Author's Note: Hey guys! I think this is the fastest I've been able to update this story. So we have this chapter left and probably two others and that'll be the end of Quest for Power Series 5. I hope you all are enjoying it. We're going to have the girls defeat Nezaro in the next couple chapters and the last chapter is going to have the girls talking about the journal and start putting all the pieces together on this mess they're in. But for now, let's get back to their escape from Fergal. Happy reading!
Chapter 9: The Crystal Cave
Several large blasts hit the ship and it spun off course. Everyone tumbled to the floor as Riven, Sky and Timmy struggled to regain control of the ship.
"Is everyone ok?" asked Sky.
"What was that?" asked Andrew.
"Nezaro," said Layla. She looked out the window and saw he was following them. He was absolutely livid, his face contorted into a look of rage beyond anything she had ever seen in her life. His eyes had turned black, his teeth were bared so he looked something like a wolf chasing its prey, and he was attacking the ship with everything he had.
"You're not getting away," he yelled so they all could hear him. "Blodare retakna selandoza!"
Suddenly, the ship began to veer off course, forcing everyone to grab onto something, just so they could stay on their feet. Timmy pressed a few buttons on the control board to see if he could figure out what was wrong, but let out a huge gasp when he found out what it was.
"Oh no!" he said. "He's fixed it so we can't get back to Magix! And you girls have to get back to Alfea to replenish your Winx!"
"Then set a course for Tides!" said Layla.
"What?" said Brandon.
"I can regenerate my powers there and I know a hiding place where we can think up a plan," said Layla. "Just get us back there and I'll handle the rest. Do it!"
"You heard her, move it!" yelled Jason, giving Timmy a slap on the back to make him do what she said.
"Before we do anything, we've got to shake Nezaro off!" said Brandon.
"Open the hatch!" said Layla. "I'm going out there."
"Layla no!" yelled Jason. "He's too strong!"
But he should've known that Layla was too stubborn to listen to him and she definitely wasn't listening now. Adding the fact that she was still in her Winx form meant that she was more than willing to fight this guy off. With a quick unlocking and opening spell, she was able to force the hatch open and with that, she flew outside.
"Tidal Wave!" she yelled. Fortunately for her, she had more power left than either of them had counted on. The attack hit Nezaro hard and he stopped attacking the ship, which was the good news. The bad news was that he decided to focus on recapturing her instead.
"I'll make you a deal Layla," he said. "If you come with me, I'll leave your friends alone. What do you say?"
"I'm not going anywhere with you and I'm not letting you anywhere near my friends!" she yelled angrily. She knew better than to trust his word on that. There was no way of guaranteeing that he'd let her friends go after she agreed to that. She let out a powerful scream and attacked even harder. But it wasn't enough to defeat Nezaro. He was about to go after her again when a rush of sound hit him full on and he was forced to cover his ears against the noise. Musa had come out to help Layla.
"Are you okay?" she called over to her friend.
"Fine, what about you?" Layla called back.
"I'm fine," said Musa. "You're not the only one with power to spare."
"No, you aren't," said Nezaro, flying back up towards them.
"Sound Blast!" said Musa, who was sick and tired of this madman terrorizing her friends. She and Layla attacked together, Musa using all the power of her realm on Nezaro. It seemed to hold him back a bit, but he wasn't out of energy and they both knew it.
"What do we do now?" asked Layla, as Nezaro began to advance on them again.
"Cover your ears, Layla!" said Musa, determination burning in her eyes. Layla didn't ask questions, she just did as her friend said, casting a spell that would protect her ears more than her hands would. Musa flexed her fingers, then stretched them out in front of her and closed her eyes. Sound vibrations began to resonate all across the immediate vicinity, vibrations so loud they could shatter an elephant's eardrums. The others on the ship, who had had no warning that Musa was going to do so such a thing, all had to cover their ears as they heard the loud noise she was making. Bloom cast a quick spell so their hearing was protected, but their ears were still ringing minutes afterward.
Musa looked down at Nezaro and saw that he had his hands over his ears, his face scrunched up in pain. She stopped casting the spell, but the sound continued. Knowing they had only a matter of seconds before it wore off completely, she and Layla flew back towards the ship. They entered the hatch and it shut behind them. The two girls both pitched forward, falling to the ground exhausted. Luckily, their boyfriends were standing there ready to catch them.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again," said Jason, hugging Layla tightly.
