Fanfic: An Astral Drop in Heatherfield

[drakensis]

Thanks for the corrections.

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

Perhaps selfishly, my first thought on hearing raised voices from the kitchen was that Will probably wasn't going to be sneaking me leftovers from dinner.

I don't know exactly how much I need to eat - less than Will, in general - but it didn't mean I didn't like to. We didn't have any way to judge whether Elyon was right and that eating would now give me some degree of existence independent of Elyon's magic, but I didn't see how it could hurt.

My second thought was to take cover - I'd been using Will's desk to have my own stab at her Maths homework (I couldn't believe how much of a struggle she'd been having with it until I tried for myself. Any greater facility with numbers I have is less a matter of natural genius on my part and more that she kind of sucks at it) - before the inevitable so when Will stormed into the room and slammed the door, I was lying behind the shelter of her bed and thus out of sight from the door.

"Ugh!" Will grumbled, sprawling on the bed. "Why doesn't she ever listen?"

Her pet squeaked enquiringly and knowing what would be most likely to calm Will down I scooped the dormouse out from under her bed and dropped into her stomach. She automatically began to pet it, and I judged the tactic to be a success.

Sitting down crosslegged behind the bed I rested my arms on the mattress and my chin on my arms. "She said no to joining the swim team?"

"'No. Now clear the table'," she quoted bitterly. "Collins told her my grades are no good so I'm not allowed to do anything but study."

I hmmed sympathetically. Will had been all fired up about being asked to join Sheffield Institute's swim team for the local championships. Swimming was something she enjoyed and was good at (from the descriptions I wanted a chance to try it myself but the opportunity hadn't arisen), making it a welcome change from most of her classes. "Did she mention anything specific?"

Will shook her head. "It's not fair. I could try to bring my grades up but she has spoken and she'll never change her mind."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." She rolled over to face me, still holding her dormouse against her. "What makes it worse is that I've got history first class tomorrow with Mr. Collins. Mom will probably get a report from him on every detail before I even have lunch!"

"Is he really that bad?"

Will made a grumbling sound. "If he wasn't a teacher... and if he wasn't making moves on Mom... and spying on me for her... he might just be some old guy."

"So, if he wasn't involved in your life at all then you wouldn't care one way or another about him?"

"Pretty much."

I nodded. "Well that sounds pretty monstrous."

"Yeah, if you met him you could see for yourself." Then she sat up sharply. "Hey..."

I sat back. "Uh... hey?"

"You're pretty much stuck here all day, mostly, right?"

"Yeeeaah." I had an idea of what she had in mind and it excited me. Sure, it'd be wrong... but that just made it all the more exciting in some ways.

Will shuffled her pet around to her shoulder so that she could look me in the eyes. "But you'd like to get out some more, right?"

"As long as Elyon doesn't stick me in another painting."

"She couldn't do that if you were at school," my sister said triumphantly.

Yes! She suggested it! She's going to let me do it! "But doesn't that mean you'd be cutting school?" I asked. "Mom's mad about your grades already and I don't know most of the stuff."

"You'll be fine! You've read, like, every school book I have, cover to cover. I haven't done that yet. Besides, while you're at school I can get all my homework done for the week. Even if I can't go swimming that would mean I wouldn't have to miss doing any if some Guardian business comes up."

"Well..." Even my feigned reluctance - I didn't want her to think was a pushover - was slipping. "You'll do all the chores too? I don't want to get stuck with doing two days worth."

"Of course!"

"Just this once then." Yes! Yes! Yes!
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[classicdrogn]

independent of Elyon's magic - I think you mean Will's magic here, unless Elyon was supposed to have used some kind of spell to make it happen, or if it was a side effect of being in an ensorcelled painting-made-real

ETA - Both your and my .sigs appear to be relevant to this update 8)
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[RomanFanboy]

Minor Essay got bigger with my usual cross over -itis
So what is hope?

Again, I've seen it defined in a way that looks like it overlaps some with planning and forward thinking.
Let's weed out some of the chaff in usage.  'We will eventually figure out how to get better than Carnot efficiency' is not hope, it is delusion.  'If we get rid of all this small change fiddly stuff, maybe we can build some really big nuke plants, and get a few percent more efficiency in the steam system' can be hope.  Wanting something really badly, regardless of possibility, is not hope in this sense.  True hope is not derived from transient emotions.  It is a product of perspective, values, and expectations.  A bipolar cycling from depressed to manic is not inherently an example of developing hope.  A person in a dismal psychological state discovering something that they can see as positive to look forward to might be.
Remember Vathara's mention of Deep Survival?  I'm reminded of that book, specifically what it has to say about the psychological state of being lost, as opposed to not knowing where you are.
Forecasting the future is a difficult thing.  When I was trying to find examples of black and white 'this is possible, this is impossible' I eventually had to resort to thermodynamics, and even that is a bit weak.  I think I'm going have to treat this as a subjective thing for this.  
Hopes, in this sense, are possibilities in these predictions that are viewed positively.

I can interpret the whole painting episode in at least two different ways, which essentially have the same middle, but different starts and endings.  There are both Hope scenarios.
Rhetorical question the first is what the states of the painting and Elias were before Miss Vandom enters the painting.  Was it essentially unattended between Van Dahl's entry, and recent events?
Van Dahl has clearly experienced a significant amount of subjective time.  Whatever else is going on is harder to say.  Maybe he has been trapped between life and death, and is now only partly alive.  Maybe he is fully alive, but the lack of normal company has had a psychological cost, or maybe the constant drinking has done something to him.  Maybe it is essentially fairy land.  Or maybe he reached the end of his normal lifespan, and there is some time shenanigans.  
When Vandom comes on scene, Van Dahl is fairly clearly despairing, and has lost his ability to problem solve his way out.  Compare Vandom, who keeps her head, and starts investigating.  (That Vandom gets tired, where he doesn't, does suggest a possibility of a physiological difference.)  He doesn't try to fix things, because he no longer thinks it is possible.
Vandom shows up, her presence implying a change, and her own lack of despair pulling him into her search for options.  When the others show up, he is alert to the possibilities that they present.  He is not happy with being essentially trapped, aware, in the moment, unable to paint, unable to live.
Now, some theories about what might have been going on in his head when there was a possible solution, besides, 'I can paint, I can paint, joy'.  One thing he seems to have done was changed the painting, and I assume he intended this.  Part of what restricted his ability to paint was the concept he worked into the painting in the first place.  Additional possibilities are adjusting the last work to reflect life lessons, if only half alive, escaping fully into death, or if alive, being able to paint again.
Obviously, he can't go back to Metamoor.  As for England, it has changed since he was alive, and he might not have been fitting in very well even there.  He may feel that the years of drinking and social isolation have changed him from what could hope to function in normal society.  He may feel that he is too close to dead to really live again.  He may feel that if he continues to paint, no matter where he goes in the outside world, Cedric can find him and shove him in another painting.
So, if his foresight sees only negatives from attempting to reenter the real world, if he sees a personal positive from changing his painting, and continuing to be in it, that positive is hope.  The hope that Vandom, originally, gave him.
Then, finally he acts on that.  He frees the girls, but that is for their sake.  He might be dead.  He might be alive, in the painting, forever doing the only thing left that he has interest in.  Safe from Cedric.  I also see the possibility of him having aged to death about the instant he was tossed in the painting, Vandom and the girls travelling in near the end of this, and then the painting being altered in the past as the come out of it in the future.  (This last can also be understood as a commentary on art being a collaboration between the creator and the viewer.)

