Here's a revision of the last part with an additional scene - something of an interlude between the first part and the second part of the story, as a bonus.
Later I lay on Will's bed and looked up at the ceiling.
Her Mom had decided to have a nap after the pizza (which was apparently food and very tasty food at that). If I was lucky that 'nap' would last all night - having a cold must be tiring because she looked much sleepier than I felt and she hadn't had to go to school.
Of course that still left me with what to do about Will.
It seemed to me that there were two possibilities: either she would come back or she wouldn't. There was nothing I could do to influence that. And there was no way of knowing how long it would take before she could get back. If she took too long then I'd probably be found out before she got back.
That meant...
I rolled over on the bed and closed my eyes.
Okay, two plans. One for her coming back and one for when I decided she wasn't likely to come back. No, that was wrong. I'd need three plans: the third one for if someone figured out I wasn't really Will.
A nasty thought crossed my mind. Will had created me through magic. What if... 'something' happening to her in Metamoor would make me vanish? Could I exist without her?
There was no way for me to know. I'd have to ask the others at school tomorrow, see if they had any idea. I shivered at the thought. I could just... vanish. Without warning. Without even knowing I was in danger.
I wish I knew how dangerous Metamoor was for her!
So I need three plans. Ummmm... Run away? Sounded good, but where too?
And when should I give up on Will coming back?
I opened my eyes and saw the folded piece of paper with Will's instructions on it. They just covered one day. Did that mean I should expect her sometime tonight? Or just that I should try to follow them every day until she got back?
I didn't think there was school every day. I'd have to ask Cornelia tomorrow. I could probably keep up the pretense for another few days at school. I really ought to make a list of questions to ask her.
Climbing out of bed I rifled through Will's desk until I found a notebook I could write in. Oh! I could use this to write down what's happened so far, I realised. That way Will doesn't get caught out at anything she missed without her having to absorb me!
I was scribbling down about being ill when I got back from school - I didn't think I needed to tell Will exactly why I'd felt ill. She'd probably not be very happy with me. Well, more unhappy than she was probably going to be anyway - when there was a noise against the window.
I gave it a puzzled look - this was on the third floor! - and saw something small bounce off it. What? Was someone throwing something at my - at Will's - bedroom window? I scrambled over and unlatched it just in time for the next projectile to bounce off my forehead. "Ow!" I caught it and realised it was just a fleck of gravel. Still - it could have hit me in the eye or something.
Looking down I was about to give whoever was down there a piece of my mind when I recognised who it was.
Will!
The fears I had had for her dropped away - she was there, not missing any obvious bits and not acting like one of her friends had died. They'd made it!
Then reality sank it. It meant that I was going to have to run now. And she was between me and the way out.
I leant out of the window, pointed at the bike shelter, then at myself and down at the bike shelter. Hopefully she'd understand that I meant I would go down to meet her there.
With that done I closed the window, scrawled another few lines onto the 'list of things Will should know' and chucked the 'questions for Cornelia' list into the bin. I wasn't going to have any chance to ask them.
Two minutes later I had pulled the clothes I'd worn the day out of before out of the laundry heap (there was a basket, it was overflowing) and hastily dragged them on. Then I took a deep breath...
And wandered out into the apartment's hall. I didn't check Mom's room - although I was very tempted - instead I walked into the kitchen and replaced the bin bag. If Mom suddenly emerged, either on my departure or Will's return, my reason for being out was taking the trash down. The pizza box along was large enough to justify not keeping it in the kitchen longer than necessary.
Will was waiting for me by the bicycle rack. I stopped halfway there and dropped the bag.
"What's the matter?" she asked and started walking towards me.
I raised my hand for her to halt and then gestured to the bag. "If Mom asks why you stepped out, you were taking out the trash."
"Good idea. You don't have to explain though. I'll remember everything when I absorb you." She took another step forwards.
I took a step back. "I'm not going to let you do that."
"What?"
I pulled out the list and dropped it on the ground. "This should explain." Then I turned and ran out of the yard and onto the street.
"Wait!" I couldn't see Will chase me, but from the sound of feet hitting the tarmac that's what she was doing. "Come back!"
I rounded a corner and got out of her line of sight. I only had to get half a block before there was an alleyway I could get into and hopefully she was tired from her adventure and wouldn't be able to keep running as long as I could. Once I was a couple of corners ahead, she wouldn't know where I was going.
Of course...
...nor did I.