"Same goes for you Musa," said Riven, helping her to stand up.
"Relax, we're fine," said Layla. "How're the rest of you guys doing?"
"Exhausted, but we'll live," replied Bloom, who was trying to stand, but her knees wouldn't support her. Sky was standing by her with a hand on her shoulder, pretty much to keep her in the chair she was sitting in. She looked at him with an expression that was half exasperated and half grateful, as though she wanted to convince him that she was fine but at the same time, she was glad that he was there looking after her.
Layla breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that they had left the Realm of Fergal behind them. She transformed back to her normal self and tried to relax as the ship entered Tides. They looked over Layla's realm and saw about a medium-sized city, with tons of beaches and a shining palace by the sea. It didn't take long for them to realize that most of the population in Tides lived underwater. They could see the mermaids swimming just beneath the surface.
"Wow Layla," said Guinevere. "Tides is so beautiful."
"I know, I love it," said Layla, gazing fondly at her realm.
"Where should we land?" asked Timmy, looking for a clearing to leave the ship in.
"Over there, on that beach," said Layla, pointing to a beach, pretty far from the palace. Timmy and Brandon did as she said and landed the ship on the beach she had pointed out to them. When they exited the ship, Layla immediately dashed into the water, quickly disappearing into the deep blue depths. After a moment, she reappeared and said, "okay, the elite mermaid guard is nowhere to be seen. At the moment, the fewer people who know we're here the better. Now hold still. I'm going to create an air bubble around you guys."
"You don't mean that this hiding place of yours is underwater?" asked Carlos.
"Of course it is, where did you expect it to be?" asked Layla, with a look that clearly said, "why are you surprised?"
"Somewhere on dry land, that's where," said Carlos indignantly.
Layla rolled her eyes and said a small spell. A large bubble appeared around the rest of the group, promising them fresh oxygen.
"What about you?" asked Jason, gazing at her worriedly.
"I'll be fine, I can breathe underwater," said Layla. "The bubble is going to be set to follow me, so all you have to do is wait a few minutes, until I reach the hiding spot. Come on!"
She dived back underwater again and the rest of the group suddenly felt them moving into the water. Within a few seconds, they were completely submerged. Layla swam as fast as she could towards a rock wall. None of them could see what was so special about it at first, but then they saw a small opening hidden by some particularly jagged rocks. She swam directly in between the rocks and into the opening of a tunnel. They floated through the tunnel for several minutes, all wondering when they were going to reach Layla's hiding place. After a few minutes, the air bubble reached the surface and they were carried back to shore. They were in a large, circular cave, filled with hundreds upon hundreds of crystals, of all different shapes, sizes and colors. The place was huge, about 150 feet high, with a hole in the ceiling, light from the sunset streaming into it.
"Oh my gosh, Layla," said Nirvana. "This place is amazing!"
"It gets even better," said Layla smiling. "Just watch."
They waited for a moment, then one of the rays from the sunset hit one of the crystals just right. It bounced off that crystal onto another, then another, creating a chain reaction of light beams that spread over the entire cave. They arched over the roof of the cave and showers of red and gold shone above the group, as though they were looking at a sunset.
"Spectacular," whispered Guinevere.
"Glorious," echoed Nirvana. The rest were all speechless.
"It's my favorite spot in the entire realm," said Layla. "I come here all the time, especially when I need to think."
"And it's the perfect place for us to get some sleep," said Brandon, yawning, ruining the picture perfect moment they'd all been having. But they had to admit, he was right. They were all yawning and their eyes were getting droopy. None of the girls felt well either, but they took for granted that the spell from Fergal was wearing off little by little now that they were in a different realm.
"A little sleep sounds great," said Musa.
"Then, why don't you girls rest up," said Sky. "We'll stand guard here."
Bloom conjured some blankets out of thin air and the girls all lied down on the floor, and wrapped themselves up. They were all asleep within a few minutes. Helia set Flora down on the floor, covered her up and kissed her on the cheek. He was tired too, and instead of going back to join the guys, he fell asleep next to her. Brandon set Stella down as well, and stayed up for awhile watching her, but fell asleep as well. None of the boy's could deny they were tired. They found the most comfortable spots they could and fell asleep too.
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Layla was the first one up the next morning. She saw the rest of the girls sleeping peacefully, and the boys sleeping fairly close to the water. She walked to the water's edge, took her shoes off and let her feet dangle in the water. She closed her eyes and gave a small sigh; she always found it very relaxing to just sit by the water like this.
