Hey everyone! This chapter is longer, and focuses more on Tecna's feelings, along with some action. Enjoy!


CHAPTER 8: NIGHT OF A MILLENNIUM

Sunday morning dawned sunny and unseasonably cold. The ship zoomed towards Alfea, and Riven activated the dashboard for landing.

"We'll drop you off at the gate," said Brandon. "Your teachers must be worried sick about you."

"Yeah, they probably are," Bloom murmured.

Stella rolled her eyes. "Well, screw that. Saving Andros was far more important."

"We didn't save anything, Stella," Layla pointed out. "We saved Queen Ligea, but the rest of the mermaid royalty is still imprisoned. Andros is still under threat by a hurricane."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure Andros will stabilize," Stella said, trying to cheer the situation. Layla sighed.

The situation is much direr than we thought, thought Tecna. Those were some dreadful mutants. She sighed. And who was that Valtor man? How will he threaten the Magical Dimension?

The ship landed. The girls climbed off, but not before giving Stella time to hug her boyfriend. "Bye, snookums," she said.

"See you later, Stell," Brandon smiled.

The ship took off as the girls entered Alfea's gate. Several other girls were in the quad, and they let out a gasp.

"Layla! What happened to her eyes?"

"Where did they go?"

"Great heavens, there you are," a voice said. Tecna looked up as Griselda stared down at them from the balcony. "You girls gave us such a fright and – Layla! What happened?"

"It's a long, unflattering story," said Layla.

"Well, we want to hear every word of it," said Faragonda, joining Griselda. "Come up to my office and we'll discuss this further."

The girls transformed and flew up to the balcony, joining the two teachers. The fairies let out a gasp.

"Ooh! Layla has new wings!"

"Did she get her Enchantix?"

"But what happened?"

They sat down in the office. Layla told Faragonda every bit of the story, and she nodded her head. Then she motioned to the pendant around Layla's neck.

"Layla," she said, "you have the power to break the spell that has been cast upon you."

"I do?" Layla stared at the ground.

Faragonda sighed. "I suppose the time for secrecy is over. Layla, you are now an Enchantix fairy. The first of this graduating class, in fact." Her voice was filled with praise, but also a certain wariness that Tecna couldn't figure out. What is she so worried about? "And as an Enchantix fairy, you have the power to break this enchantment. You have fairy dust."

"Fairy dust?" Musa asked in confusion. "Witches always use that term derisively. Why do they do that?"

"That is because they are afraid of it," Faragonda answered. "We have a power that they do not. It is the power to break all enchantments with evil intention." She nodded to Layla. "Now, summon your fairy dust."

"How do I do that?" Layla asked.

"You take the pouch off your neck," Faragonda responded. "The rest will be intuitive. Now, we are all waiting."

Layla grabbed her pouch from her neck. Tecna watched as she held it in the air, closing her eyes. The purple pouch opened to reveal lavender fairy-dust. She sprinkled it over her eyes.

Power surged through the air. A warm feeling, soothing and gentle, washed over them. Tecna stared in astonishment. That… that's what happened when Faragonda healed Stella! She stared in astonishment.

Layla's eyes lost their milky cloudiness. The haze faded away to reveal their normal, brilliant sea blue. She gasped in delight as she looked around.

"I can see!" she cried in joy.

"That's our girl Layla!" Musa cheered, running to her and grabbing her in a hug. Bloom, Flora, and Stella joined in; after some hesitation, Tecna joined in as well.

That was really amazing, she admitted to herself. I hope that someday, I'll be able to do that myself. She held Flora and Layla tight.

"Hold it!" Griselda ordered. "Break it up, young ladies. There's still the matter of punishment."

Uncertainly, the girls pulled back. Tecna could make out Faragonda holding back a smile as Griselda moved forward, shaking her finger.

"We have decided on your punishment," she said. Black bands appeared over their wrists, and Tecna gasped, immediately reverting back to her civilian form. "Now, your punishment is to restack the shelves of the library, without magic."

"And on top of all your coursework," added Faragonda. "From five to nine p.m. every night, you will work in the library. We'll put these on for you every day at five, and take them off at nine."