I ducked and weaved through the streets, hoping I wouldn't run myself into a dead end. After a few blocks I ducked behind a car to catch my breath and listened out for any sounds of pursuit.
Nothing.
"Lost her," I muttered, slumping against the car.
"Lost who?"
"Mwaaaah!" I tried to jump up, lost my balance and fell over, knocking my head against the car.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't hurt myself or anything, it was just a little knock. The only serious damage was to my dignity.
"Whoa, that looked awkward," Matt said and crouched to offer me his hand. "Are you okay?"
"I think I'll live," I sighed. "I'm just having an... interesting day." I took his hand and he pulled me upright.
He grinned. "I know the feeling. Is your dormouse getting along okay?"
"He seems to be settling back in. Probably gearing up for another night time rampage."
"You mean he's like that every night?" the boy asked. "How do you get any sleep?"
"That doesn't seem to be a problem, just picking up after him in the morning." Hopefully I wasn't straying too far from the truth. "Mom says I'm a bit of a heavy sleeper."
"I guess he's the perfect pet for you them." Matt looked at our hands and I realised I hadn't let go after he helped me up.
"hehehe. Sorry." I loosened my fingers and let our hands part. What the heck is wrong with me?
"It's fine. So, who are you hiding from?"
"Just someone I didn't want to speak to right now," I hedged.
"One of those conversations you'd rather put off forever?"
"Exactly!"
He laughed. "I've had a few of those myself. If you don't mind some advice, it can be easier just to get them over with."
Well, I guess it was too much to expect him to understand. "Not this sort thing, believe me." I dusted off my pants. "I'd probably better get home before Mom starts worrying. Nice to see you again, Matt."
"Sure." I got a few paces and then he called: "Will? Don't you live sort of..." I turned and saw him pointing off in the other direction. "This way?"
"I'm... going round a couple of blocks. Just to avoid that conversation, you know?"
"Well, okay. See you at school tomorrow!"
"Sure!" That actually sounded rather nice. It was a shame that it wouldn't be happening.
I turned another corner and found myself on a busier street. Well this should make me harder to spot - there weren't many kids my age going in and out of the restaurants along here so everyone was taller than me. I pulled up the hood of my coat and hid my red hair, which might be kind of distinctive.
Okay, I'd gotten away from Will. But I still needed to figure out where to go.
A burst of noise as one door opened caught my attention and I saw that it came from a place called the Silver Dragon. Through the windows it looked warm and hospitable, quite different from the streets. More like the apartment.
Well, there was no going back. And I couldn't go in - I'd need money and I didn't have any.
I was just giving the Silver Dragon one last look when a familiar face caught my eye.
Unfortunately, she'd spotted me too. Hay Lin was wearing an apron and had just delivered a tray of food to one of the window table. She brightened - her face almost literally lightened - and gave me a wave.
Somewhat hesitantly I waved back and then forced a smile onto my face. I don't think that it was very convincing because she tilted her head quizzically and then said something to the couple at the table before scurrying in the direction of the door.
Oops. I turned and ran for the next corner.
I couldn't risk drifting around here any longer. Who knew who I'd run into next? Irma out for a drive with her dad?
I needed a destination, but for now, away would have to do.
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.
The cave hadn't changed since last night: an opening in the cliffs behind one of what I guessed was probably one of several small beaches along Heatherfield's coast. The water was a little higher than I recalled but still a good distance from the entrance.
It was cold and it had taken a good bit longer than I'd expected for me to walk here. I hadn't appreciated just how much faster it was to ride a bicycle. And it would probably have been faster to come straight here from home - from Will's home - than to get lost a couple of times.
I hadn't thought of this cave when I ran away. Not until I was halfway across Heatherfield and pretty much lost.
Will and her friends might well come looking for me, but they'd look in Heatherfield first. It was the only place I knew and while I'm sure there are other towns and cities I'm not sure how to get to them. And I knew that except for Taranee and Will they'd lived in Heatherfield their whole lives. They knew it far better than I.
But if I could get through a portal to Metamoor... well I had no idea what I might find there, but how was I worse off than here? And they wouldn't have much if any better idea about it than I did.
Don't get me wrong, I had some idea that it was dangerous in Metamoor. But what were the risks compared to Will getting hold of me? Would they kill me twice?
There were, I found, just a couple of problems. What does a portal look like and how do you use it?
I'd combed the cave, which wasn't actually all that deep, from end to end without finding anything like another way out. The closest I'd found had been various carvings into the stone walls but most were simply pairs of names - invariably a boy's name and a girl's name together. A couple were more esoteric - there was one set of symbolised flames that had me excited for a few minutes - but nothing I could do to them produced any reaction.
