Up next: Tecna!
CHAPTER 10: VASILIEV'S COMMAND
"Andros is wet, Andros is dark, and Andros is useless," Valtor said. "The mutants serve no function anymore. We've taken all the spells this miserable realm has to offer; now we need to relocate. So you three give me some ideas."
The three witches and their master were in an underground hideout concealed by Valtor's collection of spells. Stealthily and undetected, Valtor had stolen the magical treasures of Melody, Solaria, Andros, Eraklyon, and Whisperia. It had been even easier to go to non-UR protected realms, such as Om, Oppositus, and Espero; those futile kingdoms had been unable to defend themselves against invasions. The witches frowned, in deep thought.
"Why don't we go to Shadowhaunt, Darkar's old place?" Stormy suggested.
"Do you really want to be reminded of that jerk?" Darcy asked disdainfully. "We're not going there. Besides, his old servants would probably turn on us the moment we enter."
"We need a place filled with ancient power," Valtor pointed out, "where I can keep this collection of spells."
"How about Cloud Tower Castle?" suggested Icy. "The school for witches, set up by the United Realms in Year 10 of the Age of Unity, along with Alfea and Red Fountain. A school tied to the history of Whisperia, our home realm."
"Hmmm." Valtor nodded, and Icy could tell he liked the idea. "Very interesting."
"It would be so much fun to go back there and kick Griffin's butt," Stormy sniggered. "She can't expel us for long, can she?"
"So that's what Griffin's doing, then? Headmistress of a UR school?" Valtor asked suddenly, his eyes flashing. "She and I have a score to settle. So it's decided, then. Cloud Tower it is!"
"Hey, Tec! Wake up!"
Tecna woke up with a start in Palladium's classroom. Numbers had swirled through her dreams, and she gasped as she saw what was going on.
Five other heads were staring at her. To be precise, girls of the Winx Club. Musa, who sat in the seat next to her, took her hand.
"What's up, Tec? It's not like you ta fall asleep durin' class. I mean, that's a Stella thing."
"Hey!" said Stella, stung. "I don't always do that!"
"Yeah, sure," laughed Layla. "I've never actually seen you pay attention during a class. And you barely study, too."
"Seriously, Tecna, are you okay?" Flora asked. "You've been rather down lately."
Tecna sighed. It had been a week since the events on Eraklyon; she supposed everyone had been down lately. Although Sky had made amends with Bloom and a court had exonerated Brandon and banished Diaspro, the news had been far from pleasant. Just last week, Valtor had attacked Fulgur and Summa, the realm of storms and realm of natural elements, respectively. Luna of Solaria and Priscilla of Linphea had been sent on a mission to guard the realm, along with two sophomores: Yasmin of Fulgur and Sofía of Linphea. They'd come back unsuccessful, having been unable to even find Valtor and stop him from enacting his spells.
"I'm fine," she said, attempting a smile. "I've just been overworked, I suppose. There's so much work this semester."
"Tell me about it," groaned Musa. "There's hardly any time to write my compositions or practice my flute."
"And I can barely squeeze in a two-hour date with Brandon on Fridays," Stella added. "Like seriously! And tests in Aeroflynamics, of all classes? It's supposed to be an easy class!"
"It sucks," agreed Bloom, "but I'm glad we're doing this. The teachers say they're stepping up our training because it's our final year, but I really think it's because of Valtor."
"I can't believe the UR still hasn't caught him," Flora added. "They've been sending all their forces after him, and he just hasn't been found."
"What's up with Ms. F, anyways?" Stella asked. "She always avoids questions about Valtor. It's like she's been hiding information from us."
"I've tried checking the library," Bloom said, "but I can't find anything. There's just no trace of information."
Tecna frowned. Although a lot had happened in between, she could clearly remember what Faragonda had told them three weeks ago, upon their return to Alfea. She'd been worried, and had done a miserable job of concealing it.
"There is no mistake what Valtor is after," she had told them. "The same thing Darkar was after, in fact. He wants complete world domination. And he will not stop at any price."
