Bloom stared at Stella for a good few seconds as she processed what that meant. This was not good. Stella wrung her hands and looked about the hallway, panicked.
"I don't know what's going on with me," she said. "My mouth just opens and I'm saying the most horrible things."
"Like accusing me of making up my dreams?" Stella winced.
"I don't actually think that… I'm sorry, I promise that I'll make it up to you, but can we find Musa first? I've been a complete bitch and I need to make up for that."
Bloom put her own disgruntled feelings to the side and grabbed her things to follow their friend into the city. Flora was putting her homework away and lacing up a pair of shoes, she looked warily between Bloom cramming her purse into her bag and Stella hovering by the door to the suite.
"Are you going after Musa too?" She inquired gently.
"Yep," Bloom nodded. "Tecna here too? Might as well bring all of us." She wanted to help her friend but wasn't sure how much good she could do if she was also trying to keep Stella under control at the same time. Besides, Tecna was her roommate and Flora was much more tuned into everyone's emotions.
"With any luck," Tecna called from the other room. "She'll just be waiting at the bus stop and we won't have to follow her all the way."
They'd wasted a fair amount of time just talking about what had happened, which meant that by the time the girls reached the stop, they had missed the bus that had taken Musa into the city. Stella huffed, uncomfortable from half-jogging there in her heels.
"Well now what are we supposed to do?" She sighed. "God, I can't do anything right today."
Bloom was pretty sure she heard Tecna mutter something along the lines of 'And that's new?' but for the sake of sticking together she didn't draw attention to it. Instead she thought out loud:
"So we get the next bus and follow her. What, they come by here about every ten minutes, right?"
"But we're not supposed to leave Alfea this early? We could all get in trouble. Not to mention, the Cloud Tower schedule means that all the student places will be crawling with witches," Flora pointed out, her mouth twitching with worry.
"Did you memorise the Cloud Tower schedule so that you wouldn't run into any of them?" Stella laughed, looking like she was about to start another cruel monologue on this. Bloom was grateful, then, for Tecna stepping in and diverting the course of the conversation.
"If there are witches out and about," she said slowly. "Surely that means that it's more important for us to go find Musa. They're less likely to screw around with a group of fairies than they are if she's just out on her own."
They made the decision to wait for the next bus, slouching down in the bus shelter in the faint hope that no member of staff would see them before the shuttle arrived. Stella kept quiet, folding her arms and glaring off into the distance as they sat nervously. Bloom could feel the anxiety rising in her stomach; it wasn't just the worry for Musa (after all, how much trouble could she get into in ten minutes?), no, shamefully, it was the fear of breaking the rules again. It hadn't been this bad when they broke into Cloud Tower, that had felt like a task they had to complete. There had been no question that they needed Stella's ring back.
So why didn't she feel that way about this? Musa was upset and needed them with her. Bloom was a bad friend.
Flora tapped her shoulder once the bus arrived and they all flashed their student IDs to the driver before boarding and going to sit near the back of the bus. She sat in silence, only half listening to the conversation that Tecna was having with Flora about their potions lab coursework, while Stella absent-mindedly played with the ends of Bloom's hair.
As the shuttle slowed to navigate the busier and narrower city roads, Stella's gentle stroking of her hair started to become more violent. Bloom was pulled backwards as she was yanked towards her friend so that Stella could inspect the underneath.
"Hey! What are you?"
"What, did you brush your hair with a whisk this morning?" She snapped. "Seriously, it's a mess and you have split ends almost half way up your head!"
"Stella!" Flora looked shocked, but Tecna put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. Flora opened her mouth in protest, but was handed something that Tecna had written on her phone. Whatever it was did seem to spark some understanding in Flora and she nodded, handing the phone back.
Stella meanwhile had seemed to realise what it was she'd just said and slumped back in her seat, letting go of Bloom's hair. She sat in dejected silence until they arrived in the middle of the city and got off to have a look around for Musa.
"Where would she go?" Flora asked, addressing Tecna who thought for a moment about what her roommate would do.
"It's hard to say, she's not methodical when she's distressed and there isn't a place that she usually hangs out in, it might be a good idea to just go straight and see…" Stella cut her off abruptly, seemingly unaware of the dirty look she got for it.
