Stella was discharged from the hospital, and I swore she celebrated. She says it stunk, the food sucked, and she felt cramped in her room. Now that her powers were back to normal and her wounds had healed for the most part, she was permitted to come back to Alfea with us.
But we have detention, so we can't celebrate too much.
I've had detention before, and detention here is no different back home. You still have that same, typical sitting-in-a-classroom-with-nothing-to-do for hours at a time. Griselda's the one keeping an eye on us, and we can't do anything. If we speak, an extra hour. If we disturb her, an extra hour. If we do something weird, extra hour. It's why I've taken to sitting there silently and placing my head down. But sleeping is an extra hour, so I can't even do that.
But I also learned itty-bitty details about what my friends do when they're bored.
Flora sorts her leaves. I dunno how she does it, since they all look the same, but she does it.
Musa listens to the music in her head. Not kidding. I think she actually has music in her head. But she'll sit there and listen to nothing.
Techna just stares. I have no idea what she does, but she just...stares. At nothing. No blinking, no movement. If it wasn't for the slight movement of her head every now and again, I would've just thought she had died. Though, she could be sleeping with her eyes open. But I don't think so; Griselda might have caught her.
After our detention was over, only one thing was on our minds: getting Stella's ring back. Stella says it's floating around in Cloud Tower, and to help out, I spend some time in the library trying to see if I can find anything on it, and the library might be my new favorite place.
You don't have to go to a staff member working there to bring you to the book you're looking for; there's a search system (called the Butterfly System) where you can just ask the topic you're looking for, and the books magically come to you. Cool, right?
I end up finding dozens of books with the topic of Stella's ring in it, and I check them out, getting eyed by the strange librarian, Barbatea. I saw her yelling at one of the students because she didn't place one of her books in the right place. And then, I saw her talking to the books as if they were her children. I dunno what she's on, and I'm tempted to ask.
I probably gained a lot of muscle mass carrying those books back into our dorm. Lemme give you a small insight on what the interior looks like.
You have the bottom floor and courtyard, then the staircase to take you to the many hallways, where you enter different areas of the castle.
Every turn you take, you end up on a staircase or an elevator. But then, on days like these, where certain elevators don't work (for some God-given reason!), you have to take the many staircases. The library is on the third, along with a couple classrooms and balcony lunchrooms.
The dorms are on the seventh. And no elevators, and I'm carrying five thousand pound books.
By the time I get to the entrance of our apartment, I probably look like a body-builder.
I slam into the door of the room, dropping the sixty pound books onto my body, and I kinda lay there exhausted for a minute before Musa opens the door and doesn't even pretend to care about my pain.
"Haha! Bloom, you look stupid! Where have you been?" She moves out the way a bit, revealing the foyer, where Stella, Flora, and Techna are seated. When Flora sees me and my book babies, she immediately goes over and helps me out. She also gives Musa a bit of a look.
"Bloom, you just left without saying anything!" Flora scolds lightly, taking two of the books on the floor. "After what happened to Stella, we can't take any chances."
"I know," I say, getting up. "But I found stuff on Stella's ring!"
"If you wanted to know stuff about Stella's ring," the girl in question says, turning backwards on her knees on the couch, "Stella is right here." She gestures to herself.
"Correct, but Stella," Techna's voice rings from the sofa across the one Stella's sitting on, "you are notorious for your lack of academic knowledge, so we cannot take any chances."
Stella sticks her tongue out at her and goes back to me. "But what'd you find?"
Musa closes the door behind me as I walk fully into the foyer, sitting on the plush pink couch closest to me, placing one of the books onto the coffee table, opening it, and flipping through until I find where I'm looking for. I point my finger to where it talks about it. "The Ring of Solaris…" I read aloud, clearing my throat to begin.
The Ring of Solaris is one of the most powerful and earliest magical artifacts ever created. Legend has it that along with passing on the great Dragon Fire, the Great Dragon of old breathed life into the suns, and one of the suns dropped a beautiful ring on what would soon become the planet of Solaris. The ring is believed to have the power of seven suns, if used to full capacity, along with being a fine piece of jewelry. "It got that right!" Stella laughs. It's the second-most searched for item in the entire Magic Dimension, only a couple points below the Dragon Fire, but unlike the Dragon Fire, the Ring of Solaris is a physical item.
There's more written, but I stop there.
"That's awesome," Musa breathes. "No wonder those witches want it."
"I knew all of that already," Stella explains, "because they spent hours explaining it when they presented it to me. In Solaria, the ring is passed down depending on the age and power of the royal. Some royals, like myself, are born with magic, and when I turned sixteen—a little more than a year ago—I was presented the ring in a great, powerful ceremony and whatever, and was told about all the rules when it comes to owning the ring and whatnot."
"With great power comes great responsibility," Musa quotes, deepening her voice. We had watched a couple Spiderman movies, and that line stuck with her.
"Yeah, that," Stella agrees. "I'm not worried about the ring. It's nearly impossible to get the power from the inside, so it's useless to the witches. But without it, I can't transform, and they might get rid of it. They can't destroy it, but they can hide it to where we can't find it."
"Royals who don't have magic, like your father, can't own the ring, right?" Flora asks.
Stella nods. "Until I was born, the ring kinda just sat in a high-security museum so people can't steal it. It's so important that people who have successfully stolen are literally hunted down and killed on the spot. If we were on Solaria, the witches would have their heads on poles."
"Wow…" This is really a lot to take in. It sounds like something you would hear in a fairytale, not real life. But there's something small that makes me wonder… "What about the Dragon Fire? And what's the Great Dragon?"
"The Dragon Fire was an ancient power that first originated at the beginning of time," Techna explains. "After the sentencing of Valtor to the Omega Dimension four hundred eighty-two years ago, the Dragon Fire was ripped away from him, leaving him for dead. Hundreds of years later, the Fire was found in Dominio—in particular, Princess Daphne of Domino. After its destruction fifteen years ago, the princess was presumed dead, and the power along with it. As for the Great Dragon, there is nothing to it. 'Tis just a legend people tell children during their retirement for the night."
"I wouldn't say that, Techna," Flora says. "You never know. It would make sense for something like the Great Dragon to exist." At my confusion, she grins. "There's a long-running debate about whether or not the Great Dragon existed or not. But from the perspective of someone who believes in the story: eons ago, a powerful figure came out of nowhere and created the Magic Dimension; our world. With it, it created the element of magic, along with multiple, almost infinite, amounts of planets thriving with it. Along with the Great Dragon, the Great Phoenix assisted, creating the creatures that live in the sky, earth, and sea. Once they were done, the Dragon and Phoenix disappeared, leaving behind the powers of the Dragon Fire and Phoenix Fire. No one knows what happened to the Phoenix Fire, but the Dragon Fire is extremely well-known and looked for to this day. And to a dangerous extent."
