Last time, Icy, Darcy and Stormy Trix showed up again to kill Bloom. Fay challenged Stormy to a fight to the death. Just as it seemed that Fay would win, Darcy blasted Fay. Darcy then proceeded to break Fay's hands. This made Laura so mad that she passed out, but not before doing something terrible. On with the show!

Chapter 38: Concerning Thinnys

"Look!" yelled Hermione. She was pointing to an area of the sky above where the Warlocks stood. An orange and yellow vortex was forming, with a pitch-black center. Icy, Darcy and Stormy were gaping at the vortex. "Steve," said Max, "Grab Fay and get her out of here! The rest of you, run like you've never run before!" "What is it?" asked Harry, "What just happened?" Before Max could answer, Harry swore he could hear what sounded like wind chimes coming from the vortex. "We have to get out of here!" exclaimed Max, "Laura's rage just created a Thinny!"

"What the bloody hell is a thinny?" asked Ron as our heroes moved away from the vortex. Harry looked behind to see, that the vortex was growing bigger. The wind chime-like sound was getting louder as well. "A thinny," said Max, "Is a forced opening in the fabric of space and time, not unlike the portals you used to get here." Max was referring to Will and the Guardians, Bloom, the Winx Club and the Specialists. "What makes it different is that it grows and consumes everything it touches. Look and see…"

To Harry's horror, several electric-blue tentacles had emerged from the vortex, and were grabbing everything they could find. "Now what?" asked Bloom after they had retreated to what Max said was a safe distance. "Now," said Max, "We 'drop the hammer.' Virgil, since Jill's out of it, you'll have to fill in for her." "Roger that!" exclaimed Virgil as he pulled out his PDA. "Why can't I fill in for Jill?" There was Steve, who was carrying Fay, her hands looking mangled. "Because Virgil has seniority." Answered Max as he pulled out his cell phone. "But I wanna 'drop the hamer!'" whined Steve. "You can when you've matured." said Virgil.

Max and Virgil punched in several numbers before Max said into his phone, "Stand by to execute Contingency Plan 7-12. Authorization code… hold that thought," he said before yelling, "Will what are you doing?" Harry looked up to see Will flying towards the growing vortex. "My job, that's what I'm doing!" yelled Will. "If those tentacles grab her," said Virgil, "She's a gonner."

As Harry watched, Will reached the vortex. She pulled out the Heart of Candracar, and the crystal began to glow bright pink. "She's trying to close the vortex!" exclaimed Hermione. Just as it seemed that Will was gaining the upper hand over the vortex, one of the tentacles tried to grab her. "She can't get close enough to close it!" exclaimed Taranee as she and the other Guardians flew off to help Will. Bloom and the rest of the Winc Club follows suit. "Don't let those things touch you!" yelled Max, "Or you'll get pulled in!"

With the fairies and the other Guardians covering her, Will continued to close the vortex. "If she doesn't get it closed," said Max, "We're going ahead with plan 7-12." "Don't worry," said Matt, "Will's going to come through." "What's plan 7-12?" asked Sky. "A last resort," said Virgil, "Originally used to contain a viral outbreak with a small nuclear device." "You mean to nuke the area?" asked a shocked Brandon. "No," said Virgil, "That would be overkill. Nowadays, we use a Stone-Burner."

Before Harry could ask what a stone-burner was, Will has succeeded in closing the vortex. "Thank god!" exclaimed Max.

A few moments later, as our heroes were calming down, Hermione looked around and asked, "What happened to the Warlocks?" "I haven't seen them since the thinny opened." Answered Bloom. "I think I know what happened to them," said Layla, "At least I say what happened, and only partly heard."

WHAT LAYLA SAW…

The opening of the thinny had entranced the Three Warlocks. Little did they know that one of the tentacles was reaching for Stormy. It grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her into the vortex, Stormy screaming all the way in. A second tentacle had snagged Darcy by the ankle, and was slowly dragging her in. She managed to grab onto a small bush. "Icy!" exclaimed Darcy, "Help Me!" Icy was about to blast the tentacle when she looked down. Darcy had dropped The Box. It had opened, and the strange music that had gotten to Darcy was playing again. "What are you doing?" pleaded Darcy, "Help me please!" But the Ice Warlock only had eyes for The Box and ears for the music it played.

She bent down to pick up The Box. "Icy?" asked a worried Darcy, "What are you doing?" "The Box is mine Darcy," said Icy as she began to rotate The Box in her hands, "It's mine, my own. My precious." At this, Icy teleported out. Darcy had a look of shock and disbelief. Her hands let go of the bush, and she was pulled into he vortex.

