Jace paced back and forth. His nails clicked on the cold floor he had been imprisoned in. He stared out of the iron bars. Jace cursed himself. He watched the people in white lab coats walking around his cage, wondering if they would find the pendant that rested around his neck, hidden in the gallant brown fur of his mane.
He heard them talking, wondering, questioning his actions. His veins still tingled from his outburst, and he wondered how he had gotten so hyped up in the first place. Everybody else had gotten away. He felt his pendant glowing warm again.
Calm down, he told himself, or you’ll start up again!
He forced himself to breathe slowly. He continued pacing back and forth, wondering when the cavalry would arrive. A tall, dark haired man came up to him, he stared behind plastic lenses. Jace stopped and kept his eyes glued to the floor. Normal lion, think lion.
What would a lion do in this situation? He asked himself. He kept pacing, then lied down and started grooming himself. He picked up a huge, powerful paw, watching as his skin spread over his sharp, pointed claws, smooth as a knife through butter. He made sure that the scientists saw this. Tall Guy turned away and walked back, scribbling something on a notepad.
Why hadn’t he taken Lance’ advice? He could almost hear Lance’ voice in the back of his head, like his own private little Jiminy Cricket. Keep the pendant with you at all times, and never use any powers in this world. Save them for outer space, you cowboy. Yeah, right, Space Cowboys. He thought about Chris and Joey, so oblivious to the battle their three band mates were facing. He wished he could just go outside. Justin, of course, didn’t have to put up with this. Jace envied him. He was out in the sun, without a worry or a care. Jace wished he and Justin could battle together, but it was just impossibility. They were on the opposite sides of the spectrum, and until all of the “Gods” were together, Jace and the others could only come out for half of the year, when they could be seen in the night sky.
Again, his mind wandered to Lance’s words. If it weren’t for Drell, he never would have used his powers, but they were alone, no one else was there, and Jace knew he could finish him. It had been a trap. He had disappeared and in his place there had been cops, mere mortals. They had tranquilized him, still in his battling form, and dragged him off to “The Facility”. He didn’t know how long he had been under the foggy glass of the drug, but he did know that they had not done careful enough examination to find his pendant. The though of it brought warmth to his chest. He knew the little talisman was glowing, hanging by its black thread.
He looked down at his paw; the fur covering it was already growing thin. He could see pale, peach skin, showing through. He focused on it, and the fur grew thicker. Still, he knew he couldn’t stay like this forever. Where are you, Lance? As if on cue he heard a loud bashing on the door. Jace saw the imprints of two gigantic horns through the steel door. With another bash it fell. It was pure chaos. Lance pounded on the iron bars of the cage. They broke like twigs. Jace bounded out into the night; with a glance at Polaris, he found his constellation, and disappeared into nothingness.
“Man, that Meet and Greet was wild!” Chris said, falling back against the couch of the bus.
“Yeah,” said JC. He would favor a bunch of raving Teenies over Drell any day. He hid a smile as he glanced at Lance. Justin looked questioningly at him. JC shook his head.
“What?” Joey asked, seeing the secret conversation of gestures.
“It’s nothing,” JC assured him. Joey shrugged his shoulders.
“I thought we would never get outta there!” Chris said, shivering at the thought. He was right, the ruckus that had been caused at the Meet and Greet had been horrifying, by their standards. As they had exited a group of Teenies had taken down their guard, and before he could call security the rest of the bunch was on top of them. JC has lost his shirt, Justin his favorite bandana. Finally, Niki, hearing the noise from her room, came to the rescue. She pried the outrageous fans from them, and rushed them back to the safety of the bus.
“You guys want to go to a club?” Joey questioned. Chris accepted. Justin, JC, and Lance stayed behind. Chris and Joey left, and Justin, JC and Lance all went towards their bunks.
“Ok guys, what happened yesterday?” Justin said, his eyes piercing them.
“JC went off being an idiot again,” Lance stated sarcastically, “and I, Super Taurus, had to go and save the day.”
