Tecna

I collected Timmy's clothes in a pile as I waited for him to leave the restroom. He walked out beaming, but his smile dimmed when I handed him his clothes.

"You know, I missed doing that," he said timidly as he got dressed. My back was to him, which was illogical because I'd already seen everything. Still, I couldn't will myself to turn around.

"What?" I asked, ever-curious and insatiable. "Having sex or having sex with me?"

He tapped my shoulder, so I turned around to face him fully dressed. His cheeks were burning and his head was ducked, looking up at me over the tops of those stupid cat-eye glasses.

"Same thing," he said with a shy shrug. I refused to mull over the implications of that.

"Wish I could say the same," I retorted, perhaps a little too harshly. In all honesty, it had been good, but in my time on Earth, I'd had better. Not Timmy, though. It was better, but it wasn't Timmy.

"Obviously," he shot back, gesturing to a picture of Eddie nearby. That made me uncomfortable. Had that picture been watching us? It made me sick to my stomach.

"What did you want me to do, Timmy? Abstain?"

"You could have waited a little longer. I mean, you had Eddie right after I left."

My heart constricted. He was looking at me, waiting for some response. I could tell he was baiting me and he got me.

"Who was it?"

"Timmy-"

"Tell me who it was."

"No."

He was getting frustrated, the way he would on missions when he had already solved the problem but was waiting for the rest of the team to catch on. What did he want me to say?

"Come on, Tecna."

"I don't know what you want from me."

"You've never been able to lie to me."

"I don't-"

"He has my eyes!"

I blanched. My breath was growing shallow. I couldn't see anything except my feet because I refused to look him in the eyes. Those fucking eyes.

"Just tell me the truth."

"I am."

"No, Tecna."

Just then, the building was shaken by the force of a massive explosion. Timmy and I looked at each other before racing towards the source of the sound. It was Stella's apartment. We met Bloom at the door.

"The kids-"

"Are safe in my room," she finished, alleviating my initial worry.

"What's going on?" Timmy asked.

Bloom toed the door open and replied, "One of those evil people are back."

"But the plan-"

"No, Tecna, it worked!" Bloom said as we rushed to the twins' room to join the fray. "I've fixed the puzzle."

I didn't have time to be excited because I was thrown into a battle. Brandon was deflecting spells haphazardly as Aisha desperately threw energy blasts, trying to land one on the unscathed cloak-wearing figure. Bloom shot off some minuscule fireballs. Timmy pulled out his blaster. I felt utterly useless.

"What do I do?!" I cried, falling back onto Bloom like I always did in the heat of battle. Luckily, she hadn't forgotten the old patterns either.

"Get to the kids. Find out how far out the others are. Make sure everyone's okay."

I nodded and ran to her apartment, fighting with the knob for a bit before finally just zapping the shoddy workmanship and running to her room where the children were sitting in a heap on the bed.

"Mother!"

Eddie ran to me with open arms and I scooped him from the ground, kissing his pink head a million times.

"Is everyone here? One, two, three... yeah, okay."

A blue light caught my eye. Turning, I saw the hologram pressed up against the wall. The finished puzzle towered over me.

"She finished it... but the portals-"

I didn't have time to inspect the portals because a loud explosion set all the children off screaming.

"Shh, shh. Guys, come on. You need to stay quiet."

Once I got them all quiet, I pulled out my phone and dialed Musa's number.

"Hey, Tec. What's up?"

I could hear the Specialists arguing in the background.

"Under attack. Get the kids. Bring them home."

"Oh my Dragon, yeah. Okay."

She hung up the phone and I called Flora.

"Is everything okay, sweetie?" she asked softly.

"Get to the house as soon as possible. We're under attack."

"Goodness!" she exclaimed. I heard her faintly tell Helia something before assuring me that they were on their way.

Attempts to call Stella sent me straight to voicemail. I growled in frustration and shoved the phone in my pocket. The doorknob turned and I gathered the kids behind me, summoning what little power I had to my hands.

Noah slipped into the room and shut the door behind himself.

"What the hell is going on?" he insisted, striding across the room to hold my hands and look into my eyes intently. His black eyes searched mine in total fear. I sighed.

"Noah, what are you doing here?"

"Roxy wanted me to check on you guys. Something about- something about... something. What's- what's happening?"

"Noah, I can't really explain right now, but I need you to trust me. Stay here with the kids."

He licked his dry lips nervously and nodded. I smiled and grabbed the hologram of the portal map, absorbing it into my phone and turning to leave. A pair of tiny arms around my leg stopped me.

"Mother, please don't go."

I looked back at the tiny head of pink hair that was holding me back. Crouching down to his level, I put my hands on his shoulders and said, "Eddie, Mother loves you so, so much. That's why I have to go."

"Then don't love me so much."

"What do you mean, darling?"

