Chapter 6
Ms. Faragonda had been sitting at her desk with piles of paperwork. She was trying to figure out which fairies that had applied to the school would be accepted the next year and which would be disappointed. After setting the application that was in her hand into the rejection pile Ms. Faragonda sat back in her chair and closed her eyes.
'I hate to disappoint so many girls but we only have so many rooms for freshmen fairies.' Ms. Faragonda thought to herself, 'If I could I would accept all of them into the school.'
A beeping sound caused Ms. Faragonda to quickly open her eyes and turn toward her computer. The face of a man in a uniform appeared on the screen.
"Hello ma'am my name is Officer Bowden of the Linphean Peace Keepers." The man replied as he looked at Ms. Faragonda through the screen.
"Hello Officer Bowden," Ms. Faragonda replied, "how may I help you?"
"I am calling regarding a student that you have enrolled at your institution," he paused.
"Miss Flora."
"What about Flora?" She questioned, eyes widening slightly.
"We believe that Flora is guilty of a crime and has fled police in the area of Sunset Valley. Has she come to Alfea?" Ms. Faragonda paused, wondering whether it was a good idea to reveal her location. "What is this crime?"
"Murder."
"But that's impossible!" The headmistress said with a shocked voice, "Flora would never do something like that."
"I am sorry to inform you but we have an eye witness that places her as the last person with the victim." Officer Bowden said, "We are also searching for the people that helped her to escape." Faragonda didn't have to think twice about who would have helped her, it was obvious that the Winx Club would have come to her rescue but none of it made any sense. Then she remembered when the girls first arrived back at Alfea.
She had just exited her office when she heard the sound of a Red Fountain ship that made her and the few other students look up at the sky. The sight of the red ship relieved the nervousness that the Headmistress had been having since she had watched the girls and the specialists leaving the school from her office window. But a new felling of dread filled her heart the moment she saw the girls slowly walking down the ramp and out of the ship. Each one looked like they had been through something unimaginable. "Is everything alright?" Faragonda asked.
"Can we talk about it later?" Bloom asked as she looked over at Flora.
Ms. Faragonda turned her vision toward the nature fairy and saw her carrying a young girl in her arms. "Yes dear." She replied, "But please come to my office after you have all rested."
"Thank you ma'am." Musa replied before the girls walked into the school, leaving Brandon alone in the quad with sadness in his eyes. "How bad was it?" Faragonda asked.
"It was bad," he replied, "You'll need to get the full story from the girls, we need to get Sky back to Red Fountain to make sure that he is alright."
"What happened?" Faragonda asked, shock in every word.
"He was hurt while protecting Flora when we had to leave." Brandon explained, with as little detail as possible, before turning toward the ship. "Tell the girls we'll call them to let them know how Sky is doing."
The Headmistress nodded her head before watching him walk back onto the ship and, before she knew it, they were gone. Thoughtfully she walked back into the school and to the door of her office. After placing her hand on the golden knob she took a deep breath before walking inside to wait for the girls to come and explain what had happened though she had never seen them look the way they had before and wondered what horror their eyes had seen.
"I'm afraid that Flora hasn't returned to Alfea, she disappeared one day and never came back." She lied, returning back to the conversation at hand.
"Did she tell you where she was going, what she was doing?" Officer Bowden questioned but the Headmistress shook her head solemnly. "No."
"Well either way they won't get far," he explained. "One of them is injured." Faragonda stopped herself from widening her eyes, any show of confusion would only add to their suspicion. "Keep an eye out and if she does contact you please let us know."
"I will," Faragonda promised and the screen disappeared.
The weary headmistress removed the glasses perched on her nose and turned in her chair, looking at the vast blue sky outside that was in complete contrast to what Flora had been going through, and what the girls had told her just days earlier.
A knocking at the door caused the Headmistress to lift her head from the book that she was reading, "You may enter," She called out. Slowly one by one the girls entered the office and sat down in the chairs on the opposite side of the desk from the head of their school.
