Welcome to the next chapter of What Price Vengeance. Thanks to everyone who is reading and in particular to my reviewers: Darev; XV-Dragon, Cartoonloverfan101; Nerd4eva; Ice Silver Crystal; Nemrut; Lost Prince; AJ; Wolfgurl211; Crowofdawn; Starwin; DayDreamer9; Krystal of Nol; and Shocklance. Thank you all for supplying your thoughts and encouragement.

Thanks again to my editor and friend Visigoth29527. I appreciate your help and your efforts.

Now without further ado, may I present:

Chapter 8

Nerissa sat in meditation, gazing through the eyes of a Guardian's mind. She saw the child struggle with her parents, and how she treated them with disrespect. She saw how the child craved the presence of water, and how it made her feel safe. She saw how the child caused herself pain to block out the mental images that plagued her mind.

This was exactly how Nerissa wanted the whelp to feel...helpless, angry, and alone. She knew the Guardian's mind was already severely damaged, and Nerissa wished for nothing more than to damage it further. So far, her plan was working. The girl would turn on her friends and break up the Guardians forever. If Nerissa pushed hard enough, the urchin might even kill some of them.

Then she saw how the child's friends managed to reach out to her in Shell Cave...and Nerissa was furious. The nightmares were supposed to keep the Guardian from seeking help from her friends. After all, if she was dangerous to them, wouldn't the child want to stay as far away from them as possible? She had been willing to allow herself to be killed when she had nearly murdered Raythor; so why, seeing how she could murder her friends, had she allowed herself to be comforted by them?

Nerissa knew she had miscalculated. The Guardian refused to break completely, and the witch could see she would have to work harder. Fortunately, she had everything she needed in order to break the girl...and the sorceress vowed not to be defeated again.

--

The Guardians sat in a circle around Irma, lending silent support to their damaged friend. None of them could truly understand all the girl had been through, but they knew they were the only ones who could help her. The fact that she had just asked for that help warmed every heart in the cave.

But one of the Guardians was distracted, and her thoughts turned inwards. Will was trying to concentrate on her needy friend, but she found it impossible. That friend had just admitted to blaming Will for everything that had happened to her...for all the pain and suffering she had endured. Irma blamed her for the initial capture, for not effecting a rescue sooner, and for her physical and mental suffering. Irma blamed her for all of it.

Will wrapped her arms around her shoulders and tried not to think of herself at a time like this. Unfortunately, she found it impossible. She had only know Irma for a little over a year, but in that time, the auburn-haired girl had treated her like a best friend. She had been the first of the Guardians to truly accept her as a leader and a friend; she had never questioned Will on the battlefield, nor had she ever doubted the redhead's sincerity. When Cornelia had been angry with Will's decision not to tell Elyon the truth about her identity, it was Irma who defended her leader.

Will's constant feelings of inadequacy increased as she recalled Irma's words: you helped make me this way. She tried to convince herself it wasn't true, that it was just a damaged part of Irma's mind. But inside the young Guardian leader knew it was true, and she knew it was all her fault. She should have done more to prevent her team from being separated during a battle. She should have done more to rescue her friend from the clutches of her enemies. She should have done more to protect that friend from further harm after she was finally rescued.

As it was, Will had allowed her friend to be tortured to death by Nerissa, then to be brought back to life in the most hellish way possible. Will had been questioning herself for that decision for weeks. How could she now justify that decision to herself and everyone else? Irma had just basically told her she had made the wrong choice; how could Will live with herself now?

The young Guardian leader closed her eyes and tried to drive these thoughts from her mind. She had done a very bad thing, and caused one of her dearest friends an unspeakable amount of suffering. She wished the earth would open up and swallow her.

You can't beat yourself up like this, Will.

Will jumped as Taranee's telepathic voice invaded her somber thoughts.

Taranee! You scared me...

You're scaring me, too. I don't like the direction your thoughts are taking.

Since when do you eavesdrop like this?

