Roxy spun around once, her eyes drinking in the trees, with their gnarled barks and twisted branches. Her breath came out in rapid gasps and beads of sweat trickled down the side of her face.
"Duman!" she yelled. For one moment, Roxy was astonished. It felt good. Yelling felt good. Shutting her eyes, she focused on all the anger, rage, shock, sorrow, disbelief and fear that had been building up inside her for a long time, and yelled at the top of her voice, imagining all of them being released with that one yell.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" The birds perched on the topmost branches of the trees fled, squawking in horror and indignation. Roxy tried to communicate with them as they took off, but not one heeded her.
"Ah, I see you came."
The fairy of animals whipped around. Duman leaned against a tree, watching her with amusement dancing in his eyes. "Turns out your friends were just fakes all along, eh?"
Roxy gritted her teeth. She didn't know what the Winx thought of her after the revelation. Even if they did hate her, it wasn't their fault. Werewolves did bring a lot of trouble to the magical dimension, but it was due to the fact that they had villains like Duman on their side. "Don't talk about my friends that way," Roxy spat. "I didn't come here to discuss the reception I got."
Duman smirked. "Ah, I see." He spread his hands. "So sorry." He folded his arms once more. "But... you came here to see me. Don't tell me you've decided to accept our offer?"
Wow, he really did get straight to the point. Roxy took a deep, shaky breath and straightened herself. As firmly as she could, she said, "Yes."
#
Flora hugged her knees, absent-mindedly stroking the leaf of a potted plant next to her. The dormitory was deserted; the rest of the Winx were in the living room.
"I can't believe it. I just can't believe it." Snatches of conversation drifted through the open room door and floated into Flora's ears.
"But it isn't her fault!" Bloom was saying. "She was bitten! It wasn't like she chose to be a werewolf!"
"Whatever the case, she is now a werewolf. And she's considered 'Extremely Dangerous', according to these statistics I managed to hack from the mayor's files," Tecna piped up. Flora could hear the faint beeps of her palmtop. "Eliminate on sight."
"We have to protect her!" Musa argued. "We can't let them kill her!"
"But we have absolutely no idea where she is!" Stella responded.
"She's at the Council of Light Fortress," said Bloom.
A short silence hung over the congregating fairies. Flora sprang up from her bed and dashed over to her bedroom window. Pushing it open slightly, she climbed onto the sill. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she leaped, and went plummeting towards the ground.
"Believix!"
Flora flew straight towards Alfea's exit.
#
"Here you go."
"Whoa."
Roxy's gaze swept over the various training stations all of which had human-sized dummies that had been mutilated in many different ways. Diagrams of werewolf formations hung on the walls, along with manifestos, pack rules and basic survival tips. One of the training stations had a very realistic backdrop of a forest, with real logs and soil placed before it. Another station had several slabs of meat lying on pedestals. Each of them had a label, though Roxy couldn't tell the difference between any of them.
Seated on benches or preoccupied with activities at the stations were other teenagers. Well, at least most of them appeared to be teenagers. Roxy spotted a man who was probably as old as Headmaster Saladin putting together a weird-looking contraption which involved a lot of steel, and a girl as young as Flora's sister, Miele, kicking a colourful ball around. Everyone looked up and stopped what they were doing when Roxy entered.
"Oh. It's her," said the elderly man, eyeing Roxy with a look that clearly showed he was not impressed. He returned to his contraption.
"What is this place?" Roxy asked Duman.
"Well, it's an unofficial training ground for werewolves," the wizard explained. "I know every nook and cranny of it, but it belongs to Karel. Ever since he accidentally scared your friend Flora off, he decided to do something about this werewolf epidemic. Delved deeper into the subject of lyncanthropes. Figured out how to control his transformations. Decided to do something for the good of the magical dimension's werewolves."
"A training ground for werewolves? Out here, in the woods?" Roxy thought back to the passages Duman had led her through before they reached that hall. They had gone into a dark cellar, gone down several flights of stairs and through a couple of dimly-lit tunnels. Still, the distance they had travelled suggested they were still in the woods and Roxy didn't recall any magic portals.
"Well, we're deep underground and protected by a simple spell."
"Another barrier," Roxy guessed.
"Not quite. This spell disguises the place. The authorities come here, and they just think this is some sacred underground site that they should just mark and then abandon. Or at least that's what we make them think."
"You manipulate people's minds."
