Chapter 2 Training

Despite that we were given the rest of our school day, we didn't really pay any attention. At first we broke out into a telepathic conversation about why we were treated like criminals. But that conversation slowly ended with an occasional complaint of Irma every now and then. I had stopped paying attention to our conversation half way. My mind kept replaying our meeting with the Council members. I normally agreed with a lighter version of Irma's opinion, but this time I believed all five of us thought the same. A bit of gratitude wouldn't have hurt and we certainly didn't deserve to be treated like we were. I even admitted that, after our hostile meeting, I would agree with this Ari of Arkhanta. I didn't know what he had against Kandrakar, but if he was treated like we were, I would almost consider joining him.

I also had a short conversation with Taranee. After her explosive reaction, she'd grown timid. She hadn't contributed much in our previous discussion and when we shared a telepathic link without the others, I could sense her worry. Irma had only placed a toe out of line. She'd gone and crossed the line completely. She wasn't sorry for what she'd said. I told her I was proud of her for saying it. I had been thinking along the same lines but wouldn't voice it. Maybe now they would take us a little more serious.

But yeah, our day at school ended. Martin, Eric, Nigel and Alchemy luckily didn't suffer long from Irma's mind suggestion. According to Matt, they cleared up a minute after we were gone. Though he did tell me that they were highly susceptible for suggestion for five more minutes afterwards. It was slightly disturbing, considering Irma had a knack of using said power on her father, if only to avoid punishments or to get Chris into trouble. But when I told her, she paled. It seemed she did realize the gravity of this new increase in power, for the first time being serious about it. And she swore me not to use it unless absolutely necessary.

I couldn't help but think of our first agreement, to not use magic unless absolutely necessary. But the way Irma was looking and how she looked more serious at our power up made me belief her. After all, we were friends and you should trust them, right?

With those concerns out of the way, we made our way to Meridian, with Matt tagging along. We arrived at the entrance of the palace, surprising two guards. But they recognized us quickly and we were escorted to the throne room. A man approached us, one I couldn't really remember. He was short and his back was slightly bent. He had dark hair, but his skin was light green. If I could take a guess, he would be a mix of a galhot and human. The guards halted and bowed to the man. I looked at the others, realizing they too didn't recognize him.

"Guards, who gave you permission to let these people enter? Especially dressed in such weird garments," he said.

I raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. This man didn't recognize us in human form and I didn't want to bother him.

"But Sir, these people.." a guard tried.

"I don't care if they are travellers all the way from Felin. The Queen is busy meeting with the Minister of Agriculture."

"What's Felin?" Hay Lin muttered, to which the others shrugged.

"Sir Lyonak, these aren't just mere travellers," the other guard said.

I actually felt a little sorry for the guy when Sir Lyonak glared at him. Lyonak straightened his robes and gave us a small look of contempt. What did we do to get so many looks of disapproval in one day?

"I doubt they are any more important than the Minister of Agriculture," Lyonak said.

He waved us away and I grinned a bit. I looked at Cornelia and nudged my head a bit. Cornelia smirked broadly and nodded. I could see her raise a finger instead of raising a hand like she usually did. Her brow was knitted in concentration and even with her utmost concentration, Lyonak still flew sideways. He managed to catch his balance, mostly because Cornelia had nearly thrown him into the wall. I looked at her, shrugging a bit. It could have been much worse. I could see Cornelia's pride increase. That girl's pride was really her everything.

We walked past Lyonak, acting like we hadn't seen him fly aside. The poor guy was still too confused to realize what happened, but when he saw us walk past him, he called for the guards.

"Guards! Stop these dangerous individuals! They attacked the advisor of the Queen!"

The guards knew better and remained at the same place we've left them. Before Lyonak could yell at them again, Irma turned to him.

"Sorry, but the Guardians and Regent of Earth didn't want to wait. Our parents expect us at dinner," she said, winking at him as the rest of us started to laugh.