These sorts of story can fairly open to interpretation.  I suspect a combination of it being a pain to nail down specifics, and how easy it would be to alienate readers one didn't need to by trying.

In this specific instance, I see an additional layer to Van Dahl's paint being weak.  In trying to create a world where sadness was locked away, he ended up sealing an important part of his ability to paint away while he was in that world.  So some of column 'Van Dahl has issues with sorrow in life', some of column 'creation needs negatives as well as positives to be complete and of full strength', and some of column 'the sorrows in life are what give the joys any meaning at all'.

I saw Miss Vandom bring hope to Elias Van Dahl.  I fear I've made an incoherent mess of my explanation.

I like the new bit.  I'd note that as Will has some level of power over her, it is somewhat unethical for Will to be asking favors of her.  I look forward to this episode, and whatever else you have in store for us.

Her pet squeaked enquiringly and knowing what would be most likely to
calm Will down I scooped the dormouse out from under her bed and dropped
into her stomach. She automatically began to pet it, and I judged the
tactic to be a success.
First sentence feels like a compound.  I don't formally know the correct rules for punctuation in this case.

[classicdrogn]

I suggest:

enquiringly, and

down, I

"into" "it onto"
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[drakensis]

I'll fix that sentence.

Roman: you're not wrong about the ethics of the situation and that's a major theme of this part of the story.

As for hope, you do make a strong argument. Thanks for the time and thought you've put into that.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[drakensis]

I didn't even get into the school buildings before I got a reminder of the downsides of going to school.

Taranee was being backed against a tree by four guys I recalled from my first day, the ones that had probably trashed the bike shed. The only one I could put a name to was the spotty one with ginger hair (lighter than mine and Will's) gelled up in spikes: Uriah. However I did recognise the other three and mentally labelled them until I learned their actual names. There was the fat one, the tall one and the... eh, for lack of other terms the nervous one. He looked pretty reluctant to be involved in whatever was going.

"Let's go, Uriah!" the nervous one pleaded. "Kids are starting to get here."

"Shut it Nigel." The leader of the little pack jostled forwards and cupped Taranee's chin. "I just want this little girl to understand the rules around here. Her family has just arrived in town..."

"Ooo. I just moved here," I chimed in, having snuck up on them while their attention was directed at Will's... at my friend. "Are you going to tell me these rules too?"

"Whu- what! Where'd you come from?" spluttered the ginger-haired boy, letting go of Taranee and trying to muster an intimidating sneer.

I snapped my finger. "Oh wait, there's only four of you and there's two of us. You're outnumbered. Do you want to get... four more losers to hang out with you, so you don't feel intimidated? Wait, make that six. I have a pet dormouse and you know how bady you got hurt last time you ended up in a fight with a small furry animal."

The small furry animal in question was Will's dormouse. Uriah was, in a backhanded way, the reason she'd adopted the little creature and the cause of her first meeting with Matt. Not that I think that the ginger boy thought of the event that way.

"Yeah?" he snapped. "I still owe you for that."

"All donations to my lunch money are tax-deductable!" I have no idea what 'tax-deductable' means but I'm pretty sure he didn't either."

Nervous Nigel shot Taranee a look. "Uh, dude, there's people watching us on the steps." He hadn't even looked in that direction, but it got the other boys' attention.

We all looked and the only one there was Hay Lin, today wearing a shocking pink pair of goggles as a heair band and just taking her nose out of a comic book.

"People? There's like one little girl?"

"Uh, it looked like more..." Nigel muttered. Was it my imagination or was Taranee paying rather more attention to him than to Uriah?

"Whatever." There were other students arriving which I guess may have influenced Uriah's decision-making process (whatever that was). "Come on boys. We'll finish this conversation some other time."

They schlepped off, Nigel lagging behind them. He looked back and I saw Taranee give him a little smile and a wave.

"What was that about?" Hay Lin asked. "Were they bothering you."

"I think one of them was flirting with Taranee," I teased. "And she liked it."

Hay Lin gasped. "Not Uriah!"

"No!" squeaked Taranee. "Nigel!" Then slapped both both hard hands across her mouth and if had been possible with her skin tone I swear she'd have blushed like a traffic light.

"You could do worse."

"Will!"

I grinned broadly. "Just saying. Hope it works out for you."

She hung her head. "My mom sentenced him to a year of community service for breaking into the museum. She's gonna hate him."

(This had happened during our own mis-adventure in the museum, but since Uriah's little band snuck in after the Guardians got zapped into the painting and were caught before we left, we hadn't seen any of it. All things considered I could live with that. Excactly what they'd been up to I didn't know, but since they'd apparently claimed to have encountered monsters, it was a safe bet that Cedric was involved.)

"Your mom?"

"She's a judge, remember?" Hay Lin 'reminded' me.

Whoops. "Uh..."

Taranee's eyes narrowed suspiciously behind her glasses. *You're not Will!* her voice accused in my mind.

"Yeah..." I scuffed my trainers against the grass. "I wasn't trying to hide that from you?"

"Shhhh..." Hay Lin hissed. *Talk like this.*

*Uh... this is kind of weird,* I 'thought', uncertain of how they were doing this or if they would hear me.

*It's kind of useful for talking about private business,* Taranee thought dismissively. *But where's Will? Is she okay? Did something happen?*

*She's fine, she's just... er, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for her to be in Mr Collin's class this morning.*

*She's cutting class? Maybe we could too!*

*Hay Lin! We can't do that!* Taranee sounded appalled at the idea. *What if we got caught? What if Will gets caught!*

*It should be okay just this once. She's gonna get caught up on her homework,* I assured them although the fact that Will had just gone straight back to bed once she was sure I was up and starting off her morning routine didn't reassure me. *Her Mom was complaining about her grades last night.*

*Well she shouldn't be cutting class then. I'd have suspected Irma of this but not Will.*

The bell went and I knew I'd have to hurry to get to class on time. Fortunately Will had given me a map to guide me between the classrooms. I didn't want to get her into trouble by being late.

As it was I managed to get into the classroom barely before the second bell went off. If I remembered my notes right, that one was the tardy bell so I was only just in time. I'd have checked, but I knew that one of the notes was an instruction not to look at the notes in class in case someone else got a look at them. Which wasn't going to make them terribly useful I realised.

"Welcome back," the teacher - Mr. Collins presumably - said archly as he saw me slip in. "Good of you to turn up on time... barely."

Well, my first impression was that he was a jerk. That was a point in favour of Will's opinion being right.

Cornelia leant over slightly as I sat down at the desk next to her. "Are you okay, Will?" she whispered.

"Just a little Uriah problem," I muttered back.

She rolled her eyes. "Better watch out for Mr. Collins. He got out of the wrong side of bed this morning. Donny already got sent to Principal Knickerbocker."

I nodded my understanding and hasitly unpacked my notebook and a pencil from Will's bag, trying to recall who Donny was - other than presumably whoever had been sat at the only unoccupied desk that had paper and pen on it.

"This year's programme is extensive," the teacher announced, moving around his desk and stalking through the class. "And this is why I've decided to give you a healthy review."

He was heading in my direction I realised. Had he noticed something out of place. No way! I'd done everything right so far, hadn't I? I don't think Cornelia had noticed I wasn't Will yet and she had to know us much better than Mr. Collins (I'd have to tell her as soon as I got the chance or she'd be furious at being left out of the loop).

