La Dolce Vita
By Seniya
B is for Beginnings
Part Two
Begin; to begin is half the work. Let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.
Decimus Magnus Ausonius
The stranger that she had met at the pond stayed on Will's mind for the rest of the night. She wasn't entirely certain why – she considered for a moment that it might have been his startling eyes and broad shoulders, but she hated the idea that she could be so superficial – and finally decided that it had to have been his strange questions.
He'd hit his head obviously. And she'd be damned if she wasn't feeling incredibly guilty about the whole thing now. How could she have just left him there, especially in the care of that other bumbling idiot?
As a result, she'd actually gone back to the pond to look for him. Check on him, maybe make sure he ended up at a hospital. But he'd been gone already. She did hope that he was alright.
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It was late into the evening when Will finally returned home. Her mother had been comfortably seated in front of the blaring television set, while happily chatting away on her cell phone. She looked up when Will came through the door.
"Wilhelmina, the power came back just as soon as you left. Jonathan said that it must have been a short – No, not you Simone, it's my daughter. Yes, daughter – remember, she'd been living in Texas with her father. Well, you obviously forgot because I am certain that I told you about her on many occasions. Wilhelmina, there's pizza in the fridge."
Six months, six months. This would clearly be a mantra that she would be repeating for the rest of her stay here. Deciding to postpone her shower in favour of her stomach, Will went into the kitchen, rumbling through the fridge, through the bottles of wine and vodka, before stumbling across the box of pizza.
Her mother continued talking to her friend, blurting out all the sordid details about her dad. The lights in the house flickered suddenly.
"He was the biggest mistake that I ever made – Oh God! Not again! I told Jonathan that it had to be something more serious!" Her mother was rising to her feet; Will could hear the sound of furniture shifting in the other room. She changed her mind from the pizza when the lights in the kitchen went off, quickly followed by the lights in the hallway. She reached into the freezer and took out some ice-cream instead.
The entire house was in darkness when her mother finally waddled from the living room, her hair in curlers and her toes pointed up in the air and separated by cotton wads. She plunged into a pile of clothes stacked up by the door and pulled out a fluffy zebra printed coat. She was half-way out of the door when she called out to Will, an afterthought, clearly, "Wilhelmina, I'm going down the street! I'll be back in a minute! Oh, Wilhelmina, please don't eat that for dinner!"
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Pistachio ice-cream wasn't her favourite flavour, but it would do. She was actually pretty relaxed now with her mother gone. The entire house behind her was plunged into complete darkness, but next door one of the neighbours was playing an old Jazz record. It was a nice feeling to be seated on the big swing set on the porch. Admittedly, it was much nicer than her old apartment in Austin where there had always been noises from next door and the traffic outside.
That was one good thing about Heatherfield; the quiet.
"Hello."
The voice beside her nearly made her jump out of her skin. The ice-cream carton fell from her hand and formed a puddle of green milk at her feet. Will got slowly to her feet, facing her guest head-on.
"Are you following me?"
It was the boy from the pond. The one she had rescued from the water today – although now she sincerely regretted her decision.
He didn't answer her, instead she watched as he placed his bag on the floor beside him. "My name is Caleb, I am the son of Julian of Etheren. I wish to speak with you –"
"Did you hear me?" Growing annoying at the stream of babble she had just heard, Will nearly screamed the next sentence, "I asked if you followed me here!"
"Clearly I had to have followed you here. It was incredibly easy actually." Was he bragging? "You leave quite a distinguishable trail."
Was this guy serious? Speechless, Wilhelmina watched as he continued, "I was told that you would have some sort of spell on you that would make it difficult for you to be found. But it wasn't. Actually, it was like catching a lark fish – they're incredibly fat and slow but they think that they're very cunning. They always get trapped under stones and roots."
It was a good story. When he told it to girls in Meridian, they would smile and giggle and ask about more of his exploits. But this girl continued to stare at him as though he was diseased. He supposed it was because she was related to Phobos. She wasn't dangerous, he'd watched her long enough to determine that – but she did seem distant, bossy and cold.
"Stalking is illegal in most countries in the world. Even for crazy people like you!"
Stalking? That sounded like walking around on stilts – usually a game for young children. How was that relevant? "I still wish to speak with you. I believe that you can help me and my people."
"I'm calling the police. You're trespassing."
Will started to go into the house, but stopped when she realized that it would require her having to pass him.
"It's best that you not call for anyone until I'm finished speaking with you. I imagine that you will wish to say goodbye to your family and friends...but it is imperative that you come with me."