"Well, that can't be too bad," Stella grinned. "How many books are there in that library, anyways?"

"Only three hundred forty-six thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five," said Tecna.

Stella gasped. "Three hundred thousand?"

"How'd you come up with that number, Tecna?" asked Flora.

"Yeah," said Musa. "How'd you know that?"

Tecna's cheeks burned. She'd always been a skillful memorizer; in order to survive on Zenith, there was no way to not be. In her first year at Alfea, she'd done a scan of the library to make sure it was as impressive as she'd thought it was.

"Yes," she said defensively. "But that doesn't include the Restricted section. I couldn't scan that with my device." Or my brain, she thought privately.

"You won't be doing the Restricted section, anyways," Griselda answered. "Now you can work in the library all day. You'll want to finish a sizeable amount now; classes resume tomorrow." With a hand-wave, she dismissed the girls.


What with classes, sorting the library, and Mr. Vasiliev's work, Tecna's schedule had never been busier. It was worse than home, when she'd been doing the laboratory work full-time.

At home, she usually got five to six hours of sleep. Now in Alfea, she barely got one. There were some nights when she didn't sleep at all. In between classes, she snuck up to the dorm and took quick, fifteen-minute naps.

She told herself it was a punishment for her laziness. After all, she was nowhere near as productive as most of the other people she knew. Other interns in Mr. Vasiliev's lab worked fourteen hours a day without stopping. She was only working eight hours every night; what did she have to complain about?

She'd tried working in the dorm room once, but Musa had complained about Tecna's typing and how she couldn't sleep. So Tecna had moved to the sitting-room of the apartment. There, she was able to cast a silencing-spell so no one would be disturbed by her typing. She became an expert at brewing Readiness Potions and All-Nighter recipes, so no one would think she was working so long. And since Musa was fast asleep by the time she went to the dorm, no one questioned her. Besides, Valtor was the talk of Magix; Andros's magical relics had been stolen, along with Melody's and Solaria's. Faragonda was trying to quell the worry on campus, but it was obvious something was coming to the Magical Dimension.

In the meantime, the bullying hadn't ceased. Although Mirta's new friends, Galatea and Nova, walked with her everywhere around campus, Eris and her friends didn't stop going after Mirta. They hexed her in the hallways and sent magical origami to attack her at odd hours of the day.

Flora confided her worries with Tecna one day in the apartment, while they were both working on potions' homework.

"I'm so worried about Mirta," she said. "During other classes, I've heard that Eris and her friends keep shooting hexes at her, making fun of her because she can't cast spells the same way they can. Layla and I always make sure to watch out for her during Potions, but nothing ever happens during that class – since most of us there are seniors, the girls in that class don't care enough to cause her trouble. Since I've never actually seen Eris's gang hurt her, my words don't carry much weight, and Nova and Galatea are too scared to do anything. We've spoken to Griselda twice, but we weren't able to prove that Eris was the culprit. And for all her bravado, Griselda can't do much about Eris."

"Really?" Tecna asked absentmindedly.

"Yes," Flora cried, "because Eris has a lot of power, unfortunately. Her parents are on the school board! Faragonda only narrowly managed to convince the rest of the school board to let Mirta in. Griselda doesn't like Eris's behavior any more than the rest of us, but she doesn't want to overstep her role and have the school board revoke Mirta's admission!"

"That doesn't sound good at all," Tecna said in alarm. If Griselda's scared of someone, then it must be bad…

"It is," Flora agreed. "What should I do, Tec? How do I make this better?"

"First of all, stop going to Griselda," Tecna advised. "She can give a few punishments, but it's not going to make things better. The girls are still going to bully Mirta."

"Then what do I do?" Flora protested. "I can't just let this keep happening! I need to make it stop!"

"Wait it out," Tecna responded. "The girls will get tired if Mirta puts up a brave face and doesn't respond to any of their comments; it's only logical, after all. In that time, Mirta will improve in her coursework."

"Okay," said Flora uneasily. "I'll try."

Tecna wished she could give better advice to her friend, but knew it was impossible. For starters, she wasn't good with this kind of thing. For another, she had too many worries on her own head to truly care about anyone else. The more work she did for Vasiliev, the worse she did in class.

