&&000 W.I.T.C.H. A Bridge Between Worlds &&111 &&000 p1 &&111 =HayLin had magical powers. She was a Guardian of the Veil. She could fly. She could transform herself into an all-powerful being. She had even fought against evil guards at a palace in another world! But there was one thing that =HayLin couldn't get out of -- cleaning up her family's restaurant after a big party. Her parents were very strict about having her help out at their restaurant, the =SilverDragon. After a huge party in the banquet room, the back area was a total disaster. The night before, people had filled the place, having a great time, eating lots of food, and making a mess. While other people she knew napped or snacked their way through the weekend, =HayLin did the cleanup thing, scrubbing, sweeping, and polishing. &&000 p15 &&111 =HayLin suppressed another giggle. =Cornelia was playing dumb, which was as ludicrous as well, as ludicrous as me trying to save the world, =HayLin thought with a shrug. Put that way, I guess nothing seems so unbelievable anymore. =HayLin focused hard and channeled all her magical energy into the minitornado. The cyclone was jammed with trash by now. Just before it overflowed, =HayLin was able to guide it to a garbage bag in the corner. =Crackle =tinkle =crash! The tornado tossed its load neatly into the plastic bag. Now the funnel was whirling itself away. Within seconds, it had died down to a gentle breeze. &&000 p30 &&111 =Fruuuuush, hummed the rain shower. At least, that's what it did in =Elyon's imagination -- and on the parchment spread out on her ornate, gold-trimmed desk. With a craggy, oversized pencil in the shape of a twig, =Elyon was sketching raindrops streaming onto a city street, spattering against cement, and glistening in the glow of a streetlamp. It wasn't =Metamoor she was drawing. In this world -- the world that she now knew as her birthplace and her destiny -- the weather was always the same. It never rained. Then again, the sun never shone, either. The leaves on the trees never withered, and the only flowers that thrived were in the mystical garden of =Elyon's brother, Prince =Phobos. &&000 p 45 &&111 Only one thing remained from her daydream -- a surge of hope. "My mom will explain everything to me," she whispered to herself as she gazed out her window once more at the prison. "She used to explain things so well. She was so good a that sort of thing." On impulse, =Elyon hugged herself, wrapping her arms around her body, the way she'd done as a child whenever she'd felt content -- when she'd made a good drawing, when there'd been chocolate ice cream for dessert, when she'd had a play date with =Cornelia. Remember, =Elyon, she could hear her mother say, you can erase any mistake. &&000 p 60 &&111 Oh, wow, =Irma thought. Whatever happened with =Will's mom, who was dating a =Sheffield history teacher, was definitely big news. =Irma know that =Will was not very happy about the situation. "I'm s glad I had an excuse to get out of there," =Will sighed to her friends. "=Irma's dinner invitation was the perfect excuse to leave." =Taranee, the voice of reason, as always, piped up, "But why? Didn't you say Mr =Collins was getting to be almost nice?" "There's a huge difference," =Will protested, "between a nice guy and a father!" "Oh, come on," =HayLin cried! =Irma could just picture =HayLin's eyes becoming wide and questioning. &&000 p 75 &&111 The moment the words came out of her mouth, =Cornelia's anger fired up. What am I saying, She scolded herself? I'm magical. I shouldn't sit here passively hoping for results. I should create them! =Cornelia marched back to =Irma's bedroom door and pushed it open a crack. "What are you doing," =Irma whispered to =Cornelia's back? "Just investigating a bit," =Cornelia replied, peeking down the hallway. She listened closely to see if she could hear any snatches of conversation coming from the dining room. Nothing. It was silent. &&000 p 90 &&111 "What," =Will cried? She could picture =Cornelia, scared and shivering as she gazed down at the agents' car from her window. "Do they think you had something to do with =Elyon's disappearance?" "I don't know," =Cornelia said. I must have made them suspicious last night. The minute I go outside, they'll start following me." "Well so what," =Will said? "You've got nothing to hide, right?" "Today we're going to =Elyon's house to close the portal in the basement," =Cornelia reminded her. "Right," =Will said, slapping her forehead! With all the mom-daughter drama going on in her own home, she'd completely forgotten about the Guardian drama awaiting her outside. &&000 p 105 &&111 Oh, =Vathek though in disappointment. He was expecting something a little more dramatic. "With all the spells in your power," he demanded of the Guardian, "you couldn't create anything but an old man?" "It's a double of =Matt's grandfather," =Will explained. "We call them astral drops. He knows everything the real man knows -- which means he can drive!" =Will turned her back on =Vathek and muttered to herself, "At least I hope so! Whenever I create an astral drop, I always goof something up." What, =Vathek thought in alarm? He opened his mouth to voice his protest when, suddenly, the astral grandfather interrupted him. &&000 p 120 &&111 Feeling pretty good about her magical stunt, =Cornelia smiled to herself as the van travelled away from her apartment building. The agents were a distant memory, too. =Cornelia's engine plan had worked! In the front seat, =Will looked surprised to have shaken the meddlers so easily. "What happened," =Will asked? "Oh," =Cornelia said coyly. She perched her pointy chin on the ledge of the back-to-front window and grinned. "I spotted a little plant sprouting from the asphalt beneath the agents' car. I just helped it grow -- around the carburetor, the starter valve, and a few other crucial bits of the engine!" &&000 p 134 &&111 "=Aaagh," =Taranee cried, shielding her eyes from the light! When it had subsided, she quickly blinked away the spots that had formed behind her lids. Then she blinked harder! The mutant bug was nowhere to be seen. "Huh," =Will said? "Where did it go?" =Skreek. Incredulously, =Taranee and her friends looked down. The formerly huge insect had shrunk to the size of a quarter! Now the squishable little squirt was fleeing across the stone floor. "=Eeeewww! Gross," =Irma said as she watched the critter go. "Now it's really giving me the creeps!" "I can't believe it," =Will said. "That ray from the Heart must have shrunk it."