This is chilling. It's awesome. Wish people on Earth had equally awesome lore like people here do.
"Actually, the story is hella longer, but we don't have time to go into the excruciating details of it all," says Musa, flopping onto the ground next to me. "But when it comes to the Phoenix and Dragon Fires, people are constantly debating about which one is more powerful. Some people say Dragon, others say Phoenix. There's no way of telling, now; both of them are presumably extinct."
Feeling the drool touch my chin, I wipe it away, gradually calming down. "Why wasn't I born in the Magic Dimension?"
"Oh, it's not all that once you get used to it." Musa scoffs. "It just depends on where you live. If you're from planets like mine, you're constantly surrounded by music and peculiar creatures. If you're from planets like Stella's or Flora's—the more popular ones—you're around a lot of politics and sun and plants. They kinda function as countries; some are more open to the public, while others are a bit more isolated."
"I wonder if I'll ever be able to visit any of your planets," I say. "Stella's already been to mine."
"Maybe I'll take you home with me for summer vaca!" Stella cries. "But wear sunscreen."
The next day, something peculiar happened today. I mean, it would seem pretty normal to regular people, but for me just trying to get to class, it was...off.
While I'm roaming around for the remainder of my break, Faragonda shows up out of nowhere.
"Miss Peters?"
I turn my head when I hear it. Headmistress Faragonda is standing there with her hands behind her back, looking a bit mischievous. I don't see her too much. She usually spends a lot more time in her office and quarters more than she does with us. I think the last I saw her in the school publicly was when she officially let me into the school, and that was nearly three months ago!
"Um… Yes…?"
"I was just speaking with Ms. Barbatea, in the library. Apparently, you've seemed to be researching ancient artifacts of the Magic Dimension. Is that right?"
"I...am," I say cautiously. Is she going to interrogate me about it? We've avoided questioning from the teachers this far; how am I supposed to lie to the headmistress?
She smiles, calming me down, but only a little. "I'm glad you take such interest in our history. There's so much to unpack from it, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in Earthling history. Being born in a world surrounded by magic loses its magic after a while, don't you think?"
I nod quickly, but I don't think I'll ever get bored of this place.
"I think you're doing exceptionally well adapting, dear," Faragona continues. "If I were you, I would be so flabbergasted at the world around me that I wouldn't have time to keep up with my studies. But you've proven intelligent enough to push aside your wonder and keep an eye on your studies, proving to me that you're truly serious about making this world your home, is that right?"
I straighten up a bit and nod. "Everything's still new to me, don't get me wrong, but learning about myself and this world is my top priority right now, miss."
"I know it is," she replies. "But I warn you, dear, you will never fully understand this world. There's just so much magic and spirit here that sometimes even us citizens have no idea how anything and everything works. You can only take in what you can."
I hate being so quiet, but I simply nod again. Something about Faragonda keeps me quiet. She's so...regal and motherly. And so wise. But every word she says gives me both a feeling of wonder and dread. The latter I dunno why, but it's still there.
As if she read my thoughts, her face softens a bit. "How about you follow me, hm? There's been something I've been meaning to show you." And she begins to walk forward up the stairs to her office, and I scramble to follow behind her.
The path to the headmistress' office gives me the chills. The large stairwell is covered in a soft, blue hue, and the walls itself seem to hum. There are large hangings on the walls, shaped like purple butterfly wings, similar to the pin on my uniform. The Alfea seal. I don't think I've ever been here before. But I imagine going up here thinking I'm in trouble would be hell, because the walls seem to watch us as we pass, and I swear I hear whispering.
Thankfully, we make it to the large, oak doors welcoming us into her office. There's a lot of empty space in the room, and it was very rococo style. A beautiful chandelier hung smack in the middle of the room, and a shiny window covered the whole of the back. In the front was her desk, decorated in gold edges and a plush, red chair. It was the fanciest office I've ever seen, and I didn't even notice the drool hanging out of my mouth until I felt it.
Faragonda laughs at my expression. "Do Earthling headmasters not have offices like these?"
I shake my head. "My public school—and most public schools in the country—can't afford this type. It looks like something you would see in an eighteenth century palace."
"That's where I got the style from." Faragonda sits down in the chair. "I visited Earth for my eighteenth birthday, and me, being the rebel that I was, broke into an extravagant palace with this style. I was so amazed that ever since then, I decorated everything I had with this." She laughs once more. "It's been so long since I was eighteen."
The rococo style was mainly in fashion during the eighteenth century… How old is Faragonda? I try to ask, but the question doesn't escape my lips; maybe it would be seen as rude if I asked….
"I'm sorry for rambling, Miss Peters," she says. "The reason I brought you here is because I want to show you a quick overview of the nature of the Magic Dimension." She dims the lights, snaps her fingers, and suddenly, the room erupts with an orange light, showing a holograph, interactive image of what seems to be the entire Magic Dimension. Planets float around my face, stars twinkle in artificial darkness, small beeps and chimes are audible as well.
"What...is this?" I ask slowly, reaching out and touching one of the planets close to my face. My finger goes straight through it, causing it to appear static-y until I draw my finger back in.
"It's a hologram portraying the entire Magic Dimension. As you can see, it's quite large."
"I can see that…" The whole hologram surrounds the room, and I continue to spin it, lightly touching a couple of them. The title and description of the planet appears on a few of them, and I manage to find Solaria on here, but if I attempted to touch every single planet, I would've graduated by the time we finish.
"You see, Miss Peters, the Magic Dimension thrives off of magic. Every planet has its own history regarding the Dragon and Phoenix and the magic They created." Faragonda stops. "You do know what the Dragon Phoenix were, right?"
I nod. "My roommates told me. It sounds so cool."
She nods in understanding, growing serious. "Magic is such an aspect in the everyday lives of people that life without it...would literally kill us. The magic that you and so many others own is connected to your very soul. Once it's Born inside you, it acts as your heart. If it ever stops flowing, if it ever stops beating, the entire body shuts down, and you will surely die."
I swallow, feeling my heart rate quicken just a little bit.
