Here's the next chapter, cut in half, as always. ;)

Chapter Nine

“Sooo… I’m guessing that I get to keep my memories,” Chloé said to me, giggling a little.

“Yeah,” I said, trying not to sound too depressed.

“I was afraid to ask during that meeting. I was hoping they would forget if I didn’t ask.” Chloé said, skipping a little. 

“Yeah, we voted. Three against two.” I said.

We were still walking through the cave. Somehow, it seemed longer than when we were coming through it the first time. Chloé smiled wide and swung her arms. I could tell she was happy. So happy she was blinded to my misery and fear. At least, I thought she was blind to it.

“You okay?” She asked suddenly, slowing her pace to match my stiff gait.

“Yes,” I said immediately.

“Uh, no you’re not. If you were okay you wouldn’t have said that you would have shrugged or said something depressing.”

I looked up at her. “Is that actually true?”

“No. Well, kind of. Mostly I just said it so you would look up and I could see your eyes.” She studied them closely. “I can always tell how you’re feeling by your eyes,”

I blinked and looked down. “I guess… No, I’m really fine.”

“I don’t believe you for a second. But I know when people need space. You know where to find me.” She gave me a warm smile and moved over to walk next to Caleb and Arivas.

I looked down and kept walking. Should I tell them what I was worried about? It was like telling them about losing their memories. But worse. 

We reached the top part of the cave and I looked out into the forest. I wondered where we were in the world. It looked like nowhere I had seen before. I was going to ask Ayers, but he spoke before I could.

“Okay, everyone, gather round. This is something Guardians learn once their eighteen, so, Grey, you don't know how this works.” Ayers called out from the opening of the cave.

My friends and I drew closer, forming a kind of circle.

Ayers smiled at all of us. “This is called teleportation. It’s… well, it’s what it sounds like. I believe Keanu used this method to bring you here.”

Ayers closed his eyes and raised his hands.

I closed mine, too, slowly, gently. I raised my head and felt the sun from outside the cave hit my cheek. Then I heard a sound like a waterfall, and the feeling of sunlight gave way to a soft, nudging, waving unclear sensation.

I opened my eyes and would've gasped, but I couldn’t. We were inside a huge orb of water. Light bounced and reflected off of everything, flashing in my eyes in all colors imaginable. Bubbles floated from my laughing mouth.

I looked at my friends and Ayers. Ayers still had his eyes closed, but a huge, peaceful smile had spread across his face. Caleb looked shocked and amazed, staring back at me with his eyes flashing happiness. Chloé looked like she might collapse in a heap of joy and laughter, and she kept turning around to look out of the orb. Arivas was staring upwards, an expression of quiet amazement on her face. Her hair was floating up around her, and I wondered how it felt for her to be a water Elemental in the presence of this amazing power.

I looked back at Caleb. His expression had stilled, and he was still looking at me. I saw his lips moving, and bubbles floated up around him, reflecting light into his blond hair and blue eyes, making him glow. His lips formed the words, “beautiful,’.

At the moment I thought he was talking about the water, but later I found out he wasn’t. I smiled at him and closed my eyes, feeling the gentle currents tip me slowly from side to side.

Then, suddenly, there was a huge popping sound and I opened my eyes. Water was raining down around us, the water from our orb. It had popped, and as I looked around I saw we were in the library again. I was a few inches from the ground, floating. But then whatever was holding me disappeared and I fell onto the ground.

I collapsed onto my knees, my wet hair falling around my shoulders in a black soaking sheen. I burst out laughing, and Chloé joined in.

When I could breathe properly again, I looked up and saw Ayers was gone. The library was just as we had left it. Nothing was wet, and my clothes and hair were already drying. Caleb was standing, and I had the odd feeling he had just been looking at me but had turned his gaze at the last moment. Arivas was smiling at me and Chloé.

“What now? How long have we been gone?” I said once I stopped laughing. I don’t know why I was suddenly so happy. Something about being inside that bubble of water. Maybe Water heals more than wounds.