"Will!"

Urk!

"Can you remind us what life was like in the Middle Ages?"

It took a moment to sink in that he was just asking me a question and not unmasking me as an imposter. Okay, right... Middle Ages, Middle Ages... "Could you be a little more specific?" I asked to buy time to remember some of my information. "The Middle Ages lasted about five hundred years?"

"One of us is the teacher, who just asked a question," he told me with a nasty edge to his voice. "And it isn't you."

"Okay, okay. Um... it was the feudal period. Most people were peasents who had these little allotment type farms and couldn't grow much more food than they needed to feed themselves and had to give a... tithe, I think? - to the local baron..."

"Uh-huh." He raised his finger. "Well it doesn't seem that much has sunk in."

Hey! That's totally unfair. I had, like, ten seconds. There are two whole chapters in Will's textbook about the Middle Ages - that's more than a hundred pages. How could I possibly sum that up so quickly?

"Well I think there's a simple remedy here, Will." There was a mischevious look in his eyes before he turned away and I glared death at the back of his head. "Today we're going to move on to deal with the Renaissance period but you can also write me a report on the state of the man during the Middle Ages. Thirty pages should do it."

I looked at my notebook and then started counting pages. Ten, fifteen, twenty... oh no! Thirty pages is a huge amount of paper.

"Thirty pages?" Cornelia exclaimed.

"I think that seems fair," Mr. Collins agreed. "Would anyone else like to do the same report? Because that's as well as the regular homework for today's class..."

Cornelia shot me a pitying look but shut up. I couldn't blame her. What did I do wrong? Will's going to be furious and Mom's going to have a field day!
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[Rusco Ducam]

That was not mischievous

.  That was deliberately malicious, or possibly malevolent.

[classicdrogn]

he didn't either." - unnecessary end quotes

heair band - hair

was). - was.)

bothering you." - you?"

both hard hands - both hands hard

Excactly - Exactly

'thought', - 'thought,'

Collin's - Collins'

hasitly - hastily

hundred years?" - years." An elipsis would work here if she's being tentative, but it's a statement

. "And - x2 , "and

peasents - peasants

I agree, that was 'cruel' or possibly 'wicked,' not mischievous. Mischief is a little bothersome but not actually malicious, which that was.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[drakensis]

The _look_ was mischievous (or so she thought). The actions... yes.

Thanks for the corrections, except for the 'thought' which was as intended.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[drakensis]

"Does he always do that?" I asked over lunch, which we were eating outsde on the lawn rather than the cafeteria where we'd be more likely to be overheard.

"He doesn't usually hand out punishments like that," agreed Cornelia. I'd filled her in after history on who I was. "Still, maybe you should have Will do the report. After all, she's had plenty of spare time today."

I get the distinct impression that she was a little bit mad at Will about swapping out with me for the day. That put her on the same side as Taranee, but the dusky-skinned girl was currently a bit distracted by Irma who had finished her own packed lunch and was now trying to wheedle away Taranee's last sandwich.

"She'll be back at school tomorrow," I pointed out and clutched at my hair. "I've never actually written a report before now, can someone -"

Irma snatched the sandwich out of Taranee's hands right before the Guardian of Fire was about to take a bite and the rest of us were forced to scramble out of the way as the brunette bolted with her prize, our other friend right on her heels.

"Seriously, leave it to Will. You let her get away with too much."

"Well maybe I'll give her the normal homework. But I must have messed up to get the extra report so I'll deal with it."

"You're incorrigible," Cornelia sighed.

I looked over at where Taranee had tackled Irma to the ground, causing the sandwich to go flying off into the bushes. "Are you sure you aren't talking about Irma?"

"Irma's insane, we all know that. But you're not really living your own life, you're just getting by on the scraps from Will."

"That's... not true." It sounded weak even to me.

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, you clean up after her every day. You help with her homework... now she's sending you to school for her."

"It's just this once!"

"So far," Cornelia told me with a flick of her hair. "Why don't you leave her the homework and come over to mine for dinner. She can hide out in the library - no one would ever go looking for Will there - and you can see what real sisters are like."

"You have a sister?"

"Yeah, the little monkey." I'm pretty sure it was an insult, but Cornelia said it fondly.

"I'd like to meet her, but if I do what you say then I'd be ditching my work onto Will, maybe another time."

Cornelia sighed. "You're an idiot. But I suppose you're our idiot."

"Have you chosen a name yet?" asked Hay Lin. "Because we can't keep just calling you not-Will."

I shook my head. Who knew picking a name would be so hard? Will still hadn't managed to pick a name for her dormouse either.

"Why not Astra?" Cornelia suggested. "It's a pretty name."

"It is pretty, but I'm more than just an astral drop," I objected.

"I'm going to call my astral drop Yan Lin, for grandmother," Hay Lin decided.

"You're going to create one?"

"Well not now, but next time Mum and Dad need me to help at the restaurant," she explained.

Cornelia gave me a 'you see what you started' look.

"What are you talking about?" asked Irma, plumping herself down next to us, the squabble with Taranee apparently over with.

Hay Lin sprawled backwards on the grass, stretching her arms out. "We're picking a name for her!"

"You don't get to pick," I protested.

"But we can make suggestions, right?" Taranee asked.

"I guess."

"Well." She knelt down beside me and put one hand on each shoulder. "How about Minerva?"

"'Minerva'?"

"She was a Roman goddess. The story is that Jupiter split her head out and she jumped out, fully grown."

"Well that fits," agreed Cornelia.

"I don't know about having a historical name."

"It's mythology not history."

"Well I like it," Irma declared. "We could call you Minnie."

"Never mind." "Forget it." "Next suggestion."

"What'd I say?" Irma asked Hay Lin who gave her shrug rather than get into an arguement.

Cornelia checked her watch. "We're running out of time before next class. I don't suppose anyone's come across anything relating to Metamoor at all? New sightings of Elyon?"

"Not since the museum. Maybe they're backing off?"

"I haven't seen anything new on the map."

Taranee sighed. "Yes, but doesn't need the Heart of Kandrakar to show anything new? That's another reason Will ought to be here. If anything happens, she's halfway across town!"
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[classicdrogn]

I'd approve of Astra normally - my Macross Triangle Frontier pilot is Miranda Astra Rockwell, middle name signed as a five point star - but in this circumstance I can see how it would be too derivative. In general, looks like a solid segment from here.

I was trying to think of something that would reference The Twins of Serendip, but asite from a virtue name as "Serendipity" I've got nothin'. Serena maybe? Or as a nickname from it?
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[drakensis]

Well there's a bit longer to think. I don't think a name will be picked this arc, but I think events are moving towards the point where it will be necessary for her to have one (to the point of having it picked for her) within the next couple of arcs.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[drakensis]

*Cornelia! Not-Will!*

The two of us jerked upright in the middle of class, fortunately not while either of us was holding any of the chemistry apparatus we'd been working on.

"Careful girls," the teacher warned. "You're going to be working with an open flame in a minute so sudden movement like that could cause problems."

"Yes, professor," we chorused obediently.

Cornelia brushed at her hair out of habit, although it wasn't really necessary since she had tied it back with a pony-tail for safety during the lab. *What is it, Taranee?*

*Miss Randolph is back from Metamoor!*

*Who?* I asked, paying more attention to measuring out the acid we were supposed to be working on this class into test tubes.

