He didn't let his mind dwell on what had happened Friday night or the fact that the nightmares had stopped immediately after the strange encounter. He spent the entire weekend sleeping to make up for the five days of sleeplessness he had endured. By Monday, the bags under his eyes had almost completely receded and his Circadian clock was back on track. Just in time, too, because on Monday, all the schools of Magix were assigned their first joint mission. Classes were canceled and the whole day would be devoted to the mission that was sent to their dorms that morning.
"What's it say?" Aidan asked as he walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.
Electro looked up from the mission report and answered, "It's called the Jewel of Elegy."
"Sounds princess-y," Ray said with a disgusted look on his face.
"So I'm guessing it was Alfea's turn to come up with the mission?" Thorn suggested.
"Actually," Electro corrected, "Cloudtower came up with this one."
"Yes!" Marin cheered, pumping a fist in the air as he bounced on his bed. "Theirs are the best. That Griffin chick knows how to plan a cool mission."
"That 'Griffin chick'," Aidan said, walking over to the Androsian prince and pushing him off of his bed, "is more powerful than you will ever be. Try showing some respect."
Marin rubbed his head where it had hit the ground.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Don't get all in a fuss. I was just messin'."
Rolling his dark eyes at his friend's antics, Reed asked, "So where is it?"
"The woods outside of Magix," Electro answered. "By the fence, where all the druggies go."
"I can't wait to see the look on the fairies' faces when they have to fly through the Dark Woods," Ray said excitedly.
"Let's get going now. I don't want those fairies getting a headstart," Aidan said, now fully clothed.
All six boys walked to the center of the room and in a swirl of dark smoke, they all six disappeared only to reappear moments later in a shady grove surrounded by twisted trees. Before they could take stock of their location, a loud cackle preluded the entrance of the Coven Grimm.
"Lookie, lookie," a voice drawled seductively. Three figures stepped out of the shadows and into the dim light of the grove. "It's been a while, Cabal Knights."
Aidan smiled at the brunette witch with the wicked grin and ruby lips who had spoken. She strutted forward, color-changing eyes flashing coyly as she draped herself over Marin's shoulders. Planting a welcoming kiss on his cheek, she moved through the boys and did the same for each.
"Alexandra, to what do we owe the pleasure?"
"We're working together on this one," a screechy voice answered lowly, obviously trying to mimic Alexandra's drawl. This witch stood in the middle of the two others, decked out in dark blue and too much makeup, even for a Cloudtower girl.
"Janus," Aidan acknowledged, nodding stiffly.
"I've told you a million times," the blonde whined playfully, "just call me Jan."
"Whatever. Let's get to beating those pixies," the third witch grunted, punching her fist into her palm threateningly. She was dressed entirely in black to match the color of her hair, eyes, and powers. A silver C hung from a chain around her neck similar to the silver initials hanging from the other two witches' necks.
"Charybdis," Aidan acknowledged, this time with a smile. "How was your summer?"
"Boring," the powerful witch groaned. "We went on vacation to some stupid spa resort and Scylla made schedules for everything. It was awful."
Ray laughed obnoxiously.
"I was just happy to see you both out of the castle."
Charybdis walked over to slug him in the shoulder and the two got into a mock-wrestling match. Alexandra joined Thorn and Aidan in a conversation on how their summers went, and Jan tried to flirt with Marin. Reed and Electro looked over the mission assignment as the warlocks and witches caught up.
The camaraderie and socializing, of course, disappeared with the arrival of the Magix Club and their hero lackeys. Such things weren't meant for those aligned with such dark arts. With careful practice, the witches and warlocks switched the conversation into one of a much angrier, much nastier variety.
"Already fighting, I see," Winter announced upon his arrival to the shady grove. The colorless hero stood with his chest puffed out and his feet set widely apart, but his darting blue eyes revealed his unease. Actually, Aidan noticed, all of the fairies and heroes looked uncomfortable. Ray nudged Aidan in the ribs.
"What took you so long?" Aidan teased. "Was there a sale on panties at the mall?"
Skye whispered none too quietly to Nell, "Girl, I wish."
Winter rolled his eyes and took a challenging step forward. Aidan stepped forward as well.
"Let's just get this mission over with," Snow said before a fight could break out.
When he made eye contact with her, it felt like all of his strength was sapped out of him. By the hardened look in her eyes, Snow didn't remember any of last night.
Clearing her throat, she asked. "What does your mission folder say?"
Electro pulled out his folder and flipped to the mission outline. Reed peered over his shoulder as he read aloud.
"Find half the gem of requiem planted with the trees. At Genesis, you shall find the Jewel of Elegy."
"Ooo, a riddle," Charybdis crooned followed by an awful cackle. "Griffy's stepping up her game."
"Griffin," Alexandra corrected, forcefully taking the witches' mission folder from the Solarian's hands. "Let's see what ours has to say."