“I don’t know,” Arivas said, standing. She scanned the room until she found a clock on the wall.

“Guys, it’s time for lunch! They’ll be in the eating hall now,” Arivas said, turning around.

“Really? At least it’s Saturday, so we’re not missing any classes.” I said, feeling my hair. It had dried completely, and so had my clothes. Everyone else was dry, too.

Caleb ran a hand through his hair. “Gosh, this is so strange. This morning I had no idea there even were Elementals, and now I’m friends with… now I personally know the Guardian of Darkness.”

When he hesitated, I was worried about what else he might say. Would he have declared us friends? I certainly considered us friends after what just happened. Would he have said he had a crush on me? 

“Well… Caleb, we are friends. As long as you stop hanging out with your jerk friends,” I said, smiling.

“Even if you don’t know karate, I still wouldn’t want to be on your bad side,” Chloé said.

Caleb laughed, and I smiled at him.

The last section of chapter nine! This is really weird for me, because I've already written to chapter 23 in google docs, and as I copy and paste this in I keep finding mistakes!

Chapter Nine 

That night, we never went out to dinner as we had planned. Instead, we ended up still in the library. Caleb brought all his homework over, and we helped each other study for tests. I found out that science was Caleb’s least favorite class, Geography his second favorite, and Writing and Composition his ultimate favorite. 

Arivas finally got around to answering those letters, and she read each one of them aloud to us. Most were from random boys around the school who wanted her to date them, and sounded something like this,

My Dearest, Arivas,

Will you go to prom with me? I love the way your hair looked when it was dyed pink, and I still love it now, too! Your eyes sparkled like the sun! You are my sun, my everything!

Love,

Jake Myers

Some of them were badly composed poems, some of them were wonderfully composed poems, some of them were messages from people who just assumed that she knew who they were and so they didn’t sign.

As Arivas finished reading one of the good poems aloud, Caleb looked up from his math book, in which I was helping him with Geometry. “All these boys like you so much, how come you don’t have a boyfriend?” 

“Well, first of all, I’m not going to date until I’m fifteen, just like Grey. I think boys should be mature before they go around asking for girls. And secondly…” Arivas looked upwards, her eyes focusing on nothing and her face taking on a dreamy expression. “Secondly… there’s already a boy I love.”

I looked up from Caleb’s math book. “Really? I didn’t know this.” 

Chloé raised her head from her Geography book and scooted a little closer to Arivas, smiling.

“His name is Logan White, and he––”

“Logan?” Caleb broke in. “I’m good friends with him,”

Arivas sprung from her chair, spilling pink and white letters everywhere. “Really? Do you know if he likes me?” She asked eagerly.

“Um, actually, he, uh, he does,” Caleb said hesitating a little at every word, probably wondering if it was rude of him to betray his friend. “He’s always staring over at your table, anyway,”

“Really? Oh my gosh! Yes!!” Arivas sprung up and danced in a circle, then pounced on Caleb again. “What’s he like up close? I’ve only ever really seen him at baseball practice,”

“Uh, he’s nice. Super nice, I think he’s the nicest boy in the school, actually. He’s funny, he’s smart, he has a little brother that he’s always looking out for.”

Arivas smiled. “Can I meet him?”

“Uh, yes, but why do you even need to ask?” Caleb said.

“Because I want you to introduce me!” Arivas said.

“What? Why?”

“I could never walk up to him on my own! If you introduce me, then I’ll be able to talk to him!”

“Um… Sure, I guess I could do that… sometime. Maybe.” Caleb said uncertainly.

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful, luckily. I don’t think I could have handled anything else happening. I was relieved when Chloé glanced up at the clock and said that we should be getting to bed. She and Arivas left quickly, saying they had to mail a letter and they’d meet me back at our room.

I was left alone with Caleb.

I stood there awkwardly for a moment but then spoke. “Thanks for… hugging me, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Caleb said.

