Hello, everyone! I hope you are well on this fine day. Let's see what's going to happen with Flora, now that she's back at Alfea!

CHAPTER 27: THE AGADOR BOX

"Flora!"

Flora blinked. She had just landed in the Alfea quad, and someone was running towards her. To be precise, Mirta. Her arms were open wide, and she was staring at her in amazement.

"Mirta!" Flora ran forward and enveloped her girlfriend in a hug. She gazed down at her in happiness.

She had no idea how much she'd missed her until now. It had taken a near-death experience with a hover, meeting Vasiliev, and an escape for her to realize how fragile her life was. I don't know what I would've done if I'd never seen her again… The two girls embraced tightly, and Flora beamed down at her.

Mirta smiled too, but then her smile was cut short. She looked to be near tears.

"Mirta?" Flora whispered. "What's wrong?"

Mirta didn't answer. Instead, she pulled away from Flora, staring at the forest.

"Let's get out of here," she said.

The two girls walked away from Alfea campus, their shoulders brushing one another. Flora wanted to hold Mirta's hand, but she knew Mirta was against it, especially as that'd be a clear sign of their relationship. If only there was a way to comfort her…

They reached the forest, Mirta still not looking at Flora. Most of the autumn leaves had fallen, though a few still remained on the trees. Eventually, Mirta turned around to face Flora, though she wasn't looking at her. She still stared vacantly at the ground.

"I was really worried about you," she said. "Zenith is a dangerous place. There was something about you the other day that seemed just so reckless, and abnormally so. I just thought – what would I do if you never came back" –

"Don't even think that." Flora grabbed Mirta's hands. "I won't ever leave you, Mirta. Even if something happens to me, I will always be with you. Don't ever forget that."

"I didn't know whether you were thinking straight or not," Mirta sniffed. "You just seemed so – different – from normal. I don't know if I'd forgiven myself if you'd been killed" –

"Nor should you, you little hag."

Flora turned around. There stood Eris, all alone. She glared at Mirta, with nothing but hatred in her eyes.

"What do you want from us?" Flora demanded.

"The same thing I've always wanted," Eris snapped. "The hag needs to leave campus."

"What?" gasped Mirta.

"You don't belong here," Eris snarled. "Ever since you've been here, nothing but trouble has occurred! First the witches attack, then Ms. Faragonda becomes a tree" –

"How dare you blame that on me" –

"And then Tecna gets crushed by a giant portal!" Eris finished. "It's your fault this whole thing happened! Alfea was nearly destroyed last year by imposter Avalon, and I'm not gonna let it happen again. One wrong move, hag, and my parents will make sure you leave Alfea!"

"That's it." Flora stormed forward, pulling herself out of Mirta's grasp. Mirta stared at her.

"Flora!" she shouted. "Let her go to Faragonda! You know she won't kick me out" –

"This has gone on for too long," Flora said, her hands lighting up with green energy. I'm not going to let her get away with this anymore… Eris glared at her, her lips curled.

"You wanna fight?" she jeered.

Flora really didn't. She didn't want to fight with this girl, who, annoying as she was, was a classmate of hers. But she's gone too far this time. She lifted the dead leaves from the ground and swirled them at Eris.

But the Eraklyonese fairy easily dodged, laughing. "Is that all you can do? Pathetic." She let out a laugh.

"Oh, I'm not done yet," snarled Flora. Transforming into her Enchantix, she called on the trees to help her.

She gasped as a rock hurled towards her, and dodged out of the way. Eris had a steely glint in her eyes as she glared at Flora. Flora put up a shield around herself, trying to focus on the trees.

Please, she begged. Help me.

We won't, the trees answered. The rock-fairy does not threaten us. And your anger is too strong, young fairy.

Growling in frustration, Flora turned towards Eris. I suppose I'm going to have to take her down on my own. She tried to summon pollen-dust from the trees.

But it was too late in autumn for there to be any pollen, and in that instant, Eris had already made the next move. "Take this," the sophomore hissed. Levitating stones in the air, she shot them straight towards Flora, throwing her back.

