There was something both very comforting and very surreal about being back in her childhood room. Bloom rolled over and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling, the morning light was already coming through the gap in her curtains so the decorative stickers had a weird green tinge to them.
She pulled the duvet around her ears and buried her face in her pillow. Coming home to her mum and dad had felt amazing, being able to hug Vanessa was something that
Bloom hadn't realised she had missed so badly, but now being on Earth felt a little unsettling. The colours all looked… wrong, and she could have sworn that there was something odd about the edges of her parents' bodies, like she was wearing those old 3D glasses.
But she couldn't put her finger on what was creeping her out and there was comfort in familiarity, so she had enjoyed her welcome-home dinner, watched a movie with her family, and then gone to bed at a sensible time.
The consequence of that was she had woken up at an unreasonably early hour. Bloom opened her eyes since any ability to fall back to sleep was gone and keeping them shut wasn't helping any. Her phone was lying on her bedside table looking deceptively tempting. She wanted to talk to her friends, ask them what they were planning on doing during their holiday, make sure that Stella was actually studying for her second Simulation Chamber session. But that was impossible, there was no infrastructure in place for her to contact any of the other dimensions, and that meant she was cut off from the whole of her school life.
Instead of trying to talk to anyone, she settled for browsing through some of her infinite scrolling apps, and was surprised by her lack of opinion on anything that Mitzi or any of her old classmates had to say. It was all so mundane and boring. Bloom was far too used to seeing fantastical new spells and different cultures she'd never heard of, in comparison Mitzi's new scooter didn't even register.
The only thing that made her pause, other than the odd video of nail art, was seeing an album of Selena's photos. Her old friend looked like she was having the time of her life with Elvira, and had updated her wardrobe to look more punk too - Bloom could hear what Stella would have to say about the witchy vibe it had. She had mixed feelings looking at the pictures, but she wasn't angry anymore, just nostalgic about the time before Alfea and bitterly missing her new friends.
She even looked up Andy's Instagram out of boredom only to find it was full of heavily filtered selfies of him and his annoying friends doing stupid things like climbing lampposts and drinking in the park. Bloom couldn't help but place him next to Brandon in her head, and her ex did not benefit from the comparison.
God, she wished that she'd said something to Brandon before she left. Just anything. Why had she been so awkward about it? Surely it was much more embarrassing to blank him over the entire winter holidays than just to send one text saying she liked hanging out with him and was going to miss him.
It was time to get up and stop stewing on this - you've reached rock bottom when you're stalking a previous boyfriend for lack of anything else to do.
Vanessa looked surprised to see her daughter up so early, and even more confused when Bloom asked if she could come to the flower shop that day.
"You've only just got back, you don't need to help me, relax for a bit."
"I'd rather come with you today, I've missed the shop." That bit was a lie, she missed being with her mum and she was wondering if being around so many flowers might make it feel like Flora wasn't too far away.
The original plan had been to make pancakes for Bloom's first day back, but that was quickly changed to getting coffee and doughnuts on the way to the shop instead.
They opened up and set up the display out front, yellow and purple potted pansies with a few hanging baskets of cyclamens. Vanessa hummed contentedly as she sorted out the register and sent Bloom to check inventory.
The back room was dark and cool and smelt like earth. They only kept plant accessories in there overnight, and any flowers that came in via the large shutter door to the access road didn't spend long there during the day. The scent of the dirt was a little off and it took her a few minutes to realise that there wasn't anything wrong with it, she was just used to Magix soil.
There was that pang in her chest again. Strong feelings of loneliness and detachment rocked through her body. This wasn't fair; she was home, this was where she was born, this was where she grew up, she shouldn't be feeling like this. The fire inside her felt like it was both burning too strongly and close to smouldering out. It was striking in comparison to the dull colour of her surroundings, but she was so far away from that fire she had felt during her exam that it was like all the oxygen was being sucked away from her flame, suffocating it with distance.
Bloom reached out her hand and seized the shelving nearest her. She wasn't going to let this take over her, she wasn't going to surrender to it. This was just change, and this wasn't forever, she would be going back to Alfea in a matter of weeks and she was going to have fun while she was home because she had missed her parents so much.