Lance closed his eyes and JC watched with a laugh as he allowed his two piercing horns to emerge. He looked extremely X-files. JC laughed.
“You guys always get all the fun! Whenever it’s MY turn in the night, Drell never shows up and taunts ME!” Justin whined.
“Chill out, you’re just a little baby, you can’t be fighting evil yet!” JC mocked in a gushy voice. Justin raised his arm, as if he was about to hit JC, but JC smiled, his canines enlarging. He spread his fingers, letting the leonine claws emerge between his flesh. Justin set his arm down.
“There’s some truth in that, you know, Just,” Lance said matter of factly. “Your powers are only barely with you. Last thing I heard, you couldn’t even do your full transformation. And you certainly haven’t mastered the powers of the air yet.” Lance straightened his index finger, producing a small diamond sphere. JC let a snaking tongue of fire escape his lips. Justin closed his eyes, trying to get something, anything to happen. He opened them, and focused on the fire JC had created. With all his might he wished for a wind. A small breeze, like a draft from the window, made JC’s fire flicker, casting a shadow on Justin. He sighed.
“Keep trying buddy, you’re only a year old, you aren’t go to learn it instantly,” Lance said.
“Easy for you to say!” Justin retorted. “You’re only two years older than me and you already can do everything.
“Uh, I can do far from everything. You think I can do everything you should watch Jace! He’s got three more years of experience than I have, now HE has everything down. Except, that is, common sense.” Lance said, a small smile escaping his lips.
JC rolled his eyes at him, letting a streak of fire slide down his arms. It stopped at his finger, curling into a ball. Then, with a sudden flare, it turned into the shape of a lion, and raced towards Justin. Justin put his hands up in fright. The lion extended itself, turning into a dazzling dragon made of fire. JC opened his mouth, and the dragon obediently went inside. JC swallowed the last bit of flame, letting a small ring of smoke escape his lips.
“Show off!” Justin muttered. JC smiled. He had spent ages working on technique. Honestly, he was the one who took his “job” the least seriously. But he practiced his powers with the utmost precision. He was still amazed that 3 out of 12 of the Zodiac Guardians had ended up in the same place, at the same time. Justin, Aquarius, with his golden curls giving him an eternal halo. Lance, his strong attitude conforming to that of the Bull, completely at ease. And he, himself, Leo, or Jace, as the guys called him while he was a lion. He grasped the pendant that hung around his neck. The face of the lion burned on its ivory surface. He felt it glow. He smiled.
Justin had his eyes closed again, his brow furrowed in concentration. He stretched his fingers, and then made a fist. He exhaled deeply.
“How do you guys do it?” he asked.
“You think too much!” JC said. “You just have to let it flow, like water. That should be easy for you to understand, Aquarius.”
Justin nodded, this time in all seriousness.
JC: “Try me,”
A small flame sprouted from JC’s fingertip again.
Justin looked at it and closed his eyes. He thought of the breeze. He loved walking on the beach, feeling the wind whistle through his curls. He opened his eyes, and pointed an outstretched finger towards the flame. He let his feelings, his love for the wind, guide him. A small gust of wind came from his finger. The flame went out.
Justin’s grin stretched form ear to ear. He looked at his hands, palms up. “I did it!” he screamed. “I really did it!” Lance patted his over-enthusiastic friend on the back.
“Good job,” Lance said. JC “re-lit’ his finger. “Now faster this time.”
Justin focused on the flame and again, a wisp of smoke was all that was left of the small glow. He smiled, and JC again put a flame on his finger. Justin did the same, except this time JC moved. He sent the flame streaming across the table, behind Lance’s back and from ceiling to floor. He moved the flame around the room, using his eyes to control it’s movements. Justin followed hastily, shooting gusts of wind at it wherever it went. The flare came up behind Justin, and with a slap he hit the back of his neck.
“OW!” Justin said, taking his singed hand away.