Flora watched in horror as stones cascaded towards her, with the speed of a comet.

"No!" she yelled, dodging out of the way. She fell to the ground, gasping. This is my territory… why can't I fight this sophomore? Why aren't my Enchantix powers strong enough?

"She's using your anger against you!" Mirta yelled. "You're too tired to do this, Flora – you just got back from Zenith! Stop it!"

"Zenith, is it?" Eris asked smoothly. "I wondered where you were. Why, of all places, would you go to that awful realm? Especially when it's beating your own realm up to shreds" –

"That's it!" Flora snarled, and she shot a vine towards Eris. The rock-fairy gasped as she was caught up in the vine, struggling and gasping.

"You little"… she snarled, and then quite suddenly, the vine exploded. She glared at Flora. "I've had enough of you!" Focusing on the earth, she lifted several boulders out, encasing Flora on all four sides.

Flora stared around in horror. I've got to get out of here… She tried to leave, but Eris threw a flat rock at the top of the cage. From outside, she could hear her mirthless laugh.

"Admit you've lost," she jeered, "and I'll let you out."

No… thought Flora, her head spinning. I won't do that. But she was too weak and tired to do anything. Everything's so wrong… Tecna's gone, Mirta's accused of treachery, and now Eris's trapped me in the middle of a forest… Not to mention, my friends hate me…

And quite suddenly, she began to sob. She cried loudly and piteously, not caring who heard. My friends… Tecna… I'm so sorry. It's my fault you're all gone…

"Crying, are we?" Eris smirked. "Just two words are all you need. Then I'll let you out, and we can forget this" –

A fireball suddenly flared through the air. Flora stopped crying, staring up in astonishment. She heard Eris's squeal as she was slammed against a tree.

"That's it," she heard a voice. "I'm not letting you diss Mirta."

Bloom! thought Flora, shocked. She's back!

She focused her energy. The rock above her head levitated to the side, and she flew out of the cage. She gazed down in astonishment, seeing Eris lying on the ground, grimacing.

Bloom flew down towards her, and Flora stared up at her. She's earned her Enchantix… The Dominian fairy was wearing a short blue dress, blue heart-shaped barrettes, and luminous blue wings. Her red hair flowed elegantly down her back, somehow making her look fiercer than ever. I'm so happy she's back… She smiled at Bloom, but the fairy wasn't paying any attention to her.

"I'm done with you bullying Mirta." She faced Eris. "On Pyros, I learned the power of pure heat, the strength of the dragon. Would you like me to show you?"

Eris trembled ever so slightly. Bloom glared at her, and then turned to face Flora and Mirta.

"Let's go," she said.

The three fairies left the forest, flying towards the Alfea quad. Landing in their school, they transformed back to civilian form, gazing at one another. Flora grabbed Bloom in a hug.

"It's so good to see you again!" she burst out. For a second, she thought she'd gone too far; then Bloom wrapped her tightly in a hug, too.

"I'm so happy to see you too," she whispered. "I feel like it's been ages."

That's because it has been ages, Flora thought. Although Bloom had only been gone about a week, they hadn't truly spoken in over a month. Tears sprang to her eyes as she realized how long it'd been.

Bloom seemed to realize that, too. She stiffened and pulled back rather abruptly, staring at the ground.

"I should go," she said awkwardly, turning away.

Flora sighed, gazing down at the ground. I really did mess things up, didn't I… She was about to turn around herself when Mirta spoke.

"I guess you don't want to hear what happened to Flora on Zenith."

Bloom shot around. "What? You went to Zenith? Are you crazy?" She stared at Flora. "That place is a war-zone!"

Flora smiled, happy that Bloom was showing some care for her. "Tell me what happened on your trip and I'll tell you about mine."

Bloom sighed, and Flora could tell she was conceding. "All right, let's go back to the apartment"…

"I met the man who was behind Tecna's fall."

Total silence. Everyone stared at Flora, completely at a loss for words as she recanted her tale.