Oh God! "Listen to me. I don't know what's wrong with you – but I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Perhaps if you would stop talking long enough to let me speak."
The phone was dead. Everything in her house was dead. But maybe if she could get inside and lock the doors until her mother came home...
"You can't tell me what to do."
"It's for the best." He took a step forward and Will instinctively took a step backwards. His eyes softened, "you don't need to be afraid of me."
"I'm not afraid of you." But her back was still pressed against the wall, and she knew that he knew that she was lying.
He ignored her. "I won't hurt you. It doesn't look as though you have been hurt by these people, but they took you from your home when you were only a babe."
She had definitely had enough, her mind raced, coming to rest on a paragraph she had read in a novel a few years ago. It had been about this man who had been obsessed with this woman who had saved his life. He had thought that she had been his soul-mate. He had killed them both in the end.
She would be damned if she let the same thing happen to her. The girl in the book had been a dumbass anyway. Will edged closer to the swing, and while he had been explaining something about this King called Phobos, Will pushed the swing towards him, hoping to God that it would give him a concussion.
He hadn't been expecting that and Will took the opportunity to run past him and into the darkness of the house, pushing the door closed behind her. She wasn't fast enough; he was there in an instant, shoving the door open before she could run upstairs. She wouldn't let him catch her though, choosing to throw her mother's collection of vases at his head. He caught the first one in his hands, but the other two hit him dead in the chest. Mentally, Will concluded that her best chance was to run to the back of the house and go through that door. Maybe she could lose him outside.
He was there when she turned around. She gasped and he caught both of her wrists in his hands.
"Why are you being so difficult?'
Her eyes darted around wildly, but she couldn't see much in the dark. She needed to stay calm. Just stall him long enough until her mother came home with that guy.
How was he so impossibly fast?
"What—What did you say you wanted to talk about?"
"I'm from Meridian." She had stopped squirming in his arms, and he relaxed his grip a bit, feeling as though she had finally become reasonable. "It's another world, similar to earth."
"Oh God," It was almost a sob, and then she began to scream and kick and trash in a manner that was remarkably similar to a child throwing a temper tantrum. He pulled her closer to him, "stop that!"
It made it worse, she grew more frantic with each passing second.
She reminded him of a wild cat. Caleb tried to cover her mouth with one of his hands, but she only took the chance to try to scratch his eyes out. He had done nothing to provoke her! Why was she behaving like this?
"I'm growing tired of you little girl." She kicked him in his shin for the comment. He flinched but managed to keep his grip on her. "You shouldn't have done that."
He wasn't human. She had read enough David Eddings and Anne Rice to know that no one that moved that fast was human. This defied every single logical idea in her head but she still couldn't force herself to think of any other explanation. Was he a vampire? No, vampires couldn't come inside unless they had been invited – Was she serious? A vampire!
Will, get a hold of yourself!
He's crazy. That's all. He's just insane and a distant cousin of Usain Bolt.
Now that made sense.
"Are all earth girls as violent as you are?"
"Let me go!"
"I just want you to listen to me!"
"You're crazy! You aren't making any sense! You need help!" She wasn't above bribery, "if you let me go, when my mother gets home we can take you to the hospital. There are doctors there who help people like you." Lock you psychos up for a long time.
He wasn't fooled. "No, I've wasted enough time here with you. We can talk later. I'm taking you back with me."
"Are you deaf!" She could already see the newspaper headlines in her mind. Another girl kidnapped. Had he done this to the other girls too? "I'm not going anywhere with you!"
He made a sound and pulled away from her – staring at his hands and then at her face. She turned again, moving as quickly as she could, trying as hard as she could to make it up the stairs to her room. He cut her off at the third step. "How did you do that?'
Will fell when she backed down the stairs, he was behind her, pulling her to her feet in the next second. She tried to pull away, but he held her tight against his chest. "How did you burn me?"
"I didn't!"
He was quiet for a while after that. Thinking – maybe. All she could hear was blood in her ears and the hiss of her breath as it passed over her lips. "Are you gonna let me go?"
Will prayed that her voice didn't sound as desperate as she thought it did. She felt his fingers against her neck, heard his voice when he told her, "No."
And that was it.
.....................................................................
The lights in the house came back on after she had passed out. That had been difficult. He had scratches and bruises all over his body just as though he'd fought a forty year old man!
And just why was everything on earth so bright! Hades, he never thought he'd see the day that he'd miss Meridian.
