"Would you please let it go Wizgiz…" Palladium sighed.
"Absolutely not, I don't care what you say Palladium, something is wrong with you."
The elf and leprechaun were walking down the stairs towards the square.
"You've been down for weeks now, I hardly see you smile anymore." Wizgiz went on. "I'm seriously worried about you my friend."
"Well you don't have to, nothing is wrong with me…I've just been busy lately that's all."
"If there were…you'd come to me for help wouldn't you?" Wizgiz asked.
There was such sincerity in his voice that Palladium stopped walking for a moment.
"Of course I would, you're my friend." He heard himself lie.
Wizgiz nodded and finally seemed to let the subject go. Palladium frowned. How was he supposed to tell Wizgiz what was bothering him? Was he just going to tell him that he fell in love with a student, forced himself to ignore those feelings even though they found out it apparently is true love?
It's okay though, Samara and I both agreed to ignore our feelings and just move on…it's what's best for her…
That thought made his chest ease a little bit.
The both of them walked through the front doors.
"It looks amazing." Wizgiz said. "Musa has really outdone herself."
"Yes indeed…" Palladium muttered not really listening. "He would have stayed in his room if it hadn't been for Wizgiz forcing him to come out.
"Oh would you let go for just one night?" The small professor said as he poked the elf against his elbow. "Just have some fun for a change!"
Palladium forced a fake smile on his face. "You know what, I'll get us some drinks."
"Great, some Guinness would do."
"It's only seven o'clock Wizgiz!" Palladium teased him.
"All part of the fun Palladium." Wizgiz said with a grin.
The elf shook his head and walked towards the long table. It was very crowded, which made Palladium even more agitated. Several times he stood on someones foot or someone else bumped into him.
"Stupid leprachaun with his stupid Guinness…" He muttered as he was searching the table.
Suddenly he tripped over one of the table legs and bumped into someone with his back.
"Hey watch it!"
The elf turned around. "I'm sorry I did not see you…"
He stopped talking when he stared into a pair of beautiful green eyes.
"Uh it's fine…" Samara muttered.
It was clear she wanted to leave. It would have been so much easyer if he would just let her go but he couldn't.
"No I should have looked where I was going." Palladium said. "I will get a new one for you."
Samara seemed hesitant but Palladium already grabbed the bottle with ice tea. As he turned back to her to hand the glass he noticed there was quite a big stain on her dress.
Oh good job, you ruined her dress!
"Oh no, did I ruin your dress?" Palladium stammered nervously. "I'm so sorry…"
"It's okay, I wasn't very keen on it anyway." Samara said a bit too fast. "It's Stella's though so she will probably get pissed if I don't get this cleaned right away."
"I can fix that for you if you want?"
Again the doubt in her eyes. Palladium couldn't blame her, somewhere in his mind he knew he was going too far.
"No thank you." He heard her say. "I'll just go and get it cleaned up myself."
There was a sadness hidden in her answer and it pained Palladium.
"Okay than…and again my apologies."
Samara nodded and walked past him. He sighed deeply and tried to ignore the tightness in his chest.
"Ah there you are!" Wizgiz said as he pushed his way through the crowd. "Headmistress Faragonda has asked the staff to meet her in her office."
"What right now?" Palladium asked. "The show is about to start."
Wizgiz shook his shoulders and the two professors made their way back to the front doors. As they made their way to Faragonda's office, Palladium could not help himself and stared towards the corridor that lead to the students dorms.
"Ah good, now we are complete." Faragonda said as Palladium closed the door behind him.
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice." Faragonda continued. "As you know, we are facing a dark enemy…Lord Darkar." "Now we know that he has one piece of the Codex in his possession."
She gazed upon her staff with a serious expression.
"We must prevent him from finding the other pieces."
"But how do we know where he will strike next?" Wizgiz asked. "We've updated the defense of the piece here at Alfea to a maximum but we cannot tell the same for the other two."
"We have reason to believe that his next target will be Cloud Tower." Faragonda said. "And soon."
"We could help Cloud Tower with their defense." Palladium said.
Faragonda shook her head. "Headmistress Griffin has assured me that our help is not neccessary…"
There was a certain annoyance in her voice.
"But professor Avalon has been able to convince Griffin that some action is needed."
All eyes went to the professor who stood up.
"It was clear that the staff at Cloud Tower would not accept any help from the staff of Alfea, but I was able to let some of our students stay at Cloud Tower for a week in the hope that they can convince the witches to stand against the Trix instead of helping them, let it be in fear of them or admiration."
"We need to be sure that the witches of Cloud Tower take our side in this battle." Faragonda said.
Palladium stared at her with open mouth. "Send some of our students to Cloud Tower?" He asked.
"Yes I know it sounds strange…"
"A week at Cloud Tower, a school filled with dark magic, will surely affect them." He continued.
"I have to agree with professor Palladium, we cannot ask this from our students." Professor Dufour said.
"Which students are we talking about Headmistress?" Wizgiz asked.
"The Winx." Faragonda said. "They have been through several ordeals already and know the Trix the best."
Palladium felt as if a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on him.
"Do they already know about their mission?" Wizgiz asked.
"Not yet, we will inform them tomorrow morning and they will leave in the afternoon." Faragonda said.
"We cannot really be serious about this?!"
Palladium had stood up and slammed his hands on the table.
"Sending fairies to a school filled with witchcraft and dark magic to do something that shouldn't be their responsibility!"
"Professor Palladium please remain calm!" Faragonda ordered. "The Winx are an incredible strong group of fairies as they have shown last year, I am sure they can handle this."