"We closed the portal," a soft voice told me.
I swear, I must have jumped a clear foot off the ground. I'd thought I was alone!
For a second I thought that it was Will, but no. Too tall, too... mature. Will and I were barely out of the stage where we could be called little girls, but this girl hovered on the brink of womanhood with a cool confidence in her eyes. I think I envied her that the most.
Her clothes looked like they belonged in a disco or a party: a tight, belly-baring purple top with flowing sleeves that widened dramatically from her elbows to her wrists, a short skirt, knee high boots - and between boots and skirt striped tights covered her legs.
"Please," I asked her, almost begging. "Can't you open it? I have to get away!"
She folded her arms under her bust and looked me over. "I'm a Guardian of the Veil. It's my job to stop people from going through portals, not to help them." Then she lowered her face slightly. "Still... I can't say I've never used them when I really had to. Tell me, why should I make an exception for you?"
"Because I want to live." The words tore out of me. "I... I'm not a real girl," I confessed. "The others say I'm an astral drop. I was supposed to take someone's place - one of the girls who used this yesterday to go to Metamoor - so that no one noticed she was missing. And I did that! But now... now she wants to destroy me. She doesn't need me anymore."
"I know about astral drops," the Guardian told me. She paused. "They... they're not supposed to be more than reflections of the original."
I hung my head. "I'm... different. Defective, they said. I shouldn't be this way, but I am. I'm not her! I'm not Will and if she forces me back into herself... I'll be gone forever."
Her eyes went wide. "You're afraid?"
Jerkily I nodded my agreement and a moment later I felt her arms around me. It was like the morning before, with Will's Mom.
"You shouldn't have to be afraid. I'm sorry."
There was something in her voice that I didn't understand. "It's not your fault, but please! Let me go through!"
"It's too dangerous," she said regretfully. "For you as much as anyone. But I promise you, you won't be harmed."
"You can't be sure of that!"
"I can." There was total confidence in her voice. "You're right. You are different. It would be wrong of me to take away your life."
I wanted to believe that, to believe in her. But Will had powers I didn't understand, as did her friends. Could this Guardian really protect me from them? I blame these fears for not realising what was odd about her words until a moment later.
"After all," she added, "We're practically sisters."
Light swelled around her, leaving me blinking... and in the embrace of someone closer to my size. Identical in fact.
"Will!?" I choked, terror rising. She had me!
But the dissolution I feared didn't take place. Instead she just rested her forehead against mine. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "This is my fault. I never meant to do this to you."
"I never thought you did. Like Irma said, I'm a mistake."
Will's head moved against mine and I realised she was shaking it. "You're more than that. You're a living person."
"Y-you mean it? You're not going to..."
"No!" Her arms tightened around me. "If you had my memories you'd know I'd never do that. But I guess if you did, you wouldn't be you, would you?"
She started to say more but broke off as I started to sob with relief. Through my tears all I could manage to tell her in explanation was a mumbled: "Thank you."
Thank you for not killing me.
Thank you for believing in me.
Thank you for accepting me.
Thank you for being a far better person than I had imagined.
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.
The door of the apartment opened and I heard the unmistakeable sound of several teenage girls entering.
"So who is it that you want us to meet Will?" asked Irma.
"It's not Elyon, is it?"
"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Hay Lin. "It must be Miss Rudolph! She came back from Metamoor!"
"Hello! That wouldn't be good news! She's our Math teacher! Vive la revolution!"
"Sorry Cornelia, it's not Elyon. And it's not Miss Rudolph either."
"So who is it, Will?"
Well if that wasn't a cue, I didn't know what was. I should probably come out and introduce myself.
Sure.
Any moment now.
"I'll just go get her," Will promised them and opened the door to her - now our - bedroom. "Hey, did you fall asleep?"
Honestly, once she'd gone to school and Mom had left for work, I had - hey, I'd been up all night and no guilt over the fact that so had Will was going to keep me awake. But that had been hours ago. Since lunch I'd been reading some of Will's books. After all the big thing I was missing from my life right know was knowing things. I was so ignorant that even last year's school books were a step up.
Well that was the theory. Actually having read about half of her seventh grade history book I felt dumber than ever but it was better than being bored.
"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and pulled me out into the apartment. "Ta da!"
There was a moment's silence and then...
"Wiiiiilllll!" Irma pointed an accusing finger at me. "You sent your astral drop to school! You can't do that!"
