The Guardians - Between the Worlds (Book 2)
Chapter 4: Earthly pleasures

The light flashes on the Base A’s corridor. It looks the same as Base R looked before, with metal and Guardians controlled by chips. Leonor pours a cup of coffee behind the closed doors. She is inside Ray’s office, who keeps examining her from the bottom to the top. He is a tall and good-looking man, with his brown hair nearly on his shoulders. His brown eyes give away his mean character because he has big plans with the other Bases.

“Those kids did it to you!” he laughs at Leonor.

“Wait until they do it to you too! That girl is crazy! But the others followed her as well! A bunch if crazy! I can’t wait for the payback!”

“Now that we’re talking about this, how many Bases have confirmed so far?”

“Well, ten minutes ago were only two. B and D.”

“We’re waiting for others to confirm as well. If we gain a lot of Bases to accept our rules, it will be easier to bring down the ones who don’t accept them.”

“And do you think that your infiltrated people are doing a good job?”

“I can see two confirmations from two leaders. I think this is good. It means that they knew how to deal with the problem.”

“And what if the other Bases won’t confirm?”

“That means that my people couldn’t convince those Guardians. If I won’t receive answers within two weeks, then it’s settled. How many we will gather we will join and make a plan.”

Ray and Leonor continue their plans behind closed doors, while their subjugated are making sure that the things are going well inside the button’s room. They are keeping them under close observation because Leonor has warned them about the revolt from Base R.

“Did you find anything?” Claire asks Brook and Leo, who are scattering through a bunch of books.

“Nothing that we didn’t know before”, answers Leo.

“Same here”, says Claire.

She heads to the other side of the room, and Brook lets the book to drop on the floor. A cloud of dust makes Leo cough. No one had opened some books for a while.

“Now that Lily’s not with us, I don’t know, I feel so weird like I belong to no one…“, she says sadly.

Leo leaves the books aside and goes next to her in a second.

“You don’t belong to no one. Stop saying nonsense. You have friends here. Parents. You have Gloria, Alice…”

“But no one else is my energy sister.”

“You have me”, he whispers covering her words.

Brook looks up at him. His face is serious, more serious than ever, and his hands are touching hers. She feels she’s blushing, but her red hair and the freckles are hiding the reddish from her cheeks. She gulps when Leo fixes her with his eyes, and she approaches him slowly. He does the same thing, and their lips touch in a sincere and childish kiss. It’s a lot better now, when they don’t need to hide away, and when they know what is beyond the metallic walls. The freedom feels so damn good.

“I found something!” shouts Gloria bursting in the room.

They wince, caught by surprise by her steps.

“What did you find?” asks Leo, trying to give Brook some time to adapt to the situation.

“We found something about the pieces of the portal from the Wall! Come!”

They get up and follow Gloria quickly. They meet Dean, Artemis, and Lily’s parents in the hallway. They enter the room full of books, where they find Alice. She’s holding a green book, reading carefully a page from it.

“Alice found this book. This page says something about the piece of the portal, but it’s in the ancient language.”

“I need to establish a connection between Lily and someone who has a special bond with her. I need that person’s energy to do it. If anyone can feel her or see her, that means she’s alive. If not… then it means she is not. It’s all a mixing of energies and feelings. Vibrations and connections. The bond between the two people is what matters here”, says Alice.

“I’m her mother! Let’s do this!” Claire rushes to speak.

Alice agrees and puts away the book. There’s something more written on that page, but Alice won’t continue to translate it anymore. She grabs Claire’s hands, relaxes, and she lets the energy to take control of them. All the eyes are on them now, and there’s extremely quiet in the room.

Amelia’s phone starts ringing on the nightstand, and she rushes to take the call.

“Yes?”

There’s a feminine voice at the other end of the line, who won’t stop talking. Amelia throws the phone on the bed and rushes to turn off the lights.

“Quiet! Do not say a word!” she tells Steph and Lily.

