Chapter 5: A Secret Hint

The heavy air was all around the girls. 'He wants us to give him the Abstruse Aquamarine for exchange', Selina said as she glared at Joshua. The glare was sharp and dangerous. Aisha looked at her cousin. The mermaid princess said nothing.

'What should we do?' Stella wondered 'She saved us. We can't let her be like that'. All the Winx had already known what happened during Selina's journey to Tir Nan Og. None of them wanted that happened again.

'It's ridiculous' Tecna said 'You want to get the stone by doing this?' 'We won't let you have it', Musa confirmed. 'But if we don't, Tressa, she'll…' Aisha's voice trembled. 'Yes, we can't leave Tressa', Stella said as she tried to calm her friend down. 'In that case', Flora suggested 'Let Bloom make the final decision.

Actually, can the Fairy of the Dragon Flame come out with a good decision when none of her friends can? She was tangled. She didn't know what to do. 'I'll…my decision is…' she said in a small voice. She couldn't make a decision herself. She couldn't give the stone to him, but she also couldn't leave Tressa there without any care. A fairy was the one whose job was to save people's lives. Bloom held the stone on her hand, confusingly.

'We have to save Tressa. We're faries, we can't choose the stone over her life', Selina looked at Bloom and said 'If you don't have enough courage to do it, I'll do it for you.'

Bloom wasn't able to come up with a decision, but she didn't really want to do what Selina suggested. The Fairy of Darkness looked at the stone on her friend's hand for a while. Bloom then gave the stone to Selina mindlessly due to lack of resolution.

'You really want to give it to him? Since when you became so…' Musa started to complained, but then stopped. A fairy had to save people, she couldn't talk like that. However, it was really weird. Musa wanted to ask why Selina changed so much. She was so…soft? She had never been like this when she was a witch.

Selina was holding the stone on her hand, staring at Joshua. Then, she turned to the Winx 'I'm sorry, I disappoint you, but I can't think of anything else'. None of them said a word.

Facing Joshua, the fairy hardened her voice 'It is ridiculous. You're so humble. You play this trick from time to time. When you do that, I have to give up. It is not fair.' 'Nothing is fair', Joshua spoke rudely 'Now, give me the stone'

'No, don't do that Selina', Tressa shouted 'Do you lose your mind?' 'Shut up', Joshua hit her and flew upward, lift her off the water in order to put more pressure on the young fairy.

'If you keep on doing this, she'll die', Selina shouted. 'Give me that stone', the wizard repeated without caring Selina's words.

'Alright', Selina lift the blue stone up, moved a bit closer to Joshua. The wizard looked at the stone and then smirked 'How silly you are? This is not the first time'

Yes, Selina was silly. She was too silly that she threw the stone toward but far away from him, down to the ocean.

'How dare you?' the man shouted as he tried to catch it.

'Darkling Mystical Ray', she aimed and shot him fast and coldly. He was son shocked that his hand left Tressa and she was free. 'I'm not intelligent enough to see where you are, actually', she mocked. After that, the Winx also took that advantage to fire him. And, how could he win? He just ran away.

'We did it', Stella cheered. 'It's all your work, Selina', Bloom smiled. 'Thank you for trust in me', she replied. 'But there is a problem, Selina', Tecna reminded 'The Abstruse Aquamarine…' 'Oh yes', Musa said 'You threw it into the ocean and it will be hard to find it now'.

'I'm not that fool', the young girl said as she put out the stone 'Here it is' 'What?' Flora asked. 'I threw the fake one, in fact. It would not an easy job to find something lose in the ocean' 'Oh', Bloom exclaimed 'What a great idea. So the one you gave him at Tir Nan Og is also the fake one?'

'No', Selina shook her head sadly 'I'm afraid not. He didn't touch that stone, so he didn't recognize it was not the Abstruse Aquamarine. If he did, he would notice. That why…' 'You gave him the real one?' Musa asked. Selina only nodded. 'But your idea is perfect. Why didn't you do that in Tir Nan Og?'

'I-I' Selina said quietly 'I didn't think about this idea at that time' 'It's quite regrettable', Flora exclaimed 'But forget it'

'Hey', Tecna asked 'Where is Aisha?'