"Are you ok?" came a whisper. It was Jason. He sat down next to her and put his arm around her.
"Yeah," she said. "I'm just glad we got out of Fergal when we did."
"Me too," said Jason. "I don't ever want to go back there again."
"I don't think any of us do," said Layla. "I want to get rid of Nezaro once and for all and pretend none of this ever happened. If I could, I'd go back in time and keep myself from going to Ariel's wedding so I wouldn't get in this mess."
"You can't," said Jason.
"I know," said Layla. "But it doesn't change the fact that I want to."
"Layla, everyone does things they regret," said Jason. "Then, they think it's all over for them. But then something happens, one little miracle, and before they know it, everything's all right again. That's what's happened with just about every mission we've been on and it'll keep happening. We'll beat him. We'll get out of this safe and sound, you'll see."
"Thank you Jason," she said. They leaned in close and were about to kiss each other, when they heard someone groaning. The others were starting to wake up. Layla was a little disappointed that a romantic moment between her and Jason had been ruined and also couldn't deny that she'd wanted to kiss him. By the look on Jason's face, he was upset too.
Over the next fifteen minutes, the group gradually woke up, the girls still a little weary from what had happened. The boys sat by them and watched them anxiously. One by one, they rose and said they were fine, though none were 100% fine. But things went downhill very quickly, when Stella and Flora didn't wake up. They were the only ones who hadn't recovered from the previous night. Brandon and Helia tried to shake them awake, but they didn't respond.
"Why won't she wake up?" asked Helia, gazing at Flora worriedly. "We didn't leave the realm too late, did we?"
"I don't think so," said Bloom. "And she wasn't in the ice coffin long enough for it to do any damage. And Stella had more power than Flora did when we left Fergal so we couldn't have left too late for her. I guess the spell on the realm took more out of them than we thought. Maybe we should let them rest a little more."
"In the meantime, what do we do about breakfast?" asked Riven. "I'm starving!"
"Riven!" said Musa indignantly. "How can you be thinking about food at a time like this?"
"Easy when you're hungry enough to eat a dragon," replied Riven, glaring at her.
"What are you in the mood for?" asked Nirvana. "I can conjure up anything you want in a few seconds." Everyone started telling her what they wanted to eat and she conjured enough food to feed all of Alfea. They ate as though they'd never eaten before, which was easy considering they hadn't ate since the previous morning before arriving at Cloud Tower to help Layla.
"Here, save this for Flora and Stella," said Bloom. She still hadn't woken up.
"I say it's time we tried some sort of spell," said Musa. "I mean, if they doesn't wake up soon, we're gonna have to do something."
"You're right Musa," said Tecna. "They definitely should have been awake by now."
Nirvana put a hand on Flora's forehead and said, "Flora's got a pretty high fever. I'm betting by the way Stella's sweating, she's got one too. I suppose there's nothing to do but what until it breaks."
"That could take days, we don't have days. We don't even have hours," said Guinevere. "We have to do something now."
"Yeah, but what?" asked Nirvana.
"Do you girls know a spell or a potion or something?" asked Sky.
"Did you guys bring any medicine off the ship with you?" asked Bloom. None of the guys answered her. They all looked in other directions.
"I guess that means no," said Musa.
"If we were on Angelicas, I could make a potion for them," said Nirvana. "I have this huge closet pack to brim with potion ingredients. Give me that and a cauldron, and I'd have them both as good as new in no time."
"The problem is we're not on Angelicas," said Bloom.
Tecna did a quick scan of Flora and Stella with her computer to see if she could find out what was wrong. The answer she got was definitely not the one she wanted to find. "Oh no, the spell from Fergal is still plaguing them! Wait a second. It's still plaguing all of us. It could take effect again at any time!"
"I do feel a little weird now that I think about it," said Musa and all the rest of the girls agreed that they weren't feeling well either. This made the boys exchange very worried glances.
"How can that be though? I thought everything would be all right when we left," said Guinevere.
"It was supposed to break when we left, but Nezaro put so much force on it that it didn't," said Tecna. "It's progressed on all of us enough to stay strong. The only way to break it is to defeat Nezaro, else it'll still claim all our lives." They were all really scared by this time. None of the girls were ready to die and none of the boys wanted to lose them. If the girls died, they guys all knew they wouldn't be able to get over it.
