Mirta Story by Cupcakedoll. Characters belong to Mr. Straffi, Rainbow, Nickelodeon, and whoever else.
We're taking a short jump ahead here, skipping over the rest of the girls' archeology vacation, the end of Year 2, and summer vacation. Nothing terribly interesting happened all that time, well, the Winx saved the world but that's for other people to write about. We rejoin our characters on the first day of the new school year...
Part 10
In the Magix town hall, under the watchful eyes of the carved nymphs above the door, business was proceeding as usual.
The first hearing of the day had been about a used items shop selling cursed pots and pans. A detective had been assigned to make sure the shop obeyed all the Enchantment Disclosure laws in the future. The second hearing was about a proposed apartment building in Blackwood Swamp. The council found in favor of the undines. Then the owner of a large pottery factory proposed to expand his projects to include... a lot of chemical terms that were apparently ingredients you could use in pottery glazes. A group of citizens brought up concerns about possible pollution but they hadn't had time to get a good study done.
That started a big argument. While people shouted back and forth, a teenage girl crept up to the podium. She wasn't very tall, and seemed to be trying to make herself look smaller. She had a pale, freckled face and rusty-red hair with a few beads tied in.
"Um... uh, he's lying actually." She said, ducked back when she heard her voice amplified by the microphone, and tried again, "The new product would make very bad pollution and would kill half the trees in the swamp in five years. It's not directly dangerous to people but having a colony of trolls with no trees for shade would be dangerous. Also sir, if you try to use the new glaze your factory will be hit by a tornado next month."
It took a minute for the quiet speech to register.
"A tornado?" Someone asked.
"Yes ma'am."
The mayor gave her an impatient look. "Miss, how could you possibly know something like that?"
"I'm a witch. I have a contract with a major air elemental. It asked me to tell you. And, well, it's strong enough to get past the weather spells so you should listen to me."
The factory owner went red-faced. "You're lying! One of them paid you to sabotage my company!"
The girl shrank further at being yelled at, but made a quick gesture. A breeze swept the room, stirring papers and people's hair. Outside the wind rose to a howl then dropped just as suddenly. "Please Mr. Mayor, do a study on that new product." She bowed politely and headed for the door as another argument broke out.
Mirta made it out a side door into the late-summer sunshine without anyone grabbing her. Her cat had apparently found the right door with feline psychic powers and was waiting outside. He stood up and stretched and Mirta copied him, suddenly feeling better. The worst part of the day was over.
"I hate talking in front of people, Hex! It's scarier than monsters!"
But tasks like this were her half of the bargain with the sky spirit, in exchange for using its energy to power up her magic. It was a fair deal, just not always fun.
The beginning-of-term party was at Cloud Tower this year. The parties had been going on for a good decade, supposedly as a gesture of goodwill between the two schools, but they always ended... interestingly. Last year Stormy had steered a mess of hail and gale-force winds right at Alfea. The year before that all the fairies had found themselves stuck to their chairs and had to hop home with them still attached! Most of the student body turned out just to see what the prank would be this year.
Mirta and Hexen arrived to glares from the Cloud Tower side, something that would have seemed a lot more scary if she hadn't been glared at by scary grownups already today. She sighed, shot a quick smile at Lucy but didn't wave, and looked for an empty seat on the Alfea side. Lucy rolled her eyes and shrugged but didn't risk saying hello. Witch/fairy rivalry was alive and well and Lucy wanted to have friends at her own school too.
Mirta's group of friends was all there, chattering excitedly about their summers. Lolina displayed a brand-new charmix, so new she couldn't keep herself from summoning it into being every few minutes just to admire it. "Mirtaaaaa! Hi! Hi Hexen, how was you summer?"
"Meow!"
"He had a great time keeping the yard mouse-free." Mirta said.