There was silence.

“We should get to bed. It’s 9:00, and I need to be back there at 9:30. I haven’t had someone deciding my bedtime since I was five.” I said.

I swung my backpack onto my back, making sure that I had all my books inside. Caleb did the same, and we both exited.

We walked down the mostly empty halls together. As we passed windows, I saw it was raining again outside. California winters––rain, then bright sun, then rain again. 

When we came to the place where Caleb turned off to go to the boy’s dorms, he looked back over his shoulder.

“Grey, if you… If you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to me.” Then he turned and walked away, his head down.

I stood there for a moment, looking after him. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

As Caleb turned another corner and disappeared from my sight, I sighed and began to walk to my dorm. 

Here's chapter ten. This one will be cut a lot because it's 11 pages. 

Chapter Ten

“Fun fact of the day!” Chloé called out from under her bedside table, where she was looking for a pen. “Today’s the winter solstice, longest night and shortest day of the year. We only get about nine and a half hours of daylight today.”

Chloé slid out from under the bedside table, brandishing her pen. “Found it!”

“Mmmh-hmm gmm- mm-hmm hrm-hrmy?” Arivas said from under the blankets she was wrapped in, to ward off the cold.

“What? We can’t understand you through the blanket,” I said.

Arivas stuck her head out from the folds of her voluminous blue comforter and repeated her question. “Does that mean we get to go to bed early? I need a nap,”

“Well, we can’t exactly stay up very late due to the new curfew,” I sighed, slumping in my bed, where I was reading my history textbook.

Arivas and Chloé exchanged a look, and then Chloé made her way over to me. She plopped down onto the bed next to me. “You wanna talk?” 

“Not really.” I sighed.

“You sure? Because there’s definitely something wrong.”

Arivas picked up her blanket and walked over, trailing the end of the comforter on the floor. She sat down next to me. “Please tell us. I feel so sad when you don’t let us close to you.”

I looked down. “I’m a little worried about Jivanta,”

“Of course you are!” Arivas said. “If you weren’t, I’d be worried about your mental health.”

I smiled a little but the expression quickly evaporated. “I’m not worried about myself,” I explained. “I’m… I’m worried about you.”

“Why?” Chloé said, surprised. 

“Because… what if Jivanta finds me? And then I have to, I don’t know, shoot shadows at her or something. And then what if you guys are there and you get hurt? What if Jivanta hurts you? You’ve already gotten into so much trouble because of me. I’d feel horrible if you were hurt.”

Arivas wrapped a large part of the blanket around me and Chloé. “Grey, we know being your friends has its risks. We’re perfectly aware of that. But we’re still going to be your friends. We’re not going to leave you all alone just because there’s a little risk.”

Chloé’s hand found mine under the blanket. “Yeah. And if we were seriously worried about our safety, we wouldn’t be here now, we’d already be gone.”

“Thanks, guys,” I said. 

But I still felt scared. What if they weren’t just hurt? What if one of them actually died? I could never forgive myself. I heard the whispers of ghosts creeping into my mind again.

“I kind of want to go to bed,” I said. 

Arivas and Chloé went back to their beds, and I flopped onto my back. After a minute of staring at the ceiling, I rolled out of bed and changed into my pajamas. 

I glanced at my clock. 10:04.

I sighed and closed my curtains, pulling back the sheets and flopping into my bed. I yanked the thick comforter over my head and heard either Arivas or Chloé switch off the light with a sharp yet quiet click.

Almost immediately, I drifted off, the voices of ghosts filling my mind and blocking out any other sound.

I shot straight up in bed, my eyes flashing around the pitch black room. I was cold, freezing cold, despite being under the huge comforter. A shaft of moonlight shone from the window lighting up a rectangle on the floor with bright pale moonlight.

What woke me up?

I felt very awake, very alert, and very energized as if I had just slept for years. Arivas and Chloé were breathing heavily, and I knew they weren’t going to wake up any time soon. They might as well have been knocked out.