Caleb had easily put her over his shoulder and carried her back outside where he had wrapped her up in his blanket. Then, he'd taken the bundle into his arms and carried her towards the pond, where he was certain that he would find his way home.
For all of the fight in her, she didn't weigh much.
The streets were deserted at this time of night. But it was still incredibly lucky that he wouldn't have to go that far.
A bright light was in the middle of the road—humming pleasantly—Caleb breathed a sigh of relief, maybe this was his lucky day after all.
-------------------------------------------------------
"She sure doesn't look like a booman," there were whispers all around her, but Will ignored them – her head hurt like hell – and she snuggled deeper into the soft pillows under her head. Until the poking began.
"I heard that boomans have wings and fangs."
"They're called humans. Not boomans. And don't touch it – you might get sick."
Will made a motion to smack away the offensive fingers but found that she couldn't move her hands. Her eyes flew open, meeting with the milky white eyes of – was that a cat? It looked like a cat. Except it was at least three feet tall and wearing a dress.
It screamed.
She screamed.
The door behind the crowd of cats and green things and bug people opened and in sauntered her captor. She stopped screaming instantly and instead she focused all of her attention on giving him the dirtiest look that she could muster.
"Mr. Caleb," the cat thing spoke, "the booman woke up."
"Iris touched it!" Said another thing that Will couldn't help but notice looked like a spider – eight legs included, "I told her not to! And it's called a human!"
"I told you not to touch her!" He began shuffling them out the door, "she's dangerous!"
The second that they were out more creatures entered, these ones were taller, but they were still the same array of green things and cat people. Was she in his bedroom? She was on a bed. A brown, furry bed. Tied up.
Inside the room was filled with papers and weapons. God, it was disgusting. Were the walls made of mud?
This certainly didn't look good for her. Or him. Will chose now that she had an audience to begin screaming again. "You sick fuck!" She tried kicking, but the ropes that held her were too tight, "where in the fucking hell am I?"
"Spirited one this," a thin white headed man spoke, "certainly hasn't been a good few days for Caleb. D'you see the side of his face?"
There was a rumble of laughter through the crowd gathered at the foot of the bed. Some stared; others looked upset, even more looked uncomfortable. The white haired man spoke again, "we should put this one in the front lines. She'd take down Phobos in a heartbeat."
"If you don't have an intelligent contribution to make then leave!" Caleb said, and the room fell silent immediately.
"Caleb, is she Phobos's sister?"
"She could see me through the spell."
"Are you sure that the spell even worked?" This came from a massive red haired man standing quietly at the back of the room, "that woman was..."
"She was the only one who could see me. Have you sent for Lucia?"
"Aldarn has gone to find her."
Caleb nodded absently, before focusing his attention completely on Will. Unnerved, she stared back. "How did you burn me?"
"I'll kill you if I ever get the chance!"
"Burn you how?" This was a woman, short, fat and wrinkled, "how is one burnt without fire?"
"It wasn't fire. I touched her arms and she burnt me."
"She's a witch."
There was a deep murmur of agreement from the crowd, before one man spoke up, "maybe all humans can do it. We do not know enough about humans to make a conclusion about how they should and should not act."
"It wasn't like fire," for the first time Will noticed that his hands were bandaged, and that he had several red welts across the side of his face, "it was like energy – a force – it pushed me away from her. And it burnt my hands."
"She is a witch." The woman repeated.
"Ask her how she did it," someone suggested.
"Would you all stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Will turned her head to face the crowd, "look lady, I'm not a witch so you can stop looking at me like if I'm wearing a mirror. And you," she looked at Caleb, "untie me right now or so help me God I'll castrate the shit outta you!"
"Always get the angry ones don't you Caleb?"
There was another voice from the door; this one was a woman's. Tall and dark skinned. She looked to Will, as though she should have been on a cover of Elle magazine. She was dressed differently from the others; she wore silk and furs while they were dressed in wool and Will could see some diamonds in her ears and in a broach that pinned her cloak together.
Caleb moved aside when he saw her, "is this her?"
The woman didn't answer him immediately; rather her gaze lingered on the crowd at the foot of the bed. "I've never been invited to your room before Caleb," she actually pouted, "but it seems that you've let the entire council in here."
If Will had thought that they'd looked at her badly – then this was appalling. Some even moved away into the corner of the room when came closer. She didn't seem to mind.
"Did you hear me Lucia? Is this the girl?"
"No." She hadn't looked, she hadn't blinked.
"You didn't even look at her!"
"Of course I did." She looked at Caleb earnestly, "look at the size of her feet. It's not her. I applaud the choice though. Aphrodite did have red hair, but she doesn't look like the Queen. Not even close."