"It is kind of cheating," agreed Cornelia.
"Oh who cares about that," her friend told her. "You can't trust them. Mine agreed to a date with Martin. How do you know she wouldn't start making moves on... on... on... Uriah!"
There was a collective "Eww," from all five of the rest of us.
"Wait, you have to date Martin?" Cornelia brushed a long of blonde hair behind one ear. "Does anyone have a camera I can borrow? This is the sort of memory you'll want to treasure forever..."
"Try it and die, Cornie," Irma groused.
Will's hands formed fists at her sides, but I don't think she was seriously upset. "Guys, I'm the real Will."
Taranee giggled. "You would have done that if you'd thought of it, wouldn't you?"
"Maybe, but that's not the point."
"Then what is the point?"
"The point is that I goofed when I created her. She's not like the others..." A disturbed look crossed Will's face. "You aren't right? I mean... the other astral drops weren't afraid of us, were they?"
"I don't think so."
"Okay, that's good." She - my sister - paused. "Where was I?"
"You goofed." Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "Could you narrow that down for us a bit?"
"ikindofcreatedapersonandifiabsorbheritdbelikekillingher."
The other four girls looked at each other. "What?" "Huh?" "Will?" "oooohhhh!" Hay Lin seemed to be the only one who got it.
"I'm not a copy of Will," I translated. "I'm my own person."
"But... you're not a real person," protested Irma, cementing her status as my least favourite of them.
Will shook her head. "You're wrong, Irma. She is real. I know she is. And that means I can't reabsorb her. I'd be killing her."
Taranee and Irma gave her an 'are you nuts' look, but Cornelia nodded her head thoughtfully. "That makes sense. She got a B on yesterday's Math test. You'd never do that, Will, so her being a different person makes sense."
"I got a B?" She had to be kidding. "Really?"
Will rolled her eyes. "It figures you'd do better guessing answers at random than I would really trying."
I'd have responded to that but I was a bit distracted by Hay Lin's face. Given that it was about three inches from mine. "You must be the Will I saw last night outside the Silver Dragon," she deduced. "Nice to meet you properly... Oh! What's your name?"
"My... name?"
"Yeah, you're not Will, so who are you?"
I blinked. Huh. I honestly hadn't considered that. "I'm... still trying to figure that out."
Taranee pulled at Will's sleeve nervously. "Uhm, what are you going to tell your Mom, Will? I think she might notice if there are two of you."
"Only if she sees us both together!" Will explained. "She's at work a lot and we're working on a way into the loft - that way one of us can hide up there when she's at home. Or I'll be off with you on Guardian business and she can cover for me."
"Or I might go out in the evenings."
"But no sneaking out to Discos," warned Cornelia.
Except for Irma the girls giggled, she just went red. "One time, just one time."
"Uh, I think I'm missing a story...?" I said.
"Irma used her transformation to sneak into that disco in town," Cornelia explained smugly. "She managed to get the attention she wanted from a boy but then she panicked and turned him into a toad."
"We turned him back!" Irma protested.
"After, like, four days," clarified Hay Lin.
Will cleared her throat. "That reminds me. I don't think we should create astral drops again."
"What! But that means if we have to go away, you're the only one that doesn't get in trouble when we get back!"
"That does seem unfair," agreed Taranee. "Why should our families have to worry about us?"
"I don't want them to worry! But..."
"But what if you wind up with astral drops like me? How many of us can there be before someone catches on? You're creating life!"
Irma made a face. "This sounds a lot like health class."
"Let's not ever talk about this like that again," Will offered with her face paler than usual.
"Agreed!" Taranee almost shouted. "My mom would freak!"
"That's not what it's like at all," insisted Cornelia.
"And you totally wouldn't mind having another sister, would you?" Irma asked slyly.
The blonde tossed her hair. "Whose side are you on, anyway?"
"Don't fight," Hay Lin scolded them. She turned back to me and beamed. "I'd kind of like a sister sometimes. Do you think my astral drop would mind if I called her up sometimes just to be a sister?"
...what? "I think you'd be better asking her."
I gave Will an appealing look and she shrugged helplessly. "Look, just be careful, okay? We're responsible for anything they do - and I don't just mean in the 'Mom's going to blame me for anything she does' way."
"I'm right here you know."
"And I was standing right there when she started teasing me about Matt," Will reminded me with her cheeks burning. So were mine.
Irma cackled, apparently forgetting her romantic troubles. "Oooh. You both like him. So who gets him, or will you share?"