Since I became worried about you. Irma just dropped a bombshell on you. Looks like I was right to worry...

Will sighed quietly. I just want to die, T. How could I have been so wrong?

You weren't wrong, Will. When this is all over, and Irma's mind has quieted a little, she'll agree with what you did. Besides I don't think she really blames you like that; it's just her anger and her pain talking.

I don't care what it is, she's right. I failed her completely. And we're not talking just a little secret I accidentally let slip or something. No, this is her life that I've screwed up. Her entire life!

Will...

First I let that hag torture her to death, then I brought her back so she could live in Hell forever. I forced it on her...what gave me the right to do that?

Will...

Then I helped that bitch destroy her mind because I just couldn't trust Irma over someone we really didn't know.

Will, please...

THEN I couldn't even support her enough to go through the Joining to fix my face. I had to be pushed into it by fear and guilt. Everything Irma said was right; I'm no friend if I could put someone through all of this suffering. I don't deserve to be the leader, I don't deserve to be her friend, I don't even deserve to live.

Will, stop it! I don't ever want to hear you saying those things about yourself again! You had a choice to make, and you made it. That's it; end of story. You chose to save a life...how can that be wrong?

But at what cost, Taranee? Look at her...she's barely functioning as a human being. She's having nightmares every night, listening to death metal to give herself a headache, fighting with her parents, getting locked in her room, ignoring her schoolwork. Tell me how this is beneficial.

It's beneficial because she's alive, Will. She has a chance to overcome all of this as long as she has us. She's gonna get through this, and we're gonna be here every step of the way. She needs her friends...including you! She will be stronger because of this, and one day she'll thank you for not letting her die.

Right, she'll really thank me someday for putting her through all of this. It's pure hell; I know that and I'm not even the one going through it. You can read her thoughts and feel her emotions, to some extent. You tell me how she's really doing.

You know how she's doing, Will. She's messed up and her head is a jumbled mess. I can't read anything from her right now.

Nothing at all?

Nothing at all.

Isn't that a little unusual?

Yeah, but not for Irma, lately. There's just so much pain and horror...it's all she can think about right now. The nightmares aren't helping, either.

See? That just confirms I made the wrong choice. I should have done what Cornelia said and just let her go. It would have been more merciful.

It also would have been the wrong choice. What do you think that would have done to Hay Lin? To all of us? And how would we have explained it to Irma's parents? It also would have broken up the Guardians, and who knows what shape the universe would be in right now?

But all of this is considering other people...none of it is considering Irma. So I made the right choice for everyone else. I made the wrong choice for the only person who should have mattered...Irma.

Will, Irma will get over her damage; you need to get over yours, too. Someday, Irma will realize she doesn't truly blame you or any of us for what happened. Someday, she'll put the blame where it truly lies...and that's with Nerissa. Think about it; who captured Irma in the first place?

Nerissa.

And who killed Irma?

Nerissa, but...

AND who put the spell on Irma?

Nerissa, but...

And who saved Irma's life?

Neriss, uh, I mean, me, I guess.

That's right, YOU! You saved Irma's life four times.

Four times?

Uh huh. One: You came up with a plan to rescue her and that plan worked almost perfectly. So you got her out of the hag's clutches before even more damage could be done.

Two: You shocked her heart after it had stopped while we were all still buried in the cave-in. Had you not done that, Irma would have stayed dead right there.

Three: You made the decision to put her through the Joining. That healed her injuries and allowed her to survive.

Four: You surrendered the Heart of Candracar back on Mount Thanos. Had you not done that, Frost would have killed her right in front of us.

Taranee, what are you doing?

What do you mean?

Why are you doing this? Trying to make me out to be a hero?

Because you are a hero, Will. You saved Irma's life and someday she's gonna realize that. You did everything you could given the information you had. You're fourteen years old, Will. No teenager should have to make the kinds of decisions you were forced to make. Give yourself a break and stop beating yourself up.

