Chapter 41

« The outside finally matches the inside »

« Valtor? As in THE Valtor? The Dark mage that was famous for the brand marks he left on his victim's necks?" Wizgiz squeaked out in shock and disbelief. Had the topic of the conversation been lighter Dimitri would have teased the little man about his funny high-pitched voice. But now was not the time. Another dark wizard had appeared to make a mess of the magical dimension and Flora and her friends had ended up in the middle of the mess. Again. He will have to hire a team of bodyguards and maybe buy one or one hundred of those stupid good fortune and protection charms for her if these kinds of things kept on happening. To make matters worse, their last week as she left for solaria had been bitter. Well to be honest, he was the one that had been the cause of the uncomfortable situation. He now could admit that he had acted petty and maybe a bit childish about Flora canceling their plans of spending the start of their summer together. Well, he had assumed that she would cancel them, after hearing the Royal announcement. Instead of talking to her about it, he had just said goodbye and left her there. Since that day they had not communicated in any way.

Hens right now, he had no clue where she was except that the girls had contacted Miss Faragonda a few minutes ago to tell her they had seen Valtor in Solaria, that Stella was under a powerful transformation spell and they were coming back to Alfea as soon as possible. That was it. He had no idea if the other girls were hurt, if they had fought the man and his servants. Faragonda had asked all her most trusted staff members (and him) to join her in her office. She had quickly explained the situation and she had at first been met with disbelief it hey had all quickly changed their opinion after she had showed them an official letter from Andros confirming that Valtor and three other prisoners had in fact escaped omega.

And well now except nag Faragonda about more details, make useless theories on how the man had escaped, they could only wait. And he hated waiting. He hated feeling helpless. He despised not knowing what was going on. Especially when Flora was concerned. Even he had to admit that not knowing her whereabouts had made him more impatient and frustrated about the situation. A few decades ago, his past self might have just gone back to his archive a new cup of coffee in hand not a care in the world about what would happen to this building and all the pesky fairies in it. How times had changed.

"Professor Darkell, do you have any information about Valtor that could help us fight him or protect the school against him?" Griselda was surprisingly the first to speak to him and ask his insight.

"Unfortunately, Valtor is quite younger than me. If I'm not mistaken, he was active approximately forty years ago, I was down in the archives at the time. So, the only things I know about him were things I read in books. I do know that unlike Lord Darkar who was skilled in the control of dark creatures and the weakening of light ones. Valtor is specialized in the manipulation of light creatures. His mark can seek the darkness of any beings' heart and use it in his favor. It is quite rare and impressive magic that requires a lot of confidence and a talent for finding the most corrupted and ambitious souls."

He had to admit that when he had first read about the man, he had been impressed byt the nature of his magic. The mark seemed to be something he had crafted himself. And Darkell always admired more people that created and worked on their abilities than people that only relied on their natural strength. But now that the man was possibly behind the endangerment of flora and her friends, his opinion on the man had drastically changed. That the only thing that interested hims was how to keep him far away from the flower fairy. And okay maybe he was still curious about how the man had created the mark and how it worked. But who could blame him? He was a man who liked knowledge and that brand was a fine piece magic. Imagine all the things he could if he was able to reproduce that spell. All the possibilities… no Dima focus. Keep flora safe first, then ponder about world domination.

His confusing thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the Headmistress.

"Professor Darkell, could you please help Concorda find a solution to Miss Stella's situation in the library. You both know the place like the back of your hand. I will send the girls your way as soon as they arrive." He nodded in understanding and left the room. At least now he had something to do even if it concerned Flora's irritating blond friend.

Barely half an hour later, as he was categorizing the books which he had found useful into different piles on the main table, he heard the main entrance door open. It did not take long for him to spot the familiar honey colored hair he was looking for. He checked her out for any visible injury, but she seemed okay. But he could not say the same thing for the blond girls walking next to her. He tried very hard not to burst out laughing when he caught a glimpse of the scaly and slimy skin that covered the girl's body. She looked like the result of an intense mating between an iguana and a frog. It was hilarious.

