Chapter 46
Brother and Sister
Luckily, that afternoon Cassandra didn't have to stay at the college, or she would have done nothing but argue. After lunch, time to refresh and Flora and Aisha called her, Francesca and Rebecca to go to Xavier.
Given the helpfulness demonstrated from the professor they had no reason to lose time, and personally Cassandra was happy of channeling her attention on something else.
Flora and Aisha led the other three outside the campus. At first Cassandra thought they would take the bus to the city and then the shuttle for the Wildlands, but she was wrong: they walked past the bus stop, where the others were waiting for them with seven windriders. Before focusing on the centuries that it would take them to travel with motorbikes, Cassandra noticed two people she didn't know, and who seemed extraneous to any school. Indeed, judging from their clothes they were earthlings, at least the boy: she had never seen Monster Energy's sweaters in Magix.
There was a brief moment when everyone looked at the two, as if they didn't know how to say something, then Stormy shrugged and said, hastily:
- Oh well. Girls, they're Elizabeth and Arejay. You two, they're Francesca, Rebecca and Cassandra. Introductions over. -
Arejay held back a laugh and friendly welcomed them. Cassandra noticed that his red hair was actually dyed, and it was trying to go back to its natural color.
Lzzy said hello as well, a little less cheerful than her brother. She wasn't in the right state of mind for that situation, she felt examined. She knew it was just her perception, that she was pressured, that she had nothing to prove to those girls, but she couldn't send away that light uneasiness that blocked her words and movements.
Stormy was very impatient.
- Can we go now? - she asked, since nobody moved.
- Do you really want to use motorbikes? - asked Cassandra.
- Not just yet. - answered Stella winking at her.
In a second she took her ring-scepter and teleported them. They reappeared on the side of a road. There was a discrete traffic and a definitely less discrete smell of smog.
- Now we're using the bikes. - said Stella putting the scepter away.
Then they divided in pairs. Icy materialized a helmet and gave it to Lzzy. She took it and stared at it.
- What? - asked the witch.
- Nothing, just... how do you drive? Can I trust you? -
As an answer, Icy told her to go to hell and got on the windrider. Lzzy giggled, she put on the helmet and sat behind her.
A few minutes later Cassandra, when they crossed a bridge, recognized the beginning of the Wildlands. Not having a shuttle, Stella brought them right outside the barrier.
Shortly after, the professor too knew the details of what happened in Altaduna. He welcomed his guests in the backyard again, claiming that he wanted to exploit the autumn sun as long as possible.
- In a month there will be snow up here, you know? - he said.
He asked many questions to Stormy on how her and Yami handled the sandstorm and asked Tecna to show him her analysis of the Shaab stones, which despite their bad name fascinated him: a few chemical elements could block any kind of magic, and that was enough to interest him.
- In the Mystérion there are a few potions with the same effects as well, although temporary. - he said, - And a formula to limit the level of spells that a rival can use. - he said, alarming the whole group except Lzzy and Arejay, who didn't quite get what that meant.
- What does it mean? - asked in fact the guy, frowning.
- Suppose that you're a sixth level wizard. With that formula, I can prevent you from casting spells superior to the third level. But the formula itself is almost completely unreadable, don't worry. Luckily for you, that page was half burnt. -
Rebecca let out a sigh of relief: she and her friends were already at a disadvantage without having their powers blocked at Charmix.
- Professor, what else can come out of that book? - asked Darcy.
Xavier materialized a pipe and began filling it with tobacco.
- Everything you want. Potions that prevent you to sleep until death, mushrooms that make you a puppet in the hands of who picked them, formulas to generate inner combustion, rituals to unnaturally shorten life. Lots of dirt was collected through the centuries. -
He paused to light up the pipe and inhale. Nobody spoke. Terrified, Lzzy grabbed Icy's hand, in normal conditions the witch would take it away but, given the sensation of having a tail and four paws still fresh in her memories and the void she felt under her feet while listening to that list, she returned the grip.
