"W.I.T.C.H. 5

W.I.T.C.H. Последняя слеза (книга 5) ("The Last Tear")

Пока только первая глава, но впечатление составить можно (честно взята с www.hyperionbooksforchildren.com). Кстати, она на инглише (скоро переведу и выложу русский вариант, хотя и так понятно ;) ).

Глава 1
Irma Lair gaped at her mother.
As usual, Mrs. Lair had her fists planted on her hips, and she was glaring at her daughter.
Also as usual, Irma was responding with a glare of her own. Irma didn't have to look at a mirror to know which expression she was wearing. It was her tried-and-true Mask of Horror, with added touches of incredulity and scorn. It was tailor-made for Mom.
It was also the only expression Irma could muster at that particularly terrible moment.
My mother, Irma thought desperately, has just ordered me to do the unthinkable. She is making me leave my cozy, quiet bedroom. . .
Here, Irma paused and looked around her bedroom. Okay, so it wasn't exactly quiet, what with the stereo blaring and her pet turtle, Leafy, loudly gnawing on a carrot in his bowl. And cozy? Well, if you call a heap of somewhat fragrant laundry on the floor and a vanity table piled high with unfinished homework cozy, then cozy was exactly what Irma's room was.
The point, Irma thought with a shrug, is that my mother is throwing me out of the sanctuary of our home. She's making me go . . . on a date!
Irma realized immediately that this sounded odd. After all, she was a normal teenage girl. She went to school. She loved shopping, bodysurfing at the beach, talking to her girlfriends on the phone, and dating. I like dating boys -- cute, sporty, stylish ones, Irma thought. This date is with a total nerd! He is, in fact, the most unbearable dweeb at the Sheffield Institute -- the skinny, bespectacled Martin Tubbs!
"Irma," Mom scolded. She stepped through Irma's bedroom door threateningly. "You promised!"
"Promised?" Irma squeaked. "When would I have promised anything like that?"
"Irma!" Mom repeated. Her blue eyes narrowed to slits and her forehead scrunched into a field of angry furrows. "If you don't leave this bedroom immediately, I will get very, very angry."
Irma looked around her bedroom desperately. Her eyes fell on the stack of schoolbooks lying on top of her vanity table. Homework! Homework trumped everything! Irma dived toward the desk and scooped up a couple of textbooks.
"I want to do my homework!" she wailed. "I have to study. Send Leafy instead of me!" Irma pointed to her pet turtle.
"Your turtle is not going on a date with Martin Tubbs!" Mom sputtered. "You are! Now come on! You're acting like a little girl!"
Mom grabbed Irma by the wrist and began dragging her into the hallway.
This is child abuse! Irma thought. But she knew not to play that card with her mom, who, after all, was usually quite the softie. She was always baking cookies and helping Irma and her brother, Christopher, with their homework and stuff like that.
That's it! Irma thought suddenly. I'll appeal to Mom's soft side.
"A mother cannot do this to her favorite daughter," she cried, grabbing on to the door as Mom tried to yank her down the stairs.
"You're my only daughter," Mom pointed out, through gritted teeth.
"Don't you have a heart?" Irma wailed. In a tragic gesture, Irma lifted her own hand to her chest. She gazed beseechingly at her Mom and let her lower lip tremble, just a bit.
"Please," Mom said, rolling her eyes.
Hey! Irma thought indignantly. That eye roll is my move! No fair!
"Don't make such a stink," Mom continued. "You made the date. And now, you'll keep it."
Mom grabbed Irma by both shoulders and began to march her down the stairs toward the living room. Irma sighed heavily. She was beaten. There was no getting out of it. And the worst part of this grievous miscarriage of justice? Irma really hadn't made the date.
It was my stupid astral drop who said yes when Martin asked her out, Irma thought with a groan.
Ah, the good old astral drop, she mused grumpily. She's been the most inconvenient part of being a Guardian of the Veil. Well, that and being attacked by slimy, scaly monsters every time I turn around.
Lately, Irma's normal, teenage life had been . . . not so normal after all.
Things had first started getting weird while Irma was soaking in a long, hot bath one day. She'd been lazily trailing her fingers through the steamy bathwater as she daydreamed about her fave TV show, Boy Comet. Then, suddenly, Irma had noticed something bizarre! In her fingers' wake, the bathwater had begun to do more than simply ripple and undulate. It had started floating! Big blobs of water had risen from the water and danced before Irma's incredulous eyes.
Then, with a flick of her finger, Irma had sent the water soaring around the bathroom like a fleet of flying saucers!
Over the next few days, Irma had discovered that she could coax ocean waves to crash where she wanted; convince great geysers to rise out of the earth; even redirect rain!
And that wasn't all. Irma had also found she could predict pop-quiz questions, simply by making a wish.
Meanwhile, her best friends at school -- Cornelia, Hay Lin, Taranee, and Will -- had all started experiencing supernatural and bizarre moments of their own.