"No, I think I know where she might be." She paused, looking guilty. "I told her that I'd heard Riven and Darcy were going on a date at the Witch's Cauldron today. She might have gone there to see if I was telling the truth."
They headed over, walking at a quick pace given the fact that Musa had dived headlong into what was presumably a bunch of Cloud Tower students. They could see the top of the old slate-roofed building and the ugly gargoyles that loomed over the drainpipes when they heard a small explosion.
"Oh crap," Stella said, and then they were all running. A few seconds later, Icy's voice rose in a high-pitched shriek.
"How dare you!" She sounded like she was close to crying. "You… you slapped me!"
"I'm sorry!" Musa's voice was wavering. "I didn't mean to, I…"
There was another explosion and Bloom realised that Icy definitely wasn't alone - her attacks didn't make that kind of noise, but Stormy's did. Before she could say anything, the others were already transforming; this wasn't going to be a gentle chat to persuade Musa to come back, this was going to be a fight.
They turned a corner and Bloom almost ran straight into a red-headed girl in a leather jacket. The other girl stumbled and fell on her arse. Before Bloom could apologise for knocking her over, the girl (who she now recognised as the one from the Witches for Same Sex Parenting float on the Day of the Rose) reached out to grab her hand.
"They're attacking your friend!" She said. "There's loads of them, they're all trying to impress the Trix!" Bloom didn't stop to clarify if 'the Trix' were indeed who she thought they were, and kept moving as she transformed. It was still a little hard, not yet second nature to her as it was to the others.
They started flying when they heard Musa scream, by the time they got to her she was backed up against the bins of the Witch's Cauldron and there was a crowd of Cloud Tower students between them and her. And right there, leaning against the back door of the pub and smoking a cigarette as if nothing was going on in front of him, was Riven.
Stella sent out a burst of light into the throng and the witches scattered, many deciding that fighting a group of fairies was less favourable than intimidating one. Icy whirled around, her eyes narrowed and a throbbing red imprint of Musa's hand still visible on her cheek. A blast of icicles left her hand and crashed into Stella before she had a chance to dodge. Bloom tried not to scream as she ducked out of the way of Stormy's attack, one that knocked Tecna to the ground.
The spectators were rapidly clearing out, and even with a numbers advantage it was clear that the three witches had more experience. Bloom let off a few balls of fire in their direction, but she was too scared to hit Musa to be accurate and even when she got close, the Witches had time to move out of the way.
There wasn't anything she could do. Icy was freezing Tecna into a block, starting with her feet, Stella had been knocked against one of the bins by Stormy and the trash piles were smouldering from the lightning attacks. Darcy was tormenting Flora with her illusions, batting her back and forth between the many different clones of herself, Bloom was no closer to being able to reach Musa, who was pressed against the wall by the fights going on in front of her and wounded from before they arrived, and all the time Riven just stood and watched, smoke wafting lazily from the end of his cigarette.
It was so unfair. Why couldn't she do anything? She was so inexperienced, so weak, her powers barely developed, and her friends were being beaten to a pulp. Would the witches stop before they died or were they too enraged to know when enough was enough?
Bloom could see in her mind the images of the rest of them on the floor, never getting up again, and something inside her snapped. She wasn't going to let that happen. She wasn't going to stand by and do nothing. She couldn't be a coward any longer, sitting on the sidelines in her fairy form like it was just a costume. Her friends needed her and so there wasn't any other choice but to engage the witches. She'd kill them if she needed to.
Her flesh felt cold against the heat that was pouring through her blood. Her face flushed with fire that was building inside her and she let it flow out. She focused her attention on Darcy first.
How dare she do that to Flora? Her roommate was so gentle, she didn't deserve to be attacked like that. Her rage manifested in flame that lashed out and struck the witch, flesh hissing and burning as Darcy screamed in pain.
Once that one was down, and Flora was able to crawl away, Bloom turned her attention to Stormy. The witch seemed frightened by what she saw, and wasn't caught off guard like Darcy had been. Nevertheless, it didn't take long for Bloom to hit her with a tendril of fire, relishing the sound it made when it bit into exposed skin.