It felt strange being back here in the apartment, actually talking. It felt even stranger serving the other girls tea, especially after all she'd done. But they want to know what happened to Tecna as much as I do. Mirta put her arm around Flora as she quietly recapped what'd happened.

"His name is Igor Vasiliev," she said. "He's the head of some government-run laboratory in Zenith. Premier Alexandrova set him up with this."

"And… what is he creating?" Musa asked, her tone also wavering.

"I don't know," Flora answered. "Some kind of… weapon." She swallowed.

"So he was using Tecna all this time to code this for him?" Layla demanded, clenching her fists.

"Yes," said Flora, somberly. "But that's not all, girls. Tecna, well"… the others leaned in closer. "She was a cyborg."

The other girls gasped out loud. "I can't believe we didn't guess it!" gasped Bloom.

"No wonder she's so good at arithmetic!"

"No wonder she avoided group hugs!"

"No wonder she always panicked when the Web was down!"

"I can't believe it – was there any way we could've known?"

"I knew." Digit flew towards them, her eyes red. "I sensed her circuits the moment I saw her. But she made me promise not to tell anyone. She would've been kicked out of Alfea if I had. And she – died because of it."

"There's more," Flora added, and the girls immediately silenced themselves. She drew out the laptop from her bag, placing it on the table. "It's Tecna's laptop."

"You managed to get that out of Zenith?" Musa yelped in amazement.

"Come on, open it!" Layla added.

Flora opened the laptop and showed them Tecna's birth-information on the screen. They all stared at it, unable to believe what Flora had just told them; it had been one thing to hear it from her mouth, but another to see it right there.

"Anastasia Marie Ivanova," Bloom read out loud. "It fits her, in a strange way. I can't believe she never told us before."

"Try opening a file," Stella urged.

Flora clicked on the computer storage, frowning as she scanned the list of documents. She couldn't read anything or understand what it meant – it was all in Zenithian – so she figured she might as well pick one at random. She double-clicked on a file at the top.

Immediately, a harsh, shrill noise exploded in the air. Flora squealed in surprise, jumping back in alarm. The other Winx covered their ears, looking horrified.

"Stop that noise!" Stella cried.

"Sonic suppressor!" Musa yelled. A pink bubble appeared around the laptop, and the noise immediately stopped. "I don't know how long that'll last." She flopped down on the sofa and sighed.

"So there's no way to get into her files," Flora said, defeated. Valtor must've remotely locked them after I brought the laptop from Zenith. "What're we going to do?"

"Leave it to me!" Digit picked up the laptop. "I know exactly how to hack. Tecna taught me, in fact."

"I don't know," Bloom said doubtfully. "Isn't the Zenithian Cyberware Department really strong? I'm sure they're encrypted well-enough to stop hackers."

Flora sighed, gazing at the ground. So the mission wasn't much of a success after all… She was about to say as much, but stopped as soon as Bloom took her hands. The Dominian fairy's eyes were heavy as she stared at Flora.

"I can't believe we let you go there by yourself," she said, tears coming to her eyes. "That was so dangerous, Flora, but so brave. What you did was… amazing."

"You too." Flora smiled. Bloom had just told them what'd happened on Pyros, and it had amazed her beyond relief. She faced all three of the Trix on her own, and earned her Enchantix! Bloom turned towards Mirta.

"I just want to say," she said, "that we shouldn't have ignored either of you. You may have kept secrets from us, but you had everyone's best interests at heart. And we're happy for the two of you." The other girls nodded in assent.

Mirta stared at the girls, her eyes wide. "So… you really don't have a problem with the two of us being together?"

"Of course not!" Layla declared.

"You two were made for each other," Bloom said.

"To be honest, I kinda suspected something was up," Musa added.

All eyes turned towards Stella, whose arms were crossed. Then she turned towards Flora, and let out a small smile.

"Well, it sucks that I can't play matchmaker any longer," she said, "but yeah, you are a cute couple."

All the girls laughed. Stella grinned, turning towards Layla.