"Who is he?" Stella wanted to know. "Who is Valtor?"
Faragonda let out a sigh.
"Valtor is a centuries-old villain from Whisperia," she said. "Many villains seem to hail from there, though from no fault of that poor realm, of course. I always say it is a shame how fairy-beings have treated warlocks all throughout the ages. Whisperia is the only non-fairy kingdom in the United Realms, which means that it is often on the defensive when it comes to decision-time."
"So is that why Valtor's doing this?" Layla wanted to know. "Does he hate all fairies for what they've done to his kind?"
"It's not as simple as that," Faragonda answered. "He is very dangerous, Layla, and very cunning. He is one of the most manipulative men in the dimension. And he is very powerful, too. More powerful than you should have to face at this pivotal stage in your lives, if you ask me, but fate is not always too kind."
"Hold on a minute." Bloom frowned. "It sounds like you're speaking from personal experience, Ms. Faragonda. It sounds like you… know him."
"Yeah," added Stella. "What's with you and this guy?"
Faragonda frowned. "What's important is that we make sure Magix doesn't suffer the same fate as many of the other realms. The UR is working on defense mechanisms for the realms that haven't fallen, but they underestimate him; he is very capable of getting past all of them. And at some point, it will be up to us to defend our school and our realm."
Tecna exchanged a glance with Flora. She completely just sidestepped that question about Valtor… What was Faragonda hiding? And why didn't she trust them?
"In fact, I know for a fact he'll attack here," Faragonda said. "These three schools are very ancient and powerful; if he is to succeed at any world-takeover quest, he will come here. So we must be on guard, girls. I have summoned you six here because you are the only ones who have faced him directly before, and two of you are the only girls in the senior class to so far have gained Enchantix. If anyone has the best chance of standing off against him, it is you. So go back to your classes and train especially hard, so you can defend our school!" Her eyes flashed. "And please, don't mention this to any of the other girls. I don't want a panic created throughout the castle."
And so there they were now, three weeks later, in Palladium's Advanced Battle class. The girls abruptly finished chatting as Palladium strode into the room, his long mane flowing past his back.
"Good morning, girls," he said. "Now, it is time for us to practice advanced convergence. I assume you all read the pages I marked for homework last night."
No, I didn't, thought Tecna. In fact, she hadn't read any pages in any textbook for the last three weeks; she'd been too busy with her coding. She yawned once, sighing.
"Good," said Palladium. "Now I want you girls to get into groups of three and practice with each other, and I'll walk around and give you pointers. Remember, this spell will only work with focused energy and a clear head"…
Tecna's head fell to the desk, and she suppressed a groan. It's going to be another long day…
Two unsuccessful classes later, Tecna was strolling down Magix City with Timmy. They'd managed to see a movie together, and were laughing as they walked down the street.
"That was hilarious," Timmy laughed. "The protagonist could barely even operate his phone, and he somehow managed to defeat a villain?"
"I know," Tecna laughed. "It was so illogical. The antagonist was much stronger than the protagonist; but with a few lucky moves, he managed to defeat the villain. It's so ridiculous – after all, there's no such thing as luck."
"You really think so?" Timmy said in surprise.
"Of course," Tecna responded. Nothing happened by accident. Imposter Avalon hadn't invaded Alfea by accident. They hadn't defeated Darkar by accident. Everything, right from her hover crash to now, had always been predestined, planned by someone in charge.
"Hmm." Timmy stared at the night sky, looking thoughtful.
"What?" Tecna asked in surprise. "What are you thinking about?"
"I'm just wondering," he said, "whether you think we met each other by luck, or whether it was a conscious decision on our parts. What do you think?"
Tecna blinked in surprise. She had never thought of it that way before. What does he mean by that? She stared at him, completely taken aback.
"Well," she said, "You, Sky, Brandon, and Riven were all suitemates. So, it was logical that I got to know you."
"But how do you know?" Timmy pressed on. "How do you know we were meant to be?"