“It’s Jason?”

“Shh! Shut up!”

There are some headlights in front of the house, which don’t bother to stay more than a few seconds. When the car gets away, Amelia sighs long.

“Why didn’t you get out there to talk to him?” asks Steph.

“Because Raphael won’t agree to this! You know what a show he put on when he caught me with him!”

Lily looks weird at them. She stands up and turns on the light.

“Hey!” they both yell at the same time.

“Aaa… the lights are gone. What problems do you have? Can I help?”

Amelia remains wondering for a second.

“You don’t even know me and you want to help me.”

“You didn’t know me and you helped me.”

“You can’t help me.”

“Why? Maybe we can find a solution.”

“Raphael is my brother, and Jason is the guy I want to be with. When he caught us together, Raphael hit him tough. They were friends and we both kept our relationship with him because Jason is five years older than me. My brother thinks that he’s a bad influence, a bad guy, but he doesn’t know him the way I do. He doesn’t know his sensitive parts…”

“Or other parts…” Steph laughs.

“I think that you should listen more to your instincts and less to your brother,” Lily tells her.

“You listened to your instincts?” Amelia asks her.

“A couple of times.”

“And it was better?”

Now that she was thinking about it, Lily realizes that the moments when she did what she felt had brought only critics from the ones around her.

“I think it was for me…”

“Well, what about the others?”

She was about to tell her that she couldn’t give a damn about the others anymore, but Lily’s that kind of person who thinks about the other’s feelings as well. But she can’t say another word because a hit in Amelia’s window makes them turn around. Amelia rushes to open it, and inside come two young guys: a girl and a boy.

“You know I have a door too?” Amelia tells them when she sees that they are entering on the window.

“Kat, Adam, what are you doing here?” asks Steph.

“We came to take you to a party. It’s near the Marble forest. We thought you might use a break from studying”, says Kat.

“Who is the girl?” asks Adam looking curious at Lily.

“She’s my cousin. She came by in the holiday”, Amelia rushes to answer.

Lily makes a weird face, and Steph hits her with her elbow. Amelia looks at both of them, waiting for a confirmation.

“I could use a break”, says Steph.

“Lily?”

“I think it’s time for me to see what’s around here…”

The girls leave the books on the floor and they follow the two brothers. You could tell that easily by the resemblance between them, their facial features, and even the behavior. They all get up in their small and yellow car, which Lily studies closely.

“What kind of transport machine is this?” she asks a little too loud.

Amelia puts her palm on her forehead, while Steph is laughing sharply.

“Oh, God…” mumbles Amelia.

“Where did you say your cousin was from?” asks Kat.

“From the countryside… no running water and stuff like this. They still ride horses there” says Amelia embarrassed. “ Lily is her name.”

Lily is still perplexed, bur Amelia pulls her closer to her and whispers:

“Please, just keep those silly questions for yourself.”

“But I don’t…”

“Well, keep all the questions to yourself for now.”

Lily throws her a mad look, while Steph is still laughing at them. Kat parks next to other dozens of cars, and they all start walking the direction where the music’s coming from. That was an area where often took place parties, and Lily was about to find out another part of the lifestyle of the young folks in New York. Steph heads directly to the glasses of drinks, and Kat with Adam follow her soon. Amelia offers Lily a glass with a colorless drink, which Lily finishes quickly.

“Oh, Amelia, it looks like your cousin is a little bit thirsty”, Adam laughs.

“Lily”, Lily answers him. “Lily is my name.”

“Sorry. It’s just you drank the whole vodka without even breathing.”

“The perks of living in the countryside. Alcohol resistance”, Amelia answers quickly.

She pulls her away from there, trying to explain to her that it’s not good to drink that much because she will draw attention to her. They both end up dancing in the end, and Lily drifts away from Amelia and loses her in the crowd, forgetting who she was and how she ended there. She likes the Human’s World more than she likes the Guardian’s World, and she feels extremely good. Too damn good.