"Irma!"
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Later I lay on Will's bed and looked up at the ceiling.
Her Mom had decided to have a nap after the pizza (which was apparently food and very tasty food at that). If I was lucky that 'nap' would last all night - having a cold must be tiring because she looked much sleepier than I felt and she hadn't had to go to school.
Of course that still left me with what to do about Will.
It seemed to me that there were two possibilities: either she would come back or she wouldn't. There was nothing I could do to influence that. And there was no way of knowing how long it would take before she could get back. If she took too long then I'd probably be found out before she got back.
That meant...
I rolled over on the bed and closed my eyes.
Okay, two plans. One for her coming back and one for when I decided she wasn't likely to come back. No, that was wrong. I'd need three plans: the third one for if someone figured out I wasn't really Will.
A nasty thought crossed my mind. Will had created me through magic. What if... 'something' happening to her in Metamoor would make me vanish? Could I exist without her?
There was no way for me to know. I'd have to ask the others at school tomorrow, see if they had any idea. I shivered at the thought. I could just... vanish. Without warning. Without even knowing I was in danger.
I wish I knew how dangerous Metamoor was for her!
So I need three plans. Ummmm... Run away? Sounded good, but where too?
And when should I give up on Will coming back?
I opened my eyes and saw the folded piece of paper with Will's instructions on it. They just covered one day. Did that mean I should expect her sometime tonight? Or just that I should try to follow them every day until she got back?
I didn't think there was school every day. I'd have to ask Cornelia tomorrow. I could probably keep up the pretense for another few days at school. I really ought to make a list of questions to ask her.
Climbing out of bed I rifled through Will's desk until I found a notebook I could write in. Oh! I could use this to write down what's happened so far, I realised. That way Will doesn't get caught out at anything she missed without her having to absorb me!
I was scribbling down about being ill when I got back from school - I didn't think I needed to tell Will exactly why I'd felt ill. She'd probably not be very happy with me. Well, more unhappy than she was probably going to be anyway - when there was a noise against the window.
I gave it a puzzled look - this was on the third floor! - and saw something small bounce off it. What? Was someone throwing something at my - at Will's - bedroom window? I scrambled over and unlatched it just in time for the next projectile to bounce off my forehead. "Ow!" I caught it and realised it was just a fleck of gravel. Still - it could have hit me in the eye or something.
Looking down I was about to give whoever was down there a piece of my mind when I recognised who it was.
Will!
The fears I had had for her dropped away - she was there, not missing any obvious bits and not acting like one of her friends had died. They'd made it!
Then reality sank it. It meant that I was going to have to run now. And she was between me and the way out.
I leant out of the window, pointed at the bike shelter, then at myself and down at the bike shelter. Hopefully she'd understand that I meant I would go down to meet her there.
With that done I closed the window, scrawled another few lines onto the 'list of things Will should know' and chucked the 'questions for Cornelia' list into the bin. I wasn't going to have any chance to ask them.
Two minutes later I had pulled the clothes I'd worn the day out of before out of the laundry heap (there was a basket, it was overflowing) and hastily dragged them on. Then I took a deep breath...
And wandered out into the apartment's hall. I didn't check Mom's room - although I was very tempted - instead I walked into the kitchen and replaced the bin bag. If Mom suddenly emerged, either on my departure or Will's return, my reason for being out was taking the trash down. The pizza box along was large enough to justify not keeping it in the kitchen longer than necessary.
Will was waiting for me by the bicycle rack. I stopped halfway there and dropped the bag.
"What's the matter?" she asked and started walking towards me.
I raised my hand for her to halt and then gestured to the bag. "If Mom asks why you stepped out, you were taking out the trash."
"Good idea. You don't have to explain though. I'll remember everything when I absorb you." She took another step forwards.
I took a step back. "I'm not going to let you do that."
"What?"
I pulled out the list and dropped it on the ground. "This should explain." Then I turned and ran out of the yard and onto the street.
"Wait!" I couldn't see Will chase me, but from the sound of feet hitting the tarmac that's what she was doing. "Come back!"
I rounded a corner and got out of her line of sight. I only had to get half a block before there was an alleyway I could get into and hopefully she was tired from her adventure and wouldn't be able to keep running as long as I could. Once I was a couple of corners ahead, she wouldn't know where I was going.
Of course...
...nor did I.
I ducked and weaved through the streets, hoping I wouldn't run myself into a dead end. After a few blocks I ducked behind a car to catch my breath and listened out for any sounds of pursuit.