Will's eyes began to tear up slightly. What did I do to deserve a friend like you, Taranee?

You moved to Heatherfield. Now how about you stop blaming yourself and see what you can do to help the rest of us help Irma? That will make you feel better...

Will glanced a silent 'thank you' to Taranee and began to pay better attention to what was going on.

Hay Lin had been doing most of the talking. Will seemed to be upset and Taranee had a faraway look in her eye. Cornelia sat quietly, listening.

So far, Irma had been pretty open about what was going on. She had already admitted to trying to harm herself physically to make the emotional anguish go away. Hay Lin was grateful that it was just headaches and not something more drastic like cutting. She shuddered to think that if this intervention had not taken place, Irma may well have resorted to cutting to ease her mental pain.

There was till one subject, however, that Irma had been expertly avoiding. Now Hay Lin was going to bring it up and see if she couldn't pry the details from her best friend.

"Tell us about your nightmares, Irma," Hay Lin said.

Irma closed her eyes and sighed heavily. No way was she going to tell them about her nightmares. How could she tell her friends that she dreamed of murdering them every night? The dream about Hay Lin still disturbed her the most, but drowning Cornelia and shoving Will off a cliff still haunted her waking thoughts. No, it would just freak them out and they might abandon her if they knew her murderous thoughts. She had to lie.

"They're just about all the torture and stuff. I'm afraid to fall asleep because I see Nerissa, or Frost, or Miranda. They keep coming to me...and hurting me. Sometimes I swear I can feel Miranda's knife, or Frost's whip, or Nerissa's lightning. I can hear the taunting, I can feel Frost and Miranda pulling and cutting my wings, I can see Nerissa getting ready to launch a lightning attack."

Irma shuddered and became very quiet. "I can still feel my insides on fire from that lightning. I can still hear my own screams in my head. I remember begging them all to stop...and I'm ashamed of myself."

Cornelia moved up behind Irma and placed her arms around her friend's shoulders. "Hey, none of that. You did nothing wrong, and you have nothing to be ashamed of."

"But why me? Why did she pick me?" Irma asked quietly.

"I may be able to shed a little light on that," Yan Lin said. "She could not pick Will, because her plan all along was to force her to surrender the Heart to her victim. She could not pick Taranee because she needed a telepath to be free in order to find you. Beyond that, I do not know."

"Maybe she just played Rock, Paper, Scissors with the rest of us and your name came up," Hay Lin said, hoping to cut the tension a little.

"She probably picked you because you presented the greatest challenge," Cornelia said, still holding Irma's shoulders. "Think about it. Hay Lin is a lot more fragile than you, and I'm a lot more vain than you. She might have accidentally killed Hay Lin before the time was right; and I would just have screamed for help the second I could. There would have been no fun for the old bag in that."

"Fun? You think she tortured me because it was fun?

Cornelia gave Irma's shoulders a squeeze. "Someone like that...it wouldn't surprise me."

"The Nerissa I knew would have shunned hurting another living being," Yan Lin spoke up. "But, admittedly, the Nerissa I knew is long gone. Her mind was likely damaged while she languished in her prison on Mount Thanos. She turned to vengeance instead of forgiveness. She turned bitter and angry instead of serene."

"Well duh," Cornelia rolled her eyes. "I would too if a bunch of people I thought I could trust shut me up in an icy prison."

"But she killed someone," Hay Lin said. "She deserved what she got."

"I'm not saying she didn't; it just seems to me like everyone should have seen something like this coming," Cornelia answered.

"Nerissa felt wronged by the Council's decision, it is true," Yan Lin said. "But not even the Oracle could have foreseen this level of evil in her. Nerissa was once my best friend, and a truer friend I have never had since. What she did tore my heart out, and I was angry with her. I did not support her against the Council and I fear that may have contributed to her downfall."

"You're not blaming yourself are you, grandma?"

"No, my little Hay Lin, no. I'm just merely trying to offer insight into your enemy."

