-Occurring throughout book 7- (This chapter was too long so it's split up into two parts. This is Part One duh!)

I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited with my rebel army around the pool in the courtyard located just outside Phobos' palace. Vathek, who had just switched sides from being Cedric's henchman to be my second in command, had gone through a portal he knew to go to an Earth library to get some vital books for us. The rebels were standing by because as soon as he came back, we were going to relocate ourselves to the Meridian plains.

"Where is he?" Aldarn mumbled next to me. I looked up at the sun. I'd say we've been here for half an hour already.

"I knew we never should have trusted him! He's probably not going to come back!" Flormbart cried out. I rolled my eyes. Flormbart, a short, green, man with orange spots, and I had never been on good terms. He still didn't trust me because I was an ex-murmurer.

"Don't give up hope yet, Flormbart" I stated calmer than I felt, "he'll be here"

I must've said the magic word because right then, a large blue figure appeared not far underneath the water.

"Thank goodness!" Aldarn exclaimed in relief as he and I reached in to pull Vathek out.

"Sorry I'm late" he said after we got him out fully. I was out of breath. How much does he weigh?

"S'alright" I said between pants. "Did you get all the books?"

He handed me the stack and I went through them. I had asked him to get me some books about war and war strategies on Earth to see if there was anything I could use here in Meridian. As I quickly looked through the titles he had gotten, I knew that he'd gotten me exactly what I needed.

But I looked curiously at him when I read the back of the last book.

"Frankenstein?" I asked him with a taunting smile. He plucked the book from my hands and tucked it into his jacket pocket.

"That one's personal reading" he commented, slightly embarrassed. I laughed lightheartedly. "It sounds good. Let me read it when you're done" I told him with a smile.

I swiftly handed the other books to Aldarn with the instructions to run to our supply stash which we were going to move later that night, and put the books there.

"All right" I shouted turning to the rebels. "We've got to move now or…"

I stopped when I noticed that Vathek was looking around the courtyard, panicking.

"Vathek? What's wrong?" I asked him with concern.

"Where is she? Didn't she come out before me?" as asked in a panicked voice as he searched among the gathered rebels who all looked at him, mystified.

"Who, Vathek?" Flormbart asked, suspicious of Vathek as he was of me.

"Don't tell me she didn't come out!" he exclaimed.

Just then, I noticed something with my peripheral vision. I turned and saw that there was a figure in the water. Distorted as it was, I managed to make out one thing: it was slowly getting smaller!

As it clicked in my mind that whoever it was was drowning, my rebel leader instincts kicked in and I jumped into the water head first. Unfortunately, I was part plant and not part fish because my vision was seriously blurry and I could hardly see the girl. I reached out with my hand to see if I could manage to grab on to some part of her to pull her out. My hand closed around a delicately small wrist on my first try.

Thank God! I was starting to loose my breath from being so far under. I quickly started to swim upwards, pulling the girl with me. Once I broke the surface with a gasp, Vathek helped get us out of the pool. Standing on the outside but still holding on to the girl I pulled her out of the water.

And almost dropped her back in from shock.

It was her: the girl I had been dreaming about, the girl whom I had first seen in this very pool, the angel of my nightmares, my Juliet (yes, I do read other things besides war books). And my imagination had been right because judging from her outfit and from what I'd heard about the former Guardians, she was definitely a Guardian of the Veil. Even though she was soaking wet, she was still the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen and I was at a loss for words.

Luckily, Vathek snapped me out of my zombie state. "I don't know what happened. I lost her somewhere along the way" he apologized.

Somehow, I managed to find my voice. "Well, she made it out. That's the important thing" I told him in an attempt to comfort him. She had been leaning against me heavily, spluttering, but when she heard me speak, I felt her small wings move against my chest as she turned around in my arms to face me. Even as she did so, I kept one arm around her waist, terrified that if I let go of her, she'd disappear.

She looked at me in the same amazement that I looked at her. When our eyes locked, I couldn't help but get this feeling of being…safe. It was a feeling I hadn't experienced since I started leading the rebels and I started to doubt my mind. Maybe I really was dreaming again. But when her small, smooth hand touched my striped cheek, that was all the proof I needed to know that she was the real deal.

"You're safe now" I whispered to her as I moved some hair from her amazingly beautiful face. I said those three words to her but also to myself. I felt like kissing her right then and there.

"Who's that?" a rebel I'd come to know as Drusilla blurted out. I was forced to look away from her to address the female rebel. I was kind of annoyed. Some of the rebels were getting unruly and making accusations.