"If you're leaving because you love me, don't love me so much."

That made me laugh. I pulled him into a hug and told him, "I'll be right back, I promise. Stay with Noah until I'm back and listen to what he says."

When I pulled back, there wasn't any fear in his hazel eyes. Timmy's eyes. Noah pulled him back from the door and I slipped out. I ran and didn't stop until I reached the front door where Flora was pulling into the driveway.

She got out of the car and asked me what was going on as I ran toward her, but I didn't answer. Instead, I went straight to the back seat, where I opened the door and grabbed the first triplet I could get my hands on. It was Toni.

Turning to Helia and Flora, I ordered, "Grab a kid and get inside quick."

"Tia?" Toni asked as I put a hand on the back of his head and tucked his face into the crook of my neck. I sprinted to the front door, hoping that Flora and Helia would just do as I say without asking questions. When I got inside, I took Toni to the kitchen and sat with him behind the counter so we were out of view from any windows. A second later, Flora joined me with Prim and lastly came Helia with Vera hanging onto his back like a monkey.

"Did you lock the door?" I whispered to him.

He nodded and began to ask, "What's going-"

An explosion cut him off and Prim went to scream, but my hand flew to her mouth. Flora's eyes widened in shock and she turned to me to ask something (probably to ask what the hell I thought I was doing), but I held a finger to my own mouth, signifying that everyone should be quiet. I could only hope Nick was handling the other kids okay.

"I should go help," Helia whispered, passing Vera to Flora. He pressed a kiss to Flora's forehead before he stood and slipped his glove on. Now it was my turn to be shocked. Flora blushed and avoided my gaze, focusing instead on adjusting her two girls on her lap. I tucked Toni between my legs and decided to focus on the issue at hand because I was honestly not in a place to judge.

Toni turned around in my lap and asked me, "Tía Tata, what's happening?"

I leaned down and whispered in his ear, "We have to be very quiet so the witches don't get us."

When I pulled back, his little face was twisted in horror. For a second, I wondered why the expression seemed so familiar to me, but then I realized I was just seeing Flora in his face. I'd seen her wear that expression so many times. A swell of emotions surged up in my chest that I had to choke down.

"Where's Eddie?" Prim asked, wide-eyed as she looked over to me.

"He's safe," I told her, unsure if I was lying or not. I couldn't dwell on that. I had to trust that Noah would keep him safe.

"Are we safe?"

The front door was flung open before I could answer Prim's question. Sky stomped inside with Alex curled in his arms. After him came Riven with Bella, Musa with Tess, and Nabu balancing Bay and Marlowe in either arm. Explosions were now going off violently upstairs. They shut the door and I waved them over. They all tried crouching behind the island with us, but it didn't exactly work.

"Where's Helia?" Nabu asked.

"He's upstairs," Flora answered.

"We should go help," Riven said. He went to put Bella down but she cried out and wrapped herself around his arm. "Kid, you've gotta let go."

Bella just squeezed tighter.

"Kid."

"Riven, she's not going to let go," Flora said as Riven struggled with the blonde toddler. Riven glared at Flora, but she didn't shrink on herself like she used to. That seemed to unsettle him, but I didn't have time to dwell on that.

"How did they even find you guys?" Sky asked.

I shared a look with Flora and Musa before shrugging and saying, "Who knows?"

Riven groaned and sat down on the tiles.

"What now?"

"We have to get out of here," Flora said. "We can't stay here."

"Flora..." Musa and I said at the same time.

With a sigh, she said, "I know, girls, but there's no life left for us here."

We didn't say anything because we knew she was right. I was still mad to see the self-satisfied grins on the Specialists' faces.

My phone rang.

B. Špėãrš

I answered the phone.

"Bloom?"

"Get the kids in the van and get ready to ride."

"Bloom, the-"

"We'll distract them," she said quickly, already knowing what I was going to say. "Just make sure Noah gets in there too."

"Okay. I'll see you there."

I heard a thud come from upstairs and Bloom hung up, but I couldn't worry about that.

"Back in the van," I explained. Musa and the Specialists groaned, having just come from there, but Flora tentatively stood and looked over the island, checking for anyone in the window.

She took Vera and Prim by the hand and led them to the door in a low-to-the-ground crouch. Musa and Nabu followed with their respective kids. When I went to stand, I knocked heads with Sky.

"Tecna, are you okay? I'm so sorry."

The room was spinning, but I waved him off and made my way to the door. It was wide open and from where I stood, I could make out the fuzzy shape of Flora hurrying her girls into the van and Musa following with Tess. Damn. Sky sure had a hard head.

Just as we reached the porch, Nabu ran out with Bay and Marlowe and practically vaulted into the van. I looked to my right and saw Noah rushing down the stairs with Arty in his arms and Lilly and Eddie running on either side.

"Mother!"