- I read my old notes on the Mystérion in the morning and I have to say that I agree with myself more than ever: that book shouldn't have been in a museum, but in Cloudtower's crypt or in Domino's library, a place with a minimum of safety. Damn it, even Pyros would have been a better place! But it is what it is, and you're in a glorious mess. I will give you everything that can come of use, but first tell me: do you have any idea of where Valtor is hiding? -
- None. - Bloom replied sadly, - We checked all his old hideouts, but of course he was nowhere near those. If I didn't turn off his Flame I could still sense him... -
- If you didn't turn off his Flame you wouldn't be here to talk about it. - argued Stormy.
Xavier mumbled to himself.
- She turned it off, uh? But it was his essence... He shouldn't have survived. He must have modified it before the last battle. A power that allows regenaration... mhmh. Listen miss, do you remember anything strange he said before he was defeated? -
Bloom thought about it: he had offered her to join him for the umpteenth time, trying to divert her anger against the Ancestral Witches.
- He seemed resentful towards the Ancestral Witches. He said he didn't have control over his body, and that together we could defeat them. - she answered at last.
- I didn't know they did it with him too. I thought that until Obsidian turned into a bunch of debris they couldn't get out and possess people. - observed Darcy.
- It's different. They had created him, it was a peculiar bond. With us they had to wait to be free. - said Icy.
- You... what...? - stuttered Lzzy.
- Oh, don't look at me like that. I survived. There was no reason to tell you that I was possessed by a ghost at nineteen. -
Lzzy felt a knot squeeze her stomach and asked herself how many things like that Icy hadn't yet told her. She decided that she would delve into that later.
For his part, Xavier decided to ignore the umpteenth emotional problem in front of his eyes and continued to talk between a puff of smoke and the other.
- I think the best thing you can do to get ready is to work on your powers. I looked up some info on you guys, and you don't need new powers. You must learn to exploit the ones you already have, because from what I read and from what I heard today you barely scratch the surface. They go too easy on it in colleges, with that whole theory of the inner journey of self-discovery. Sometimes we need a well-placed kick to go on and we can't kick us on our own. -
Donnie giggled, speaking for the first time.
- Poor things, he likes you. - he said.
The girls were rather staggered from the professor's speech: they weren't used to such frankness, almost rude, but they were ready to accept his help. They were asking him when he wanted to meet them again when Andrea arrived, a chocolate bar in her hand.
- Hi everyone. - she said, - Donnie, I took this from your drawer... sorry but I deserve it. - she added, speaking of the chocolate bar.
- Did you take the gem? - asked the boy.
- You bet! Three out of five. -
- Great! - exclaimed Donnie, getting up to give the girl a high five.
- Where was it? - asked the professor.
- Oh, on Zenith. You have no idea how long it took me to persuade the Selkie to let me through the portal. -
Both the Winx and the Trix pricked up their ears at the word "Selkie".
- Are you trying to earn Sirenix? - asked Bloom, surprised.
- Yes. It's not cursed anymore, so except the time limit it's not too hard. Sure, if you have an underwater breathing spell. -
- Well, the trials aren't that easy. Why do you use a spell? Isn't Harmonix enough? - Flora intervened.
Andrea shook her head.
- I never heard of it. I only have the three base transformations, Sirenix would be my first specialization. -
- How strange. - said Flora.
- Yeah, the guardians of Sirenix gifted us with Harmonix to allow us to use magic underwater. - said Aisha.
- What transformation did you have then? - asked Xavier, interested.
- Believix. - answered Stella, - Underwater our powers almost disappeared, and we couldn't get anything done. -
- I can confirm. - Stormy said, seemingly friendly.
- This explains everything. Andrea is still mainly an Enchantix, transformation that isn't heavily influenced by the aquatic environment. - explained the professor.
- It's true. Once we used it to ask the nymph Daphne for help for an evocation. - said Musa.
Icy raised an eyebrow.
- And what did you fairies evoke? That's stuff for witches, and barely legal too. -
- It's a long story. - replied Stella, as if it wasn't worth telling.
Musa thought differently.
