I smirked when I saw the look on Varanda's face. She was gazing around Magix city, her eyes as wide as CD's, like she hadn't seen it before. It was a little strange, but she probably didn't leave her palace much, I guessed.

"Oh wow!" Varanda said, a slight tinge of disappointment in her voice. "This is...pretty?"

I shared a look with Flora and looked back at Varanda with a raised brow. I mean, I knew it wasn't the destination beaches on Vallisto, but Magix was pretty sick.

"What were you expecting, sweetie?" Flora asked, titling her head.

Varanda stepped forward and raised her hands to the sky. "I don't know…dragons, unicorns…just more…" she trailed off, looking back at us for help.

"Something more magical and fantastical?" Flora asked again, a small gentle smile on her face.

Varanda turned back to us and nodded. "Yea…"

Stella stepped forward and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "V, you know that Unicorns are indigenous to the planet Fantasia and Dragons are either tamed or usually found on Pyros." There was a slight hiss to her voice that made me narrow my eyes.

Varanda gave a nervous chuckled and placed a hand on the back of her head. "Oh right! Was just joking around…Stella weren't you leading the way to pizza?"

Stella stood up straighter and nodded, her expression a blinding smile. "Exactly! Follow me, girls," she said, turning and walking into the futuristic city.

Stella kept talking as she led them through the city. People wandered around, all in their own worlds. I jammed my hands into my tight black ripped jean pockets and followed the girls.

Flora tried to draw me into conversation, but I just smiled and absorbed myself into my tunes. She broke off to talk to Varanda and Stella, giving me my space. A faint vibration sounded in my pocket, and I pulled out my phone. I wrinkled my nose at the name and jammed it back in my pocket right as we reached the pizzeria.

"This way, girlies," Stella cheered, throwing her hands in the air.

"Sounds good, Stella," Varanda said, smiling at her friend.

Stella opened the door with a wave of orange sparks and sauntered in. I rolled my eyes at her dramatics before following the girls into the shop.

It was warm and smelt like delicious dough. I looked around at the small circular tables with cute wrought iron tables. Not my style exactly, but nice enough.

"You girls go take a seat, leave the ordering to me," Stella said jamming her thumb in her chest.

"Oh, um, if it's not too much trouble, can one of the pizza's be a vegetarian? I don't eat meat," Flora asked, her voice slightly shaky.

Stella winked and thrust her arm out. "Oh, of course dahling, one veggie pizza coming right up. Anymore requests?"

We all shook our heads and headed to our seats. Begrudgingly, I pulled my headphones off, so they dangled across my neck.

"So, what are you girls hoping to specialise in at Alfea?" Flora asked, her eyes scanning us all.

"It is rather early for us to be making such decisions, Flora," Tecna said, her voice holding a slight chill.

"Well yes, but we can still talk about our dreams," Flora said, rubbing her left bicep as her eyes flickered downward.

Varanda pulled out her phone and began holding it up. She kept muttering about how it wasn't working, the muttering getting loud enough for the other to notice. I narrowed my eyes when I saw how out of date it was. As a princess, she should have better technology that that. Tecna noticed the device and reached out to take it. She flipped it around, before frowning and returning it to the Princess.

"It is no surprise the device is not gaining reception. This is an antique, should be in a museum," She paused, before turning back to Varanda. "Where did you obtain this?"

Varanda's eyes widened and her eyes darted desperately over to Stella. I crossed my arms and waited for her reply, sensing this story was going to be a good one.

"Oh um, I…I wanted to feel like a regular girl, so I gave one of my servants my phone and took hers…you know, before I left my homeworld," she said, a slight nervous undercurrent to her tone.

I was about to reply, when Stella returned, arms ladened with pizza's.

"Now, what did I miss, dahlings?" she asked, dumping them down.

"Well, Varanda was just telling us about her phone and how she got it," I said, raising an eyebrow.

Stella's eyes widened, and she let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, you know how it is, some people like it old school. Now come, lets dig in!" Stella said, effectively changing the topic.

I filed the information away for later and took a slice. It was delicious and cheesy, just how I liked it. We chatted amongst ourselves and ate, until Varanda changed the subject. She turned to Stella and asked, "Is there a way I can call my parents?"

I looked at her, trying to figure out what was doing on. Why would a servant have a non-working phone? None of it was making sense.

Stella fished hers out of her bag and handed it over to her. "Just use mine. Remember the prefix for…Vallisto is 402," she said.

Varanda thanked her and slipped away. I waited for her to leave before turning to Stella with an expectant expression. "Alright, give us the deets."

Stella sighed and pursed her lips. "Musa, look, V wasn't allowed to leave her castle much, so she is a little new at everything. Give her a break."

It wasn't much of an explanation, but I decided to leave it alone. It wasn't worth getting into an argument on my first day.

"So, do any of you have siblings?" Flora asked, effectively breaking the silence cast over us.

Stella waved her hand. "Thankfully not, could you imagine sharing the spotlight? No thanks."

I rolled my eyes and glanced at Tecna. "I have no siblings. There is no benefit to having other offspring as the point of offspring is to further the line. One child is sufficient to accomplish that."