"You'll learn more about magical history in your classes, but I wanted to talk to you personally about certain things. Magic isn't just a physical element: it's a lifeline. We need it. Even people who aren't Born with the physical power need it. It's just so important to us. It's equivalent to oxygen. When, if you don't mind my belief, the Dragon and Phoenix made this world, they used magic for us as humans to worship. To need. To thrive off of. If magic were to ever disappear, so would the entire Magic Dimension itself.
"But magic is both a blessing and a curse. If a person is given too much power, the world as we know it could be destroyed. There are people who use their powers for good and those who use their power for evil. It would be wise, Miss Peters, if you would learn how to differentiate the two. The power that you have in your very soul is no more powerful than the rest of the girls in your year, but by the end of your years here, I want to know that you have grown into a full-fledged fairy. One for good." The headmistress swallows. "Do you understand?"
I nod quickly, feeling extremely intimidated by all this information.
"Good." Faragonda's somber expression turns to a lighter one. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I just wanted to give a brief explanation of magic and how it works. I have very high hopes for you, Miss Peters. And I would not like for you to prove me wrong."
"Yes, m-ma'am," I stammer. The bell chimes somewhere in the school, reminding me of the class I have to get to. "I gotta go, ma'am. I'm sorry."
"No, there's no need to apologize." Faragonda whisks away the hologram and turns the light back on. "If you ever need anything, I'm always here. Most of the time," she adds as an afterthought.
I nod, heading out, when I question pops in my head. One that's been bugging me for the longest time.
"Ms….?" I ask slowly.
Faragonda raises an eyebrow, allowing me to continue. "How did… How did this happen? I mean, I grew up in an Earth family. Earth doesn't have any magic dwellers. How did I have magic?"
Faragonda doesn't respond for a moment, then opens her mouth to speak. "Have you...ever heard of the last princess of Domino, Daphne?"
I wrack my brain. I swear I've heard that… Oh, wait! When we were talking about the Dragon Fire, we mentioned her! But why is he relevant? "Yeah. The Dragon Fire died out with her. Why?"
"Have you ever seen a woman," Faragonda asks carefully, "with blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing a mask? In your dreams, perhaps?"
I'm a bit weirded out, now. I shake my head.
"Oh." She looks like she wants to ask more, but she seems to push down the question. "Miss Peters, I have no idea why you have magic, but I believe it will soon become apparent to all of us. Soon."
What's that supposed to mean? I exit the office, walking down the many staircases and ignoring the creepiness from before.
Faragonda knows why I have these powers, but she's just not telling me. And I think it has something to do with Princess Daphne.
"We're going to do what now?"
We're gathered in the foyer again, this time discussing how we're going to get Stella's ring back, and we have a plan in mind, but Stella doesn't seem to enjoy it.
"Nuh uh, no way!" Stella crosses her arms. "Do I look like I'm going to go into a smelly tunnel? I don't have an outfit ready for that!"
"Stella, we went into a deadly swamp," Musa points out. "I think we can handle a tunnel."
"Yeah, but I've never been in one. And from images, they look smelly and dirty and ew."
"Of course they're going to be dirty, Stella," Flora says. "Tunnels can't be cleaned naturally. But it's not like they're neglected. The tunnels are just waves to get around the three schools in case of an emergency."
"And I assume you want your ring back, right?" I ask.
Stella groans. "I do. But why do I have to constantly be placed in not-so-ideal situations?"
"Because, Stella." Musa wraps her arm around Stella's neck. "You're a princess with an important magic artifact. Did you expect things to be peachy?"
"Well, no, but—"
"Then, you have your answer."
Stella sticks her tongue out, removing herself from Musa's grip and moving to sit next to me. "Alright, fine. We're going to travel through the—" she gags "—tunnels. But how are we going to get through there? I don't think we can get special permission to sneak through schools."
"Simple." I forgot Techna was there. She's so quiet sometimes. "We do not."
"Yep." Musa stands up and stretches. "We're gonna sneak out. Wear all black and ninja sneak around the school." I also taught her about ninjas. What? I'm learning about their world, I'm returning the favor. "You know where the tunnels are, right, Bloom?"
I nod, then stop short. "Well, a little bit. In my defense, I only found the tunnels when I was about to murder someone for a pair of scissors during the welcoming dance, so…."
"Do not worry," says Techna. "I have downloaded a visual map of the entire school. We do not have to blindly roam around searching for the tunnels. I know where it is."
Flora doesn't seem too sure about this. "Do we have to sneak there? We're still in trouble from sneaking to the Black Lagoon not too long ago. If we do something like this, we could be in even bigger trouble."
"We won't, because we'll be smarter this time," Musa says, but honestly, I'm thinking what Flora's thinking. "We'll sneak there around midnight and return around four AM. People are still asleep during that time. We'll be fine."
"But have you forgotten one important person?" I ask. I raise my eyebrows for them to answer, but all of them look confused. "Griselda! The lady has eyes everywhere! How are we supposed to get past her? A couple of the students say that she's up around three or four o'clock."
"Can confirm," Stella cuts in. "I've seen her. And if you catch her before her morning coffee…" She whistles. "Your body is never found."
"It's not just Griselda!" Flora cries. "This is serious. If any of the teachers catch us, we're in huge trouble. This could end up on our personal record or something. And do you know how dangerous Cloud Tower is? If one of the witches finds us… Or maybe the Trix… Or even if one of their teachers catches us, we might be even deader."
"Deader is not a word," Techna deadpans.
I chew my lip. I didn't think about that. But we have to get Stella's ring back. I think back to Faragonda's conversation to me about the importance of magic. Who knows what the Trix will do to it? I dunno if her ring is tied to her magic essence or not, but if it is, if something bad happens to it, it could negatively affect Stella, and those witches are powerful. Stella might say it's hard to steal the power from inside, but anything's possible in this world. "We have to try. We can't give in to fear." I swallow. "Faragonda taught me something important today. Something about magic and its connection to one's soul. Even if it's just a physical object, that ring means something to Stella spiritually. We need to get it back, even if we're scared."
Flora looks at me curiously, but Stella pats me on the back. "You're warming up to the Magic Dimension already. But seriously." She stretches a bit. "It's getting tiring having to come up with new excuses for why I can't participate in combat classes. Griselda takes pure joy in piling up my assignments."
"Alrighty then." Musa cracks her knuckles. "So it's settled. We're going to go to Cloud Tower. Dead of night. If we're lucky, we return before Griselda hour."
"And I'll get my ring back!" Stella strokes her left ring finger. "It feels so lonely without the pretty darling. My hand feels naked!"
The tunnels are colder than I remember.
I mean, I could be saying that because I didn't actually walk down there, but I swore, it gave off a warmer vibe than this.
