"I give up." Tecna said as she fell on the couch. "I checked every single one of my electronic devices."
"I give up too." Flora said. "Bloom and I went through all of my plants, none of them could have caused our nightmares."
"Something must cause it, what could it be?" Bloom asked desperate.
"If I can't get some sleep this night I'm going crazy!" Stella yelled with tears in her eyes.
Musa walked into the living room. "I checked all of my instruments, they're all switched off."
"Did Samara check her room?" Bloom asked.
"I don't think so, she went straight to the library after Transformation class." Musa said.
The both of them walked into the bedroom.
"No wonder that she can't fall asleep, look how much light there is in here."
Musa walked towards the windows and closed the curtains. "There, that should help."
"There's nothing strange here." Bloom said. "Let's just hope she can find anything in the library."
…
Samara woke up with a jolt. She had fallen asleep on top of the book she had been reading…again.
Come on, just focus…
She reread the chapter that she had started twice already. The letters seemed to dance in front of her eyes.
"Don't you think it's better if you come back another time dear?" Miss Barbatea asked. "You seem quite tired."
"No thank you." Samara said a bit rude. "I need to finish this book."
"But you're only on chapter three, it will take you at least another hour before you get to the end."
"I'll be fine, thank you."
Miss Barbatea hesitated for a moment, but decided to get back to her chores. Samara sighed. She didn't mean to be so rude but she couldn't help it. Suddenly she got a message on her phone. It was from Bloom.
We found nothing in our dorm, how is your research going?
Samara cursed silently. Nothing in the dorm that meant that she was their only hope on some sleep this night. She quickly typed a reply.
Nothing yet, I'll keep looking.
She resumed her reading. After fifteen minutes she was only one chapter further and knew she hadn't even memorized exactly what she was reading.
"How are you doing?"
"I said I'll be fine!" Samara yelled.
She looked up to see professor Palladium instead of Miss Barbatea.
"Oh professor, I'm so sorry…I didn't…"
A yawn interrupted her apology.
"Yes I can see that everything is going just splendid." Palladium said sarcasticly.
"I need to find out what is going on." Samara said. "I cannot survive another sleepless night!"
"I have been searching for an explanation myself." Palladium said. "No luck so far."
Samara picked her book up again. Palladium looked at the cover.
"Already read that one, there is nothing in there."
She slammed the book shut. Palladium sighed as he looked at just how aweful the girl looked.
"Listen, go to bed, try to rest and skip my class tomorrow morning."
"What, really?"
"Really, and tell your friends to do the same, it's no use to attend a class if you are barely consious." The elf said. "And it creeps me out to look at the six of you, you all look like the living dead."
Samara laughed. "Okay if it's that bad, I'll listen to you."
"Thank you."
Palladium watched as Samara walked a bit unsteady out of the library. After she was gone he walked to the restricted section and opened the gate. After searching through the muffy isles he finally found what he was looking for. A dark thick book with the title Creatures of the night. He shivered, one of these chapters was about the Dark Elves. Even reading about them frightened him. But he knew that in that book there might be an explanation for what was happening to Samara. And for her…he would do anything.
Samara made her way back to her dorm. The others were disappointed when she told them she had no luck.
"I'll get back to the library tomorrow morning, Palladium gave us a free pass to skip his lesson to give us a chance to rest."
"So then we should rest." Flora said. "And not go to the library."
"Nonesense we need to figure this out." Musa said. "I'll go with you."
"Me too." Tecna said.
The purple haired fairy yawned.
"Let's get to bed." Samara said.
"I don't want to…" Stella said. "I know I'll have one of those nightmares again."
"You have to try, it's no use in staying up all night." Bloom said.
The princess of Solaria agreed to that, albeit with a lot of protest. Samara walked to her room and noticed it was a lot darker then before.
"Oh we closed your curtains, maybe that will help you fall asleep." Musa said before she closed the door of her shared bedroom.
"Thanks." Samara said.
She closed her door and switched on the light. Changing quickly into her pajamas, she turned the light back off and got into bed. As she closed her eyes she waited for the weird feeling to creep up on her, but it didn't. Slowly she fell asleep for the first time in two nights.
"What is this?"
Samara was standing in the throneroom of Eraklion. She was wearing her official dress. In front of her were her parents and Sky. Her feet and hands were bound by heavy chains.
"Let me go!"
"This is necessary to protect us from you." King Erendor said.
"Protect from what?!"
"Your horrible powers of course." Queen Samara said. "We don't want you to hurt anyone."
"Could you imagine what would happen to our reputation if word comes out that the princess is a magical creature?" King Erendor said.
The chains started to tighten and pulled Samara to the ground.
"Sky, please help me!"
The prince stared at her with a face of disgust. "I am ashamed to call you my sister."
Tears fell from Samara's cheeks as panic started to build. "No, no, no, let me go, let me go!"
In pure panic she transformed and suddenly the chains were gone, but so was her family. She was not even in the throneroom anymore. Instead she was outside, in the air. Her breath stopped for a second as she looked down. She was flying high above the grounds of Alfea. She desperately looked around and saw someone standing on the rooftop closest to her.