Katy Spika leaned around Lolina to meow a hello. "Meow! Me—sorry, spent the last three months in cat form! Mom and Dad thought I should connect with my inner feline. Had a great time, but missed candy! Can't taste sweets when you're a cat!"
Priscilla, her fiery hair freshly cropped, waved cheerfully. "I can't wait to get the year started—or at least the party. I was bored to death over break!"
"You signed up for advanced aerial combat?" Selene asked her friend.
"You know it! Francis told me the paladin Miss F invited couldn't make it so Professor Avalon will be teaching that on top of philosophy."
Mirta asked, "What's he like, the real Professor Avalon?"
"Oh, it's so weird. He looks the same, but his voice is way deeper. The fake didn't bother to get the voice right, but I guess it copied the real guy's personality almost perfect. He's nice, but remembering the other one it's pretty creepy."
"How was your summer, Mirta?" Lolina asked.
Mirta shrugged. "It was all right."
Summer had been... tense. It was her first long visit home after transforming into something that looked like a fairy but wasn't and her parents hadn't been quite sure how to treat her. And there was the broomstick her father had promised to buy her as a reward for completing her second year at Cloud Tower, only she hadn't been at Cloud Tower and she no longer needed any help with flying. Mirta knew her parents still loved her, that was obvious, but that didn't mean things were normal between them.
So she'd spent a lot of her summer with Lucy, exploring the wilds of their home realm and getting their friendship back on track. The other great part of summer had been the letters from Orion—not a fact she wanted to share with her friends, who were typically fairylike on the subject of matchmaking.
She was saved from having to say more by the arrival of Alice, wearing a severe slate-gray dress that looked stunning on her, and trailed by a blue-haired little hurricane.
"Ohmigosh!"
"You're behind on the news. That's Zendy."
The pixie sailed over the crowd, trailing glitter behind her. She circled around, saw Mirta, and skidded to a stop. "Why is there a witch here?"
Hexen stood up in Mirta's lap and hissed.
"That's Mirta, she's ok. She's an honorary fairy."
Over on the Cloud Tower side someone said, "She's the freak."
Zendy flew down to look Mirta in the face. "Oh. You're something different."
"Yeah I know."
"Zendy-" Alice called. The chairs were full, so she had to sit a few rows away.
"Sorry, where are my manners! Nice to meet you, Mirta!"
"Nice to meet you." Mirta shook with the pixie, hand to finger. Politeness done, Zendy flew back to perch on Alice's shoulder.
Mirta turned back to the rest of her friends and whispered, "When did Alice-?"
"Tell you later!" Priscilla whispered back as the headmistresses stepped up to their podiums. The students all turned to face front and quieted down as the speeches began.
"Girls, welcome to Cloud Tower-"
"-and Alfea-"
"The two most prestigious schools of magic in a hundred realms. This year we hope..." and Miss Griffin was off, talking about the wonders of magic.
Hexen tapped Mirta's chin with a paw. She turned to look. Ah. At the back of the Cloud Tower section, Megara was looking off to the side and smirking.
Miss Griffin introduced the Cloud Tower teachers, Ediltrude and Zarathustra and Professor Bitterroot, who all summoned illusions of darkness to frighten the first-year students, then Miss Faragonda did a quick roll call of the Alfea teachers. Students cheered for their favorite teachers.
Then the two headmistresses gave a speech about creating harmony between the two schools and between fairies and witches in general. That was new, or at least Mirta hadn't heard it last year. Maybe the whole Army of Decay thing had scared them.
"In conclusion, I'd like you all to do your very best-"
"Or your very worst!" Miss Griffin put in.
"...to improve yourselves this year!" Miss Faragonda finished.
Miss Griffin clapped her hands and tables of snacks appeared behind the students.
Oooh, there was hot punch! And cauldron cookies, and cheese on toothpicks and little hotdogs! And a giant five-layer cake with purple frosting! Mirta had been too nervous to eat before the council meeting this morning, and faced with piles of her favorite goodies her stomach growled.