"When I touched her, she burnt me."
"Now that," For the first time her eyes came to rest on Will's face, "is a completely different story."
"Tell it to me." Caleb seemed incredibly annoyed.
"Why is everything a struggle with you witch?" A man from the crowd hissed, no one spoke to support his outburst, but Will suspected that they all wholeheartedly agreed.
She ignored that as well, "I'd like to do this without the audience, if you'd please."
Caleb didn't protest, he simply made a motion with his hand and the group filed through the door. "Are you their leader?" Will asked, "Answer me! Is this a cult?"
"I don't understand her when she speaks. I don't know if you'll be able to. But she mostly screams a lot in any case."
"She's upset because you took her from her home and tied her to your bed." The lady shed her coat and walked over to the bed; she placed a hand on the ropes and whispered. They fell away instantly.
"How can you tell that?"
"It's common sense Caleb." The ones on her feet were next. "What's your name darling?"
Will could feel her inhibitions fading. Her hazel eyes were almost hypnotic, her lips parted before she could stop herself. "Wilhelmina. Will Vandom."
This close the woman looked even more beautiful. The lights from the torches on the walls highlighted her high cheekbones and the myriad of colours in her eyes. "That's a lovely name. I am Lucia, that's Caleb, but I suspect that you've already been introduced."
Caleb had already begun to protest, "She's impossible to reason with!"
"Be quiet!" Lucia hissed, her attention returned to Will. "You're very special Wilhelmina. Do you know that?"
"Where am I? Where are the other girls?"
"There are no others here, just you. You're in Meridian. It's another world. Just like Earth."
Will's forehead wrinkled. "I want to go home."
"You don't believe me?"
"I think that this is a joke."
Lucia smiled widely, "A game?"
"A dream."
"I'll make sure that you get home Wilhelmina. Let me tell you what you are first." She leaned in closer, Will could smell her flowery perfume. "You are a guardian of the veil."
"I don't know what that is."
"She can't be." Caleb was frowning, "the guardians are only myths. Besides, they are peacemakers and this girl doesn't have a peaceful bone in her body!"
"A bit of personality doesn't make the girl a villain Caleb." She made a motion with her hand and a goblet floated towards her, another whisper and it filled to the brim with a burgundy liquid. "I can feel your heart. It is strong. It is hurt."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your father is gone. You're all alone in this world because everyone has left you. Your grandparents died, your father left and your mother never cared. There are other children – oh, they treated you terribly, called you names and –"
"Shut up!" Will swallowed, "you don't know anything about me."
"I know that you care about people. Even after everything that they've done to you. That's admirable Will. That's why you were chosen."
"I want to go home."
"You don't have to be afraid. This is fate. Before you were even born, this was written in the stars. Caleb thought that he made a mistake by bringing you here, but it was destiny. You command the spirit of the heavens themselves. You are –"
"Just stop it!" Will staggered off of the bed, "take me home. Now."
"Lucia," the look on Caleb's face was pensive as her studied the two females in his chambers, "are you telling the truth? Is she really..."
"Drink this," she pushed the goblet into Caleb's hands, but her eyes never left Will's, "you will not disappoint me Wilhelmina. You are the answer to our prayers. Dimidium facti est coepisse."
The room was empty of occupants in the next instant.
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"Nana." Haylin shivered against the bitter cold winds, "I really don't like this place." She had never been so cold or tired or felt so hopeless. This place was like a pit that sucked all of her hope away. It was dark and cold and barren. She wanted to go back home.
"Be quiet child. We're here." Her grandmother however seemed to thrive from it all. There was a certain jump in her step when she walked, and Haylin couldn't ignore the happiness in her voice. It could come from being right, a fact that her grandmother was happy to remind her of every ew seconds.
Here, was a cave. Darker, colder and more barren looking than anything that she'd seen so far in this wasteland. "Nana, we've been walking for days."
"I know. I thought that we'd never find it."
"Nana, it's a cave."
"I can see that." She cracked her knuckles, "let's get this done."
"Are you high? I'm not going in there!"
"It's just dark, there's nothing in there. Well maybe some rat-bats and there is definitely a sword and probably some land-crabs. They won't kill you! Stop being a baby!"
"Nana—I follow you around everywhere—but this—this is where I draw the line! I didn't even leave a note for Mom! And I didn't finish my homework – she'll kill me!"
The argument would have continued had it not been for the sudden appearance of a white light. Silently, Haylin watched as three persons appeared in the space beside them. Her grandmother, who had never been speechless from Haylin's memory, didn't see a reason to begin being quiet now. "Lucia, still alive I see."