Nothing.
"Lost her," I muttered, slumping against the car.
"Lost who?"
"Mwaaaah!" I tried to jump up, lost my balance and fell over, knocking my head against the car.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't hurt myself or anything, it was just a little knock. The only serious damage was to my dignity.
"Whoa, that looked awkward," Matt said and crouched to offer me his hand. "Are you okay?"
"I think I'll live," I sighed. "I'm just having an... interesting day." I took his hand and he pulled me upright.
He grinned. "I know the feeling. Is your dormouse getting along okay?"
"He seems to be settling back in. Probably gearing up for another night time rampage."
"You mean he's like that every night?" the boy asked. "How do you get any sleep?"
"That doesn't seem to be a problem, just picking up after him in the morning." Hopefully I wasn't straying too far from the truth. "Mom says I'm a bit of a heavy sleeper."
"I guess he's the perfect pet for you them." Matt looked at our hands and I realised I hadn't let go after he helped me up.
"hehehe. Sorry." I loosened my fingers and let our hands part. What the heck is wrong with me?
"It's fine. So, who are you hiding from?"
"Just someone I didn't want to speak to right now," I hedged.
"One of those conversations you'd rather put off forever?"
"Exactly!"
He laughed. "I've had a few of those myself. If you don't mind some advice, it can be easier just to get them over with."
Well, I guess it was too much to expect him to understand. "Not this sort thing, believe me." I dusted off my pants. "I'd probably better get home before Mom starts worrying. Nice to see you again, Matt."
"Sure." I got a few paces and then he called: "Will? Don't you live sort of..." I turned and saw him pointing off in the other direction. "This way?"
"I'm... going round a couple of blocks. Just to avoid that conversation, you know?"
"Well, okay. See you at school tomorrow!"
"Sure!" That actually sounded rather nice. It was a shame that it wouldn't be happening.
I turned another corner and found myself on a busier street. Well this should make me harder to spot - there weren't many kids my age going in and out of the restaurants along here so everyone was taller than me. I pulled up the hood of my coat and hid my red hair, which might be kind of distinctive.
Okay, I'd gotten away from Will. But I still needed to figure out where to go.
A burst of noise as one door opened caught my attention and I saw that it came from a place called the Silver Dragon. Through the windows it looked warm and hospitable, quite different from the streets. More like the apartment.
Well, there was no going back. And I couldn't go in - I'd need money and I didn't have any.
I was just giving the Silver Dragon one last look when a familiar face caught my eye.
Unfortunately, she'd spotted me too. Hay Lin was wearing an apron and had just delivered a tray of food to one of the window table. She brightened - her face almost literally lightened - and gave me a wave.
Somewhat hesitantly I waved back and then forced a smile onto my face. I don't think that it was very convincing because she tilted her head quizzically and then said something to the couple at the table before scurrying in the direction of the door.
Oops. I turned and ran for the next corner.
I couldn't risk drifting around here any longer. Who knew who I'd run into next? Irma out for a drive with her dad?
I needed a destination, but for now, away would have to do.
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.
The cave hadn't changed since last night: an opening in the cliffs behind one of what I guessed was probably one of several small beaches along Heatherfield's coast. The water was a little higher than I recalled but still a good distance from the entrance.
It was cold and it had taken a good bit longer than I'd expected for me to walk here. I hadn't appreciated just how much faster it was to ride a bicycle. And it would probably have been faster to come straight here from home - from Will's home - than to get lost a couple of times.
I hadn't thought of this cave when I ran away. Not until I was halfway across Heatherfield and pretty much lost.
Will and her friends might well come looking for me, but they'd look in Heatherfield first. It was the only place I knew and while I'm sure there are other towns and cities I'm not sure how to get to them. And I knew that except for Taranee and Will they'd lived in Heatherfield their whole lives. They knew it far better than I.
But if I could get through a portal to Metamoor... well I had no idea what I might find there, but how was I worse off than here? And they wouldn't have much if any better idea about it than I did.
Don't get me wrong, I had some idea that it was dangerous in Metamoor. But what were the risks compared to Will getting hold of me? Would they kill me twice?
There were, I found, just a couple of problems. What does a portal look like and how do you use it?
I'd combed the cave, which wasn't actually all that deep, from end to end without finding anything like another way out. The closest I'd found had been various carvings into the stone walls but most were simply pairs of names - invariably a boy's name and a girl's name together. A couple were more esoteric - there was one set of symbolised flames that had me excited for a few minutes - but nothing I could do to them produced any reaction.