“It’s tough love, bud,” JC said quietly. “Don’t’ go boom, boom, boom, use a stream, let the feeling continue to flow; don’t just have short outbursts. Again?”
Justin nodded slowly. JC let a blaze of fire creep slowly out from the neck of his shirt. It turned into a ball of flame. It paused. Justin let a breeze of air loose from his fingertips. JC smiled and quickly moved the fireball out of harm’s way. Justin let another gust shoot from his fingers. JC evaded this one too.
“Keep a steady stream going,” Lance coached him. Justin took a deep breath and moved his hand around, letting a stream of wind erupt from his palm. It chased around JC’s fireball for awhile. Finally it caught up to it, and doubled back, engulfing the flame. Smoke lifted up to the roof.
JC smiled at Justin. He couldn’t wait to see him in action now, when his time came around. It would be his first as an official Zodiac Guardian. Before he had been a First Year. They were told the stories, and taught little of their powers. Now, in the second year, they could explore. JC had done much of this. He was the most skilled Guardian, he and Niki. Niki was the Aquarius female. They brought her along to help Justin out. When Joey and Chris had asked why she was coming on tour with them Lance had quickly replied ‘she’s my girlfriend’. Which was starting to become true. Niki did like Lance, a lot, but she also liked JC.
JC, Lance, Justin, and Niki were the only Guardians who had actually come to realize their powers. They had met Niki out of pure coincidence. While fighting Drell they had run into her. Drell had lured her into his trap, and they unknowingly rescued her. Niki and JC would often play fight, with wind versus fire it was a rather stunning battle. Lance would watch in amusement, while Justin dreamed of when he would be as good as Niki.
Secretly, Justin loved Niki. He loved her hair, long, dark black, and flowing down past her waist. He loved watching it gently sway in the breeze, but he told these feelings to no one. Lance and JC already fought for her attention, and he wasn’t going to allow himself to be dragged into it.
“Lance, you’ll be going down soon, right?” Justin questioned. Lance looked up at the chart that he had hung up over his bunk.
“Yeah, poor Leo will have to fend off Drell all alone,” Lance said. JC deciphered a hint of true worry in that voice however.
“Oh come on, I’ll be fine without Super Taurus there at my side. Besides, Niki and Justin will be there pretty soon after,” he said.
“I’m tired, catch some sleep, we’ve got another long day ahead of us,” Lance said over loudly as he heard the sound of the bus door creaking open. They all lied down in bed as Chris and Joey joined them. Niki had already fallen fast asleep long before they had started their talk. With a bump, the bus quickly sped down the highway.
Niki blinked her eyes open. A light breeze had awakened her. Her senses were super tuned to the winds. She sat up. Again, she felt the breeze. Justin looked at her from across the bed. She saw his index finger, pointing towards her and producing a small flow of air. She smiled as she watched him exploring the uses of his powers. With a grin, she sent a breeze towards him. The head of a woman appeared in front of him and gently pressed her lips against his. Niki smiled towards him, and with a wave of her hand the head disappeared. She leaned back, letting the soothing fingers of Justin’s winds play across her face. Daringly, he sent a gust, knocking back the comforter and exposing Niki’s slim, curved figure. She twisted around to face him, the sheet adjusting to fit her form.
She used her eyes to gently push the winds over Justin’s body. She teased him, letting a gently puff of air snake down Justin’s body. She blew his comforter off of him, and stared at his body underneath. Apparently, Justin wore little other than boxers to bed. He quickly pulled the comforter back across his lower half, embarrassed, but kept his muscular chest exposed.
Silently, she let a windy figure stroke his chest, running up and down, doing little circles around his navel. Justin closed his eyes in pleasure. When he opened them Niki was standing over him. Her gray and white streaked eyes stared at him. He put a hand through her hair. It was so soft. He pulled her against him. The thin fabric of her PJs being the only thing that separated them.