"Yanlin," The dark woman's eyes flickered with annoyance, "and they say that humans die quickly."
"Do you have any friends, Grandma?"
"What are you doing here Lucia?"
"Same as you I suspect," she indicated the very upset looking red head behind her, "I've found a guardian."
"Her?" Yanlin frowned, "she's too young."
Will seemed to take offence, "I'm sixteen!"
"Really?" Haylin chirped, "You look thirteen to me. Doesn't she grandma?"
"Not a day over ten. What are you playing at Lucia?"
"I've never been wrong Yanlin. If the old age has taken your memory, I found both Cassidy and Nerissa. I found Felicia, Maria and Lucy before them."
Caleb stiffened, "what in the name of Hades is going on here?"
"And who is he? You can't just invite people here! It's supposed to be a secret! I don't even know how you found out about it in the first place..."
"This is Caleb," Lucia spoke calmly, "and I don't know where you think that you're going to Wilhelmina, but that's nowhere near home."
Will, who had taken everyone's preoccupation as an opportunity to sneak away, stopped in her tracks. "Look," she turned towards the foursome, "I know that I'm not the only sane one here! Well you," she looked at Caleb, "are hopeless, but come on! Other worlds! Monsters and saviours? Did I walk into the Sci-Fi channel?"
Haylin gave her a pitying look, "if you don't believe in other worlds then where on earth do you think that you are?"
"I dunno." She shrugged, "Detroit."
Yanlin shook her head, "All right. I'll go with it. She might be a guardian. What's she? Fire?"
"She has Nerissa's old element."
"That's interesting." Or the first time Yanlin looked at Will with something other than annoyance.
"I know."
"She can't be a guardian." Caleb looked irritated at having been teleported out of his rooms. "She is the most – unstable female that I have ever met. When she isn't trying to kill me, she's threatening to."
Seething, Will snapped, "You know what; I should have let you drown!"
"You didn't save me! I had the situation under control."
"Oh, that's rich! What would you have done then? Prayed that the tide took you to shore?"
"Silence!" Both mouths snapped shut, and Lucia turned to the entrance of the cave, "I'm getting very tired of the two of you."
"Well, let's get going. The sooner we get this sword the sooner things can begin getting back to normal." Yanlin began to walk to the cave, her granddaughter in her wake.
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"Wilhelmina, come." Her feet were moving on her own, she couldn't stop them! When she opened her mouth to protest, there was no sound. She looked at Caleb and he seemed to be suffering the same fate.
"You're both being punished." Lucia said by way of explanation, "you're lucky that I don't just tie you together until you sort out your differences."
Will pouted, absolutely frustrated.
"So – " They were at least a hundred metres into the cave when the silence began to annoy Haylin's ears, "are you two related or something?"
It was a good thing that there had been silencing charms in effect, because the screams that both seemed desperate to make would have awoken the dead. "They just met." Lucia confirmed. "I brought him along because he will be working closely with the lot of you from now on," the darkness seemed to bother her, she clicked her fingers and a light appeared at the tip. "He's doing a good job of protecting Meridian. With your help he could actually stop Phobos."
"This place stinks," Haylin whined, because, well it really did. The smell of stagnant death hung like a cloak in a space that seemed to have no ventilation. It grew narrower as they walked along, until they were forced to walk in single file. "Nana, what crawled up here and died?"
"My youth," Yanlin chuckled, "God knows why Nerissa put the damned thing in here!"
"Did she put it in here?" There was a rumble from further up in the darkness, Lucia stopped in her tracks. "Did you hear that?"
"Ugh!" Haylin had been pushed up against the wall when the procession had stopped, "what's this? Gross! Is this slime?"
Yanlin turned to give her grandchild a good shake but stopped when she saw what was on her hands. "Haylin, that's not slime. That's blood!"
The rumbling grew louder and Haylin shrank backwards colliding with Will, "I thought you told me that this was safe!" She yelled at her grandmother, who shushed her instantly.
"There isn't supposed to be anything in here."
"There wasn't – not the last time I checked." Lucia sounded genuinely confused; still, panic had yet to enter her voice. "Somebody's been in here."
"Maybe...Maybe it's just protection, so that no one can get to the sword." Haylin said.
"The sword needs no protection. It cannot be removed from the place where the last keeper placed it until the new keeper moves it. Anyone who tries risks death."
"So what's..."