Lyonak paled as we passed him and while I didn't look back, I still could hear a guard tell him that that was what they were trying to tell him. I shook my head as Irma was loudly complimenting Cornelia on her subtle nudge. Hay Lin indeed expressed her admiration for the amount of control Cornelia had shown. Taranee, however, walked up to me.

"Was it wise to let Cornelia do that? It could have gone terribly wrong," she said.

I nodded in response.
"True, but knowing Cornelia, she wanted to outdo Irma. And how better than to prove that she has better control over her secondary powers than her?"

I could see Taranee smirk a bit.

"That's making use of her personality."

I merely smiled, neither denying nor confirming her statement. Instead I pushed the doors open. The throne room opened up before us. The first thing I saw was Elyon, sitting very bored in her throne. An elderly galhot was standing before her, listing things off a long piece of parchment. The moment she saw us, she brightened and sat up straight. The galhot stopped and turned around, obviously bothered by the interruption. Though, the moment he saw us, he did recognize us. He bowed his head to us as we entered.

"Sir Drock, thank you, but I'm afraid we have to adjourn our meeting to a later date," Elyon said.

The Minister of Agriculture nodded, muttering that he understood. He left quickly, bowing to us again as he left. As he did, I saw Drake waking up from his daydreaming and stretching a bit. Some bodyguard. Elyon's face remained poised until the Minister had left. The doors closed and a smile formed on her lips as she descended the throne.

"My saviours!" she said.

I shook my head with a laugh as the all-powerful Queen of Meridian hugged us tightly. I nodded a greeting at Drake, who waved in return. Elyon quickly ushered us to the gardens, while sending a maid to go and retrieve some food. While we went to the gardens, we got a full report on what she'd been doing the past two weeks. Apparently having her days filled with meetings and paper work weren't the things she had envisioned when she became Queen. Cornelia told her that the fact that she was actually doing something meant she was already a better ruler than her brother. At this I noticed a very wry smile before she turned to us and asked what we had done.

We gave her a very short summary of our vacation, an even shorter summary of our first day – mostly because none of us could remember much of it – and then a full length detailed report on our meeting with the full Council of Kandrakar. Matt, hearing the full story now as well, frowned along with Elyon as we gave them our impressions of the Council.

By the time we'd finished, we had taken a seat in the gardens and had the food already arrived. Elyon seemed to be lost in thoughts while I recognized the face Matt was making. He was about the argue with us.

"Are you sure they were that hostile? I mean, they were sitting pretty far away. You could possibly misjudged their looks."

"Even if we did, their tone said enough," Cornelia said.

"I still think you're just overblowing this. I mean, they weren't hostile when we..."

I love Matt. I really do. But what I hate is that he keeps secrets from me. My secret, the Guardian thing, was to protect him from doing stupid things. This, however, was either something he'd overlooked to tell me or something he wanted to keep a secret. I guess I could say that I was very glad he also sucked at keeping them hidden for long.

"When..." I said, glaring at him.

He figured quickly that he could better spill the beans than act like he'd never said anything wrong. He straightened his back a bit, in a hope to look like he was defying me.

"I, along with Napoleon and Huggles were called to Kandrakar two days ago," he said.

I glared sideways at him.

"That was the reason you couldn't join me for a movie?"

A sheepish, slightly guilty look crossed his face. He shrugged and I gestured him to continue, silently fuming about Kandrakar.

"Now that Kandrakar was restored and that the Heart of Earth was known, they wished to contract Earth. And seeing how we are the Regents of Earth that decision was ours to make."

"Contract Earth?"

It was Cornelia who spoke up. Her eyes were narrowed and her arms crossed. Understandable, with how her younger sister was the Heart of Earth. This could mean tasks Lilian would have to fulfil once we decided – or the Regents decided – to tell her about her powers. Tasks with which Cornelia wouldn't agree with probably.