"Look at that cake!" Lolina chirped, "I hope it's chocolate!"
The speeches over, the students broke apart into groups to get to know each other or meet up with friends or talk to their new teachers. There was a general rush for the food.
Mirta grabbed a cup and plate and loaded up. Lolina was waiting for the big cake. Priscilla and Katy loaded up with meat kabobs and Alice shuddered at the thought of spicy witch food.
"Aw c'mon, just because they're called cauldron cookies doesn't mean they were cooked in the same pot with potions." Mirta told her.
"No fish." Katy mourned.
Mirta noticed her fellow witches were standing well back. In fact, there were only fairies around the buffet. Mirta wasn't the only person to notice, but before anyone could say anything, the spell triggered.
The beautiful purple frosted cake split open and bugs and snakes poured out, an endless tide of shiny backs and scales, much more than the cake should have been able to hold. The screaming began. Half the fairies took to the air. The other half started stamping.
"H-hey!" Mirta yelped. She put down her plate and cast a quick wind, sweeping the fairies aside. "I don't care about bugs but those snakes are innocent critters! Be careful!"
There were shrieks of outrage and someone yelled, "Witch!" which was accurate. Mirta scooped up a snake in each hand, "Oh stop it Kylie, they're not poisonous. Can somebody help me out here?"
Her friends were too far away. Francis was more interested in yelling at the frightened fairies for being frightened. Siliciya looked game, and levitated a handful of snakes above stamping danger. "What are you going to do with them?"
Mirta hadn't thought that far. She hadn't actually meant to start the Great Snake Rescue. "Um, find something to put them in? Turn them loose in the swamp later I guess."
Everyone was staring. For the second time that day Mirta was the focus of a lot of unfriendly eyeballs.
And then, to make things even worse, a snake bit her. It didn't hurt like a bite; it hurt like a spell. The snake poofed into nothingness. And Mirta started turning blue, with yellow spots. All over.
She wasn't the only one to get bit. Fairies were turning colors all over, and the witches were laughing their heads off. Mirta wanted to cast an invisibility spell on herself, preferably a permanent one, but she couldn't. So she went back for her plate.
Back at Alfea, after everyone had been returned to their proper skin colors Miss Faragonda gave the new-year speeches to the different grades while everyone else unpacked. Mirta got her stuff set up in her room and made sure the kitchen staff knew to deliver Hexen's food too.
Kimmy rushed in, trailing suitcases. "Hi Mirta! My ship just got here!"
"I'll help. Which room are you?" Together they hefted Kimmy's luggage to her room. "You're a fairy of time, why didn't you just speed up the ship?"
"You can't use magic like that without official permission."
The witch and fairy arrived as the second-years were leaving the auditorium and the third-years waiting to go in. Kimmy commented, "That was us last year, worrying about our charmix. And it turned out fine, even Loli got hers."
"It'll be something new for you to worry about this year!" Mirta told her friend cheerfully.
"What about you? Don't witches get new powers by doing evil deeds and stuff? But if you tried anything evil Miss Grizelda would give you detention."
Mirta made a face. She'd been worrying about that actually; how was she going to keep up with her friends without doing something awful to get more power?
The auditorium emptied and the third-years filed in. Mirta and Kimmy met up with the others. Their conversation had turned to boys. Alice hadn't just gotten a pixie; she'd gotten serious with her boyfriend Jared. Priscilla was just ending a story, "...and it turns out he was dating some underage girl too, and trying to pick up princess Aisha! What a loser."
"No kidding! Are you all right?"
Priscilla snorted, "I'm fine, I just hope he learned a good enough lesson about respecting girls."
Lolina giggled, "Well if Aisha had to rescue him from the river he probably did."
Up at the front of the room Miss Faragonda was standing at the podium, with the teachers sitting in chairs behind her. The headmistress rang a little bell for silence and began her speech. "Good afternoon girls. I'm glad to see all of you back for another year—and back to your own colors, after the party this morning."