"Haylin be quiet!" There was a click as Yanlin pulled out her revolver, the metal glistened slightly in the meagre light, and Will shifted uncomfortably when she saw it.
"Don't worry," Haylin whispered to the girl, "she always waves that thing around. She doesn't know how to use it."
Because knowing that the senile old woman didn't have an idea how to use the gun she was carrying made Will feel loads better. She rolled her eyes, wishing that she had stayed in bed this morning.
There was another growl from the darkness, this one sounded closer however, and Lucia raised her hand, pointing her finger straight forward, as though it were a weapon that she were aiming. "Are you ready Yanlin?"
The gun wet off by way of a reply—that was all it took. Something – something huge, came bounding forward on all fours, roaring and panting. Haylin screamed, Will ducked and Caleb watched as Lucia bellowed and in a flash of light the creature exploded.
It was raining monster pieces, one particularly large leg section hit Haylin on her head and she screamed. "For God's sake!" Yanlin yelled, for the downpour of body parts didn't bother her at all, "You are the guardian of the winds! Suck it up and stop the screaming!"
"What good is that Nana?" Will looked at the girl beside her, if all of this nonsense was true then they shared the same fate, "what if I don't want to do this – y-you never asked me if..."
Her protests were ignored, Yanlin had already gone ahead, prodding around at the thing's head, "what is this?"
Will's stomach was churning, her nerves felt frazzled and she wanted nothing more than to run away from this disgusting cave screaming. But the stupid spell held her steady. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of the head – her mouth fell open.
"Yes Wilhelmina," Lucia noticed Will's waving and after a moment she clicked her fingers together and allowed her to speak.
"That's a Minotaur." She blurted out.
"What's that? An earth beast?" Sadly, Caleb's voice seemed to have returned as well. "Lucia, you will not silence me again."
"You were saying Wilhelmina," Lucia said coolly.
"Yeah, I've seen it on TV! It was on the discovery channel..." Haylin put in.
"It's from Greek mythology. It's a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull. He eats people. That's where the blood on the walls comes from."
"Well, he wasn't doing a very good job." Caleb quipped and Will quickly grew frustrated. "We're all still alive."
"His body's impenetrable. The only thing that can get through him is his own horn." Taking the passive route, Will decided that allowing herself to be heard was more important than cutting down that baboon.
"He's dead." Caleb indicated.
"Look, I'm just telling you how the story goes."
"It doesn't make any sense."
"I didn't write it." Her voice was clipped and short.
"Can we move on now?"
"Just cut off its horns – just in case."
"It's a waste of time! He's already dead."
"Hush!" And they fell silent again. Lucia waved her fingers and one of the long, curved horns severed and floated up to her hand. Will gave Caleb a pointed look. "These horns might be good for a spell – if nothing else."
"Let's go." And they pressed on.
-------------------------------------------------------
"Tell me about Phobos. How long has he been such a menace?" Yanlin had tucked away her pistol, now, they had been walking or what felt like an hour with no end in sight. There had been no more monsters or no more arguments; the only thing that had changed was the width of the passage – which had decreased considerably until the party had been forced to walk sideways.
"Are we there yet?" Haylin breathed, not for the first time and not for the last, she was ignored but the other two contributing members of the conversation.
"Phobos has been King since his father died around six years ago. That's not to say that his father did an amazing job either – Phobos is guiltier of selfishness, not real malice. His soldiers do as they please, he doesn't care enough to command them to stop."
"Here we are." Yanlin breathed, and it was like a breath of fresh air, literally, the smell of death melted away.
The cavern that they entered was completely different from the passageway. It was tall, wide, roomy and brightly lit. The walls appeared to glisten, as though they were made of glass or diamonds. The ceiling seemed to rise up forever, and in the centre of the room there was a stone, in that stone, was a sword.
"This is it," Yanlin was smiling; to her this was clearly some sort of accomplishment.
Haylin didn't seem to feel the same way, "this is it? This is what we've been walking forever to find?"
The sword itself was not spectacular. It was old, very old. It was stuck into the stone until about mid-way of its blade; a blade that was cracked and jagged. The hilt seemed to have lost much of its lustre, instead of looking gold – as it may have once – it was a rusty brown. Truly, the only interesting thing about this sword was a fat pink jewel in the hilt. That sparkled and glimmered like something special; that could take your breath away.
Lucia snapped her fingers, "Alright Wilhelmina, go pull it out."
"Then can I go home?"
"Is that all you care about?" Caleb had developed a habit of opposing everything that this little brat said. He still refused to believe that she was a guardian – refused to believe that she was anything more than a scrawny little redhead with an attitude problem.