"So?" she asked. "How's that cute boy coming along? You like Nabu?"

"Stop it!" Layla yelped, pulling away. "I haven't even met him, Stella! I did get fitted for my engagement ceremony, though." She looked unhappily at the floor.

"When was this?" Flora asked. I didn't even know.

"It was after the events on Melody," Layla answered. "Since Faragonda wouldn't let anyone leave campus, the dressmakers had to come here. It was… tedious, to say the least. Not to mention, I hate their dresses." She looked disgusted.

Stella put her arm around Layla.

"Don't worry," she declared. "If we could bust that mega-stupid countess's wedding, I bet we can crash yours! We'll figure something out, Layla – and we'll break open that laptop. There's nothing we can't solve together!" She looked towards Flora and Mirta. "And that includes you both, too."

Flora smiled as the rest of the girls cheered. It's so good to be back. Tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

And just like that, a weight was released from her shoulders, for she knew they were back in action again.

All throughout the night, the girls worked on their most important task – unlocking Tecna's laptop. As Bloom had predicted, it was no easy task. Although Digit spent a lot of time rerouting the servers and messing around with the computer's hardware, the computer yielded no results. The Winx grew frustrated quickly, especially since there were absolutely no leads.

"It's no use," Musa finally said that Saturday. They had just about taken every book about computers from the library, and yet, they still couldn't figure out what was going on. "I vote we give it to Prof Patel and have her figure out how to crack it."

Flora stared at her in alarm. "We can't do that! She'll turn it in to Faragonda!"

"What other choice do we have?" Layla asked. "I agree with Musa. We need to give it in and have the police or someone deal with it."

"But if we do that, they'll just return it to Zenith authorities," Bloom pointed out. "Flora will be in big trouble for having nicked it from Vasiliev."

"Yeah," agreed Stella. "Not to mention, Alfea's reputation will be hit pretty badly!"

"Alright, so we keep the laptop," Musa said. "But think about it, Flo: do you really want to know what's inside?"

"What do you mean?" Flora asked in astonishment.

"It's like what Tecna said to me during freshman year, that day when we recovered the Ring of Solaria from Cloud Tower," Bloom said. "Do you remember?"

Flora nodded, tears welling up in her eyes as she remembered what Tecna had said to Bloom that day, when she'd tried to open a book about herself in Cloud Tower. Tecna had dissuaded her, pointing out that not all magical objects were to be trusted.

"This is too much of a coincidence," she had said to Bloom, just as the Dominian fairy was about to open it. "Why would it be sitting here, waiting for you?"

"The witches coulda been readin' up about us," Musa pointed out. "They do have books about every single fairy and witch that ever existed."

"I don't believe that," Tecna said dismissively. "That's mathematically impossible – not to mention completely illogical. In any case, Bloom, you shouldn't read it."

"Why not?" Bloom asked, taken aback.

"Think about it," Tecna answered. "What if the book contains your future?"

"So what?" Stella asked. "I'd give up my diamond earrings to find out about my future!"

"But what if you find out something you don't want to know?" Tecna pressed on. "The future isn't always pleasant. If I were you, I wouldn't read it. But it's your choice."

Tecna had been right, of course – she always was. Not only had the Trix bewitched Bloom's book in order to make her believe she was a witch, but the entire thing had been a hoax. They had soon realized that the story of omnipotent books was nothing more than an urban legend made up by the witches in order to scare the fairies away. Flora swallowed as she remembered that moment, thinking of how it applied to the situation now.

"But this is different," she said. "The Trix cast an illusion spell on that book to make Bloom fall into their trap. This laptop holds valuable information – information that'll help us find out what happened."

"Flora, you have to get past it," Bloom said gently. "Tecna is dead. No amount of searching will bring her back."

Tears stung Flora's eyes. No, I refuse to listen… She tapped the keys of the computer, ignoring her words. If Bloom, Stella, Musa, and Layla weren't going to help, then this was another thing she was going to have to do on her own.

The next day, they were on a bus to Magix. A time of "rest and relaxation", as Faragonda insisted – she wanted the girls to spend time together.