She mixes and trips among the unknown people, dancing on all kinds of strange rhythms. Her body is gently moving, drawing all the eyes on her. And for a good reason, because Lily looked so good, and she was spreading around an energy that people haven’t felt before. That’s why every single masculine eye, but some feminine too, are stopping to stare at her body, which is curving in all the moves and ways. She’s smiling from her heart and she leaves a laugh to escape along with the vibes of the music. She hadn’t felt this good in ages.

“Oh, this princess looks like she’s waiting for Superman”, Lily hears a voice behind her.

“What is it, girl? He remained stuck at the laundry to clean his cape?” laughs the second guy.

“I thought that here are no such things as princesses or supermen”. Lily replies seriously.

They both start laughing energetically.

“She’s amusing too. Tell us, beautiful girl, what’s your name?”

“It’s none of your business because it’s not your type of girl”, Amelia answers for her.

She pulls Lily after her in the crowd, until they arrive back to their group of friends.

“I told you to stay near me!”

“No, you didn’t!”

“Well, then I must have thought about it! You should have read my mind!”

“Sorry, I thought that I was invading your privacy.”

Amelia remains without words for a second, and then she stares at Lily.

“Did she mean that?” asks Steph.

“Yes. The ones who can read minds are called Readers in our world. I have more abilities, and this is one of them. For instance, even if I don’t control so well my powers, I can figure that Steph is thinking right now at Adam’s butt.”

Steph blushes, and Amelia remains again with a shocked face,

“Oh, God. What else can you do? Besides jumping over trucks and reading minds?”

“Well, I have a really huge strength, and this means that I can break things like walls, with a sword… I can fight like a Soldier… I am the Great Guardian, but also the Marked One. I’m wearing the Dragon’s Sign. I’m the only one who can save the worlds from the invasion. I’m the only one who has these abilities. Now you understand why I have to get back to my world?”

Amelia nods slowly. Lily sees her face’s color changing, and when she turns around she sees a young man with blonde hair catching Amelia’s eyes. That’s the moment she realizes that she had met Jason. She can clearly see the tension between them, and when he gets close to her it’s like she can hear her heart beating fast.

“I looked for you at your place”, he says.

“I know… I mean…” Amelia loses it. “I’m sorry. Raphael doesn’t…”

“I know. He passed by my place to remind me of the night he caught us together.”

There is quiet between them for a while, until Lily sees Steph coming at them with a terrified face. She can’t say anything because she is pushed away by a tall and tough guy, and judging by his yellowish-brown eyes Lily realizes that Raphael was in a mood for a fight. He comes near the two lovers and pulls Amelia strongly, and he hits Jason with his fist in the face.

Amelia starts screaming, and Steph rushes to stop her from her running, for she was heading at Raphael to do something stupid. But he is not alone, but accompanied by three friends, who start pushing Jason as well. Lily rushes to get between them, and she hits Raphael, and then another guy, and soon, without a big effort, she puts down all the four guys who had attacked Jason.

Amelia grabs Lily by a hand, Jason by another, while Steph, Kat, and Adam are running to the car. They all rush to get inside, and Kat starts the engine, getting lost in the dark streets.

“What the hell was that?” asks Jason still shocked by the fact that a girl had saved him.

“My cousin, Lily”, Amelia answers him.

“Where are we going?” asks Kat.

“To our place”, answers Adam. “Maybe there Raphael won’t find you.”

“Oh, yes. And he will look for you”, says Steph seriously.

Regarding all of these, their eyes are still on Lily, who looks at them insecurely.

“Do you think that I’ve hit them too hard? I wasn’t expecting them to fall so quickly…”

“Shut up!” shouts Amelia, feeling like her head is about to explode.

“How the hell did you do that?” asks Kat.

“I…”

“She’s getting ready to join the army. She takes martial arts lessons as well”, answers Amelia again, wiping the blood from Jason’s face.