The only person who really noticed her poor performance, initially at least, was Professor Avalon. He pulled her back after class to speak with her.

"You got a C on the test," he said. "I know everyone does badly once in a while, Tecna, but this isn't like you. I read all of your reports from last year, from this class" –

"You mean from the fake you?" Tecna asked bluntly. She still had a hard time talking to Avalon, especially considering how his imposter had double-crossed all of them last year. The real Avalon's cheeks went bright red.

"Yes," he said, awkwardly, "but regardless of how he betrayed everyone last year, he still had to maintain appearances; therefore, he never strayed from the curriculum. And he always wrote glowing praise about you – although his tone changed halfway through the year. I can't imagine why."

"You mean after I singed his clothes off," Tecna said, holding back a smirk at the memory.

"Perhaps," Avalon nodded. "But even then, you always scored very highly in his class. Tecna, is there something going on in your life? From the little I've seen, you're a very bright student, and" –

"It's none of your business," Tecna said abruptly. "In any case, let me be clear: I don't have time for this. Let me just do what I need to do."

She caught Avalon's pained expression as she stalked away, muttering under her breath. But she had no time for that now.

All she could think of was algorithms, coding, and more algorithms. I can't stop now… She sighed, lowering her gaze to the floor.


Two weeks passed. The girls finally finished sorting the library, and gazed at their work, pleased with themselves.

"We finished early – and we have half-an-hour to spare before Faragonda and Griselda come for inspection!" Stella cheered.

"In that case, why don't we have a good girl-talk?" Bloom asked.

"Yeah!" Musa grinned. "It's been a while since we've had one."

"I'll brew some tea," Flora said, rushing to get her teapot and herbs.

Five minutes later, the girls were sitting cross-legged on the floor. Flora poured each of the girls tea, and Tecna sipped hers, loving the taste of Linphean herbs and nectar. She always does a really good job… Stella grinned towards the girls.

"So, let's talk about my favorite subject!" she laughed. "Boys!"

"I can't wait to see Sky again," Bloom grinned. "We haven't been allowed to go out all week, but he promised we'd do something special together soon."

"Yeah, you've got the perfect guy," Stella laughed, "all thanks to me, dawling!"

What? Flora looked as if she was about to burst into giggles. Tecna stared at Stella in disbelief, and asked, "Are you completely sane, Stella?"

"Of course I am!" Stella grinned. "I am bonded with the pixie of love for a reason. Amore and I make the best team ever. In fact" – she looked towards Flora and Layla, "I think you boyless gals will be able to find someone pretty soon."

"Oh no." Musa stood up. "Stella, you are not trying that matchmaking stuff again. We are not going through with that!"

I don't blame her… thought Tecna. She remembered last year, when Stella had set Musa up with Jared without her knowing. Musa hadn't forgiven Stella for quite some time.

"Yeah, no," Layla said. "I'm happy the way I am. Besides, I don't exactly have a choice in who I marry. My parents will pick someone for me in a decade's time."

"Your loss." Stella turned to Flora. "So, who's your dream guy?"

Tecna saw her friend look startled. Uh oh… The nature-fairy composed herself, trying to look as natural as possible. "I haven't really thought about it."

"Oh please!" Stella laughed. "It's every girl's dream to be swept off her feet by an adorable guy!"

"Not mine, apparently," Flora looked at the ground.

She's getting dangerously close to the subject, Tecna thought, knowing full-well that Flora hadn't told the others that she was dating Mirta. I don't think she wants them to know…

"So, what's your type, Flora?" Bloom asked. "Is he boisterous and brave? Or artistic and quiet?"

"I" – Flora stammered.

"Probably artsy and mega-silent," Stella grinned. "And shy. Don't worry, Flora, I'm sure you'll find someone this year!"

Okay, thought Tecna, her head spinning. Please let this end. She turned around and saw Faragonda and Griselda walk in. "They're here!" she shouted.

"Food in the library?" Griselda asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Er" – Musa said sheepishly.

"Sorry, Ms. G," Stella said cheerfully. "We promise not to spill it on the floor."