Some students laughed and cheered.
"Last year's goal was to attain your charmix, which all of you did admirably..."
More cheering and some high fives, but these faded quickly as everyone went quiet to hear what would come next.
When silence fell, Miss Faragonda continued, "This year you are challenged to find your enchantix." She raised her arms and transformed, wide wings unfolding behind her as her sensible dress blurred into something shimmering silver. A moment later she shifted back. "To win your enchantix you must save someone from your own realm, at great risk to yourself."
Mirta's friends looked at each other, not sure about the 'great risk' part.
Up at the front Kadija asked, "Wait, will someone be put in danger just so..."
"Not at all. The magic simply arranges for you to be there when danger strikes. There is no shortage of trouble in the universe.
"If you are worried by the thought of great risk and sacrifice- you should be. This is a dangerous quest, as many true quests must be. Some of you may not complete it. Some of you may not wish to try, and there is no shame in that. Anyone who wishes to be excused, please see me within the week."
Miss Faragonda paused to let the gravity of that sink in. The fairies looked at each other. Would anyone ask to be excused? Risk your life or give up the chance to become stronger?
Mirta felt a little left out. No enchantix for witches—and the Cloud Tower graduation requirement was nothing she was ever going to do. She wondered suddenly if she was even going to be able to graduate at all. Miss Faragonda had probably thought of that already...
When the worried murmurs stopped, the headmistress continued, "Now for the good news! To aid you in your quests, much of this school year will be spent off campus. I'm working with your teachers to design outings to different realms where you may have a chance to earn your enchantix as well as experiencing different cultures and styles of magic, and complete the required curriculum.
Last of all I would like to introduce Professor Avalon, with us this year."
"In person." The professor added in a deep baritone voice markedly different from the "Professor Avalon" they had known last year.
"You may ask your teachers any questions you have—starting bright and early tomorrow morning!"
And that was it. Mirta listened to the hubbub of excited, frightened fairies around her. She heard,
"This will be a cinch!"
"I'm not so sure..."
"We'll be full fairies!"
"Bet Bloom gets it first."
"It sounds pretty dangerous. Isn't there an easier way?"
"I say bring it on!" Priscilla said.
"What if you rescue somebody and it turns out they're from the wrong realm?" Selene asked sensibly.
"Our job as fairies is to use our magic to help everyone in need. Wouldn't you have saved them anyway?"
Kimmy pointed, "I think the teachers are going into hiding." Indeed, the teachers were slinking out the back door. Probably they thought it best to let everyone think about this whole enchantix thing on their own before answering questions.
Most of the students still had to unpack, so they gathered for dinner late. Ortensia was already holding court with Karina sitting on the table next to her and Siliciya leaning on a chair behind them. Lolina made a beeline for that table, with mirta trailing behind her.
"What's the news? Working on the 'Fairies To Watch' list already?"
"Of course! The rankings start on day one!"
"So, are there any interesting firsties this year?"
That was the big question and other students hung around the table to listen.
"Well." Ortensia opened her notebook, "It's no question, the most interesting first-year is the princess of the Harmonic Realm."
"I thought that was Musa."
"Nope. Here's the deal: Prince Bo-Shan dropped out of the royal succession to get married. The crown passed to some cousin and now Gallatea is princess of the whole shebang, unless Musa or her father get reinstated for some reason, which they show no signs of wanting but I bet Gallatea's parents are watching them very closely."
"Makes me glad I'm a commoner." Selene said.
Karina gasped. "Ohmigosh, I forgot to tell you! Miky's getting married! Her grandpa set her up with some prince!"
There was general gasping and cries of outrage. Mirta didn't know Princess Miky well, but she was popular and she seemed pretty nice. And nobody deserved to be stuck with some random guy they didn't even know!