“She’s right”, adds Lily not too convinced.

Kat hits the break suddenly, then goes around the corner, and she finally stops the car in a garage. They had arrived at their place, so they rush to get out of Kat’s small car. Jason runs directly to the bathroom, followed by Amelia, where he starts checking his face and cleaning his wounds.

“What the hell do we do now?” asks Steph.

“I think that it was about time someone does something about Raphael! It’s Amelia’s life, and he interferes in it without any right! It’s good that the lesson came from someone from the family!” says Kat loud and clear.

Lily discreetly rolls her eyes, and she meets Amelia’s look just when she comes out from the bathroom.

“ Is he okay?” asks Adam.

“Yes. Fortunately.”

“What’s the plan?” asks Kat.

“I know what’s the plan!” says Amelia angrily.

They all wait for her to continue her idea, but she hesitates for a moment. But when Jason opens the bathroom’s door, she shouts:

“We’re going to the beach! I’m so done with Raphael getting into my life! I’ve never been to the seaside without him, for he never let me do that! But I don’t need his permission! I’m eighteen, for God’s sake!”

“I’m going with Kat to take my van. We will all fit in there if we make some space in the back. Anyway, that’s the convertible one”, says Steph proudly.

The countless trying to establish some kind of connection with Claire’s energy didn’t work that night, so they tried again the next day, but only this time with Earl’s help. Alice needed one day to be ready again and to gain some energy, so their hopes and chances were dramatically decreasing. She couldn’t establish something good either the next day, with Brook’s help, who had a special bond with Lily. In the fourth day, Isaac exposed his complaints about the fact that he couldn’t help Alice either.

“Does this mean that…” says Alice in the end.

“No!” shouts Isaac extremely pissed off.

“Then why didn’t it work with you or Brook, or even her parents? Maybe it’s time for us to accept the fact that Lily…”

“Is dead?” says a fading voice from the doorstep.

There’s Lysa, who is entering without permission inside the room where they all had gathered once again.

“Lily saved us! She can’t be dead!” says the child going close to them.

“Lysa, who let you in here?” asks Alice taking her hand.

“I want to know what happens to Lily! You can’t give up! She didn’t give up on us on that roof! And she didn’t give up on you either! She shouted from up there so you won’t enter to rescue her! She saved your lives!”

There’s quiet in the room where the child had exposed her point of view. She was right, and the older ones were forced to accept it.

“We won’t give up on her”, says Dean from the doorstep.

He had watched that scene long enough for his tears to appear in the corners of his eyes.

“But”, says Alice. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Alice, take Lysa back to the kids. We will take care of the rest.”

She comes back to her senses and walks out holding Lysa’s hand, while he’s walking among the Guardians. Tamara’s looking sad at him, a sign that she didn’t believe in Lily’s return either. After so many days she had spent between them, observing and commenting, she decides to look on the green book’s pages from where Alice has been reading about the piece of the portal. She knew well the antique language and, soon, she stands up and starts exclaiming:

“You guys are such idiots! Alice? Where the hell is that idiot? She wasn’t able to translate the whole page in so many days?”

“What does it say?” asks Dean coming close to her.

“It says that the connection between the Guardian taken as tribute through the piece of the portal and the one chosen for the spell can’t be settled by one who has the same blood in his veins as hers.”

“So this is why we couldn’t do anything when we tried with the members of her family…”, says Alice from the doorstep.

“But what about Brook? Isaac?” asks Gloria.

“Brook is bond with her by their mark of the energy and blood sisters. And Isaac…”

“The bond isn’t strong enough from of us… And I’m pretty sure I’m not the one to blame in this...” says Isaac poorly.

“I will gain enough energy by tomorrow and we will start again. But who can have such a special bond with Lily, besides the ones we already tried? I can try with you, Gloria, because I can’t be in two places at the same time. I know it isn’t likely, but it’s something.”