END FLASHBACK

"If that's what happened," said Max, "Then Stormy and Darcy are good as dead." "Why so?" asked Harry. "Because what's on the other side of a Thinny isn't a parallel universe," said Virgil, "But rather a world between world. Some call it 'The Shadow Realm.' Others call it 'The Dead Zone.' I prefer to call it by its scientific name: Todash Space. It is a world of infinite darkness, populated by monsters too terrifying to describe my mortal man.

"This isn't the first thinny The Ramblers have encountered." Said Max. "Several people have gone into Todash Space. Only a handful has come out alive. Less have returned in one piece, and only one has returned with his sanity intact." Just the, Laura came too. "Oh Max," she said sounding like Max was going to hit her, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it. It's just that, those Warlocks were hurting Fay, and I just lost it. I'm so sorry." Max just looked at her. "See that it doesn't happen again, because if it does, I'll kill you. That is, if the things on the other side don't grab you first." He turned around and walked away.

"What was that all about?" asked Will. "When Laura first joined us," said Virgil, "Something go her so angry that she caused a thinny just like now. We used a stone-burner to force the vortex close, but not before Andrew Carpenter got pulled in. Andrew was one of the original eight Ramblers, and a close friend of Max." "So Max blames Laura for what happened to Andrew?" asked Cornelia. "At first he did," said Virgil, "But he's forgiven her since." "It's those f#ck$ng symbold on her that's causing it," said Steve, "They make her stronger."

"I'm surprised that you've made that connection." Said Virgil. Before Steve could reply, he was interrupted by Fay. "Oh look at my hands!" she exclaimed, holding up her mutilated hands, "Oh the hands! Look at those hands!" "Doc Spartan will take care of those in no time." Said Steve.

One hour later Aaron Spartan arrived to heal Fay's hands. "The things you people do to yourselves," he said, "One of these days you're going to get into such trouble, I won't be able to help. Now, I need to reset the bones, so this is going to hurt, a lot." He held Fay's left hand, readying it to be set. "Just do it." Said Fay. Aaron then began to move the bones back into place. Fay face twisted with agony, but she didn't make a sound. "That's one hand," said Aaron, "Now for the other." He began to set the bones in her right hand, and again, Fay didn't make a sound.

"This is for the pain." Aaron sprayed some liquid onto Fay's hands, and she sighed in relief. Aaron began to bandage her hands. "Your hands should be healed within a week, so try not to use them." "You are the best Aaron." Said Fay. "Thanks, but we're not done yet." He pulled out a syringe and needle. "Oh come on! I don't need a shot!" exclaimed Fay.

"You do if you want your hands healed in a week." Said Aaron, "Otherwise, it'll take at least 2 months." "Whatever," said Fay, "Which arm do you want it done in?" "I doesn't matter," said Aaron, "The left shall do." He then gave Fay the shot. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Now," said Aaron, "Where's Jill? It's about time I checked up on her." "About Jill," said Max, "I really think she's getting better. Just this morning, I saw her move her toes." "That's excellent!" exclaimed Aaron, "Where is she?" "Well," said Max hesitantly, "She managed to get up on her feet and tried to fight those Warlocks, so I had to have her strapped down."

"You did the right thing," said Aaron, who Harry saw was trying to keep from losing his cool, "No where is she. I'm going to kill her!" "You kill me in a dream," said Jill as she rode in on her wheelchair, "You'd better wake up and apologize."

Harry remembered to ask, "What's a Stone-Burner?" "A stone-burner," said Virgil, "Is a bomb with a wide range of destructive force; form simple building demolition, to the same power as a 50 mega-tone nuclear warhead. The difference is no radiation. You could say it's the opposite of a neutron bomb."

"To think you people have this kind of destructive weapon at your disposal," said Tecna, "It's frightening." "Well it's not at our disposal," said Max returning to the area, "I have to call the president, the president calls NORAD, NORAD calls Missile Command, and they call us back for final conformation to launch a stone-burner missile. The code phrase we use is 'dropping the hammer.'"

"If what you said about chain of command," said Hermione, "If Will hadn't closed the vortex…" "Then it would have been almost twenty minutes before the missile could have been launched." Finished Max.

"I'm sure that there's a positive point to today," said Ron later that night, "But I'm too tired to think about it." "Here's one thing," said Ginny, "We're all here, alive and well." "Another thing," said Harry, "Two of the three Warlocks are gone. And if what Max said about Thinnys are true, then Stormy and Darcy are certainly dead." "On the other hand," said Hermione:"Icy now had The Box." That sent a chill down Harry's back.

The end of chapter 38. Next chapter, Harry sets out to find and destroy the last horcruxes. See you next time.