We had managed to sneak through the hallways around midnight, disabling a couple cameras ("If I am caught and they revoke my gadgets, I am holding all of you personally responsible," says Techna, dead serious), all while looking like bootleg ninjas trying to creep through this huge school. Fortunately, we made it to the entrance to the tunnels without getting caught and headed into the freezing passageway.
And now we're here, walking through it, some of the girls holding onto me for warmth. Apparently, I give off a warm vibe when I'm in environments like this, so Musa and Flora hold onto both my arms to keep warm. We're using Stella for light, because whoo glowing!
"I think I just saw a rat," Stella says, her voice cracking. "Why couldn't they have cleaned this place?"
"Because these are only used for emergencies, Stella, dear," Techna explains a bit sarcastically. "There would be no point in—as you say—glamming the tunnels."
"At least it would be a nice decoration." Musa shivers against me. "When was the last time these were used?"
"During the Dragon and Phoenix Wars," Flora answers, tightening her grip on my arm. "The entirety of Magix went on lockdown when it was believed the Ancestral Witches would attack here next."
"You people keep referencing Dragon and Phoenix Wars, and I have yet to actually know what that is," I say, stepping over a muddy puddle.
"Would you like the simple version or the Techna version?" Musa asks.
"Uh… What's the Techna version?"
I can practically see Techna's eye twitch, even from our three feet distance. "The Techna Version of things is an explanation of something and anything in prodigious detail."
Whatever that means. "Uh, we're a bit short on time, so maybe the simple version."
"Alright, well, basically—" But Musa's cut off before she can begin from the happy cheer from Stella. "Guys, I see light! We're out!"
We speed a bit, trying to catch up with the overenthusiastic Stella. She walks up a bunch of small steps, coming to a large, oddly-shaped door similar to the one I saw the first time. She slowly opens the door, her face wrinkling in discomfort. She turns her head towards us. "Yep. We're at Cloud Tower."
We head up there, closing the door behind us. We've found ourselves in a weird hallway, dark and gloomy. It's such a huge contrast to the bright and happy feel of Alfea hallways. It's so purple and black, with candles on the walls holding green fire. There's such a chill in the air that it even freezes me a bit, even though I'm pretty warm right now. I can hear the tiny sounds of bats on the side of the wall, freaking me out just a little bit. It reminds me of Hogwarts. Just scarier and gloomier.
"I feel so out-of-place here," Musa says shivering.
"I think if the witches saw our place, they would say the same thing." Flora looks up to the bats hovering in the corner, not looking too fazed. "Can't believe they could afford bats here? Isn't that a danger hazard?"
"I dunno," says Stella, "but I'm scared some severed head is going to pop out of nowhere in this place. Let's just go looking for my ring." She approaches Techna. "Tec, you know where the dorms are?"
"It's in the dormitory?" I ask. "Huh. Kinda surprised with that location. For third year, dangerous witches, they sure didn't make it hard to track them down."
Stella nods. "I can tell they've also tried to mess with it, too. The Light Crystal is still intact, so we're all good."
"The dormitories are one floor above us." Techna points up to the ceiling. "The only danger we need to be cautious of is the creatures roaming past and night witches. 'Tis not a rule that a student must be in her quarters at a certain time like we have. Witches thrive on the moon, so 'tis very common for a witch—especially teenage ones—to wander around by moonlight. Some witches are so dependent on the nighttime that they attend nightly courses instead of day. The only rule regarding the night rambling is that they cannot leave campus. That is where they place strict rules upon."
"A lot of stuff I am never going to remember," I mumble, but it's interesting nonetheless.
"I'll listen out for any unwanted creatures of random witches moving around." Musa taps her right ear. "Being the fairy of sound comes with a couple perks."
We begin to walk through the damp, chilling hallways, keeping an eye out for any movement. We don't see any witches or professors walking about, but we do see a couple spiders crawl up on the wall with [tape?] pressed onto their backs with names on them. I assume they're class pets that are just allowed to roam around willy-nilly.
We head up the velvet steps, the color slightly out-of-place with the somber look of the school. But really, if you ignore the weird pets, the night stalking, and the general creepiness of Cloud Tower, it really isn't too different from Alfea. From the signs explaining where everything is, I can tell that the courses are basically the same, except with a witchy goodness.
The dorms are where things are a bit tense. We have to be extremely careful since we don't wanna (possibly) wake anyone up. Stella goes ahead, her ring tracking skills going off the charts. All the doors to the rooms are a bit ominous, with skull handles of which stare at you as you pass. The wonder of Cloud Tower is starting to wane, as I'm getting a bit more antsy the longer we spend here.
"Here it is," Stella whispers, pointing to one of the southern doors. There's a large 666 written on the wall, which is the room number. This cannot be a coincidence.
But it is, since room 665 is across from us.
"Musa, is anyone in there?" asks Flora.
Musa stares at the door for a moment, then turns back to us. "No. It's empty. The Trix might be out night stalking."
"Is it unlocked?" I ask.
Techna twists the knob, and it's unlocked, which seems to confuse her. "Well… It's unlocked, but that would be odd… What kind of third year witch simply leaves their room unlocked for anyone to enter? I am beginning to sense there is more to it than we think."
"Well, I sense that my darling ring is in here, so…" Stella opens the door, revealing a very...bland room.
Okay, I'm only saying that because compared to the dorms back at Alfea, these feel like reform school dorms. There's both black and purple wallpapers, with green fire emitting from the candles on the wall. There is a bat chandelier overheard, and on the sides are completely identical beds with murky green sheets. On the shelves are a bunch of potions, spells, and other witch things. You know, I kinda expected the Trix to have a whole-*ss cult in here, with pentagrams and ram heads and whatever. Not normal stuff.
Or maybe they do, and they just make it look like this just in case people like us walk in.
"How witchy," Musa deadpans.
"It's so dead and cold in here," Flora whispers, shivering. She catches sight of a dead, drooping plant close to the window. "Oh, you poor dear." She kneels down next to it, sadly stroking the leaves.
"The ring is definitely in here. And I might just give them the number of my interior designer." Stella places her hands on her hips, walking towards the middle of the room and looking around.
We begin searching.
I stand close to the drawers, going through them to see if there's any sign of anything suspicious. Musa stands close to the door to tell us if people are approaching. So far, the only people who have come by are the regular night witches. We have no plan if we get caught, however, so we're all hoping we don't. But anyway, there's nothing in the drawers. Except for an entire drawer filled with gel. Stormy, most likely.
