Davira woke with a splitting headache. Again, her task had been encumbered by the Guardians Will and Cornelia, just as she had removed that woman. Looking around, she was in the home of that Thomas Vandom. There was blood where the woman had fallen, but she was gone. Davira was alone, except for the Alchemist. Why was she here? She had delegated this task to Davira. Yet here she was, dressed in the black she favored when not wearing her robes.

"Alchemist, why are you here?" Davira almost immediately wished she hadn't asked.

The Alchemist's eyes turned stormy as her hazel eyes darkened to a deeper shade of brown, almost black. "That's an excellent question, Davira. Why am I here? Why could you not simply bring Thomas Vandom to me? Was that so difficult?"

"Do not berate for this. Your alter ego anticipated that you would send me for him."

The Alchemist's eyes flashed. "Anticipated?"

"She is you, after all."

The Alchemist stood and paced as Davira had seen her do so often. "I thought that I had given you enough power to resist the Guardians."

"I believe I may have overly upset them. I mortally wounded a human woman, and they fought rather bitterly."

"Is that where all that blood came from? This is a fine turn of events. I'll have to track him down myself, now."

"Is he truly that important to your schemes? You want to make daddy proud? Can it not wait until you've accomplished your goals? You already have your mother."

The Alchemist spun around, the look on her face peculiar.

Davira gave her a lopsided smile and spoke in her most pathetically simpering voice, "Of course, if you must chase him down, I would be happy to return to the carnival and look after things. Your mother knows all of the best movies to watch. It'll be great fun."

The Alchemist stared at Davira with such intensity her gaze might have burned her. "At the carnival; the old abandoned carnival?"

For a moment, Davira was confused. "Of course, where else would…" Then, confusion melted away and comprehension dawned. "You're not the Alchemist." Then there was a brilliant flash of light and blackness took her once more. As she lost herself to the oblivion of unconsciousness, she decided that she was going to have to renegotiate her job description. She was simply getting hit in the head way too many times.

When she woke again, she was bound and lying on a sofa. Several people were watching her eagerly; Queen Elyon, all five guardians, some mildly attractive, scraggly boy, and that Basiliade huntress. "Lovely, all five Guardians are here, plus their pet kitten." Appropriately, Orube hissed. "I hope she's properly litter trained."

Orube stood to approach, but Will put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back down. "She's just baiting you, Orube. That's exactly the reaction she wants." Will regarded Davira closely. "Now, my secret has been revealed to my whole family, thanks exclusively to you. Davira, I have never killed deliberately, but in your case, it's taking a lot of restraint."

"So, why haven't you gone off to rescue your mother?"

"We have another little problem. A certain Jorge Alvarez has gone missing."

"Don't look at me. I'm just the hired help."

Irma smirked and said, "And you can't stand it, can you? You used to be the ruler of an entire planet and then they kicked you off like a football. After that, you played second fiddle to Phobos, and now you're second fiddle to the Alchemist."

Davira said nothing. Will, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin tried to admonish her, but Irma was on a role.

"I call it Karma. She was a lousy ruler, and now she's a lousy assistant. She's a loser with a capital 'L'."

Davira scowled and said, "Hmph, the Water Guardian speaks with great authority. I suspect she has a firsthand understanding of this. If we were to ask a certain 'Martin', what might he say about the matter?"

Cornelia said, "The mind reading tricks won't work on us. We know all about telepathy. You can't use our thoughts against us."

Davira smiled. "At least I didn't get shot in the ass. I notice you're the only one standing. I'm sorry, is that a tender subject?"

Will sat passively, her patience clearly disturbing to the others around her. Davira didn't miss it and realized that the Keeper of the Heart believed that she held the winning hand. Will said, "You gave the Heart of your world to Phobos and yet you still think you have power beyond any of us. I'd say that's arrogant."