Away from the other girls, Aisha was talking to Roy. She was flying and he was sitting on his wind rider.

'Thank you for saving me', she said. 'If that's all you want to say, I'd better leave', he looked into her beautiful eyes 'Goodbye'.

'Wait', she shouted 'You'll go away, for good?' 'Yes, Princess' he replied coldly 'I left the job here. I don't have anything to do here now' 'So why, why did you save me?' the Princess looked at him 'If you did that, you didn't need to…'

Roy tried to avoid Aisha's eyes. He really wanted to say that he did it because he loved her and he didn't want her to die. However, she had a boyfriend and they seemed to be happy together. How could he tell the truth? He didn't want the one he loved to be awkward.

'Well, I went back here to take all my things here. I saw you in trouble and I thought you need a help. That's all' he said half true half lied 'This might be the last thing I could do for you. Farewell'. Then he coldly left.

'Wait', Aisha shouted 'I commanded you to wait'. However, he ignored. He wasn't her father's guard or an Andros person anymore. Aisha stayed there, her body froze. She didn't know what to do.

The moment he save her reminded her about what he had done for her in the past. He helped her when she was on the mission against Tritannus. He saved her and almost died because of that. He protected her parents and her people when Tritannus attacked her realm. He saved her from falling down from the sky in Limphea when she lost her power. And now, he had gone.

Memories returned to her mind. The days they were together, he hadn't confessed to her, and now, she went out with another guy. 'Roy', she whispered thoughtlessly as tears slowly dropped down.

She didn't know what to do. Did she really love Nex? She had once let the one who she loved, Nabu, left her for good, and now, she did it again. What should she do?

'Don't cried, Aisha', Bloom embraced her. 'You are strong enough to get though it', Stella gave her a handkerchief. 'Yes', Musa conformed 'And we'll be by your side forever.' 'That's right', Flora smiled. 'Everybody will always care about you', Tecna added. 'And so do I', Selina said.

The girls arrived at Alfea at dusk, when everyone was exhausted.

'Ahh…' Stella sat down on the couch 'Finally'. Flora gave Bloom the Abstruse Aquamarine and Selina took out the Enigmatic Amber.

'Alright', Bloom said 'We've got two' 'But where should we put them?' 'Haven't decided yet', Bloom answered. 'In that case', Tecna proposed 'We should use our power to form a safety lock' 'What do you all think?' Aisha asked. 'That's a great idea', said Flora.

The girls used their power and did what they planned. A safety lock was formed and the stones were kept in it.

'Selina', Flora suddenly interrupted 'I really want to know why you knew about Queen Ligea's scepter?' 'Actually, I had read everything about you before', Selina replied truthfully 'You know, learning about our enemies is what we should do… Hope that you don't get angry about that' 'It's alright' Bloom said 'We won't. Thanks for telling the truth'

All of a sudden, a melody appeared and captured the girls' minds.

'Just a single step

You're brought into a world

Where magic brings you up

And power pushes you down

Somewhere that you have,

never dreamt before.

You take a look around

And see a rainbow shower

You put your hand on clouds

And feel your heart stand still

A flower on the ground,

slowly charms your heart.

You pick it up and see

It's just a purple bloom

But magic flows around

Then spreads into your heart

The power is too strong,

stronger then you think.

And then it's shining bring

You feel a paradise

Your power is stronger

And you're not just a girl

You spread your wings and fly,

higher in the sky.

Forever and ever, forever

But all you need is a trust inside your heart

Forever…

They turned around and saw Musa holding her MP3 player where the song came from. 'I know this song', Tecna said 'Its name is A Purple Flower' 'Me too', Bloom smiled 'It's a very famous song these days' 'The tune is soft, light and sweet', Stella commented. 'I like this song' Flora also said 'I feel like it has the of nature inside it' 'This song softens my heart every time I listen to it', Aisha agreed 'It's perfect'

'Musa', Selina proposed 'Can you play this song again?'. The Fairy of Music nodded.

