Chapter Two

Caleb was anxious. He paced purposefully up and down the same dimly lit corridor, his arms deliberately crossed behind his broad back at an awkward angle, and his eyes fixed on the plush red carpet. He knew if he stopped moving, if he allowed himself to raise his gaze to the far wall where the portal stood open, the temptation to step through it would be too great to resist.

Vathek had been gone too long. Almost two hours by his furtive time keeping. He knew that due to the time difference, mere minutes would have passed on earth, but after 40 minutes had been and gone, he had began to worry.

The other guardians had come quickly and of their own accord, as they had every other time they were summoned over the last seven years. Until now, all threats that had required their assistance had been minimal. They had managed without Cornelia. Now, only all five of them had any chance of saving this world he loved so much, and God knows he had done everything within his own power to resolve it without involving any of them. Especially her.

Footsteps approached, and he heard Will's weary voice echoing down the vast corridor.

"You should get some sleep. I'll keep watch until Vathek comes back."

Caleb turned and shook his head at her. Will had barely aged in the last seven years. She was still petite, with her red hair shaped in a bob just beneath her pointed chin. She smiled kindly at him, worry glinting in her eyes.

"No its fine." He responded. "He'd better hurry. We cant keep the portal open much longer, its too risky."

"Do you think he found her?" Will asked quietly.

"Yes." He replied, glancing at the glowing pink orb safely secured around her neck. "The heart of Kandrakar has the power to locate guardians."

"Even ones who don't want to be found?"

Caleb's jaw clenched.

"We don't know for sure that that's the case. Any number of things could have happened."

"Could have... But they haven't."

"You don't know that."

"Caleb..." Will breathed, her tone berating. "I know you don't want to think ill of her. But she walked away. None of us have laid eyes on her since graduation. She doesn't even come back to Heatherfield to visit her parents. We both know that if she had bothered to come when she was called the last time, or the time before that, this all could have been avoided. If she'd have been here for Elyon, then maybe-"

"Stop." Caleb managed.

Will gently laid her hand on his shoulder, or at least she attempted to. Given her small stature, and the height Caleb had grown to, she had to settle for an empathetic pat of his muscled bicep.

Caleb exhaled audibly, his stomach tightening uncomfortably. He couldn't kill the urge to defend Cornelia. Even after she broke his heart all those years ago, he couldn't bear to hear her character called into question. In his mind, she would always be the same frustratingly beautiful young girl he had loved so much.

"Vathek." Will alerted, drawing him out of his reverie.

Caleb spun around, so fast that the already taut muscles in his neck protested at being over extended. Will was right. His friend appeared through the portal, his arms raised to support the minor weight of an unconscious girl.

Caleb had to remind himself to breathe, and in the few seconds it took for him to gain some sense of composure, Will had raised the heart above her head and expertly closed the portal, and Vathek had steadily made his way down the corridor and stopped in front of him.

Caleb's gaze dropped to the girls face. Cornelia's face. Milky porcelain offset by tumbling toffee waves. He forced his eyes to meet Vathek's.

"What happened?" he demanded, his voice deceptively steadier than he felt.

Vathek delicately placed Cornelia on one of the embroidered red fainting couches that lined the corridor. And stood with a shake of his head.

"She resisted." he explained wearily. "She threw all manner of cookware at me, and tried to climb out of a window."

"Is she injured?" Caleb asked, his eyes moving across her still form.

Vathek shuffled uncomfortably. "I had to subdue her." He admitted, his tone slightly defensive.

"I didn't want her to run off when we got through the portal. I was as gentle as I dared. She'll be fine."

Caleb nodded absently, taking in his friends appearance. His right eye was swollen into a squint, and his temple was raised with a ripe bruise, indigo against his blue pallor. His forehead bulged with a large welt.

"What happened to your face?" he enquired.

Vathek raised his hand and pointed to his temple, "Rolling pin." and then to his forehead "Cupboard."

Caleb may have laughed if the circumstances were different. Made a joke that a little girl had managed to inflict such wounds on him. But he didn't.

"Do you think that they found her before we did? Has she been turned against us?"

"I don't believe so Caleb, no."

