Chapter 4- Family History Lesson
The three girls stood outside the convention building, the cold wind biting their ears as they pulled out their cell phones.
"Hello?" Angie heard her mother's voice in her small blue phone.
"Hey Mom, can you come pick me up now? I have some people I think you'd like to meet..." she waited patiently for her mom's "okay" and quickly hung up. "So, are you guys' parents on their way too?"
"Mine have just left." Ella confirmed as she pocketed her own phone.
"And mine are just about to!" Alexis piped up.
"Great. They'll either be in for a surprise, or have quite some explaining to do..."
After what felt much like an hour, standing in the cold - with only Stella's sunshine powers to keep them warm - three cars came in, one after another and came to a halt nearby.
"Hey mom and dad!" Angie said to her parents as they stepped out of the car. They did not return the greeting however, as they saw who was standing with them, and strangest of all, who was standing beside themselves. The three girls scanned the
looks on the parents' faces; all the same bewildered and somewhat worried look.
"JAMES?" Ella's mother, Juliana exclaimed. "Marie?"
"Juliana? Is that really you?" Marie asked cautiously.
"Yes! And Kathy? Robert?" Juliana turned to Alexis' parents.
"Why, if it isn't Julie and Ethan." Kathy smiled warmly. "Wasn't expecting this meeting soon."
"WHAT meeting?" The three teens demanded. "How do you all know each other?"
Angie wasn't sure whether it was what she just said, or a sudden drop in temperature, but the color drained from each of the adults' faces in unison. "So we all have kept quiet, eh?" Ethan decided.
Ella gave an exasperated sigh. "You mean the fact that we're all apparently faeries?"
There was an uncomfortable pause. Ella looked from face to face, trying to read their expressions. She turned to see her friends doing the same.
"JUST to make things less awkward here, I might mention that Bloom here wasn't told she was a faerie 'till she was sixteen either!" Stella chimed in loudly. Everyone jumped, forgetting that the Winx had been standing there quietly the whole time.
"Um," the adults said at once, each of them had trouble making eye contact with their daughters. "Well, it's not JUST that you're faeries..."
"Oh for heaven's sake!" Marie said. "Girls, we know that you know enough about faeries already due to the Winx Club here." She gestured to the six older faeries behind them. "But that's not the only thing you need to know..." Her light blue eyes darkened with worry.
"What else could there possibly be?" Angie asked, as she and her friends stood closer together, bracing themselves for impact.
The parents looked at each other, as if silently making decisions before Juliana piped up. "Long long ago, before many of the planets had formed - there was a huge war among the four first planets; Domino, Linphea, Tides and Celestia." She looked at the three girls solemnly, as if to make sure they knew what she was saying so far. "That war raged with undeniable fury, and the four realms would not settle down for peace until one would stand alone, and the others become their slaves. Four ancient elves, each from the four planets and practiced in the Old Magic, were friends, and, hating the situation between their home planets decided they must intervene.
"They created four weapons; all forged with their great magic of the four main elements, earth, water, fire and air... With these weapons - influence could be taken over the element it represented, and was the key to winning peace among the nations. They combined the weapons, and took command of the elements and brought a threatening storm over all four planets. Each elf went to talk with the rulers of the nation, predicting that if the war was not stopped, the elements would rage on and destroy all life. The rulers did not realize that the elves were the ones commanding the elements, and feared the chaotic storm would overtake them. Trusting the elves' advice, they declared a peace treaty, and lo and behold, the storms cleared.
"From then on the nations got along, but the weapons still lay in the hands of the elves and passed down to their ancestors. Too much power, as we all know, often leads to corruption - and not far down the line, the elves reunited and used their weapons to try and take over the universe. They were stopped at great expenses, and the weapons stolen - so that they could not continue down the line of ancestors. Instead, they tried to destroy them - which could not happen, for they were forged with great magic. Instead, four trusted people were given the weapons to keep safe and never use unless a crisis came along. They were passed down to each ancestor until they got to us." She paused. "And now to yourselves."
The three girls gaped at Juliana, trying with great effort to take in what she had just said. "But... but how did you get here to earth? Why? And why didn't you tell me I was a faerie in the first place?" Angie asked her parents.
James sighed sadly. "Perhaps it's time we now tell our little stories, right?"