Flora frowned and averted her eyes. To diffuse the situation, I jumped in. "Nah, but I have cousins, one who is like a sister."

Flora sent me a thankful look before answering her own question. "I have 6 siblings, and my mother is pregnant again."

We stared at her with wide eyes. Before Tecna or Stella could speak, I jumped in. "That's a big family. Gatherings must be a blast."

Flora's eyes shone and her lips pulled into a thrilled smile. "Oh yes, it is wonderful. For my older sister's Willow's birthday, we all gathered in the garden for vegetarian pizza's and had giant ladybug races."

"Yo, that sounds sick girl. Must be wild."

"Oh yes, there were many animals and insects as she is the Fairy of Fauna."

Stella made a disgusted sound and pointed at Flora. "Ew insects? What kind of party is that?"

Flora's expression turned downcast, and I glowered at Stella. Before she could, Flora jumped in and changed the subject.

"Hey, Varanda has been gone a long time. I hope she is okay."

I hummed my acknowledgement. Sure, I didn't trust her and thought she was hiding something but getting lost on a new planet was scary.

"Why don't we go look for her then?" I suggested, leaning back in my chair with my arms folded behind my head.

The girls agreed and we stood up from the table. I called out my thanks to the restaurant and followed the girls out the door.

"Right, now where should we start?" Stella said, looking around the place.

I cleared my throat and drew everyone's attention to me. "I have this spell I learned back on Melody that I can use to try find her," I suggested.

"What spell is that, sweetie?" Flora asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Just give me a second."

I shut my eyes and blocked out the outside sounds. "Voice lock," I muttered, letting my magic vibrate out of me.

The world melted away as my magic searched the city like hunting dogs. It paused upon anyone who had a similar cadence to her, but carried on. It darted down an alley and I felt a magical ping when I locked onto her. I heard the scream as my magic was forced back to me. I gasped and looked at the girls with wide eyes.

"We better bounce, Varanda needs us."

We all shared a look before taking off. I led the girls through the labyrinthine city before screeching to a stop when we reached the mouth of the alley. We ran down and gasped when we saw Varanda frozen and vulnerable in a block of ice, with a trio of witches hovering over her, each cackling as thick magic wavered around them.

"You! Get away from her!" Stella screamed, narrowing her eyes at the witches.

They turned back to us, each wearing wicked smiles. The leader had a tall ponytail tied with a dark blue tube. Her outfit was a light blue coloured crop top and a matching miniskirt with a belt of diamonds around her waist. The brunette next to her oozed seductive dark magic and her body was covered in purple halter top with a dark and light purple spiral pattern. Her bottoms were dark purple flared jeans. The last girl had frizzy blue hair like a thunder cloud, and she wore a maroon-coloured halter top attached with a silver ring with wrap around cords around her torso and a matching skirt. As much as I loathed to admit it, they looked good.

"Oh, look ladies, reinforcements," The middle one mocked in a cold voice.

"Oh no Icy, I'm so scared. Hold me." The red one jeered.

"Oh don't worry Stormy, I'll protect you," the purple girl snickered, and lifted her leg up before slamming it down on the ground.

We gasped and threw ourselves to the ground as dark purple energy expanded out from her body as the creaking sound of the earth splitting and splintering filled the alley. The purple girl snickered and glowed before she split into multiple copies of herself.

Stella grit her teeth before forcing herself up. "Stella, Spellix, go!" She called, glowing like the sun itself.

I watched as the light faded, leaving her in a one strapped orange crop and short shorts. She threw a ring in the air and a pale blue sceptre appeared, the orange gem in the centre shining like the sun.

"Looks like one of the brats can transform. Should we follow suit?" The dark one asked, her copy talking with her in sync.

Icy snickered and shook her head. "No need for these losers. Stormy, take care of them."

Stormy snickered and floated in the air. She glowed a dark red and threw her hand out. Stella hissed and glowed a sunny yellow, before she swiped her sceptre.

"Solaria! Get us out of here!" She called, and I didn't have a moment to gasp as we vanished.

We landed with a thump that jarred my bones. I looked up as Stella stood over Varanda, muttering to her and using her sunny magic to warm her up.

"Come on girls, we should hurry up and bounce before we get caught," I said, crossing my arms.

Stella depowered and smiled at her friend. "Ready to go?"

Varanda nodded and let Stella pull her up. "Let's go. I need to warm up," she said, shivering slightly as she wrapped her arms around herself.

We made our way back to the room in a deep silence. My magic hummed inside me, and I let it guide me. A lead knot formed in my stomach. I had been so useless in the battle, and had I been able to transform I could have done something.

I groaned as Stella unlocked the door. We entered, and I was about to walk into the lounge when a throat was cleared. We looked up and balked as not only out headmistress and deputy were there, but so was a very angry, maroon haired girl, and judging from her glare being pointed at Stella, I bet the sun fairy had some serious explaining to do.

Looks like Stella has some explaining to do! Varanda will become the sixth member of the club in due time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, consider leaving a review.