Matt could read Cornelia's dislike and raised his hands.

"We discussed it excessively and what they asked wasn't a lot in exchange for the protection of Kandrakar."

"That would be?" Cornelia's eyebrow raised as she icily spoke the question.

Matt swallowed.
"Earth has to work along with Kandrakar when asked in times of need. In return, Kandrakar would ensure that darkness would not befall Earth."

"You mean, what we're already doing?"

Irma's sarcastic question was viable. I mean, we've been protecting Earth all along. The reason we first meddled with Meridian was to prevent Phobos from breaking through and ruining Earth. That Elyon happened to be the Princess was our secondary reason. And Nerissa was directly messing with us. Earth nor Kandrakar were our priorities when she ran loose.

Matt didn't seem to agree with Irma. He even gave her a look that pretty much asked her if she were stupid. Irma noticed it and was ready to confront him about it, when Elyon spoke up.

"You five work for Kandrakar. While indeed your previous missions weren't entirely according to Kandrakar's wishes, you can't be sure that Kandrakar won't be telling you to leave a planet alone if they don't aid Kandrakar. You're their soldiers. Remember? Guardians of Kandrakar?"

We turned our attention to Elyon, who looked at us. A few things bothered me. She hadn't been that interested in the contract that Kandrakar had requested with Matt. She was acutely aware of our role as Guardians. More so than I had ever thought about it. To hear we were soldiers of Kandrakar gave me a bad feeling. Especially as to how I could not deny it. If I thought about it, we really were.

"They... Also approached you about a contract, didn't they?"

She nodded slowly at my question. She crumbled the bread she had held in her hand and she seemed to look for the words to explain herself.

"When they first asked me, I told them that they already protected Metamoor. That you were my closest friends. They..."

She stopped and looked shortly at Taranee, before looking longer at me. I could read guilt in them. I raised an eyebrow and Cornelia placed a hand on her shoulder. This seemed to give Elyon a bit of courage to continue.

"They told me that you would abandon me at their command. I refuted that. You all came for me when I was working against you. You wouldn't just leave me if they told you."

From all of us, Cornelia was most insulted. Her eyes had narrowed and I could see her other hand ball up to a fist. The plants around us started to sprout thorns, something I was quite sure wasn't something the plants should or could do naturally. But Irma's hands were dripping with water, the wind had picked up around Hay Lin and a part of Taranee's hair had caught fire. And sparks sprang from my hair. That while I was trying my best to remain calm. And in any other situation, I would be concerned by our blatant show of power, but now my attention was diverted to somewhere else.

"How could they even think of saying that? They wouldn't expect us to abandon a friend of ours!" Cornelia was fuming and I was quite sure her whole body would have combusted if she'd been the fire Guardian.

I could see a moment of relief pass on Elyon's face. And – unless my mind was playing tricks un me – I thought to see the same look on Matt's face as well. But when I looked longer at him, his gaze was on Elyon. Was he avoiding me? Elyon sighed and nodded, smiling brighter at us.

"Thank you. I wanted to hear it from you," she said. "For you see, I told them the same thing. They told me that neither of you would have come to Heatherfield if it weren't for them."

She pointed at Taranee and me. We both frowned and looked confused at each other before turning our gazes back to Elyon. She looked earnestly at us and nodded.

"They told me you were already quite a loner, but did not like change. With some illusions they made you feel at home?"

Taranee blushed furiously. I raised an eyebrow. While I didn't know a lot about Taranee from before I met her, I did know she'd moved to Heatherfield a year before me from Sesamo. But I never asked about her friends before us, or her life. We all now looked at her. Her hair had doused and a blush had crept to her cheeks. Our gazes coerced an explanation.