"Professor Palladium!" She called out in relief. "Please help me."
The elf stared at her with a weird look. Then he offered his hand. Samara hovered towards him and took it. Right at that moment her wings disappeared and the girl fell over the edge of the rooftop and shrieked, the only thing now keeping her from falling was Palladium's hand.
"Please professor, pull me up!"
Palladium stared at her. "Did you really think I liked you?" He asked with a dark voice.
Suddenly his face changed. His ears became longer, his skin darker, his teeth pointy and his eyes black.
"I'll never love you!"
The voice was the most scary of all, it sounded almost demonic. Samara screamed as the elf let go of her.
"AAAAH!"
Samara jumped out of bed and wanted to run to her friends when she saw a long dark shadow disappear through the wall.
"What the hell?" She whispered.
Was this still a nightmare?
The bedroom door flew open and the rest of the Winx ran inside. Musa and Tecna were holding both one of their biggest textbooks ready for the fight. Stella turned on the light.
"Are you okay?" Bloom asked.
"No…no something's here." Samara stammered. "Something went through the wall."
She pointed a shaky finger towards said wall.
"That leads up to our room." Bloom said.
Flora and Stella immediately went to investigate. Samara fell back onto her bed, shaking uncontrolable. Bloom hugged her shoulder.
"Did you have a nightmare?" She asked.
Samara nodded. "It was horrible…"
"Do you want to talk about it?" Musa asked.
The image of Palladium's face turning demonic came back into view and the fairy of the Moon felt tears falling off her cheeks. She shook her head slowly.
Flora and Stella came back.
"Nothing to be seen." Flora said. "Are you sure it wasn't part of the nightmare hone?"
"I…I didn't think so…"
Samara let her head rest in her hands as she felt drained of her energy.
"What do we do now?" Musa asked. "We can't just go back to sleep."
Samara vaguely heard the others talk. She stared at the wall where she saw the shadow disappear in. She knew that that hadn't been part of the nightmare, she was awake when she saw that thing. Could it be possible that there was some sort of monster inside their dorm giving them nightmares?
"What do you think Samara?"
The fairy of the Moon looked up to see the others girls stare at her.
"Sorry, what?"
"We'll all sleep in the same room and tomorrow we visit professor Palladium to see if he found something." Tecna said. "If not, we go to Headmistress Faragonda for help."
"Sounds good." Samara said.
The Winx gathered all their stuff, shoved the couch and table to the side and huddled together in the living room. Samara layed on the couch in the corner of the room and watched as the others slowly fell asleep. The moonlight that shined through the window created eery shadows everywhere. Samara felt goosebumps form that had nothing to do with the temperature. She hugged her blanket close to her and closed her eyes. She could hear the soft breathing of the others, indicating that they were asleep. After a few minutes Samara had to come to the conclusion that she once again couldn't fall asleep. She sat up and looked around. Everything was quiet and peacefull. Kiko's ears were softly bouncing up and down in rhythm of Bloom's breathing.
Suddenly something stirred in the shadows on the other side of the room. For a second Samara thought it had just been a bird flying in front of the window, but now there was movement in the shadows on the left wall. The fairy of the Moon had to surpress a yell as a huge monster crawled out of its dark hiding place. It was terrifying to see, glowing red eyes, huge claws on all four legs and a long thin tail. It's forked tongue was slithering in and out of its long mouth. Slowly it made its way to the sleeping fairies. Samara snapped out of her trance and screamed. The others woke up and screamed as well by the sight of the monster.
All girls transformed into their fairy form.
"So this thing is behind our nightmares!" Tecna said.
"It fits right into one of my nightmares!." Stella
"Let's get it!" Musa said.
The fairy of Music raised her hands and a purple beam shot towards the monster. Unfortunately the attack was so weak it barely touched the creature.
The monster however, noticed that the fairies were going to cause him trouble and disappeared through the wall into the hallways of Alfea.
"Hurry, we have to go after it!" Bloom said.
The Winx quickly went into pursuit. By the time they caught up with the monster, it was already outside.
Digital barrier!
Tecna created a green net around the monster.
"Good job Tecna!" Bloom said.
"Tha…"
The monster had swung its tail against the net, shattering it and hitting Tecna. The fairy of Technology was thrown hard against the school wall.
"Are you okay?" Flora asked as she ran towards her friend.
"I'm too weak to fight…" Tecna said.
"My attack was lousy as well." Musa sighed.
"If it lives in the shadows that much I think it can use some vitamine D!" Stella said as she flew up into the air.
Rays of sunshine!
Stella threw her ring in the air and catched the scepter it had become. With a roar filled with sleep deprived frustration a beam of light appeared. But it was not the strong attack that she had hoped for. The monster screeched in anger and stood on its back legs, swinging its huge front paw towards Stella. The princess of Solaria yelled in surprise and was smacked hard against the ground.