Stella's conjured up a mask and gloves as she searches close to the trash can ("It smells like someone died over here!" She slowly turns her head towards us in realization. "Someone probably did!"). There's nothing over there, either, except for hair and broken nails. ("Is that blood?" Musa asks, staring in both horror and astonishment from her post towards the door.)
Flora's searching by the plant bed. She's helping both us and the poor plant that did not deserve to suffer. But she hasn't found anything either, and now her hands are covered in dirt and fertilizer. ("As compensation for ransacking their dorm, I'm reviving the plant and giving it a good spell. It might dispel their anger just a bit when they return.")
Like I said, Musa is by the door. She's also started playing with a weird stick thing. Everytime she hears someone by the door, she hushes up harshly and makes us all immediately stop. And nine-out-of-ten, it's usually just someone walking past. But Musa's doing her job, I guess. ("Is this like a stress toy or something?" Musa asks, genuinely confused, tossing the stick-thing up and down in her hand. "What is the actual purpose of this thing?" And then, suddenly, spikes appear on the sides, showing its purpose and causing Musa to nearly scream in pain as she nurses her bleeding fingers with her hands.)
And Techna's by the nightstands. There's nothing over there either except spare candles and...toys? ("I would have never assumed the witches enjoyed entertainment such as miniature people." She tugs at the arms, and a scream above causes her to throw it and scream, and a thud is heard upstairs. She clears her throat, going a bit pink. "Now I understand the purpose of the doll.")
"I found it!" Stella cries, straightening up from her post by the trash can. She takes off her mask and caresses the shiny ring. "It's a bit scratched, but that can be fixed. Did you miss me, little one?"
"Alright, that means we can leave right?" I ask, looking up. "I think that bat's out to get me." And I mean it. One of the bats is staring right at me.
"It's all clear, right, Musa?" Flora asks.
Musa nods. "Seems like the witches are all hanging out either downstairs or upstairs. There doesn't seem to be anyone hanging around here. Not surprising; this area seems depressing as hell."
"Well, now that I have my ring back, we can shed some light on this situation." Stella laughs, and I can't help but laugh with her. What? It was hilariously corny!
She opens the door, letting us all out of the room. We sneak the same way we came in, down the steps, through the hallways with the class pets, and towards the slanted door. Techna steps in first, trying to pull it open, but it refuses to budge. She tugs on it harder, and the only thing she manages to do is pull off the whole f*cking doorknob.
"Well, that's just perfect!" Musa cries.
"Do not blame this on me!" Techna hisses. "No matter what I did, it refused to open, and there was no lock on the door when we first arrived."
"Well, what do we do then?" I ask. "Are we just trapped in Cloud Tower?"
"I hope not!" Stella exclaims. "This place gives me the creeps."
Flora thinks for a moment. "There has to be more than one passage through this area. Places like these always do. Techna, is there anything on your map."
Techna stares at nothing for a bit, then suddenly, a hologram of the entirety of Cloud Tower appears in front of us, seeming to come from her purple eye.
"That's awesome." Musa smiles, looking down at the diagram.
"I figured it would be smarter if I projected what I was seeing towards you; I would have appeared nonsensical if I had not."
It kinda reminds me of what Faragonda showed me back at Alfea. I've said this before, but come on, Earth, keep up!
"There seems to be an area over here—" she points at one place on the map—"that should give us a passage out. And the entrance seems to be…" She walks over past the staircase, looking around before venturing out. "Over here." She points at a large, green door with a crooked sign. The Alchemic Archives.
"Huh," Stella breathes, as we walk into the Alchemic Archive room (Techna stays behind a bit to straighten up the sign). "Why am I not surprised we hit a road bump on this mission?"
"I dunno," says Musa. "Maybe it's because nothing has been going completely smoothly since we first arrived?"
"Trouble seems to find us easily," I add. "As if we're the main characters in anything. Trouble loves main characters."
"I think we should be moving a bit quicker now," Mama Flora says, from her place in the archives. "We can't just dawdle. Remember: the witches like to roam around at night."
"Oh, right!" Musa realizes. "Nocturnal b*tches."
We move into the room, quietly closing the door behind us.
It's a very...bland room. Unlike the other room with the witchy colors and whatnot, this room is completely devoid of anything. It kinda feels like an expanded storage closet, except with books.
"Maybe I should give Griffin the number of my interior decorator," Stella says, thinking the same thing as I am. "It's so boring here!"
"The books aren't, though." Musa picks up a book from the metal shelf thing and begins to flip through it. "You see this?" She shows us the book cover. 101 Poisons to Kill Your Relatives. That's a bit precise. "I don't think this is legal."
"I don't think we should be in here," Flora suggests. "From the looks of things, this whole room shouldn't exist. We're not to mess with these things. Let's go."
"Oh, come on, Flo." Musa slams the new book she had in her hands: The End of Society by Project 01101101 01110101 01110010 01100100 01100101 01110010 . Way too many letters. "This place seems cool. Besides, we'll be done soon. How many illegal books do you see in schools?"
"I am with Flora on this one," says Techna. "There is something completely skeptical about the entirety of this trip, and there is no change here."
But there's no response. Musa and Stella are already looking at the disorganized books, and I can't stop the curiosity from getting the better of me, and I look around with them.
This place is illegal as hell, and I don't even have to wonder why some of the stuff in here is illegal. There's actually still beating hearts in jars close to the window, along with a drawer with the label spare body parts, and I don't think they're fake. The books are on certain topics like artificial magic transformation, most evil leaders in the history of the Magic Dimension, and murder. A lot of murder.
But I think what put the icing on the cake was the book I found close to the exit.
The Whispering Book, it called itself, and it actually whispered. I listen closely to what they're saying. Ask us. An answer, you shall receive. Ask us. An answer, you shall receive. Ask us. Ask us. Ask us. And I kinda want to. I went to open it to see what it did, but before I did, I felt a hand on my wrist.
"Bloom, I advise you do not do that."
I don't even have to look up to know who it is. The eloquence and emotionless tone of us tells me all I need to know. "And why not?"
"I understand you must have an innumerable amount of questions, but seeking answers from a book which—might I add—is located in a not-so-legal area does not seem like the most intelligent decision."
"I figured you'd say something like that." I sigh. "I want to ask it a question. Just one."
"It matters not how many questions you shall ask it, this book is not to be trusted."
"And you know that because you've used it before?"
Techna doesn't falter. "No matter what question you ask it, it will not give you the answer you are looking for. This is not to be trusted, and I advise we get out of here."
