A/N: Hello loves! Things get pretty dire for Bloom in this chapter! Is her secret safe? Probably not...anyway, hope you enjoy the update! Remember to leave some love on the way out :) XOXOX!

Chapter 14

Palladium's class seemed to drag, the elf talking about nothing particularly interesting for the longest hour of Bloom's life.

Stella was in that class, though she had opted to sit in the back of the room in the corner where she could pout without being noticed, the blonde not even giving Bloom a simple hello as she trudged to her seat. The sun fairy, despite her insistence otherwise, was terribly upset about the Brandon situation. She had been up at the crack of dawn to watch the Eraklyan ship take him away, watching from their apartment balcony as the craft departed from Magix airspace. Bloom wanted to say something, but she was afraid of making matters worse. Not that Stella knew that she was the one who killed Sky, but Stella was so touchy that even the slightest disturbance would set her off. It was best to leave her alone, even if it meant that the apartment atmosphere had an added layer of tension.

When class finally let out, Stella gathered her things as quickly as she could and practically ran out the door, leaving Bloom behind to go back to their rooms by herself. Bloom sighed, trying not to let Stella's behavior get to her. Even though keeping distance was what Stella needed, it was hard for Bloom to comply. Despite their differing personalities and short time together, Bloom had actually come to care about Stella; she considered her a friend, and those were something Bloom had in short supply.

Bloom tried her best to go about her day-to-day routine, but the constant paranoia surrounding Sky's death along with the presence of Eraklyan soldiers had set the entire planet on edge. No one knew how to handle a military occupation; according to Tecna, the last major interplanetary war had been the invasion of the Ancestral Witches, but that had been many years ago. Most people had only ever known peace in their lives. Now, the presence of aggression was upsetting, setting everyone on edge.

As she walked down the halls, she felt eyes following her, watching her. She knew that she shouldn't be worried, that everyone was watching everyone just in case something suspicious happened, but the niggling fear that her true nature was going to be exposed was at the forefront of her mind. She found herself looking behind her, checking to see if she had sprouted a tail or if her hands had warped into claws without her knowing. She hated all this nervous energy buzzing in the air; it clouded her mind, made her magic jump under her skin which was strange because before she read the book her magic had been all but dormant except during times of extreme rage. Now, it was the opposite: strong to the point of being unbearable, like she had to focus all her energy into making sure she didn't burn the whole place down in a fiery storm. Another reason why she hated the distraction of having to worry about what everyone else thought.

When she got to the room, Stella had already locked herself inside her room. It wasn't surprising at all, and all Bloom did was sigh and drop her bag off on a chair in the common space. Tecna was in common space as well, sipping on her usual cup of tea while music filtered in from she and Musa's joint room. Music, Bloom had come to discover, was Musa's version of therapy. No doubt she was working through her own frustrations and feelings about the Sky situation through the conflicting sounding beats flowing through the space. The only one missing was Flora, their door open though there was no nature fairy inside.

"Where's Flora?" Bloom asked.

"Eraklyan soldiers pulled her out of transformations class for questioning," Tecna replied grimly.

"But why? She's the sweetest person I know. I don't think she could kill a fly."

"Yes, but they don't know that," Tecna agreed darkly, taking a sip from her cup of tea. "Unfortunately these men are in search of a succubus, and to the male mind, succubi are equivalent to clear skin, bright smiles, and large breasts, all of which Flora possesses."

"That's shitty," Bloom muttered, her panic growing. How did they figure out it was a succubus already? It had only been one day! "How do you know they're looking for a succubus?"

"I heard a few of the guards talking about it as I waked by," Tecna explained. "I was curious so I tapped into Eraklyan communications. Apparently there were no outward wounds or marks that would indicate an attack; in fact his body was in total working order. That limits the cause of death down dramatically, and the coroner said the greying appearance of the corpse combined with the evidence of recent ejaculation and protruding veins along the genital region align precisely with a succubus attack. The only bizarre thing is that succubi are normally reclusive creatures, confined to their home planet. Very rarely do they go seeking partners outside of their own species."

"So this kind of thing isn't common?"

"No, not at all," Tecna confirmed. "According to record, the last succubus attack on Magix was well over a hundred years ago."

"How did they stop it?" Bloom asked, aware that she was starting to sound desperate and suspicious but she needed to know all she could.

Tecna eyed Bloom curiously, crossing one leg over the other before answering, "When the authorities finally managed to capture the creature, they bound her in shackles and cut off her head."

