W.I.T.C.H

Chapter 23

Earth

I'm lying in my bed, face down on my pillow, and something's wrong. I don't know what, but something is definitely wrong. For now though, I don't care what it is. I'm just going to enjoy the few blissful seconds before I remember what happened. My bed is warm, I'm perfectly comfortable and it looks like it's going to be a beautiful sunny day. What could possibly be wrong?

We have no powers, and Elyon is on Kandrakar.

Oh yeah, that. Well, it was good while it lasted.

While I adjust to reality, let me introduce myself. My name is Cornelia Hale, and until yesterday I was Guardian of Earth, which, for the record, is not as much fun as it sounds.

Okay, one problem at a time. The girls are going to want to make a decision on this as soon as possible, so I better give it some serious thought.

I could certainty live without being a Guardian. Fighting evil's not really my thing. And those costumes, purple and green? Who designed that? But if it weren't for the Guardians, I never would have met Caleb, who is the most important person in my life right now. And without the Heart, not only would I lose touch with him, but Elyon as well.

Elyon. The first time she was captured by someone evil, (and I can't believe that sentence makes sense) I stole the Heart and tried to rescue her by myself. Even though it didn't go so well, I can feel the urge to do it again. Well, not with the Heart, obviously.

I don't know what I'm going to do today, but I know what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to think about Meridian. There's nothing I can do for Elyon, so there's no point in worrying about it. I'm just going to try to relax. Normally, any time Elyon gets in trouble I start to panic. If anything ever happened to her, I don't know what I'd do. But she's not really in danger (probably) and there's nothing I can do anyways, so I'm not even going to think about it. I'm just going to enjoy my Guardian free day.

It's been a while since I had a day to my self. You would not believe how annoying being a Guardian can be sometimes. Every time I want to do something, I have to make sure it doesn't mess up some Guardian mission. So today is a no-Guardian day. Today is my day.

I start my morning by getting myself a big bowl of my favorite cereal, Looped Fruit™. Come to think of it, it was Elyon's favorite cereal too.

Sigh. Ten seconds into the day and I'm already thinking about Elyon. Well no more. That's the last time I'm even going to mention the word Elyon.

T.V., it will make me feel better. Sunday morning, there's got to be some cartoons on. Sure enough, within seconds I've found some mouse chasing some cat with a hammer. Hey, I know this show, Elyon used to love this…

Okay, now this is just ridiculous. Elyon wouldn't want me to worry, so I'm not going to. I'm just going to sit here and relax.

"MEOW!"

"Napoleon, come here! It's time for your bath!"

"You gotta save me doll!" Napoleon whispers, diving behind the couch. "I'll do anything, just not a bath. Anything but a bath!"

Talking cat. Also not as much fun as it sounds. Fur balls are gross. Having the cat explain what a fur ball feels like is worse. Napoleon's screams echo down the hallway as Lillian drags him towards the bathroom. None of this is very relaxing.

The ringing of the buzzer only adds to my annoyance. Someone is downstairs and wants to get into the building.

"Yes? Who are you and what do you want?" I yell over pained 'meows'.

"Um, it's Caleb." comes the voice through the speakers. "I was going to check on you to see how you were doing, but it sounds like a bad time."

Great, I yelled at the one person I don't feel like yelling at. I'm on a roll today.

"It's never a bad time, Caleb. Not for you. Just give me a sec and I'll be down."

A minute later, I'm downstairs giving Caleb a hug. I figure any chance I had at ignoring Meridian has long gone, so I just give in.

"How are things on Meridian?" I ask.

"All things considered, not bad." He says. "But it's best if I show you. Want to head over to the castle?"

Regular boyfriends take girls to movies. Caleb takes me to a castle. Am I lucky or what? We check to make sure that no one's watching, and then Caleb uses the Tonga tooth to fold us back to

Meridian

Hmmm, I've always wanted to think something underlined. Neat. Not that I should be joking at a time like this. I can't help it though. It's something Irma taught me. When things seem bad, just try to find something to laugh about. I'm not as good at it as Irma is, but I do find it helps when your best friend is a prisoner. But if you ever tell Irma I'm using her advice, I will hurt you.