"We are not doing anything," I hiss. "I'm asking it one question, and it honestly seems like it really wants me to ask it." ASK US. It's gotten really needy. "I'll ask it something simple. That way, no one gets hurt. Are you satisfied?"
"No. No, I am not."
"Oh, well." I clear my throat, trying to calm down my slowly heating blood. "Show me Princess Daphne!" I call, loud and clear, and I reach to open it, but the minute I do, a grubby, bloody hand comes shooting from the cover of the book, grabbing onto my wrist, causing me to scream and struggle to get it out of my grip.
The other girls are alerted by this and come to my aid, hitting it with a couple spells, causing it to slink back into the cover, and I rub my now aching hand, feeling embarrassed and a bit stupid. Curiosity killed Bloom, I guess.
Footsteps above alert us.
"We should get out of here!" Flora cries. "If we stay in here any longer, we'll be caught!"
We go towards the door, but… Hm. There's no door. I swore there was one before. And both doors are gone: the entrance and the exit.
"Didn't there used to be a door here?" Musa asks.
"Not anymore, there's not!" Stella whines. "Are we trapped in Cloud Tower forever, now?"
"No." Techna sighs, beginning to power up a spell in her left hand. "Be warned: this shall be loud, and we most definitely shall be caught." After a bit, she launches the spell at the wall, causing a loud blast and the room to start rumbling. Musa covers her ears in pain.
After the smoke had cleared, the wall was unscathed, and I swore I heard Techna curse under her breath.
"Well, what are we gonna do now?" Stella asks. "Nothing happened, and now the witches are gonna attack us with broomsticks once they figure out where the noise came from."
"This seems like a tough door," I explain. "I don't think only one of us can take it down ourselves. Is there a way we can combine our powers or something?"
"Convergence," Flora replies. "But that's a second year thing. There's no way we'd be able to pull it off now."
"Maybe not complete Convergence. Maybe just hitting the wall at one time?" Musa suggests.
"That sounds like it could work," I say.
"Well, we should hurry up and do it. I can hear the witches cackling close by right now!" Stella cries, transforming suddenly into her fairy form. We all do the same (it took me forever to get the hang of it, but it's not as hard as you'd think. You just tap into her magical source and let it do its thing. It… It's easier than it sounds), conjuring up our best spells (mine, being quite simple; just a larger than normal fireball), charging them up, and shooting them straight at the wall, exploding the room in red, yellow, pink, purple, and green and making the entire castle shake violently. I can practically hear the commotion from around the place, alerting us. Fortunately, the wall had been destroyed from the force of the blast, so we lift our wings and fly out of the room and down the long, right hallway.
After a long while of flying through the place, keeping an eye on Techna's map to figure out the directions, and taking lefts and rights and forwards, we begin to realize something's not right here.
"Haven't we been this way," Stella realizes, "twelve times already?"
"Negative." Techna softly lands. "These hallways may look identical, but there are subtle changes. We have not been this way." She stares at her hologram and cocks an eyebrow after a bit. "Well, this is peculiar."
"What is?" I ask, landing next to her.
"Our location is not even located on the map." She points to the dot on the hologram, which I assume is us. "See? 'Tis underneath the school, apparently."
"So we're underground?" Musa questions.
"Does not seem like it. There is nothing underneath here. Our location is just simply floating around underneath."
"So are we just stuck here? Forever?" Stella asks, panicked.
"Possibly," Techna replies nonchalantly.
"Maybe not," Flora cuts in, trying to calm down the slowly panicking Stella. "It's not like we're flying in circles. According to Techna, this is a new area. If we continue twisting and turning, we might get somewhere."
"Yeah, maybe in thirty years!" I point out.
Suddenly, Musa harshly shushes us, hearing something we don't. After a bit, something becomes audible.
Tiny pitter-pattering. Small clicking sounds. And they grew closer and closer until….
Spiders. Hundreds of them. At every exit. And they were coming this way. But here's the thing. I'm usually not too scared of spiders. I mean, I don't like them, nor do I hate them. But these spiders are f*cking huge. I wish I could show you a picture of them, but they were at least the size of a beach ball or something, with eight legs on each of them.
"Oh, hell no!" Stella exclaims.
"What are those things?" I ask, steadily growing even more panicked. "Giant spiders."
"Technically yes," Flora answers. "Except they're not. They're Magnum Spiders. They're prominent in more exotic realms. I dunno how Cloud Tower is just harboring dangerous animals such as these."
"Maybe it's because this place isn't even part of Cloud Tower, according to Techna's map," I reply, still eyeing the creepy bugs growing nearer and nearer towards us.
"Who cares whether or not Griffin just has them lying around?" Stella exclaims. "Let's get out here! One of them is making eyes at me!"
We take flight once more, flying above the Magnums (but like spiders, they can climb walls!), moving left and right and forward and repeat. Like we had when we first got stuck down here. But it proved to be to no avail. The Magnums had started attacking from their places on the walls and on the ceiling. I had to constantly watch my back for any spiders who are looking to try to bite out of my wings. After our fairy dust was nearly depleted (yes, fairy dust. It fuels our wings) and we were dizzy from moving in what seemed like circles, we landed at a non-Magnum area on the ground, panting as if we just ran a mile.
"Please don't tell me we've been moving in circles," I tell Techna, after I've caught my breath.
"Do not despair, we have not," she replies. "Despite what it seems, we have made much more progress. Upcoming, there is what seems to be an exit. If we fly fast enough, we might be able to escape."
"We can't possibly fly anymore!" Flora cries, struggling to raise back into the sky. "We've spent so much time trying to escape the spiders, we didn't even pay attention to our fairy dust levels."
"Does that mean we're going to have to outrun that?" Stella nearly shrieks, pointing at something behind us. And I nearly do the same once I see what she's pointing at.
The spiders have somehow merged into one monster. One big-*ss monster with spider claws covering its long, chunky body. Its eyes were barely even visible; they were just two black dots with long, curved mandibles threatening to strike us. It was a weird orange color, with black spots covering its middle. Just writing this is making me sick. Just use your imagination. All in all, it was absolutely horrifying, and it inches closer and closer to us.
"Well, exercise never hurt anybody!" Musa cries, beginning to sprint. "Run!"
And so we did. And I'm going to ask my mom to tell Coach Goodman that her torture PE excercies really helped. Because of her I'm pretty in shape and can run quite quickly when I'm being chased alongside my fairy friends. The disgusting spider monster can run, too, unfortunately, just not as fast. It roars, charging towards us as we run as quickly as we can. We take a left turn, nearly sliding the wrong way, and come to a large door.
