FIRST ISSUE: Taranee is nervous about her dance class audition. The girls' powers are going a bit haywire. Orube, for some crazy reason, got herself into university studying journalism. I wonder how many papers they faked to make that work. She's applied for a job writing for a magazine. Not long ago she was clueless about Earth so how can she write stories? Taranee meets a boy named Luke at her auditions. In Kandrakar, the power of the Oracle is going to be shared between Himerish, Yan Lin and the real Endarno. Himerish gives a creature from Basiliade to Orube, then reveals that he's given Cedric a chance at redemption...in Heatherfield. Taranee got into the advanced dance class, but while her friends are thrilled, Nigel is angry they'll have less time to spend together. I remember when Nigel was nice. They really did his character dirty. Eric tells Hay his parents got the positions they wanted and they'll be moving. Instead of staying with his grandfather, he's invited to go with them this time.
SECOND ISSUE: The elements themselves summon the guardians to Kandrakar and the Oracle says change is coming. He says he will answer some of the guardians' questions. First, he shows Will what would have happened if she'd refused the Heart when Yan Lin first offered it. The vision shows that the girls eventually find their way to each other no matter what and they're destined to be guardians. Then he shows Cornelia and Taranee a vision of the future if they choose to give up their powers. Each girl still has some innate elemental ability left and they once again find their way to each other. The Oracle wants them to think about forces larger than themselves and the effect those forces can have.
THIRD ISSUE: Cedric is in place at Ye Olde Bookshop, where he was during the first story arc. He has encounters with both Matt and Orube. Taranee is unsure about her dance class and arrives late, then pauses before going in. Jensen runs into her on his way out and encourages her to join the class. She feels better when she sees Luke is there. Eric tells Hay he's moving with his parents. After Will accidentally causes an electrical panel to short circuit at school, the girls take the opportunity to meet at Orube's and discuss their power changes. Will is overloading electronics with her energy. Irma is seeing visions in water. Hay can sense emotions through the air and tell when people are lying. Taranee is super-telepathic, more than just with W.I.T.C.H. now. And Cornelia is a healer. Orube returns home and says she had to leave We, the little Basiliade creature, with her boss. Orube is allergic to him. The girls split off to do different things. Will and Hay go with Orube to talk to Mr. Collins. Orube's first assignment is urban legends and Collins knows Heatherfield's history. He tells the story of Jonathan Ludmoore and his magical Book of Elements. Hay and Will were going to watch a movie, but as soon as they hear Book of Elements, they're in. Collins' story hints at connections to Meridian. Ludmoore ended up disappearing, but the night he did, five streaks of light in different colors were seen shooting from his house. One went to the sea, one the sky, one to a mountain, one "reaching the fiery depths of the Earth" and one into a heather field. These supposedly formed colorful gems, representing the positive essence of the five elements, and if you place them on the Book of Elements, you can unlock it. At the end, Cedric is invited to Ludmoore Manor.
FOURTH ISSUE: Cedric goes to the manor and finds himself drawn to a particular book. Hay thinks Eric's mother hates her...and she does act super awkward around Hay...and ends up fleeing. The girls, minus Hay, meet and plan to test their new powers. Irma tells about a nightmare she had, but Cornelia and Taranee make fun of her when she thinks it might point to Matt. Will calls him and he's fine. Cedric gets his delivery of books from Ludmoore, including the Book of Elements, then throws a tantrum about being stuck on Earth. Orube begins to befriend Cedric. At the Sunday market, the girls (minus Hay) plan to test their powers, but a strange fire starts. Irma sees the eye from her nightmare and freezes up, unable to help. The fire goes after Matt but Will saves him. Hay comes in and helps save the day. The girls admit Irma's premonition was right. At the bookshop, the book awakens.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Irma, Taranee, Will.
FIRST ISSUE: Will's mom struggles to tell Will some news at the same time as Matt and Will over-celebrate their one month anniversary. Cornelia is still awkward around Peter while Taranee and Nigel have problems. Hay is devastated she didn't say goodbye to Eric so Irma teleports them to his new place only to have their magic fail and return them to Heatherfield after mere moments. Haay's behavior with Eric in this story arc and the last really have her position as second favorite being tenuous. She's acting like such a scared baby. It's annoying. Will brings up a package to Hay that was outside and it turns out to be a laptop and a lovely letter from Eric, so now hopefully Hay will be okay. And also hopefully more mature in future dealings with the poor boy. She can't keep running away from her problems. Taranee might have an attraction to Luke but isn't ready to admit it to herself yet. Sheila has turned out to be pretty cool. She, Taranee and Luke are a nice trio of dance pals. Cedric tries to force the Book of Elements open and it embeds itself in the wall of the bookshop basement, warning him that mortals who try to open it are sucked into it.
