Chapter Thirteen

"I have to say, you've really let this place go since I left," she continued, walking around the room like it was perfectly normal for her to be here, back at Alfea, where she was supposedly forbidden from ever setting foot again (after, you know, trying to kill me last year).

There were a thousand different things I wanted to say (most of them not very nice), but it was as if my tongue was stuck in my mouth. My whole body felt sluggish and slow, like I was moving through Jell-O. "Wh-what are you doing here?" I managed to get out finally.

She paused by Miriam's dresser, her fingers trailing across the top. "Isn't it obvious, princess?" Venom dripped from her every word. "I came to see you."

"H-how did you get in here?" I asked, trying to buy myself some more time for anyone – anyone – to find me and get help.

"Oh, I had a little help from the inside," she cooed, her fingers curling around the glass top of Miriam's perfume bottle. I tried to inch slowly towards the door, but my limbs had turned to lead, my feet frozen in place. Taylor smirked. "Don't even bother trying to leave," she added threateningly, waving her hand towards the door. It slammed shut with a rattle that made me jump. "I've waited a long time for this." Her grip on the perfume bottle tightened, so that I was worried she would break the glass (not that I would've minded if Taylor got a bleeding palm full of broken glass…).

My eyes scanned up and down her body. She wore tight low-slung jeans and a white one-shoulder crop top, super-high silver platform sandals elevating her already tall, slender frame to supermodel-esque heights. Her blond curls were long and glossy, falling around a lightly tanned face that was absolutely devoid of makeup, save for a slick of bright red lip gloss that matched the ruby pendant hanging on a long silver chain just above her exposed belly button. "You look good," I ventured, trying to appeal to her vanity.

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't bother sucking up, it won't do you any good. But yes; apparently, rehab and house arrest agree with me." She let go of the perfume, her hands balling into fists by her side.

"So that's where you've been." How I found the nerve to make a sarcastic comment, I will never know.

"Oh, act all innocent, like it's not your fault I've been shut away like a caged animal this past year." Her voice was so full of ice and anger that I was surprised the room hadn't frosted over yet. "You want to know what I thought about while I was being forced to 'describe my inner feelings' or paint my nails for the five hundredth time to stave off boredom?" There was a wicked glint in her eyes that sent chills down my spine. "Revenge."

Almost out of force of habit, I glanced backwards towards the door. "No one's coming," Taylor continued, her tone sing-song, taunting me. "But you know that, don't you? Oh yes, poor, poor Alyssa. I only wish that I could've been responsible for what happened last night. So deliciously satisfying, for you to get a taste of your own medicine."

"H-how do you know about that?" I stammered, officially scared.

"Didn't I tell you? I've got eyes everywhere. It's such a shame about your parents, although really, can you blame your mom for wanting to be with someone who's not a certified psychopath? And I thought my brother had a little more class than that, but apparently not." She clucked her tongue. "Don't feel too bad. He and Alexa are soul mates. You were nothing more than a novelty, a passing fling. It was undeniable." I grit my teeth, every word setting my blood on fire.

Taylor started walking towards me, light steps that made her curls bounce. "Your parents, your boyfriend, your friends… you've lost everything. And so the house of cards collapses."

"What are you doing here?" I repeated, backing up as my feet finally regained the ability to move again. Taylor continued moving forward, until eventually I was trapped up against the closed doors, the overwhelming scent of her perfume invading my senses. A memory of being in almost this exact situation last year (pinned against the wall, completely at Taylor's mercy) flashed through my mind. It wasn't exactly comforting.

"You know, I never understood the appeal," she remarked almost absently, as if I hadn't said a thing. "There's something about you that everyone seems to find so amazing, but personally, I never got it. You're nothing more than a naïve, sheltered little girl with dangerous powers who doesn't belong in the real world."

"Aren't you the dangerous one, T?" I sniped, again wondering how I'd found the courage to say something so biting.

Too late, I realized that was definitely the wrong thing to say. Her eyes narrowed devilishly at me, as she opened her fists, stretching out her fingers to reveal long red manicured nails that looked like bloody talons. I gulped.

But nothing happened – at least, not right away. "You know, I almost feel bad for you right now," she said, in a voice that was shockingly (fake) sweet, compared to what I'd been expecting. "Everyone who used to care about you has deserted you. That's got to sting."

"That's not true," I protested, in a voice I barely recognized as my own. "I still have Miriam."

Taylor scoffed. "Miriam? You think she's your friend? Oh dear heart, you are even more deluded than I'd thought."

My heart skipped a beat, although I tried to remain calm, refusing to give Taylor a weak spot to exploit. "What do you mean?"

"Your precious Miriam, the one friend you thought you had left, is my cousin. She's been working for me this whole year – slipping me info, driving a wedge between you and the others, giving me the code to Alfea's protection bubble…"

Blood raced through my veins, my heart pounding in my ears. "No…"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, 'Liss, but she's not your friend." Taylor reached out and ran a finger across my cheek, her long fake nails cold as ice. I fought the urge to shudder. "No one is."

At that last statement, something inside me finally snapped. All the anger that had been boiling under the surface since the beginning of the semester finally spilled over, until all I could see was Taylor, taunting me. Practically begging for a fight.

A tingly feeling spread throughout every cell in my body, and I looked down to see that my jeans and the black concert T-shirt Mel had given me from her mom's tour (I was lazy this morning, but hey, can you really blame me?) had been replaced by a short cerulean blue empire-waist sleeveless dress with a sea-green sweetheart-necked bodice (but blue straps), two silver belts crisscrossing across my hips, and a deep purple ruffle extending from below the green to past the belts. My beat-up red Converse were now deep purple mid-calf-length high-heeled boots, and black lace-print fingerless gloves extended up my elbows. There was a silver choker around my neck that matched the belts at my waist and at the ankles of my boots, and my hair was iron-straight and side-parted, falling sleekly down my back (even though I was sure I had not put that much time into it that morning). I couldn't see them, but I knew my wings were there – almost dragonfly-ish, pale purple with sky blue trim, darker purple insets, and little green jewels at the bottom tips.