"Hey, it's all for the good of these people." Duman gestured round at the others in the hall. Some had returned to what they had been doing, but a couple of them were still watching Roxy. "People like you," Duman added in Roxy's ear.
"These are all werewolves?"
Duman rolled his eyes. "Duh. And most of them are masters. As in, they can transform without the moon, and they are aware when they're werewolves, and have total control over themselves. They lead pretty great lives in Magix; one of them is even working for the mayor. Oh look, here she comes now."
Roxy looked up. A lady who appeared to be around Morgana's age was striding towards the wizard and the fairy. Her blonde hair was done up in a French twist and she was dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and a pencil skirt. A stern expression was plastered on her face and her gray eyes looked threatening. Her brows furrowed into a deep frown as she glared at Roxy.
"You revealed yourself?" she half-yelled at the fairy of animals, who was taken aback. The fairy took a couple of steps backwards, away from the frightening woman. "Do you know what you've just done? Do you know how much danger we'll soon be in, all thanks to you?"
"Okay, Cara, please," Duman intervened. "Yes, I never said the little fairy was smart. She's just like all the other Alfea fairies, shallow and petty..."
"Hey!"
"... but they have no clue as to the existence of our hideout."
"They'll track her here!"
"No, they won't. We're going to ensure that."
Cara fell silent, but her glare never left Roxy's timid face. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Roxy spoke. "So... you work for the mayor, Mr. Dyamond? Even though you're a werewolf?" she asked, in a small voice.
Cara's frown deepened. "Yes, child. And I even have a family. You know, you could've led a similar life, one that was normal and happy. But you just threw it all away when you told the world you were a werewolf. Now no one would ever look at you the same way again. And if they were to find a way to track you here, no one will ever look at the rest of us the same way again!" With that, she turned and stormed off.
Before Roxy could say anything else, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned to see Karel. Duman must've left, for he was nowhere in sight. "Duman wanted me to give you a tour of the place. Thought it might be better if I just did it," he said. "Anyway, he had to check on his brothers."
Roxy nodded, unsure what to say.
Karel lead her over to the first station, one with several human dummies, most poised like they were ready to attack. A few fairy-shaped dummies floated in the air as well, their dummy wings actually keeping them off the ground. "This is a simulation," he explained. "I... um, am trying to improve it, and install holograms instead, but so far we haven't got the means or the money to do it. So we just had to resort to dummies. Thank goodness we have magic."
"A simulation... of what to do when someone attempts an attack?" Roxy guessed, from the position of the dummies.
"Yes," Karel confirmed. "Usually the werewolves are taught to kill anyone they encountered, as that person could go around blabbing about werewolves, and then the whole magical dimension will start hunting us down and sooner or later, they'll find us."
Roxy swallowed. Well, the magical dimension did know right now.
The next station was the one with the forest backdrop. "Survival skills while in werewolf or human form. Sometimes nature can be a threat as well." He steered the young fairy on to the next station, one with the slabs of meat. "These are baits," he explained. "In the past, to overcome the threat of werewolves, the magical dimension came up with many different types of poison, which they smeared on meat and left for the werewolves. Many of us died, so we tried to identify these poisons. Some were so strong even the slightest whiff of it would kill a werewolf. So we managed to use magic to replicate some of it, including the smell, but without the poison, so our wolves will be able to sense it from afar, and warn the pack."
Roxy looked at the labels. One read 'Opposotus'. Wasn't that a kingdom in the magical dimension? One where everything was the opposite? The slab of meat lying on that pedestal gave off a very sweet smell, smelling almost nothing like raw meat. The next pedestal was labelled 'planet Chill'. The meat on it appeared to be ordinary; with the usual stench emanating from it. Roxy couldn't smell any difference. Her eyes widened at the next pedestal. 'Solaria'. The meat gave off a funny, burnt smell. It still smelt edible, though, and Roxy's stomach suddenly rumbled.
"The kingdoms in which the poison and bait were produced," Karel explained. "If you find any new ones, please let us know."
Roxy looked around. There didn't appear to be other stations. "So, am I supposed to train here?"
"Of course, where else?"
Roxy nodded slowly. "What do we do first?"
Karel actually cracked a smile. "First, we learn control. However, there is something else Duman wants. And which I would like, too."
Roxy raised an eyebrow nonchalantly, but her heart thumped in her chest. This was not going to be good.
"We want you to face your fears and overcome them. So we'll start with one fear. Follow me, we're off to see the Wizards of the Black Circle."