The fire inside settled. It no longer felt in danger of going out or consuming her insides, she had it under control, at least for a minute.
She switched light on and started comparing what was on the shelves with what was on her list.
As she finished checking the last item Bloom heard the door to the shop open and another person started to talk to her mother. It was a bit early for customers to be coming in, there was still at least half an hour until opening, and she was about to go back through to see who it was when there was an abrupt rapping on the bay doors to the access road behind the shop.
Cautiously, Bloom raised the shutter to see that a van had backed up next to the shop and the driver had got out with the delivery note. She recognised him from when she'd previously worked at the shop, but something was wrong. Bloom blinked and the fuzziness that hung around him just like everyone else seemed to solidify into a shadowy duplicate above his head.
"Hi," the driver said.
"Oh, the daughter is back," his shadow added. "Not seen her for a while."
Bloom didn't know how to respond. Only the shadow's lips had moved so she was guessing that what it said hadn't been 'out loud', and probably only she could see it because otherwise the guy would be considerably less relaxed.
"Hi," she managed after what was several beats too long.
"Forgot she was a weird one," the shadow sneered, its copy of his face contorting into a cruel scowl while the driver himself kept a light smile on his face. "No wonder she spends her time hanging out with her mum."
"You have an invoice for us?" She asked, trying her best to ignore the judgment that she now knew was coming her way. Bloom didn't know what was worse for her anxiety; wondering if someone thought she was a freak or knowing that they did through her being one.
He handed the papers over and they went through the motions of the delivery, she checked the delivery note against the contents and signed off that everything was there. Just as they were finishing up, Bloom looked at the aura above his head (she had come to the conclusion that that was the best word to describe it) and made a decision.
"Sorry I was a bit spaced out when you arrived," she said, her hand hovering over the button to close the door, her heart was pounding from the thought of what she wanted to say. "It's just been a while since I've seen an adult man in short shorts."
The bay doors dropped and Bloom felt like she was having a heart attack. It was a childish and petty thing to say, something her mum would have been horrified to overhear and she wouldn't normally have dared say a thing like that, but seeing how he actually felt had made her indignant. She didn't want to be walked all over, it was bad enough that she'd had her arse handed to her by witches more than once, she didn't need some guy she barely knew looking down on her too. It occurred to her that this was the first time she could remember standing up for herself like that. Stella would be so proud.
Bloom went through to the front of the shop and came almost face to face with the two men that had come in early to talk to her mum. There was a moment of horror as she saw them when she realised that all three of them had the same aura hanging over them. Whatever was happening was happening to Bloom - only she was able to see what was going on.
"Bloom!" Vanessa smiled. "I have two people I'd like you to meet."
Her eyes flicked over the men in front of her. One was short and old, in his sixties at a guess, and the other was taller and younger with his auburn hair flecked with a little grey. Both were dressed in sharp, pinstriped suits with colourful ties, and had finely groomed facial hair. But Bloom's heart was sinking, because she could see the auras hanging over their heads, and they were so contorted with malice that they barely resembled the men they were attached to. Whatever they were here for, it made her fear for her mother.
"This is Mr Bonner," Vanessa said, indicating the younger man. "And this is Mr Brown." The old man smiled, his face not matching his aura, and held out his hand. Bloom had to force herself to smile back and shake it so she didn't embarrass her mum. He was clammy and cold.
"Hi," she managed to squeak out. If she'd realised that she would be dealing with a pair of creepy men she wouldn't have been brave with the delivery guy.
"It's very nice to meet you," Mr Brown said, holding onto her hand for just a bit too long. "We've heard so much about Vanessa's lovely little girl, she's so pretty, isn't she Bonner?"
"Oh, yes," Bonner agreed.
"Just like her gorgeous mother." Brown gave a wink to Vanessa, who just laughed and Bloom decided it wasn't worth it to point out that she was adopted.