Tecna couldn't answer. How did it happen? How did something so illogical as their relationship spring out of the seeds of rationality? She frowned for a moment, thinking back to the first time they'd met, the exercise at the Black Mud Swamp…
The thirty-nine girls of the freshman class were on a field exercise for Palladium's class. As always, Tecna, Flora, Bloom, Musa, and Stella had partnered up, and they were walking through the Black Mud Swamp, trying to find the crystals.
Tecna didn't understand a thing they were trying to do. In the middle of the swamp, without any Web connection, she felt entirely deprived. Her scanners were still working, but in the middle of a wet, muddy patch of land, they were not very useful.
What is this Voice of Nature? How could Palladium tell them to follow this voice, akin to instinct? It was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. Clearly he's never heard of a data-analysis class –
Suddenly, her internal sensor pinged with alarm.
LARGE SHIP DETECTED OVERHEAD. SMOKE LEVEL HIGH.
Tecna snapped her eyes upward. A ship was barreling towards the ground, screeching with the sound of a wolf. The girls looked up in alarm.
"Let's go see what's going on!" Bloom shouted.
The girls raced towards the ship and peered anxiously through the windows. They gasped as they saw the boys coming out, unhurt except for their singed clothes.
"Are you all right?" Flora asked, worry in her eyes.
"Obviously," Riven snorted, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.
Tecna frowned at him. What a rude boy… Already she didn't like his attitude.
"Where're you guys going?" Stella wanted to know.
Sky smiled, trying to look reassuring. "We're, um, on our first solo mission, ladies. We're very excited and" –
"The troll got away!"
Everyone turned towards Timmy, who was staring frantically at a gaping hole in the spacecraft. The girls gasped.
"You were transporting a troll?" Bloom gasped.
"How'd it get away?" Musa demanded.
Tecna gazed at Timmy, who looked frantic and confused. Their eyes met briefly for a moment. And in that moment, she connected with him, for she knew what it was like to be fearful of the consequences of her actions.
Why am I feeling sorry for him? This had nothing to do with her. Why am I feeling sorry for a boy? Why am I even thinking about him? Her cheeks warmed slightly at the mere thought, and she instantly felt ashamed. She crossed her arms and turned around, gazing at the ground.
"Listen," Riven declared, "why don't you little girls go away and leave this job to the Specialists?"
"Who are the Specialists?" Stella rolled her eyes.
"Aw, snap!" Musa teased as Stella batted her eyes at Riven.
Riven glared at her. "Listen, you airhead little princess" –
"What Riven's trying to say," Brandon cut in, "is that it might be best if you leave the troll to us."
"I can tell her to bug off myself!" Riven snapped.
Tecna frowned. "But what if the troll finds the other girls?" she said fearfully, thinking of how aggressive that troll probably was.
"Just let us deal with it ourselves and stay out of our way!" Riven snapped. "Come on, guys, let's go." He sauntered off.
Bloom frowned as the boys walked away. "You know, maybe we should go after them."
"You mean after that jerk line Riven gave us?" Stella demanded.
"Yeah," Flora said softly. "I say we get back to our assignment and let them deal with it."
"Flora's right, Bloom," Stella added. "If Riven wants to get eaten by a troll, I say 'bon appetit'."
Flora frowned. "That's not quite what I said but" –
Tecna wasn't paying attention. She frowned at the ship ahead, scanning it with her feed. The reading came to her almost instantly from her downloaded database.
BURNT CAVITY, the screen read back. CREATED BY MAGICAL BLAST. She stared, taken aback.
"Hang on a minute, girls," she said. "It doesn't look as if that crack was created naturally. Someone has to have shot it from the outside."
"What?" Musa was instantly on her feet.
"In that case, we'd better go investigate," Bloom declared.
Stella sighed, throwing up her hands. "Fine. But don't complain if I spend an hour in the bathtub tonight."
The girls continued to walk. Tecna frowned, gazing towards the girls. The footprints disappeared as they walked, and she gasped.
"What happened?" Stella demanded, staring at the ground, the lack of footprints on the mud.