She brought her lips down on his. Justin gently used his tongue to part them. She complied, letting him explore her. He stroked the roof of her mouth, and ran his tongue over her teeth, swiveling over her canines. She brought her tongue around his. They battled between themselves. She nibbled lightly on his lower lip, while caressing his mouth with her tongue.
Panting, Justin broke the kiss. He licked his lips, trying to absorb every bit of Niki’s sweet taste. She smiled down at him, also enjoying the taste of him in her mouth. She softly blew into his ear and got up. She could feel JC stirring, like a sixth sense. She hastily walked out to get something to eat.
Justin lied back down. And Aquarius’ weren’t supposed to get together. He smirked. Niki was so wonderful. He licked his lips ravenously, wanting to have her lips against his again. He heard JC walk past. He let a breeze escape form his bunk, signaling to JC that he was awake. JC responded with a small, glowing ember hovering above Justin’s face.
Justin slumped out of bed and joined JC and Niki at the table. Niki smiled at him. JC was talking with her now. Justin realized that his chances were slim of ever getting Niki. They obeyed the Zodiac like law, and it was clear to everyone that Aquarius’ didn’t go together. He sighed, pulling out a box of Apple Jacks from the cupboard and grabbing some milk. He sat down next to Niki, across from JC. They didn’t talk about their powers on the bus unless they were alone. If Chris or Joey ever heard, the four of them would be off to Shady Acres.
JC wondered why Niki was so flushed. He could sense she didn’t have a temperature, and if she did she would use her powers to cool it. Yet her cheeks were red and she was slightly out of breath as he joined her at the table. He knew he liked Niki a lot, as a friend. He also knew their relationship would never go past that point. Niki was his ally. His partner. Whenever he needed help with something too advanced for Lance or Justin he would call on her. She could practically read his mind. They were great friends.
His thoughts were interrupted by Chris’ high-pitched squeal coming from the bunk area. He quickly got up and ran towards the back of the room. Chris was standing there, looking into Lance’s bunk with his eyes wide and full of fear.
“Chris, what happened!” JC asked urgently. Lance was gone.
“H-h-he w-w-was right there!” Chris screamed, still terribly frightened. Everyone crowded around him.
“Who?” JC asked.
“I d-d-don’t know… H-he was wearing a r-really long bl-black cloak. He went up to Lance, and Lance screamed, and-and he changed, and then they both disappeared.”
JC, Niki and Justin all exchanged knowing glances. Drell. JC ran outside, glancing at the star chart on Lance’s bunk first. Niki grabbed Justin by the hand and followed him.
“Chris, Joey, just stay here and don’t panic!” JC shouted back to the bus. Chris and Joey were too slow. And it was a good thing. JC glanced towards the horizon, hoping it was still early enough for him. It was. The dawn’s light almost blocked it out, but he could make out the stars of his constellation. He focused on them, and then everything went blank.
Jace stopped when the sub zero temperatures of space hit his fur. He propelled himself, looking for Nik and Jato. They shouldn’t even be here. But he figured Nik would have found a way. Now for Drell. He knew Drell would be here. This was the coldest planet they knew of, called Zeta. It was so far from a sun that they had trouble figuring out which one it orbited. He could just barely make out the 9 stars that made out his constellation, though from this viewpoint they were distorted, twisted.
He didn’t feel any cold against his skin. His amulet kept him warm even in these unbelievable temperatures. The planet had no atmosphere, and instead it drifted, dead, through space. It was a solid mass of iron, unable to support any life. Jace shivered, where were Nik and Jato?
“Stay here, Justin, for all that I’m worth a will make you stay here, you aren’t ready for this!” Niki yelled as she pushed Justin away from her. Justin ran towards her, bent on going with her. He was going to show them he could do it. He grabbed her hand, but was met with a shocking wind. Niki glared at him, her eyes going from gray to blue the color of an icy abyss. A shocking tornado of wind hit him back against the ground. Niki looked directly at the sun, her eyes wide, and disappeared.