"Is this the exit?" I ask, growing extremely tired. "Or is this the way we came?"
"The exit," Techna explains.
But before we can pry the door open, the monster comes stomping our way, raising its spider-like legs and pincers.
"Well, it was nice knowing you guys." Stella gulps. "Unfortunately, none of my riches are going to any of you; I haven't updated my will."
"Wait!" Flora cries, gaining an idea. "There's no need to be saying our goodbyes just yet." She puts her arms out, closing her eyes. At first, it seems as if nothing is happening until I see parts of vines and branches begin to seep through the wall.
"How did you do that?" I ask. "Don't plants need to be there for you to do actual magic?"
"There's nature all around us," Flora explains. "It's easier than it looks. And besides, Palladium's Naturagulum Process is quite handy if you actually study it."
"Sorry, Flo, not a tree-hugger," Musa chimes in, laughing a bit.
The huge plants stay still on the wall for a moment, and suddenly, Flora violently flicks her wrist, and the plants shoot outwards, impaling the monster from a lot of angles and covering a few of us in what seems to be spider blood.
"Really, Flora?" Stella asks. "Was there no other way you could've killed it?"
Flora wipes the blood off her face, smiling brightly at Stella. "Nothing I could've done would've gotten rid of the monster completely." She looks back at the impaled corpse of the spider monster. "I feel kind of bad for it. It was just following its instincts."
"Well, my current instinct is to get the hell out of here." Stella attempts to push the door behind us open, but to no avail. "Of course it would be locked. Everything has to happen! Could this get any—" Techna slams herself against the door, opening it. "Worse."
"'Tis open now." Techna rolls her shoulder a couple times, trying to get it back into place.
We walked into the newly opened room, seeing how abandoned and empty it was. Really, it was extremely empty, just with a couple cobwebs in the small corners of the ceiling. And there was no other door in sight. Not even a window.
My headache is slowly growing. "Techna, are we lost?"
Techna shakes her head. "This is supposedly where the exit is located."
"Well, evidently there is nothing here," Musa deadpans.
Small clicking alerts us once again, and in the corner of my eye, another Magnum spider is approaching us. Just one, but it's enough to make me snap and shoot more-powerful-than-I-thought magic at it. It immediately erupts into flames, slowly dying underneath the heat. But what I don't notice, however, is the fact that this room is more flammable than I thought, for the carpet beneath our shoes begins to catch fire.
"Um…" I laugh nervously. "I think I did something wrong."
I really did do something wrong. The fire begins to swallow the carpet whole, slowly creeping onto the wall behind me, immediately heating up this area.
"We need to get out of here! again!" Flora cries, moving towards the door, but to our dismay, the door is completely locked, and no matter how many body slams we give it, it won't budge.
The fire is really bad. I can practically taste the smoke as it fills my lungs. It doesn't affect me too much, but the other girls are another story.
They can't breathe. As the fire rapidly surrounds us, I can practically see the fire scorch their skin and block their airways. And there's no way out, and the guilt seeps through me.
I try to look for alternate ways to get out of here. Maybe a secret passage of some sort, but all the possible areas I can try to find a way out from are blocked off from the fires. It may not hurt me like the others, but it still would hurt tremendously if I tried to walk through it.
The girls are talking, but I can't hear anything. Nothing at all. The world seems to zero in on me. I stare at nothing; a blank wall. I don't try to pull myself out of what's happening. My brain feels hollow, thoughtless. The fire is non-existent. There is nothing. Just me...and a woman.
The woman is beautiful, dressed in a pure white gown touching the floor, with golden hair reaching her lower back, and mesmerizing golden eyes. But the thing that catches my eye is the masquerade mask on her face. She simply stares at me, walking off. The world begins to appear again. The girls have nearly succumbed to the fire, but everything is still inaudible. The woman walks straight through the fire, and I follow her. She moves over a nearly destroyed drawer on the side, revealing what seems like an emergency exit slide. She gestures to it, and I can finally find words. "Thank—" But before I can finish it, the woman is gone, and all my senses return, and now I can feel the fire burning my ankles and the harsh coughing of my friends.
"Hey, Bloom, found a way out!" Flora cries, helping Musa up.
"How did you know something was over there?" asks Stella, walking over.
"I...didn't," I answer, still a bit dazed. But I can think about it right now. I look down into the slide tunnel and am a bit skeptical about the fact that I can't see completely down, but as long as we were out of this burning room. "Let's go; before we become literal fairy dust."
I throw myself into the slide, tumbling unceremoniously onto a damp, cold area that very much seems like—
Stella comes barreling down next, her boot colliding with my forehead, causing stars to appear in my face and probably giving me a mini concussion.
"Oops." Stella laughs nervously. "Didn't mean to do that. Hehe." But she's next. Flora crashes into her back, with Musa right behind her. And then, finally, Techna, who faceplants onto the rocky ground.
Oh, well. At least we're all alive.
Second degree burns. They hurt.
But we preserve nonetheless, travelling through the tunnels. I just want to take a nap.
"Remind me to never go into Cloud Tower ever again," Musa says, and I whole-heartedly agree with her.
"It was all worth it, though!" Stella smiles, brandishing her ring. "I might have to disinfect it; the witches probably put all their witchy badness onto it."
"I'm just surprised we didn't get caught by the witches. Didn't you hear how much noise there was?" Flora observes.
"My question," Techna adds, "is how exactly an entirely different area was located in Cloud Tower that my map did not pick up on."
"The only thing I'm concerned about," I say, "is getting home. This was enough adventure for one day."
"You know, if we're on the subject of questions," Musa says suddenly, "I have one, too. Bloom, what the hell happened to you back there?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah!" Stella replies. "When we were nearly cooked alive. You looked all dead inside and found an escape route. Almost like in a trance. How did you do it?"
I scratch my head, trying to think of the answer, when the image of the woman appears in front of my face mentally. "I dunno what happened," I explain truthfully. "Everything kinda just...stopped. And then, there was this lady, and she showed me the way out."
"Like a ghost?" Flora wonders.
"I don't think so. I mean, I dunno. She seemed...real, but not at the same time." I groan. "It's all too confusing, and I don't want to hurt my brain any more than I have to."
"Maybe she was a ghost," Musa suggests. "From the way Cloud Tower is set up, you would think so. Who knows how many have died in that dangerous building?"
"Too many," I answer laughing.
It's four in the morning by the time we get back.
I'm so tired I could sleep on the floor.