"Layla, what's the matter with you?" asked Musa suddenly. They looked at her and saw that she was pacing back and forth across the cave. She had a very pensive look on her face, like she didn't want to be disturbed. She was pacing so much, they thought she was going to wear a hole in the floor. She didn't answer at first.
"Hey Layla, you want to talk to us here!" said Musa raising her voice to her friend.
"Don't bother me Musa, I'm trying to think," she said. She kept pacing back and forth, racking her brain for an idea. She knew there were ways on Tides to heal people that couldn't be done elsewhere, but now they had all decided to play a game of hide and seek inside her mind. It was driving her crazy that she couldn't find any little tidbit of information that could possibly help them. Her eyes fell on the roof of the cave, where the morning sunshine was streaming in, then it was as though a light bulb had clicked on inside her head. She said, "I'll be back in a little bit. I know someone who can help us."
"Where are you going Layla?" asked Jason.
"Just trust me," said Layla. "Aquarias oxsisana." She dived into the water and swam for the mermaid kingdom under the sea. What she didn't know was that the instant she left, the girls all cried out in pain and fell to their hands and knees.
"Bloom, what's the matter?" asked Sky, gently picking her up in his arms.
"It's Nezaro," she managed to croak out. "He's rekindled the power of that spell."
"You mean he's found us?" asked Helia, not taking his eyes off Flora, who was shaking badly.
"He must have," said Brandon. "Either he's here somewhere or he just cast the spell on the girls to subdue them until he gets here. I'll bet anything he's on his way right now. All he is to do is follow the trail of energy that's slowly ebbing out of the girls."
"Oh great, he'll be here in a heartbeat if this keeps up," said Riven, who wasn't looking forward to facing Nezaro without a bit of magical reinforcements behind him.
"It's probably a good thing Layla got out when she did," said Jason. "If she were here, she'd be writhing in pain too. Let's just hope she can get back with help in time."
"Amen to that," said Carlos, who had Nirvana cradled against his chest.
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Not knowing what was happening in the underwater cave, Layla swam as fast as she could towards the mermaid kingdom. It was difficult because she had to take great pains not to be seen. She had a sneaking suspicion her parents had given the elite mermaid guard orders to be on the lookout for her in case she came back. She darted in between the rocks until she came to a meeting place she used when she and Cyrene went swimming. Luckily for her, Cyrene was there and was as deep in thought as Layla was. When she heard the sound of water rushing around her, which could only mean someone was coming, she looked up and was shocked to see the Princess of Tides swimming quickly towards her. Fortunately, she had enough sense not to scream out her name when she saw her, which would've attracted immediate trouble.
"Layla?" whispered Cyrene, her voice fraught with surprise and shock. "How did you get back here? Or more importantly, why did you come back here?"
"It's a long story Cyrene," said Layla. "There's no time to explain. My friends are in trouble. Can you get Queen Ligea please?"
"Layla, if I do that, they'll know you're back here or at least suspect something," said Cyrene. "Your parents have sent people scouring the entire realm for you. If Ariel weren't on her honeymoon, they'd be badgering her, trying to find out your whereabouts. The elite mermaid guard has been given strict orders to keep an eye out for you. The ones that helped you escape are willing to keep silent for you, but if any others catch you, it's over. They'll take you back to your parents and you'll be sent right into Nezaro's hands."
"I don't care about Nezaro at the moment," said Layla. "All I care about is when I was on Fergal, my friends got sick, very badly sick. They need help and Queen Ligea is the only one who can help. But we need to do it fast, because the sunlight will be streaming over the crystal cave in a few minutes and we need sunlight in order for her magic staff to work."
"All right, stay here, I'll go and get her," said Cyrene, but Layla knew her friend was having doubts about the success of this plan. Layla concealed herself in between several narrow rocks and waited for Cyrene to return with the Mermaid Queen. After a few minutes, she heard Cyrene calling her name. Layla swam back out and saw Cyrene, with Queen Ligea behind her.
"Layla, what has been going on?" asked Queen Ligea. "Your mother told me that if any of us were to have seen you, we were supposed to take you back to her right away. I'm not going to of course, I want to know the full story first. But what is it you need my help with?"
"It's my friends from Alfea," said Layla. "They've been put under a spell and had to go through a lot yesterday, but the point is they're very sick. It's a disease that came to us when we were in Fergal yesterday. I've got it too. If we don't do something, all my friends will die and I'll go along with them. Please help us, Queen Ligea. I owe this to them. They came to Fergal to save me, I have to do something to save them."
