legs were longer than ours, we had to take twice as many steps as her to keep the same pace.

Rain beat at my face and stung my skin. I shivered. "Is it always so dark and gloomy here?"

"Twenty-four seven." Taranee told me, folding her arms across her chest and ducking her head down against the biting wind.

Cornelia's golden hair fanned out behind her like a flag waving in the wind. If I hadn't been so cold and adrenaline-infused, I would have felt a surge of jealousy at this. Instead, I mimicked Taranee, bowing my head so the rain wasn't getting in my eyes.

We followed Cornelia for what seemed like hours. I began to doubt that she even knew where she was going.

Just as I was about to ask her how close we were, she stopped, and I realized we had entered a forest. There were tall, ominous trees all around us, and even though they blotted out the rain, it still made its way through the canopy of leaves. A thick fog wove itself between every stump like a snake around its prey. I felt stifled.

"We're close." Cornelia told me, though it sounded like it took extreme effort for her to say anything.

Taranee doubled over. "Is anyone else feeling totally drained right now?"

I sucked in a hollow breath. The fog made the air seem thinner, like we were on the top of a mountain. The Heart flashed angrily.

Wait. How could I tell what emotion the Heart was expressing?

Cornelia fell against a tree. "There's something...in the fog..."

Then it hit me. "This is where Phobos is imprisoning Elyon!" The two girls looked at me, surprised. "It all makes sense. Of course she would lead us here!"

"And that would explain...why there's dark magic being shoved down our throats..." Taranee gasped.

"Come on, guys. Just a little farther." I said, gripping the Heart tightly in my hand. Power bled from the crystal, giving me strength. "Which way is it, Cornelia?"

Cornelia pushed herself off the tree and pointed. Taranee took a deep breath and straightened up. "Let's go." She said, starting in the direction Cornelia was pointing.

A few minutes later, we could finally see two giant boulders through the thick cloud, and when we got closer, I glimpsed faces carved deep into the stone. "This is the place." I said, turning around to examine the clearing. Although the grass was dry and yellow, and the exotic flowers were long dead, I could still feel the presence of light in the dark magic. "Elyon?" I called.

Cornelia followed my lead. "Elyon, if you're here, please come out!"

The Heart sent a warning shock through my body. I looked at it in confusion. "What?"

"Uh, Nina?" Taranee said from behind me. "I think...I think this might have been a trap..."

I whirled around.

"Hello, Nina." Came that same serpentine voice that would ahunt my nightmares for years to come. "Your little game of hide-and-seek isssss over."

Cliffhanger! What's going to happen to Nina, Taranee, and Cornelia? And will Elyon show up?

Keep reading to find out!

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