"I...Had one friend. And she moved away a couple of years back before I did. We barely spoke or saw each other even before I came here. But I'd hoped she returned and that wouldn't happen if I left Sesamo. But my parents were adamant on finding a new house in Heatherfield and while I'd been grumpy and uncooperative I noticed a warm fire in a house close to one my parents were looking at. And I entered it, as the door was unlocked and felt...at home... I didn't know Kandrakar was the reason behind that!"

I placed a hand on her shoulder, but Taranee was still in her thoughts. She looked at her hands and was out of it. She finally snapped out of it and gave me a weak smile. I smiled in return. Her smile turned quickly into a frown and I felt her shoulder heat up. She muttered something along the lines of interfering in our lives and acting innocent. I didn't need to be a genius to know that this was another strike against Kandrakar in Taranee's book.

"And Will?"

I shortly looked at Irma before turning to Elyon. Elyon looked even more uncomfortable than before.

"You...Lost your friends and father, conditioned you to the word Heatherfield and your mother was being relocated."

Elyon said it very quickly, but things were clicking in my mind faster than I liked to admit.

"WHAT?!"

Elyon winced, but so did Taranee. Only because she yelped in pain did I realize that my hand was still on her shoulder, grabbing it firmly. I quickly released her. As I muttered an apology, I could see the others taking a few steps from me, with Hay Lin pulling Taranee along.

"Will, you might want to stop discharging," Irma said.

I noticed that, despite my short moment of apologizing and thus pulling me out of my anger, I was still sparking terribly. I couldn't remember I ever managed to do this outside of Guardian form. I tried to calm down, but every time I took a deep breath, I remembered my time in Fadden Hills. And this caused a new outburst of sparks. The Heart flashed violently against my chest. It didn't feel like it was trying to subdue my powers, but more that it was reacting to my emotions. Because my normal way of calming down wasn't working, I finally couldn't help myself. I yelled in frustration and shot all the electricity I could muster up in the air. A loud thunder crack followed, but at least I lost some of my anger.

"I...Take it that whatever they did, you weren't too happy with it," Irma said, slowly approaching me again.

I couldn't help but shoot a glare at her that stopped her momentarily in her tracks. Then I remembered that they didn't know and I slumped down on one of the stone benches of the garden. I placed my head in my hands and took a deep breath. A warm hand was placed on my shoulder. At first I thought it to be Matt, but the hand was too small. I looked up and saw Taranee looking concerned at me. Matt joined her quickly by placing his hand on my other side. I brushed my hair back and looked at the others. Now it was my turn for an explanation.

"You... You know my parents are divorced. That...Well, that all happened with quite a lot of arguments, shouting and stalking. A time you could use your friends, right? No. I had a group of friends back in Fadden Hills. We were close, just like I am with you guys. But as the divorce was taking longer, the more support I was losing. In the end, I barely saw them, yet I still believed them to be my friends. Until..."

I scrounged up my face, realizing that what Elyon had said was indeed right. How stupid I have been! I should have known this from the very beginning! It was my own fault for overlooking this.

"Until what? Will, don't stop half way," Irma said.

I looked at them, my face now grim.

"One day, at school, I suddenly could hear their thoughts. And they were all about me and nothing friendly. I'm so stupid. Telepathy was never one of my powers until now! I should have realized this sooner."

Taranee squeezed my shoulder softly, while Matt pecked me on my forehead, muttering that it was not my fault.

"Well, I skipped school for the rest of the day and that was the day my mother and I decided to move to Heatherfield, seeing how the radio had been going on and on about the city. I've been played and I danced to their tune."

Anger was coursing through me and new sparks came from me, causing both Taranee and Matt to let go of me. I was definitely starting to share Taranee's view of Kandrakar.

"While what has transpired with you was all but fun, I urge you to look at the positive side," Cornelia finally said.

I looked up, my eyebrows raised. She shrugged and brushed her hair behind her shoulders.

"You've met us, we've gone through stuff those fake friends of yours could never even dream off and I do fancy us to be best friends. That is, unlike you want to contradict me?"