The girls had protested – after all, they still needed to defeat Valtor. Bloom had protested the most of all, pushing against Faragonda.

"Valtor is gaining more and more power," she said, "and soon, he'll be unstoppable. We have to do something!"

"I agree," Faragonda said. "However, rest is also important. You and Flora just got back from missions – you don't need to do anything now. You also need time to solidify together, especially after what happened on Melody."

The bus stopped. The girls got down, heading to the outdoor food court to get lunch. There was food from all the different realms there, made by chefs from all over the dimension. They sat down, eating and talking.

"I still don't know what to do about Nabu." Layla sounded frustrated. "I've tried to talk to my parents, but they're just not giving in. I can't do this!"

"I don't know, Layla. Maybe you should give the boy a chance," Bloom suggested.

"He might not be so bad," Musa agreed. "I mean, Riven and I are doing pretty well, even if we're at wit's ends sometimes."

"No way!" Layla snapped. "Boys just aren't worth it. Look at me, right now! No guys, no problems."

"But no romance," Stella had her eyes raised. "So sad. I think Layla has a case of Arranged Marriage Syndrome."

"They're still making you go through with that?" Mirta was shocked.

Layla snorted. "Don't worry. I'm not marrying anyone, much less someone they choose for me. In fact, I'm done with boys for good."

"That's a bit harsh, Layla," said Bloom, looking surprised.

I don't know, thought Flora, looking over at Mirta. She couldn't imagine ever dating a boy, much less marrying one.

"Doesn't matter," Layla declared. "I'm never dating any boy."

"Really?" Stella asked, her eyebrows raised. "So how about you tell that to the cute boy who's been staring at you for the last half-hour?" She pointed to behind a bush.

Flora turned around and had the shock of her life. An Androsian man with a long braid was standing behind them, smiling awkwardly and nervously. "Er… ladies… hi," he said sheepishly.

"That's all you can say?" Layla demanded. "Do you think it's okay standing around, snooping on people's very private conversations?" She angrily stood up, slamming the table with her fist and storming off, away from the food court.

"Layla!" Musa immediately got up and ran after her.

"Let's go," Bloom said. The girls followed Layla, breaking into a jog.

Flora couldn't blame Layla for flipping out. After all, she had a lot on her plate – they all did, right now. But that boy was interested in her… Could they possibly be a match? But if so, what would her parents say?

They caught up with Layla, who was frowning, staring at the ground.

"Something's not right," she said. "I can sense it in the air. I feel like there's some negative matter around here."

"Like I said, Arranged Marriage Syndrome," Stella sniggered.

"Who cares about that?" Layla fired back. "This is important, Stella! Stop making everything into a joke! Flora, you sense it too, right?"

Flora frowned. The Voice of Nature usually guided her, but in the heart of a city, it was fairly irrelevant. There weren't even any trees around.

"No," she said. "I don't sense anything."

"See?" Stella laughed. "It's nothing! I don't know what you're so" –

A flash of lightning cut off her words. It slammed straight into the dome of the Magical Artifact Museum, creating a hole and sending glass everywhere. Musa stared at it in horror.

"That glass's supposed to be… Impenetrable," she whispered.

"Residents of Magix!" a voice shouted. A man's head was in the clouds – to Flora's shock, she recognized him as Valtor. "In twenty minutes, I will be at the Magical Artifact Museum to take the Eye of the Ancestresses. You can hand it over or fight. Either way, it'll be mine." His head vanished.

"Oh, you'll get a fight, all right!" Bloom declared, clenching her fists. "Let's go!"

They transformed and ran towards the building. Flora saw all the other people running out of the building, followed by security guards. Everyone on the street, in fact, was running out of the building, and they were the only ones going towards it. Exactly like what happened on Melody… She felt a pang in her heart, but ignored it. A barrier was being activated, and they transformed, flying up towards it.

"If we get to the roof before the barrier's activated, we can stop Valtor before he gets close," Layla said.

