It was quiet in the staff section of Alfea. Most of the rooms were dark and its occupants were in a peacefull sleep. But not all of them. In one of the appartments there was still light to be found.

Palladium sighed as he turned over another page of the thick book he was reading through. Still nothing that could be the cause of his students insomnia. He had already read more than half of it and some of the chapters were about the most gruesome creatures possible. But he knew the worst was yet to come. As he turned another page his eyes widened as they stared at the chapters name: The Dark Elves. A shiver ran through his spine and he quickly shot a glance towards the window. The curtains were open as always and the moon was shining bright. After a quick check of his many lit candles, he focusses back on the book in front of him. The professor skipped the next four pages and went on with the following chapter.

"The Nightmare Gargoyle…" He whispered.

This creature is summoned through a dark ritual, usually used by witches. The witches will give the gargoyle a victim or multiple victims during the ritual. The nightmare gargoyle will immediately go to the unsuspecting person(s) and will attack them in their most vulnerable state: their sleep. The gargoyle will give the victim their most horrible nightmares and when they are at their most frightened, the gargoyle can suck out the energy to use for its own growth. This can go on for multiple nights in a row because the creature will not be seen, until the victim succumbs. The more energy the gargoyle gathers, the bigger and stronger it will get. It is unknown if and when the creature reaches its full power.

Palladium gasped. This could be what was going on. Could it be possible that such a monster got into Alfea unnoticed? It was the first possibility that he had found after searching through every book he thought could hold the solution. He read on and found a counter spell to stop this gargoyle. He sat back and stared into one of his candles.

"This has been going on for several nights now…that monster could be huge by now…" He whispered. "I can't do this on my own."

He stood up, put out the candles with a quick incantation and left his room. He had to ask Faragonda for help, she was the only one strong enough. As he walked through the dark corridors towards the chamers of the Headmistress a nervous feeling sneaked up to him. It was in the middle of the night, was he even allowed to wake her? Would she be mad at him for waking her? No of course not, this was a lifethreatening situation!

"…get her!"

Palladium stopped. He listened closely and heard more noise coming from outside. He ran to the nearest window and looked outside. The first thing he saw was the giant monster attacking some of his students. Then he noticed the three witches. One of them raised her arms and cast some weird energy wave to one of the fairies. Palladium started to run towards the front door of the school and while doing so, send a magical message towards the chambers of the headmistress.

He gasped as he ran down the steps. Now that he was close the monster was even bigger than he had anticipated.

"Professor!" Flora screamed as she saw the elf run towards them. "We need your help!"

"Oh really, that hadn't occured to me yet…" Palladium panted softly to himself.

"Are you alright?" He asked when he got close to Flora and Tecna, who were both sitting on the ground.

"We need to stop the witches, they're after Bloom!" Flora said.

Bloom, where is she?

He looked up to see the red haired fairy in combat together with Stella and Musa against the witches. The fairies obviously were on the losing hand with the nightmare gargoyle attacking them as well.

Right, first we need to get rid of that thing…

"Alright girls, repeat after me." He said. "But stay strong, once this incantation has started, we cannot stop or it won't work."

Both Tecna and Flora nodded but Palladium could see they were completely drained of energy. There was no way they would be able to do this.

"Change of plan, you two make sure no one interrupts me during this incantation."

"What, but professor this is way too much for just one person." Tecna said.

"Don't worry about me, I can handle it, now there is no time to lose."

The elf raised his hands and started to chant. His body slowly started to glow and behind the monster, a small portal started to form. The beast started to howl and trash but seemed unable to move away from the portal.

"What the hell are they doing?" Stormy asked as she looked down on the three figures.

"They're trying to get rid of our monster!" Darcy said.

Stormy was about to send an attack their way when suddenly Mrs Faragonda appeared in front of her.

"And what is the meaning of this?" She asked with fury in her eyes.

"Oh crap!" Stormy said.

"We need to get out of here!" Icy said.

With three flashes of light, the Trix were gone. Bloom, Musa and Stella quickly flew to the ground with the headmistress following them closely.