Before any of them had had a chance to really freak out about their strange new powers, Hay Lin's mysterious grandmother had filled them in on their new situation: beings in a heavenly place called Candracar had anointed the five girls to, well, save the world.
Yeah, Irma thought drily, then it was time to freak out. First of all, we learned that we all had magical powers and that Will held the key to those powers. She's the keeper of the Heart of Candracar, this glowy, crystal orb that pops out of her palm every now and again. Every time she unleashes that glowing orb, we all turn into superbeings! We get to wear really cool outfits. Oh, yeah, we can also control all the elements. I'll manipulate anything wet and watery. Hay Lin is all about air. Taranee lassos fire. And Cornelia can control the earth. That one makes perfect sense, since Cornelia's such a stick-in-the-mud.
Irma giggled at her joke, even if it had only been in her head. Sure, she loved Cornelia -- she'd known her a long time. But even when they were younger, Cornelia had been a little uptight.
A little uptight? Irma thought with a roll of the eyes. Who am I kidding? She's a total control freak! Of all us Guardians, she's been the most resistant to this whole we're-magic-and-we-have-to-save-the-world thing.
Of course, Irma thought ruefully as she plodded down the stairs, we were all a little resistant to our next discovery. And that was? Basically, that we -- we earthlings -- are definitely not alone. In fact, there are a whole bunch of other worlds floating around out there. One of those worlds is Metamoor.
Irma shuddered at the very thought of Metamoor -- a dusky, Gothic-looking place inhabited by talking lizards, leering, blue thugs, and a ruthless hunter named Frost. Metamoor was a dark land of exile -- a place that had been taken over by evil.
That was why the all-knowing Oracle of Candracar had created the Veil. The Veil was a barrier that separated Metamoor and earth. For centuries, the Veil had stood stalwart, and no one ever crossed the supernatural fence.
But when the most recent millennium had hit, the Veil had become weak and porous. In twelve spots, the Veil had been punctured completely, creating portals between earth and Metamoor. All of those gateways just happened to be located in Heatherfield, otherwise known as Irma's very own hometown. Put simply -- it was the young Guardians' job to find the portals and seal them.
Simple, but not easy!
Hay Lin's grandmother had given the girls a guide to the portals. But the magical map only revealed each opening's location after it had been found.
What's more, the Guardians usually found a portal just as some evil monster came through it, itching for a fight! The girls had already battled a few Metamoorian goons, and barely escaped with their lives.
Almost as soon as the Guardians had been handed their mission, their friend, Elyon Brown, had traveled through a portal, never to return. She'd totally defected to Metamoor. She'd also turned cold and evil. Now she was trying to coerce the Guardians into joining her.
Talk about a catfight, Irma thought, as she landed at the bottom of the stairs.
Elyon had tried all sorts of dirty tricks to sway her friends. She'd teased and tormented them. Then she'd almost killed them, with the help of some predatory, writhing, brick walls. Finally, she'd kidnapped Taranee and tricked her into believing her friends had forgotten her.
Elyon's mistake had been in underestimating the Guardians. They'd rushed to Metamoor to rescue Taranee. The mission was dangerous, and the Guardians had had no idea how long they'd be gone. So, right before they'd left, they'd used their magic to create astral drops: magical doubles who stood in for the girls at school and home. The scheme had pretty much worked! Not one of the girls' parents had detected their absence. Irma's double had even taken a science test for her!
But then again, her astral drop had also agreed to go on a date with Martin Tubbs!
My astral drop was supposed to absorb everything bouncing around in my brain, Irma thought in despair. And mostly, she got it right. When I came back to earth and absorbed her experiences, I found that she'd talked back in gym class when the coach tried to make her serve the volleyball. So me! I hate serving! She also shunned Mom's gross turkey meat loaf and took a two-hour bath. So she must have known how much I loathed Martin. I've loathed him since we were practically toddlers. Nobody with any common sense would ever agree to a date with . . .
Martin! As Irma stalked into the living room, she spotted him, sitting in the overstuffed chair. Christopher, her annoying little brother, was sitting nearby, playing a video game on TV. When Irma walked into the room, Christopher gave her a teasing sneer.
"Don't you say a word," Irma muttered.
Irma sized Martin up immediately, from his flushed face and Coke-bottle glasses to his horrendous outfit! He was wearing his goofy, blue Explorer Scout uniform -- shorts, dark socks, and neckerchief! Awkwardly, Martin scuttled out of his chair and waved at Irma. He gave her a googly-eyed grin.
"Say hello to your friend, Irma," Mom said, with a stern look.
"My little doughnut!" Martin cried, rushing across the room to Irma. "You look simply ravishing."
Irma closed her eyes, swallowed hard, and counted backward from ten. It was going to be a long afternoon!

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