"Thank you," Vanessa said and then addressed Bloom. "They've been talking about investing in the flower shop, they think there's real potential for this place!"
"And for you," Brown added.
"For fuck's sake," the aura above Bonner groaned. "Can we just get this over with please? She just needs to sign the papers and then we can turn this whole block into a wholesaler."
"We're here to drop off the paperwork for you to sign, we can pick them up later today and get everything sorted," Brown continued, slapping a thick envelope down on the counter next to Vanessa, making her jump a little bit. Bloom's eyes wandered to the hunched goblin-shadow over his head.
"Sucker," his monstrous aura sneered.
Vanessa's hand was on the envelope, and her mouth was opening to reply, Bloom could tell that her mother was going to try and be helpful by suggesting that she do it now and save them the trip.
"Mum," she said, cutting her off. "I actually came through to get your help with something the delivery guy said and I don't want to leave him waiting." Bloom tugged as hard as she could on her mother's free hand without looking too forceful.
"Oh, would you excuse us?" Vanessa said and followed her daughter through to the backroom. "What was that about? Is there really a delivery guy."
Bloom went red, she could tell that her mum was annoyed and maybe even a bit embarrassed to have been yanked away from who she thought were honest investors. She was now on the spot and she needed to persuade her that this wasn't a good idea, or at least to be more cautious about it.
"No," Bloom admitted. "But, but, I need to talk to you anyway and I didn't know how to get you on your own."
"It couldn't have waited?"
"I don't know how to explain it, but I need you to believe me: ever since I got back from school I… I've been seeing people's auras."
"Their what?"
"Auras or, like, some sort of magical visual insight into how they're thinking and feeling.."
"Can you see mine?" Vanessa looked like she might be starting to panic.
"No, I can't see yours. And I don't know why that is, but I can see them and Brown and Bonner… they're conmen, mum. They want to turn this whole block of shops into a cash and carry and your shop is in the way of that."
"Bloom," Vanessa reached out to hold onto her hands. "I've not just jumped into this head first without doing any research. I've had a lawyer look at the papers I would sign and what the ramifications of that would be. They were not cheap to hire, by the way, and they were also completely impartial - from the same firm that helped us close on the house. I know you're discovering a lot at your new school, but I'd like you to still trust me and my judgement."
Bloom felt like she might be sick. Of course, she trusted her mum, but it was impossible for her to put aside what she had seen with her own eyes. If she didn't at least try something she was certain that she would regret it.
"Okay, but mum, please will you wait to sign the papers? Just until the end of the day, because I have such a bad feeling about this." Bloom could feel tears starting to burn in her eyes and she saw Vanessa's face soften.
"Of course I can, love," she hugged Bloom close to her. "I can wait, I can tell this is upsetting you. Stay in here and I'll send them off for now."
She agreed and let her mum walk out of the back room while she stood dumbly where she was left. Standing up for herself twice in such a short period of time was exhausting. And it didn't feel good either. She felt like she might be sick after pushing back against her mum like that.
What Bloom wouldn't do to be able to call Stella in that moment. Or Brandon, or Faragonda, or any of the other girls. She could really do with some moral support right now.
It felt like a long time before Vanessa came back. Bloom looked up, trying to guess what her mum was thinking from the strange look on her face.
"I'm going to have another look at this," she said, indicating the brown envelope in her hand. "Because they were not as understanding as they were earlier, Brown seemed like he was absolutely fuming and that rubbed me the wrong way. I'm going to call your dad too, see what he thinks."
Vanessa was rocked back on her feet by Bloom throwing them both into a hug.
"Thanks, mum, that makes me feel a lot better."
It was business as usual for the rest of the morning. Bloom manned the register for a good portion of it while Vanessa did some accounts and reorganised some displays. Her mother was clearly thinking hard, but since she wasn't voicing anything Bloom knew better than to pry. Instead, she made small talk with the customers and laughed at all of their lame jokes until Mike showed up.
He was in partial uniform, the heavy trousers with the thick braces, with his kit bag under his arm. He gave both of his girls a kiss on the cheek before leaning on the counter with a sigh, running his hand through his hair.