*Our old maths teacher,* explained Taranee. *She's a sort of..."

*She's a lizard-monster from Metamoor,* Irma explained. *She tried to lure Will off to her house for some gnarly scheme but Hay Lin and I were on to her!*

*Hehe,* Hay Lin laughed nervously. *Actually she caught us sneaking around and Will had to rescue us. But she helped us when we went to Metamoor to rescue Hay Lin.*

*Well what's she doing here?* asked Cornelia. *Is she after Will again?*

*Worse! She's teaching us algebra!*

I almost dropped the pipette I was using when Taranee squealed: *Irma!*

*What? She's a fiendish alien. I'd think she'd have standards!*

Cornelia picked up a jar of metal filings. *Girls? Could you drop any more bombshells before we're actually working with fire?*

*Well she wants us to go to to her house for tea and cookies after school,* explained Hay Lin. *I think we should - she says that she wants to help us. Plus she's way cooler than the substitute teacher.*

Irma sounded petulant. *I don't trust her.*

*She helped us in Meridian. If she hadn't, we might not have managed to rescue Taranee. And... we need someone who can tell us about Metamoor. Since grandmother died we haven't had anyone who can tell us what's going on.*

I nudged Cornelia as I saw the teacher heading back in our direction. We quickly started following the directions on the board.

*Hay Lin's right,* Cornelia decreed, drawing up a chart to record our results as I picked up the first spatula of filings. *But we'll go together, so someone has to let Will know to come. If she is up to something then having all five Guardians together should be enough to take care of anything that comes up.*

Taranee sounded embarassed. *I can't talk to her like this when she's so far away.*

*We'll call her or something. Now if you don't mind, I do have a class to complete.*
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[classicdrogn]

Surprises and distractions in Chem lab... bad idea. It's a good thing they didn't spill ahything caustic, or drop glassware where it would break. I once fumbled a beaker while washing it out and had a devil of a time getting the wet glass shards out of the corners of the deep, square cut stone sink.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[RomanFanboy]

Not a problem. You are welcome.

Sometimes there is a question, or a statement which poses a question, my muse kicks in, and I won't get the monkey off my back until I have the answer in.

I'm mainly saying that there are legitimate grounds for understanding it that way, especially considering some of her other actions. I haven't built the case for excluding other understandings, and don't know that I have grounds to.

I reflected on some things of importance to me, so I got something out of it also.

I was thinking of thanking 'Brother ClassicDrogn' and 'Brother drakensis' for the learning opportunity.

(I had the opportunity today XXXXX Sunday to discuss my conclusions with a party I more readily discuss that side of the topic with.)

I like talking, and I like finding or refinding new things worth talking about. Helps me think about them better.

Considering how much work you must be putting in to this, I still feel like I am receiving, on net.

Oh, and when I was rambling about the chemistry, I'd forgotten that it was a single tear per however many units paint. Keeping that in mind, my head canon is that he was using egg white as part of his medium, and adding a little bit of water for magical purposes. OOC, I'm sticking with the whole 'trying to remove entirely things one dislikes robs verisimilitude and tends to create pablum' symbolism.

Relearned yesterday (Tuesday) that Dr. Doom's full name is Victor Von Doom.

Given my ranting about classical figures, this means one more suggestion along those lines. Victoria. Romans considered her a cognate to Nike.

Plus V.V. has some good jokes that could be made with it. Or, really obnoxious, Victoria Iago Vandom. V.I.V.

Note that we get Athena from the Ionian way of saying the name. Sophia comes from the Doric. IIRC.

I'm gonna have to go with Collins as evil, possessed, replaced or cursed. Shame. I thought Will could've used additional positive adult attention in her life. Not to mention her sister. Double the adults means double the chances to find her, and it'd wouldn't be good for her if she managed to make it to adulthood without getting adult attention in her own identity.

Her answer seems fairly good, I dunno why he'd count her off, unless he doesn't know the material.

peasents maybe should be peasants

"Well I think there's a simple remedy here, Will." There was a mischevious look in his eyes before he turned away and I glared death at the back of his head. "Today we're going to move on to deal with the Renaissance period but you can also write me a report on the state of the man during the Middle Ages. Thirty pages should do it."

maybe 'state of man during' instead?

I can see mischievous if she has a poor eye for people, or if he doesn't know what he is assigning. Of course, I don't have a good idea of reasonable assignments for that age. Certainly speaks to being ethically dubious, especially if this is Collins in his own right mind. Yes, Will and her sister shouldn't sass him, even if he does like their mother. However, this smacks of abusing his position to further his personal interests.

Next chunk

Tardus is Latin for idiot. Hmm... Worker kinda works, but again is probably not something that is long term healthy. Te is a Latin word for you, as well as being one of the roots, I think meaning fist, of Karate. (If wiki is to be trusted, there were several {placename} Te martial arts.)

Next chunk

*Safety Jerk Powers Activate* They'd better be wearing proper PPE. Safety glasses. Probably long sleeves. Certainly close toed shoes. They should have instituted procedures for chemistry class. Like, all communication that is not vital can wait till after.

Also, Acid to Water, just like you outta. (I've been sitting on a very bad joke based on that for a while. I've had it written up with the rest of my stuff, waiting for the right time.)

Algebra is great, and they should be more aware of the wonderful things it can do.

Anyway, I'm enjoying this, and still looking forward to more. Hopefully I will keep on top of things better than just now, but I have a few reasons to say that I can't make promises.

Do you have an idea what reaction or reactions they are running?

Classic,

Worse things could have happened. She will have missed some of the safety lectures, so she might've tried to fill the pipette by mouth suction. (Never, ever do this.) *Remembers the video they showed of a pipette, maybe broken, being jabbed into a hand* Anyway, back in the day they tried to make really sure I knew lab safety.

[drakensis]

I suspect it was a very stressful class for Cornelia.

I didn't pick a specific reaction, my last chemistry class was a couple of decades ago.

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

"What's wrong?" Cornelia asked when she saw me lower Will's mobile from my ear.

"She didn't pick up."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Typical. Did you leave a message?"

I shook my head. "If I leave a message and Mom is the one that gets it our secret would be out."

"She must have just stepped out."

"She shouldn't." I certainly didn't dare go out until school let out, in case someone asked why I wasn't at school. "Maybe she's asleep."

"At two in the afternoon?" asked Cornelia incredulously.

I shrugged. "I don't know." There were other possibilities of course. Possibilities that scared me. Had Cedric or Elyon struck while Will was alone?

Cornelia rested her hand on my shoulder for a moment. "I'm sure she's alright. I'll ride home with you after school and fill her in on the way to Miss Rudolph's."

"And..." I bit off the sentence before I could finish it.

"Then we'll find her."

I barely paid any attention to the last class of the day, although I managed to put up a pretense after the teacher threatened me with a detention. The minute the last bell rang I shoved everything higgledy-piggledy into my bag and ran out of the door.

"Will, wait!"

I almost forgot myself and reminded Cornelia that I wasn't my sister, before I remembered that she had to maintain the pretense as well. I slowed down and let her catch up.

"You know, you've got a lot to learn about being an Infielder," she grumbled.

"A what?"

"An Infielder. Look, you know Uriah and his crew."

I nodded.

"Well they're Outfielders - the school slobs and losers. Infielders are the opposite, people like me."

Well I knew which I wanted to be more like and it wasn't those boys. "Please teacher, teach me."