"Hang on." Musa frowned. "Something's not right here. Why would he give everyone a head's up and allow them enough time to mobilize?"

"He's planning something big," Bloom answered, "and he wants everyone in the same place."

"So then what are we waiting around for?" Stella shouted. "Let's go!" She picked up her scepter and transported them to the top, where they sat, waiting silently.

Ten minutes passed, and there was still no sign of Valtor. Flora sighed, closing her eyes briefly as she stared down. "This waiting around is really getting to me."

"Yeah," Layla muttered. "So is that loser guy from before."

"Come on, Layla," Bloom protested. "He probably just thought you were cute. Why're you so upset about him, anyways?"

"I don't know." Layla sighed, staring at the ground. "There's just something about him that really rubbed me the wrong way."

"Who rubbed you the wrong way?" a man's voice said pleasantly. Flora gasped as she turned around, seeing the same braided man.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Layla turned around, her arms furiously crossed.

"I didn't get to introduce myself." The man smiled. "The name's Ophir."

So he is Androsian… Musa glared at him, crossing her arms.

"How'd you get up here?" she demanded. "The place's protected by a magical barrier!"

"I used my own magic," Ophir answered, fiddling with a long staff.

Flora gasped; magically-enfranchised fairy-men were very rare to come by, as most of them had been murdered in the Fairy Genocide of the Fourth Dimensional War. Saladin one of the few descendants of the survivors, as well as this man, apparently. If he got through the barrier, there's no way Valtor won't…

"I think he's spying for Valtor," Musa declared.

"You must be right!" Layla gasped. "He was spying on us earlier!"

Flora frowned. I'm not sure about that… After all, this man didn't have that sneakiness about him. Then again, Imposter Avalon hadn't seemed to have had it either, and look what happened there… The man smiled sweetly.

"Look at this face, Princess Layla," he said, opening his eyes wide so his square face looked innocent and childlike. "Would this face lie to you?"

Layla growled, a threatening spell in her hands. "GRAHH!" she shouted. She was about to slam him when, suddenly, a blast of lightning stopped her cold.

Flora looked up in horror. Valtor was hovering over them, his eyes wide. He began to laugh.

"I'm here, just as I promised," he smirked. "Now, I believe you have something I want."

"Never!" Bloom yelled. "We won't give it to you!"

"So be it." Valtor closed his eyes. A whirl of wind hit them suddenly, and the girls screamed, tumbling down the side.

Flora grabbed onto Mirta's hand. We can't fall… we can't… She tried to latch onto the air with her wings, but the wind was too strong.

Something hit her. A spell stopped her motion, and she stared up. Ophir had now transformed, and was wearing a purple tunic and white wings on his back. He was pointing his staff at them, and had slowed them all down. Flora stood up, staring at the sky.

Valtor had completely vanished. How did he get into the museum? She stood up and dusted herself. The other girls stood as well.

"We didn't even have time to cast a single spell," Mirta whispered.

"He's much stronger than he used to be," Bloom added, staring at the ground.

"It's gonna be hard to stop him if he's got power like that," Musa sighed.

"Actually, I don't think so," Layla said. "Remember what we learned in Spellbound? High-stress transportation spells can deplete a user's power for up to half-an-hour."

If Tecna was here, she could calculate exactly how much power he lost, thought Flora sorrowfully. But we can't think about her now. She thought of the laptop back at Alfea, hoping that they'd find a way to crack it.

"Then now's our chance," Bloom declared. "Let's go."

Layla turned around and glared at Ophir. "Do what you want," she said, "but don't get in our way."

The girls and Ophir flew down through the crack that had been created by the lightning. They flew through the museum, grabbing a map from the front stand. Mirta scanned it and frowned.

"I can try to track Valtor's energy," Bloom said. "Our dragon-fire has a connection, so it should work." She closed her eyes, sending out waves of fire. Flora watched as Bloom connected briefly, and then opened her eyes.

"He's that way," she said, pointing.

"That way is the vault," gasped Mirta. "He must be attacking the vault!"