SECOND ISSUE: Sheila brings her dad breakfast in bed and we get some insight into her character. She's really a good kid. She was only bitchy because she was reacting to her life's instability, but she realizes she likes Heatherfield. Taranee tries to bring her to a study group with the other girls, but Irma leaves and Cornelia goes along with her, though she does say Irma is being silly. Susan finally is able to tell Will that she and Dean (Mr. Collins) are getting married. Will is thankfully very receptive to it. Martin and his French penpal Michelle strike up a more than friends vibe, leaving Irma to feel left out. Sheila asked Will for a demo from Cobalt Blue and Will tells Matt to give her one. Will is surprisingly cool about their talking and did encourage the interaction, despite Matt referring to Sheila as "super-cute" (really, Matt?) so I'm glad she's so secure in their relationship FINALLY. Nigel however has it out with Taranee. While I do think he's wrong in not liking her taking dance, he did have a point here, because he took her out and she left him (though not sure for how long) to talk to Sheila and Luke. But Nigel goes right back to being an ass because he wants her to give up dancing for him, because she's the most important thing to him and isn't he to her? She says she's not sure anymore and runs away. In Kandrakar, Himerish explains that Ludmoore was from Meridian and went to Earth to try to open the portals. Kandrakar is pretty useless this time because the Oracle says it's the elements themselves that are testing the guardians. Then Cedric manages to trick Matt into trying to open the Book of Elements, which sucks Matt into it. All Cedric's big plot to get the guardians to help him open the book.
THIRD ISSUE: Cedric calls Will to tell her about Matt and the guardians and Orube go to the shop. Will attacks Cedric but Hay talks her down, saying he's telling the truth. Orube watches over Cedric to see if the book will speak again. Matt is in some sort of empty realm but he's not alone. The girls meet with Endarno and he's not much help, but is able to tell them Matt is alive. He also tells them they have to open the book to free Matt, which means finding the five element stones. In a few comic pages, the girls teleport back and find themselves in some amusing places. Their powers are still wonky. Endarno gave them a scroll tube, which they open and it's the map of the portals from the first story arc. It magically imprints itself onto the wall around the book.
FOURTH ISSUE: Will's depressed about Matt and Susan worries it's because of her remarriage plans. Matt is still in limbo. Orube and Cedric banter and then she falls asleep after watching him for days. Irma pokes at Taranee about Sheila and Taranee snaps at her. The girls struggle with both Peter and Joel wanting to know where Matt is, so Will and Cornelia get into his email and send out a fake message from Matt, only Peter isn't stupid and knows it doesn't sound like him. He says he needs to get the speakers Matt used for his last show back to the school. The book gives the girls a riddle, which Will ends up solving with some random help. Cornelia and Hay get the speakers from Matt's garage and realize they've got a new problem: Matt's mom just got home from her business trip.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.
Hay Lin's issues with Eric lowered her down to tie with Taranee, who's jumped ahead of Irma, thanks to Irma's poor attitude about Sheila.
FIRST ISSUE: Both Taranee and Will are trying to avoid phone calls. Will has to talk to Matt's mom and uses the excuse they came up with for his absence. Peter lies for Taranee, but when he asks for an explanation and she says she's not sure of her feelings for Nigel anymore, he blows up at her. I hated this moment for Peter. He's usually very understanding, but he says Nigel stood up to their mother and his older brother to fight for their relationship and she'd better have a good reason for breaking up. I'd call Nigel's inability to accept Taranee's dancing a good reason, but sometimes feelings just change and it's really horrible of Peter to make Taranee feel guilty for that. The girls transform and wear human clothes in disguise to visit Siren Island and search for the water gem. It's found after a lot of illusions...
SECOND ISSUE: and an underwater battle which involves Taranee and Irma using their powers together. Irma places the water gem on the book and it unlocks one of the five locks. Irma and Taranee's tensions seem solved. Then Cedric gives them the next riddle, which is for the fire gem.
THIRD ISSUE: The fire gem is at the Warmwater Hot Springs, which is too expensive for the girls to visit on their own. Cornelia's snotty paternal grandmother is in town and wants to teach Corny to be more ladylike, so she suggests a trip there and I'm still surprised she let the others come along. She's so snobby. You'd think she would have checked them out first. Taranee goes up against the fire custodian and wins the gem.