These burns will heal themselves, I'm sure. As long as I get some precious sleep in.
We head back into our dorm rooms, sitting huddled together in the foyer.
"What are we gonna do?" I whisper. "If people see us with these injuries, they're gonna wonder what happened, and we won't have an explanation to give them."
"Relax!" Stella assures me. "We can just tell people we had a cooking accident."
"That resulted in all of us getting hurt?" Musa says. "That doesn't make sense."
"Maybe you could simply turn yourselves to the professors," suggests a new voice, one that isn't familiar, but I'm too sleep-deprived to notice who it is, even when I turn my head to address her.
"No, that's the last thing we wanna do," I say, and turn my head back towards the girls, but they're all staring either at me or this new person.
"Ahem." Flora sheepishly points to the mystery person, and I turn my head, forcing my tired-*ss brain to cooperate.
It's Griselda, and she's giving us an evil grin. How long has she been there?
"I think there's a certain headmistress who would like to speak with the five of you. Come along, girls." Griselda stands up from her place, walking off, seeming to want us to follow her.
Ah, sh*t.
Being lectured by Griselda is one thing. Being lectured by Faragonda is another.
She's one of those people who're not angry with you when you mess up, just disappointed, and that's worse. I feel like I want to melt as she speaks.
Apparently, some of the students at Cloud Tower had seen some fairies walking around their school and informed one of the teachers, who told Headmistress Griffin, who told Faragonda. And now, here we are, and Faragonda is greatly expressing how disappointed she is.
"Girls," she says softly, calming down a bit. "I must say, you are my most gifted group of students I've seen in all my years of teaching—which is quite a bit. But you're also my most troublesome. You've continuously broken the rules and wreaked havoc upon the people around you, and it's only October. Whatever I shall I do with you? What compelled you to sneak out this time?"
"The witches stole Stella's ring," I explain. "We went there to get it back, and we're lucky we didn't get caught by them."
"Witches?" Griselda asks. "Be more specific."
"Icy, Darcy, and Stormy," Flora answers ashamedly. "They've been after us—Stella, specifically—since the beginning of the year."
"And why didn't you inform any of us about this?" Faragonda asks.
None of us respond. Even if we honestly explained why, it would be dumb. It was just between us and the witches. If we couldn't even take them on, what's the point in being here?
"Headmistress, if I may," Griselda chimes in. "This is the third time something like this has happened. We've already given them a long detention, and I don't think it's working. I've come up with a special punishment for them—if only you'd let me try it."
"Whoa, you're gonna suspend us?" Musa nearly shrieks. "Come on! It wasn't like we went to Cloud Tower just for the hell of it!"
"Calm down, Miss Harmonica." Faragonda makes a calming gesture with her hands. "We're not going to suspend you. But we are going to have to punish you. Go on ahead, Griselda."
Griselda seems overjoyed to be giving us a new punishment. "Because of your consistent breaking of the rules and obvious inoperative detentions, I have especially put together your punishment. You five you have your powers stripped from you and forced to clean the entire school first thing tomorrow."
My heart dropped right to my stomach. They could do that? I could tell this was no normal punishment as the other girls were looking as bewildered as me.
"Wait, you're allowed to do that?" I ask, slightly panicking.
"Yes, Miss Peters. We are." Faragonda intertwines her fingers and leans on her desk. "To calm your alarm, it is a temporary blocking of your powers. Your magic will still be there, but it will be locked in your Soul until Griselda or I revoke it." She turns her head towards Griselda. "Go ahead."
Griselda steps towards us, raising her hands out. "This won't hurt a bit."
Nothing seems to happen, even though it's evident Griselda is using magic. But I know she's doing something to all of us. It takes a bit, but Griselda steps back, looking a bit tired, but satisfied. And that's when I feel it. It feels like...nothing. Dry, empty nothingness. As if something was missing in my body.
"Is it done?" Faragonda asks. Griselda nods, and she turns back to us. "Go on, then, girls. Griselda will call upon you early in the morning tomorrow."
We turn back out of the office, down the creepy passage, and I feel like I did before this whole thing happened.
Powerless and clueless of the world beyond.
The girls are not used to having no powers.
Stella tried numerous times to clean her room by conjuring her magic, and when it didn't work, she nearly collapsed in a puddle of tears.
One of Flora's plants was dying, so she tried to give it a magical boost. The catch: she had no powers, so she simply put it in front of the window and gave it some water, but now it'll take it longer than she wants to revive it.
Musa just slept for the rest of the night (as did I).
Techna nearly electrocuted herself trying to repair some broken wires, something she would've done with magic, but she had to pull out actual tools (which she nearly killed herself trying to use).
And me? After sleeping for eight hours, I kinda just sat around and studied. I didn't have such a hard time dealing with the loss of my powers. For fifteen years of my life, I didn't use them. But it still felt odd. I was just getting used to my powers, and now they're gone. But I don't feel too broken up over it. It's only temporary anyway. (Maybe I should tell Stella that. I can hear her wailing over here.)
But you know what I am broken up over?
Detention with Griselda!
After a stressful situation regarding chapter five, I might just add this story over to Wattpad and AO3 just in case something like that happens again.
It's Christmas, y'all. I've been excited for this all year.
And I also have my voice actresses up! If you don't know who they are, feel free to look up the actresses and maybe an interview where they talk, and I will also put where I got their voices in parenthesis next to it.
Bloom Peters - Jenna von Oy (the Parkers)(Why?: I liked her as Stevie. And in my head, her voice kinda fit the way I imagined Bloom's voice)
Princess Stella of Solaria - Cherami Leigh (Fairy Tale)(Why: Her voice reminded me so much of Caren Manuel that I was so surprised when she actually wasn't, so I simply made Stella's voice actress Leigh, and I think it's my best decision.)
Princess Flora of Linphea - Mimi Davila (Voltron: Legendary Defender)(Why?: Romelle's voice was just so calming and nice to me, and I had such a hard time looking for people who would fit Flora's kind nature, and Mimi Davila came to the rescue.)
Princess Musa of the Harmonious Empire - Kimiko Glenn (Voltron: Legendary Defender)(Why?: I just thought it sounded cute, and Ezor just gave me Musa vibes.)
Princess Techna of the Binarian Empire - Katelyn Gault (Aggrestuko)(Why?: Fenneko has a bit of a deadpan voice, and it fits Techna's emotionless personality she attempts to have (key word: attempts.)
I guess this is where I leave for another month as I work on the next chapter. Adios!
Next Chapter: Janitor's Have It Rough