"Yes, a mere shadow would delude itself into thinking it had the power of flesh and blood, but at the end of the day, what are you really? You're nothing more than an image in the mirror." That got to her. The pain and uncertainty flashed clearly across Will's face.

Will's face became a mask once more. "We were discussing Jorge Alvarez. Where is he?"

"And what would a copy care?"

Will smiled. "Davira, I am dangerously close to leaving you alone with Orube."

"A copy that was discarded like a piece of trash!"

The look on Will's face was inscrutable. She had the power to destroy Davira, and it was certain that she was strongly considering using it. All eyes were on her. Will turned to Orube. "Try not to stain up the upholstery."

Orube was a huntress of Basiliade, trained as a chosen one in the Fortress of Light in Kandrakar, and was famous for her short temper. As the girls stood to leave, Orube smiled sinisterly, looking particularly feral.

Davira said, "The Alchemist sent him back in time. She sent him to meet you when you first gained your powers. She said she was giving him the peace of mind he had spent his whole life searching for."

Everyone stopped. Will smiled and said, "Sorry, Orube, maybe next time." Orube looked genuinely disappointed. Will looked at Davira and said, "Do you know anything else about it?"

"The Alchemist said she would bring him back when the time was right. That's all I know of it, I swear."

Will nodded. "You've told me something about myself, now let me tell you something. You're pathetic. Your loyalty is as phony as you are. You have no honor or decency. Every aspect of you is for sale and no fee is too small. You preach ruthlessness and purity, and you're too much of a coward to practice it. You get kicks out terrorizing your prey and humiliating them in front of as wide an audience as possible. You're the classic bully. They talk big and accomplish nothing. They are so fixated on what's wrong with everyone else that they can't see that they are the biggest failures of all. Or do you have any other explanation for how you lost an entire planet and then couldn't get a better job than a simple errand girl?"

Davira had felt immense anger at what Will was saying. At first, she thought Will might simply paying her back for her insults, but then her last sentence had struck her in the heart. She could think of nothing to say, no jibe to counter with, and Will's gaze was as hard as any soldier Davira had ever known.

Will said, "You're lucky you didn't manage to kill Sarina, otherwise I wouldn't be sending you to Kandrakar."

"Kandrakar?" said Davira. "You can't honestly mean to send me to the Tower of Mist?" Will said nothing, and held out the Heart of Kandrakar by way of answer. "No!" There was no debate. Davira found herself facing the Oracle, Endarno, and Yan Lin. That was all for Davira.

Irma said, "Well, I guess we don't have to worry about Detective Alvarez anymore."

Taranee elbowed Irma's ribs. "Irma!"

"What? At least we know he's safe."

Hay Lin said, "So how do we plan on getting him back?"

Will said, "The Heart will show us." She held the Heart out and it seemed to expand, encompassing them.

Heatherfield, five years ago…

These girls sure could pack away the food. Even the fashion queen, Cornelia was unconcerned about the greasy calories she was putting away. Plus, they had all ordered extra-large milk shakes. They also seemed to like to play with their abilities. Hay Lin levitated a spoon with her power over air. Cornelia brought a dying plant back to life on the diner's counter. The Sheffield Academy school bully, Uriah had come in and started trouble with the patrons, but with a mischievous glance from Irma, water puddled under his feet and he slammed headfirst into the wastebasket.

Will harshly whispered, "Irma!"

Irma rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know, 'responsible use of powers,' blah, blah, 'Council of Kandrakar,' blah, blah, 'peace and harmony and furry, fluffy bunnies.' I'm sorry; Uriah looked like an evil slug from Metamoor."

"These are powers most adults can't handle," said Will. "We have to stop acting like children."

"We are children."

Hay Lin said, "When people become adults they put away childish things, but think about it? What kind of adult could you be if you put away the things that made you an adult? It was a harmless prank, Will, and one well deserved."

Will said, "I see your point, Hey-Hay, but pranks don't always end up being harmless. Play is one thing, but I'm going to have to insist—"

"Okay, okay!" said Irma. "The floor's dry."