"I thought we weren't going to tell Bloom about this until it was all finished up?" Mike asked.
"The investors came to the shop while she was here and then it all came out," Vanessa replied, still focusing her attention on the shelves in front of her. "But something really rubbed her the wrong way, so I want to talk to you about it today and look over the papers again."
"But we spent like two grand on a lawyer for that…"
"Her warning was magical, Mike." Vanessa looked angrier than Bloom had ever seen her, she was much more of a 'disappointed' disciplinarian, as she aggressively rearranged plant pots.
"Magical?" He looked confused.
"I came back from Alfea and I can see people's auras and like, their inner monologues," Bloom went red as she heard herself say it out loud. Her dad's eyes widened in fear. "I can't see either yours or mum's though, and I don't know why."
"What did you hear them say?" He asked, still not looking too comfortable.
"That they were gonna turn this whole block into a wholesaler once they had control of the shop," she said, deliberately leaving out their comment on her mother.
"Well, I'll have another look at the paperwork and then maybe we can check with the city who owns the other buildings. I know you saw something," he said, holding up a hand as Bloom was about to speak. "But we can't see what you see, so we need to figure out what's happening outside of magic."
She shut her mouth and nodded. Mike opened up the envelope and Bloom awkwardly stood by the cash register while both her parents focused on their own tasks. She shifted her weight between her feet until she worked up the nerve to speak.
"Shall I get us some lunch?" Bloom asked. There was a deli not too far away that did good middle eastern food and she wanted to walk for a bit, get some fresh air. Vanessa gave a noise of approval and Mike requested a falafel wrap before handing over some cash to pay for it.
Bloom walked quickly until the end of the street, and out of sight of the shop, before slowing down to her normal pace. Her mum was mad and she didn't know how to handle that, Bloom hadn't even seen her yell at Mike before, any disagreement was very civil and talked through.
She didn't have long to sink into a depression before the noise of a low horsepower engine approaching her back. It had been so long since anyone had felt the need to pull up next to her that she was confused until Mitzy right beside her. Bloom purposely ignored the aura above the other girl; it wasn't like Mitzy ever kept her opinions to herself anyway.
"I thought they'd sent you to a metal hospital," she laughed. "Didn't realise psychos got Christmas holidays too."
"I just changed schools, Mitzy, nothing that interesting." Bloom kept walking but her old schoolmate cruised next to her, balancing precariously on her scooter at the low speed. Mitzy wasn't going to leave her alone any time soon.
"Was it remedial school? Don't lie, I've seen you try and do maths." Bloom could feel her face heat up and she knew that she had gone bright red. After all this time at Alfea, after everything she had learnt about herself and her powers, she still felt like trash compared to Mitzy.
"It's a specialist boarding school, actually," she said. She didn't sound anywhere near as confident as she had hoped, instead seeming like she was desperate for Mitzy's approval. If she wasn't on Earth, Bloom would have considered transforming and flying away as fast as she could.
"Oh really? Is that what they're calling it. Anyway," Mitzy revved the engine of her scooter. "I can't wait for you to talk to Andy." She sped away, jerking with the acceleration. Bloom watched after her and made the decision that she really didn't care about whatever Andy had to say; especially since it probably involved him and Mitzy in a position she wanted to know nothing about.
The deli offered a special on falafel wraps so she got one for herself as well as for her dad, and got the couscous salad her mum always bought. Thankfully, no one accosted her on her way back and she was able to plaster a fake smile across her face when she came into the shop.
Both Mike and Vanessa were huddled round the counter with their backs to the door, muttering to each other. Bloom made sure to close the door loudly so that they knew she was back. Her mum jumped and looked around to see her, while her dad stayed staring at the contents of the envelope. It was clear that Vanessa had been crying.
"Mum?" Bloom looked between the two of them.
"Oh, honey." Vanessa pulled her into a hug. "Thank you for warning me."
"What's going on?"
"Well, the paperwork we've been given today is different to what we had a lawyer look at," Mike said, his voice low and thick with held-back anger. "It's incredibly similar, but key phrases are changed. You were right, they're conmen."