"Can you be sure?"

Vathek hesitated, then shook his head. "I don't know for certain."

"I don't think so either." Will chimed in. "I think she ignored the call for entirely selfish, entirely human reasons."

"Well I need more than what you two think." Caleb snapped. "I need to know that she can be counted on before I offer her up as a saviour. Lives are at stake."

"Get some sleep." Will repeated, her tone insistent.

Caleb nodded, defeated. He was exhausted. His muscles ached, and his eyes burned from the lack of rest, and he suddenly realised that he could not remember the last time he had actually managed to lay his head down.

"Alright... She can be questioned tomorrow."

"I'll put her in one of the rooms." Vathek offered, motioning to Cornelia.

"Be sure to lock the door." Caleb insisted his voice flat, as Vathek lifted her once again, her head tipped back, and her limbs hung limply. She was still out cold, but he couldn't risk it. "And shackle her."

"Is that necessary?" Will asked surprised.

"I'm not taking any chances." He responded, his eyes glued to her as Vathek carried her away. His gaze travelled down her left arm, towards a persistent glint demanding his attention. On her ring finger, securely set in a delicate pale gold band, was a glittering diamond the size of his smallest finger nail. An engagement ring. She had promised herself to someone else.

He turned and stumbled down the corridor in the other direction, before Will could ask any more questions of him. He half fell into his quaint bedroom, dead-bolted the door, and safe in the knowledge that no one could see him, he broke down.

The morning sunlight leaking through the large bay window was too bright. It shone through her eyelids, as if they were tracing paper, and exasperated the throbbing headache announcing itself in her temples.

Cornelia opened her eyes. The casual observer may confuse the sight that met them as an overstated hotel room. Dramatic sweeping red velvet curtains, and gothic over sized furniture. Large oil paintings of medieval subjects, and a varied array of hand-crafted trinkets and ornaments littered every surface. Cornelia knew better. She knew she was in Meridian, and the feeling of nausea grew as the previous nights events replayed themselves in her mind.

She tried to sit up, and found her muscles tight and uncooperative, and her wrists shackled in a downright barbaric set of heavy misshapen handcuffs.

"Fuckers..." She muttered, wriggling her hands to see if she could squeeze them from the restraint. No.

The heavy oak door clicked as several locks from the other side were released, and then swung open, painfully slowly, the visitor obscured from her view until it was all the way open. Vathek entered the room, followed by another that Cornelia didn't recognize. A third figure remained hidden in the safety of the doorway, but she could see his shadow as he paced.

"Good morning Earth Guardian." Vathek greeted. The stranger bowed his head to her courteously.

"My name, is Cornelia." She replied venomously, as loud as her dry throat would allow. She suspiciously eyed the glass of water that had been set on the dresser next the bed. The shackles were too heavy for her to reach it.

"How is your head?" Vathek asked her, with genuine concern.

"How's yours?" she glared back.

"We need to ask you some questions." The stranger interjected impatiently, obviously intent on playing the role of bad cop in the scenario. "Why did you ignore the call?"

Cornelia didn't answer. She focused her eyes on the rhythmically drifting shadow, just beyond the door. Back and forth, back and forth. The questions continued, in increasingly impatient tones, but the voices sounded far away.

"Guardi-" Vathek started, as she regained her concentration. "Cornelia have you had any contact with anyone from Meridian in recent months? Elyon for example?"

"What..?"

"Have you?"

Why would they ask her that, knowing the efforts she had gone to to avoid coming back? Did common sense not make the render the enquiry rhetorical?

"I want to go home." She said, bypassing their inane attempt at interrogation.

The young man she didn't know leant towards her. His confusion evident, and spluttered through gritted teeth, "Please answer the questions Miss."

His disdain for her was tangible, but at the same time her big blue eyes and gentle curves enticed him. He looked as if he was grappling with two equally weighted desires. The first was to hit her, the second was to kiss her. Cornelia fixed him with her steeliest glare.

"I don't want to play this stupid game. I want to go home. NOW!"

"Cornelia have you-"

"NOW!" she shrieked.