Brook throws Dean an instinctively look, and she sees him walking out of the room with his head on the ground. His thoughts are far away, back to the night when he had jumped holding her from one roof on another, to her innocent smile when she didn’t feel the earth under her feet, to her small hands touching his, but also to her soft lips when they had kissed for the first time back in his room. The taste of wine was reminding him of that kiss, so he pours a glass and starts tasting it with small sips, closing his eyes and lips.

Lily lets her hair in the wind, on her back, and she puts her arms in the air. Steph is singing from the top of her lungs while driving, accompanied by Kat and Adam, and Amelia is holding Jason in her arms, while they’re standing on their feet on the back of the van that looks now more like a disco on wheels on its way to the seaside. She feels the air in her lungs, the music giving her goosebumps, the love between the two young folks next to her, and the others energy. She opens her mouth and she makes a loud and sharp sound of happiness. She starts singing with them, because Steph has made sure to put on repeat her favorite song from P!nk, at least thirty times.

The next morning, while the others were debating the issue about the bond whom Lily might have something special, Brook throws a look to Tamara. She knows what she has to do, and she rushes to get out of the room, under Artemis’s eyes. She knows too well where Tamara’s heading so fast. She wonders why she hadn’t done it by now, and when she’s in front of Dean’s room, she doesn’t knock at the door anymore. She just opens it and steps inside. He looks at her surprised, because he was awake for some time, and he already had the glass of wine in front of him.

“What are you doing here, Tamara?”

“I came to take Lily’s only hope and bring it to the library.”

She can see a sparkle in his eyes, and he stands up.

“Do you really think that…”

“I know it. I know because I’ve seen it. And I know that you thought about it a couple of times. I’ve heard you… but I knew that you’d rather let them try first.”

Dean starts walking, and they go together to the big room from the library. When Tamara appears accompanied by Dean in front of the door, the fight between the Guardians stops. Brook nods in approval, Artemis does the same, and Claire is wondering what’s going on. Irene is there too, and Isaac sighs from the bottom of his heart. He knows that Dean wasn’t there just to check things out.

Dean goes in front of Alice, straights his hands to her and tells her:

“Do it.”

She looks at him a little stupefied, and so do Lily’s parents, while Irene spreads envy through her pores, even though she knows that Dean didn’t have feelings for her.

“If this doesn’t work, then it’s over for Lily. It means Lily died back then if Dean won’t feel anything…” whispers Brook, shocking Claire even more.

Alice takes his hands, Dean gets prepared, takes a deep breath, and he thinks about Lily. And it’s not difficult for him at all, because the memories of her make him smile. His eyes are closed, the smile is large, and Alice can see what he’s thinking of soon, and she starts smiling as well. She’s seeing his memories, and then the both of them see a purple light, like the one from the Wall, guiding their minds somewhere far away, so far than they didn’t seem to be in the Guardians World anymore. And they were not, for the energies were taking them to Lily, to the Human’s World, and they can see her soon with her hair in the wind, singing and smiling, laughing and being happy among the unknown people.

Lily winces suddenly when she feels the Dragon’s Sign, but also the one of her chest, lighting up and starting to burn. The half of the infinite sign starts burning her worse than the sign from her arm, and she starts winning. Amelia sees what’s going on, and she jumps from Jason’s arms to check what’s going on with Lily.

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know what’s happening. It’s like… Ah!”

She falls and hears Dean’s voice calling her name. She sees his face, and then she sees Alice, but her head is about to explode so, even if she tries to hand on this image, everything vanishes soon.

And the same happens with the two of the Guardian, who are split by a powerful energy and thrown away from each other. They barely stand up, under the other’s shocked and curious eyes.

“What just happened?” asks Brook.

“I saw her”, whispers Dean. “She was so happy…”

“She’s in the Human’s World! She fitted among them and she was in the company of some young people!” shouts Alice standing on her feet.

“My girl!” yells Claire jumping in Earl’s arms.