Vanessa squeezed Bloom tighter. It was affirming to know that magic hadn't steered them wrong, but it meant that her mum was unbelievably upset. Being right had never felt worse.
"I thought this was going to be such a wonderful opportunity, and I've been completely taken in." Vanessa's shoulders were shaking a little, with her face buried in Bloom's neck. Mike got up from the counter and came to put his arms around both of them.
"We've caught it in time," he said. "You won't sign anything and you can refuse the offer."
Mike had to go back to the fire station after lunch and Vanessa retreated to the bathroom for a quarter of an hour to gather herself and wipe up smeared mascara while Bloom managed the shop. Mrs Gomez came by to have a look at the petunias and asked if there were any blue ones instead of pink, and although Bloom knew that they didn't have any, she still went to check. She picked up a pot of the pink ones and stared at it for a while. She could change her hair colour no problem now and she knew that Mrs Gomez wouldn't buy anything else unless it was deemed perfect.
"You're in luck," Bloom said, coming out with a pot of blue petunias. "These are the last that we had in stock."
She spent the rest of the afternoon watching her mother with her heart in her mouth. Bloom knew that at some point soon the two men would come back and they wouldn't react well to her mum declining the trap they'd spent so long laying for her.
When the fancy, dark coloured car pulled up outside, Vanessa sent Bloom to the back room to take care of the plants in there before the two of them went home for the night. She watered the plants while she heard a murmur of voices that slowly rose in volume before there was a crash and the sound of the door closing abruptly.
Bloom poked her head past the door to see her mother standing next to a smashed orchid on the floor by the counter. She knew from the delivery lists that this was an expensive flower, they only ordered them by request because no one bought them just because they felt like flowers.
"I'll get the broom," Vanessa sighed.
"No, it's okay. Let me see if I've got this." This wasn't like changing the colour of a plant, that was something she had practiced a lot, but she knew in theory how to mend non-living organic material back together. The plant itself was mostly okay, just a bit bruised from the fall, so she rolled up her sleeves and concentrated. She was able to reconstruct the pot and deposit both the orchid and the soil back inside.
"Wow." Her mother's face was barely readable, she just looked cold and sad.
Vanessa was quiet on the drive home. She started making dinner immediately and Bloom awkwardly hung around the kitchen, wanting to talk and comfort her but not knowing how. Spaghetti went in boiling water and Vanessa flopped the tea towel down on the counter next to the pan.
"I don't want you to think that I don't trust you," she said to Bloom. "Your magic, it's just… it's an adjustment."
"Yeah…"
"And I wanted this so much. I've been working so hard with the shop for years and I don't always feel like I have much to show for it…" she shook her head. "I should have known this was too good to be true and I'm so embarrassed by that."
"Mum…"
"We had to remortgage the house to fund the shop, I thought this would mean that we could pay a lot of that off with the profits it would give me."
"Mum…"
"And I'm also embarrassed by how I brushed you off. Just because everything is still new to me doesn't mean that it's still new to you, you've been studying this for a while now and it's my job as your mum to support you, not undermine your confidence in yourself."
"Mum - the tea towel is on fire!" Bloom pointed to the cloth that had slipped onto the burner.
"Oh my god!"
Bloom scrambled to the stovetop while Vanessa flailed around looking for another cloth to smother the flames or a receptacle for some water. It took a beat of panicking before Bloom remembered that she was a fairy, and not only that, a fairy of fire. She reached out tentatively and felt the energy of the flames. Even though they weren't magical and they hadn't come from her own power they were hot and welcoming and she drew them into her body with ease. Their warmth flowed from her hands up to her heart and she felt peace.
She sighed softly and turned to look at her mother, who was holding a mug full of water.
"I don't think I need this anymore," Vanessa said. "And maybe don't mention this to your father; you'd think I'd be more sensible around flames, what with being married to a firefighter for all this time."
"At least you didn't burn the actual spaghetti, I did that once, do you remember?"