Will turned to Alvarez. "So, what are you going to do now that you know our secret?"

Alvarez shrugged. "What can I do? I'm trapped five years in the past. Nobody would ever believe any of this anyway." He ate his fries automatically, hardly noticing them. "What is it you're expected to do? Why are children given this responsibility?"

Taranee said, "We keep the Veil closed. It's our job to make sure the evils of the Infinite Realms don't overflow into each other."

"But why a bunch of twelve-year-olds?"

Cornelia said, "We don't know. Nobody knows. The one that makes the choice is in no position to explain why."

Will said, "It's the only straight answer we've ever gotten. Nobody knows why a Guardian is chosen. All anybody knows is that we are. We can choose not to accept the responsibility. We can choose to stop being Guardians, and if we do, new ones will be chosen, but until we do, we are the Guardians."

"So who chooses you?" asked Alvarez, thoroughly intrigued.

Will held out the pendant. "The Heart of Kandrakar; it chooses us, and the Oracle, upon realizing that choice, makes sure we come together at the point on Earth where the five elements are at their strongest. The Oracle doesn't know why either. He simply knows that we have been chosen and it is his job to make sure we are where we need to be."

Taranee said, "Maybe it's because we're all tight like this." Taranee crossed her fingers.

Irma said, "I still think it's because we're the most awesome babes on the planet."

Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "Keep dreaming, Fish-Lips."

Irma gave Cornelia a lopsided smile. "At least my head doesn't double as a floatation device."

Cornelia actually growled. Alvarez couldn't help but laugh. In the time he had spent investigating these girls, he had discovered that Cornelia and Irma had brought bickering to an art form.

Will said, "So much for the 'tight like that' theory."

Cornelia smiled and said, "Thank goodness for that. If I had rocks in my head, I'd sink like you."

Will said, "And that's enough of that."

Irma said, "Hey, come on. We're getting off some pretty good ones."

Alvarez said, "So you girls are straight up about this? The highest power in the universe literally chose you to maintain balance and harmony?"

"Straight up," said Hay Lin.

"A job like that comes with enemies."

"It also comes with the power to defend ourselves from them," said Will. "If we're still Guardians five years from now, I guarantee we're on top of our game."

"And you still got nailed."

"It's the risk we take, same as you."

"Risks children shouldn't have to take."

Will brought her voice down low so that it wouldn't carry. "And who else is there? Where will you be when Phobos invades Earth? If you try to fight, what will you do when he waves you aside with a hand? Better yet, when Phobos invades, what will you do when you find out that his soldiers are accompanied by millions of women and children who have been tricked into thinking that by coming here, they'll be free of that tyrant? Refugees from another planet; what do you do with them? How do you send them back? Imagine little children hiding in this world with nowhere to go. They don't look human. They're not human. They can't turn to anyone for help. They are lost and alone. Meanwhile you're fighting an army with an inhumanly powerful creature commanding them. All he wants is power and he doesn't care who dies for it. Now imagine that the only people even remotely capable of stopping it from happening are five young girls who don't even understand why they're only ones who can. Now imagine you're one of us. Can you just stand by and let it happen when you know you have the power to make a difference? Who are you to tell us it's not our risk?"

"You're not the ones I'm questioning. It's whoever put you in this position I have a problem with. Nobody has any good reason to make a kid fight a war."

"Like I said, nobody is making us. They just offered the opportunity, but we've made the choice."

Alvarez wasn't sure what else to say. There was no way he could agree with this. Whatever these girls felt, believed, or could even do, all he could see were children that should be in school, going to concerts, sneaking off on dates and telling their parents they were studying. Then he remembered that hardened stare of a seventeen-year-old Will who was a very different person from the one in front of him now, and he could easily picture her saying the exact same thing. Perhaps that had been the deciding factor in their selection; they had a predisposition toward heroics that most grown men couldn't claim.

