Thanx so much for the review BubblyShell22! And the girl is going to be rescued next chapter.

Last Time:

'Are you ready to talk this time?' Icy spat, her eyes glowing. The girl didn't move. Icy kicked her. Blood started to ooze from one of her many wounds.

Now:

'You're useless.' Stormy snarled, kicking her harder. The girl didn't flinch, but blood trickled slowly out of the side of her mouth.

'Is she dead?' Darcy asked, her tone indifferent.

'Not yet.' Icy replied, kicking her again. The girl flinched this time, causing Icy' s evil grin to broaden. 'Get up.' Icy demanded again. The girl didn't move. Icy practically growled in exasperation as she hauled the girl up by her collar yet again. It wasn't as if it was very difficult, the girl hadn't been heavy to begin with, and had lost a lot of weight since they'd captured her. The girl crumpled back to the ground. Icy motioned to Darcy, who lifted the girl's still form up using magic.

'Where are your friends?' Icy demanded. The girl didn't speak or move. Darcy shot a jolt of electricity through the girl. Her eyes flew open and her body shook violently, almost jarring her bones from their sockets.

'Huh. Must have overdone it.' Darcy said non-challently. The girl's eyes looked wildly around the room for a moment, devoid of any emotion but fear, before slowly drooping, the energy the shock had given her dissipating. Stormy snorted.

'If you two really think she even has the energy to talk, you're denser than I thought.' She said, glancing at the limp form still held up by magic.

'Hmmm…' said Icy thoughtfully. 'Maybe we should wait a few days before coming back.' Darcy shrugged, and dropped her control over the girl, letting her fall to the floor. A moan escaped her lips as more of her wounds began to bleed. The witches exited the closet, relocking it.

'Are you sure this is a good idea Stell?' asked Musa as the 6 girls walked out of the main building of Alfia and neared the gate. 'Like, are we even allowed to go out here?'

'Oh come on!' Stella replied irritably. 'All I need is a bit of flip weed,' there's none left in the whole school, and I have to add it within the next 2 hours or the potion won't work!'

'What's this one for again?' Bloom asked tiredly. It was 6 in the morning, and Stella had woken them all up to go tramping all over the forest for some ingredient or another.

'A new shade of pink!' Stella replied happily as they walked out of the gate.

'Remember what happened last time you tried that, Stella? You got expelled!' Musa threw her hands up in the air, oblivious to how her friend could be so dense.

'As long as you don't try it in the potions lab this time.' Tecna said logically. 'It wouldn't do to get expelled again, especially this early in the year.'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on, let's just go before anyone sees us.' Stella brushed Tecna' s comment off, walking through the gates of Alfia and into the forest. Tecna sighed and followed the rest of the Winx Club and Mirta into the forest.

'Where do you think you're going?' Said an amused voice from behind them. They wheeled round, eyes wide to see a girl who looked remarkably like Stella, but with copper hair and green eyes. Stella was the only one unconcerned. In fact, she looked rather annoyed.

'I thought you were getting home schooled!' she exclaimed, not as cross now that the shock was over, walking over to the other girl and giving her a hug.

'I decided to come here instead.' The girl replied, shrugging. 'It was pretty boring at the palace.' Seeing the weird looks she was getting, Stella hastily explained.

'Guys, this is my twin sister, Astra.' Stella offered. 'Astra, this is Bloom, Flora, Musa, Tecna and Mirta.' There were various "hi!" s, and "hello!" s from all around.

'So, why are you guys sneaking out?' Astra asked, still slightly amused, not sounding at all afraid of the consequences if they were caught,

'I need some flip weed for a new shade of pink…' Stella started, but Astra cut her off.

'Again?' She could barely stifle her laughter. 'Stell, you realize how much trouble the last new shade got you in?' Stella looked very put out. There was silence for a few seconds.

'Hey, can I come?' Astra asked. 'The last time I was here there was this cave filled with the stuff! It's a bit out of the way, but that's the only place I'm sure there'll be some.'

'I guess you can come…' Stella said, her ego still a bit bruised with the comments about her expulsion from her first year at the school. Astra studied their surroundings.

'I think it's this way.' She pointed in the general direction of Red Fountain. The rest nodded, and followed as Stella's sister led the way.