"She's not one of us"

"She can't stay here"

"And she's ugly"

The last comment came from Flormbart and I have to say it really got me pissed off. How dare he call the girl of my dreams ugly! I opened my mouth to retort something but the Guardian beat me to it.

"Have you looked in the mirror lately?" she snapped, her fists balled and her wings extended fully. I looked at her in amazement. She'd taken the words right out of my mouth. My rage boiled down a bit as I realized just how much we were meant for each other.

"She'll bring us problems" Flormbart advised, ignoring her outburst completely.

It was really hard for me to control my anger when I wanted to punch him. "Be quiet!" I snapped at him specifically. Then I looked beyond him at the sea of rebels. "All of you!" I added. "I can vouch for her!"

I held her a little closer to me and turned to look at her. She was smiling at me thankfully and my heart felt light as a feather.

"Caleb!" came a cry from somewhere beyond the crowd. A small shaggy figure ran towards me. I recognized him as Gadli and chastised him in my mind for having timing as bad as Aldarn.

When he reached me, he almost collapsed with exhaustion. "They're coming!" he cried out.

Vathek came over to help support him before he collapsed on the floor. "It's the end!" he cried out in fear. Gadli didn't need to explain what was going on because I felt it in my bones already but he continued. "The soldiers spotted us. They're about to attack!"

Panic swept through the crowd.

"It's hopeless!" Drusilla cried.

"I knew it!" said another unrecognized voice.

Even I was scared. The guards were coming? We weren't ready! We were supposed to be gone my now! I tried to think of what to do while trying not to let them see my fear. I put on a determined face and thought. If we took the back roads by the old well maybe we could…

Suddenly, the girl slipped her arm through mine and hugged it in fear. She was depending on me completely and somehow, that made me feel braver. Rapidly, I started to feel as determined as I was pretending to be.

"I knew you'd bring us problems" Flormbart said to my dream girl with a glare. I suddenly realized that I didn't even know her name.

She released my arm and her fists balled up again in fury that mirrored my own as she turned to face him. "Stop it!" she retorted in anger.

Before the situation got worse (by worse I meant either the rebels getting completely out of hand or me turning Flormbart into an orchid), I took charge.

"Vathek!" I said in my most commanding voice. "Take one group with you. The others will follow me"

"Right" he said, quickly gathering his wits and indicating to his group that had been assigned to him prior. I put a hand on the girl's shoulder and led her through an archway as I ushered my group out hurriedly. "Come on, let's go" I told her as I struggled to stay with her as we made our escape with the rebels.

"They're close!" she called out to me over the panicked noises of the crowd. I couldn't tell where they were myself but I trusted her instincts.

"We'll never make it!" came a cry from behind us.

"Quick!" someone else cried frantically. "they can't catch us!"

Suddenly, my dream girl stopped. Naturally, I stopped too. I was about to tell her that we had to keep going when someone pushed me from behind and I was once again swept up in the rush of the escaping Metamoorians. I quickly broke free of the crowd and ran back to where she was. I noticed her staring down over the wall at a scene being played out. I looked too and saw three guards bullying a young girl with straw colored hair. One of the generals took her necklace as she struggled against another two that were holding her. As I got closer to my dream girl, I could hear what the girl below was saying.

"I'm Elyon!" the young girl insisted, "The Princess!"

The princess? The Light of Meridian? She was here?

As these questions ran through my mind, I finally reached the Guardian. I was about to tell her that we had to keep moving when her expression suddenly became extremely determined. Not noticing that I was standing behind her, she leapt right over the wall and dropped nine feet to where the girl and the two guards were. I stayed up top and watched in amazement as she landed gracefully on her feet. I had no idea what she planned on doing.

"And I was her best friend!" she declared, landing in a crouching tiger position.

"Cornelia!" the Light exclaimed. The name swam through the chaos in my mind like a small fish, maneuvering easily and causing me to loose my breath. It was a beautiful name and in my mind it matched her perfectly.

The fish was caught in a net however when I felt a tug on my arm and spun around to see Aldarn had rejoined us.

"C'mon, Caleb! We have to go!" he shouted at me.

I shot another glance at my dream girl, to see her expertly trapping a guard with vines that she had manipulated from a nearby wall. It was then that she stopped being a 'dream girl' in my mind. She had a name, a duty as the Earth Guardian, and she was perfectly capable of handling herself. I had a duty too, to protect my people and get them to safety.

I smiled despite myself as these thoughts went through my mind. I turned back to Aldarn as he resumed his run and I followed after him. But the fish was still there.

Cornelia…