But he was soon distracted from this free entertainment by the sight of a nervous looking Flora slowly and hesitatingly approaching him. The other girls were walking further away from them to go help Concorda in the library's restricted area.

"Hey." She mumbled after stopping to stand next to him.

"Hey." Way to go Dimitri, you just made the situation ten times more awkward. They could not meet each other's eyes, both were staring dumbly at the bookshelf in front of them waiting to see if the other would finally break the silence.

Surprisingly, Stella's loud complaint next door was the first to interrupt the awkward atmosphere.

"No, please you have to help me! I can't stay in this hideous form! Brandon will dump me as soon as he finds out. I want my beautiful face back!"

Darkell did not even attempt to hide his amused smirk this time.

"Well, I see that you have a difficult situation on your hands." He speaks up first.

"Yes, it's terrible for Stella. It's really difficult for her right now. That is why we're trying to find a solution as soon as possible." Darkell could not help but make a joke about the Sun fairy's ridiculous predicament.

"Well, if you ask me, I feel like the outside finally matches the inside…" but as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he felt a hard punch on his left arm. When he turned to face the flower fairy, he was met by a terribly disappointed look that made his inside crawl in guilt.

"Stop it Dimitri! Stella is an amazing person inside and out. I wouldn't be friends with her if she wasn't." he could that the kind fairy felt very bad for her friend and what she was going through. She was full of empathy something he lacked completely. Perhaps he could learn a thing or two from this kindhearted fairy. Or at least he should learn how to stop being a jerk towards her and her friends.

However right now, the only thing he could think of to erase the frown on the fairy's face was to admit that he had behaved the last week like a childish jerk.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for acting the way I did. We were finally going to spend time together after everything happened and I took the news of you leaving badly. It was immature of me. I really regret doing that. Because I really missed you when you were away." She had turned to look at him in shock as soon as the words had spilled from his mouth. He hesitatingly grabbed her softly in his tried to look at her in the eyes even though he was embarrassed to his core. But Flora was smiling again and that was more important than his dignity. As the empathetic girl he knew she was, she had quickly understood that just uttering those words and silently admitting that he was that did wrong was no easy task for him. He could probably count one hand the time this had happened to him. She shyly squeezed his fingers back. She knew that he was making a big step for her and she was grateful.

"Thank you. But Darkell you scared me that day when you stopped talking to me. I had a hard time understanding what I did wrong. We need to try and be more honest towards each other. I would really like it for you to tell me when something is wrong or makes angry or sad. Please. Please promise me you'll try. Because I missed you too and I don't want something like this to happen again."

He made two steps towards and hugged her against his chest. Flora hugged him instantly back. They both stayed in each other's arms as long as they could. Both did not point out the fact that Dimitri had not directly answered her request.

Unfortunately, their small little moment of reconciliation was cut short as soon as they heard out of the ordinary pair conversing while entering the library's main room.

"Newt, that's very sweet of you but I already have a someone I like. But if you need any help finding someone ask me I'm an amazing match maker." As Flora and Darkell left their hiding spot to investigate what was going on they were met by the strange sight of Newt on one knee offering a bouquet of flowers (Flora quickly recognized the flowers as small weed flowers that had overtaken a part of the school's courtyard).

"Ah Flora there you are! I was looking for you. Concorda found the solution in one of the books that Professor Darkell had brought from the archives. The Winx have a new mission. We need to get my beautiful face back." Flora chuckled at her friend's hopeful attitude. She quickly made her next to her friend and followed her to the next room where the others were probably waiting for them." But before passing through the door she turned around to say a few last words to the dejected looking ogre.

"Newt, I really love that you thought of giving a bouquet of flower that's really sweet of you. You'll make someone very lucky someday." The yellow ogre smiled shyly at the flower fairy's praise.

Dimitri waited a few minutes before following the girl's steps. As he passed next to the ogre, he patted his his shoulder in support.

"Don't worry, we'll find someone big guy. And anyway, you would not want someone like Stella. She's too hard to deal with. She would drive you insane before the end of the day."

"Thanks Boss."