After that topic was exhausted Ortensia waved for silence, "Ok ok, back to the new class. That's Nova from Solaria, Comfrey from Linphea, there's some duchess from Arcadia City around here somewhere. There's a girl from Sirius, Lupa, just look for the ears."
"A wolf fairy?"
"Therian. A lupine therian fairy." Kimmy corrected.
Alice tugged on her hair thoughtfully. "Many of you have first-year students from you realms. Keep an eye on them just in case. You know the kind of dangerous stuff we did our first year."
"No kidding!"
Mirta noticed someone who should have been here for the gossipfest and wasn't- where was Princess Stella? She should be right in the middle of things. But Stella and the other girls were at a table by themselves, talking seriously.
Alice noticed where Mirta was looking, "They just got back from Andros. I guess something happened."
Ortensia heard her voice and pounced, "Speaking of news, you got a pixie! How'd that happen? Talk!"
Alice blushed, but her voice was calm. "While I was working here over the summer, a delegation came from the pixie village to talk to Miss Faragonda. Zendy was one of them. I met her and we bonded." She shrugged like it was no big deal.
According to the textbook, bonding with a pixie was a big deal. A big huge giant life-changing deal, but if Alice wanted to play it cool she could.
Karina asked, "So... can we meet her?"
"See if she wants to meet you." Priscilla shot back.
Before anybody could get grouchy the pixie herself fluttered over their heads. Her sparkling blue hair hung down past her feet and she was wearing a glittering purple dress. "I'd love to meet all of you of course! I'm Zendy, a pixie of diplomacy. Does anyone have any questions?" She landed on Alice's head and curtseyed.
Alice didn't look too happy to be used as a stage, but she held her head still.
Mirta wormed her way out of the crowd and got her food. She said hello to a few new students, and waved to Flora who gave a worried-looking little wave back. Something was up, but nobody was telling the rest of the student body. Must be a Winx-only problem. Mirta felt sorry for them; trouble already, after they'd spent half of last year battling the Trix and Lord Darkar!
The Trix were frozen in the Omega dimension with the rest of the realm's worst criminals. They wouldn't be a problem this year at least. But like Miss Faragonda said, there would always be new problems...
"She is going to be a problem." Katy growled under her breath, startling Mirta out of her gloomy thoughts.
"What? Who will?"
Katy glared. Across the cafeteria a girl with gray-furred wolf ears poking up through her hair glared back.
Wolf fairy meets cat fairy. Mirta smiled to herself. "Her name's Lupa, Ortensia said. I'm sure we'll be friends."
Katy's hair was fluffed up in instinctual loathing. Mirta lifted Katy's plate so the fairy's fish dinner was in front of her eyes. Katy let herself be distracted.
Across the table Kimmy was writing busily between bites of her dinner. She waved the pen hello as Mirta and Katy sat down and greeted them, "So, about this enchantix business..."
Priscilla said, "My mom has hers. She never told me how she got it."
"What if you don't know what realm someone is from? I know we're supposed to save everybody but really, honestly, maybe it makes me a bad fairy but..." Kimmy shook her head.
"I'm not a fairy and I totally understand. I'd want to know what kind of bargain I was making."
"This destiny stuff weirds me out a little." Selene said. "I wish I had my device weapon."
"Weapons don't help against destiny."
"Weapons help against everything."
A pixie voice chirped, "What a violent fairy."
"That wasn't very diplomatic, pixie of diplomacy." Selene shot back.
Alice sat down next to Mirta. "I feel very honored to have bonded with a pixie, but it's not always peaceful."
"I thought pixies were too magical to fight." Mirta said, watching Zendy and Selene take verbal potshots at each other. They both seemed to be having fun, but it also seemed about to get to the sticking-out-tongues stage.
"Zendy says there's a pixie of battle in her village."
"Really? Cool."
"Hey—I wonder if you could bond with a pixie. I mean, you aren't a normal witch."
Mirta shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know."