Caleb walks me through the castle out to the balcony. We've been here before, and it's sort of become our spot whenever we just want to talk.

"Wow, everything looks pretty normal, actually." I say honestly. "How Buchan been doing?"

For those of you who don't know, Buchan is Kandrakar's appointed replacement ruler of Meridian.

"Pretty well, actually. He's not the cause of this, so I can't blame him for what's happened. And he's a pretty nice guy."

I can tell Caleb didn't want to admit that. He's itching for an excuse to charge into Kandrakar and demand Elyon back, but without us as backup, he wouldn't stand a chance. It's tough knowing that if I had my powers I could help both Caleb and Elyon. Caleb's not good at admitting defeat.

"I assume the Tonga tooth can't take us to Kandrakar?" I ask, knowing the answer.

"Right." Caleb says, staring out at the city.

"What about the mage ring?" I say, slightly embarrassed I hadn't thought about it before. "Surely it could get us there."

"Yeah, it could, except we kind, of, maybe, sort of, lost it." Caleb says, scratching the back of his neck.

"You what?"

"Look, Aldarn put it in the trophy room after Nerissa was defeated, and now it's not there."

"Maybe Blunk stole it." I say with a smile. "Hey, wait a minute, where is Blunk? I haven't seen him in ages."

"You complaining?" Caleb says with a smile. "To be honest, I kind of lost him too. You know, we were actually training him to be a spy after Phobos was defeated. But with Nerissa and Dee and forming the Honor Guard, I kind of forgot about him."

"I'm sure he's alright." I say.

We stand in silence for a few moments, just the two of us. It's so rare nowadays for us to just talk, without worrying about dying. There was a time, before Caleb and I became a couple, that I hated going to Meridian. Remember, I was the last to believe we actually had magic. Now, however, I find myself looking for any excuse to come back here. Aside from the girls and my family, everyone I care about is on Meridian.

"Nobody realizes how bad it was under Phobos." Caleb says, breaking the silence.

"We saw a lot of it while fighting." I say.

"Yeah, but you didn't live it. That was my life, for fifteen years. I had my first real sword fight when I was ten. We never knew where our next meal would come from, never knew where our next bed would be. I never even knew if my father would come home safely each night, until one day he didn't. Turns out he was alright, but still."

He's right, of course. I have now idea what it was like. While he was fighting Phobos, I was getting manicures and going shoe shopping. I tend to focus on the rebel side of Caleb, make him sound like some sort of dashing, devil-may-care hero, without realizing how much it affected him. I wonder what he would have been like with out having to grow up under Phobos? I wonder what I would be like with out the Guardians.

"But that's a changed now." He continues. "Ever since Elyon came. People like Endarno, they only see the fights. Yeah, we still have people like Nerissa and Dee trying to take over, but now we're defending something good, not destroying something bad. It makes a difference. We're choosing to fight, because we have something worth fighting for."

"Elyon is an amazing person." I say. "She always has been. I've known her all my life, and I always knew she was something special. I just didn't know she was this special."

Will, Taranee, Hay Lin, and yes, even Irma, are all my friends. Great friends, actually. I'm lucky to know them. But Elyon? Elyon's different.

When I was young, like, four, I had Pneumonia. I had to be hospitalized. Nothing but staring at the ceiling and hospital food for the worst eleven days of my life. I barely even knew Elyon by that time. We had preschool together, that's it, but she came and visited me every day I was in there. Sometimes I would describe things and she would draw them for me. They didn't look like much, she was only four too, but it made each of my days so much better. By the time I got better, we were best friends for life.

"I'm sure she's fine." I say, mostly to reassure myself, as well as Caleb.

"I know." Caleb says with a sigh. "I know I'm way over-protective, but I can't help it. She's the best thing that ever happened to Meridian. I can't imagine life without her."