Janus took the paper from Alexandra and cleared her throat obnoxiously. Aidan shared an exasperated look with Snow before they both remembered they were on opposing sides. He took a sudden interest in the forest canopy, trying to ignore the heat on his cheeks.
"Bro, you good?" Ray whispered. "You're turning redder than me."
"Redder than you?" Marin said, leaning forward. "He's turning redder than his hair."
Luckily, his joke distracted them from Aidan's blush and they quickly forgot about it in favor of laughing quietly to themselves. Janus cleared her throat more violently, looking pointedly at the two boys doubling over in their laughter. Aidan spared a glance at Snow who was glaring at the two interrupting teens, but the blush on her face gave her away. He couldn't hold back his smirk.
Janus began in a shrill voice:
"Destroy the half of epitaph granted unto thee. Foil them in their quest to find the Jewel of Elegy."
She finished with an accomplished smile. Alexandra looked in the folder and found a quarter of purple crystal, raw on one side and flat on the other sides. Electro took it from her and scanned it with one of his gadgets.
"It's a chthonian crystal- or, at least, half of one. It has a special connection with death and is commonly used to communicate with or locate the dead. Cloudtower's senior finals require the witches to make one to pass, among other things, so Magix has them in bulk. They're sort of faulty and potions tend to work better, which is why the gems are now normally used as decoration."
"It is very pretty," Skye said, leaning forward to get a closer look when Electro pulled it away from her. She glared and stepped back to stand by the fairies.
Scylla opened Alfea's folder and said, "It's the same riddle the Knights had."
"Ours is the same as the Coven's," Reese added as he pulled an identical quarter-gem from Red Fountain's folder. His darting brown eyes looked it over quickly before tossing it to Kody. "Are we supposed to work together?"
The gem made its way through the ranks of the Heroes, passing from hand to hand to hand.
"Ew, I don't want to work with heroes," Charybdis complained.
"Yeah, we aren't happy about working with warlocks either," Ruby said, crossing her arms.
Snow took the gem piece from her brother and said with resignation, "It looks like we have to. Let's just get this over with."
"Wait."
Everyone looked towards Alexandra.
"So… we have to destroy the pieces of the gem so that you can't form the whole Jewel of Elegy?" she asked, pointing to the gem Electro was holding. Electro and Snow looked down at the hunks of purple crystal in their hands.
"Uh… yes?"
There was silence in the clearing before the witches' hands started glowing. A wicked grin spread across Charbydis's face. The heroes unsheathed their weapons.
"We should probably go, right?" Nell asked, looking to Snow. The winter fairy nodded.
"Yeah, we should probably go."
The six fairies took to the air and shot off into the forest with the witches hot on their heels. The heroes took offensive stances. The warlocks shared a look.
"Just- just hand over the gem," Winter said, holding his sword to Aidan's neck. Aidan grinned.
"Make me," he laughed, taking a step back before spinning and running into the forest. The Cabal Knights followed with the heroes in hot pursuit.
"So, uh… where are we going?" Ray asked as he dodged the plasma gun one of the heroes was firing after them.
Aidan vaulted over a fallen log and stumbled on a root, narrowly avoiding crashing into a tree thanks to Thorn pulling him out of harm's way. Signaling at the warlocks to duck behind an upcoming boulder, he let the heroes pass by as he whispered, "The file said something about a tree."
"Not at all helpful," Marin deadpanned.
Electro pulled out the folder and read, "At Genesis, you shall find the Jewel of Elegy."
"That doesn't say anything about trees."
"The first half was about trees," Aidan argued, whacking Marin in the arm.
"Whatever."
"Guys, focus," Electro said, rolling his eyes. "We have to find Genesis to find the jewel."
"We already have the jewel," Marin said, holding up the two quarters they had started with.
"That must be where we'll combine the jewels with the Magix Club's quarters," Electro explained.
"I hate that we have to work with the Magix Club," Reed grumbled, peering out from behind the boulder.
"Yeah, well, we still get to defeat those heroes," Aidan said. "Electro, look up any place called Genesis in the Dark Woods."
"I already did. There's nothing."
"Maybe it's a riddle," Reed offered.
"Obviously it's a riddle, dipshit," Marin said, knocking Reed upside the head.
"No, I meant that Genesis is a riddle," the youngest warlock grumbled, rubbing the blossoming bruise on his head. "Maybe it means beginning."
"So, like, the beginning of the forest?" Ray suggested.
Thorn asked, "The entrance? That's where we started."
"No, the root of the forest."
"A forest has lots of roots," Marin said.
"Can you shut up for, like, two minutes?" Reed groaned. "I mean, the first tree. My mom took us there on a field trip once. It's near downtown Magix. It's the beginning of the forest. Great Dragon, you guys never let me talk."
"Sorry, little guy," Aidan said, ruffling Reed's dark hair. "That was some clever sleuthing. Let's go check it out."
Reed grumbled something else under his breath, but when he looked up, the Cabal Knights were already a few yards away. He hurried to catch up with them, grumbling under his breath the whole way.