Ok, a bit longer than anticipated, but here's the next chapter… sorry for the wait! Thanks to all those who reviewed:P

Icy groaned from her place on the floor, a split lip oozing blood. Stormy had a cut on her head, appearing to have passed out, and Darcy had a nose bleed. All of the witches had suffered slight burning, but they too, even in their weakened state, had the sense to shield themselves from the blast. Icy crawled over to Stormy and grabbed her sister's hand, teleporting them out of the dorm room. Darcy, glancing around quickly beforehand, did the same.

'Are you guys ok?' Bloom asked shakily. Stella and Astra nodded, sharing a brief grin before remembering what happened.

Bloom walked slowly over to where the girl lay on the floor, the ice having melted during her attack. The crumpled figure twitched slightly, letting out a muffled moan as she shook for a moment and then lay still.

'The witches really hurt her…' Astra said, walking over. 'I think she's what they were here for. Her mouth was sewed shut too…' Bloom gasped in horror as she saw the stitches.

'How could they do this to her?' she asked, outraged. 'Icy, Darcy and Stormy will pay…'

'Oh my god!' Stella exclaimed, coming up beside Bloom and her sister. 'Are you sure they didn't get sent to some sort of evil camp or something? Cause this seems a lot worse then all our injuries last year…'

'We didn't really get injuries…At least not like this.' Bloom said slowly. 'Maybe she doesn't have any magic,'

'She did a spell earlier,' Astra said, frowning slightly as she pondered this new piece of information. 'Icy had her hand shoved through my chest…' at Blooms and Stella's shocked looks, she clarified. 'Magically, but it still really hurt. It felt like she was ripping out my powers…'

'That's what they did to me last year,' Bloom said, slightly bitter and filled with anger for the Trix sisters.

'Anyways, she just said "release", and then Icy's hand was ripped out.' Astra gestured at the girl on the floor curiously. 'I wonder what she is, anyways.'

'What she is?' Stella asked, slightly suspicious. Astra rolled her eyes.

'What kind of magical being.'

'Let's hope she's not a witch,' Stella shuddered.

'Mirta didn't turn out so bad,' Bloom pointed out, calming down slightly. Stella shrugged. 'We should get her to the infirmary,' Bloom looked back down to the girl, a concerned expression on her face. 'Astra, can you help me lift her?' Astra nodded. Between the two of them they managed to float her a few feet off the floor as not to disturb any potential broken bones.

'And this is really gonna help getting her to trust us too,' Stella said slightly sarcastically as they left the dorm room.

'What happened here?' Tecna asked incredulously as she, Musa, Flora and Mirta piled into the latter two's dorm room.

'A lot of magic…' Flora said, wandering around to survey the damage.

'Hey guys, look!' Mirta exclaimed, pointing to a prominent silver hair on a pile of ash on the floor. The former witch grudgingly concluded that the ash was probably her bedding as she didn't see it anywhere else in the room, but the hair was more important.

'Icy.' Musa said, anger entering her tone. 'What were they doing in here?'

'They were probably here for her…' Flora said, implying the girl who'd been sharing a room with them and as currently no where in sight.

'Guys?' Stella asked, poking her head around the door. 'There you are! Bloom and Astra are down at the infirmary, the witches were here and…' she faltered, unsure of what name to use for their silent guest. 'The girl we found at the cave got injured…' When they didn't move, she snapped at them. 'Come on, I came to get you all!' At a loss for words, the rest of the Winx Club followed Stella out the door and to the infirmary. On the way everyone bothering Stella with questions which she haughtily answered, annoyed to a degree that it was her who had to do the explaining instead of Bloom or her sister.

'There you are!' Bloom exclaimed as they entered the room. She was standing by one of the beds beside Astra. In the bed lay the girl, hair combed out of her face, but still messy as ever. She looked pale and vulnerable, even more so now because of the hospital bed.

'So what happened?' Musa asked, peering around Bloom to gauge the extent of the damage the witches had managed to cause.

'The witches just came in and started attacking her.' Astra said, looking up and taking part in the conversation. 'They probably noticed she was gone and wanted her back so they could torture her some more.'

'I wonder what information they needed anyways,' Tecna said thoughtfully, eyeing the girl in a new light, as some foreign piece of a puzzle they thought had been solved.

'Maybe they just like torture,' Mirta offered up, though while she knew the witches could be excessively cruel, she also knew that more often than not, there was a method to their madness.

'But then why would they risk getting her back?' Flora questioned. 'We've beaten them before, and this time we have Mirta, and Astra and Stella's combined powers too.'

'Ah, I thought I'd find you girls here.' Ms.Feregonda interrupted, startling the fairies.

'Hiya Miss. F. Didn't see ya there,' Musa said, still an edge of nervousness to her voice, though no one really noticed it.

'Another visit from the witches?' the headmistress asked, eyeing the injured member of their party.

'Word sure travels fast here,' Astra murmured to her sister.

'You have no idea,' Stella replied back, quietly for once, but only because she was actually trying not to be noticed talking.

'This is the first time they've actually caused lasting physical wounds, do you think it was something to do with our magic that stopped it before?' Bloom asked, curious.

'She has magic in her, if that's what you're wondering,' Ms.Feregonda said slowly. 'But she may not realise it. Like you when you were living on Earth,'

'But I wasn't bleeding when they attacked Stella and I there!'

'It could be for an number of reasons Bloom, and I'm afraid I don't have an answer right now. Just keep a close eye on anything out of the ordinary happening…'

'You mean like Magic?' Stella piped up, an expression on her face that was somewhere between a smile and a smirk. Ms.Feregonda stared a t her for a moment, and Solaria's princess looked away, realizing the need to be serious, but not completely quelled.

'Geez, who stuck the rod up her ass?' Stella exclaimed audibly as soon as the headmistress had left.