"It would be a shame, especially considering how spotless you made this library," Faragonda said. "In fact, I believe your punishment is to be lifted."

"Oh, and by the way, Bloom, this came for you in the mail," added Griselda, thrusting her a fancy envelope.

Tecna gazed at it. The envelope was embroidered in gilt, and shined brilliantly with cursive writing: From the Royal Family of Eraklyon. Bloom gasped.

"Open it!" breathed Stella.

Bloom tore it open. Breathless, the girls read the card, gazing over Bloom's shoulder:

Miss Bloom Peters of Earth:

You have hereby been invited to the Kingdom of Eraklyon's millennium anniversary ball, 1 Sextmensis 999. You have been named the guest of honor of His Highness, Prince Sky Achilles Chiron of Eraklyon. Please arrive in formal attire at 16:00 sharp.

Thank you,

The Royal Family of Eraklyon

Below that was a personal note, which Bloom read to herself. When she read it, her eyes were shining. "Can you believe it? Sky wants to formally announce me as his official girlfriend!"

Tecna stared at the invitation, amazed. A party… She could hardly believe what was going on.

"Woo-hoo!" shouted Stella. "We're doing some mega-shopping now! I need a new dress, and so do you, Tecna! 'Cause you're not backing out of this one!"

I'm going? Tecna stared at Stella in surprise. I wonder if Timmy will take me? A part of her, the part she'd trained the hardest, shouted at her, No, you can't go. You have work to do. But the other part of her, the part that had grown more and more vocal now that she was away from her parents, said: Go. It's just for one night, isn't it? You'll make it up the day after. And the day after, and the day after…

"Haven't you forgotten something?" Faragonda asked.

Tecna jumped. Faragonda was eyeing Bloom and Stella with a smile on her face. "You've forgotten something, haven't you?"

"Oh!" Bloom jumped nervously. "Um… can we please go to the ball, Headmistress? Please?"

"Certainly," said Faragonda with a smile. "You'll miss homecoming, but I can imagine this is much more exciting."

"Yay!" shouted Stella. "Let's hit the mall!"


The work was starting to get worse. Vasiliev had started setting weekly quotas for her, and was having her finish three-thousand sets of algorithms per week. It would've been difficult enough at her home realm, but while juggling five classes on the side, it was nearly impossible.

To help mitigate her work, Tecna asked Digit to do some of her homework for her. Digit protested initially, but then acquiesced once Tecna told her how much work she had to do on the side.

"You have to do that much?" she asked, horror-struck. "Tecna, I don't get it. Why do you have to make so many algorithms?"

"It's the company I work for," Tecna answered. "Don't worry, Digit. If I'm efficient, I'll get today's work done in six hours and thirty-five-point-two minutes."

"That's still too much!" Digit paced around. "No wonder you don't have any time for anything else!"

"Please, Digit," Tecna begged her. "Look, I swear you won't have to do this for too long. The work will come to a close soon; Mr. Vasiliev never has me work into the school year. I'm sure that, a few weeks from now, I'll be fine."

This was a complete lie; Vasiliev had never said anything about the work letting up. In fact, he'd made it sound like the complete opposite. Digit sighed and shook her head.

"You're my bonded fairy, Tecna," she said, "and I'll do this for you. I can tell this work is really important to you." She settled on the table and opened her portable laptop.

Digit wasn't wrong about that; the work was very important to Tecna. But not for the reason she thinks… The two of them worked side-by-side in silence, Digit humming to herself as she looked up the answers to DuFour's worksheet on aeroflynamics.

Tecna smiled down at her pixie, who, attentively as ever, focused on her work. I knew I could count on her… It reminded her of that day last Sextmensis, after they'd bonded in the Alfea quad…

The two of them had been cuddled up in Tecna and Musa's room, playing computer games. Bloom, Stella, and Musa had been out on dates, and Flora had been visiting Mirta in the hospital. As Tecna wasn't dating Timmy yet, she was with Digit, and the two of them cheered as their WinxCart sped across the racetrack.

"Oh, yeah!"

"Great programming!"

"Here's to future engineers!"