This wasn't the first time I had transformed, but it was the first time I'd done it without thinking, and not in a classroom-type situation. Magic surged through my veins, making me feel capable of anything in the world.

Taylor glared at me. "If it's a fight you want, well, who am I to deny perfect Princess Alyssa anything she wants?" Her tone dripped with mocking.

I balled my hands into fists, which lit up with glowing fire energy before I knew what I was doing. "Bring it, bitch."

"Oh, you are so going to regret that." Swirling red energy surrounded her, and she emerged from the cloud fluttering on her vaguely peacock-style wings, dark red with bright red "feather" tips. They matched the rest of her outfit perfectly – knee-high dark red high-heeled boots, a tight bright red miniskirt with a long asymmetrical hem, and a cream white strapless top with a slashed V-neckline that had a bright red gem at the lowest point. Similar red gems were in bracelets around her skinny wrists, connected to white cut-out gloves, and on the pale burgundy headband that had a dark red feather plume coming out the top.

"What do you say we take this outside?" she snarled, raising her arms. Something like a tornado grew from her palms, sucking us both in and depositing us high above Alfea. As I was still catching my breath from the abrupt transition, she created six bright red jewels (I was noticing a theme here…) that surrounded her body, shooting out bursts of pink energy. Moving quickly, I dodged most of them, but one hit me in the chest. It stung, and I doubled over, my chest constricting in pain. "Doesn't feel so good, now, does it, princess?" she spat, her eyes alive with an almost inhuman quality.

"You're crazy!" I shouted at her, the wind making it hard to hear. "What did I ever do to you anyways?" Squeezing my eyes shut to block out what lingered of the pain, I produced a glowing fireball from my fingertips, forming it into the shape of an arrow, which shot towards Taylor. She tried to dodge, but it eventually got her in the wings, and she recoiled in shock.

"You ruined my life!" she yelled, raising her arms over her head. Pink energy glowed from her fingertips, forming itself into a ring that looked (oddly enough) a bit like a halo, floating over her head. It zoomed towards me, squeezing itself around my forearms and chest. Taylor laughed viciously as I struggled to break free.

Below us, I could see people starting to gather, pointing and shouting to their friends. The thought filled me with hope; someone would call for Miss Faragonda, and she would be able to restrain Taylor. I just had to hold out a little bit longer. With renewed strength, I was able to break the ring, a faint orange glow of energy surrounding me.

"I did nothing!" The orange glow grew stronger as I summoned more of my power within. "You're insane, Taylor – really, truly, got a few screws loose. You did this to yourself." Like holding dynamite in my fingertips, I unleashed it, hoping that was enough to subdue her until Miss F could get in here.

"Lies!" she shrieked. Her entire body glowed bright red, absorbing my firepower into it like it was nothing. My breath caught in my throat; that was one of my strongest attacks. "You did this to me. You ruined my life. And for that, you must pay!"

The glowing red energy increased in strength, just like mine had. I watched in horror as she channeled it all into her fingertips, all that red-hot power squeezed into a tight little ball. With an inhuman shriek, she sent it rocketing towards me.

The force of the impact was enough to knock me backwards, sending me careening towards the astronomy tower. I felt a bone-crunching snap as I rammed into the side, crumpling like a rag doll onto the observation deck. Then I just lay there, immobile, my leg lying at a funny angle, as I tried to get my lungs to work properly again.

Hovering above me, Taylor was gloating at her victory; I didn't have to be able to see her to know that. I closed my eyes, and for a moment, I considered just giving up.

No.

Power surged through me from head to toe, infusing every cell in my body with strength – like the initial burst of energy that came from transforming, but with something of a darker edge. I felt stronger, yes, but also meaner.

I wanted to see Taylor suffer.

With a vengeful growl, I shot up into the air, unhampered by my broken-feeling leg and the pain in my chest. Taylor's eyes widened, and she gave a little gasp of surprise; obviously, she thought she had killed me, or at least seriously injured me.

Think again, bitch.

I can only imagine how it must've looked to the people below – I probably looked like I was giving off radioactive sparks, the glow was so bright. Instead of channeling the energy and then unleashing it like last time, though, I let it grow bigger and bigger, like a rubber band pulled taut. Until finally, it just… snapped.

Taylor screamed. I could feel myself losing power, falling towards the ground, like I was watching from somewhere outside of my own body. Everything exploded into fire before my eyes, and that was the last thing I saw as my world faded to black.

Author's Note: So? Was it everything you'd expected it to be? ;-)

Before anyone asks, yes, I did copy Taylor's outfit verbatim from Diaspro's, along with the attacks. But hey, we only see Diaspro transform once, for like 5 minutes, so it barely counts, right? And come on, how was I supposed to get a fairy outfit for her from one of you without spoiling the secret?

Speaking of spoiling secrets, hands up if you thought that Miriam was related to Taylor/a bad guy of any sort. (You don't count, E!) I'm still surprised I managed to keep you all on your toes for so long. But don't be so quick to write her off. Next chapter, we get to see more about Miriam, and perhaps redeem her a bit. She will feature prominently in book 3, so keep that in mind.

An enormous shout-out to Ember, who designed Alyssa's amazing fairy outfit. And while I'm on that note, happy birthday E! Isn't this the best birthday present ever? ;-)

Kisses!

- Authoress