First, I just stared at her. Had she not listened? But then I saw the others smiling at me and I realized that perhaps what Kandrakar had done hadn't been too bad. After all, I wasn't the same Will as I as back then. I lacked quite a lot of confidence and I shied away quickly. I liked the current me a lot more. I smiled at them.

"You're right." I said as I got up and hugged them.

Matt received a private hug, with a kiss. Elyon smiled at us and I nodded at her, so she could continue.

"Well, how much I love you both, but it does prove that Kandrakar has had a hand in your lives. And that could mean that they could easily find a way for them to have you abandon me. I agreed but they wouldn't give me the contract before I proved to them that I would indeed uphold the contract."

"Ridiculous," Irma said. I nodded in agreement. Elyon shook her head.

"No, think about it. My brother broke the contract and so, you guys came."

For a moment I bit my lip. I couldn't tell Elyon that we were never meant to go to Meridian. Our mission was to close the portals and find the Princess. Not to save Meridian. We kind of did that on our accord.

"I'm related and they desired some proof that at least I would obey reasonable demands. And so they asked for Phobos and Cedric."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She sighed.

"They said that both had directly attacked Kandrakar and were still liable to escape. I was allowed to 'keep' Miranda and Nerissa. Miranda because they probably figured she wouldn't do much on her own and Nerissa... Well they told me that, unless I deliberately broke her crystal, she wouldn't be freed."

I nodded, but my mind was twisting and turning. Kandrakar influencing us in the most horrible ways. Them demanding Elyon to sign a contract and claiming Cedric and Phobos while leaving Nerissa, someone they essentially created, alone. It was all very peculiar and I felt somehow a few red flags going up. The worst of it all was that going to Kandrakar for answers would probably give us even more trouble. We were, after all, but foot soldiers according to Elyon. We shouldn't be questioning our superiors. But the more I was thinking about everything, the more questions popped up and the more the drive for answers fuelled me.

I shortly looked up, vaguely aware how Irma and Cornelia were discussing their opinions with Elyon about the matter. I caught Taranee's eyes and I was pretty certain I could see the same thoughts roam her mind. A mutual look of understanding came between us, one that did not need telepathy. We nodded shortly at each other. Thinking about all of this could be put on hold. We wouldn't be getting far anyway.

"We probably should discuss this later. For now, the reason we came to Meridian is to train," I said, cleanly interrupting the discussion Elyon was engrossed in.

Elyon raised an eyebrow. "Training? You guys take a two weeks' vacation and just decide to train all of the sudden?"

"We've got a very good reason," Hay Lin said. "Look!"

With that she waved her hands, her brow furrowed in concentration. The winds started to pick up, but stronger than I'd ever felt when Hay Lin was not transformed. This was almost as strong as her lightest attack in Guardian form. Which, if I had to guess, was somewhere between wind force 5 and 6. Elyon's face showed quite some surprise and as the winds calmed down, she looked at all of us like she was looking at us for the first time.

"Your reactions just now. I already thought it to be strange that you had so little control over your powers. Did Kandrakar...?"

I shook my head. "No, Kandrakar was even angry with us for growing in power. Trust me when I tell you that we didn't ask for it."

Elyon nodded. "No, I understand. This isn't exactly what you want for Christmas."

"Was that a joke? Cause it was a bad one," Irma said, crossing her arms with a small glare.

A weak smile formed on Elyon's lips.

"I'll lead you to the training grounds. Just promise to clean up afterwards. The soldiers prefer to use them as well," she said, getting up and leading the way. She turned her head and looked at me shortly. "Oh and Will, you might be happy to hear that Caleb has been asking for you whenever he was not thinking about Cornelia. He said something about you neglecting your training?"