Her voice was shrill and it shredded her throat. Her chest felt tight, and panic started to rise. Her two visitors, looked at her with widened eyes, and then to the owner of the shadow as he stormed into the room.

"You two, out." He ordered gruffly. "Go and brief the other guardians on the situation."

Vathek began to protest. "I don't think that's the best-"

"I can handle this!" He spat.

Cornelia watched them obediently leave the room, then turned her gaze to the man who had just offhandedly described her as a 'situation', and her heart painfully jolted in her chest. Caleb. Standing at well over six feet tall, his faded black tee shirt, struggling to contain his almost disproportionately large torso, which shuddered with his ragged breaths. His deep blue eyes were wide, and darkened to the colour of an impending storm with barely concealed rage.

Her mouth tried to form his name, and failed. She tried to look away, and couldn't. She to move, blink, do anything, and found that she was rooted to the spot.

He slammed the door closed, and locked it in one swift, angry motion, and then turned to her.

"What the hell?!" He exploded.

Cornelia jumped, and found that she was capable of movement once again. She didn't speak, unsure that her voice would still work.

She had only woken from a somewhat involuntary slumber minutes before. She had not had time to prepare herself for this. She hadn't practised what she might say, or what he would throw in her face first. She had been completely blind sided.

"What is the matter with you?" he demanded, moving to the bed with a few minimal strides of his long legs.

She was frozen in an awkward lotus position, and, she suddenly realised, wearing nothing but a restrictively tight red tank top, and a pair of pink satin pyjama shorts. And just one fluffy bunny slipper.

He stopped in front of her. He was too close. She could see the faded threadbare patches in his Tee shirt barely containing his bulk, and the faint silvery scars that criss-crossed his strong tanned forearms. The smell of him overwhelmed her, the muskiness of soil, diluted with the slightly sweet scent of rain water. He looked older. Early lines from a hard life had began to etch themselves in the corners of his eyes. The occasional grey hair peppered his dark mane.

Cornelia opened her mouth to speak, and the closed it again just as quickly, when he continued, barely pausing for breath.

"Do you have any idea of the danger we are in? Of what me and the other Guardians have been fighting to prevent, while you sit on your ass and watch another pointless day go by? And then you have the nerve, after we have to waste time that we do not have to come an fucking get you, to flat out refuse to answer a handful of questions?! You do not speak to my men like that."

He stopped, breathing ragged, stormy eyes fixed on hers, as if daring her to speak. To challenge him.

"What do you want me to say?" She managed to whisper evenly.

"Anything." he spat. "Anything. Fucking defend yourself, answer the questions, make me understand."

"I could never make you do anything Caleb." Cornelia said quietly.

He exhaled, shakily, and squeezed his eyes shut, as if hearing her say his name pained him. He turned his head, and she couldn't see his expression. Silence fell on the room, and it seemed as if hours passed. She was surprised to hear her own voice break it.

"I haven't had any contact with anyone from Meridian." She offered. "I ignored the calls because I did not want to come back here. No one prevented me. I had no ulterior motive. I just didn't want to."

"You took an oath." Caleb reminded her, trying to keep his voice calm, but the disdain came through. "You gave your word that you would come back if you were needed. Does that mean nothing to you?"

"I was 15 years old." Cornelia said. "I wanted a normal life, agreeing to that oath was the only way I could have that!"

"So you lied?"

"No! I- I just didn't think I would ever have to."

"People are dying. Brutally and daily. Only all 5 guardians can help stop this Cornelia. I don't care what you want."

"You never did."

He ignored her.

"You know what? When all of this is over, you can go back to your nice little life and get a pretty manicure, alright? But for now your stuck here. Get your head in the game, get dressed, and meet the others downstairs."

He leant over her, and not so gently unlocked the shackles that bound her wrists. His rough fingers brushed her skin, and left warm tingling trails where they touched. He withdrew his hands the second she was freed as if the contact repulsed him, and stealthily left the room. She heard his gruff voice carrying down the corridor as he barked at someone he found there, and the crack in her heart that had never completely healed, began to open.

"Keep her away from me."

Reviews would be greatly appreciated guys. Please reassure me that someone is reading my ramblings..