Isaac feels the rage inside him, and also a disappointment that Dean was the one who finally got to her. Irene walks out slamming the door, and Artemis smiles with honesty, looking at Brook.

“Now what’s next? She’s alive! She’s there! We have to get her out of there!” says Brook.

“We need to send a message to her. To be able to bring her back, we need to make her get in one of the main points where the worlds communicate with each other. But this will be harsh for her, and also for us. We will have to find that place too, and this is the map”, says Alice studying the page from the book.

Dean pulls it from her hand and he soon realizes that he knows exactly where that place is.

“It’s right next to the Base. It’s downstairs, on the East side.”

“Now we have to send the message to her as well because we have the map.”

After they all study the map carefully, they put the images together, Alice starts a spell and realizes that Lily’s in New York. She doesn’t know for sure what this place is, but she has a map of the Human’s World, so she finds the closest place of transition from where Lily is.

“The point where she needs to get is at the base of the Whiteface Mountain. From where she is and until there it seems to be some distance, but we have to figure how we can send her the message.”

“How we will do this?” asks Isaac getting involved in their discussion.

“Well, through magic, of course. It seems that only the combination me-Dean was able to get to her, so we will try to send a message to the location where she needs to get, but in the morning. She only needs to get there. She will understand when she sees the sparkle what she has to do after.”

“But we need to send the message faster”, says Tamara holding the green book.

“Why?” asks Isaac.

“Because it says here that time in the Human’s World passes differently. The more she stays there the more she is tempted to remain stuck there forever in their habits and world. If she settles down and accepts the fact that no one is looking for her, and she likes there, she might remain stuck there forever and become one of them”, says Tamara reading from the book which no one thought about reading from the past days.

“But Lily seemed so happy…” whispers Dean.

Isaac feels like he is about to explode from anger. He looks at Dean with an anger he hadn’t looked at him before. All changes in front of his eyes and, for a moment, he is his worst enemy. He walks to him and growls.

“And what the hell do you suggest? To leave her there among the unknown creatures? To abandon her?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then why do you keep insisting on the fact that she’s happy? What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’ve never seen her happy like that here. Maybe only once! And back then she wasn’t so full of life and free either!”

Isaac wishes to continue his fight with Dean, but he realizes that he had never seen Lily sparkling of happiness when he was next to her. He even knew a sad and depressed face of her, and he notices that she hadn’t had the happiest moment of her life from the Guardian’s World next to him. His connection with Lily, the way he was talking about her, the way people were staring at him when he was mentioning her name, all of these are too much for Isaac, who is forced to accept that he wasn’t the one who could have made Lily happy, no matter how much he loved her. He gulps, looks Dean in the eyes, who was still waiting for a reply for him, but he takes a step back, and then another one, and he walks out from the library, leaving the problem in their hands.

Yes, he had just thought of Lily as a “problem”, a thing that accentuated the guilt state he was feeling. He was blaming himself for he couldn’t save her, for he had left her behind at the Unity, and ran without looking back, trusting that she was behind him. All these events had led to her disappearance, and it was something he couldn’t forgive himself for.

It’s morning in the Redfeed Base when Lily walks for the first time in her life on the fine sand on the beach. She sees the others throwing their clothes on the shore and rush to get into the water, and she doesn’t think twice about it. She lets herself caught in the freedom, taking advantage of the pleasures of the Human’s World, forgetting who she is and what’s her purpose. Even if Amelia had asked her many times what was with her, she couldn’t tell her what was happening to her.

The waves hit her tough, and she starts feeling an explosion of energy and adrenaline. She feels the other’s bodies catching her in the middle and, slowly, Lily feels that she belongs in this world. Just like Tamara had said, she lets herself to be caught by the habits and the freedom, and she doesn’t regret that she wishes to stay here forever.

When the sun’s up in the Guardian’s World, Dean and Alice are already in the library, surrounded by the rest of the Guardians who support them, excepting for Isaac and Irene, who had decided separately not to join the group anymore. Dean and Alice take each other’s hands again, trying to reestablish the connection with Lily, while the rest of them are waiting impatiently for them.