Flora tried to tie the beast down with vines but the claws made that attack futile. She too was thrown to the ground.
"We're too weak…we can't win…" She said.
Samara looked around, desperately searching for something to turn this fight around. Bloom and Musa tried to attack with energy beams but it was no use. The attacks were simply too weak.
"Bloom, can you use the power of the Dragon Flame like you used during the tournament?" Samara yelled.
"No, I can barely stand on my legs…" She answered.
Samara kept looking around and suddenly her eyes met with the moon. Of course, why hadn't she thought about that sooner, she could use the moon.
Please don't let me down…
Samara kept staring at the moon, trying to open herself up as much as possible.
"We could really use some help you know!" Musa yelled at her.
Samara ignored her and could feel energy build up inside her, bit by bit. She gathered her hands together and a ball of energy appeared.
"Hey ugly!" She yelled.
The monster turned towards her.
"Yeah you, come and get it!"
The monster started to charge, the ground shaking with each step it took. It came closer and closer.
"Samara get out of the way!" Bloom yelled.
But the princess of Eraklion did not, in fact she braced herself on a possible impact.
The closer that thing gets to me, the better the attack will be…
The monster was only a few meters away from her when she finally threw the ball of energy towards it. It was a perfect hit, right in its mouth. The creature made a demonic sound as it fell to the ground. The other Winx cheered but Samara knew it wasn't over yet.
The monster got back onto its feet and Samara quickly flew up.
Falling stars!
A shower of tiny balls of white light fell onto the monster. Its screames were horrible. Samara flew to the other side. She had never felt so powerful, the influence of the moon was incredible. Several more attacks later, she was sure she was going to win.
"Just one more…" She whispered to herself.
She raised her hand and conjured another energy ball. But a pain in her back made her stop the attack. She yelled as she fell to the ground.
"What do you think you're doing to our pet?" A voice sounded behind her.
Samara turned around and saw the three witches that had kidnapped Stella before.
"What are you doing here?" Musa asked.
"Taking what is ours." Icy said.
She raised her hand and send shards of ice towards Bloom. The girl rolled away just in time.
"What do you mean, we have nothing that is yours." Flora said.
"Oh you don't flowergirl, it's her we want." Darcy said pointing at Bloom.
"What, why?!" The redhaired fairy asked angry.
"So you send that thing to our dorm." Samara said.
Darcy smiled. "A nightmare gargoyle, didn't you like our gift?"
Musa was just about to attack her when the monster swept her from her feet with its tail. She fell on her butt with a thud.
"You take the witches, I'll take the monster!" Samara said.
She quickly threw a series of energy balls towards the creature. Most of them were deflected by an ice wall.
"Don't you dare hurt our monster!" Icy said. "Darcy get her!"
The purple witch smiled and sent a wave of purple energy towards the silver fairy. Samara was hit and for a moment, everything went dark.
After a while she regained her sight and discovered that she was alone on the grounds of Alfea. The monster, the Winx, the witches, all of them gone.
"Hello!" She yelled. "Winx where are you?"
A scary feeling krept up on her. Was everyone alright, how come they all just disappeared? Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her. Palladium ran towards her.
"Professor, what happened, where is everyone?"
"I found out about the nightmare gargoyle." The elf said. "I managed to defeat it, everone is back to bed."
"What…but that…that doesn't make sense." Samara said. "Why would they leave me here all by myself?"
"Well why wouldn't they?" Palladium asked. "After all…no one likes you."
Samara could barely comprehend what he just said to her when his face changed. The long ears, pointy teeth, dark skin and black eyes. The professor raised his hands towards her and his long nails scratched against her cheek.
"What, no, no get away from me!"
She stepped back and bumped into something hard. Samara turned around and saw her father, only his face was just as scary as the elf's.
"It's for the best to just give up Samara." The man said with a demonic voice. "No one loves you."
Samara turned to the left but was blocked by yet another figure. This time her mother.
"Just give in to the darkness." She rasped.
"No…no…leave me alone!"
"But you are alone, alone in the darkness."
Samara turned around and screamed. Her brother was slowly walking towards her, his dark colored hands stretched towards her. She was now completely surrounded. Her legs gave in and she sank to the ground. Long fingernails grabbed her by her hair and shoulders. In pure panic the girl raised her hands.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
A white light emerged from within the fairy and expanded. She felt a burning sensation in her shoulders as the fingernails dragged across her skin and off of her. Samara kept her eyes closed and held on to her defensive spell with all her power. But after a while she noticed she couldn't hold on much longer. She was getting weaker and weaker. She started to hear voices around her.
"It's okay, let us in!"
"You don't have to be afraid anymore."
"Let go!"
She shook her head. She couldn't let go, she couldn't let those monsters get to her…but she was losing conciousness fast. Another voice sounded close to her.
"Trust me."
Samara looked up. She recognised that voice. Something about it made her feel safe. For a second she wasn't paying attention and all of the sudden a hand shot towards her and grabbed her by the arm. The fairy of the Moon screamed before she passed out.