FOURTH ISSUE: While the issue covers rarely match the action, the inner main illustration typically does, but sometimes they just make shit up. The illustration for this one is Cedric holding a tearful Orube and there's nothing about them in this issue. In Kandrakar, the transmuting cards the elements communicate by leave suddenly. Elsewhere, Irma and Taranee accompany Cornelia to find the earth gem, while Will and Hay are after the air gem. This story arc is already longer than others, so they've got to combine these somehow. After realizing they're each in trouble, Cornelia and Hay communicate telepathically and realize the solution is for them to swap places. They try teleporting but it fails...mostly. What happens is that their powers swap, so Hay uses Cornelia's healing powers to fix Will and Cornelia has an amusing time trying to master flight. The girls get the gems, put them in the book, and the slot for the fifth element opens in the shape of the Heart. Both Will and the Heart itself don't want to do this and then a magic dragon comes out of the book and pulls everyone inside it.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.
This 16th volume of the series only contains three comic issues, unlike the usual four.
FIRST ISSUE: Everyone is separated trapped inside the book. Will and Hay are in Meridian's past and find their way out thanks to the transmuting cards. They find Taranee and Orube outside Ludmoore Manor in Heatherfield's past. Then it's off to a random dinosaur-filled island where Irma and Cornelia are. Cedric, in his snake form, confronts them and tries to make Will give up the Heart, but Orube stops her. Ludmoore, who's inside the book, attacks, but Cedric jumps in front and takes the blast to save Orube. Cedric and Orube have a few moments before he dies and everyone else moves on to the book's fnal chapter.
SECOND ISSUE: They find Matt trapped inside a giant hourglass, writing in a book as ink drops on him and will eventually drown him. Will summons the Heart to swap for Matt, but the Heart itself resists him and frees Matt. Ludmoore transforms into a dragon thing and attacks Matt, while the other guardians also transform. When Ludmoore attacks them with their own elemental energy, he unwittingly returns their full powers to them, turning them into the living embodiments of their elements. They attack him and Will rescues Matt, but that leaves the Heart unguarded so Ludmoore grabs it and rejuvenates. Matt grabs the book he'd been writing in and crosses out Ludmoore's name, erasing him. Then he gets everyone home safely. They celebrate briefly in Kandrakar, then Matt goes home to his mom. In Kandrakar, Orube hangs out with We. Maybe she's not allergic anymore? She's not staying in Heatherfield. It's too painful. Susan and Dean get married. And a portal opens in the bookstore basement.
THIRD ISSUE: Dean and Susan are off on their honeymoon and Will is staying with Corny. Irma writes a list of Karmilla stuff that Joel doesn't have and also writes Karmilla a fan note that she's going to have Sheila give her (via Taranee). However, Joel grabs the wrong note from Irma's bag and thinks she likes him. Karmilla is in town because her guitarist broke his wrist and she's looking for a replacement. She finds him after Sheila suggests...Matt. Joel makes dinner for Irma and she enjoys it but is also confused so she's glad when a telepathic call comes...because Cornelia's little sister Lilian has found We. He takes them to the bookshop and shows them the portal, which leads to Kandrakar and acts as a communication device, too. They decide to make the bookstore W.I.T.C.H. HQ. I love how they always have a solution. They gave up the astral drops so they had the Breath of Time for a while. They gave up healing and now Cornelia can heal. Without Orube, they don't look right going into the house all the time and now they have a new HQ. At the airport, Will says goodbye to Matt and Susan and Dean come home. Karmilla gives Irma a signed CD and Irma realizes about the note switch. Joel was the one who got it for her.
So that was another very intense storyline. The girls got some new powers. Orube got some more characterization and got her heart broken. I'm not sure how I feel about that storyline, because I liked her with the musician neighbor. They brought him into the story and that just went nowhere. While We is cute, I really don't think they needed a cutesy mascot. When it comes to magical girl stuff, W.I.T.C.H. is one of the most realistic ones. There are no talking or anthropomorphized animals. Dormouse and Napoleon are/were pets. He doesn't really fit the essence of the story. I like the fluctuations in the girls' relationships. Will and Matt finally got over their myriad problems only to face the new dangers of Matt knowing the girls' secret. He is willing to go on tour partially because it's his dream and partially because he needs to clear his head after what happened to him. I like that Irma takes her own time in deciding and doesn't mind being single. I like that mature Cornelia is still flustered by Peter even though it's been a while. I don't like how much Nigel has changed, but it's natural for feelings to change and it's good to see Taranee being an example of that. I hope Peter gets that through his head. I don't like how weak Hay was around Eric's family, but I'm hoping she gets over that. She's the one that's the heart of the guardians, even though she doesn't hold the Heart itself, so it was annoying to see her so incapable of handling her own feelings and running from her problems.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.
Taranee's vast improvements in character keep her holding in a tie with Hay. Irma's improved but not enough. And poor Will and her constant trauma remain on the bottom.
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