I slid out of bed, my bare feet touching the soft carpet gently and silently. I scanned the room again, looking for whatever made me wake.

And I saw her, standing by the mirror on the wall.

She was tall, with long silvery hair and bright, shining white eyes. She was wearing a flowing white dress, and her long fingers seemed to twinkle with the light of the stars. Her skin was so pale it was white, and a soft glow emanated from her.

She wasn’t looking at me. She was looking into the mirror, and her hand was reached out to touch it. I stared. She had no reflection.

“A ghost,” I whispered, inaudible except to me.

The girl was a ghost, but different from all the others I had seen. She had more form. She was more solid. She looked more real. All the other ghosts I had seen were sort of hazy and unclear, without any firm shape.

The girl turned from the mirror and face me, smiling. She spoke, but I couldn’t understand her words, except that her voice was high and silvery, like bells on ice.

I looked at her, confused, and she laughed and shook out her hair. Then she turned and stepped through the door, through the actual wood of the door, and I cried out softly.

“Wait!” I whisper-screamed after her. I needed to follow her. I didn’t know why, but I needed to.

I followed after her, swinging open the door and running down the hall, barefoot. The door almost closed, leaving just a crack open. 

I raced after the ghost girl, who was as fast as the wind. She leaped down the hall, her hair flying out behind her and her laughter echoing down the hall. As we ran past windows, the moon winked in and watched, his worried eye wider than I’d ever seen.

I flew down halls, chasing after the girl. I never stopped to think where I was going, or why I was going there. We tore around corners and I threw open a heavy door and suddenly I was outside. In the cold, winter night, with the moon watching from above.

The ghost girl was standing far away, under a tree. The only light was her’s and the moon’s. My feet were cold and numb as I walked through the freezing cold grass. The cold night air bit at my ankles and wrists, which were exposed.

I walked now, aware of the open space at my back and the dark, looming trees nearby. A shiver went through me, and I wrapped my arms around myself. As I approached the ghost, she began to walk away, toward the black trees.

I did not want to go into those trees. I stopped where I was and watched. But as her silvery light faded behind the black branches, I changed my mind. I broke into a run and got to the trees just as the ghost girl made it through. I ended up right beside her, and she stopped to look at me.

Then she spoke, and again, I couldn’t understand her. She reached out and took my hand in hers. For a second I thought maybe her fingers would pass through mine, but when they met she felt as solid as anyone else. Though her fingers didn’t have the texture skin has, instead, they felt made of water, somehow. Cool, wavering, strong.

We continued, through a huge field that spread out after the trees. Down a slight slope, we walked, hand in hand. I wondered where she was taking me. For some reason, I trusted her.

We got to the middle of the field. The shadows looming all around us made me feel like we were being watched. 

The ghost turned to me, and for the first time, I understood her as she spoke.

“Be careful,” 

Her voice faded as she spoke, and so did she. Her form faded, and her light faded until she was like all the other ghosts I had seen. Formless, shapeless, like mist. And then she was gone.

I was left standing in the middle of the pitch black field. The moon seemed to be absent from this part of the sky.

Be careful of what?

I had barely thought this when I heard her voice.

“You’re just a girl,” Her voice was hoarse, cold, unused, and menacing.

I whirled around, but I saw no one. “Who are you? Come out!” I shouted.

A small laugh issued from the shadows to my right, and I whirled to face her as she emerged from the darkness. “Your voice is shaking,” She whispered.

I stepped back. The woman was tall, and her mass of tangled black hair hung around her like a spider’s knotted web. She raised her head just a little, and I stared into her electric blue eyes.

Ohh! I just read your last two chapters! Is the attacker who I think she is? But wait, doesn't the main antagonist have violet eyes? I forget....

Here's the next section. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I just finished writing the story on docs, so I was a little distracted. It's a total of 60,152 words!

Chapter Ten 

“Jivanta,” I whispered.