'How long do you think this spell is going to hold up?' Darcy asked, looking over at Icy.

'Long enough.' Icy snapped, her patience already worn thin. Darcy was just about to spit out an acidic reply when the wisperian crystals began to glow.

'Intruders!' She said instead, heading over to see who trespassed. Well, not really trespassed as this wasn't their land, but this was where they were staying, and that was good enough for the witches.

'They're still quite a distance away…' Stormy remarked, peering into the depths of the triangle.

'Who is it?' Icy demanded, stalking over.

'The Earth girl and the rest of her little friends.' Stormy spat. 'And that traitorous freshman, and another one I don't recognize.'

'Should we move?' Darcy asked, poised ready for action.

'No, I don't think so.' Icy said lazily. 'This could be interesting. Besides, they may not even discover our hideout. We may have no need to flee just yet.'

'Still, we should be ready.' Stormy walked away from the triangle. 'Just in case they do find us.'

'Isn't there some sort of spell we can use to remain hidden?' Darcy asked.

'We've already used one.' Icy snarled, oblivious to how her sisters could be so ignorant. 'It only works if they aren't actually looking for our hiding place. If they know what it is and the general location, they'll be able to see it. If they don't, they'll see right through us.'

'Huh. Seems pretty risky to me.' Darcy said in her "don't care" tone of voice.

'WELL IT'S THE ONLY ONE THAT WILL WORK FOR OUR PRESENT SITUATION!' Icy exploded, and seriously contemplated turning Darcy into a toad. Eyeing the wisperian triangle, her logic took over and she calmed down a bit.

'Is this cave perhaps anywhere near Red Fountain?' Tecna asked dryly. They had been walking for three quarters of an hour, and everyone was getting tired.

'Yes, why?' asked Astra, turning around.

'Because we're still approximately 1800 seconds away, or a half an hour still.'

'Oh no!' exclaimed Stella frantically. 'Astra, is there any way to get there faster? I mean, I needed to add it within two hours of when we left!'

'Don't you think it would have been smarter to wait till you had all of the ingredients before making the potion? I mean, did you even write down what you put in it?' A smile played at the edge of Astra' s mouth, knowing perfectly well that Stella never wrote her recipes down.

'Well…' Stella shifted uncomfortably. 'Now that you mention it…'

'Though so.' Said Astra, flashing Stella a grin. 'You really ought to do something about that habit some time.'

Stella "Hmph!" ed, and Astra turned back to the path. That was typical Stella, Astra though bemusedly. Always getting so caught up in this concoction that she thinks might work, and then never writing down what she did, so never being able to duplicate her results. She idly wondered why her sister would need something like flip weed for a new shade of pink.

'Does anyone else get the feeling they know we're here?' Stormy asked, looking into the triangle once more at the group of pixies making it's way purposely towards where the witches hid.

'Impossible!' Icy said, looking up at the triangle of crystals.

'Stormy, who did you say you say in the triangle at first?' Darcy asked, a hint of apprehension in her voice. Stormy looked over at Darcy sitting across the room, and answered her.

'The Earth girl, the rest of her little friends, the traitor freshman, the one with the friends spell…'

'Gag me.' Icy interrupted, then went back to watching.

'And another, a fairy I think.'

'What did this fairy look like?' asked Darcy, still absorbed in whatever she was doing.

'Quite like the solarian brat.' Stormy said thoughtfully, as the triangle was now focusing on certain people. 'She had copper coloured hair and green eyes.' Darcy snarled.

'What?' Stormy asked, surprised.

'Nothing.' Said Darcy, visibly regaining her composure.

'Is it relevant?' Icy asked, her eyes piercing those of her sister.

'Hardly.' Said Darcy non-challently.

Icy snorted, and turned back to the triangle, where the group was making it's way steadily closer to the hideout.

'What happens if they do find it?' Darcy asked, her expression one of distaste.

'We give them a warm welcome!' Icy smirked.

'We're almost here!' Astra exclaimed 20 minutes later. When she got no response, she turned around to see all of the fairies sitting on the ground with their eyes closed quite a ways back.

She rolled her eyes and walked over to them, shaking them awake.