"So she picked me because I would be the most fun?" Irma asked in horror.

"It is a possibility," Yan Lin answered. "It seems likely that Nerissa would want to hurt her old friends as much as possible; this would certainly do it."

"Hmph, doesn't seem like the Council is that upset by it. Only Luba, and Halinor seem to give a damn."

"The others care for all you Guardians in their own way. It is important that they not become attached to you girls. Luba and Halinor have managed to break that rule. I know Hali thinks very highly of you, Irma, and that Luba, too, is quite fond of you."

"Fluffy? Fond of me? How could she be fond of me when she tried to kill me with that evil little obstacle course?"

Hay Lin giggled. "Maybe you just grew on her."

"You mean like a tumor?"

Cornelia laughed this time and squeezed Irma's shoulders again. "That's more the Irma I'm used to."

Before anyone else could say anything, Hay Lin's cell phone rang. The smallest Guardian rushed to the mouth of the cave and pulled the phone from her bag.

"Hello?"

"Hi, mom. What's up?"

A pause, then... "You mean she's not at home?"

Hay Lin knit her brow and stared at Irma. "No, I haven't seen her. She said she had to get right home."

"Still at Shell Cave, studying. Hold on, I'll ask the other girls."

Hay Lin covered the phone with her hand and ran back to the girls.

"It's my mom," she whispered. "Irma's parents called looking for her. Apparently she's not home."

"Well of course I'm not home; I'm here with you guys spilling my darkest secrets."

"But we sent your Astral Drop home. Where is it?" Will asked, confused.

"Maybe it got lost?" Taranee guessed.

"Whatever happened, Irma's in trouble now," Cornelia said. "We have to come up with an excuse."

Hay Lin put the phone back to her ear. "No one has seen her, mom. As far as we know, she went home. Do you want us to help look for her?"

There was another pause while Hay Lin listened at the phone. "The police? Don't you think that's a bit drastic?"

All the girls stood up immediately. Irma ran for the mouth of the cave, the others trailing after.

"Okay, mom, we'll come right home. Bye."

Hay Lin disconnected the call. "What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know but I have to get home quick before my dad calls the cops."

"But what will you tell them?" Cornelia asked as Irma sprinted away.

"Who cares? I just have to get home!"

"Will, we should stop her," Cornelia said. "We were just starting to get somewhere."

Will shook her head. "No, Cornelia, let her go. She's right; she needs to get home before the police get invoiced."

"Then we should all show up at her house to lend our support. We could say it was our fault," Hay Lin suggested.

"If we do that, Irma's parents will never let us see her again," Will answered solemnly.

The girls were quiet as Irma disappeared from sight. "She's on her own isn't she?" Cornelia said.

Will nodded sadly. "Yeah, she is."

--

Irma rushed home as fast as she could. Somehow she had to stop her parents from calling the police. She wished she hadn't lost her cell phone; then her parents could have simply called her. They would be mad, but at least they wouldn't be panicking right now. She willed her legs to run faster.

As she approached her house, she could already see a squad car in her driveway and a patrolman talking to her parents on the front porch. Damn, I'm too late! Irma slowed to a quick walk and tried to look nonchalant as she strolled up to her front door.

Her mother saw her first and rushed past the patrolman.

"Tom, it's Irma! She's alright!"

Tom Lair's head snapped around and looked in the direction his wife was running. He saw the woman engulf a young teenager in a hug...a teenager that looked a lot like his daughter.

"I don't believe it," Tom said, shaking his head. "Looks like I don't need that APB after all, Charlie. Thanks for coming all the same."

"No problem, Sergeant. Hope you guys will be okay."

"We'll be fine now, Charlie. Thanks again."

Charlie nodded and paced back to his patrol car. With a final look at mother and daughter, he stepped inside the car and sped off.

Tom Lair crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

Anna continued to hug her daughter. "Where have you been? We've been so worried."

Irma couldn't think of any excuses yet, so she played dumb. "I'm fine, mom."