“So you got my message. Good. I was worried it might lose its way.” She began to walk slowly around me in circles, so I had to keep turning so I was always facing her. “Tell me––are you scared?”

“No,” I lied, my voice shaking so much that anyone could have known I was lying.

“Oh, you are scared. You should be.” She looked like a hag, something wild and wicked, untamed. She looked like she wouldn’t be out of place on the streets of some old town. She walked with a limp, and her back was hunched.

“What are you?” I whispered, barely audible. She didn’t look human. She couldn’t be human, somehow. As I looked at her, there was just no possibility that we belonged to the same race.

Jivanta cackled, and her eyes seemed to spark. “What am I? You should ask what I was,”

“Fine,” I said, nervously, “What were you?”

“I was a water Elemental, and a great one at that. I was more powerful than anything anyone had ever seen, maybe more powerful than that stupid Ayers Guardian.” She looked at me, her head slightly tilted to the left. Her face was dirty, her lips cracked and bleeding. “But water is the Element of life, is it not? And so I took the step that made me more powerful than any other Elemental. I learned to control life itself.”

I took a step back, my heart beating so hard I felt it would fall out of my chest. My legs were growing weak, and I was seized by an instinct to run. But the braver part of me said that running would make her chase me, and then she’d never let me go.

“How?” I said quietly.

“How?” Jivanta repeated. “How is a hard question to answer. What gives bodies life?” She said suddenly.

“Our souls,” She whispered, answering her own question. “Water is the Element of life, and so, as our souls being the main provider of life, I was able to wrest control of them. After many years of toil and work and pain, I found I could control animals because they have weaker souls. Then I found I could control humans. And I became the most powerful person to walk the earth!” She let out a long, screeching laugh, like fingernails on a chalkboard.

“Why?” I said once she was done laughing. “Why did you want so much power?”

“Well, at first, it was just for the power. But then, something changed.” She stopped walking around me, and her face took on an expression of sadness and fear, but mostly, hate. She continued, her voice carrying the sound of hate as well, “My husband and daughter died, both on the same day. It broke me.” Her voice was bitter, and she almost spat as she spoke.

She looked up at me. “Death stole them away from me. The only two people I cared for at all, stolen from me by death. Many more have been tortured by death, as well. Your friend, Caleb, has. Your stepmother has. Your friend Mae’s father has. And thousands more. It is rare to find a single human who has not felt the pain of death.

“So I am healing the world. In my opinion…” She trailed off, and when she next spoke her voice was so loud and screeching it made my ears ring. “Better one death than many!”

She leaped on me, pinning me down onto the grass, and I screamed. She covered my mouth with her hand and leaned in close to me. “Shhh… We don’t want your friends to come running, do we? I want only one death tonight, but if there has to be more, so be it.”

I was crying now, tears running from my eyes and into the grass.

She lifted her hand from my mouth but kept me pinned to the ground. 

I spoke desperately, shouting. “You can’t! If I die, there won’t be another Guardian to take my place! There won’t be an Element of Darkness anymore! It could destroy the world!”

“Ah, but there’s your problem. Once death has died, there can be no more death. So the world cannot end. The world shall live forever, happily, with me as queen!”

Jivanta reached a hand behind her back, and when it came back she was wielding a knife. It was long and twisted, and the sharp tip glittered in the moonlight.

She let out a screech, and as she raised the knife into the air, readying it for the blow that would end me, end the world, something knocked into her and she tumbled from me onto the ground, screaming.

I sat up and looked. She was now pinned on the ground, with Caleb on top, trying to wrestle the knife from her grip.

“Caleb!” I shouted.

“Help me!” He called back, and I ran over.

I grabbed Jivanta’s knife and began to try to pull the blade from her fingers. Her grip was like iron, but I got the knife from her hand. She screamed with anguish and reached her now empty knife hand up to claw Clabe across the face. Her long fingernails made deep cuts along his face, and he let out a cry.

“Caleb! Are you okay?!” I said, grabbing his shoulders to steady him. 