Tecna smiled; she hadn't been this happy in a long time. Bloom, Stella, and Layla's mission had been extraordinarily stressful for her, Flora, and Musa; many a night had been spent anxiously watching them on Realmwide Maps. In the stress that had ensued, one of her spinal circuits had gone undone, which at times made it difficult to move her fingers. But now her friends had come home safely, which left Tecna free to play with her new pixie friend. Even with my fingers not at full function, I can still play this game pretty well.

"It was nothing," she said modestly. "Nothing you couldn't have done without me."

She flicked the screen to the next level. She was about to hit START when Digit added, "So, I've been meaning to ask you: how annoying is that broken circuit in your spine?"

Tecna gasped out loud, turning around to face Digit. How did she know? The pixie sighed.

"I'm a techno-pixie, okay?" she said. "I can sense your wiring. And you've got a lot of it. In fact, I'd say you have enough electricity to light this entire school up."

"You can't tell anyone, Digit," Tecna whispered. "If you tell anyone, I'll be expelled from Alfea. Cyborgs are forbidden from attending UR Defense Schools!"

"Well, that's a load of glitches," Digit said indignantly. "You're so good at coding, and they don't want you to train to defend the world! What are they scared of, exactly?"

"That's how the world is," Tecna said sadly. "You have to promise me, Digit. Promise you won't tell anyone."

"I've got your back, Tecna," said Digit, flying up to Tecna's spine. "Quite literally." She snuck under Tecna's shirt.

"I'll fix your broken wiring for you," she assured her friend. "Just hold still for a moment." She concentrated her magic on Tecna's spine.

Tecna gasped as electrical energy tingled up her spine, connecting every nerve into one big tree. She felt her fingers tingle, and then a bold surge of magic zapped them, sending life into her hand.

She gingerly wiggled her fingers. Unbelievable… Whereas it would've taken her a good portion of any evening to figure out her problem, Digit had fixed it in mere seconds. She smiled at her bonded pixie.

"Thank you so much," she breathed.

"No problem," Digit smiled. "Oh, and by the way, your secret's safe with me. I won't tell a soul." She flew towards the screen. "Now, how about the next level?"

And now, they were working on their work and assignments, respectively. Side-by-side, fairy and pixie worked until midnight, when, worn out by the amount of work, they both fell asleep.

As the week passed by, Linphean-Zenithian relationships plummeted to an all-time low. The realms continued to fight about trade, and imposed reverse-sanctions on one another. She knew Flora was watching the news, too, though she tried to avoid it in conversation when they were together. I don't want her to feel bad…

And now, they were boarding the ship to Eraklyon. Timmy gasped as soon as he saw Tecna.

"You look so beautiful," he gasped.

"Thanks," Tecna smiled, a blush coming to her face. She was wearing a deep purple dress made of satin, with orange ribbons tied. No sparkles – Tecna had drawn the line on that – but it was bright enough that no one would think she was the cyborg from Zenith. Except for her parents, who would recognize her anywhere.

That was the problem. As they flew, Tecna pulled Timmy aside so they could talk.

"We can't get in any pictures together," she whispered. "The pictures from the ball will be all over the Realm Wide Web, and if my parents find out I'm dating you, they'll be furious. I don't want them to find out."

"Tec, are you sure about this?" Timmy asked uncertainly. "We can't keep hiding from them forever."

"I know," she whispered. "And Timmy, I know how hard this is for you. But I can't let them find out – not yet, at least. Is that okay?"

"Of course, Tecna," Timmy nodded. "I don't want to do anything you're not comfortable with."

"I'm so excited!" Chatta squealed, flying up and down. She was wearing a shimmering green dress, one that made her golden hair stand out. All of the pixies were dressed-up, in fact, wearing beautiful colors. They were grinning as they looked at their respective fairies.

"Sorry about missing the Princess Ball," Digit said, her indigo suit contrasting against the other pixies' dresses. "We had some work to do, helping the Pixie Elders move our Village. But we're ready for this today!"

"Actually, I'm kinda glad you missed the last one, to be honest," Stella said sheepishly. She was wearing a vibrant orange dress, one that, in Tecna's opinion, was too bright for her fair coloring. Her jewelry and her tiara looked ridiculous; anyone would think she was the star of the show, not Bloom. But she was beaming as she put her arm around her friend.