"You fool!" Faragonda said as she ran towards Palladium. "Trying to create a portal of light all by yourself?!"

Palladium didn't respond and continued to chant, his body was trembling and sweat was running from his forehead. Faragonda quickly joined him and she too started to glow. The portal grew bigger and bigger until it was big enough to suck in the nightmare gargoyle. The beast screamed and trashed its paws around wildly as it disappeared. The portal slowly closed. Palladium fell on his knees and gasped for air. Faragonda took a moment to compose herself.

"Has anyone seen Samara?!" Musa asked. "I haven't seen her since that purple bitch send a curse her way."

"I thought she dodged it." Bloom said.

"We need to find her…"Palladium said. "What kind of curse did she get hit with?"

The elf stood up with shaky legs.

"Don't you think you ought to rest professor?" Faragonda asked.

"No, I can rest later."

He started to walk towards the center of the square.

"It was some kind of purple energy…" Musa said.

"Purple energy…was this witch able to create illusions?" Palladium asked.

"Yes she once pretended to be me." Stella said. "And she imitated Brandon also."

Palladium nodded. He had an idea what could have happened and if he was right, they needed to find Samara quickly. But that would be tricky.

"What do you think professor?" Faragonda asked worried.

"An illusion prison." Palladium said.

"Oh dear…we need to find her quickly." Faragonda said.

"What is an illusion prison?" Stella asked. "How can we find her?"

"Where is she, is she still somewhere in Alfea?" Musa asked.

"She is here, right here to be exact." Palladium said. "We just can't see her and she can't see us."

"The only way to break that curse is to make her believe that we are here." Faragonda said. "To make her feel safe."

"How do we do that if she can't see us?" Stella asked.

"When she uses magic in there, we should be able to see it here as well." Faragonda said.

Palladium nodded. "If she uses magic."

He groaned deeply and ran his hands through his hair. He was useless, Samara could be right next to him, trapped in an illusion of her worst nightmare and he was useless.

He could hear how the other fairies started to explain to the headmistress what exactly had happened tonight but he was too frustrated to focus. All he could do was go through every single spell he knew in his mind to find something that might help. After a while he noticed that he was too tired to think anymore and slowly more and more words of the fairies story sneaked into his mind instead.

"And then she looked up to the moon and somehow regained her strenght cause that was when she started to kick that monsters ass." Musa said. "That's why those witches went after her first."

"…looked up to the moon…" Palladium whispered.

He did just that and the new moon was greeting him as an old friend. A strange surge of energy went through him. Without knowing why or how he was drawn to the center of the grounds. Somehow, he knew Samara was there.

"Professor?" Bloom asked when she saw him walking away from them.

"Come with me." He said.

The others looked at each other but did as they were told.

"She's here." Palladium said.

"How do you…" Stella wanted to ask how he knew that but didn't get the chance to finish.

Suddenly a white light appeared and it forced everyone back a few meters. For a second, they saw Samara on her knees in the center of the white light.

"That's impossible!" Faragonda said. "She's a first year student, not even our best graduates can perform this spell!"

Palladium didn't listen to her but tried to push his way through the shield.

"Is she in the middle of that thing?" Stella asked.

"Can she hear us?" Tecna asked.

"I'm not sure." Faragonda said.

"Can't you break the shield?" Musa asked. "You're the headmistress surely you can do something?"

"No, not as long as Samara is afraid, we need to find a way to make her feel safe." Faragonda said.

"Tecna might be on to something." Palladium said. "She might hear us."

The Winx started to yell as the top of their lungs.

"It's okay, let us in!" Musa yelled.

"You don't have to be afraid anymore!" Flora joined her.

"Let go!" Bloom yelled.

The shield got weaker and smaller and now they stood almost in the center of the grounds. Samara was only centimeters away from them.

"Trust me." Palladium almost whispered.

And then it happened, only for a second but it was enough for the elf to reach inside and grab the girls arm. Samara screamed at first but then went limp. The shield disappeared and Samara was back with them. Palladium held her close and checked her pulse and breathing. A wave of relief washed over him as everything turned out to be normal. He hugged her close, way more close than he should but at that moment he didn't give a damn. She was safe, she was back with him. Tears started to well up in his eyes.