'Come on! We're practically there!' She shook Stella hard, her sister seemed oblivious to all that was going on around her.

'Make mine sunny-side up' Stella said sleepily, turning over. Astra grinned wickedly.

'Oh Stella!' she called in what she hoped was a good imitation of their mother's voice. 'There's someone here who wants to see you, Brandon I think he said his name was?' Stella jerked up sharply, whirling her head around in panic, half expecting to see the squire himself, and found instead her sister laughing her head off.

'That wasn't funny, Astra!' Stella snapped.

'No, it was hilarious!' Astra gasped for air from laughing so much. Stella pretended not to hear her and proceeded to wake the others up, who were equally disoriented.

'We're almost there!' Astra called back, she had walked over to where she had stood before. She started to walk in the same direction that they had been going before, the others trudging wearily behind.

'They're looking for this cave, I'm sure of it!' Darcy protested, seeing the group set off towards where they were hiding again. Icy looked closer.

'Impossible.' She stated, though she suspected it was true. 'What's so special about this place?'

'The fact that it's the only source of flip weed in the realm?' Stormy offered, her nose buried in a book on the realm in which they currently resided.

'Why would they need flip weed?' Icy scowled, trying to think of why they would be searching for something so trival this early in the morning.

'I don't know!' Stormy snapped back at her. 'It just says so in here,' she jabbed her finger at the book. 'I was trying to find out what possible motive they would have for finding this place, there's no way that they would know that we were here!' Stormy sat down in a huff, offering no more information. The three of them had been up all night, and as a result, were in fowl moods.

'Look, we're not strong enough to take them now, especially with the dragon fire and two more pixies against us. Besides, I've encountered the Solarian twit's sister before, she is very powerful, especially combined with her sister's magic.'

'You've met them before this?' Icy asked, startled out of her bad mood. 'And they're sisters?'

'Yes, the first one got knocked out though, I'm not sure she remembers.' Darcy dismissed it as nothing, and went back to watching.

'If they see the cave, we'll move.' Icy snarled, privately agreeing with Darcy's opinion, but un-willing to accept defeat. Darcy shrugged, concealing her expression of distaste for her sister's unshakeable pride. Stormy agreed with Darcy, and was about to snap something at Icy when the crystals began to glow.

'They're here!' she exclaimed instead.

'Here we are!' Astra said happily, looking back at the others, who looked relieved that they had finally reached the end of their destination.

'Is that the cave?' Bloom asked tiredly, leaning against Stella.

'Why are you all so tired?' Astra asked, frowning. Something was not right.

'Well, at least we know that my spell worked.' Icy said, smirking.

'What spell?' Darcy asked.

'A spell to make them even more tired.' Icy smiled triumphantly. 'I wonder why it didn't work on the new pixie.' Darcy shrugged.

'We should really move.' Stormy said, careful not to invoke the wrath of her sisters. 'We don't need them knowing we're still around before we're done with the plan.' Icy sighed. Stormy had a point.

Astra helped the girls to their feet; they had fallen down with weariness. Astra snorted. Had they been flying so much that they had forgotten how to walk? As soon as they entered the cave, the others stood up and blinked, the weariness gone.

That's odd. Astra thought to herself before brushing it aside. 'It must be further back in the cave.' Astra said, confused, when they couldn't find any at the front.

A raised voice could be heard chanting words of some kind. It sounded like some sort of spell, and the words echoed throughout the cavern.

'Come on!' exclaimed Bloom, running further back into the damp cave. 'I know those voices!'

'Ya, that's the witches!' Flora said following suit.

'The ones who turned me into a pumpkin?' Mirta asked angrily, catching up to Flora.

'Ya, that's them.' She nodded.

'They're going to get it this time!' said Tecna angrily.

The voices started to become clearer as they neared where the witches were hiding. As the Winx Club, Mirta, and Astra came to the entrance of where the Trix sister had made their hideout, they saw the witches give them one last smirk before they and all the whole imitation of a dormitory at Cloud Tower disappeared.

For a few minutes, no one did anything but stare, when a movement from the corner of the cave caught their attention.

HAHA! Cliffy! Sorry it took me so long to write this one, I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker! Please Review! XD

Alora Darkmoon