"You're gonna be amazing," she gushed.

"But what if I mess up?" Bloom asked nervously. "What if I trip on my dress? What if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong," Stella assured her. "You're gonna be just fab-u-lous!"

But, as it turned out, Bloom would be right. Things would go much, much worse than they'd expected.

The ship landed. The boys walked together, and the girls walked separately from them. They would not be meeting as couples until the start of the ball; Eraklyon, like Andros, was very traditional. Tecna waved goodbye to Timmy as he walked away.

Mirta was going to join Flora, but was pulled away by Stella, who was fussing with some problem about her dress. That left Flora to join Tecna, who looked over at Tecna nervously. Tecna swallowed, not meeting her friend's gaze. The Linphean fairy lightly touched her arm.

"Look, Tec," she said, "I know you haven't been sleeping well at night. Half the days, you look dead during Magiphilosophy. I didn't say anything to the others, because I didn't want them to worry, and I wanted to talk to you first. What's been going on?"

Tecna swallowed again. Vasiliev… She'd worked extra hard this entire week to make sure she could come to the party. It had been extremely exhausting, and she'd had to force potions down her throat to stay awake throughout the day.

I can't tell Flora about him, she thought. It'd already been a huge risk to tell Timmy; she couldn't bear to tell anyone else. If they found out about her cyborg machinery, then she could pack her bags and kiss Alfea goodbye.

"I have work to do," Tecna said instead. "I'm employed by a friend of my father's."

"But this much work?" Flora scrunched her head in worry. "Tecna, why are you doing this?"

"I have to," Tecna responded. "My family owes everything to him. And so do I. I – I can't explain" –

"You don't have to," Flora answered. "Just promise me one thing, okay, Tec?"

"What is it?" Tecna asked.

"Promise me you won't hurt yourself," Flora answered. "I don't want anything to happen to you, Tecna. Please, promise me that."

Tecna nodded. "I won't."

Flora smiled, and there was genuine sweetness in her expression. A question came into Tecna's head, and she frowned.

"Flora, may I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Flora smiled. "What is it?"

"How do you express yourself without fear of persecution? You, well, you like Mirta," she said awkwardly, "but how do you do it? How do you stay with her, even when the society around you doesn't want you that way? How do you do it?"

Flora let out a sigh. "Honestly? I think it was my parents that made all the difference. I told them I was lesbian when I was sixteen, right before going to Alfea, and they've been nothing but supportive. There are some judgmental people in my village, but the climate is much less suffocating than Alfea, where just about every girl is straight. But I think the biggest difference comes from the parents, Tecna."

That's true, Tecna realized, a wave of envy shooting through her. Her parents wouldn't even let her be with her boyfriend, Timmy. And if she had happened to like girls…

"But even if your parents don't accept you for who you are," Flora continued, "you know I always will, Tecna. And if you happen to be bi, I'll give you tips on going out with girls."

Tecna smiled at her. "I'm glad to hear it, Flora. But don't worry; I'm straight." She sighed. "I take it the other girls don't know about you and Mirta."

"No." Flora shook her head. "I don't know how they would take the news if Mirta and I tell them. So for now, can we just keep it between you and me?"

"Got it." Tecna smiled. "I figured as much when you avoided Stella's questions that morning. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." It pleased her, to have a secret that she and Flora could keep between themselves. Flora must really trust me… despite everything that's going on between her and my realm.

"The ceremony's about to start!" Bloom shouted from ahead. The girls shut up and joined their friends at the front of the crowd.

Tecna gazed around the crowd. It seemed that the royalty and nobility from every kingdom was there. There was Queen Isabel and Prince Alberto of Linphea, King Jun and Queen Li of Melody, and… King Radius and Countess Cassandra. Stella let out a gasp of outrage. "How dare she show her face here?"

"Shh!" Bloom said, pointing to the steps of the palace.

Prince Sky was standing, wearing a handsome blue royal cape with golden adornments. He smiled warmly at Bloom, who smiled back. He was standing at the top of the steps, next to his father, King Erendor, and mother, Queen Samara.