Justin looked up at the sky, unable to go without the help of Niki. He cursed himself. Chris and Joey came running out of the bus.
“Justin, what the heck is going on around here! Where on Earth did JC and Niki go?” Joey screamed.
“No where on Earth,” Justin softly mumbled to himself. “Don’t worry, JC and Niki know where Lance went, and they um, should be back soon. Why don’t we, um, go somewhere and hang out?”
Chris and Joey gave Justin weird looks, but trusted their curly-coiffed companion and agreed to go somewhere. Justin took one last vengeful look at the sky, light now. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two sleeping pills. He dunked one into Joey’s glass of water and the other into Chris. They turned back around to face him from looking out the window. Joey took a huge gulp of water from his glass. Justin hid a smile. Chris followed suit. In half an hour they would be back asleep and in bed like babies. When they woke up they would just think it was another bad dream.
Jace turned around to see Nik, in her beautiful light blue outfit. Nik’s eyes glowed with an eternal white light. She looked at him.
“Shall we start searching?” She questioned. Jace nodded his head and let his leonine senses do the hunting. He could sense Jnel nearby, but didn’t know where he was. Zeta was small, perhaps a few miles long; it would not take long to go over the whole thing. Jace’ ears pricked up. He could sense Drell and Jnel, but there was another scent, this one was new- like Jnel, but not the same.
“Do you feel that?” he asked Nik, using a sort of telepathy. Without an atmosphere, there was no way for sound to travel. Nik she was already running towards the direction he suspected that it was coming from. They came to the edge of a crater. Jace glanced down and saw the source of this new presence. A bull was battling with Drell, his black cloak twirled around him. Jace spotted another large bull tied up on the cold ground. Jnel. He rushed down the crater, and tore Jnel free from his restraints, his teeth making quick work of the fireproof barriers. Nik had joined in the battle against Drell. Hundreds of whirling tornadoes circled him; he saw them coming near and laughed. ‘Foolish children,’ he mouthed before disappearing.
The first Taurus still pawed angrily at the ground. Jace walked over, with Jnel at his side. The bull calmed down and eyed them, “Who are you?” it questioned. The voice rang in their heads. It was a girl. Sensing that she had a short temper Nik calmly talked to her. The voice of this Guardian sounded strangely familiar.
“My name is Niki, and this is JC, and Lance,” Nik’s voice crept into the crevices of Jace’ mind. The Taurus looked at Nik strangely.
“Niki?” she asked.
“Kim?” Niki said, puzzled. The Taurus got a huge stare, and then did a buck into the air.
“Ok, I’m kind of lost, but maybe we should head back before Justin dies trying to get here,” Jnel laughed. “By the way, Kim, thanks for the rescue.” Nik and Kim still stared at each other. Kim came back to her senses and stared at the Ram.
“It wasn’t me, thank Niki,” she said. Niki blushed at Lance, then she took Kim’s hand and together they gazed towards the heavens, and traveled back to Earth.
Lance and JC kept their heads down as Niki and Kim lead them through the circus that was the mall. Niki looked all over for Chris, Joey or Justin. This was Joey’s favorite place to go, they had to be here.
“There he is!” Niki shouted over the growing noise of the crowd. She spotted a superman T-shirt. They went up and looked under the baseball cap that he wore into some guy with blue dreadlocks eyes.
“Oops… wrong person, sorry,” Niki said. She spotted another person that resembled one of their friends. This time with success. She gently tapped Justin on the shoulder.
“Ok, It’s safe you two, I think you can look up now,” Kim said to JC and Lance. If Kim had made any association that these were the guys from *Nsync she sure didn’t show it. She had repeatedly asked them why they were so scared to go out in public without wearing all of those disguises. Lance had given himself facial hair, and brown contacts. JC had put on a disgusting hat, if you could even call it that.
“Whose this?” asked Joey, moving towards Kim. Kim cringed as he stepped towards her. She gave a pleading look towards Niki.