"Well, for one thing, I didn't meet your father at work..." Marie started, laughing a little bit. "I met him while on a quest for the Queen of my realm, Jewlaria. I was Queen Roxanne's right hand lady for a long time, and even helped find her Lost Gem at one point, her little baby Lapillus. That, sadly, was where things went wrong. I had traveled to the non-magic realm of Alisena and had met your father. We ended up finding Lapillus together and brought her back to Jewlaria for the queen.
"This was well, until she found out that James was a foreigner, from what had long ago been a rival planet, and had accompanied me - and come to her kingdom. She was outraged at this, and very worried that the secrets of her nation would be exposed to him - and paranoid that the people of Alisena would come and take over, so I was banished. Sent here, to earth where James and I married and made best of the situation as we could. And, of course, I had you about a year later. We're sorry we didn't tell you sooner - we couldn't decide when the time was right."
Juliana gave a small smile, "Sometimes good friends share secrets, in this case, Ella, your father and my tale is similar. Seventeen years ago Ethan and I where right hand to the King of Magix. But one day evil forces imprisoned the King and we tried to break the spell, but their magic wasn't strong enough. Angry, he banished us both from the Magix, claiming we had tried to kill him. Too embarrassed to return back home to Tides, your father suggested that we go to Earth, and that is just want we did. And together we began a new life. Four weeks after moving in on Earth, I found out I was going to have you Ella."
She closed her eyes and looked down, "I tried to tell you a few times, but it seemed like fate had other plans. I wish I had been the one to tell you..."
"Speaking of which, how did you girls find out?" Alexis' father cut off Juliana as the though passed over his mind.
One by one, Angie, Ella and Alexis began to retell the events that had leaded them to discover their powers. They enthusiastically described the huge turn of events during the convention, much less worried about the situation now that it was over, and now eagerly providing their slightly-over-emphasized versions of the story. The parents listened intently, looking impressed here and there, but overall wearing masks of worry.
"I don't like the sounds of these Phoenix characters..." Kathy said quietly. "You said they had pointed ears?"
"Yeah!" Alexis said. "And huge swords and stuff. It was really thanks to the Winx that we survived." she added humbly.
Kathy looked at her husband. "You don't think that the Elemental Elves are back to their mischief, do you?"
"Well it was a bit more than mischief that lot caused, but I don't know. They haven't tried to pull any stunts for ages, why now?" his voice held a bit of reassurance, but his face did not conceal the worry. "If they are back, then you three are in for quite the adventure..."
The sun was setting over the horizon as Angie lay on the hard, but somewhat comfortable bed of the hotel, her ear buds crammed in her ears and her most comforting music on her MP3 player playing. Her parents were out getting dinner, and her brother was downstairs playing pool, so she sat alone, trying to take in what had happened earlier that day, without her head exploding.
Scattered light reflected across the green blanket under her and she watched the little specks of dust rise in the light. She stared absent-mindedly into space as she wondered what was going to happen to her. Those words Alexis' parents had said... about those guys being after them... it couldn't possibly be true! She was back in her cozy room, with too many blankets over her, still sleeping and dreaming these crazy dreams...
But somehow she knew that wasn't true.
She was caught somewhere between a fantasy, and a nightmare. Sure, having powers, whatever they might be, meeting real faeries, going to a school in another dimension possibly... it all seemed great, but was almost dying even once worth it all? She sat up and dug her hands into her mattress imagining what more was to come. Would going to Alfea really help her and her friends learn magic strong enough to defeat the Elves? Or would the Winx have to come to their rescue every time?
She didn't notice her parents come in, or even that she had grabbed a slice of pizza and started munching on it. All she could think about as she started out the window at the rustling trees was what was going to happen next?
Ella flung herself on her bed in the hotel room and carefully removed her tall boots. She pulled her laptop out of her bag, after this crazy day she had she needed to write and get somewhat back into her normal routine. But she couldn't nor would she forget that day.
She turned her computer on, once connected to the Internet she opened Internet Explore and logged into her email. Oh how it piled up, she read a few messages, somewhere reviews, some comments and so on, and just about all of them where about the Winx. And for the first time none of it meant anything to her.
She now knew the truth behind it all, and some of the magic was gone. The Winx were real and so was everything she had always believed in, she had meet the shows "creator", and now most of all she was a faerie like the Winx and her, Angie's and Alexis' life was now and forever a magical, dangerous adventure.
