This is the new chapter! Sorry if it's short but I felt like leaving a sort of cliffhanger. :) I hope you like it and please vote and comment for it! I'd really appreciate it. :)  Picture of Kayla on the side. Okay, here it is: 

Chapter 27

            A handsome guy with close-cut brown hair stepped forward. He had a quiver of arrows and a bow slung over his shoulder and he held a staff in his right hand.

            Kayla gasped as if someone had punched her. Dahlia spun around to look at her but Kayla closed her eyes swiftly. In unison, Verne and August stepped in front of her to protect her from the guard. They drew their staffs.

            A small smile curled the boy’s lips and he said, “Hello, Kayla. You’re looking well. You haven’t aged a day.”

            Kayla flinched away from him as if he could harm her and managed to say, “Curse you, Benjamin; you traitor!”

            Dahlia frowned, not really understanding what was going on. So this guy was a member of the guard but the way he was talking made it seem like there was something going on between them and Dahlia intended to find out.

            Before Benjamin could reply, however, another member of the guard stepped forward. The member was a girl although she looked a lot like a guy.

            She had dark hair, cut into a very short style. Her eyes were dark too and she wore a black muscle shirt, ripped black jeans and an army jacket. A pair of short twin swords were strapped to her back and a nunchaku was shoved in her holster.

            Her fingers twitched as if she longed to draw her weapons.

            “Greetings, Kayla,” she said icily.

            The warrior drew her swords and stepped forward but she was restrained by a young woman with caramel-coloured hair.

            “Calm yourself, Tia,” the woman assured her.

            “Ellie,” Kayla greeted her, as coldly as Tia had.

            Dahlia felt a twinge of terror in the pit of her stomach. Ellie was the shield and Tia was the warrior. Kayla obviously had some sort of weakness which Benjamin knew about and the other two members of the guard who had yet to speak must be Leonardo and Zara.

            Leo was holding a dagger at Troy’s throat. The dagger looked surprisingly similar to her own. Then she realised that Edith had made them both.

            Dahlia started forward but Ella and Olive seized her arms and pulled her back. In desperation, Dahlia put all her charm into her voice.

            “Please let Troy go,” she pleaded. “You don’t need him or any of us. You can just walk away right now.”

            Ellie flicked her palm and a shimmery translucent shield danced into life around the guard and Troy. Dahlia grimaced as she felt her magic bounce away from the guard. No magic worked there.

            Then two people next to her moved and she turned to see Ash and Cosmo walking toward Ellie. Kayla, Ella and Olive glared at them but they made no attempt to stop them from going.

            Dahlia, however, thought differently. She tripped Ash up and, knocking his staff from his hands, placed the flat of her dagger at his throat.

            “Let Troy go!” she cried.

            “No, let Ash go!” yelled Leo, the dagger in his hand held threateningly against Troy.

            “You first!” Dahlia retorted.

            “Let go or…” Leo let the threat hang in the air as he pressed his dagger at Troy’s throat and at the same instant, Troy shadow-travelled away.

            “ATTACK!” Tia yelled.

            Kayla went straight for Benjamin. He summoned tornados, using the air to fight. Kayla summoned boulders and the earth cracked around his feet. The air around them crackled and smelled of ozone.

            Dahlia attacked Ellie. With Edith’s staff, she felt more powerful than ever before. Dahlia was so strong that Ellie had to use her entire shield to protect herself.

            Luna and Cedric charged at Tia. Luna used her powers to predict the future and Cedric used his fast reflexes.

            Troy and Leo were fighting furiously, vanishing, reappearing and generally running to and fro. Neither of them knew where they were going to end up.

            Verne and August attacked Zara and Ella and Olive charged at Ash and Cosmo.

            Dahlia ducked sharply as boulders sailed past her ear. She dove through the shield. (Ellie’s shield was for magic, not physical things).

            “Shuyrgha fhesta vhi karfh!” she shouted. (Water ball and freeze).

            A frozen ball of ice sailed toward Ellie for Dahlia was already behind the shield. Ellie ducked and swung her staff wildly in retaliation. Dahlia caught the shaft of the staff with her hand and they both tumbled to the ground.

            Dahlia scrambled out of the way of Ellie’s spear, leaping backwards from the point. In her desperation to get away from the weapon, she didn’t notice a boulder come flying from the opposite direction.

            BAM!

            It slammed into Dahlia with such force that she fell sprawling at Ellie’s feet, trying not to be sick. She gasped for air, feeling winded.

            Dahlia rolled, barely avoiding Ellie’s spear. It caught the corner of her T-shirt, barely missing her skin.

            Before she could react, however, a hand seized her shirt and pulled her upright. A foot connected with Dahlia’s hand, knocking aside her weapons and breaking at least two fingers.

            Dahlia gasped, cradling her right hand.

            Then she felt the point of a spear against her neck.

            “STOP!” Ellie commended. “Drop your weapons now. Or I will kill this beautiful girl now. It’s entirely up to you.”

            Troy pried his fingers off his sword hilt and the weapon hit the ground with a thud. The others stayed stock still.

            Dahlia flinched, trying to squirm away from Ellie but the woman was too strong. She might have been really old, but she was in excellent shape, besides being immortal.

            “DROP. YOUR. WEAPONS… NOW!” Ellie screamed.

            She looked really angry. Saliva came out of her mouth when she shouted. Even Benjamin, a member of the guard, looked surprised.

            Luna, Kayla and Cedric relinquished their weapons, letting their bow and spears hit the ground. Ella, Olive, Verne and August followed suit.

            “Good!” Ellie said, triumphantly. “Benjamin, Zara and Leo pick up the weapons and keep them for our lord.”

            The rest of the guard collected the weapons swiftly and stowed them neatly in their cloaks. Ellie herself took Kayla, Cedric and Olive’s staffs and spears.

            Dahlia strained against Ellie’s muscles. But now she was being held in headlock.

            “All of you touch Leo in some way,” Ellie ordered. “Make a chain. Troy, I know you can shadow-travel. Help him or your girlfriend dies.”

            Ellie pointed her spear at Dahlia.

            “She’s not my girlfriend,” Troy began but Ellie cut him off.

            “Shut up,” she said flatly, her spear waved pointedly at Dahlia.

            Troy hastily gripped Benjamin and Verne’s arms. Ellie took Leo’s arm and, still holding Dahlia in headlock, nodded swiftly at Leo. He, in turn, gripped August’s arm and they all vanished.