The song once again resounded. It was…perfect. Selina closed her eyes and her heart, tied to feel the melody.

'By the way', Stella asked 'Who compose this song?' 'Well', Musa mumbled 'I-I don't know' 'What?' Aisha asked 'Even you don't know who? I thought that you had to know the name of the one who come up with such a beautiful song like this' 'It doesn't tell', Tecna whispered 'This song comes from an anonymous girls who posed it secretly the website'

'Forget about that, Winx', Selina suddenly interrupted 'Do you feel anything from this song? I mean…' 'It's good', Flora replied in confuse.

Musa heard that. She listened to the song one more time. She was the Fairy of Music. If someone felt something strange about a song, why she didn't?

The song softly flowed into the girls' heart once again. Selina was right. There was something strange. But she couldn't recognize what it was.

However, she still told the other what she felt. 'I feel the strange, either', Flora agreed 'Even though it has the sense of nature in it, it still seems to have something else'

'Actually', Stella whispered 'Aisha and I don't feel anything' 'Really?' Selina was surprised 'You don't?' 'How about you, Tecna, do you feel anything?' Bloom asked her friend since she also felt something, but it wasn't strange to her, it was familiar. But she found no reply.

The air around them became silent for a while. 'Tecna', Musa quivered her friend 'Is there anything wrong?' Tecna didn't answer, which made everyone worried.

'I'm sorry', Tecna mumbled after a short silence 'I've got a headache'. Then she stood up and left.

'Something is not right with Tecna', Stella mused 'She had just been very happy a minute ago' 'Yes', Aisha agreed 'I have the same idea with you too' 'I might be wrong', Flora said 'But she had changed her attitude since she received something in her laptop'

'We have to find out what is it', Bloom decided 'We can't let Tecna be like this' 'But how?' Selina asked.

Another silence covered the area around them. 'Ok', Musa finally said 'I think I'd better have a check on her and see what she need. You girls should go to bed. We'll fix this mess tomorrow.'

The girls agreed and left the lounge. Musa walked back to her room. The light had been turned off. Tecna was sleeping, in fact, she was pretending sleeping.

Musa went to her friend's bed. 'Tecna', she asked quietly 'What happened? Everyone is worried about you.' Once again, there was no answer. The Fairy of Music when back to her bed. However, she couldn't sleep. Actually, no one could sleep, excepted Selina.

They were all concerned and sad. What had happened to their friend? Was she ok? No one could be the same when one of them was not the same. Their hearts met at a sorrowful and hollow point. What had happened seem to bring back to them the feeling they had when Tecna sacrificed herself a long time ago.

'Tecna, we all wish you would be alright.'

A night had passed but Tecna hadn't felt better. She woke up at first light, had breakfast quietly and left to the forest near Alfea alone, without telling anyone. She sat down under a tree.

I disappointed you, Winx. I always believed that I could do it, but I couldn't. I failed. I let you down. You're my very best friends. You trust me and I-I… My laptop betrays me, my locating device betrays me and everything betrays me. Even Timmy couldn't help me. How can we accomplish our mission if I can't find out that? How can I tell you about that?

'What?' Stella shouted 'Tecna disappeared?' 'What happened?' Flora asked in worry. 'Calm down, Winx', Bloom tried to tell everyone those words even though she didn't or could stay calm. 'She had left before I woke up', Musa reported 'And I can't find her anywhere'.

'You don't need to be that concerned' Aisha walked into the room 'Ms. Griselda saw she walked into the wood. I think that she needs a little peace and quiet.' Aisha's words made the other feel better. They finally released a bit.

'Now, I think that we have to do something to cheer her up' Flora proposed 'We have to think of something which can help her' 'Yes, we have to find out the reason why she feels sad.' 'Agree', said Bloom.

'But how?' Aisha questioned. 'We'll have a talk to Timmy, I think', Stella suggested 'He may know why'

Bloom immediately took her phone and called Sky and the other Specialists.

However, her action unintentionally made Musa came to a halt. Riven wasn't there. She didn't want to…

The Fairy of Wave noticed that and pulled her friend away without her agreement 'When you three do that, Musa and I will have a check on Tecna's things. Maybe we'll find something.'