They ate dinner when Mike came home, sitting together around the little table in the kitchen and talking about light topics. Bloom knew that her parents would probably have plenty more to say to each other about Brown and Bonner once Bloom went to bed.
They ate ice creams and watched a tv movie after dinner. Mike had his arm around Vanessa and cracked jokes about the bad acting. Bloom went upstairs to her room after the credits rolled and sat on her bed. She wanted to talk to someone about this, and she wanted that someone to be one of the Winx.
Her text conversations with them were still on her phone, but their icon for their contact information showed a question mark and trying to click on their profile just showed an error message. All apart from Tecna's apparently. Huh. Before she knew it she was calling her.
It occurred to her, as it rang, that it was very possible that she was just calling a random Earth number. But before she could hang up in a panic, Tecna picked up.
"Hello?"
"Tecna, is that you?"
"…Bloom, you know how phone numbers work, right? You called me."
"I didn't know if I'd get through… no one else's number works."
"That's because I'm on Zenith and I have a signal booster at my house… so I guess it's one powerful enough that I can get through to Earth." Tecna sounded like this was of mild interest to her and Bloom considered asking how the signal booster worked, but ultimately decided that the answer would either boil down to 'magic' or it would cause Tecna to spend an hour explaining it to her. And she had other things she wanted to talk about.
"Cool, do you have time for me to talk for a while?"
"Sure, I"m not doing much right now."
It all came out like a flood. Tecna waited and listened as Bloom told her about the fuzziness, the auras, the delivery man, the two businessmen, and her mother's shop. She even talked about Mitzy and her snide remark about Andy, and it felt like she did it all in one breath. When she was finished she took a deep inhale and Tecna took the opportunity to speak.
"There's quite a lot to unpack but I can start with what's happening to your powers, if you'd like."
"Please."
"Well, I'm surprised it hasn't been brought up around you before, but in different areas there are different magical pressures. Kind of like contour lines on a map. Magix has one of the lowest pressures in the whole magical universe, so that's why there are so many schools there, makes it easier to get used to your power if it's easier access it. Earth, I'm pretty sure, has a high magical pressure.
"What happens when you use and exercise your powers is, to simplify it a bit, that they get stronger - more potent if you will. So what's happened is you've got stronger and so you've gained the power to see people's essences, that was the fuzzy stuff around people, then you focused yourself and were able to see auras." Now that she thought about it, Bloom did think Faragonda had mentioned something to do with magical pressures before.
"Okay, that kind of makes me feel better. Does everyone see auras when they change pressure contour things? And why don't I see my parents' auras?"
"No, it's very unusual to see auras. I've only heard of it very rarely. I think it happens when fairies or other magical creatures come into contact with people who've never been exposed to magic before… kind of like a reaction. I'd assume you've spent enough time around your parents that you don't have that effect on them."
"Huh, okay. Is there any way to turn it off? Sometimes I don't want to know what people are thinking."
"Probably? I'd have to look it up for you because I don't know how off the top of my head."
"Thanks," Bloom let out a breath. "I'm so glad I was able to talk to you."
"Glad to be able to help," Tecna said. "Must suck not being able to talk to people from school. Do you think your mum will be alright with everything after those two creeps tried to scam her?"
"I hope so, Dad's being really supportive but I'm still worried."
"It'll be fine, I'm sure. Oh, by the way, Stella will kill me if I don't pass this on - she's been studying to retake her exam and has dragged Sky into helping her with the Miss Magix pageant." Tecna sounded amused and Bloom was imagining the prince running around Stella's dressing room doing chores, trying to make sure she didn't smudge her nails.
"Do you think she'll win?"
"No idea, but once she puts her mind to something she can usually do it. I shudder to think how far she could get academically if she applied that dedication to her schoolwork…"
"Let me know how she does."
"I will, I'll let her know that I can contact you and see if there are any pictures that she wants me to send to you."
They said their goodbyes and Bloom found that the call had relaxed her enough that she could get to sleep with reasonable ease. Her dreams were vague and unmemorable, if Daphne was trying to reach her, Bloom was too far away on Earth.