"Someone has to have levitated the troll," Flora said. "There's no other way."
"Great." Stella crossed her arms. "Troll's unfindable. I say we go home."
"It's not." Flora smiled. "There's another way."
"What?" Bloom asked.
"The Voice of Nature!"
Tecna groaned. "Not that again!" she cried out. "It's impossible. It won't work."
"Why not?" Flora stared at her.
"This nature voice doesn't exist," Tecna answered. "If you can't even use magic to connect with the trees, how do you expect this to work? It's impossible!"
"Linpheans have been doing it for millennia," Flora answered. "We don't need one ounce of magical blood in our bodies. Tecna, all you need to do is trust yourself."
Tecna barked a laugh. "That makes no sense."
"It does," Flora insisted. "You have to listen to the world around you. Just try it."
Tecna sighed. I'm not wasting my time arguing with her… Flora closed her eyes, her feet grounded in the mud.
"I think I can sense something," she whispered, opening her eyes. "The trees seem to be bristling ever-so-slightly, and the wind is beckoning. Something is amiss in that thicket." She pointed.
"Sounds nice and poetic, but I'm not sure that's what it is," Musa said.
"Exactly," Tecna declared. "This is a waste of time."
"No, I think Flora's onto something," Bloom said. "I think it's bristling ever-so-slightly, too."
"You're catching on, too," Flora smiled. "Yes, it's definitely that way."
"This is completely illogical, Flora," Tecna said. "I don't think" –
"Listen," Stella snapped, "have you got any better ideas? 'Cause if you do, I'm all ears. I didn't want to come to this stupid swamp in the first place, and I certainly don't want to be chasing some idiot guy with 'tude. But if you've got any better ideas, you'd better spill now, Tecna."
And Tecna had nothing. Palladium didn't even give us a map… She stared helplessly at Flora, who smiled and brushed her shoulder.
"Trust me," she said. "I know what we're doing."
She led the way. The girls followed, in order of most attentive to most skeptical: Bloom was in the front, tailed by Musa, and a yawning Stella. Tecna followed far in the rear, glaring at the ground.
I don't understand, she thought. How is this happening? This is impossible! Nothing is going to work. This isn't –
"Now that you mention," Musa said, "I sense something ominous here, too."
"Shh," Flora whispered. "I recognize these vines. They're Quietus Carnivorous; they hate noise."
"No way," Stella said, whistling. "Yoo-hoo! See, that didn't do anything" –
A vine snaked forward, grabbing her by the ankles. She screamed as she was pulled into the air, the girls staring at her. Flora darted forward and laid her hands on the vine.
"Calm down," she said soothingly. "We're not here to hurt you."
The vine uncoiled and moved away. Gasping, Stella got up, brushing the mud off of her clothes. Tecna stared at the vines, taken aback.
Why didn't I download any information about plants? Her scanner would've picked up on it immediately, and she wouldn't have to rely on information from someone who believed the Voice of Nature was her spiritual guide! She felt humiliated.
"I still don't see," she said, "that this is leading us the right way" –
A shout filled the air. Tecna jumped as she heard male voices, yelling in terror.
"Let's go!" Musa hissed.
Flora ran ahead, the girls running close behind. They gasped as they saw what was in front of them.
Timmy, Riven, Sky, and Brandon were hanging from the vines, gasping in pain. They were constricted terribly, their lungs in pain. And that wasn't all.
In front of them was a very blue, very gagged, sleeping troll.
"Oh no," Musa whispered.
As if sensing their presence, the troll woke up immediately. It leapt up, running towards the girls.
"Out of the way!" Bloom hissed.
The girls ran. The troll threw itself where they'd once stood, grunting the best it could through its gag.
"I'll calm the vines!" Flora gasped. She turned towards the vines and stroked them gently.
The vines recoiled. Tecna stared in disbelief as she saw Flora, once again, working her powers of nature on the plants. Without a single spell… She gasped.