I held a finger to my lips as he jumped onto me, wrapping himself around my leg again. The sudden weight got me off-kilter and I nearly fell over. I steadied myself on the wall and shook my head to steady the room, but that only made my headache worse.

I wanted to carry Toni and Eddie, but I didn't have nearly as much practice at carrying two kids at once like Flora and Stella did. Crouching down to Eddie's level, I said, "Can you stay here with Noah, darling? Can you do that for me?"

My brave boy nodded and watched as I sprinted out the van with Toni in my arms. Once he was tucked safely into his seat, I turned to leave the van, but Riven grabbed my arm.

"I'll go," he offered. He must have noticed the way my eyes were unfocused and my breathing was shallow. I honestly didn't think Sky and I had knocked heads that hard, but my body was saying otherwise; I could feel my eyes swirling in their sockets. Still, my baby was inside.

"We both go," I countered, pulling my arm out of his grasp.

I ran out of the van before he could stop me and dashed inside. The explosions on the other side of the building had gotten less aggressive, which was more worrying than it should have been. Where were they if they weren't battling?

Noah rushed towards me with a volley of questions as I came inside.

"Are we being bombed? What's going on?"

"What did I say about trusting me?" I reminded him.

"Right, right, sorry, I just..."

Noah trailed off, but I could see from the way that he was carding his fingers through his hair that he was freaking out. I couldn't blame the kid; stuff like this didn't just happen in Gardenia.

"Listen, Noah. I get that what's happening right now is scary- trust me, I do- but you need to pull it together."

He nodded just as Lilly stomped her foot and exclaimed, "What's going on?!"

I held my finger to my lips and said, "Lilly, you have to be patient, okay?"

Riven was suddenly right behind me. He grabbed Lilly and I grabbed Eddie, hugging him to my body. He hid his face in my shoulder. Together with Noah, who was still holding Arty, we ran to the van. One by one, we climbed inside, strapped in the kids, and waited. The explosions shook the house. Musa started the van.

"We should go help," Riven said, moving for the door, but Nabu yanked him back down.

"The kids are here," Nabu reminded him, looking back at the terrified five-year-olds filling the van. "That means we stay here."

My phone buzzed with a text from Bloom again.

Tell Musa to get ready to drive.

I relayed the message to Musa and not even a second later, Bloom, Stella, Timmy, Aisha, and Brandon all came running out of the house at once. They hurried into the van, which was now way over its carrying capacity, and crouched against the floor.

"Where's Helia?" Flora asked. Her brows were creased with worry as she watched the door, waiting for the pacifist to appear.

"He's on his way," Timmy replied.

I looked away as I felt his eyes land on me intently. The only reason I didn't burst out of the van right then and there was because of the attackers. And because Bloom was sitting in front of the door. In any other circumstance, I would have bolted. Timmy was the last person in the world that I wanted to talk to. I couldn't stop wondering if he had told the other Specialists about what he had discovered. From the looks on the other guys' faces, it didn't look like they'd recently had the life-changing revelation that their ex-girlfriends' kids were their kids all along. Unfortunately, the Specialists were now also masters of espionage apparently, so looks can be deceiving.

The house was suddenly very still and not a second later, Helia was running out the door, shouting at Nabu to "fire it up," whatever that means.

At the same time that Helia ran into the van, Nabu popped open the fire escape at the top of the van and pulled himself onto the roof with sheer upper body strength. I also caught Aisha drooling at Nabu's muscles, but I'm not going to be the one to bring it up. It's not like I'm in any place to judge.

The hooded figures came flying around the house just as Nabu started chanting in Androsian. A portal opened up down the street.

Musa heeded Nabu's orders and went flying out of the driveway. Her rickety old van did a J-spin and whipped like a slingshot into the portal. Prim started crying just as the portal closed behind us. I looked around the van at the kids, who were all crying now; the Specialists, who were doing a poor job of trying to discreetly hold the Winx's hands (except for Brandon, who managed to get Stella to grip his hand back); and the other girls, who looked scared out of their minds. Still flooring it through the space-time continuum, Musa burned rubber on the fabric of time and shot through the exit portal, sending us all careening into Magix Square. The van screeched to a stop as everybody on the streets, in the shops, and in the sky went still. We stared out of the windows at the people staring back at us, confused and concerned.

Turning to me with white knuckles and wide eyes, Bloom said in a shaky voice, "Tecna, I don't think we're in Gardenia anymore."

I love it when I spell Specialists wrong and, instead of correcting it to Specialists, Autocorrect decides that what I'm trying to say is Episcopalians.

Please review! People are constantly asking me to update, but then when I do, I don't get any reviews. It sucks, guys.

I hope you like this new chapter. I know it's a long time coming and I'm sorry about that. Let me know in the reviews what you think should happen next. Also, I'm sorry it's so short.

Love,

Ru