A soft groan escaped my lips as the others snickered. Irma patted me on the back as we followed Elyon. Matt gave me a sideways glance to ask for explanation. I waved it off, though I was sure he'd figure it out today. I'd never had the heart to tell Matt that if we were to fight hand-to-hand, chances of me winning were higher. He knew about my powerlessness before the Veil dropped. He just didn't know that Caleb had nearly bullied me into hand-to-hand combat. He had figured that I needed a way to protect myself and use my increased strength to its full potential. The girls had enjoyed watching as Caleb would toss me through the rebel base during our training sessions. It only got fun for me when I managed to block him. A wry smile formed on my lips. I hadn't tried my strength yet. Maybe my increased strength was already settling in, or perhaps it wasn't. It would be very unfortunate if Caleb became a victim, but I would love to see his face if I actually managed to crush a dummy. I just hoped he wasn't planning on trying a sneak attack. If I hit him too hard, Cornelia would most definitely kill me.

We arrived at the training grounds, with several soldiers doing drills. Caleb was standing there, keeping eye on the regiments when he noticed us. He called the soldiers to attention and they all saluted for Elyon. I could see a very small smile tug at Elyon's lips as she waved them at ease. She was enjoying it, even if she wouldn't admit it. Caleb, now having done his duty as faithful commander of the Queen, continued his duty as faithful boyfriend of Cornelia and walked up to her, kissing her and holding her close. She didn't even had time to complain that he didn't come to her the moment we arrived and just smiled happily. He wore his usual doofus smile when he looked at her and in the corner of my eyes, I could see Irma roll her eyes. Elyon cleared her throat.

"Caleb, the Guardians have asked to use the training grounds. I've granted them permission, but I wish for both you and Vathek to oversee their training. I'll remain here for a while, before returning to my own duties. Give the soldiers the rest of the day off. I prefer to avoid unnecessary injuries."

I had to admit. I was impressed. Elyon spoke with a certain ease while issuing her order. There was a clear commanding tone without it sounding like a threat. She was really growing as a Queen. I must have showed some of my thoughts in my expression, because I noticed Elyon glancing quickly at me, before blushing a bit and smiling quite proudly.

Caleb seemed to read more out of Elyon's command than his soldiers. He raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at Cornelia for more explanation. Then he nodded and saluted, before turning to his men.

"You've heard your Queen. Take the day off. Visit your family, court a lady. Be prepared for a new day of training tomorrow. And you – he pointed at one of the soldiers – get captain Vathek. Tell him he has to come on orders of the Queen," Caleb said.

The soldiers saluted. The one who'd gotten the final command of Caleb nodded and ran off into the distance while the others dispersed more leisurely. As the last one finally left, Caleb turned to us, his expression practically demanding an answer.

"Can't you practice on Earth?" he said. "That's what you usually do."

Irma decided to take the leisure of answering him. She shrugged a bit dramatic and played with a bit of water she just pulled from the air.

"We could do that...And risk blowing up a whole neighbourhood, our secret and a few lives. Or we'll practice here where everyone knows about us. Especially with our increase in power."

I rolled my eyes slightly, but nodded nonetheless. Caleb raised an eyebrow as he looked at all of us.

"Increase in power? Where did that come from? Kandrakar didn't lower another Veil somewhere, did they?"

I shook my head. "We don't know. Kandrakar doesn't know and isn't all too happy about it either. We just figured we could use some practice before going on our next mission."

He nodded. I could see some interest spark in his eyes, as well as in Elyon's, but neither spoke their question. Maybe I'd fill them in later. For now, our training was a little more important.

While waiting for Vathek to arrive, we decided to first practice in our human forms. We first practiced our secondary powers, which meant that we all got subjected to Irma's ridiculous mind suggestions and watched Cornelia lift more than she ever had in human form with telekinesis. When it was Hay Lin's turn, we quickly learned that she was able to turn something, or someone else invisible other than herself. But it seemed limited to a certain amount of things or people that could remain invisible at the same time. Which would make scouting a lot safer now that I didn't have to send Hay Lin out alone.