"Then why are the Trix heading the opposite way?" Musa suddenly asked.

Everyone stared at her, at a loss for words. What's going on? What's she saying?

"I can hear them," Musa said. "While you guys were looking at the map, I've been using my upgraded sonic powers to sense them. Valtor's at the vault, but the Trix have gone down the other corridor. Something's majorly wrong here!"

A slamming door suddenly got their attention. Bloom closed her eyes again, connecting with Valtor. What she sensed made her gasp out loud.

"He locked the security guards in the vault," she cried out. "It's completely sealed!"

"Does this mean this was all a trap?" gasped Flora, hardly able to believe it.

"Valtor never wanted the Eye!" gasped Musa. "He trapped the guards with the Eye so they wouldn't be able to get to him! And now he's going for something else!"

"Good plan," Ophir said quietly. Layla growled at him.

"I don't understand," said Bloom. "What does he want, then?"

"The Agador Box!"

Everyone turned to Mirta, who was pacing around in horror. Layla frowned at her. "What's so special about a box?"

"It was created by Tharma Sekuko, one of the Ancestresses," Mirta said breathlessly. "Every child in Whisperia grows up knowing about this. It can hold any spell within its grasp, and a very high quantity, too. Valtor must be having difficulty containing his spells, which is why he needs this. It'll make him exponentially more powerful!"

"Then we have to go after those witches!" Bloom cried.

They flew down the corridor, and Flora grabbed Mirta's hand, propelling the two of them forward with her enchanted wings. They slowed down as they approached the room with the crystal box, the witches frowning.

"I don't get it," Flora heard Stormy say. "It's just some dumb crystal box."

"This dumb crystal box can hold any magic in the Magical Dimension." Icy froze the water-molecules in the air, creating an icy platform. The box zoomed towards it, sitting on the stand.

"'Any magic' sounds like what we need to contain all our new spells," Darcy declared.

"Isn't it a shame you're not getting it?" Stella flew forward, slamming her with a solar spell. Flora and the others followed her, glaring at the witches.

Icy shot an array of icicles at Mirta. Flora leapt in front of her, sending a stream of pollen at it. The icicles disappeared, and Flora gasped at the energy it took.

The other girls flew into position. They continued to attack the witches, who, unfortunately, were getting much stronger. They roared, sending their energy at the fairies.

But Bloom and Layla came forward, holding hands. "Convergence!" they shouted, slamming fire and water-molecules both at the witches. They gasped, falling back down to the ground. A dragon-fire and Morphix chain entangled them, and they struggled, unable to free themselves.

Suddenly, Bloom and Layla screamed as they were blasted out of the air. Musa ran to them, her eyes wide.

"Are you okay?" she shouted.

"Indeed," a male voice drawled, and Flora turned around in horror. There stood Valtor, his eyes glinting as he narrowed his eyes at Bloom.

"You"… Bloom clenched her hands, storming towards him.

"Enchantix at last," Valtor laughed. "Though I can sense it's incomplete."

"What are you talking about?" Bloom demanded.

"You can't sense it yourself?" the wizard smiled. "How pathetic. You don't have the power to take me down. And deep down, you know it."

What does he mean? Flora stared at the wizard in confusion. Bloom growled, pointing a blast at his head.

"My Enchantix isn't incomplete!" she snarled, slamming him with fire. "You are!"

Flora gasped as Bloom's dragon-fire blast whirled out of control. The fairies cried out in horror as Valtor easily deflected the blow, and it hit Bloom. The fire-fairy slammed to the wall.

"You foolish girl," he smirked. "One thing you should know about me: I'm never wrong."

Bloom tried to pick herself up, her arms shaking. Valtor continued laughing, his voice mirthless and terrible.

"You knew all along you'd never get your Enchantix," he laughed. "You have no one left to save. Your power is futile. And so there you'll fall, forever to fail."

Flora wanted to run to Bloom, to help her up, but somehow found she couldn't. Valtor's lying… he has to be… How could Bloom's Enchantix be broken?

