Wow, the situation out there is getting intense. As the Winx's situation gets more-and-more intense, so does ours. For those of us who live in the U.S., this is basically being treated like a wartime crisis. There's a curfew, gatherings are outlawed, restaurants are closed… Yeah, it's not looking good. But I have confidence we will get through this.


CHAPTER 13: THE SEARCH FOR FARAGONDA

The next day Griselda summoned Flora, Layla, and Musa to her office.

"I want you three to go and search for Ms. Faragonda," she said. "You three are at the top of the senior class; you can afford to miss a few days of instruction. She was last seen in Gloomy Woods Forest, though I'm not sure she'll turn up there. Search everywhere you can: Roccaluce Forest, Magix City, anywhere you think she'll show up. We will not last long without our headmistress."

Flora nodded, determination in her eyes. We won't let Valtor take our headmistress from us…

"My objective is to keep the school running as smoothly as possible," Griselda said. "I'm not sending anyone else because I want classes to still continue. Ms. Faragonda wouldn't want your schooling to end just because she disappeared. Now, go on."

"Ms. Griselda?" Layla asked. "What do you think happened to her?"

Griselda let out a sigh.

"If she won, she would be back here with us," she said. "She wouldn't have left us."

"But then she could be" – Musa couldn't finish her sentence.

"That's what I need you girls to find out," Griselda said grimly. "Now go on. Alfea is counting on you!"


But two weeks later, they were still searching for Ms. Faragonda. Even with the help of all the pixies, they still couldn't find where she'd gone. The negative energy from Valtor's evil spells didn't help; it cloaked Gloomy Woods Forest in full. And with their lack of progress, Griselda was getting very anxious, fearful for Faragonda's survival.

Mirta had offered to help Flora find Faragonda, but Flora refused, telling her girlfriend that she was not up for it.

"Please stay and make sure you feel better," she said gently. "The energy you spent in the battle was too much. The other witches were ready to attack you."

"What are you saying?" Mirta glared at Flora. "That I can't handle myself?"

"No!" Flora held her hands in the air. "That's not what I said at all!"

"Don't you know how hard this is for me?" Mirta snarled. "Being ostracized by fairies and witches both? You have no idea how it felt when the witches and Eris ganged up against me! And now you're trying to stop me from proving myself!"

Flora winced, remembering how the witches had called Mirta out while attacking Alfea. I'm sorry… She put her arm around Mirta's shoulder.

"You'll get the chance to prove yourself, Mirta," she answered desperately. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

Mirta shoved Flora's arm away, storming off. "Forget I said anything."

And now Flora sighed as she followed her friends towards the woods. She knew something had changed in Mirta, something too painful and powerful. She's given up hope… She'd tried to talk to Mirta about it, but the former witch had refused, and they'd remained in a stalemate all week.

"You know, I'm worried," Musa said, pulling Flora out of her thoughts. Flora gazed at her friend, gently tapping her on the shoulder.

"It's okay, Musa," she said. "We'll find Ms. Faragonda – I'm sure of it. She can't have left us."

"It's not even just that," Musa whispered. "Everything's going downhill. Five of the strongest realms in the UR have been attacked. Melody still hasn't recovered from the disaster – apparently, they still haven't been able to close the Omega Portal, and hundreds of convicts break into Melody every day. I don't even know if I'll be able to go home when the semester ends. The situation's really bad."

"Why can't they close the portal?" Layla asked.

"That's what everyone wants to know," Musa answered grimly. "To be honest, a lot of people didn't even know we had a portal, so it was kinda a shock when criminals started raiding their backyards. They're affecting the rural areas really badly – even with the Melodian Army stationed there, it's just not helping. The Melodian borders are completely shut, because they don't want any criminals to escape into any other realms. Now everyone's furious and petitioning, rioting, everything, but the government has refused to release any information about the portals."

"How can they hide so much?" Flora gasped.

Musa shrugged. "Well, the common people know nothing about the portal. I heard that, upon its foundation, the monarchy made the sages sign a non-disclosure agreement. So there's that."

"Guys, Lockette can't sense Ms. Faragonda," Chatta urged, flying up to them. "You have to help us."

"I can't track Ms. Faragonda," gasped Lockette. "This energy… it's hurting too much. I just can't."

Flora gazed down at her pixie and Lockette. She knew that Chatta, friendly and encouraging though she was, had a tendency to be too impatient. Poor Lockette… She patted the pixie on the head.

"Don't worry, Lockette," she said. "I'm going to try to connect with the trees."

"You already tried that," Layla protested, "and it didn't work. Do you expect it to work this time?"

"We're in a different location," Flora answered, "and it's worth a shot. We don't have any other ideas."

She transformed. Using her Charmix, she flew into the air, closing her eyes. She connected with the wildlife around her.

All week, she'd been trying, but to no avail. The negative energy had clouded the forest completely, giving her no recourse. But hopefully it's faded enough for me to focus… She called out.