"Is she okay?" Stella asked worried.

Palladium looked up and forced his tears to disappear without anyone noticing.

"Yes, yes she's fine, just totally drained of energy." He said.

"Oh thank goodness." Flora said as she fell onto the ground on her knees.

The other fairies followed her example.

"Alright then, I think it's best if you all get into bed as soon as possible." Faragonda said. "Including Samara, rest is now the best medicine."

The five fairies nodded slowly. Faragonda raised her hands and all six Winx disappeared.

"They are now safely in their own beds, ready for a good rest." Faragonda said looking at the professor.

He nodded and stood up. "So what do we do now?"

"Now, I need to speak with the headmistress of Cloud Tower."

Her voice was filled with rage. The woman turned around and marched towards the front door, but turned around with a somewhat worried look.

"You should go to bed too Palladium, that incantation must have drained you as well." "Meet me in my office tomorrow at eight o'clock for an emergency staff meeting."

Palladium nodded and headed towards his appartment. He decided to take a warm shower before going into bed. As soon as the warm water hit his skin, a content sigh escaped his mouth. He could slowly feel the adrenaline leave his body. After a while he turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. He walked passed the mirror on the wall to throw the towel into the hamper when he stopped and walked back.

What the

He stepped closer to the mirrow and frowned. His eyes that had always been brown now seemed to be a shade lighter. He rubbed his hands over his face.

"I'm just too tired, clearly I am hallucinating." He muttered to himself.

He stepped into bed and after a quick glance towards the moon hanging lonely in the dark sky, fell asleep.

Palladium made sure to be the first of the staff entering Faragonda's office. The headmistress was already talking to an apparition of the Headmistress of Cloud Tower.

"Good morning professor Palladium, please sit down." Faragonda said.

The elf did so and at that moment the door opened and Griselda, Dufour and Wizgiz came in. They all took their seats and waited in anticipation by seeing the seriousness in Faragonda's eyes.

"Thank you all for responding to quickly." The Headmistress of Alfea said. "Last night there has been an attack on a few of our students."

Okay she goes right to the point, good. Palladium thought to himself.

There were a few gasps.

"An attack, but how?" Professor Dufour asked. "What happened?"

"Three students of Cloud Tower have managed to sneak in a Nightmare Gargoyle into the fairies dorm a few nights before." Faragonda said.

The faces of the staff were in pure shock but they remained silent.

"Last night the fairies managed to confront the monster and chased it outside to the grounds. Professor Palladium and myself came to their aid and managed to transport the monster throuh a portal of light."

Palladium could feel all eyes turn to him now and tried to act as cool as possible. But the heat in his cheeks made him realize he was failing.

"But that was not all, the three witches responsible were also there, attacking our students. They even trapped one of the fairies in an illusion prison."

"That poor girl!" Griselda said. "Did you get her out?"

"Professor Palladium pulled her out as soon as her friends managed to get through to her."

"Well done lad." Wizgiz said as he patted the elf on his arm.

Palladium did not respond.

"This is outrageous!" Griselda said. "Surely those witches need to be punished!"

"I can assure you that those girls are not welcome anymore at Cloud Tower." Griffin said. "This is not the first time they caused me trouble, I am completely done with them and never wish to see them again."

"What?!"

Palladium stood up while banging his hands against the table.

"You let them leave?!"

"Professor Palladium please behave yourself!" Griselda said.

"What is the problem professor?" Faragonda asked.

"Those witches were after Bloom." He said. "They targeted her."

Faragonda gasped. "You mean they were after the power of the Dragon Flame?"

"Yes and now no one knows where they are."

"We must protect Bloom at all cost!" Wizgiz said.

Suddenly the door of the office was thrown open and Flora ran inside.

"Headmistress Faragonda, I need to speak…"

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the staff look at her.

"Oh dear I am so sorry for interrupting…" The girl stammered.

"What is wrong Flora?" Faragonda aked.

"It's Bloom, she left Alfea last night."