The troll was gamboling straight towards her. She tried to move, but gasped as she found her feet were a foot-deep in very sticky mud. I'm stuck! Terrified, she frantically tried to lift her feet.
"No!"
Timmy jumped forward and shoved Tecna out of the way. They lay in a stunned heap together, mud splattered over.
"Thanks," Tecna whispered, feeling slightly ashamed that she'd stood there so stupidly, illogically. I should've been of help to my friends! She forced herself off the mud, looking with distaste at her messy clothes.
She gazed at Timmy, the mud on his cheeks, his glasses askew. For a moment, he looked brave, even cute. But she forced the thought out of her mind as soon as she thought it.
Stop it, she scolded herself. But she couldn't help it. Their eyes met again, and this time, she managed a small smile.
"Thanks a lot, girls," Riven grumbled. "Look what you made happen!"
"We saved you!" Stella snapped.
"Quiet down!" Flora whispered. "We don't want the vines to attack us!"
"That thing is attacking us!" Stella protested.
And it was. The troll was pulling itself out of the mud, although it hadn't caught them yet. The worst part was that the girls, with their black magic-restricting bands on, couldn't even defend themselves. Riven stepped forward.
"Listen," he snapped, "we'll get it ourselves."
"You can't defeat a troll!" Musa gasped. "You're only sophomores!"
"You don't need to," Timmy said suddenly. "I have a better idea."
Everyone looked at him. He grinned a toothy, nerdy smile, and again, Tecna felt her cheeks flame ever so slightly.
"Let's get the gag off!" he said.
"Why?" Riven snapped. "No one wants to hear that thing yell!"
"Exactly," Flora said. "And neither do the vines. I say it's worth a try!"
"Let's go!" Sky and Brandon said together. In a quick motion, they ran towards the troll, and yanked the gag off of its face.
The effect was instantaneous. The troll, sensing its freedom, leapt up and let out a horrendous yell.
Almost immediately, vines snaked around the creature, leaving it completely trapped and constricted. The troll let out a yell as it was wrapped, unable to fight back.
"Nice work!" Musa whisper-cheered.
Tecna stared at Flora. I don't understand… She stared down at the shorter girl.
"How'd you get it?" she whispered. "You didn't even use a map. And yet, you knew that danger was ahead, and that the troll was with it. How'd you find out?"
"I can't explain it," Flora said, scratching her forehead. "All I know is that my inner self was guiding me. What Palladium calls the Voice of Nature, I call intuition. It just seemed… natural."
"Hmm." Tecna frowned. "Intuition. I shall have to look that up at home."
And it seemed, even two years later, that Tecna hadn't made any strides in finding this thing called "intuition". It still seemed foreign to her, even after interacting with these amazing, confident girls. How do I figure this out? She frowned and looked up at Timmy, trying to find a suitable answer to his question.
"Well, I guess that has to do a lot with instinct and intuition," she said. "After all, luck is based off of the unknown, and so is intuition, too. Some people are just good with their instinctual drive." She gazed unhappily at the ground. "Not me, though."
"What?" Timmy stared at her. "That's not true, Tecna. You're great with instinct, in fact! Who was it that suspected Avalon when no one else would?"
"That was purely based off of logic," Tecna said, her cheeks flaming. "I wasn't a genius or anything."
"But that's its own type of intuition," Timmy protested. "Since you're so knowledgeable, you know when things are right and when they're wrong. You're great, Tecna! You just have to believe it. And I know you'll do great things" –
Her ears beeped. In alarm, Tecna stared as red letters flashed across her screen.
REMINDER TO ALL ALFEA STUDENTS, the letters read. MAGICAL PROTECTION BARRIER ACTIVATED BY TWENTY O'CLOCK.
"Oh no!" she exclaimed, checking her internal clock. "It's nearly twenty o'clock. I have to go back to the dorm."
And I need to finish coding my sets, she realized. She'd been negligent in her work this past week, and really needed to make them up. I should never have come out on this date. But she hadn't regretted spending time with her boyfriend; it'd been too fun.