Musa still went away actually. Fine, it would make her feel better since she didn't have to see couples talking with each other. Aisha didn't need to talk to the guys either.

But, would the other be able to talk happily to their boyfriends when a friend of them was sad? They only discussed about Tecna's problem.

While the Winx were doing as their plan, Selina sat alone in her room, looking at her laptop. She wasn't an emotionless person; still, she was a type of person who put her aim on top. Remember that days when she and the Winx were enemies, she really wanted to destroyed Bloom, however, since she needed to take a piece of Bloom's power and leave fast before the Trix noticed, she spared Bloom. But that didn't mean she had no idea or thought about Tecna's problem. To her guess, it might relate to their mission, what she was searching on her laptop. She thought that there would be some information about the stones she could find online. She typed the name in, but found nothing. It was weird. The Winx told her they got the information online, why she didn't find anything.

After a few minutes, everyone gathered around. Nothing new was found. The answer Bloom, Stella and Flora received from Timmy was 'She is not sad because of our relationship; she is sad about something else which I think I should let her tell you herself', while Aisha and Musa couldn't find anything from Tecna's device due to security password.

'What should we do?' Bloom sighed. 'I think we should think another way', Flora said as an idea flashed through her mind. 'What is it?' Musa asked. 'I too can't wait to hear that', Aisha mumbled. 'Tell us', Stella said as she didn't let Flora have a chance to say.

'I mean that even though we don't know the reason why, we still can cheer her up', Flora proposed. 'In that case', Musa stood up with a smile on her face 'I have an idea'.

The shade of the tree Tecna sat under became smaller and smaller. It was nearly noon. She had been leaning on that tree for hours. The resplendent sun was still shining bright and made she feel hot. 'Worst day ever', she whispered.

Suddenly, she heard a sound.

'You're our very best friend
The one who knows us
The one to stick it out 'til the end
And as we go through
These moments with you
All of these memories fill our mind

Oh, the crazy things we've done
You know we'd do it all again
Yeah, love turns them tears
Through battles and fun
[…]'

Tecna looked up. 'Winx, girls', she whispered 'Why…?' She was very surprised and happy. The Winx was standing there, in front of her. Everyone clapped their hands softy to the tunes and Musa held an MP3 player on her hand.

'We sang this song, just for you', Bloom gave her a friendly smile. Tecna stood up 'Thank you… but…' 'Listen, Tecna', Flora whispered 'It is ok even the reason why you sad is whatever. All we need is your happiness. We all wish you alright.' 'Yes, Tecna. Return to who you were.' Musa added 'We'll by your side forever.'

'But I disappoint you…' Tecna mumbled. 'We will never mind about that, I mean what even we don't know', Stella smiled 'We're friends' 'That's right', Aisha agreed 'Forget it, if you want to'

'But, the reason why I feel sad is the thing which will disappoint you…' Tecna still worried. 'Alright, if you think that we will be unhappy because of that, tell us now, we can discuss about that' Bloom suggested.

'Before, you have to give us a smile', Musa proponed. Tecna smiled. She could feel happiness return to her. 'Well', she murmured 'Actually…'

'Winx', a voice suddenly interrupted the fairy's words 'We're called to attend a class.' 'Selina', Bloom asked as she turned round 'What is that for?' 'Yeah', Stella added 'We don't usually have class in the afternoon'

'I don't know', the fairy answered 'Ms. Griselda told me about that, it looks like headmistress Faragonda want to tell us something' 'So we have to go back right now, aren't we?' Flora requested. 'Yes', Musa and Tecna nodded.

The young fairies went to the class and settled down on their seats. 'I still don't understand. If she wants to tell us something now, we'll have to be at her office, not class' Stella wondered. 'I too think there suppose to be something wrong', Tecna guessed. 'Maybe terrible things will happen and the headmistress have to teach us new things then', Musa mused.

'She will not teach you anything or tell you anything now', a voice broke their train of thought 'In fact, she won't be able to be here now.'

The girls looked at the platform.

'THIS IS MY CLASS'

'Professor Daphne?'