"We closed the portal," a soft voice told me.
I swear, I must have jumped a clear foot off the ground. I'd thought I was alone!
For a second I thought that it was Will, but no. Too tall, too... mature. Will and I were barely out of the stage where we could be called little girls, but this girl hovered on the brink of womanhood with a cool confidence in her eyes. I think I envied her that the most.
Her clothes looked like they belonged in a disco or a party: a tight, belly-baring purple top with flowing sleeves that widened dramatically from her elbows to her wrists, a short skirt, knee high boots - and between boots and skirt striped tights covered her legs.
"Please," I asked her, almost begging. "Can't you open it? I have to get away!"
She folded her arms under her bust and looked me over. "I'm a Guardian of the Veil. It's my job to stop people from going through portals, not to help them." Then she lowered her face slightly. "Still... I can't say I've never used them when I really had to. Tell me, why should I make an exception for you?"
"Because I want to live." The words tore out of me. "I... I'm not a real girl," I confessed. "The others say I'm an astral drop. I was supposed to take someone's place - one of the girls who used this yesterday to go to Metamoor - so that no one noticed she was missing. And I did that! But now... now she wants to destroy me. She doesn't need me anymore."
"I know about astral drops," the Guardian told me. She paused. "They... they're not supposed to be more than reflections of the original."
I hung my head. "I'm... different. Defective, they said. I shouldn't be this way, but I am. I'm not her! I'm not Will and if she forces me back into herself... I'll be gone forever."
Her eyes went wide. "You're afraid?"
Jerkily I nodded my agreement and a moment later I felt her arms around me. It was like the morning before, with Will's Mom.
"You shouldn't have to be afraid. I'm sorry."
There was something in her voice that I didn't understand. "It's not your fault, but please! Let me go through!"
"It's too dangerous," she said regretfully. "For you as much as anyone. But I promise you, you won't be harmed."
"You can't be sure of that!"
"I can." There was total confidence in her voice. "You're right. You are different. It would be wrong of me to take away your life."
I wanted to believe that, to believe in her. But Will had powers I didn't understand, as did her friends. Could this Guardian really protect me from them? I blame these fears for not realising what was odd about her words until a moment later.
"After all," she added, "We're practically sisters."
Light swelled around her, leaving me blinking... and in the embrace of someone closer to my size. Identical in fact.
"Will!?" I choked, terror rising. She had me!
But the dissolution I feared didn't take place. Instead she just rested her forehead against mine. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "This is my fault. I never meant to do this to you."
"I never thought you did. Like Irma said, I'm a mistake."
Will's head moved against mine and I realised she was shaking it. "You're more than that. You're a living person."
"Y-you mean it? You're not going to..."
"No!" Her arms tightened around me. "If you had my memories you'd know I'd never do that. But I guess if you did, you wouldn't be you, would you?"
She started to say more but broke off as I started to sob with relief. Through my tears all I could manage to tell her in explanation was a mumbled: "Thank you."
Thank you for not killing me.
Thank you for believing in me.
Thank you for accepting me.
Thank you for being a far better person than I had imagined.
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.
The door of the apartment opened and I heard the unmistakeable sound of several teenage girls entering.
"So who is it that you want us to meet Will?" asked Irma.
"It's not Elyon, is it?"
"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Hay Lin. "It must be Miss Rudolph! She came back from Metamoor!"
"Hello! That wouldn't be good news! She's our Math teacher! Vive la revolution!"
"Sorry Cornelia, it's not Elyon. And it's not Miss Rudolph either."
"So who is it, Will?"
Well if that wasn't a cue, I didn't know what was. I should probably come out and introduce myself.
Sure.
Any moment now.
"I'll just go get her," Will promised them and opened the door to her - now our - bedroom. "Hey, did you fall asleep?"
Honestly, once she'd gone to school and Mom had left for work, I had - hey, I'd been up all night and no guilt over the fact that so had Will was going to keep me awake. But that had been hours ago. Since lunch I'd been reading some of Will's books. After all the big thing I was missing from my life right know was knowing things. I was so ignorant that even last year's school books were a step up.
Well that was the theory. Actually having read about half of her seventh grade history book I felt dumber than ever but it was better than being bored.
"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and pulled me out into the apartment. "Ta da!"
There was a moment's silence and then...
"Wiiiiilllll!" Irma pointed an accusing finger at me. "You sent your astral drop to school! You can't do that!"