"Hey Zendy! My friend Mirta's sort of a... um... witch with fairylike talents. Do you think a pixie could bond with her?"
Zendy looked at Mirta with a long silent stare that probably meant she was using magical senses. Mirta looked back and shrugged again.
"Nope. Definitely not. No way no how no witches."
Mirta wasn't surprised. Most people reacted that way. "Oh well. I don't think I could have a pixie anyway, Hexen would get jealous."
Alice blushed. "Sorry, I probably should've asked in private..."
"It's ok. I was curious too."
Zendy sat down next to Alice's plate, conjured pixie-sized silverware from somewhere, and helped herself. She was still looking at Mirta like the witch was some strange new life form. Mirta guessed Discorda hadn't mentioned her around the pixie village.
It was a relief to get back to her room after dinner. Mirta was happy to be back with her friends, but it was really noisy with everyone talking at once! She rousted Hexen out of her suitcase and finished putting away the last few bits. Her schoolbooks were heaped on the desk, and there was a pile of mail and school announcements there too. Class schedule, a list of clubs and sports to try out for, a map of the campus, school rules...
Was there even going to be time for extracurricular activities with everyone running around trying to rescue people?
The mail was a bit better. Lots of shops had sent coupons for free pens or notebooks or cheap pizza. There was a note from the vet reminding her to get Hexen's spells updated. Lucy had sent a note with her new room number. And there was a fat envelope from some realm Mirta had never heard of. That would be from Orion.
Hi! Look at the pictures. We went to a DRAGON GRAVEYARD. The guardian spirit wanted Mum to help identify some treasure it couldn't remember. Turned out to be cursed, but the guardian spirit took care of it- probably by being scarier than ten curses. It's the GHOST of a DEAD DRAGON. Scariest thing I ever saw, even though it was totally polite.
Now we're in the water realm of Atlan, where civilization sank under the ocean in a demon war ten thousand years ago. There are supposed to be records of the spells the prehistoric fairies used to evict demons from this plane of existence, but nobody's sure where they were kept. All the interesting stuff is underwater and I'm stuck on the boat learning to cook in a tiny kitchen and trying to get my 'sea legs' whatever that means. Ah the adventurous life of a traveling archeological assistant!
Mum gave me the basics of the whole enchantix thing your friends are aiming for this year. She wishes everybody good luck. Actually I think she regrets not trying for her enchantix when she was at Alfea.
Are you going to try for yours? Is there a witch version? (Is it rude to ask? But I'm curious!) Hopefully the witch version doesn't include the 'great sacrifice' part—I need you alive and well to send me goodies from civilization!
I'll keep you posted on the wonders of being stuck on a boat, keep me updated on life in the big city.
The letter was short but the pictures made up for it. They were just small holograms but Orion had captured the feel of the dragon graveyard under a stormy sky. There was a photo of a skull the size of a house, here a rib cage so big you could drive a car through it. Small bones and gems littered the ground; Orion had photographed his own shoe to show it. In one picture Orion's mother Starria was reading dragon runes carved into a stone slab the size of a mattress. It was surrounded by a pile of treasure higher than the fairy's head, but she ignored both the treasure and the animated dragon skeleton looming over her.
Mirta had heard of dragon graveyards. There was a little paragraph in her magicobiology book that said dragons came to special places to die, to leave their mortal remains and their treasure in the care of the guardian spirit. Dragons thought you could take it with you, and the guardian would stop anyone trying to take it back!
These would be draco nobilis, the true dragon, more intelligent than humans but so rare nobody had seen one in years. They might be extinct already.
A dragon graveyard! Mirta's summer at home had made for much more boring letters—she'd spent most of her time helping her mother with the potion-ingredients business and who'd want to read all the details of that? Well, she could write about the council meeting this morning, ugh, speaking in public was awful...
Well maybe tomorrow something else worth writing about would happen. She thought about what to say while she brushed her teeth, got into her pajamas, and said good night to her cat.