When my turn came, Caleb suggested our hand-to-hand routine. I argued with him that that would perhaps not be the wisest course of action. He argued that I never showed any increased strength in human form. In the end I conceded, which nearly ended into Caleb's untimely and unnecessary end. We were getting in our routine. I was slowly becoming aware of Matt's incredulous look and I tried to block him out. As I tried that, Caleb got a few hits in. They didn't hurt as much as I remembered, but I figured he was going easy on me. And that just plain annoyed me. That, and the hits he got in. So I managed to hit him with a well-placed hit between his ribs. I could feel something crack beneath my fist as Caleb lunged backwards, landing painfully on the ground.

Cornelia was the first to reach him. I'm quite sure she would be sending glares at me if there wasn't a sliver of blood running down Caleb's mouth. Now she was too busy worrying about him and muttering that both he and I were idiots. I also felt that Cornelia would not go easy on me if we were to spar today...or any time soon in the future. She placed her hands gingerly on his ribs as he coughed violently. I approached, quite worried about him. Hay Lin had gone after Elyon, who'd left somewhere during Cornelia's practice. Which was perhaps a good idea. Caleb needed healing, as soon as possible.

But as I thought that, I noticed Cornelia's hands glowing green. Irma, looking as worried as I was, didn't even point it out. We just watched as Caleb slowly started to breathe easier. I approached a little more, to see what Cornelia was doing, when suddenly vines grew around my legs and my arms. I halted abruptly and looked as the vines entangled me more and more, growing thicker as I watched.

"Cornelia! What..."

Cornelia looked up. Caleb was still out of it, but at least his breathing was normal and the bleeding stopped. Her glare was as cold as ice and she stood up, raising one hand that was slightly radiating a green light.

"You've done enough, don't you think?" she said. "You should've controlled yourself! What were you thinking?"

I felt my face becoming hot. Her accusations were ridiculous! I never wanted to hurt Caleb, at least not that much to knock him to Death's door. Having him slightly winded had been my aim. But perhaps my annoyance won out of my intentions. Still it was an accident. Something she should understand. I pressed against the vines.

"You're acting like I did this on purpose. Neither Caleb nor I would think it would be this dangerous!"

Cornelia's expression didn't falter. If anything, she seemed only more annoyed.

"Caleb I understand. He doesn't know about our magic. At least, not like we do. Like you're supposed to do!"

"Cornelia, that's not fair," Taranee said.

"Taranee, stay out of this," I said.

I continued to stare at Cornelia. I could remain where I was entangled, hang my head and agree with her. But something inside me roared in anger. Reminding me that out of the five of us, I was the most inexperienced of all of us when it came to magic. Cornelia was perhaps right that I should've been more careful, but I refused to accept that now. I tried to take a step, now consciously trying to use all the strength I possessed. I could feel a few vines tear, only to be replaced by others. Nevertheless I pushed on. Cornelia's face dropped as she tried to keep me restrained, most likely to wait until I admitted I was wrong. Too bad my pride wasn't going to cave in.

"Without me, you wouldn't have known you could heal," I said.

"It would have come up another time," Cornelia said.

"Would it? Would you have run to any of us or a stranger like you ran up to Caleb?"

Cornelia reddened. "Of course I would have!"

"Would you really?"

More vines snapped. New ones arose, causing me to yell in pain. These new ones had thorns. I think I've hit a sensitive nerve with my question. But we both knew I was right. The way Cornelia had run to Caleb, only lovers would run in such fashion. She wouldn't have done that for us. She would have felt the same feelings of concern and hatred for the one who harmed us, but never would she think about using her magic to see if it would help. If I could guess, Cornelia had planned to use telekinesis to keep his lunges from being punctured. Which somehow transformed into healing magic. Probably something with her heart wishing to save him. Magic worked strange that way.

