There was really no need for all six of them to escort Roxy to Alfea, but they'd gone anyway, for old time's sake. Roxy had protested, laughing, but all the same they all stepped through Stella's portal, one by one.
"Stella brought me here my first time too, you know," Bloom reminded Roxy, digging her elbow into the blond's side playfully. Stella squawked and swatted at her arm, but they both giggled at the memory.
Roxy's dark eyes examined the evergreens around them critically. "It doesn't look much different than earth." It was true that the stretch of forest they'd emerged in looked about as magical as a clod of dirt.
"It's not so much something you can see," Flora replied, draping her hand over the crook of Roxy's elbow and guiding her towards Alfea in the distance. "Can't you feel it? The air is different here." She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, smiling.
Roxy's mouth twisted as she scanned their surroundings, before shutting her eyes, an expression of doubt on her face. A few moments later her eyes popped open again. "I don't feel a thing."
Musa snorted at that, shaking her head and following them between the trees. "Don't listen to Flora, not everyone's got the sense like she has."
The group made their way through the forest, Stella wobbling over tree roots and mud patches in her heels as usual. Ahead of them, Alfea emerged from the treetops, the blue arches visible before the pink walls, and finally the wing-like gates coming into view. They could make out Griselda at her position, granting access to the long line of aspiring fairies. Bloom felt a rush of deja vu at the scene. There were some differences, however. On either side of the gate stood a uniformed guard, visors shut tight. She saw Musa exchange looks with Tecna, who shrugged.
When they reached the gate, Griselda paused in admitting students to look them up and down. "Back again?" she asked, a sneer curling at the corner of her mouth. She crossed her knife thin arms, waiting for an explanation. The next girl in line looked relieved, her questioning delayed for the moment.
"Couldn't stay away!" Stella replied breezily, rocking on her heels to peer over Griselda's shoulder and into the school.
Bloom knew how Stella set Griselda off, so she stepped in front of her, putting on a cheery smile. "Actually, we're bringing a new student. Roxy, I'm sure Ms. Faragonda's told you about her?" Flora's hand was still curled on the younger girl's arm, and Aisha moved to rest her elbow on Roxy's shoulder. The gesture was small, but the tension in the girl's spine relaxed just a bit as they waited for Griselda's verdict.
She could see that the harsh woman wanted to tell them there'd been a mistake, Roxy wasn't allowed. But at the last moment, she stepped aside to let them pass. "I hope she's better behaved than you all were," she grumbled as they hurried through the gates. Some of the poor freshmen still in line shouted at them indignantly as they cut in front, but they ignored it.
It took awhile to sort out Roxy's dorm situation. Tecna hacked into the housing database and got them the room number so they didn't have to go ask a teacher, but it was on the complete other side of campus and when they got there they found it had been remodeled since they were there and all the room numbers were totally different. Forty-five minutes later they finally staggered into the correct room. Stella swooned dramatically onto the carpet.
"What do you think?" Bloom asked, arms wide and gesturing to the room. The layout was different than the Winx's dorm had been. The main room was fundamentally the same, though set up in different colors, and the furnishing was a little sparser. There were only two doors however, instead of three. Investigating further revealed that both were double rooms, so it was missing the single that Stella had claimed as hers back in the day. One of the rooms was clearly already taken, boxes and bags covering both of the beds. The other had one bed unclaimed, with that side of the room completely empty. None of the roommates were there.
Roxy leaned over Bloom's shoulder, trying to see the interior. "It's smaller than my room back home," she griped, but she was smiling as she sat on the bed, bouncing up and down. "I guess I can understand why they wouldn't let me bring Artu..." that had been the hardest part for Roxy. She could text and call her dad all she wanted, but when she'd had to leave her beloved dog behind, the girls had all turned away and pretended not to see the tears that filled her eyes, though she bit her lip and tried to hide them.
Roxy was still looking around the room, and Tecna followed her inside, pulling her newest device from her pocket-whatever she was calling it now, Bloom couldn't remember. Instead of hauling all of Roxy's luggage through the forest, Tecna had devised a method where the bags were all digitized and saved in the memory of her gadget, and now her fingers danced across the keypad as she brought it back to reality, each appearing sketched in lime green lines first and then materializing with a pop.