As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Stella grabbed Musa and, throwing one of her arms across her shoulders, pulled her out of the way as quickly as she could. In doing so, she left Bloom a clear path to Icy.
The last witch standing didn't have the same fear as her sisters, in fact there was a faint smile on her face. She met Bloom's fire head on with her own wall of ice, despite the flames rapidly melting it into pools of steaming water, it was giving Icy enough time to manoeuvre herself around and escape being burned. She wasn't even using the time she was buying herself to make any counter attack. Instead she just seemed to have summoned a glowing crystal in her hand, pale blue and pulsing with light.
Bloom was infuriated with her inability to land a hit on Icy; she was the one she wanted to burn the most. She wanted to scorch that smirk off her face, make it so she never sneered at Bloom or her friends ever again. Her rage was making it harder to aim and developing into a cycle that she needed to break.
It took all of her will to pull her fire back in and alight on the ground. As soon as her boots touched the pavement, Icy dashed past her to grab her sisters by their sleeves and drag them away. The other girls cautiously approached Bloom.
"Girl," Stella said, still holding Musa up. "What the fuck is going on?"
"What do you mean?" And then she was suddenly aware that she had trashed the alley: bins lay upturned on the ground, their contents smoking and smouldering; puddles of water slowly draining away into the grates and carrying bits of broken bottle and food wrappers with them; there were scorch marks on the dry parts of the alley and somewhere in the fight a window had broken.
"You're glowing," Tecna pointed out, and Bloom looked at her hands. It was fading now, but it was clear she had been radiating light.
"Yeah, and your eyes were hella scary," Musa said, laughing and then wincing. "Ow."
"What happened to you?" Bloom joined the others in powering down out of her fairy form and having a look at the injury on Musa's stomach.
"Stormy managed to get me with a… a Voltage Slap, I think she called it. It hurts like hell."
"We should take you to the hospital," Tecna said. "They'll be able to patch you up."
"What about the school doctor?" Bloom asked, but Tecna was already shaking her head.
"Ophelia will report it to Faragonda. Given we're in town when we're supposed to be in school and we were just in a fight that definitely crosses the line on what the schools would consider 'horseplay' so relying on the confidentiality of a hospital is a good idea. And besides," Tecna added. "We can get that hex removed from you, Stella."
"'Hex'?" Stella asked as she was steered by Flora, and a little by Musa, out of the alleyway. "No, seriously, what hex?"
Tecna hailed them a cab, whose driver balked a little at Musa's injury but agreed to take them to the A&E department Stella didn't want to let the subject of a hex go, but was waved down again.
"It's just a hunch Tecna has," Flora explained. "And if she's right they'll be able to stop you being such a bitch."
"Oh my god," Musa laughed and Stella clapped both hands over her mouth.
Bloom looked between all of her friends as she realised they all knew something she didn't. Clearly there was some context from their cultures that she just had no reference for. She debated just waiting to find out but her curiosity was getting the better of her.
"What am I missing?"
"Okay," Musa said. "A long time ago there was a wizard called Hyrim who conspired to make negotiations between the realms of Callisto and Dolona fall apart. He came up with a hex that would both magnify negative emotions and lower inhibitions - a perfect way of making someone utterly unpleasant to deal with."
"It's the reason why every inter-dimensional summit begins with rituals to remove any and all spells cast on attendees," Flora explained. "And why there's still enmity between Callisto and Dolona."
"Someone cast that hex on me?!" Stella looked both hurt and indignant.
"We don't know that it's that…"
"It was Amaryl," Bloom said, remembering class earlier. "Sorry to cut you off Tecna, but she was doing something strange during Wizgiz's class."
"Could Amaryl even pull something like that off?" Flora asked, her fingers gently touching her lower lip in thought.
"She might be a dumb bitch in need of some cuticle work and a better dye job, but she's actually quite booksmart," Stella admitted. "She does well in pretty much all her classes. I bet she found out about it and learnt it just to use on me."
"I see Stella is still under the influence then," Musa sighed. "Can't wait for that to wear off."