"I wouldn't even be here if you hadn't kidnapped me!"
"Believe me, there isn't a single moment that I haven't regretted that –"
"Be quiet!" Yanlin snapped, looking tempted to pull out her gun again, "why does she get to go first? Why can't Haylin be the wielder of the blade of Kandrakar?"
"Yanlin, be reasonable, Nerissa commanded energy, she would have passed the blade onto the next person who –"
"We don't know that Nerissa put the blade here! It could have been Cassidy –"
"It doesn't matter who goes first. It could be neither of them. We could have to wait until we find the other girls."
"Then let my granddaughter go."
Haylin seemed oblivious, "Nana – I don't mid letting her go before me..."
"Go!"
The small brunette sighed heavily and took a few quick steps towards the stone, "do I just pull it out?"
"Yes Haylin, just pull it out."
She looked at the sword as though it were some great obstacle in her path, but after another glimpse of her grandmother's stern face, she clasped both her hands around the hilt and tugged. It didn't budge. She pulled again.
Nothing.
"Nana...I don't think..."
"Look...you're not doing it right!" The older woman rushed forward, Lucia frowned heavily, "Put your back into it. You've got to really want it!" She placed her arms around the girl's waist, she pulled too, "pull Haylin! With everything..."
"Enough! Yanlin, let Wilhelmina try."
Grudgingly, the old Chinese woman stepped away, "come along Haylin."
Will's steps were slower when she walked closer to the sword. She wasn't willing or interested. She only saw the pretty jewel in the hilt. That seemed to call to her with whispers that crept into the core of her very soul. The hilt felt cool to her touch, initially at least. When she wrapped her second hand around the first, the feeling warmed substantially.
Lucia was saying something, but it seemed so far off that she couldn't place it. She could hear voices, something cold ran along her spine, "This isn't yours to take from me." It was a deep, feminine voice, but only she seemed to hear it.
It was too late.
Will could feel it, it was roaring through her body like an electric shock. This power consumed her, it ate at her worries and inhibitions until there was nothing but raw excitement left in their place. This power was rushing through her, moving from the tips of her fingers to the soles of her feet – She was growing!
Her red hair tumbled past her shoulders – her limbs were lengthening, rapidly. Will opened her lips to scream, but no sound came forth. There was no pain. Nothing but wonder. Ribbons of white light covered her body, bathing her in a cold, white sensation.
When it faded – when the room quieted and dulled and her heart stopped pounding, Will finally believed in all the lore that they had been preaching to her.
Lucia was beaming, "Excellent Wilhelmina."
Caleb was speechless.
The stone had vanished; Will held the sword in her hand, at a complete loss for words.
"Caleb, you will teach her how to fight with that thing." Lucia instructed, and he, too confused to say anything, only nodded in mute agreement.
Her eyes drifted over to Haylin, who had apparently endured much of the same treatment – she too was tall, and older looking. Her hair was longer, almost to her calves, and plaited around the top of her head in two identical buns. And she had wings!
Wings!
Will's mouth fell open, and she self-consciously felt her own back – finding nothing there. Haylin's clothes seemed different as well, she wore a green top that clung to her like a second skin but left her arms bare. There were ropes of purple fabric around her waist, and a long purple skirt that fell straight to the floor, but had two slits in the side, right up to her waist. She was wearing ballet slippers and knee high socks – and her face, seemed absolutely ecstatic.
"Look Nana!" She was squealing, already putting her wings to good use and hovering above the cavern floor, "I'm flying!" She twirled happily, but lost control after that, falling the ground only seconds after.
"You need to practice."
Will, couldn't get over the fact that she had hair. She kept running her hands through it, playing with the ends. "They both need training. Yanlin, can I leave it to you?"
Yanlin's eyes watched Will suspiciously, it was unnerving. "Yes, of course. I'll train them both."
"Then, we can leave." Lucia turned towards the exit.
"Do you see Wilhelmina?" Haylin was still over the moon, her excitement wasn't contagious though, Will still remained in shock, "I can fly! Wait – why don't you have wings?"
"I-I..."
"Ladies," the growling was back, louder and closer than ever before. There was something else too – something even more bone chilling than anything else before it. It was as if the lights in the room had faded, the happiness certainly had.
Will felt herself turning around to face the source of the disturbance – she met the cold grey eyes of a man.
He had long white blonde hair, his skin was freakishly white. His clothes were immaculate, white and clean. At his side there was a Minotaur, just like the one that was supposed to be lying dead in the passageway. "Hello Guardians. Not a full set, but you've already accomplished so much."