He nodded, though I could tell he was in a lot of pain. Her fingers had raked across his eye and cheek, and he was bleeding in a steady stream.

Jivanta smiled wickedly up at me. “I will be back, Death!” She said, and suddenly she was gone. Her laugh continued to echo through my skull, even after a moment of silence.

She was gone. Just gone. Caleb looked up at me, blood still coming from the cuts on his face.

“You’re hurt,” I said.

“I noticed,” He reached his hand up and wiped away some of the blood, but more quickly replaced it.

“It’s bad,” I said, moving closer. I ripped the end of my sleeve off and handed it to him. 

He held the fabric over his eye and watched me. “Why were you out here?”

“I followed a ghost. I wasn’t thinking. Jivanta came out of nowhere.” I hugged myself, trying to ward off the cold that had inserted itself in my heart.

Caleb reached out his hand and it found mine.

“I’m scared,” I said, shivering.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you,” Caleb wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into a half hug.

“How did you know I was out here?” I whispered.

“I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a light from out the window, and somehow, I knew it was you. I heard screams, and I came as fast as I could.”

We stayed like that for a moment, hugging. Tears began to track their way down my cheeks again.

“Grey!” I heard Arivas calling out from somewhere nearby.

“Over here!” Caleb shouted back.

I leaned onto his strong shoulder and felt his arm tighten protectively around me.

“Grey! Oh my gosh!” Arivas raced up to us from the trees, Chloé following closely behind.

“What happened?” Chloé said.

“Jivanta happened,” Caleb said, still holding me.

Arivas and Chloé’s faces darkened.

“You’re bleeding,” Arivas said, kneeling next to Caleb.

“Yeah, I knew that,” Caleb said, waving away Arivas' hand. “I’m fine.”

“You okay?” Chloé said, sitting down next to me.

I nodded slightly, but more tears came. I was just so shaken up. So terrified. I buried my face in Caleb’s shoulder, the nearest comfort I could see.

“We need to get inside,” Arivas said. “You guys can walk?”

Caleb nodded but I wasn’t sure. I felt like my legs would turn to jelly as soon as I tried to put any weight on them. Caleb sensed my worry and helped me stand. “Come on. I’ll help,”

I put my weight on his shoulder, and Chloé came to my other side to carry some of my weight too. Arivas led, glancing over her shoulder every now and then.

Jivanta’s laugh still echoed in my mind, and the vision of her blue eyes kept penetrating into my thoughts. I was shaky and grateful for Caleb and Chloé’s support.

When we reached the school, we went up to Arivas, Chloé, and I’s dorm. Caleb hesitated before entering the girl’s dorm area because he knew it wasn’t allowed.

“It’s fine,” Arivas said. “No one else is awake. Just try to be quiet.”

We got to our dorm quickly and sat down on my bed.

“Caleb, you need to clean that up,” I said, looking at the blood on his face. “The bathroom’s right by here.”

“That’s the girl’s bathroom,” Caleb said. “I’m fine. It’s just a cut. I’ll wait until I can go back to the boy’s dorm.”

“Okay, but don’t let yourself lose too much blood.” I nuzzled closer to him, and his arm wrapped around my shoulder.

“You okay?” He asked me.

“No.” I said, not bothering to lie.

Then I told them everything that had happened, every little detail. Arivas sat on my other side and Chloé next to Caleb. They all listened, silent.

“How do you feel?” Arivas asked once I was done telling them what had happened.

“Terrified.” I said.

“It’ll be okay. We should probably find some way to tell the other Guardians about this.” Arivas said.

“What time is it?” I asked quietly.

“2:00,” Chloé responded.

“Oh,” I let my head drop onto Caleb’s shoulder. He was so strong and steady. He wasn’t saying anything, he wasn’t trying to comfort me. He was just there for me to lean on. And I did. I let myself sink into him. He wrapped both arms around me and held me tightly.

My eyes closed, and I fell asleep in his arms.