"You got the window side," Musa was saying meanwhile, hopping over a duffel bag to look out at the view. The rest of the girls moved about the room, helping drag the bags to a better place and investigating the room further. Stella picked up a shirt that was lying across the roommate's bed and made an expression of disgust. Bloom watched them all, hands on hips and a fond smile on her face, before noticing that Roxy was still seated on the bed, shoulders rigid and a frown line between her eyebrows. Bloom joined her, asking softly under the noise of Stella and Musa bickering good naturedly, "What's wrong?"
Roxy hesitated, squeezing her hands into fists and pushing them against her knees. It was probably in her nature to deny that anything was wrong, but finally she replied. "I've never been close to anyone but you. The six of you, I mean. And I have to live with someone I don't even know now?"
"It'll be fine," Bloom replied, looping an arm around Roxy's shoulders. Roxy leaned against her, her head resting on Bloom's shoulder, and for a second Bloom couldn't breathe as she hoped desperately that she was right.
"I hadn't met any of these weirdos before rooming with them," Musa announced suddenly, her voice shattering the moment, and Roxy sat up and smiled at her hopefully. Bloom looked up to find that the side conversations had all ceased, and everyone was looking at them.
"That's right, and I was really, really nervous about it, just like you are," Flora added, coming to kneel in front of Roxy and taking her hands, a sweet smile on her face.
"And I'm the boss of being a loner," Aisha declared, grinning at her from across the room. "And nothing could break the bond I have with these girls now!"
Bloom was sure Roxy didn't notice it, but everyone went still for a moment. Even Tecna's fingers froze on the keys of her device.
Things weren't tense, exactly, but everyone had been dancing around the issue of Aisha's betrayal in the final battle. None of them had discussed it, with her or with each other. It was clear that some of them had forgiven her completely; Flora couldn't hold a grudge to save her life, for instance. Bloom hadn't figured out how she felt about it yet.
Tecna broke the tension finally, pressing one last button with a loud 'beep!'
"Professor Faragonda knows we're here," she informed them, eyes flickering from the screen to the rest of them. "She wants us to meet in her office as soon as possible."
That was familiar to them, and Bloom stood, disentangling herself from Roxy and clapping her hands together decisively. "Did you hear that, girls? Roxy, are you good here for now?"
Roxy seemed to be cheered up from the pep talk, because she smiled and nodded. "I'll be fine. Thanks, guys."
Bloom offered her a smile before leading the rest of the group from the room. She hoped whatever Faragonda had to say wasn't too worrying.
When they entered her office, Faragonda stood with her back to them, looking out the window. Bloom wondered for a moment if she'd seen them come in, from her vantage point, or if she simply was able to sense who was in the school at that moment.
"I'm glad you came to bring Roxy here," she said finally, as they gathered in a half-circle in front of her desk. "It saves me the trouble of having to send for you."
"Professor, what is this about?" Aisha was the first to speak, agitated from the suspense. By all rights, they were past the age where they needed to worry about being in trouble with her. But they all still looked up to her and her serious tone was worrying.
"There's been a theft," she said finally, turning to face them at last. "Several, actually. I made an announcement to the students, but I thought I'd better tell you as well, considering your penchant for getting into trouble."
Stella scoffed, indignant, but Faragonda ignored her.
"Do you know what I'm referring to if I say 'the Principium Book'?" the older woman asked.
Flora made an 'ah!' noise, Musa nodded, and Tecna replied eagerly, "of course!" The rest of them stared at her blankly. Faragonda sighed. "Tecna, please enlighten your friends."
"Every population that inhabits one of the magical worlds has, to date, discovered a text or piece of writing that tells the story of that world as it occurs. Sometimes they're carvings on a wall, or books, or paintings. But every realm has one, and they're one of the greatest treasures of each of them. Collectively, the pages are referred to as the Principium Book." Tecna nodded, satisfied with her explanation.
Flora's expression was concerned. "Some of the Principium Pages are missing?" She covered her mouth with one hand, horrified.
With a grave nod, Faragonda replied, "Only two, so far. Sandus' went missing around a week ago, but we figured it was a fluke. It's an empty desert anyway, and no one lives there, so we weren't too worried. Then last night Soleil's went missing."
Stella blanched. "That's in my solar system!"
Faragonda nodded. "I know. Saladin's family is from there, and he's gone home to be with them."
"What's so bad about losing track of the record," Bloom asked curiously. "I mean, it's a tragedy of course, but is it really that bad?"
Musa was the one who answered her, her voice hushed. "If the Principium Page tells the story of the planet. If it's destroyed, the planet goes too. And everyone who lives there dies."