- You know the H.Q.? Well, until a while ago it was a warehouse filled with spider webs. It belonged to a famous musician, fallen into depression after his wife's death. Long story short, I began visiting him and keep him company, and I promised I would let him see his wife one more time. I hoped that seeing her, even for a little while, would bring him back to himself, and it did. He began to play again and host exhibitions, and to thank us he gave us the warehouse. -
Icy snorted and said, ironically:
- Cass, what did I tell you earlier of human beings with idyllic lives? -
Cassandra laughed.
Stormy would have given anything for that moment not to come.
She wasn't ready yet, she needed more time to think of what to say, what to do, instead Donnie asked her to follow him in a quiet point of the garden, far from the eyes and the ears of the others.
She did nothing but think of that moment since she saw him again, and yet she felt shivers and her heart was beating fast. She didn't know what to say, where to begin with, how to address the issue. Maybe if Donnie looked at her instead of looking at the tip of his shoes, she would have known what to do. But he kept his eyes low and was the first one to speak.
- So, was it always to protect me that you left? -
Stormy inhaled deeply. It wasn't the approach she expected. But no approach would have been the one she expected, anyway.
- You were ten. It was my responsibility to keep you safe. -
- And who did keep you safe? -
The witch didn't answer.
- You should have asked for help. -
- I couldn't! They controlled us. Tharma showed me your... - she couldn't say it.
Seven years later, the vision of her little brother laying still after violent convulsions still terrified her so much that saying it could have made it real. It had already been hard to remember it during the trial. When there's a trial like that, it's not like you speak once, say something once and it's over. No, they ask you to repeat it. They make questions. They want the details. They want to see your memories. They plunge the knife deep, and what's worst is that nobody cares if you're sick, if you're indicted. The indicted only has to answer.
- They're not here anymore. Will you come back? - asked Donnie, with the same detached intonation he used before.
- I... I don't know. I have no idea what is going to happen in the next three years, let alone what will come after. And I'm not totally sure our parents would welcome me with open arms. -
He finally looked her in the eyes.
- You don't have to come back home, it's time we make one of our own. I meant if you'll go back to be my sister. - Stormy tried to resist, in vane: she impulsively hugged her brother, unable to speak. She expected to be rejected, instead Donnie hugged her back and held her tight.
- Mom and dad will be happy if you come back. Darcy's parents too. After the trial they always asked me to look for you, but I always procrastinated. I was afraid of not finding the sisters I knew, or that you wanted to cut the bridges with the past. -
His voice trembled a little, and Stormy understood that even if he had grown a lot and looked even older than her, he was still a seventeen years old boy who had a reference point in his sister, despite the separation.
- I'll try to come back, then. At last for you. - she replied.
She wasn't ready to face her parents, she needed time to understand what she wanted to do with herself. And that was definitely not the best moment for family reunions, with Valtor around like a hunting beast.
- It's ok. One step at a time. - Donnie said, - You know, when I saw you in the professor's room, I couldn't believe it. Also today, with Icy and Darcy... you're the same, but you're very different. You're more rigid. -
Stormy laughed. A sad laugh.
- Well, you can't say it's a surprise. - she replied, breaking the hug.
Donnie shook his head.
- No, it's true. -
- Anyway, you'll see that Icy is less anaffective than before. -
- Yes, especially with Lzzy, am I wrong? -
Stormy shook her head and Donnie continued.
- I noticed they have an intense and vaguely contradictory non-verbal language. It's like they try to not let themselves go, without really succeeding. -
- Yes, they still have to get used to the Bonding and today especially, it's the first time they're together in front of the other girls, they are surely uneasy. - convened Stormy, - Where does this psychological attitude come from? -
Donnie smiled amused.
- Oh, a bit from you, a bit from Darcy, a bit from the books... - he replied.
Lzzy thought the White Horse was a very picturesque bar, with his pastel rose and the lake view. A little too sugary maybe, but not too much given that pastel colors were the most used in Magix, especially pink: if it were also on the national flag, she wouldn't have been too surprised.