“I don’t think so, Joey. Kim’s off-limits,” Niki said. “That’s Joey, and that’s Chris, and that over there,” she pointed to Justin, ducking down behind some comic books as some girls wearing *Nsync T-shirts walked into the store, “Is Justin.”
“What’s wrong with them?” Kim asked, pointing towards the guys, all now ducking around the store trying to avoid the gaze of the three Teeny Boppers. “Do they, like, hate *Nsync or something? Hey… wait a sec…” Kim said, she looked at the T-shirt one of them was wearing, then at Lance, then the shirt, then JC, until she had gone around with all of them. You could almost see the gears turning in her head. Her eyes grew wide as she whispered, “They ARE *Nsync, aren’t they.”
Niki nodded, “Keep your hat on!”
With a sigh of relief the girls left and the guys came back and huddled around Niki and Kim.
“I think we’ve had enough shopping for one day,” Justin said, indicating his hands, which were now full of shopping bags. They all agreed. They let Chris and Joey gain a little distance as they walked towards the exit.
“So who is Kim?” Justin asked in a low tone of voice, “Really?”
“Taurus,” Kim said, already knowing from his looks that Justin was the Aquarius Niki had told her about. She still couldn’t believe that three out of the twelve male zodiacs were all here. She couldn’t’ believe they were in *Nsync, she knew a million people who would give anything to switch places with her. She didn’t know any, though, who could say they were a Guardian. Personally, Kim would rather have Jeff, from 98 degrees, by her side than Joey. She shivered- he had actually tried to hit on her.
“Ooh, Earth type. This should be interesting!” Justin interrupted in excitement, waiting to see what today’s mock battle would be like.
“Alright, how’re we gonna ditch Joey and Chris this time?” Niki asked.
“Um, how about the movie thing? Or um…?” Justin suggested meekly.
“Ooh… feel the power!” Niki said sarcastically. “We did that last week, at this rate they will see every movie in the theater at least four times by the time our tour’s over!”
“Not only that, but we need an excuse for Kim to come on the tour bus,” Justin said.
“And Lance can’t be going out with two people at once,” JC added. Neither JC nor Justin suggested that they could take her as their girlfriend.
“Um, you know, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we could let Joey grow kind of attached until we think of a better idea,” Niki said. Kim groaned, but the others looked at her.
“Ugh, fine, fine!” Kim said. She shivered. Then she ran up to talk to Joey. They walked behind them out of hearing distance. Joey put his arm around Kim, and she cringed at the touch. Joey didn’t notice; he was too busy talking.
“Yeah, I’ll see you tonight then,” Kim said and walked around a pillar. She turned around and walked back towards Lance, JC, Justin and Niki. She shivered and stuck out her tongue. “I don’t know if I can take any more of this,” Kim said.
“So, you guys know each other it seems?” Justin asked Niki.
“Yeah, we were best friends for ten years, then Kim moved to Washington, and I never saw her again. Our parents didn’t really like each other, so we weren’t allowed to send letters,” Niki said.
“Well, Chris and Joey are going to be busy this evening, so where do we go to practice?” Kim said. She was excited. She had tuned into her powers at age eighteen, when she first got them. She had practiced, using them for some things she knew she shouldn’t have- Tripping Cayrol, her worst enemy in college, at the dance. Completely wrecking the evil dorm’s “Experimental flower bed”. The poor plastic Barbies that lived there had been appalled.
“Here, come on,” JC said. He led the way outside, dumping his hat, shades, and fake contacts. Lance and Justin did the same. Niki grabbed Justin’s hand and pointed to a spot in the sky. He couldn’t see anything. This would be his first time travelling in the day. And JC always said it was twice as hard. He placed Niki’s hand securely in his own. Kim took Niki’s other hand. She whispered fast instructions. JC and Lance were able to go on their own.
“Ready?” She questioned. Kim and Justin responded by lightly squeezing her hand. “Let’s go!”
Chapter Two