Trees, she prayed silently. Please show me what happened to Ms. Faragonda. We need to know. The wind whipped itself around her as she connected with the woods, their voices appearing in her head.

A vision appeared in front of her. She gasped as she saw the elderly headmistress taking on the younger Valtor, who'd attacked her as if she was nothing but an annoying pest. She had fought valiantly, but had been no match for him.

What happened? she thought in alarm. She… she…

She's alive, the trees told her. We don't know where she went or what Valtor did with her. But we do know she is alive. Had her spirit departed, we would feel it. When the battle raged on, we had to look away, for fear of what Valtor would do. All we know is that they went to the west.

Flora opened her eyes. Tears of relief poured down her cheeks as she spoke to her friends.

"It finally worked," she said. "Ms. Faragonda's alive. But the trees were so scared of the battle, they had to look away."

"The trees were scared?" Musa gasped. "That's intense."

"She went that way." Flora pointed to the west, and Layla and Musa gasped.

"That way is Cloud Tower," Layla said.

"Valtor." Musa clenched her fists. "He must've beaten her and taken her prisoner!"

"That's what we have to check," Flora answered. "We have no choice. We have to infiltrate Cloud Tower."

"So what do you want us to do?" Chatta asked, firing up.

"Stay here and search more," Layla told them. "We have to go."

The girls flew to the west, towards the darkening, stormy sky. They were going to save their headmistress, or die trying. Without her, all hope for the Magical Dimension would be lost.


Flora landed on the steps of Cloud Tower, staring. She gazed in front of her, right in front of the door.

Someone was cowering on the steps. The three girls frowned at each other, attack spells at the ready. They marched forward, determined to figure out what was going on. The girl on the steps snapped her eyes up, and Flora gasped at who it was.

It was Mirta.

"Don't diss us like that!" Musa said indignantly.

"Mirta!" Flora ran up to Mirta, grabbing her hands. And to think we were about to attack her! Mirta instantly snatched her hands away, and Flora stared at her, confused and hurt.

"What are you doing here, sweetie?" she asked.

"I was worried about Lucy," Mirta confessed. "I don't know what possessed her to attack us, Flora. She – she's my friend. I have to go and save her!"

"We'll do the saving," Flora said. "Mirta, you only just transformed to a fairy. It's too dangerous for you."

"I don't care!" Mirta cried. "Lucy is my friend, Flora. If you cared, you'd let me come!"

Flora stepped backwards, stung. Behind her, Musa and Layla were raising their eyebrows at each other. There was a silence.

"I'm sorry," Flora whispered. "I shouldn't have – yes, come with us. We'll be happy to have you."

Mirta said nothing, but followed them. They entered the castle, and gazed around uneasily.

"Something's not right," Layla said. "How is it this easy for us to enter the castle? Shouldn't there be a protection spell or something around campus? I mean, is this really a good idea?"

"Well, it doesn't seem as if we've got a choice," Musa said dryly. "We'll just have to keep our ears and eyes open."

"I'll lead you guys to the dorms," said Mirta, flying in front.

Flora followed her, a bad feeling settling in her gut. Layla was right; there was something sinister going on. She stared in alarm as Mirta opened the dorm room.

Girls were lying motionless in their beds. They seemed to be barely breathing, stiller than wood. But it was their eyes that scared Flora the most. They were wide open, inhabited by a white, ghostly light. No iris or pupil could be seen.

Layla flew over and gently tapped one on the shoulder.

"They're in a state of suspended animation," she said. "It seems that Valtor wants to regenerate their powers."

"Is he going to use them to attack us again?" Flora asked. Musa gritted her teeth.

"Well, I say we just unleash our Enchantix and fairy-dust them!"

"We can't!" Layla protested. "If we do that, Valtor will know we're here!"

"And we need to find Lucy," Mirta added. She shot Flora a pointed glance. "I'm not letting anything get in my way of finding her."

Flora frowned, staring down. Why was Mirta being so confrontational? She knew that it was mainly her stress talking, but even then, she'd never been like this before. I don't understand what's going on. Letting out a sigh, she followed Mirta out of the dorm room.

And gasped as soon as she saw what was ahead of her.

There were two monsters, approaching from either end of the hall. They were menacing, their eyes dangerous and terrible.

"We're trapped!" Musa yelled.

"Everyone, stay calm," Flora said frantically. She heard Mirta tense up next to her, and grabbed her hand.

But Mirta pulled it away. There was a fierce edge to her eyes, one that shocked Flora. Mirta held an attack-spell and aimed it at one of the monsters. "Witch hoax!" she yelled.

But that did absolutely nothing. If anything, it incensed the monster even more. It charged at the girls, howling.

"RUN!" Musa yelled. The four ran back into the dorm. The monster bounded at them, letting out growls of anger.

"We can't go back in here!" Mirta yelled. "The monster will attack the witches!"

"Then we'll just have to fight it!" Layla picked up a Morphix sphere in her hands and threw it at the monsters. It created a lasso, binding them together.

But the monsters easily broke through the lasso. Flora collected her energy and sent it into the doorway.