Now, normally, if a girl's boyfriend were talking this way about another girl, she'd slap him. But I know Elyon and I know Caleb, and I know their relationship. I think of Caleb as and big, older brother to Elyon. They have a very special bond, but nothing even close to the one Caleb and I have.

Once, Caleb tried to convince Elyon that there should be armed guards in her room at all time, even at night. Elyon naturally refused and they had an argument, which Elyon won, of course. So Caleb built a secret room above Elyon's bedroom that is constantly filled with guards, and has a sliding floor. If there's ever an emergency, they slide the floor back and drop into Elyon's room. If Elyon ever found out about it, she'd kill him. See, just like siblings. If you even suggested something romantic between them, they'd both think it was gross.

"Of course, Elyon's not nearly as special as you." Caleb says, trying his best to sound casual. It doesn't work. Yeah, Caleb's a warrior, but he's a softie at heart.

I give him a kiss and put my arm around him as we watch the city below us.

I used to think romance was dead. Then I met Caleb.

There was a time, right after Phobos was defeated, that I was convinced it wouldn't work between us. He said he had to stay on Meridian, and I got mad at him. It lasted for quite a while. I knew perfectly well that he had to stay on Meridian; it's where he belongs. He wouldn't be happy anywhere else. I guess I thought that what we had would never last, and I was just looking for an excuse to end it. After all, we were completely different people. He was a warrior and I had weekly pedicures. He owned twenty daggers and I owned twenty pairs of shoes. We were literally from different planets, after all. How could we possibly ever be together? Then I realized something. I loved him, not because of the way he looked (although that didn't hurt), but for who he was and for what he did. It was the person inside that mattered. I loved just spending time with him and talking with him. And once I realized that, nothing else mattered.

I used to think romance was dead. Then I met Caleb.

We spend the next few hours together, and I get caught up on everything that's happening on Meridian. Buchan is actually a really nice guy, who seems to genuinely want what's best for Meridian. I think Caleb really likes him too, since he only had two guards watching him at all times, instead of the normal six.

As amazing as it is, the fight they had against the R.E.G. seems to have really brought the Honor Guard together. Drake and Tynar are best friends, and even Raythor and Vathek have stopped trying to kill each other. I wouldn't say they like each other, but still, progress. I don't think I've ever seen Walli smile, he's more of the strong and serious type, but he seems to be fitting in. Caleb said he was talking to Walli about the Guardians one day, and that Walli got really quiet every time Caleb mentioned Irma. Hmmm, I'll have to keep an eye on that.

Overall, though, the rest of the day is a ton of fun. Yes, it's a little bittersweet because Elyon's not there, but we still manage to have a good time talking, laughing and just hanging out. Elyon, Caleb, the Honor Guard, these are some of the best people in the universe, and I'm lucky to have met them, let alone call them friends. As the day winds to an end, I realize there's no place I'd rather be. We end up walking the hallways as Caleb says the one thing we've been avoiding all day.

"So what happens to the Guardians now?"

"I don't know." I say truthfully. "There's so much going on. I don't know if any of us even want our powers back, and even if we do, I don't know how we'd get them."

"Well, whatever happens, we'll still work something out. I'll visit Earth every chance I get. We'll still be together, I promise." He says.

I want to believe it, I really do. But things will change if I don't have powers. The girls and I will get on with our own lives, and Caleb will go on with his. No matter how much we try, our worlds will eventually drift apart. But there is no way I'm going to let that happen. These are my friends, the people I love, and I refuse to lose them. And I don't care if I have to fight all of Kandrakar to do it.

"Also," he continues, "while you know I'd love for you to still be a Guardian, you don't have to be if you don't want to. I'd still love you even if you were just a normal girl. You don't have to fight."

"You know Caleb, I think you put it best when you were talking about how things had changed under Elyon's rule. We're not fighting because we have to, we're choosing to fight, because we have something worth fighting for."

He just smiles.

My name is Cornelia Hale, and I am a Guardian.