"Greetings, everyone!" he shouted. The onlookers quieted and gazed eagerly at him. "I want to thank you all for joining in this great celebration with us. As Crown Prince of this realm, I have come of age. I want to tell you about a girl I've met, who makes my eyes shine with joy every time I see her. She is the most beautiful and amazing girl in the Magical Dimension. I want the whole kingdom to know about the girl I'm dating right now." He smiled. Bloom stepped forward eagerly, joy lighting up her eyes.

"My friends, without further ado, let me introduce you to the love of my life… Lady Diaspro of Isis!"

A pale-haired girl wearing a taffeta red dress stepped out of the shadows, her eyes gleaming wickedly. Tecna gasped in shock as she stepped forward, taking Sky's hand in her own. Most of the crowd cheered, particularly the Isis crowd.

But for the Winx, this was nothing short of horror.

This is completely irrational, thought Tecna. Sky, who had never done anything cruel to anyone, was now publicly disowning his girlfriend of two years? Why is he doing this? What is going on?

Bloom gasped, tears falling down her eyes. "I feel so strange… like everything is coming to an end," she cried.

"I can't believe it," gasped Flora, holding Bloom's shoulders before she could collapse. "Why would he do this?"

"He must really love Diaspro," Bloom sobbed. "It just took him until now to figure it out."

"Amore, what's going on?" Lockette turned to the pixie of love, who was staring at her crystal.

"I don't know," she wailed. "The crystal – it's conflicted. This has never happened before. Oh, and here I thought today would be a beautiful day for love!"

Tecna could barely control her breathing. She stared at Bloom in alarm, wishing there was something, anything, she could do. But I can't do anything about her feelings –

"I think we need to hear this directly from the Royal Cheater himself!" Stella said, firing up. "In fact, I'm gonna go over there and find out exactly what's going on!"

She stormed towards the steps. A guard, seeing the incoming princess, tried to stop her, but she simply halted him with a snap of her fingers. She was followed by Layla and Musa.

"Let's go," Flora said. She squeezed Mirta's hand once, whispering, "We'll be back, sweetie." Tecna and Bloom followed Stella, Layla, and Musa, and Flora undid the spell on the confused guard.

Diaspro was hugging Sky. Rage filled up in Tecna as she stared at the two, disgusted. If someone took my Timmy away from me – She stopped, taken aback by her own possessive thought.

Diaspro whispered something in Sky's ears. Suddenly, Sky jumped up, glaring at the girls. "Guards! Go get those witches!"

"What?" gasped Bloom. "Sky, what are you" –

"They're here, disguised as Alfea fairies!" Sky shouted. "They're terrorists, come to destroy this national holiday!" He glared at the guards. "After them!"

The guards' eyes hardened. They drew their weapons and ran towards Bloom. Tecna watched, transfixed, as Bloom did nothing to defend herself.

"That is a lie!" she shouted.

"You expect them to believe us?" Stella cried, grabbing Bloom. The girls ran towards the palace gardens, panting. Tecna did her best to keep up with the others, fighting hard not to trip over her dress.

HEARTBEAT 147.4 BEATS PER MINUTE, flashed across her vision. UNUSUALLY HIGH. SEEK CAUTI –

Shut up! thought Tecna irritably. I have to help my friends! She focused on the girls in front.

"They're gaining on us!" Layla cried.

"I'll block them for a moment," Flora said. Vine creepers appeared behind them, and the guards hollered angrily. The girls ran as quickly as they could, rushing into the maze.

"First Sky disses Bloom, and then he calls us witches," Musa said. "He's gotta be spelled!"

"The same kind of spell that was cast on Stella," Layla added.

"After them!" a guard yelled, and Tecna snuck a look back. They'd sliced through the magivines and were now running towards the girls.

"That's it!" Layla yelled. "We're transforming, right now! Winx Enchantix!"

"Magic Winx!" shouted everyone except Bloom. Tecna felt her suit appearing, and for a moment, gasped in relief at no longer being in fancy party clothes, clothes that her parents would definitely disapprove of. Although I don't think the Eraklyon family will be posting any pictures of us after this… The guards let out a yell.