The sun had gone down before they left Xavier and his protégées, and the first stars were up when they got to the bar, crowded with students. They kept a low profile, as much as possible, but confused in the group her and Arejay could have been there for any of the girls.
But she was there for Icy. She worried her. She needed to talk to her, ask her about her past. She didn't want to make her suffer, but she wanted Icy to trust her and it wasn't safe anymore to ignore what had happened in the past. Thus, after drinking her licorice savored drink which she hoped would contain more alcohol, she asked Icy to go out with her to take a breath of fresh air. She glared at Arejay before he offered to go with them. She was relieved that the others got the "I-want-to-be-alone-with-her" even too clearly.
They walked down the stairs that led to the lake shore and walked on the wet sand, under the faint light of lamp posts on the street above them. The perfect scenery for a murder or a secret kiss. "Don't you even think of that, !" Lzzy scolded herself. She wanted to talk to Icy, but not about that.
She waited to get far enough from eventual eavesdroppers, then she said:
- Listen, I am fairly sure that there isn't a good way to ask this, but… would you ever willingly tell me you have been possessed? -
Icy grimaced. She knew she was going to ask that, but it didn't help her giving an answer that she herself didn't know.
- Maybe not, it isn't a nice topic to talk about. - she answered in the end.
- Be serious. I'm scared, you know? I'm scared for you, for me, for Arejay, for the guys, for everyone. I want to get over fear, but I need you to do so, you and no one else, because you know this world. You know how to hex someone, you know the antidotes to many potions, you know for what absurd dueling rule you don't attack someone while they transform even though it would be easy, and you know Valtor. I trust you. But I'm starting to think that what you've been through isn't an irrelevant detail I can overlook. -
- It isn't. - Icy coldly agreed, - It marked me more than it should have had, and I'm trying to look forward thanks to you. But you're right, you have the right to know who you're bound to, so sit down and let's talk. -
Lzzy stopped, surprised. Icy heavily sat down on a bench and was staring firmly at the wall in front of her. She kept her arms crossed on her chest, hoping that in that way they wouldn't tremble, but they did. Lzzy sat next to her, with the clear feeling that she asked for something that soon enough she would rather ignore.
- Mae, I won't tell you everything even now, or we'd stay here all night. It will have to be enough for now. -
Lzzy uselessly thought of something to say, and she limited to a nod.
Icy stayed silent for a while, always with her gaze on the wall. She tried to speak two, three times without succeeding and at last she let it all out in a breath.
- I wasn't a witch at the beginning, I was a fairy. Belladonna cut my wings. -
Lzzy didn't grasp the idea at once. But if it were a metaphor, she realized, Icy would have said it differently. She felt a cold buzz taking over her ears, without being above Icy's voice. She already knew many things roughly, Darcy told everything the first time she and the boys went to Alfea, but now Icy was adding details that in a first moment they kept for themselves.
- The second year Lord Darkar (if you remember who he is) got us out of that madhouse. When he didn't need us anymore, he locked us in a limbo, and we only got out of there by fusing ourselves… -
- How? -
- Fusing. One instead of three. We took a big risk. Then there was Valtor, and we talked enough about him. Then, in Avram I destroyed on purpose a bud that would restore the Winx's powers, and the Ancestors got their revenge by taking control of our bodies. It was horrible. I was conscient but I couldn't control my actions in any way, barely my thoughts. I think it was also because of that if, when I met Tritannus, I dove in headfirst without thinking twice, I realized I had never felt anything important in my life and I tried to have it. After the trial I did the opposite, convinced that I couldn't have anything, in any way... -
She stopped abruptly, on the verge of crying. She was shaking like an autumn leaf.
Through their bond Lzzy saw many more things than the those she voiced. It was an Icy different from hers, completely false and full of fear, who acted only accordingly to others' will. A play she ended up believing in.
Lzzy got closer to her and pulled her in a hug. The witch gave in without protesting, accepting the gentle strokes and the reassuring words. Again, she felt safe so close to Lzzy, accepted and loved beyond any logic. Not even all the memories she kept sending her moved Lzzy away, indeed, she realized that the more Lzzy knew her past the more she was surprised that she managed to conserve her identity, deep down.