Amelia and Jason are on the beach, watching the rest of them getting out of the water where they’ve been sitting too long. It’s still night, and Kat can’t see straight because of the alcohol. Steph lights a cigarette, and she passes on to Lily. She looks weird at it because she hadn’t seen something like it before.

“This is how it works”, says Steph showing her how to smoke.

She tries it too, but her lungs are too strong for this world, so she finishes the cigarette by herself.

“What about us?” mumbles Kat disappointed.

“It was the last one! Just wait for it!” laughs Steph.

“What the hell? Lily, did you smoke that by yourself?” asks Amelia.

“All of it?” continues Jason.

Lily starts laughing loudly, and she throws on the back of the sand. But she starts feeling more adrenaline, so she runs into the waves through not a very humanly jump. Only Steph and Amelia notice that for the others are too drunk to see it.

“That wasn’t just a cigarette”, adds Steph laughing.

“Great”, mumbles Amelia. “Just what we needed! An even stranger Lily!”

Amelia stands up and starts walking to Lily, who’s sitting on the shore now, hitting the water with her palms. She sits next to her, trying to understand this being who had fascinated her since the first moment she saw her.

“Tell me, what’s it like in your world?”

“Well, it’s all so sad and different! We don’t have oceans, seas, grass, animals… too much alcohol or cigarettes. We are trained to save the worlds if the Wall collapses.

Lily starts explaining to Amelia what she thought that she might not know about the Guardian’s World, while Amelia explains to her some things from the history of humans as well. But Lily already knows some of them, but only the images and feelings aren’t the same as she had ever imagined before arriving here. She suddenly feels her body on fire, the marks lighten up, and she puts her arm into the water to make the pain go away. But why she feels it so bad? With every second she was in this world, Lily was becoming a part of it, and her powers started to disappear.

She hears Dean calling her name one more time, she sees Alice, she sees the map, and she hears Alice shouting:

“The Whiteface Mountain! You need to get at the base of it! Lily, we’re waiting for you home!”

But Lily is fighting to push away the feeling that had captured her. She understands that she’s in danger, and she focuses on the image with the two Guardians who were trying to get in touch with her. She stands up, hearing Amelia shouting at her too.

“Lily, come back to the Base! We need you here! Don’t let yourself caught in what you’re feeling there because I will lose you for good!”

Dean’s voice opened up her mind, and that “I will lose you for good” gave her shivers on her spine, making her shout from the bottom of her lungs:

“Dean!”

And she falls in the water, and the waves start hitting her body, the marks don’t light up anymore, while the ones standing on the shore remain silent because of the shock. Amelia pulls her out of the water.

Alice and Dean are thrown further than the other night, and this time it takes several minutes for them to wake up.

“Lily?”

“Lily!”

“Amelia’s cousin!” says Kat in the background.

Lily opens her eyes, stands up in a heartbeat, pushes everyone away, and then she starts crying.

“I have to get back home… I have to find a solution! The Whiteface Mountain!” she shouts.

“This is a couple of hours away”, says Steph.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jason asks her.

“I will take get away a couple of minutes to calm down. Weed is not good for her”, says Amelia grabbing Lily’s arm.

She keeps staring at her too because she had felt shivers on her back as well when Lily had shouted out Dean’s name.

“What was that?”

“Dean’s looking for me… I need to get back home! They need me there!”

“Calm down! “

“Do you know any Wheatface Mountain around here?”

“Whiteface! This is what you were screaming!”

Lily tries to focus.

“Yeah…”

“I will take you there if there’s where you need to be. Haven’t you heard Steph? It’s in the other direction, but it’s not that far. We will leave and pass by my place, we will take some things we may need on the road and we will leave you there. Don’t worry, we won’t let you down.”

“Thank you”, whispers Lily.

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