"That's fucked up," Bloom muttered, subconsciously rubbing at her own neck to find it thankfully attached to the rest of her body.

"Succubi are known not only as sexual predators, but as resilient healers," Tecna said, providing some interesting information that Bloom was not yet aware of. "Bullets or charms or curses have no guaranteed effect. The only way to stop a succubus, is to destroy it completely."

"You seem to know a lot," Bloom commented. Tecna knew more than Bloom did about her own race, though Bloom did have the excuse of ignorance.

"I've been doing some research in my spare time. Best to know what we are up against," Tecna sighed, her words mirroring the ones she spoke last night, and Bloom wondered if the girl was capable of true empathy or if brushing off hardships was one of her strong suits. "I am surprised they have yet to question you Bloom, given your physical profile."

"Yeah..." Bloom agreed warily. "Haven't gotten to me yet I guess."

"I would prepare yourself then," Tecna advised. "I'm sure it won't be long."

Bloom didn't like how sure Tecna sounded, how skeptical her large green-blue eyes kept analyzing every square inch of her body. It was clear that Tecna was suspicious of her and that she had been for a while, that the technology expert was catching on to what Bloom really was. She was clever; she was quick and observant as well. While everyone was desperate to be innocent she was busy shoving emotion aside to figure out the truth. Bloom would have admired that if the girl's digging didn't point straight to her.

Bloom couldn't point Tecna down the wrong path or sway her eye or she risked further incriminating herself, yet if she kept playing innocent the truth was bound to be uncovered sooner rather than later. A dark thought crowded the corner of her mind, the beast whispering for Bloom to sink her claw's into Tecna's pretty neck and rip out her jugular. That would clear up the problem...except there would be another body and no way to hide it. Plus, Tecna was her friend. She wasn't going to murder someone so close to home.

"I'm gonna go...prepare then..." Bloom said, needing to get out of the room as quickly as possible before even more damaging things came up.

Tecna watched her the entire way to her room. It made the beast rankle at the nerve; how dare some insolent fairy cast such a disapproving gaze towards a superior being? But those were the beast's thoughts, not hers. Her only thought was how she was going to make a story that covered her tracks. She had no one to vouch for her placement the night of Sky's death, no one who knew her well enough to speak to her character. She was an outsider, a weirdo even to the magical world, and that automatically marked her as a target. Pile on the circumstances surrounding the murder and even if she wasn't at fault, some would still find a way to pin it on her.

Bloom forced herself to take long, calming breaths. She had already started to spread sparks, tiny embers flaking from her palms as she paced the space back and forth. The plants were anxious; Bloom could hear their idle chatter, wondering what had gotten her in such a tizzy. She wished they would just shut up and give her reprieve to think.

Not long after Bloom had shut herself into her room, a commotion came from outside. Her first instinct was to go out and see what it was, but she froze as her hand hovered over the knob. Instead, she pressed her ear up to the door, curious as to what they would say without her there. She knew it was human nature to talk about that which one could not see, and with her conveniently out of the room, she would know how much Tecna really knew and if her friends were really her friends at all.

"Flo, how was it?" Musa asked, her voice raspy from hours of play.

"Horrible!" Flora lamented. "The guards dragged me into this small room in front of the Headmistress and Griselda and interrogated me like I was some criminal. They wouldn't let me leave until they'd made me drink truth serum."

"That's practically illegal!" Musa protested, outraged. There was muffled movement and some sobbing, which made Bloom believe that Musa had moved over to comfort Flora. "They can't do that, can they?"

"In times of great distress, those in power can grant authorities marshal law," Tecna's voice droned on. "Prince Sky's murder must be severe enough that certain statutes regarding individual rights are not in effect."

"That's not fair! So what if I have a large chest - that makes me a murderer? I'm a virgin for Dragon's sake!" Flora cried. "I wouldn't know what to do even if I were a succubus!"

For some unknown reason, Bloom's heart sped up at those words. Flora was a virgin, untouched by anyone...except her. The implications made Bloom's skin prickle, a sudden need to ravage her roommate spreading through her system like wildfire.

"Looks can be deceiving," Tecna pointed out, the frown that had been growing ever since the conversation started finally breaking. "Have any of you ever been curious about Bloom's heritage?"

There it was - the loaded question. Bloom was surprised it took Tecna this long to bring it up.

"She's from Earth, whoop de doo," Stella replied blearily, her presence in the room coming as a surprise as Bloom had not heard her door open.

