"Should we go visit her?" Flora asked.
"I think it would be nice of us to do so." Bloom said. "She might even recognise you Samara."
Samara didn't respond but kept stirring in her soup. She felt numb and empty and simply couldn't keep up with the conversation that the other Winx were having at lunch. Suddenly a grape bounced off her forehead. She looked up with a frown.
"There she is, nice of you to join us." Stella said while putting a grape in her mouth.
"Sorry…what did you say?" Samara asked.
"I was wondering if we should visit the girl you found in the forest." Flora said.
"If we are we should hurry, visiting hours are almost over for today." Tecna said. "And I don't think all of us should go, we don't want to scare her."
"I have some music I need to work on." Musa said.
"And I have a date with Brandon." Stella said. "So I won't go either."
"Samara and I will go together." Bloom said. "We can take turns each day."
"Well actually I…"
Samara stopped talking, unable to figure out an excuse as to why she couldn't go.
"Come on, let's go." Bloom said as she stood up and headed for the stairs.
Samara followed her reluctantly. All she wanted was to retreat in her room, as she had done all week.
"I really don't think we should visit her already, she might not even be awake yet."
"I overheard miss Faragonda and nurse Ophelia talking." Bloom said. "She woke up yesterday afternoon, apparently she ran across the square in her night gown chasing a pixy."
Bloom kept on talking about pixies and some secret library but Samara tuned out after a few minutes. They walked into the corridor with the bathroom and large window sill where Samara had last seen Palladium. The fairy of the Moon couldn't help but stop for a moment. She had avoided this corridor for the past few days but now the memory came crashing into her mind like a wave of emotions.
"Samara?"
A hand touched her shoulder and the girl gasped.
"Sorry, you seemed miles away, are you okay?" Bloom asked.
"Yeah…yeah I'm fine." Samara said. "Sorry, let's keep going."
She walked past the bathroom door with her gaze fixed straight ahead. They walked on in silence for a bit. When they almost reached the infirmary, Bloom started the conversation again.
"So are you ready for class tomorrow?" She asked. "First that new teacher and in the afternoon Palladium's new Technical Charms class, should be interesting."
Samara nodded with a tiny fake smile. "Yeah I suppose so."
The girls walked into the infirmary. Nurse Ophelia smiled as they walked in.
"She's awake and I think it would be nice if she could talk to someone her own age." The woman said as she led them to the last bed. Samara swallowed as her eyes fell to the bed where Palladium was in last year, where she had to leave him behind. She shook her head , forcing herself to forget about that.
The girl was reading a book, still dressed in her night gown.
"Hello there." Bloom said. "I'm Bloom and this is Samara, mind if we join you?"
The girl put the book down and smiled. "That would be nice."
Samara and Bloom sat down next to the bed.
"My name is Layla." The girl said.
"Nice to meet you Layla." Bloom said. "How are you feeling?"
"A lot better thanks, but still very tired easily." Layla said.
She suddenly turned her attention to the princess of Eraklion. "I need to thank you, if you and your friend hadn't found me in the forest, I don't know what could have happened."
Samara felt her blood turn into ice. Bloom shot her a questioning look.
"Friend…ooh you mean professor Palladium!" Bloom said.
"He was a teacher?" Layla asked surprised.
Samara thought she would turn into an ice statue at this point.
"He called for help when he found you and I was the only one outside so I ran towards the two of you." She quickly lied.
"Oh…" Layla said with a confused face. "I must remember it wrong than."
"How did you end up in the forest in the middle of the night anyway?" Samara asked.
"I uh…I escaped after saving my friends." Layla said.
" Your friends?" Bloom asked.
Suddenly they heard a lot of giggling coming from underneath the bed. Small balls of light suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Oooh are those pixies?" Bloom squeeled. "They are sooo cute!"
One of the pixies flew up to Blooms face.
"Hi there, my name is Locket." The pixy said high pitched.
"Well hello there, I'm Bloom."
Both of them had a look of pure happiness.
"Uh…what's going on?" Samara asked with a raised brow.
"They're bonding." Layla said. "It's a special relationship between a fairy and a pixy, like me and Piff."
Layla reached underneath her blanket and pulled out a tiny sleeping pixy.
"Well that is adorable." Samara had to admit. "But…you had to save them?"
Layla's face went sad. "An evil force had abducted them from their village and took them to his castle." "I had to save them…"
Bloom took Layla's hand in her own. "You are a hero."
"That she certainly is."
All three girls looked up to see Mrs. Faragonda stand behind them.
"I would like to speak with Layla in private if you don't mind." She asked kindly.
Samara and Bloom stood up and promised Layla that their friends would come to visit her tomorrow.
"She is very nice." Bloom said. "I wonder if she'll stay at Alfea."
"Uh Bloom, you have a free rider on you." Samara said.
Locket the pixy was holding on to Bloom's sleeve for dear life.
"Oh sorry, I didn't see you there." Bloom said.
She picked the pixy up with her other hand and put her on her shoulder.
"Better?"
Locket nodded. They walked on in silence for a bit when Bloom suddenly turned towards Samara.
"I completely forgot to ask, how was the ball for you?" "You know before the whole finding Layla happening."
"Uh…well it was quite boring to be honest." Samara lied. "After the opening dance I went for a drink and went outside for some fresh air."
"That's it?" "Not one single guy asked you for a dance?"
Samara nodded.
"Too bad your only dance was with Palladium." Bloom sighed.
"Yeah…too bad." Samara said.
A pain went through her heart at the mentioning of his name. How on earth was she going to survive a whole afternoon of staring and listening to him?"