Disclaimer: I do not own W.I.T.C.H. This is a work of fan fiction.

Season Three Episode Thirteen: "The Dark Veil" Chapter Three.

After helping her grandmother inside, Hay Lin accessed Taranee's telepathic link and said to the other Guardians, "We may have a problem. Grandma just felt something strange, she think's there's a big problem on the way."

"Elyon and I are way ahead of you Hay Lin." Will answered. "Everyone: Meeting at my place. Now. We've got a problem, and Yan Lin was right: it's huge."

Cornelia replied "I'm stuck at home Will. Little sister babysitting duty, remember? I'll tell Caleb to be there though, and I can listen in through Tara if that's okay with her."

"It's cool, you've got no choice. Irma, you free from the radio show yet?"

"Just closing up now." Irma answered. "We'll be there."

Will turned to her friends and said "They'll be here soon. I just hope someone has some kind of plan…"

Kandrakar. The entire counsel felt the change. As the dark veil fell around their world, they all knew what had happened. Even the Oracle was forcibly awakened from his meditation cycle by the abrupt change in the state of affairs. When everyone was gathered, he said to them "Here it is then. Just as so many of us had foreseen. Now we must determine what is to be done about it."

Luba said, "The Aura Mirrors continue to function normally. Just as they were able to send power to the Guardians across the veil we created, so the power penetrates this one as well."

"Good news." Alfor said. "My tests indicate that this veil is consuming less power than our own did. In fact, based on those power levels I estimate it confines only this one world. No other world is effected."

"Interesting. Halinoor, do you remember your speculations on the fact that a veil would hurt Neera's soldiers more than the Guardians? Here is the way around that. We assumed the dark veil would cover all worlds, as ours did. Now that we know better, the mystery is solved."

Halinoor replied "Yes indeed. As Neera cannot invade here anyway, nothing is lost to her, while the Guardians are deprived of our counsel. And there is more…" She then related Miranda's story to the rest of the counsel, as well as her theory on what it meant.

"I agree with your assessment." the Oracle answered. "What you suspect is indeed what Neera is planning. And now the Guardians will be caught unaware, as we cannot warn them."

Alfor said "At least they'll only have one shot at a surprise. The Guardians are good at what they do. There is an excellent chance they will survive that engagement."

"Agreed. But what shall we do in the meantime?" Luba asked.

The Oracle replied, "What we do is this: As of now all of us are to focus all time and attention on finding a way to penetrate the dark veil. Spare no effort, and ignore no possibilities no matter how unlikely. Explore all routes, until a solution is found."

Earth. Bess Grumper slammed open the front door of her family's home and rushed into the kitchen. "Courtney? Courtney are you here? You're gonna be sorry for leaving me hanging like you did!" she yelled. Bess ran through the kitchen, across the dining room, and into the den where she found both of her parents unconscious. She knelt over her mother, and said "Whoa. What happened here?"

"We happened." a voice said from behind her. Bess stood and turned to see a group of strange men standing in the doorway blocking her only exit.

Burning with anger, she demanded "Who are you? Why did you attack my parents? And where is my sister?"

The leader of the group answered, "I am Carlon, servant of Queen Neera. Your parents will recover unharmed. And as for your sister, we are here to take you to her. Will you come willingly, or do we have to make this difficult?"

"I'll show you difficult." Bess growled. "I've been getting pretty strong lately for some reason. Give me back my sister, or I'll kill you." She rushed to attack the men, but was promptly stunned by Carlon's weapon and fell to the floor unconscious.

"Excellent." the man said. "The Dark Queen will be pleased…"

Having gathered in Will's apartment the Guardians and their allies received the news of their separation from Kandrakar. "Grandma was right." Hay Lin said. "This is very bad news."

"Can't we just use portals like before?" Irma asked.

Elyon shook her head. "Will and I already thought of that. It's no good. Even with the power of the Seal of Phobos inside it, the Heart can't open a portal in this veil."

"That makes sense if you think about it." Matt said. When everyone looked at him he elaborated, "Remember the only reason the old veil even had portals is because it had been in place for like fifteen years and it was showing it's age. This one is brand-new."

Taranee said, "Matt, that's smart. I'm sure you're right. Too bad it doesn't help us, it's not like we can wait fifteen years to get back in contact with the counsel."

"No, we can't. But I'm sure they'll be working on a solution from their side as well. I think we might have to leave this one to them." Will said.

Martin asked, "Hey, your powers are still working, aren't they?"

Will generated a brief spark between her fingers. "Yeah. We're still online. I guess that's something."

"That's a lot." Cornelia thought to them. "At least we can keep fighting back."

Caleb said, "Hey Martin, how does this play into your Xanatos theory?"

"Hard to say. But based on how Neera treated Miranda, and the blocking of communications, I'd say Neera's got what she wanted before. We're into whatever the next phase is now." Everyone looked around at each other, worried…

Elsewhere, Judas and Sandra were sitting on the edge of an isolated pond deep in the forests of the large city park. They were talking, planning their next big caper with Uriah and the Grumper sisters. Then a group of men came walking out of the forest.

Judas stood and faced them, while Sandra hid behind him. "You lookin' to mess with me, you gonna buy yourself trouble." he said. The team leader simply laughed and shot the boy with a stun beam. As Judas lay on the ground, Sandra knelt over him, crying.

The men surrounded them. "Target's the boy." one said, "What do we do with the girl commander?"

"Kill her." the leader answered.

Before the order could be carried out, another group came out of the forest from the opposite direction. "Hold that order." the new team's commander said, "This one is our target." He blasted Sandra, knocking her out.

"It appears our work is complete. Come, let us return with our prizes for the Queen." Together, the Soldiers of Varthan returned home with their captives…