Ember's POV-

"Come on!" I yell, getting out of the car. Damien and I run to the front doors and he opens it while I bring out my sword.

"You better put that sword down, sister," a man says, pointing an even bigger sword at me.

"You took our friends!" Damien yells, sticking his hands out in front of him.

"You two Rangers?" a woman says, behind the guy.

Damien and I look at each other before I say, "Yeah we are."

The guy immediately puts his sword down. "Sorry for that, sister. Didn' know you two were from Didian," he says. "The name is Morrigan. My sister behind me is Jezevell."

"The two girls you just took?" I say. "They're Rangers as well."

"Thought that they were with the Lardin," Jezevell says. "Can't be too careful with Aralynn and Kade running around."

"You know who they are?" Damien asks surprised.

"Yeah," Morrigan says. "They visited here earlier."

"What?" I say as we walk into a backroom. "Why didn't you kidnap them or something like that? Then you could've brought them to us and we would have brought them to Mom--Queen Aria."

Suddenly, Morrigan and Jezevell literally fall down, bowing in front of me. "Uh, what are you doing?" I say, raising an eyebrow.

"You're a princess," Morrigan says, still bowing.

"I don't let it affect me," I say. "Stand up and please don't do that again. I don't need to be treated like royalty."

"Woah, coming off a little bit strong," Damien whispers to me. "Are you okay?"

I nod. "Could you bring my friends back?" I ask them.

They nod quickly while nearly running away from Damien and me. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asks me again.

"Yes," I snap. "Sorry. I haven't been myself since . . . everything happened."

"You gotta get out of your little depression thing," Damien says. "We need you, Ember."

"I-uh-okay," I say quietly.

Annie and Ari walk out looking unharmed. Damien hugs Annie as Ari walks closer to me. "Hey," I say while smiling.

"How about you four stay for our meeting," Jevazell says and we agree. We head to a back backroom and sit down at a long table.

"I didn't know there were more Rangers living in the mortal world," Damien says.

"Weird," Morrigan says.

"Did you guys know about what happened to Scarlet?" I ask. They nod. "Word travels fast, huh?"

"Aria told us," another man says. "We have communications with her."

"She never told us that there was a secret group of hidden-in-plain-sight Rangers were in our home town," Annie says, raising an eyebrow. "How would we know that you guys are the real deal?"

"Can any mere mortal do this?" Jezevell says. "I can read your aura."

"Wow," I say dryly. "How special."

"Only Rangers can do it, remember?" Morrigan says.

"Yeah," Ari says, giving me a look. "So, what are all of you doing here? Do you get special tasks? Or do you just oversee what people do and find new Rangers?"

"Woah, slow down little lady," another man says. "Way too many questions."

"We're curious," Annie says. "We didn't even know you guys exist. I didn't even know we had a public library!"

"Ah yes. Aria sent us here to watch over the library. Its the official meeting place for Rangers," a woman says.

"What if there are Rangers in faraway places?" I ask.

"We have a way to talk to them." Morrigan pulled out a box-like thing and set it on the table, clicking a button. A holographic screen came up.

"Woah," Damien breathes.

"Yeah," Jezevell says. "Anyway, Aria does give some of us tasks to do but they are minor little things. We do oversee all the Ranger business in the mortal world and we do recruit more Rangers."

"Wow." Annie and I look at each other, grinning like little girls. "Can we try the holographic machine?"

"Sure-"

"No," Jezevell says, glaring at her brother. "Its only used to talk with other Rangers about important stuff."

"Well it is important. I gotta talk to my mom," I say. "We had a run in with Aralynn and Kade and she needs to know."

"Fine." Jezevell clicks another button and the box makes a whirring sound. Soon, my mom appears.

"I see you've found the Rangers," she says, nodding.

"Yeah," Ari says.

"But we have a problem," I say.

"Aralynn and Kade paid us a visit," Damien says and Aria frowns.

"They didn't hurt us or anything," Annie says. "But Light came through slightly. She told us to go here."

"They just set off a bomb," I say nonchalantly.

"They did WHAT?" Aria yells.

"It didn't hurt any of us," Damien says.

"Ember flew up in the air to set it off away from people," Ari explains.

"No one got hurt right?"

"Not one scratch."

"Maybe you should come here for a couple days so we can talk," Aria says. "There's been a few raids on some people's homes."

"Raids?" Ari asks.

"Yeah. People are finding their neighbors dead," Mom says to us.

"Then we will be there in the morning. Are you gonna send The Zodiac through?" I ask her.

"The Zodiac is with us dummy," Annie says playfully. "Well, we'll see you tomorrow then."

"Be safe," Mom says and then she goes away.

"I hope everyone is okay at Didian," a man says worriedly. A thought struck me: these people have family in Didian but they came here to protect us, mere mortals.

"We'll make sure they are okay," I say. "Thanks for letting us stay."

"You're welcome," Morrigan says.

"We better go," Damien says. "Its getting pretty late."

The four of us get up and walk towards the doors when suddenly, Damien stops in his tracks. His eyes roll back in his head as he floats away from us. "Damien?" Annie calls out. All he does is keep on floating. Us girls share a look and follow him. We can't lose another friend.

He leads us through twists and turns in the library shelves until he stops in front of one. He reaches out and grabs something. A bright light blinds me, but soon I see Damien laying on the ground, groaning. "What happened?" he asks us. I notice something glinting on his right ring finger.

"You got your ring," I say and they all look at his hand.

"Woah," he says, staring at it intently. "So I get a lion?"

"What?" Ari asks.

"A lion as my last lifeline." Damien stares at us.

"Yeah," Annie says, grinning. "Congratulations Damien!"

They hug while Ari and I look at each other. "We're the loners club, huh," she whispers to me. "Even Light--Aralynn has a boyfriend."

"Yeah," I say quietly. "We'll be loners together."

I look up at the ceiling as I say, "Let's get home. We should probably go to sleep because we have to get up early. Damien and Ari, you two can crash at my house tonight. My aunt and uncle and cousins are going to be gone all week."

"Okay," Damien says while letting go of Annie but grabbing her hand in his. We walk outside to his car and drive home. Damien crashes on the couch while Ari, Annie, and I take my room. We all fall asleep, preparing ourselves for the trip we have to take tomorrow.