"I'll stop them!" Layla called, creating a barrier. The guards tried to attack the barrier, but their darts rebounded on them and they gasped, cursing. Layla smiled.

"My Enchantix spell makes it a lot stronger!" she called. "So see how you like that!"

"No, see how you like this!" a voice shouted. Sky was above them, riding a dragon. The dragon bellowed once, and a ray of fire cascaded, hitting Flora directly.

"Flora!" Musa cried, and Tecna watched in horror as her friend collapsed to the ground.

"We're here!" a voice behind them called. The Specialists, Mirta, and the Pixies had made it to the ship, and it was now hovering above them. "Get into the ship!"

"We'll get Flora," added Brandon and Riven, picking her up.

Mirta glared up at Sky. "What did you do to my – I mean, what did you do to Flora?"

Tecna saw Layla and Musa exchange a puzzled look. But it was quickly forgotten as Sky yelled, "That's nothing compared to this!" His dragon let out a mighty roar, spewing out a torrent of flames straight towards Brandon, Riven, and Flora –

"No!" Bloom yelled, dissipating the fire just before it could reach Flora. "That's it, Sky. I'm not letting you hurt my friends anymore!" She transformed, flying up to challenge Sky.

The dragon roared again, and Tecna gasped in horror. More dragons broke out of the royal armory, and people were screaming, stampeding one another in the rush to get away. In the path of one particularly brutal dragon was King Radius, who had been knocked to the ground.

"No!" Stella cried, and she soared towards the dragon. Tecna watched in horror as the dragon pounced on Radius, letting out a breath of fire…

And Stella jumped right in front of it.

She screamed in pain, trying to deflect the flames away but eventually succumbing to her power. Letting out one last cry, she fell to the ground.

"Stella!" shouted Brandon in alarm.

And then, a light began to shine on her. The Winx watched, transfixed, as another blinding light flashed over her. The same light that had engulfed Layla just a few weeks ago.

"Her Enchantix!" Layla shouted. "She's getting it at last!"

The light died away. Stella was standing, wearing a floating orange-and-pink top and orange-and-pink skirt, tied with turquoise lace. Turquoise barefoot sandals were strapped on her legs, and a blue band with an orange-and-pink pouch was around her neck. She wore a turquoise crown barrette in her hair. Her wings were luminous, orange with pink, blue, and yellow prism designs.

"My Enchantix!" she cried out.

Suddenly, she squealed as she was grabbed from behind. An Eraklyonese guard grabbed her, throwing a black band around her arm. She immediately reverted back to her civilian form, confused and stunned.

"We're taking this one to the dungeon," he said.

"No!" Brandon yelled. "Stella!"

"There's nothing we can do!" Timmy cried. "Come on, let's get out of here before they take us, too!"

He dove into the ship. Tecna and the other girls followed him; after an urgent plea, Brandon followed as well. The ship closed just as the guards ran at it, snarling and glaring.

"We'd better hide in the forest, before we become toast," Musa said. "Don't worry, Brandon, we'll save her."

Tecna's mind was whirling at an abysmal rate. She looked to Bloom, who was profusely sobbing as well. Then she looked over at Flora, who was still lying motionless next to Mirta.

What was going on? What dark force had uprooted all common sense and made Eraklyon completely irrational?


So, what'd you think? A lot was packed into this chapter. What do you think about Tecna's predicament? What about Mirta? I know I diverged quite a bit from canon in this chapter, but it'll still work out.

Next pair of chapters:

- The group heads toward the Eraklyonese palace, trying to free Stella.

- Flora thinks back on sophomore year and how she developed feelings for Mirta.

- Tecna remembers the day she met Timmy, and about how she started to trust Flora.

AOTD: I love the Trix, particularly the 4Kids version. They just have the funniest, wittiest lines, and are truly the embodiment of mean girls. The Cinélume Trix is okay, the Nick Trix is complete trash. I also liked the Wizards of the Black Circle – they're the villains we love to hate, and are completely, irredeemably evil. Valtor was okay, but Darkar was kind of lame – he basically made the Trix do all his dirty work. Tritannus is not even worth mentioning.

QOTD: What other books, shows, or media do you guys enjoy?