- Shh, shh. I'm here. I'm not going away. - whispered Lzzy, trying to calm Icy even with her powers.
Icy wasn't crying, but her mind was totally upside-down as a result of different inputs: the memories, her insecurity, Valtor in general, the umpteenth situation in which she risked to lose everything less than two days earlier, the dangers contained in the Mystérion, Arejay's accident, and now Lzzy's words.
- Sorry, I should have told you sooner. - she said.
- No, no. It's your right to keep these things for yourself, although you should realize it doesn't do you any good. And yet I forced you, and I'm sorry, because I need you to trust me like I trust you. Without this condition I can't go on. I hope you understand. -
Icy nodded quietly, her head resting on Lzzy's shoulder. They stayed like that for entire minutes, quiet, while the sky got darker and darker. They should have gone back to the bar, but Icy wanted to be alone with her mindmate a little more. She wanted to be forgiven for her lack of trust, but how? She looked up at the starry sky and had an idea.
- Would you like to fly together? - she asked Lzzy with a little light in her eyes.
- Do you think I could refuse such a proposal? - replied Lzzy, jokingly, with a sweet smile.
Icy smiled back and got up. She took her hand, lifting off the ground without transforming. Lzzy imitated her and they flied up, far from the lake and in the direction of the city. Every now and then Icy turned to check that Lzzy breathed regularly, fearing that she couldn't adapt to the reduction of oxygen in the air, but when Lzzy stopped it was simply to ask where they were going.
- There. - replied Icy, pointing at a lonely foamy cloud, of those that look like giant flying cotton balls that make you want to touch them.
- There? Are you sure we can breathe up there? -
Icy snorted.
- Of course yes, it's not the first time I do this. Come on, I think we're almost there. - she said, flying up fast towards the bluish cloud.
When they reached it, the witch did something that Lzzy would have never thought possible: she let herself fall on the cloud like it was a giant mattress, without falling or sinking.
- How...? - asked Lzzy, touching lightly the cloud with her hand and feeling it incredibly soft between her fingers.
- I don't know how it's possible, you just have to think you're not going to fall and clouds keep you up. If they're not the super subtle ones, obviously. -
- Obviously. - remarked Lzzy amused, trying cautiously to put first one feet, then the other on the cloud.
Seeing that the trick worked for her as well, she took the hazard of kneeling next to Icy. She tried hard to focus on the place she was in instead of how good it would have been to lie down next to her.
- It's… it's marvelous. I'm literally sitting on a cloud, I can't believe it. -
- It's one of my favorite things, here nobody tells me what to do. Darcy and Stormy sometimes looked for me for hours without finding me because I hid up here. And it's not all. - said Icy getting up and gesturing to the other to follow her, - Look at the sight. - she continued, stopping on the edge of the cloud.
Lzzy walked to her, looking at the breathtaking landscape under their eyes: on the left the city shone in bright colors, on the right the enlightened contour of Redfountain stood out against the darkness hiding the shape of the mountains, Alfea's tiny lampposts shone dim behind them, over their heads the stars and the moon offered their show, gathered and reflected from the enormous body of water set between the trees.
Enchanted, Lzzy sat again, letting the legs swing in the void. Perhaps she knew how Icy managed to preserve herself despite everything: she kept a private space both physical and mental, carefully guarded, without ever bringing anyone there. Anyone but her.
- Thank you, - she said, - thank you for sharing this with me. -
Icy sat next to her, close enough to hold her hand.
- When you'll want to talk with your parents, we can do it together. It will be easier. - she said, looking at the stars trying to guess their color.
Lzzy looked at her in surprise.
- Did Joe tell you? -
- It was Arejay. You should tell his wife too, and to Josh's wife, before too much time goes by. You need a solid base to rely on. -
- Ok. I... we'll do it soon. - she laughed, - It will be funny to show up at Jessie's door when we should be several States away. -