"Pollen shield!" The green shield formed around the entrance, preventing the monsters from forcing their way in. Flora grimaced at the energy it took to keep the shield up. Layla and Musa flew through it to combat the monsters.

"We'll take care of it," they said in unison, slamming their energy into the monsters. This was more effective than when Mirta did it, but not for long. A monster leapt at Layla, and she only narrowly dodged.

Flora gasped in horror as she saw what was on the monster's head.

It was a mark, the same one they'd seen on Sky's neck and in the sky at Alfea. The mark could only belong to one person: the person who'd defeated Faragonda.

"Valtor's mark!" Flora yelled. "Layla, Musa, those monsters are being controlled!"

Layla stared down in horror and saw that she was right. The monster took advantage of her stillness and grabbed her by the ankle.

"No!" Mirta yelled, and she broke through the shield. Flora watched in horror as her girlfriend sent an attack spell into the monster, setting Layla free. Layla was able to escape and flew up to safety, just as the monster grabbed Mirta.

"Mirta!" Flora cried. "I'm coming!"

"I can take care of myself!" Mirta snarled back at her. She let out a scream as the monster grabbed her, shaking her around.

"Flora, you keep guarding the witches," Layla shouted back at her. "Don't worry. Musa and I have a plan." They linked hands and summoned their fairy-dust from their necks, shouting, "Enchantix Convergence!"

Purple and pink dust from Musa and Layla's pouches, respectively, sparkled through the air. Mirta stopped struggling as the monster stopped moving, staring up at the sparks. There was a blinding flash which made Flora avert her eyes, as much as she didn't want to. When it was over, she stared in surprise.

The two monsters had turned into two teachers: Edlitrude and Zarathustra. Zarathustra, who'd been holding Mirta, immediately dropped her and stared in surprise.

"Mirta?" she gasped.

"Professor Zarathustra!" gasped Mirta. "We – what happened?"

"Valtor put spells on all of us," Edlitrude said grimly. "I cannot believe he was able to turn us into monsters." She sounded disgusted, and then, she sighed. "You girls should not have come."

"We needed to come!" gasped Musa. "We need to find out what happened to Ms. Faragonda!"

"Ms. Faragonda's missing?" gasped Zarathustra.

"She lost this major battle with Valtor," answered Layla. "And now we don't know what happened to her."

"Then what are you doing here?" demanded Edlitrude. "You won't find anything here! We'll take care of our students!" They flew in the opposite direction, away from the girls.

"We're not leaving here until we find Lucy," Mirta declared. "I don't care what they say!"

"Then let's go!" Layla flew forward.

The girls flew into another dorm, gasping. Suddenly, Mirta cried out as she saw what was ahead of her. "Oh no!"

Lucy was lying motionless on a bed, her eyes as void as the rest of the girls they'd seen. Unlike the others, however, she wasn't even breathing; Flora stared at her in horror. Mirta ran up to her, crying up as she shook her friend's shoulders.

"Lucy!" she cried out. "What did he do to you? Lucy, wake up!"

Suddenly, a menacing laugh trilled through the corridor. Flora looked up in horror as she saw the Trix streaming through the corridor, laughing. Mirta turned around, her eyes blazing.

"You three!" she yelled. "You hurt my friend!" She slammed an attack at Icy.

But Icy dodged it, laughing. Then she slammed Mirta back. Mirta screamed as she was hit into the ground, and fell, groaning.

"You fell for our trap," Darcy laughed. "And now, here you shall stay, forever locked with your friend. This is where it ends!"

"No!" Flora yelled, but it was too late. An ice-wall had appeared in the doorway, added with electric volts and shadowy plaque. The Trix dissolved into laughter and vanished, their cackle still echoing through the walls.

Layla stared at the ice-wall in distress. "We're trapped."

Suddenly, Mirta began to sob. She grabbed Flora by the waist, hugging her tightly. Flora held her as well, stroking her hair.

"I'm… sorry"… Mirta wept. "I didn't want to admit I was scared, but – I'm so scared, Flora! These last few weeks have just been… nightmarish… everyone angry with me, witches taunting me, like how they did here… And I feel so powerless that I can't do anything to save Lucy, and now we're stuck here… what are we going to" –

"It's okay to be scared," Flora whispered, quietly so that only she and Mirta could hear. "Admitting your fears is the first step to conquering them. Now that you've admitted it, everything will be okay."

Though she didn't know how okay things would be. They might be able to break through the barrier, but they had no idea whether Lucy would heal or not. And they still didn't know how to find Ms. Faragonda.


Dang, that was tough. Next chapter:

- Tecna, Bloom, and Stella go searching for the other Winx.

- The three of them come across Griffin and find out what's happened to Cloud Tower.

- Mirta reunites with Lucy.

AOTD: I'm handling the coronavirus fine. My school is sending us work through Google Classroom, which is actually great because the work takes far less time than if we were doing it at school. There's still quite a bit of fear, which has only been increasing. Don't worry, everyone – we'll all get through this.