Will wasn't the typical shy loner. She always took the lead with an authority that complete strangers could respect. Hay Lin was wise beyond her years, yet it was hard to see with her propensity for writing on herself, and making peculiar statements, and still, she would always surprise people with her uncannily appropriate fortune cookie wisdom. Taranee was the consummate brain trust of the group, keeping straight A's at all times, never questioning that which she reads (though Hay Lin would likely caution her against such an absolute trust in the knowledge of schools and books). Irma, for her smart-alecky attitude, seemed completely unconcerned with her own wellbeing, and yet obsessed with the welfare of those around her.

Cornelia…what could Alvarez observe about Cornelia? She was the embodiment of power. Every bit the fashion mall brat, if one were to accuse her of being as shallow as the typical fashionista, it would be a mistake. One did not cross this young lady lightly. Indeed, Alvarez was convinced that even the most powerful leaders of the world would sorely regret getting on Cornelia's bad side. If Will was the leader of the pack, Cornelia was the glue that held it together.

They all had one thing in common. Every one of them would stick up for the underdog without a thought for themselves. There were simply too many stories about these girls. It was likely that not even they were aware of the profound impact they had on Heatherfield. Even in his own time, they would likely never believe it, but during his investigation, he would encounter complete strangers who had stories espousing the heroics and virtuous deeds of these young girls, whether they were defending people from the school bully or exposing a kidnapper or even preventing acts of vandalism. Maybe, just maybe, they were right. Maybe Alvarez had no business telling them what risks they were entitled to take.

Alvarez paid the bill and part of the tip (Cornelia thought it was too small). As they walked, Will said, "Honestly, I don't what we should do or who we can even consult. I almost think the whole reason you're here is so you can meet us now, while we're still figuring things out."

Alvarez said, "I can't figure out anything."

"Maybe you should, I don't know, tell us what we're like."

So Alvarez told them what had just been going through his mind. "You're so busy running around you don't seem to notice, but people all over town know you. They talk about all the things you've done for the town. You're not so different from how you are now. You're still inseparable. Of course, everyone worries about you. You're so secretive. You're grades are uneven. If they only knew, right? Then came Will's kidnapping. She made world news. She was missing for two months without a trace. She comes back looking like she's been tortured and she can't remember a thing. Then she heals within days. Life for her is business as usual and nobody understands it. They're worried you're into something too big for you to handle."

Irma said, "Wow, that's how I feel half the time." Her effort earned her an elbow from Hay Lin.

Cornelia said, "I really think we should be getting home."

"Nah, our astral drops have it covered."

Taranee said, "Oh come on guys, I'm exhausted. I've been up longer than any of you, and I haven't been home in almost a week."

"A week?" asked Alvarez.

"Long story."

During their journey, they turned down an alleyway, apparently a shortcut on the way to Cornelia's home. Alvarez might have said something except that they were in a fairly safe part of town. If they had been paying full attention, they might have noticed that the alley had vanished, but as it was, they didn't notice anything until the sun went out. Somehow, they found themselves in a city quite unlike Heatherfield, distressed Tudors and other medieval Dutch type buildings surrounding them.

"We're in Meridian?" said Irma. "Did anybody see that coming?"

Cornelia looked around, nervous. "We can't be caught here with our wings folded."

Will needed no prompting, and ordered, "Guardians unite."

The transformation was astonishing as raw energy entered each of their bodies. Alvarez could only watch, mesmerized as the girls glowed with ethereal energy and literally grew. They were older, taller, and their presence was striking. Still, Alvarez couldn't help but think that they looked like a group of magic fairies.

Will said, "Keep an eye out for trouble. Cedric wasn't too happy the last time we met."

A deep voice rumbled behind them. "Cedric is the least of your concerns."

They all spun around. Irma said, "Hey, does that count as trouble?"

