Okay, this one's a relatively short chapter, mostly because I couldn't think of what to do with it. I managed to lengthen it by about half a page, so I'm sorry you guys aren't getting much this chapter. But I hope you enjoy it all the same. But don't worry, as the series progresses, the chapters get longer. Short ones are just kind of a curse in this particular story.
Chapter 13: Worries for Witches and Boys
The girls tried to comfort Musa as best they could, but she didn't want comfort at that particular moment. She wanted to go see Riven.
"Where is he?" she asked, looking up at Professor Griffin. "I have to go to him. Please, where is he?"
"He's been taken back to Red Fountain," replied the witch. "I thought it better if he was kept out of a magical environment until he was healed. More magic if used incorrectly could hurt him more. I tried all the spells I could think of that would safely wake him up, but nothing's worked. I'm sorry."
Musa didn't hear anything after "could hurt him more." She was so worried that the girls thought she would collapse on them, which was very uncharacteristic of her. Not wasting any more time, the girl hurriedly transformed and flew to Red Fountain, carrying Musa and Flora between them. Flora gazed at Musa sadly all the time, hoping that they would get their powers back soon, because she had a gut feeling that Musa was the only one who could save Riven.
"Can we hurry it up please?" she asked. "Riven needs us."
"We're going as fast as we can Musa, just chill out," said Stella, rolling her eyes. Musa saw that but decided not to comment. She knew Stella didn't approve of Riven, and wanted her to go out with Jared, but she didn't want to get into an argument now. It wouldn't help anything, and it would just get her worked up even more.
When they reached the school for heroes, the girls powered down, and ran to the nurse's office. The rest of the boys were already there, standing beside Riven's bed, looking sad and forlorn. Musa walked over to him, her knees shaking as she went, and sat down next to him, tears starting to well up in her eyes.
"What happened?" asked Musa.
"I'm sorry Musa, it's my fault," said Jason. "We joined Mirta and Lucy to keep an eye on Icy, Darcy and Stormy. I didn't think anything was going to happen, they were just darting through the books as fast as they could. But then, they spotted us just as they were leaving the library, and attacked us. Mirta and Lucy tried to fight them but they were easily overpowered. We tried to rescue them, but when Riven tried to attack, he got too close to Darcy and she hit him with this spell. She almost hit me, but I managed to dodge it a couple times. They disappeared with Mirta and Lucy, and I told Professor Griffin what happened. Nothing I could do and nothing she could do managed to wake him up. So I brought him back here, and nothing the nurse tried has woken him up either. I'm at a loss as to what do."
"It isn't your fault Jason," said Musa, and he gave a small sigh of relief seeing that she didn't blame him. He really didn't need that at the moment. But then Musa asked a question which made him really downcast again, "How can we wake him up?"
"There is one way," said Bloom. "Remember when the witches stole Red Fountain's part of the Codex?" The others nodded, and the ones who had been present that day realized what she was talking about.
"You mean when the witches put the same spell on Sky?" asked Musa. Bloom nodded, and quickly explained what she had done on that day. She blushed a bit as she said it, but Sky just held her hand and gave her a grateful smile. But this just filled Musa's heart with even more despair than before, and it wasn't hard to see why. "But how am I supposed to do that without my Winx?" she asked. "I can't do a single thing until I get my powers back. Ugh, I feel so helpless, it's aggravating!"
"We'll think of something Musa, I promise," said Flora. "Let's concentrate on getting our powers back, getting Mirta and Lucy back, then we'll wake up Riven. But until then, there's nothing we can do for him."
"Well, if we're going to do something, then we'd better do it soon," said Brandon, a sense of urgency in his voice. "The nurse said the longer he stays this way, the harder it'll be to wake him up. It'll take a pretty powerful spell to counter Darcy's spell, so we'd better get your powers back."
"Unfortunately, your powers aren't our only problem right now," said Layla. "We also have to think about our witch friends. Where do you think those three took Mirta and Lucy?" Under her breath, she muttered, "man, I never thought I'd hear myself call a couple of witches 'friends.'"
But before someone could answer, Icy's voice rang out around them. "By the time you see them again, they won't recognize you," she said, appearing out of nowhere on the other side of the room.
"What have you done with them Icy?" asked Bloom.
"Oh you'll see them again," said Icy. "Just as soon as we're done brainwashing them."
Layla transformed and leapt at Icy, ready to fight, but she had already disappeared. The Princess of Tides slammed her fist into the floor in frustration, letting out a low, almost guttural sound as she did. "I hate that witch!" she said, her voice one octave below a yell.
"Layla relax, we'll get them back," said Tecna, putting her hands on Layla's shoulders as she changed back into her regular form. "But we can't go bursting after them in anger, that's exactly what they want.
"What do we do then?" asked Layla.
"I wish I knew," replied Tecna, looking anywhere but right at her friend.
All right, so two fairies who need to recover their powers, two witches missing in action, three more witches ready to conquer the magical universe, and one hero out cold for 100 years. All in all, everything's going wrong with these girl's lives. But things will get better I promise. All my stories have happy endings, and no one dies. Those are the two rules I have given myself for writing stories. I will not let anyone, particularly the good guys, die on me, but like I said earlier, be prepared for some really, really, really close calls. Happy Reading!