Anna disengaged herself and looked sternly at her daughter. "You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady." She took Irma's hand and led her to the porch.

Tom held the door and followed his wife and daughter inside.

"Sit down please, Irma," the big sergeant said.

Irma swallowed hard and sat down on the sofa.

Both parents loomed over the teenager, glaring. "First of all, are you alright?"

Irma nodded. "Yeah, dad, I'm fine."

"You weren't kidnapped or anything?"

Irma actually had been kidnapped in a way; but somehow she didn't think that's what her father was talking about. "Kidnapped? No, of course not."

"Then where the hell have you been, young lady?" Tom thundered.

Irma looked at her mother, her eyes pleading for help. Anna simply narrowed her eyes and glared back.

"Answer me!"

Irma jumped and knew she was in serious trouble. Her mind raced for an excuse that would explain her absence. She couldn't implicate her friends, so she latched onto a lie that would have grave consequences for her, but would save her friends. "I went to the mall and bummed around for a while."

"You went to the mall..." Tom repeated. "You went to the mall?!"

"I had to get out of the house for a while. You guys have kept me cooped up all weekend and I needed some time to think. So, yeah, I went to the mall."

"Do you know what it means to be grounded?" Tom asked dangerously. "It means you get your ass right home after school and you sit in your room doing your homework. It doesn't mean you go to the mall and have a good time at our expense."

"Irma, we called the police because we were terrified for you," Anna said. "We thought someone had taken you. The implications of that are..." Anna was unable to finish.

"Nobody took me; I'm fine. I just needed some space."

"Well it's the last space you're gonna get, young lady," Tom said angrily. "We were going to give you the key to your room tonight. We thought it might be nice for you to have a lock on your door to keep Chris out when your friends were over. But that's not going to happen now...welcome to being locked in your room, part two."

"Dad-"

"Upstairs, now!"

"You're overreacting, dad!"

"NOW...before I forget I'm your father and not your arresting officer!"

"Mom, please..."

"You gave us all a scare, young lady. It's obvious you can't be trusted if you would do something like this. Go to your room...now."

Angry with herself and with her friends, Irma stood and glared at both her parents. "You're both overreacting, and you're treating me like a child."

"You're acting like a child, Irma. What choice do we have when you disobey us?" Anna said. "There are consequences when you make bad decisions, and these are the consequences for choosing the mall over your parents' wishes. And choosing not to answer your cell phone when we called and called, was also a bad decision."

"I've lost my phone. How could I answer what I didn't have?"

Tom sighed. "Now you can't take care of your things. It was your responsibility to keep track of that phone. That you've lost it just shows more of your irresponsibility."

Irma gritted her teeth. She had known this would be the result, but it still seemed so unfair. Judging from the look on her father's face, arguing further would have been a mistake. With a last glare at her parents, she tromped upstairs to her room and slammed the door. Seconds later, she heard the key turn in the lock. With a growl, she kicked the door, then threw herself onto her bed.

She was a prisoner again. If it wasn't Nerissa it was her parents. She was tired of always being a captive, but what could she do? She couldn't fight her parents, and even though Nerissa was dead, the effects of her captivity with the old bag would never go away. Irma thought, not for the first time, that she would never be free of the witch's clutches.

Her anger and fear threatening to overwhelm her, Irma grabbed her headphones and pulled them over her ears. She flipped the switch and let the awful music take her away from reality. She knew she had promised her parents she wouldn't listen to it anymore, but she needed it now. She needed the noise to take her concentration away from the horrors she had experienced at the hands of Nerissa.

As the strains of death metal pounded her brain, she wondered vaguely what it would be like to die...

--

That night, Hay Lin dreamed an awful dream. She saw Irma, her wrists slashed, bleeding on the floor. Hay Lin awoke and screamed.

--

And there it is. I hope y'all enjoyed it. If you have a moment, I would love to know what you think. Thanks for your support and for reading. Cheers!