Cornelia threw back her head and laughed. "Well one important lesson is that you can't ever look like you're taking anything too seriously. Because if you're having to do that then you're not in control."

"But we're not in control."

She gave me a reproving look. "Shhhh. That's a secret."

I was surprised how fast Cornelia could walk without appearing to hurry at all. I suppose her long legs helped with that. I had to trot a little to keep up but I tried my best to keep from showing that I was in a hurry. Even with Cornelia setting the pace we got our bikes and cycled off the grounds before most of the kids had even made it out of the building.

It was nice just to hang out, chatting with Cornelia as we rode. I made a mental note: definitely going to arrange with Will sometime that I can take Cornelia up on the offer to meet her family.

When we reached the apartment block, she paused at the bicycle rack, still perched in the saddle. "Do you want me to wait down here?"

"I'd appreciate the company," I told her. It was true... and if my fears proved right then I'd want a Guardian to be with me.

At the top of the stairs I did my usual fumbling around with the keys.

"Why do you have so many keys?" asked Cornelia, with an air of amusement.

I finally found the right ones. "Will keeps the keys from her old apartment on the same ring."

"Why would she do that?"

I shrugged. "I never asked."

The apartment was quiet and I poked my head into the sitting room and then the kitchen as I went past. No sign of Will, or Mom. Still, there was also no sign of a struggle. I saw the laundry basket was filled with bedding so she'd been here long enough to have done at least some of the chores.

"Will!" Cornelia called out.

No answer.

We exchanged looks and then I pushed open the door to Will's room. I half-expected her to be at the desk, wearing headphones or something that had kept her from noticing us or the earlier phone calls but the room was as vacant as the rest of the apartment.

"Where is she?" Cornelia asked.

"I've no idea." I moved a chair below the hatch and scrambled onto it so that I could check my hiding place. "See if you can find any clues."

"Sure." Cornelia looked around and added: "Frogs everywhere."

"Don't you think that they're cute?"

"As if." She shuddered slightly. "Horrible little slimy creatures." Then the elegant girl squeaked. "Er... there's something moving under the bedcovers!"

Looking down I saw she was right. Still, it couldn't be very large... maybe the size of... aha. Hehehe. "Oh, that's just my sister's pet." I paused as if in thought. "Uh, since you don't like frogs..."

"That's a frog!" Cornelia screeched and retreated to the door.

I couldn't help but laugh at the look on her face. I'm pretty sure a frog the size of Will's dormouse would be the biggest frog in the world. "...how do you feel about dormice?"

"Oooh, you..." she huffed.

Since there was no sign of Will up in the loft I scrambled down. "He's a mite feisty."

"Well unless Will's hiding in the bathroom, she's not here," Cornelia grumbled. She went over to the desk and started looking through the mess on it. "She couldn't have left a note or something?"

"Probably not," I headed to the door. "I'll check the rest of the apartment."

Will wasn't in the bathroom. I was checking the kitchen again, to see if it looked like she'd had lunch here when I spotted a blinking light on the ansafone. Will couldn't have left a message on it in case Mom heard it, but perhaps it would explain why she had left?

"It's me honey," Mom's voice came from the machine when I pressed the button. "I'll be late today, but I'll bring something ready for dinner. Make sure you keep your cell phone on so I can get hold of you iof anything comes up."

Nothing out of the ordinary there. Mom's left messages like that at least twice since I started living here.

There was another message though. "Hello Will! It's Vera! I have some great news for you! Come to the swimming pool when you can!"

...she wouldn't!

The machine flicked to a third message as I stared at it. "It's your Mom again. I forgot to say this first time I called. I love you, honey."

"I love you too Mom." Shaking off my fit of fear, I ran back to the bedroom and started looking for the orange sports bag that Will kept her swimming gear in.

"Did you find anything?" Cornelia asked.

"Maybe," I grumbled. "You."

"Just a lot of homework. Unfinished homework," she added for emphasis.

I groaned. "And I can't find her swimming kit! I can't believe she'd do this!"

Cornelia crossed her arms but kindly refrained from saying 'I told you so'. She was certainly thinking it though. "Well you can't go to the swimming pool to get her, so I'll have to. You got to Miss Randolph's and let the others know what's going on."
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[drakensis]

"Will!" Taranee cheered as I let my bicycle coast to a halt. The three Guardians were waiting across the street from the house that Cornelia had given me directions to. Then she looked up the street behind me. "But where's Cornelia?"

"Fetching Will," I said shortly, not wanting to get into what had happened, at least until I would work out my own feelings about it. How hard could it be to stay in the apartment for just one day? "She sent me to let you know it's going to take a while longer."

Taranee blinked. "Fetch Will? But where from? She should be in your apartment! What if someone spotted her out of school during the day?"

I crossed my arms and shrugged angrily.

"Aw, come on, Taranee!" Irma chirped. "No one would want to spend all day stuck at home with nothing to do but homework and chores. It would be like Hay Lin not writing on her hands anymore."

I looked over and the Guardian of Air was indeed scribbling something onto the palm of her hand with a felt-tip. "I can't imagine how terrible it would be to be cooped up all day like that," I snapped at the brunnette. "Oh wait, I don't have to imagine it."

"Yeah, but it's different for you."

"What is Hay Lin scribbling anyway?" Taranee asked hastily, moving between Irma and I in an obvious attempt to keep us from fighting.

"Huh. Good question." Irma scrambled over to her friend and grabbed her by the hand. "Lemme see! It's.... they make us... reserve..."

"No," disagreed Taranee, edging in to look at the hand from the other direction. "It's something like: where is someone... or..."

Hay Lin sighed and looked over at me. "I wanted to be discreet about it, but I'll say it out loud. There is someone observing us." She pointed with her other hand at Miss Randolph's house and I saw that the curtains over one of the windows had been pulled back and a grandmotherly-looking woman was waving at us in a friendly fashion.

"Oh man..."

"I guess we'd better go in," Irma decided. "Come on girls."

Hay Lin and Taranee grudgingly followed her across the road, then Hay Lin doubled back and towed me after them by one arm. I hadn't realised I was even invited.

The woman - Miss Randolph - greeted us warmly, having us hang up our coats in the porch before ushering us into her sitting room where she had laid out two plates of cookies and a tea set. "Now don't be shy," she insisted as she sat in an armchair at one end of the coffee table. "Do you like milk with your tea?"

I swear Irma's eyes were almost as large as her mouth (and she has a huge mouth) as the cups and saucers floated into the air and started to serve us without anyone laying hands upon them.

"Do you have magic too, Professor Randolph?" exclaimed Hay Lin.

The teacher smiled warmly. "All of my people have some magic," she told us. "Although we can mostly only use it for small things like this. They're nothing compared to the powers possessed by you guardians."

Irma looked away from the sugar bowl, from which tongs were currently moving a pair of sugar cubes into her drink in response to her signalling. "Why did you invite us here? Do you have anything to tell us?"

Her own tea in hand, Miss Rudolph leant back into her chair. "Last time that we met, girls, I was hiding in the underground passages of Meridian. Wandering in those dark places I had the chance to meet many refugees, rebels who hate and despise Phobos and his tyranny." She sighed. "Some of the most resentful and well-trained amongst them have presented themselves to Vathek, a servant of Cedric - who I believe you have all met."

"But Cedric is Phobos' lieutenant," I objected. "Why would they do that if they hate him?" I sipped from my own cup and hid a fluinch. Wow, tea was served hot. I'd prefer something cooler to drink.

