The next day, the Guardians were standing in front of Cecilia's house, which was huge. It wasn't an apartment, but rather, it looked like a mansion.
"Cecilia? Is this where you live?!" Dee questioned, her eyes filled with shock.
"How?!" Stella asked, gesturing to the house.
"My parents are rich." Cecilia explained.
"Right. Yeah. And you were planning on telling us when?" Dee interrogated.
"I don't like talking about money. That's all." Cecilia replied, typed in a code at the gates.
The gates opened in front of the girls. They all walked inside.
"Wow!" Harley exclaimed.
The driveway was so long that Harley had considered transforming just to reach the front door. Dee looked at the statues of dolphins arched over sparkling fountains.
"Wow! Okay, I take it back," Dee muttered, staring at a hedge shaped like a literal grand piano. "This isn't a house. This is a level in a video game that I can't afford the DLC for."
"Is that a butler?" Stella whispered, pointing toward a man in a suit standing by the massive mahogany double doors. "A real one?!"
"That's just Lucas " Cecilia said, waving dismissively as if she weren't living every high schooler's princess fantasy. "He's been with the family since I was a baby. Just act natural."
"Natural? Cecilia, I'm wearing sneakers that I bought on sale and a backpack with a talking blue alien hiding in it!" Dee hissed, clutching her bag where Ursa was currently hiding.
As they reached the doors, Lucas bowed slightly. "Welcome home, Miss Cecilia. Your guests are... unexpected, but the tea service has been prepared in the west parlor."
"Thank you. But we're just gonna go to my room for a study group," Cecilia said, putting extra emphasis on the words.
"Of course." Lucas replied, and he opened the door for the group.
The inside of the house was even more elegant than the outside. The high ceilings, a crystal chandelier the size of a small car, and a grand staircase.
"My room is upstairs," Cecilia led the way inside.
"I feel like I should be whispering," Stella said, tiptoeing. "It feels like we are in a museum where everything costs more than my life."
"Don't," Cecilia sighed. "It's just a house. A big, quiet, and extremely annoying house."
"Do I need to take my shoes off?" Yvette asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"That would be good." Cecilia replied.
Once they reached Cecilia's room, Harley let out a whistle. She was impressed. It was huge, decorated in cool colors, with a balcony.
"Okay, spill," Dee said, dropping her bag on a grey ottoman. Ursa immediately popped out, gasping for air.
"Finally! It smelled horrible inside your bag!" the creature complained, then stopped, her jaw dropping. "Oh. My. Goddess! Cecilia, are you a secret princess? Did I bond with royalty? Is there a crown? I love crowns!"
"No, Ursa," Cecilia groaned, sitting cross-legged on her bed. "My parents just own a global shipping empire. It's boring business stuff."
"Boring?" Harley jumped onto a spinning chair that probably cost more than her laptop. "You have a gigantic room! We could have a beach party and the Void wouldn't even be invited!"
"We're not here for a party," Dee reminded them, though she couldn't help but poke a very expensive-looking glass globe on the desk. "We're here because Ursa said the 'frequency' is getting weird. And we still haven't found the other two Guardians left."
"About that..." Stella started, looking out the window toward the city. "If the elements are drawn to each other, why haven't we seen any more sparks? Yvette was literal lightning, but it's been quiet since then."
Ursa flew up to the center of the room. "Because the Void is learning. Falcon knows we're grouping up. He's probably trying to intercept the next one before we can reach them."
"Then we need a map," Dee said, looking at Cecilia. "You have all this money to buy tech. Can you-"
Cecilia smirked, pulling a hidden laptop from under her bed. "Who needs tech when you have the Guardian of Water? Water is everywhere, girls. Pipes, rain, even the humidity in the air."
They all suddenly heard the main doors open. Cecilia ran down to check it out.
"Mom? Dad?"
Her parents were standing at the door, her mom was on a call with someone on the phone.
"You two said- I thought you wouldn't be home until next month!" Cecilia stated, hope appeared in her eyes for a moment.
"I can't talk, honey. I'm only here for my keys. Have you seen them?" her father said, not even looking at her daughter.
"Oh… I see. Okay. Uhm… will you and mom at least be home for my birthday?" Cecilia asked.
"Your what?.." her mother looked confused.
"Nothing. Nothing. It's really not important…"
With that, Cecilia sighed and walked back up to her room.
Yvette stood outside of Cecilia's room, she looked at everything that happened sadly.
"What happened? You look sad."
"It's not important." Cecilia shook her head, and hugged herself.
Yvette walked closer to her, and pulled Cecilia into a small hug.
"Woah… uhm… thanks…"
"Don't tell anyone else." Yvette said, with a slightly scary look in her eyes.
"Okay." Cecilia immediately nodded her head.
The two soon walked back inside Cecilia's bedroom.
"Who was at the door?" Stella asked.
"Just parents. They just forgot to take their keys." Cecilia explained, not looking into the eyes of her friends.
The silence that followed Cecilia's explanation felt heavy. Harley stopped spinning in the expensive chair, and Dee slowly pulled her hands away from an expensive piece of decoration she was looking at.
"Just their keys?.." Dee said softly. She didn't buy it one bit. But she knew better than to ask more questions. Especially with the way Yvette was standing guard near Cecilia.
"Anyway," Cecilia cleared her throat. "If we're going to find the others, we need to stop waiting for them to trip over magical jewelry in a field."
"Hey! It worked for me!" Dee protested.
"It was an accident, Dee," Ursa chimed in, floating over to the laptop screen.
"No, it was not! Not to me!" Dee argued.
"Cecilia's right. The remaining elements that are left are high-energy." Harley stated.
"Can we actually find them?" Stella asked, leaning in.
"I am more powerful than I look! If I can just sync with those elements. I'll find them," Ursa boasted. "But it takes too much out of me."
While Ursa was talking, Harley wandered over to the balcony. She pushed the glass doors open, letting in a gust of wind that ruffled the heavy silk curtains.
"It's beautiful." she mumbled.
"Yeah, I know," Cecilia suddenly appeared next to Cecilia. "But what is beauty without… anyone to share it with?"
The two stood in silence, they looked down to the big backyard. Harley slowly moved her hand to hold Cecilia's, who took it.