Queen Ligea smiled and said, "that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Where are they?"
"Follow me, hurry!" said Layla. They swam back towards the sea cave, as fast as they could. As they got closer to the cave, Layla began to feel herself getting weaker, and knew Nezaro was on the move again. She sank a few feet before allowing Cyrene to help her. She didn't say anything, but she knew what was going on, which only pushed her to swim faster. They swam through the tunnel and back up inside the cave, where the others were waiting.
"Layla, thank goodness," said Jason, when he finally saw her head break the surface of the water. He pulled her on shore and continued, "We were getting worried. I thought I told you to quit scaring me."
"Part of life is being scared from time to time, Jason," said Layla, breathing very heavily.
"Who are your friends, Layla?" asked Andrew.
"This is Queen Ligea, the Mermaid Queen and a good friend of mine Cyrene. How's everyone doing?" asked Layla.
"Look at them," said Helia, taking his eyes off Flora for the first time that entire morning.
Layla gasped when she saw they'd all fainted. "What happened to them?" she asked.
"The spell reared its ugly head again," said Jason.
Layla couldn't deny that she was feeling very weak and dizzy too and she knew she didn't have much time left either. "We have to do something right now. That's why I brought Queen Ligea."
"You can save them?" asked Carlos hopefully.
"Yes," said Queen Ligea, holding up her magic staff. "The coral gem in my staff has healing powers. All it needs is light from a sunset and it can heal anyone. But it'll be hard to focus the sun's rays in here."
"Oh no!" said Layla. "It needs a sunset, it's only midmorning!"
"I don't think they'll hold until the end of the day," said Andrew, looking down at Guinevere's huddled form.
"Can you create me an artificial sunset?" asked Queen Ligea. "The gem won't know the difference as long as it has the sun's rays focused inside of it."
"Maybe, hold on," said Layla. And she dove back down into the water and swam to the bottom of the cave. Down at the bottom was a type of crystal that didn't grow in the portion above the surface. She searched for a few minutes and finally found one. She grabbed it and swam back up to the surface. When she got there, she transformed, which took several minutes because she was so tired, and flew up to the ceiling.
"What are you doing Layla?" asked Jason.
"Using this crystal to make an artificial sunset and help the girls," she replied. "It's a twilight crystal. If you hold it up to the light, no matter what time of day it is, it'll mimic the sun's rays at dusk." The boy's all looked interested at the idea of creating a sunset at any time of day, thinking it would be good for providing a romantic setting for a date sometime. Layla held the crystal up to the light and the sunlight focused through the prism. She didn't need to point the light at another crystal and create a chain reaction this time. Just passing through the crystal made the light change color and suddenly, the cave was filled with red and gold, exactly as it had been the night before. The rays shown down on them and Queen Ligea held her staff out. Not knowing the difference, the coral gem in it shone brightly and beams of light shot out of it, hitting each of the girls.
"Did it work?" asked Timmy, leaning over Tecna.
"We'll find out in a minute, be patient," said Riven. But even he didn't like that choice of words. He was worried sick about Musa.
They waited for a moment, a moment which seemed to last as long as eternity. Then, the color returned to the girl's skin and they all took deep breaths, before opening their eyes. They all began to ask questions like, "what's going on?" and "what happened?" and the boy's just swept them up and hugged them tightly. Layla drifted back to the ground and into Jason's arms. He held her close and whispered in her ear, "great job!" She smiled at him gratefully.
Flora, with Helia's help even though she was feeling much better, walked over to Queen Ligea and said, "thank you for saving us."
"Thank Layla," said Queen Ligea. "She was the one who came to get me, at great risk to herself, I might add."
"What do you mean?" asked Jason. Cyrene and Queen Ligea explained to them what they'd explained to Layla.
"Do the guards know about this place?" asked Sky.
"Not that I know of," replied Queen Ligea. "This is the first I've heard of it."
Jason was about to ask her something when they heard a loud noise coming from above the crystal cavern. Layla flew back up to the skylight and looked around. What she saw made her gasp and groan pretty much at the same time.
Author's Note: All right, so we have the spell broken and all the girls recovered. Yeah! But we have something else happening in Tides that we know has to do with Nezaro. Boo! And was that a cliffhanger or what? I'm not telling you what's happening until the next chapter. The only way to find out is to keep reading. Stay tuned!