"The Winx are a group of strong fairies and they have each other to turn to for support." Avalon said. "I'm sure they can handle this."
Palladium noticed that none of the other professors agreed with him and sat down.
"In the meantime I want a daily report on our defensive spells." Faragonda continued. "Nightly patrols of the school must be planned and anything suspicious must be reported as well." "Keep in mind that at least one of the Trix is capable of transforming into anyone else."
The memory of the fake Stella on the rooftop appeared in Palladiums mind for a second.
"Thank you all for your time." Faragonda ended.
Everyone stood up and left the office.
"Want to head back to the show?" Wizgiz asked.
"No sorry Wizgiz, I have some work I need to finish in the lab." Palladium lied.
Wizgiz cocked an eyebrow but didn't say anything. The elf said goodnight and walked to his lab. His heart was racing and he had paced around the tables in his lab three times before he finally sat down.
How could they even think about such a thing? To send a group of second years to Cloud Tower…
He put his head in his hands and closed his eyes.
Honestly though…would your reaction be the same if it wasn't involving Samara?
The elf groaned at the voice in his head. Of course he would, these were his students and he cared for each one of them.
He sat like there for at least an hour, the only sound coming from the show outside. He could hear the songs being sung through the microphone and the cheering from the crowd. Finally he opened his cupboard and put a pile of papers in front of him. Might as well get some actual work done now he was there anyway. But the professor noticed that he couldn't even write due to his hand shaking too much.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Palladium considered not opening for a second but decided that that would be too rude. He stood up and walked to the door.
"For the last time Wizgiz I am not going to get drunk with you…"
He stopped talking when he saw Avalon standing in front of him. The man raised his eyebrows.
"Don't even bother…" Palladium sighed. "What can I help you with professor?"
"Actually I wanted to see if there was anything I could do for you."
Avalon walked inside the lab. "You seemed quite agitated after our meeting."
"Yes well…I am worried about our students that's all."
The dark blue haired man walked around the room and stopped at the desk, eyeing Palladiums wobbly notes.
"It seemed a bit more than worrying to me." Avalon said without looking up.
"You and I both know what dark magic can do to a fairy Avalon." Palladium said, feeling a panic rise in his chest.
"Yes, but I don't think that the Winx will be in direct contact with dark magic, they only need to convince the witches to stand up against the Trix should they appear at their old school."
Palladium huffed, not convinced by Avalons words.
"You know…one of the Winx came to me because she wanted to know more about her powers…"
"Yes I know Bloom is trying to find out more about her family." Palladium said. "You gave her that pendant."
"Yes but I was not talking about her, I was refering to miss Samara."
"Samara?"
Avalon looked up with raised eyebrows.
"I was not aware that she was looking for more information about Eraklion." Palladium tried to sound casual.
"She wasn't until I lend her a book about the history of Eraklion, there was one perticular chapter that seemed to interest her."
Avalon now looked directly into Palladiums eyes.
"A chapter about the elves of Eraklion and their association with the moon." "Have you heard of them before?"
Palladium frowned. "No can't say I have…"
"Well it's not something of common knowledge, there haven't been elves on Eraklion for ages." Avalon said.
There was a short silence between the two men.
"I was meaning to ask you if I could accompany you into the forrest some time?" Avalon suddenly asked.
Palladium was caught by surprise by the sudden change of subject. "Uh yes of course, just let me know when you want to go."
Avalon smiled and walked towards the door. "Wonderfull, now I will let you resume your work, if everything is alright that is?"
Palladium looked into Avalons dark eyes. "Yes of course, I'm fine, I just don't agree with Headmistress Faragonda's plan that's all."
Avalon nodded with an unconvinced smile and left the lab. Palladium sighed and fell into his chair again. His head, which had already felt too full was now overflowing. Samara had been looking for information about the elves of Eraklion and somehow they had something to do with the moon. What was that all about? He was starting to feel light headed.
"…the lyrics are entirely made up by my good friend Samara!"
He looked up towards the open window. Had he heard Musa mention Samara's name through the microphone? What lyrics was she talkin gabout? He listened more intensely.
You know I want you
It's not a secret I try to hide
I know you want me
So don't keep sayin' our hands are tied
You claim it's not in the cards
And fate is pullin' you miles away
And out of reach from me
But you're here in my heart
So who can stop me if I decide
That you're my destiny?
His breath got caught in his throat. He listened as the meaning of the song slowly became clear to him.
No one can rewrite the stars
How can you say you'll be mine?
Everything keeps us apart
And I'm not the one you were meant to find
It's not up to you
It's not up to me
When everyone tells us what we can be
How can we rewrite the stars?
Say that the world can be ours
Tonight
It was too much. Simply too much for his mind and heart to handle. Tears welled up in his eyes and he felt the color drain from his face. Samara was looking for information about elves that had something to do with the moon that lived on her homeplanet ages ago, she was about to leave to Cloud Tower for a week and it seemed that she was still struggling with her feelings. She still loved him…and he still loved her.
Palladium stood up from his desk with trembling legs. He had to find her and talk to her. He had to help her. He walked out of the lab towards the front doors. As he walked through them, he saw her walk towards him. Her eyes widened when she saw him. He wanted to talk to her, tell her everything will be okay but she cut him off.
"I'm sorry…" She muttered, her eyes shining by the tears that were coming.
Then she ran past him, up the stairs and out of his sight. Palladium turned around slowly. His heart beat hard in his chest and his vision started to swim. Suddenly the ground seemed to disappear beneath him. With a low thud, the elf hit the ground and was surrounded by darkness.
You know I want you
It's not a secret I try to hide
But I can't have you
We're bound to break and my hands are tied…