"Ah, well that man claims to have left his master's service. Now he has offered to place all his knowledge gained in previous years at the disposal of the rebels."

"And so?" asked Hay Lin. "What if it's the truth?"

"Let us speak honestly," Miss Rudolph said kindly. "Do you trust me?"

"Certainly," agreed Taranee - rather uncertainly.

Hay Lin beamed innocently. "Sure."

"Then why haven't the two you touched them tea and biscuits? Do you think they're poisoned?"

Crumbs sprayed out of Irma's mouth. "Uh... They aren't, are they?"

I examined my own cup. "What does poisoned mean?" Neither Taranee nor Hay Lin had touched their own tea yet, I realised. Or taken a cookie.

Taranee glared intently at the suddenly nervous Irma and it didn't take a genius to guess that they were communicating telepathically.

"Irma is quite right, Taranee," the teacher told them and offered her the plate. "Why don't you try one of the coconut ones. They're delicious."

"You can read our thoughts?" the studious girl squeaked nervously. "But in Maths class..."

Miss Rudolph offered me the plate next. "Poisoning, Will, means having someone add something extra to food or drink so as to harm anyone who eats it. A horrible thing to do."

Not sure what the cookies were, I picked one at random. I'm not sure if it was coconut or not, but it was indeed delicious.

"The reason I asked if you trusted me," she told us, "is to illustrate how hard it is for us to trust Vathek. It is all too believable that he could still be serving Cedric's ends. Nonetheless, there are those desperate enough for any escape that he has persuaded them to join him in invading the Earth. And they intend to do so tonight."

"Tonight!" Taranee exclaimed. "Right now?"

"Within the next few hours. He was still gathering together a sufficient force, but he past planning to come through very soon."

Ah man. Now she was looking at me expectantly. Oh, no! She thought I was Will, that I was in charge. What would Will do now?

I placed my cup down on the saucer. "Can you tell us what portal he will use?"

Miss Rudolph rose to her feet and started pacing unhappily. "Unfortunately, no. I hoped that you could tell me that."

"I have the map of the portals with me..." Hay Lin offered. "But..."

"It's something to start with," Irma said hastily. "We have to assume it's a portal we've already come across."

"Well it can't be the gymnasium," pointed out Hay Lin. "Will closed that one."

"The same for the one in the cave is sealed," I added to make it look like I was participating. "But Vathek... it has to be one he would know."

"There is one here," Miss Randolph advised us. "But thus far it has been my little secret."

We looked at each other, somewhat at a loss. The silence was broken by my phone going off. I fumbled a little and then figured out how to get it working. "Hello?"

"Will?" It was Cornelia.

"Close enough."

She sounded breathless. "I haven't found her anywhere. We're just going to have to talk to Miss Randolph without her."

"Actually... we're sort of talking to her right now," I explained weakly.

There was an irritated huff. "I thought Irma was the one that was afraid of her."

"We may have bigger problems. I don't suppose you know of any portals that you haven't mentioned to the rest of us?"

"What? No. Why do you ask?"

I outlined the situation quickly.

She didn't hesitate. "We never did find the portal at the bookstore, did we?"

"...let me put Irma on the line." I handed the phone to Irma and looked over at the others while the brunette started talking a mile a minute to Cornelia. "The old bookstore."

"Of course!" Taranee exclaimed.

"We don't have much time," Hay Lin fretted.

"Then we gotta go!" Irma declared. "No, that wasn't to you, Corny." She held the phone away from her ear for a moment. "Thanks for the tea and cookies, Miss Randolph."

"You're welcome, girls." She gave the phone, still spitting out Cornelia's imprecations, an amused look.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[classicdrogn]

"No really, those pistols on the mantle are just ornamental. I'll take one down and-"
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[drakensis]

ClassidDrogn: ?

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

I couldn't concentrate on my report.

The cellphone was on the table in front of me in the public library, next to the books I was trying to take notes from. I kept checking the time on it.

The Guardians had spread out to look for Will, but they had all agreed that I shouldn't do that. There was too much risk of Will and I being seen together.

Whether they found Will or not, the Guardians of the Veil would be at Elyon's house at six-thirty.

I checked the phone again. It was six-twenty-eight. Thirty seconds since I had last checked.

The book in front of me was talking about landowners and serfs. Two men, one of whom had everything and one who had nothing. I turned the page to hide the illustrations and mopped at my face with a hankie. Then I turned the page back, picked up my pen and jotted down a note.

The phone again. It had ticked over to six-twenty-nine.

I checked the page again and then turned it again.

Was that how it was for me and Will? She had everything and I got the scraps?

She'd called me her sister, I reminded myself. When Elyon captured me, she risked her life to come to my rescue.

The cellphone buzzed and I hit the accept button before I could get a nasty look from the other people in this part of the library. Apparently there was a rule about being quiet.

"Yes?" I hissed into the phone.

"It's Cornelia," she sounded stressed. "Irma found her. We're going in."

"Good luck."

I heard her sigh - I don't think she meant me to hear that - and then she took a confident tone. "Luck is what people who don't know what they're doing rely on. I'll call you later."

"Could I -" I broke off when I realised she'd put the phone down.

I'd just wanted to speak to Will. But perhaps it was for the best that I didn't. She was going into battle and I didn't know what I wanted to say.

At least they were together. All five Guardians working together... Vathek and his followers didn't stand a chance.

I clung to that belief as I jotted down page after page of notes. I wasn't sure how to turn the notes into a report, but Taranee had offered to advise me on that, so for now I just kept recording anything that seemed it might relevant.

My phone sounded again and I snatched it up. "Is everything okay?"

Mom sounded bemused. "Yes, Will. Everything's fine. I'm not as late as I expected though."

"Oh. Um, that's good." Which in general was true but was probably going to be really inconvenient once Will got back. Swapping places was always easier to hide when Mom wasn't at home.

She laughed. "So what mischief are you up to right now?"

"I'm at the library."

"You are at the library?"

She didn't have to sound quite that sceptical, did she? "Well you did say my grades weren't good enough and I have a huge history report that no doubt Professor Collins can tell you all about so it seemed like the place to go."

"Well, good for you, honey. I thought you'd be at the swimming pool with your friend Vera."

What? Oh, that message on the answerphone. "I wish I was. I thought I might go there when I was done here," I added since she might notice that Will's swimming gear was gone. "But this is taking longer than I thought."

"How about I pick you up then?" she suggested. "Can you be outside in a few minutes?"

"Sure." I started closing up the books I'd been looking at. "I'll see you then."

Shovelling my own things into the bag was easy enough but I had to scurry about to put the books back where I'd found them on the shelves.

"You know, you don't really need to put them back," one of the assistants pointed out, taking one book from me and placing it back on the high shelf I'd found it on. (There had been a stool first time I was in that aisle, but typically someone had moved it away). "Just pile them up on the end of the table and one of us will take care of it."

"Really?"

The assistant nodded. He was a nice looking boy. Well, I say boy - I guess he was college age or something. "Really really," he confirmed with a superior look.

I was far too impatient to hold that against him though. "Thanks!" I plunked the rest of the books into his arms and ran back to my bag.

There was a mutter of "Me and my big mouth," from his direction but I ignored it as I slung my backpack over one shoulder and dashed towards the outside. The library had been pretty interesting, really. I should probably come back if I got the chance.

