Chapter 3 – Courtney's Story
When they were in her office, Ms Fargonda "Let's start at the beginning. Tell me everything."
The girl shook nervously, but started. "My name is Courtney, and I'm a student of The Academy of Angels. I'm a Beta Angel – the second level."
"Wait," Bloom interrupted, "Beta Angel?"
Courtney nodded. "When you get your basic powers, you become a Gamma Angel. When you receive your wings, you're a Beta Angel. You don't become an Alpha Angel until you save someone with self-sacrifice. I think fairies have the self-sacrifice thing going on too?"
Ms Faragonda nodded. "Indeed. Continue."
"Well, about 15 years ago, a dark knight rose to power in our world. He was known as the Shadow Phoenix."
Bloom noticed that the headmistress had become strangely tight-lipped at the mention of the Shadow Phoenix.
Courtney continued regardless. "He became a dark overlord using murder and secrecy. People stood up to him – and he killed them. Horribly." Her voice shook a little. "His followers are just as bad. All of us have suffered loss at their hands – Valtor, the Wizards of the Black Circle and the three Ancestral Witches are just a few of them. But some of them turned up at the school today."
Ms Fargonda gasped. Courtney nodded sadly.
"He came to the school to recruit new members, and kill those refusing to join. We refused, naturally, and he attacked. Eventually he was battling our headmistress, and Beth broke away from the battle and managed to contact you. You responded quickly enough that we all survived."
The girl pulled one of her bracelets off, revealing a curiously shaped scar. It appeared to form a word, but it wasn't in any language Bloom had ever seen.
Ms Fargonda's eyes narrowed. "Is that…?"
Courtney nodded. "When I was about five, my family was attacked by the Wizards of the Black Circle. Ogron carved the word 'Truxkrovi' into my arm."
"What does it mean?" Bloom asked.
"It's from the Old Language, Esperan. It means 'dirty blood'. I'm a descendant of the first queen of Melody, in this dimension. They don't approve of Angels with Fairy blood."
Bloom looked at the brunette and wondered how she was still so strong. She was surprised that Courtney wasn't crying. The redhead opened her mouth to say something comforting, but they were interrupted as Sierra burst into the study, followed by Bridgette and Flora, who'd evidently been trying to restrain her.
"Courtney! We forgot the guys!"