"Okay," Timmy said. "I'll give you a ride home."
"No," Tecna said, and Timmy stopped, surprised. "It'll be faster on my own. Besides, it's out of your way; I don't want you to go all the way to Alfea only to turn back to Red Fountain."
She kissed him on the cheek once and then turned away. For a moment, she thought she could detect a glimpse of sadness in his eyes, but that disappeared as he smiled. She turned around and headed to the outskirts of the city, following the path back to Alfea.
I'd better get back to campus quickly, she thought. Inside or not, Griselda was activating the magical barrier at 20:00 sharp, which meant she had ten minutes and fifty-eight seconds to get there. I'll fly; it'll be quicker.
But just as she was about to transform, someone spoke.
"Well, well."
Tecna froze instantly. Her nerves felt as if they were made out of ice, and she found she could hardly breathe. No, not him… She swallowed.
"Mr. Vasiliev," she breathed.
"Correct." A man with black armor and menacing yellow eyes smirked at her, standing tall above her. He smiled.
"What are you doing here?" Tecna gasped. How had this man, her worst nightmare, followed her all the way to Magix? He's supposed to be in Zenith, looking over the lab!
"I wouldn't be worried about me," the man smiled. "I just saw you walking with that boy, out of a theater. Quite the rebel, aren't you?"
Tecna's mouth fell open. Oh no oh no oh no oh no…
"Don't worry," the man smiled. "I have zero interest in telling your family. It would, quite frankly, be a waste of my time. But I know you haven't been spending enough time on my lab work, Tecna. You were supposed to finish four hundred sets this week, but you have barely finished two hundred." His eyes flashed. "I came here to give you some coaxing so you remember what comes first."
"I'm sorry," Tecna gasped, her eyes wide. "I" –
"You will finish six hundred sets tonight," Vasiliev responded. "If you are not done with the sets by morning, I will contact your parents and inform them, and they will withdraw you from Alfea."
"No!" Tecna's legs buckled. "Please, don't have them pull me from Alfea" –
"Well, you have a choice," the man smirked. "Finish them tonight or face the consequences. That's our deal." He walked up to her and stroked her leg.
"My little cyborg," he whispered. "I created you, out of metal and steel. And forever, your heart and soul shall be made of metal and steel, too."
Tecna wanted to pull away but couldn't. It was simply impossible. She gasped once, the memories this man had inflicted on her flooding back like a river of stone.
It had been a chilly day in Unimensis, her birth month. Tecna had been riding a hover-taxi home when, suddenly, it'd crashed and she'd been thrown to the street. The driver had been killed, along with the other two passengers, but she'd survived. At a cost.
Back then, Zenithian technology hadn't been as sophisticated as it was now, and 4D-printed arms and legs were hard to come by. But then Mr. Vasiliev, a gifted surgeon and printer, had stepped in. This man had fashioned all of her limbs and neural networks for her. In return, he expected her to work in his laboratory for no pay.
Her parents instantly agreed. They said she needed the training from Mr. Vasiliev, and if she protested, they simply punished her and ordered her to return to work again the next day. She'd never been able to explain to them exactly why she was afraid of him, about the controls. And she knew she never would.
"I have the controls," Vasiliev smirked. "It's time you learned your duty, Tecna. Your parents sent you here to this school so you could make them rise in their social circle, which is great and all, but that doesn't mean you're absolved of your debt. You will do those six-hundred sets; is that clear?"
Tecna nodded shakily. Memories flashed through her mind, of when she'd fought Darcy and Stormy in Alfea's campus, and how they'd all faced Darkar down. When it came to enemies attacking her friends, she had no qualms taking them down.
But she couldn't stand up to this man.
"That's a good girl," Vasiliev smirked. "Now, go and do your work. I'll be off." With a wave of his hand, he disappeared.
Tecna looked at her watch and gasped. 20:01. The magical barrier would've been set off by now. She collapsed on the ground, dazed.
I can't get back into Alfea, she realized with dismay. It's no use begging Griselda to open the barrier – she won't compromise the school's safety just for one girl. A girl who can't even keep herself together. She buried her face into her hands.