His voice was silky smooth and his words were pronounced with the greatest care. He stretched out his hand, "give the blade to me, little one. Or I'm afraid I'll have to give my little friend his evening meal."
"Don't give him anything Wilhelmina!" Lucia was screaming, she had her finger pointed directly at the intruder. Will had never seen her look so frantic. "Caleb! Yanlin! Get them out of here! I'll hold him off!"
"Will you?" Had she ever heard anyone sound so chilling?
Caleb was already pulling at her arm, "No! We can't leave her!"
"We don't have a choice!" He was pushing her through the passage way, Yanlin and her granddaughter were already down there – but Will was pushing in the other direction.
"No!" She shoved at Caleb's side, "we can't leave her with them! He'll kill her!" She could feel his intent. She had never been more certain of anything in her life. "He'll kill her!"
"Listen to me!" He shook her arm, pushing her along, "you need to protect that sword. There is nothing more important than that!"
There was a scream and a roar – the Minotaur had charged – "Caleb, please, we can't let her die!"
"She can take care of herself!" The passage had widened enough for him to begin to push her back, his hands pressed into her shoulder blades, "she's doing this to keep you safe – don't change that!"
Shaking her head, Will turned and ran, her heart growing heavier with every step, before her she could see the outline of Yanlin, Haylin was above her, her moth-like wings fluttering erratically.
This wasn't right! This wasn't fair!
She turned to plead one last time with Caleb's conscience—only to see that he was no longer behind her.
He'd gone back!
"Wilhelmina!" It was Yanlin's voice; she and Haylin were already outside.
Biting her lip, Will went to them.
"Now listen to me carefully Wilhemina," Yanlin was breathing heavily, Haylin hovered above them, "take that sword and think of home. Think of the street, the flowers – whatever it is that makes it as clear to you as possible and concentrate on nothing else!"
"Was that Phobos?" Will felt as though she were near tears, "Caleb and Lucia...they're still..."
"Listen to me dammit! Concentrate!"
Will closed her eyes and obeyed, she thought of her mother's house, of the swing set and the half dead flowers in the lawn.
"Now, raise the blade above your head and drag it down to the ground, don't stop thinking about home!"
She did as she was told, and when she opened her eyes again, there was a massive blue light before her. "W-What's this?"
"Haylin go!" The girl obeyed immediately, she flew through the light and vanished, "come on," she held onto Will's arms, "now, Wilhelmina, there isn't time!"
"We can't!" There were tears streaming down her face, she had never felt so helpless – it made her sick, "he'll kill them! How can you let them die? He'll kill them!"
Yanlin gave her a hard shake, "there will be harder decisions than this to make! Go!"
-------------------------------------------------
She pushed them both through the light – Will sobbing and thrashing the entire way. When they emerged on the other side, it was in the quiet of Heatherfield.
Haylin was already there – short, slim and in her pink t-shirt again, a worried expression on her face. The Jazz record from the house next door was still playing softly in the night and they were all standing in the midst of the dead sunflowers in her mother's garden.
The sword fell from her heavy hands and Will collapsed in a heap, tears fell from her eyes and bile rose in her throat, she retched.
"They'll be fine Wilhelmina."
"You liar!" Will hissed, she could taste the remnants of the ice-cream on her lips, "why didn't you help them! If we're the guardians then why didn't you let..."
The bright light vanished behind them, and Yanlin spoke, "What would I have done? And you two – you know nothing! Haylin can barely fly – you...you don't even understand what you're capable of!"
"So you let them die?"
"Do you see this?" She pointed at the sword that stayed still at Will's feet, "you need to get over this immediately Wilhelmina! This is your world now! Nothing else matters! If this sword falls into the wrong hands, one or two deaths will be the least of your concerns!"
"Eric!" The tension in the garden snapped like a dry twig, Haylin called to the skinny youth who had just been running through the neighbourhood, "where...where are you going?"
"Didn't you hear?" His face was bright with excitement. He didn't seem to notice Yanlin's stern look or Will's tear streaked face. "The girls! They found the missing girls!"
He continued running, "I told you it was the Kappas!"
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Author: Woooooooo! That was long. We got some guardians now. The girls will be all dressed in the new guardian look from the comics. I'll post a pic of that once I stop being so lazy and get on photobucket. Thanks again for all the comments. A special thanks to XV dragon who's been reviewing from the very start.
Anything you don't understand, feel free to drop me a line and I'll clear it up as best as I can.