Alvarez stumbled backwards as a large, apelike man charged riding a green rhinoceros. The Guardians scattered and Cornelia slammed into Alvarez, knocking him clear of the battlefield. He hadn't been tackled like that since college football. These girls were significantly stronger than they looked. Alvarez found himself in a corner and Cornelia turned and put herself between Alvarez and the attacker. Slamming the palm of her hand into the ground, she caused enormous boulders to jut up and slam into the advancing ape man and rhino.

The boulders shattered like glass, not even slowing the mounted attacker. Vines shot out of either side of the wall beside Alvarez and sped forward, thickening and balling up into a pair of cudgels, two giant fists striking the attacker and his steed, this time both of them thrown backward. The attacker landed on a frozen ice puddle obviously created by Irma and Hay Lin.

"Hey, Frost," said Irma, "I hope you can skate."

Frost drew and axe and swung hard into the ice, using it as a pickax, immediately halting his momentum. Standing, he seemed surprisingly stable on the ice. Will dashed forward on a reckless collision course. Frost swung his axe on a trajectory that would have cleaved the girl in two. She ducked backwards, the axe passing over her, and fell back, sliding underneath, and firing lightening into him. It obviously hurt him but didn't slow him down.

Guards appeared from every corner, attacking the Guardians they moment they saw them. The girls held their own, but with a limited understanding of their powers, they were close to being overwhelmed. The ground beneath Alvarez fell out and there didn't seem to be an end to his descent. Will's voice said, "I think that's enough. They can fight them off just fine, but if they're worrying about you, they may be captured."

There she was standing in the middle of a white fog, the Will that Alvarez had last faced in his own time. He said, "Why did you send me here?"

"I needed you to see who we are. I needed you to understand that you can't help us. You can't help us, but we can help you. You understand, right? You understand what we do, what we have to do, and why we have to keep it secret. Imagine this power in the hands of greedy corporations or corrupt governments. That's why we need to protect it with everything we have. Interpol has already tried to steal our powers for their own profit."

"What about you? What's all of that stuff about two of you?"

"That's how I saved the Heart of Kandrakar and the Guardians. Whatever happened to me, I made sure there was a Will to lead the Guardians, but when it came down to it, I couldn't make the sacrifice. There shouldn't have been two of us, but I was too afraid to die."

"What? Nobody can blame you for that."

"I can. Will can. If I had just had the courage to finish what I started, Davira never would have attacked you, and the other Will wouldn't be questioning who she is. She never would have known that it happened. Now I have to see this through to the end, not just for me, or for you, or for Earth, but for her."

"See what through?"

"I have a gift for you. When the fog clears, you'll be back in Heatherfield in your own time. Go to your office and wait. You won't be disappointed."

"See what through?"

"You know too much already. What you don't know has to stay secret. You aren't ready for it. Nobody on Earth is. You'll never meet me again. Don't ask her about my disappearance anymore. She really doesn't know."

"Then you tell me, please."

But the Alchemist had literally turned into the fog, and then the fog cleared and he was sitting in his car outside of Dean Collins' apartment.

At Mrs. Rudolph's house, Will put the Heart of Kandrakar back and the girls all looked at each other. Elyon, of course, wouldn't know what incident they had seen in the Heart. The problem was, neither did anyone else.

Hay Lin said, "Was that Detective Alvarez with us five years ago?"

Cornelia said, "It sure looked like it."

Irma said, "Okay, does anyone remember that happening?"

Taranee said, "You mean us walking through a portal with a big bald cop that looks like an ex-football player and throwing down with Frost? Definitely doesn't ring a bell."

Elyon said, "The way he just vanished; it looked like transposition."

Will said, "That would be the Alchemist's doing. I hope he's okay." She looked to Orube. "You go to the carnival first. Try not to be seen."

Orube said, "I don't have to try."

Will nodded and turned to Matt. "Are you sure about this?"

Matt nodded solemnly. "Completely. I know this will work."

"What does the band think?"

"I just told them I thought the vibes in the place might help inspire us."

Will nodded. "Then we have our game plan."