No use whining, a voice in her head scolded her. It's your fault you ended up in this mess in the first place. You were going out with a boy instead of focusing on your duties. In fact, you've been remiss in your duties this entire time. What a fool you've been.
She would no longer do that again. She would finish all six-hundred of those sets tonight. No, she would do twelve hundred. I'm not letting my emotional weaknesses take over. Clenching her fists, she opened her backpack and pulled out her portable laptop, which she thankfully always kept with her.
It's time to do this. It's time to fulfill my duty to my family and Vasiliev. It's time to be who I'm supposed to be again.
Tecna opened her eyes. The sunlight was incredibly bright, and she winced as she started up at the sky. It was high noon. She stared at her laptop, which was right in front of her.
She didn't know when she'd crashed. All she knew was that she'd slept entirely too long; her head felt woozy, as she wasn't used to such sleep. She opened her laptop to check, and gasped in disappointment.
She'd only finished eight hundred and forty-eight sets. Enough to keep Vasiliev's threat at bay, but not enough to fulfill what she'd promised herself. I didn't get to twelve hundred… Disappointment rose up in her, and she bowed her head.
"Tecna!" a voice behind her called. "There you are!"
Tecna jumped as if she had been shocked. Who's that? She gave a start as she saw who it was.
The five other Winx girls were flying above her. They flew down to the ground, and gasped at Tecna's muddy clothes and her tired eyes. The pixies were hovering over them as well, staring at her. Flora walked up to her and held her by the shoulders.
"Tecna," she said, "you have black circles around your eyes! You haven't been sleeping well at all! What happened?"
Tecna couldn't trust herself to speak. Of course there're black circles… She hadn't drunk any potion to remove them. In fact, she hadn't eaten or drunk anything at all since Vasiliev had cornered her.
"Did someone ambush you?" Musa demanded. "Were you attacked?"
Tecna tried to smile. "No, no one attacked me," she said. "I just had some work to do, and I got… carried away. And then I crashed."
"What kind of work?" Digit wanted to know. "What was so important you couldn't come back to the dorm?"
Tecna frowned. "Well," she said, "um"…
"Tecna, you've been out for eighteen hours," Flora said. "At first Griselda thought you'd missed curfew, and that was all it was. But then you didn't come back in the morning, and everyone grew worried. Then Faragonda sent us and the pixies out to look for you. Tecna, what happened? Why were you out for so long?"
"We're the Winx," Bloom added. "We don't keep secrets from each other. Come on, Tecna, just tell us."
Tecna looked at her friends, her five trusted friends, and the pixies that'd helped them find her, and felt a rush of gratitude. And she wished, more than anything, that she could tell them. But I can't. To tell them would be to go against her family's creed, to spurn everything Vasiliev had done for her.
"Nothing," she said. "Nothing at all."
She was punished by being grounded for a week, unable to leave the castle. Faragonda and Griselda had been unable to get anything out of her, either, and she lay on her bed, tired yet fiercely working. The other girls had given up on trying to get an explanation out of her, and had left to go out with each other, in a state of confusion.
Tecna stared dully in the face of her laptop, opening up the sets. I must get to work… She slammed her fingers down on the keyboard, forcing herself to finish the remaining three-hundred-and-fifty-two sets she had to write.
I need to absolve my mistakes. I need to work…
Yeah, things aren't looking good for Tecna. Now her friends know what's going on! What will she do next?
Next pair:
- Flora finds surprising information about her friend's worldviews.
- Flora and Mirta try to find information about Valtor.
- Tecna recalls the day she met Flora.
- The witches of Cloud Tower attack Alfea.
AOTD: I've started liking anime, and have watched it. Aoi Hana is pretty good – for those of you who don't know, it's a yuri (lesbian) anime about high-school girls in relationships. I'm fairly new to the genre, though. Mainly I read lesbian romance novels.
QOTD:Do you prefer fanfics with canon characters, or with original ones?