Taranee had yelled out when she saw the blood. Irma was protesting loudly. Matt transformed and warned Cornelia. Yet neither of us seemed to be listening to them. We were staring at each other, challenging the other to prove that the claims were not true. Neither of us could, resulting in a sort standstill. It only felt to me that Cornelia was winning, as I was still bound in her vines. That idea left a nasty aftertaste in my mouth and so I gritted my teeth, once again trying to tear through the vines.

Blood flowed now freely down my arms and legs and tears shot in my eyes. Yet I didn't utter a sound. I merely glared at Cornelia, whose challenging stare was quickly waning. She began to pale, as if she was the one losing blood. Vines snapped again and she took a step back, raising her hands.

"What are you doing? Stop it! You'll hurt yourself!"

I guessed. No, I hoped it was due to her fear, but the thorns became bigger and sharper. I swallowed a new yell in pain. Tears now ran down my cheeks, but I refused to stop. I took another step, feeling the thorns tear into my flesh, when suddenly I was surrounded by fire. The vines all simultaneously burst into flames. The fire surprised me, the warmth enveloped me. It took me a few seconds to realize that, while the vines burnt, I did not. My heart raced with adrenaline and I looked shortly at Taranee. Her hands were glowing as well as her glasses.

"I won't let you two harm each other out of stubbornness," she said.

I nodded. My head cleared slightly. I was being ridiculous. And I was hurting all over. The moment the support of the vines left me, I realized how much power I'd been using. I slumped to the ground, trying to catch myself in vain. It was Cornelia who caught me in time. She looked at me, now with the same concern I'd seen on her face when she'd run to Caleb.

"I'm sorry," I heard her mutter. "I.. It's.. It's our magic's fault. You couldn't have known. You're always the one who is the most cautious. It was unfair of me."

Her glowing hands went over the wounds on my arms and legs, soothing the aches. I sighed in relief. I could see her face. Her expression was one full of concern and perhaps slightly chiding me for being a stubborn idiot. I couldn't help but smile. I hugged her, causing her to yelp in surprise. She said something about getting blood on her clothes.

"I'm sorry too. You're right, I should have been more cautious. And you've proven me wrong about the healing debacle."

Behind her I could see Irma looking at us. She too had paled a bit, but when she saw us hugging she shook her head.

"You two are way too stubborn for our own good," she said.

Cornelia and I broke the hug. Cornelia turned around and gave Irma a look.

"Like you're one to talk," she said.

Irma winked, lightening the mood immediately.

"You know me, I'm just someone who goes with the flow. The flow just tends to go against your opinions every now and then."

This caused Matt, Taranee and me to laugh. I noticed a fourth laughter add to ours and only now did I notice Caleb standing behind Taranee. He'd wiped the blood away from his mouth and stood again, like I'd never broken his ribs. I wondered when he got up.

Cornelia, who'd been on the verge of arguing with Irma, also noticed Caleb's laughter and smiled brightly. She helped me up before walking to Caleb. She placed her hands on his ribs with a thoughtful look, before smiling and kissing him.

"And you, never try to fight Will again unless you've got a death wish," she said.

While Cornelia was tending to Caleb, Matt walked up to me. He took me in his arms and kissed my forehead. Yet somehow I felt more than just relief come from him. I couldn't put my finger about it, but something dark seemed to swim in his eyes.

"Never scare me like that again. Did you even notice how much you were bleeding?" he said.

I could give him a snarky reply. That I enjoyed bleeding out slowly. But instead I smiled apologetically at him. I gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"What in the name of every single god in Metamoor happened here?"

I looked up. I'd forgotten that Hay Lin had gone to get Elyon. Now Elyon was looking at us hugging, a slightly paled Irma and Taranee and me covered in blood. Laughter bubbled up inside me and I was soon followed by the others.

[A/N] Well, another chapter uploaded. I try to upload one whenever I finish a future chapter, to keep a flow in the story. If it takes a while longer, sorry! For now, I hope you enjoyed it and please review!