Why shouldn't I get the chance? Will got to do whatever she wanted. Including going swimming or whatever it was she'd been up to instead of doing her homework like she promised me. I could just... come here. I didn't have to do the chores... she'd not even pressed me to do them particularly but I'd leapt at the chance to do something for her.

Will's bike was still locked to the railing where I'd left it. I was still getting it unlocked when a car horn honked and I turned around to see Mom's red station wagon pulled up against the curb.

She wasn't alone. Professor Collins got to the back of the car around the same time I did. "Do you need a hand with your bike, Will?"

"I think I can manage," I protested, trying to lift the bike up into the back. After watching me struggle for a moment he reached out and wordlessly hoisted it up by the saddle so that I could move it the rest of the way.

"Okay Will?"

I searched his face for any trace of the expression I'd seen earlier in class, the one that preceded that ambush. Perhaps it was my own inexperience but I couldn't see a sign of amusement... or had it been malice? "Thank you, Professor."

While he went back around to get into the front next to Mom I couldn't resist the temptation to clamber into the back, pulling the door down behind me, and then over Will's bike and the headrests to get into the back seat. Give me a break, it was my second car ride ever!

Mom shook her head in amusement. "You haven't done that in years, Will. Remember to buckle up."

"Okay, okay." It took me a little fumbling to get the belt around me. "Uh, since you're here Professor Collins, how long do I have for that report on the Middle Ages? I've never done a thirty page report before and I'm not sure how long it will take."

Okay, maybe it was a bit mean to call him on that in front of Mom, but after him dropping the assignment on me first thing in class today? He deserved much worse. I was practically giving him an easy time in fact.

He twisted in the seat to look back at me, which was kind of awkward since I'd taken the seat behind him. "I'm sorry Will, what report on the Middle Ages?"

What? "The... thirty page one? The State of Man in the Middle Ages? It was practically the first you did in class today?"

"Will, don't talk to Dean like that!" Mom snapped.

I realised my voice had risen a bit. "...okay, sorry. I didn't mean to shout."

"Well that's alright. But I'm fairly sure I'd remember asking the class for thirty pages of homework. If nothing else, Will, I'd have to mark all of it."

Was he really... he was! He was just... denying it! "You didn't give it to the class, Professor."

"Will..."

"You singled me out and set me a thirty page assignment. Now you're a teacher and you can do that. I get that. But now you're lying about it!?"

"Will Vandom! Do not use that tone of voice!" Mom slammed on the brakes and I saw her hands were white around the steering wheel.

"Susan..." Professor Collins reached across and touched her arm gently.

"I'm sorry Dean, but I think we're not going to be able to have dinner tonight," she bit off. "It seems that someone is going to be spending the rest of this evening -"

"Susan," he repeated, interrupting her flow. Brave man. I was shrinking back into the corner of the car, away from the anger in Mom's eyes. "Let's pull over a moment and calm down before anyone says something they regret later."

Rather jerkily, she started to do what he had asked.

The teacher took a deep breath. "Will, I admit I was a bit... unwell earlier in the day and I don't recall first period very well. I do not remember giving you that homework, but I may be mistaken." The car came to a stop and he opened his door. "Susan, could we talk outside for a moment?"

She followed him out of the car, giving me a repressing look. The angry words she and Will had exchanged the night before and on other occasions had never made sense to me - Mom was such an affectionate person - but now I could understand why Will found her so frustrating. She'd chosen to believe Collins over me without any hesitation at all.

With the doors closed I couldn't hear them talk but I was able to open it a crack.

"...a lot like someone else I know." I saw that Professor Collins was holding Mom's hand, rubbing the back of it gently with one thumb. "She's a sensitive girl and reacts very passionately. If someone in authority over you, someone in a position of trust, seemed to be persecuting you, wouldn't you be furious?"

The words sank in. She listened to him.

But he was the one whose fault it was in the first place!

"Do you really think Will would lie about something like that?" he pressed on gently. "I realise that I don't know her as well as you do..."

"I suppose not." She sighed. "Still, she should know better than to speak to you like that!"

"Sometimes when we're angry we all say things without thinking."

I closed the door gently. On the one hand, it seemed that Professor Collins was manipulating Mom, but on the other... he was doing so in a way that got me off the hook. Will off the hook. Ugh, this was confusing. What should I do?

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked for messages. Nothing. Were they alright? I realised that if everything did go horribly wrong then I might never know exactly what happened.

The phone was shaking in my hand. I thought it was vibrating for a moment and then discovered it wasn't the phone. It was my hand that was doing the shaking.

A soft hand pressed against the side of my face and I turned to see Mom leaning into the car over me. When had she opened the door? "Oh Will, what am I going to do with you?" She pulled me into a hug and I buried my face against her sweater to hide the fearful tears spilling down my face.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[classicdrogn]

Mostly I was just noting that the set was well and truly up. Which it was, of course. Now there's another classic kiddie lit plot complication to deal with, the semi-hostile parental unit. Basically, it's just waving pompoms and urging you on, since I don't have anything substantive to say.

Big apple, little apple, Suzie Q! C'mon Drake, we're rootin' for you!

Or something. Be glad you don't have a mental image to go with that, instead you can picture an anime babe as proxy.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[drakensis]

Ah, Chekov's Gun. Got it.

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

Later, much later, I was still nestled against Mom, this time on the couch in our living room.

"Maybe we shouldn't have come here," she sighed. "All we ever seem to do is fight."

"Here?"

"Heatherfield I mean. I know we both wanted a new start..."

Was it Heatherfield that made us fight? Made Will fight Mom, I mean? I hadn't thought that any of their fights were about the town. It was almost always something little I'd thought until I'd was in the middle of one of the arguments. Hardly worth the anger that they both felt.

But things had changed for Will on coming here.

She'd become a Guardian of the Veil, an important responsibility and one that she was hiding from Mom. I got the impression that Mom wouldn't be happy to learn about that, she'd probably insist Will stopped if she found out. That would be a huge fight if she tried to make her stop... and leaving Heatherfield would mean Will couldn't be a Guardian any more: all the portals she was dealing with appeared here.

Cornelia, Taranee, Hay Lin and Irma were all here in Heatherfield. So was Matt. No, Will would hate the idea of leaving Heatherfield.

If we left...

We?

It was hard enough to hide me from Mom around the apartment. There was no possible way that Will and I could both be in the car with her without her noticing something.

If they left then I would be left behind.

The other girls couldn't hide me for long - it wasn't as if I could pretend to one of them and their families would surely realise that something was wrong if 'Will' was still visiting all the time after moving.

I sniffled and Mom pulled me against her again. At least Professor Collins wasn't here right now to see me crying a second time today.

Sitting there pressed against Mom, I realised that I was being selfish and just thinking about myself. Being a Guardian wasn't the only thing that had changed for Will.

She'd gained a sister.

Was this my fault? She hadn't wanted someone to take her place but now she was sharing parts of her life with me!

"It's not Heatherfield," I told Mom. "It's my fault. I mess everything up."

"Oh, honey, that's not true."

She cuddled me more. Under other circumstances I'd have been perfectly happy to stay like that for longer (forever, for example) but the only thought on my mind in that moment was that Will should be here.

"You've made friends here, haven't you? Surely they're not saying that sort of thing about you."

"No..." I couldn't tell her it was Will's life - and hers - that I was messing up.

"Is this about the swimming?"

I tried to remember what Will had said. "It's something I'm good at, something I can do but I'm too dumb to be allowed to do it."