"It is kind of cheating," agreed Cornelia.
"Oh who cares about that," her friend told her. "You can't trust them. Mine agreed to a date with Martin. How do you know she wouldn't start making moves on... on... on... Uriah!"
There was a collective "Eww," from all five of the rest of us.
"Wait, you have to date Martin?" Cornelia brushed a long of blonde hair behind one ear. "Does anyone have a camera I can borrow? This is the sort of memory you'll want to treasure forever..."
"Try it and die, Cornie," Irma groused.
Will's hands formed fists at her sides, but I don't think she was seriously upset. "Guys, I'm the real Will."
Taranee giggled. "You would have done that if you'd thought of it, wouldn't you?"
"Maybe, but that's not the point."
"Then what is the point?"
"The point is that I goofed when I created her. She's not like the others..." A disturbed look crossed Will's face. "You aren't right? I mean... the other astral drops weren't afraid of us, were they?"
"I don't think so."
"Okay, that's good." She - my sister - paused. "Where was I?"
"You goofed." Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "Could you narrow that down for us a bit?"
"ikindofcreatedapersonandifiabsorbheritdbelikekillingher."
The other four girls looked at each other. "What?" "Huh?" "Will?" "oooohhhh!" Hay Lin seemed to be the only one who got it.
"I'm not a copy of Will," I translated. "I'm my own person."
"But... you're not a real person," protested Irma, cementing her status as my least favourite of them.
Will shook her head. "You're wrong, Irma. She is real. I know she is. And that means I can't reabsorb her. I'd be killing her."
Taranee and Irma gave her an 'are you nuts' look, but Cornelia nodded her head thoughtfully. "That makes sense. She got a B on yesterday's Math test. You'd never do that, Will, so her being a different person makes sense."
"I got a B?" She had to be kidding. "Really?"
Will rolled her eyes. "It figures you'd do better guessing answers at random than I would really trying."
I'd have responded to that but I was a bit distracted by Hay Lin's face. Given that it was about three inches from mine. "You must be the Will I saw last night outside the Silver Dragon," she deduced. "Nice to meet you properly... Oh! What's your name?"
"My... name?"
"Yeah, you're not Will, so who are you?"
I blinked. Huh. I honestly hadn't considered that. "I'm... still trying to figure that out."
Taranee pulled at Will's sleeve nervously. "Uhm, what are you going to tell your Mom, Will? I think she might notice if there are two of you."
"Only if she sees us both together!" Will explained. "She's at work a lot and we're working on a way into the loft - that way one of us can hide up there when she's at home. Or I'll be off with you on Guardian business and she can cover for me."
"Or I might go out in the evenings."
"But no sneaking out to Discos," warned Cornelia.
Except for Irma the girls giggled, she just went red. "One time, just one time."
"Uh, I think I'm missing a story...?" I said.
"Irma used her transformation to sneak into that disco in town," Cornelia explained smugly. "She managed to get the attention she wanted from a boy but then she panicked and turned him into a toad."
"We turned him back!" Irma protested.
"After, like, four days," clarified Hay Lin.
Will cleared her throat. "That reminds me. I don't think we should create astral drops again."
"What! But that means if we have to go away, you're the only one that doesn't get in trouble when we get back!"
"That does seem unfair," agreed Taranee. "Why should our families have to worry about us?"
"I don't want them to worry! But..."
"But what if you wind up with astral drops like me? How many of us can there be before someone catches on? You're creating life!"
Irma made a face. "This sounds a lot like health class."
"Let's not ever talk about this like that again," Will offered with her face paler than usual.
"Agreed!" Taranee almost shouted. "My mom would freak!"
"That's not what it's like at all," insisted Cornelia.
"And you totally wouldn't mind having another sister, would you?" Irma asked slyly.
The blonde tossed her hair. "Whose side are you on, anyway?"
"Don't fight," Hay Lin scolded them. She turned back to me and beamed. "I'd kind of like a sister sometimes. Do you think my astral drop would mind if I called her up sometimes just to be a sister?"
...what? "I think you'd be better asking her."
I gave Will an appealing look and she shrugged helplessly. "Look, just be careful, okay? We're responsible for anything they do - and I don't just mean in the 'Mom's going to blame me for anything she does' way."
"I'm right here you know."
"And I was standing right there when she started teasing me about Matt," Will reminded me with her cheeks burning. So were mine.
Irma cackled, apparently forgetting her romantic troubles. "Oooh. You both like him. So who gets him, or will you share?"
"Irma!"
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.