"And so falls the daughter of the great Oritel," Valtor smirked. "How pathetic."

"No," Bloom stood up so fast Flora thought she was about to burst. "The only one who's pathetic here is you. Even after you destroyed everything your brother worked for, you still want to destroy everything! What kind of sick man are you, anyhow? How could you do this? How could you follow the Ancestresses, when they've done nothing but wrong? To what end? Do you think anyone truly… loves you?"

Suddenly, Valtor fell to the ground, sobbing. He began to cry out, and everyone stared at him, taken aback.

It was so strange, to see a grown man crying. But what was even worse was that this wasn't ordinary crying – it was heart-wrenching to even listen to. It was like this villain's soul was being yanked out, and it wasn't a nice-looking soul, either. Musa winced, covering her hands to her ears.

"Now's our chance!" Layla flew forward, running to grab the Ancestral Box that Icy had taken in her grasp…

… and screamed as a hand shot out towards her.

"No!" Ophir jumped in front of Layla. He yelled out as the hand grabbed him tightly, and struggled helplessly against it.

Flora stared at him. Where'd he come from? Since he couldn't fly as fast as the girls, it was shocking to see him appear out of nowhere. Why's he here? What happened?

Icy flew in front of him, rolling her eyes at Valtor.

"While you were sobbing your heart out," she said, "I took action. Without me, these losers would've gotten away." She looked at Ophir with interest. "Who is this wannabe hero?"

"Let him go, Icy," Layla snarled.

"I'd rather crush him into dust," Icy smiled, "but if you hand over the box and let my sisters go, your little boy-toy won't die."

"What are we going to do?" Flora gasped.

"It's up to Layla," Bloom answered. "Ophir took the blow for her. She gets to decide."

"Layla, think about it," Musa said. "If Ophir's working for Valtor, this could just be another trick."

"But if he's not, we have to save him," Stella declared.

Layla closed her eyes, and Flora could see the pain she was going through. Either we sacrifice Ophir's life, or we let Valtor win the battle… But she knew what Layla would choose. The princess of Andros sighed, and then opened her eyes.

"Let him go."

The girls and Ophir stood on the roof quietly. Bloom closed her eyes.

"He has it," she said quietly. "He's won a major battle. Now he's unstoppable."

Flora agreed. It felt like a horrible defeat, losing the magical box just when it'd been in their grasp. Now there's nothing left to stop Valtor… Stella stepped forward.

"You're wrong, Bloom," she said. "He may have taken the box, but he hasn't taken our spirits. We will still rise above him and be victorious."

"What you said to him was very brave," Mirta added. "It's going to take him a lot to defeat us. Right?"

Bloom frowned, sitting down. She stared quietly at the ground.

"What is it?" Flora asked softly, sitting down next to Bloom.

"My Enchantix," Bloom said quietly. "It's not the same as the rest of yours. It'll never be the same, in fact."

"What are you talking about?" Stella cried. "You earned it on Pyros!"

"But I didn't sacrifice myself for anyone," Bloom whispered. "My power was born out of pure will. And it's not the same as saving someone from my realm."

"Are you sure?" Flora whispered.

"Yes," Bloom responded, staring at the ground. "I'll never be able to harness the same energy as you guys."

Mirta let out a sigh. "Let's call Faragonda. I don't know how we're going to explain this to her, though."

"Maybe we should let Ophir do the explaining, because it was his fault the box disappeared," Musa said.

"Where is he?" Stella asked, staring around.

Flora looked, too. There was no one to be seen around them on the rooftop, no one except the six of them. She stared in disbelief.

"He took off!" Layla cried. "I knew there was something wrong with that guy. I knew it!"

So, what'd you think? Are you happy about how Flora and the other girls reconciled? Or do you think it should've been done a different way? Let me know!

Next chapter:

- Tecna and Cyros head through Omega, bonding more and more together.

- We meet Vasiliev and get a bit into his thoughts, seeing how he's managing the whole situation.

- The Ivanov family runs into trouble.

See you all soon!