It almost seemed as if her fanfics had jumped off the computer screen and emerged with reality. But she never imaged what had happened would or could. Now she and her friends were in grave danger and Ella had no way of knowing what would happen next. They had everything to lose.
The only way to stay safe was for her and her friends to go Alfea, and learn how to use their powers and defeat the "Fellowship". Ella felt cold chills down her spin at even the thought of having to see them again. The problem, she didn't know if they would be going to the magical school or not.
"What is going to become of us?" Ella turned and looking in her screen only to see her reflection. Now another cold fact had hit her, her entire life was a lie, a mere cover story.
"I hope Angie and Alexis are doing okay." Ella pulled out her phone and called her friends, they needed to stick together. They had to be united.
Alexis cuddle into the blanket on her hotel bed, she was freezing. Why didn't I wear something warmer? And why didn't we spell up a coat or something?
Alexis grinned, she was a faerie now. She was magic! "I'm a faerie," something about saying it out loud made it more official, more real. And this time she wasn't dreaming, this was her life now. Or rather, it had always been, but now she knew about it.
Even though the day had hands down been one of the scariest one she had ever had, it was also the most exciting. She meet Stella, grown wings and now was possibly going to the Alfea. This was every Winx fan's dream come true, and now it was her life.
She smiled as she answered her phone. Her life was just begging.
Alexis sat at her computer, staring at her computer screen of Stella in a light pink rose background that she created herself. She was so bored and had nothing to do, and just then her mother came in. It had been a few weeks since the convention and life hadn't gone back to normal. All Alexis could think about was what had happened, and going to Alfea, of course.
"Um, sweetie, what are you doing?" Her mother asked.
"My desktop is not speaking to me." Alexis replied.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing. I'm just bored" Alexis sighed.
"Well, Okay, I'll leave you and your...desktop, alone" Her mother joked, then left the room
Alexis was still thinking about the day of the Nickelodeon Convention a few days ago. She had met the Winx Club, found out she was a fairy, and could possibly go to Alfea! The thought of having powers was so exciting, but still made her nervous. She would have to face dangers in her life because of her powers and risking her life wasn't as much of an exciting thought.
I wish I could go to Alfea, but will my parents allow me?She asked herself.
Alexis decided to go online to see if Ella or Angie were on. She logged on to Gmail, indeed, they were both online.
"Hey!" She typed to Angie.
"Hi. ^^" Angie replied.
Alexis started a three-way conversation with Angie, Ella, and herself.
"I still can't believe what happened last week at the convention." She typed.
"Me either!" Angie typed back.
"Ikr?" Ella typed.
"Real nervous about asking my parents 'the big question'" Alexis entered, referring to asking her
parents to give her permission to go to Alfea.
The conversation continued for about a half an hour.
Later that day, Alexis sat at the dinner table eating Chinese food her Mom made. During dinner she almost worked up her strength to ask her parents, but couldn't get the words out of her mouth.
The next day she swore she would ask their permission to go to Alfea that day. "Today, I WILL ask them!" she told herself.
When she got home from school, she asked to sit down with her parents to talk about something important, as if she were the parent of them.
"Honey, if this is about a raise in your allowance..." Her dad started.
"That's not it." She took a deep breath, and then said nervously, "Can I attend Alfea?" Her parents looked surprised.
"Honey, going to a fairy college in Magix is huge. I'm not sure it's the best ide-" her Mom started, but Alexis cut her off.
"But Mom! I've wanted to go to Alfea forever! And now I know it's real, and that I'm a fairy! It's my dream! Please! And going there will help me learn to be a better fairy and make me stronger." Alexis interrupted.
Her parents looked at each other for a few seconds, then nodded.
"Well, if it's that important to you..." Her mom paused to double think for a second to decide if it really is a good decision. "And, it should keep you safest from the people after you... You can go".
"Really? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Alexis squealed with delight. "I'm so excited!"
The next morning, Alexis told Ella and Angie the great news.
"Did you guys ask yet?" Alexis asked.
"Yes! They said yes too." Ella typed.
"Me too!" Angie wrote.
"YAY! We're all going to Alfea! The same college, and it's for fairies in a magical dimension!"
It was so exciting. What else could possibly happen?