"Oh Will." She patted me reassuringly on the head. "You're not dumb. It's just... I know you can do better than you have. Better than I did."

"Better than you?" That sounded pretty unlikely. "But you're smart and pretty and..."

She blushed a little. "Thank you, Will. But so are you. I believe in you, honey... but I know that if you don't apply yourself a little more then you'll regret it someday."

There was a knock on the door and Mom got up off the couch to let Professor Collins in. He was carrying a big bag of chinese takeaway in one hand and his briefcase in the other. When we got to the apartment he'd given us some time alone. "Thank you Susan," he said when she took the takeout bag from him. "Feeling better, Will?"

Yeah. Some." I mopped at my face. "Sorry about shouting at you," I added reluctantly.

He nodded. "Alight. Now I've done some checking and I think I know what was happened. I should have explained things better to you. I'm your teacher and I should have been more responsible. I'm very sorry."

"So do I have to do the report or not?"

He pulled out a seat at the table and sat down. "I think it would be a good idea. I know your Mom is worried about your grades and an extra credit assignment like this could help pull your average up quite bit. If you really don't want to, I can let you off but I think that this would help you."

What was I supposed to say? That I didn't have time? That I didn't care? I don't think Mom would be too impressed. Besides: "Well I've already started doing research, I may as well finish it."

"That's the spirit," Mom assured me. "Why don't you get cleaned up for dinner. We can talk about some targets for you, ones where I'd be happy for you to join the school's swimming team."

I nodded. The way my face felt I could probably benefit from a washcloth. And maybe a change of clothes. "I'll be a moment then."

My - Will's - room was a welcome refuge.

For about three seconds as I stood with my back to the door, breathing deeply.

I almost shrieked in surprise as Will's head popped up above the far side of her bed. "When did you get back?" I hissed, not wanting Mom to overhear her daughter apparently having a conversation with herself.

"A little while ago," she told me just as quietly. Then she looked me over and frowned. "What's going on? You've been crying!"

"Going on?" My mind raced back over the day.

The horrible history class.

Will going missing.

Tea with Miss Rudolph.

Mom shouting at me.

Worrying about whether she was alive or dead.

"I wish today had never happened!"

Will looked wide-eyed. "It can't have been that bad!"

"Your dinner's on the table." And then I cold-shouldered her, climbing up into my little hidey-hole in the loft where I could curl up on myself and try to pretend that today had been nothing but a bad dream.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[classicdrogn]

Uh oh, they just failed at Twin Switch 101 - not filling the other twin in on the situation when one tags out, and major things are afoot
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[RomanFanboy]

40

Cornelia sure is taking a leadership position. As expected of a Patrician Gens. Kidding.

Also, I'm getting the impression that our girl might be a bit starved of human contact.

Will probably keeps the old keys because she misses the old apartment.

I couldn't help but laugh at the look on her face. I'm pretty sure a frog the size of Will's dormouse would be the biggest frog in the world. "...how do you feel about dormice?"

American Bullfrog, for one.

Will wasn't in the bathroom. I was checking the kitchen again, to see if it looked like she'd had lunch here when I spotted a blinking light on the ansafone. Will couldn't have left a message on it in case Mom heard it, but perhaps it would explain why she had left?

Is ansafone some usage I wouldn't know, being poor, ignorant, and American?

"It's me honey," Mom's voice came from the machine when I pressed the button. "I'll be late today, but I'll bring something ready for dinner. Make sure you keep your cell phone on so I can get hold of you iof anything comes up."

if rather than iof

Vera can mean, truths, youths, or true in Latin

41

"Aw, come on, Taranee!" Irma chirped. "No one would want to spend all day stuck at home with nothing to do but homework and chores. It would be like Hay Lin not writing on her hands anymore."

I looked over and the Guardian of Air was indeed scribbling something onto the palm of her hand with a felt-tip. "I can't imagine how terrible it would be to be cooped up all day like that," I snapped at the brunnette. "Oh wait, I don't have to imagine it."

Shades of Toph, Tough.

Also, Yuku spellcheck says Brunette.

Tough, or Toughness is this round's naming suggestion for her.

Also, I'm more and more feeling that she is isolated, and, well, the phrase Vathara uses is touch starved. I really think the situation is not good for her.

Hay Lin seems to have a better aptitude for intelligence.

"But Cedric is Phobos' lieutenant," I objected. "Why would they do that if they hate him?" I sipped from my own cup and hid a fluinch. Wow, tea was served hot. I'd prefer something cooler to drink.

Flinch

Insert joke about how it makes sense for her to be the poison detector. Randolph maybe can guess about some of this.

"Well it can't be the gymnasium," pointed out Hay Lin. "Will closed that one."

This isn't one of the ancient greek naked places? This is the modern usage, right?

43

She is starting to develop into a bibliophile, it seems.

Okay, not evil, it looks like. Something else. He seems to be fairly decent in the normal state also.

That said, I really am concerned about that situation, if it hasn't been resolved.

And you are doing an /excellent/ job with the emotional side of this.

45

He nodded. "Alight. Now I've done some checking and I think I know what was happened. I should have explained things better to you. I'm your teacher and I should have been more responsible. I'm very sorry."

Alright

I'm really concerned about this situation again.

Supposedly, there are broad tendencies that let one tell from where they look whether they are remembering, or composing.

General thoughts

I've finding the emotional picture fairly strong.

It kinda of feels like I'm finding fewer typographical issues per post. I'm unsure if this is a change in wordcount, typographical error frequency, or if it is something on my end, like the strength of my emotional reaction, or maybe I somehow didn't sleep well enough last night.

I'm deeply worried about her homelife. Especially Collins, but Will and her Mother are also of concern.

I'm unsure about Collins. On the one hand, he seems to be trying to do right. On the other hand, he seems to be aware of the changes, and to be covering them up, rather than trying to minimize harm.

This continues to be very well executed, and I'm extremely interested in seeing it continue.

She shouldn't be doing extra credit work for Will. That just hurts Will in the long run.

[drakensis]

Cornelia is very much the lancer of the team.

Re: American bullfrog. Well can you blame her for not knowing that?

Ansafone is one spelling for Answerphone, the precursor to voicemail. The Vandom model uses a cassette-tape. (Product of it being set around 2001).

Vera as a derivative of veritas is rather ironic here. It's not important to this story, but she's actually Elyon.

The gymnasium is the school gym mentioned earlier.

Basically, other than very limited chances to get out, books are her only way to see the world. She is developing a fondness for them.

There are definite family issues. The Vandom household is not in a good place, relationship-wise, and wouldn't be even without this stress. (Will running away from home is a major sub-genre of W.I.T.C.H. fanfiction). Pushing Will into what is essentially a maternal role on top of all the other pressures being applied...
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[RomanFanboy]

Re: Bullfrog

I'm not entirely certain of the relative sizes of bullfrogs and dormice. Will's dormouse isn't a Dormouse of Unusual Size, is it? (The silly answer involved talking about what an important staple bullfrogs are, before realizing that the UK is very heavily populated, and might have different wildlife.) I'd guess that dormice are smaller than rats, about regular mouse size, and that Bullfrogs are a good bit larger. Someone give the girl some animal books.

Re: Vera I dunno if Vera or Veritas is the older word.

It is a sign that my plot bunny generator is almost primed enough for W.I.T.C.H. that my thought on hearing 'running away from home' was Joan Aiken crossover.