"That's a weird question Tec," Musa said, eyebrows raised in confusion. "Why?"

"The Eraklyan guard is looking for a succubus, a profile for which Bloom fits. Compile that with the little information we know about her other than that she is from Earth - a notoriously dead planet magically-speaking - the darkness of her transformation, and the strange sets of coincidences that have happened since her arrival and I start to wonder..."

"You think that she is the succubus that killed Prince Sky?" Musa asked for clarification, clearly skeptical.

"That is my theory, yes."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Musa scoffed, and Bloom gained a newfound respect for her roommate. At least someone had her back. "I think we would know if we were living with a succubus."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Stella mused darkly. She was quick to turn on Bloom, something that both came as a surprise and hurt. "I mean, look at her. Bloom's body is perfect, like abnormally perfect. I can't find one flaw."

"All that means is that you're jealous," Musa countered, and Bloom was sure that Stella's face was priceless. "Face it, we have no real proof."

"No, but we have enough speculation to go to the Headmistress," Tecna said.

"There's something else," Flora chimed in quietly before bickering between the two lovers could ensue. "The night of Sky's death, Bloom came back to the room really late. I heard her sneaking around."

"You're just telling us this now?" Stella accused.

"I didn't think it was that important!" Flora cried. "She told me she was at the library and I had no reason not to trust her."

"What changed your mind?"

"When she was rummaging around she knocked over one of my plants, and earlier when I went to clean it up, I found a pile of clothes under her bed," Flora said, and Bloom silently cursed herself for forgetting to clean the mess up sooner like she had originally intended. "They were torn and covered in dirt so I used my powers to locate where it was from, thinking it was from the pot she knocked over, and..."

"And what Flo?" Musa asked, on the edge of her seat.

"The dirt is normally found at the base of the pine trees grown in the forest just outside of Cloud Tower."

Silence fell upon the group. Bloom barely found the strength to breathe lest she miss something crucial.

"The timing adds up," Tecna concluded in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That's not all," Flora practically whispered, like she was scared and ashamed. "I think Bloom has been...doing things to me."

"Things?" Stella asked, confused. "You're going to need to be more specific."

"I keep having this reoccurring dream and in it, Bloom is there and I..." Flora trailed off, swallowing thickly. "And I'm doing things to her...sexual things...except it doesn't' feel like a dream. It feels so real..."

Flora had to stop herself, her voice taking on a choked, watery quality. Bloom felt horribly for making Flora feel so helpless, but that was secondary to the amount of panic she was feeling for herself.

"That does it," Tecna announced, the creaking of a chair signaling that she had stood up. "I'm going to alert the Headmistress."

"Where is Bloom now?" Musa asked.

"In her room," Tecna replied, her voice growing further away as she headed towards the exit. "You three watch the door. So long as she stays inside there is no chance of her getting away before the guards come to question her."

"This is crazy..." Stella trailed off, something bitter in her tone that Bloom did not like. Who knew what the blonde was thinking, what terrible thoughts were running through her mind. Was she cursing rescuing Bloom from the hunter troll? Or was she wishing she had been left alone during the ogre attack to avoid their meeting altogether? Bloom had wished that not too long ago, before she had grown comfortable at Alfea. Now, the thought of her newfound friends wishing they never met just caused her pain.

"Crazy, yes. But it's the right thing to do," Tecna assured. "I'll be back shortly. Contact me if anything else happens."

There were no more voices, just the sound of muted scuffling as the door shut and left the other three in the common space. Only then did Bloom let herself panic. She stepped away from the door as if it had burned her, ears ringing with a devastating truth: she was in trouble. Tecna was on her way to gather the Eraklyan guard who would no doubt drag her out of the room and interrogate her far more harshly than they had Flora. Then, once they pried the truth from her lips using the most aggressive tactics, they would tie her down, ship her to Eraklyon, and behead her for the entire planet to see. There would be no more friends, no more happy days, no more learning magic to heal her parents. Everything would be lost, again.

She could not let that happen. She did not claw her way back from the bottom, suffer tragedy after tragedy only to be stopped now. She had a mission, a promise made to her parents on Earth. She would live to see them up and moving again, see Vanessa running her flower shop and Mike in his fire fighting uniform, and nothing was going to get in her way. Those thoughts strengthened her resolve, the fire licking under her skin pitching to a simmer as she channeled her panic into fierce determination.

One thing was crystal clear.

Bloom needed to leave. Tonight.