"Where's Flora?" Ms. Faragonda asked.
"She stayed in the room with Miele," Aisha answered, "her sister is still scared with everything that has happened."
"Tell me what happened."
"We arrived at Linphea to see fires raging out of control," Bloom began. "After the ship had landed Flora took off running into a house that was nearby." Bloom took a small breathe before she continued, "It was her home and we found Miele safely inside. The specialists stayed behind to help put out the fires while we entered a nearby forest to search for whoever it was that had been attack Linphea."
"We had to split up to search two different structures that Flora told us the person could have been in. Aisha, Stella and Tecna flew off toward one while I, Flora and Musa flew toward the other building." Bloom continued, "We arrived at our destination and found someone inside the building. We tried to stop him but were captured, after he began to cast a spell everything until the others arrived became a hazy mess."
"Do you remember anything else?" Faragonda asked turning her face to look at Musa.
"I only remember the same as Bloom," Musa replied.
"Does Flora remember anything else?"
"She said that Bloom and Musa were attack by someone but that's all that she can remember." Stella responded, "When Helia and Brandon found her tied to a wall they also found the body of Palladium."
The Headmistress gasped when she heard the news.
"What happened after Palladium was found?"
"The boys buried him before we returned to Sunset Valley," Tecna responded, "When we arrived we found a friend of Flora's and she told us that Flora had been there while the rest of us were not there. She also said that flora had killed someone." A few tears began to drop from each girl's eyes as they told their Headmistress what happened when they had arrived at Flora's home.
"Thank you for explaining everything to me," Faragonda announced, "I know that this was not easy for you." The girls nodded their heads before standing up to leave the office to leave their teacher to her own thoughts.
Flora slowly opened the door to see the shape of a young person under the covers of the bed in the room. She felt so much pain in her heart for what had happened on Linphea. Looking into the room she could see Miele with a worried expression on her face as she slept.
'I am so sorry that this happened to you Miele.' Flora thought to herself, 'If I could I would go back in time to stop all of this from happening so you would not have to go through all this pain.'
Tears began to form in Flora's eyes as she watched her sister sleeping. She turned to see the living room of the dorm empty. The other girls had started to attend classes again after a few days but Flora did not want to leave her sister alone while she continued to try and come to a realization that she could not go home again.
Flora quietly closed the door to the bedroom before walking over and sitting down on the couch. Tears continued to flow from her eyes as she sat staring at the table in the room. The tears continued to fall as the sound of a ringing began to fill the room. The young fairy reached into her pocket and fished out her phone.
"Hello?" Flora said.
"Hi, Flora, it's Brandon." The voice answered on the other side of the phone.
"Hi Brandon," Flora sighed. "How are you?"
"Good, we're all still a little shaken but good," he admitted, looking to Helia giving him hand signals. "Uh I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to Magix with me today."
"Magix? Why?"
"Just to get away from school for a while and relax, I have my day free and Stella's busy with classes but I thought that you might be able to help me out with something."
"With what?" Flora asked, looking toward the room that her sister was sleeping in.
"I wanted to get Stella something for out anniversary and, well, I don't have a great track record when it comes to buying things for her so I thought you could help."
"I uh…" Flora paused, wondering if it was a good idea, she felt guilty about leaving her sister. "I can't, sorry Brandon but I want to stay here with Miele, she's been having a pretty rough time since we got back."
"Go," an innocent and sweet little voice interrupted, making Flora notice her sister standing in the door way looking at her. "Go Flora."
"I can't go to Magix when you need me," Flora explained.
"Yes you can," Miele replied. "I can look after myself, besides; it will be just a few hours before the others come back. I can handle it."
"Are you sure?" Flora replied and Miele nodded her head.
"Flora?" Brandon's voice asked on the other end. "You there?"
"Yeah I'm here, I'll meet you in Magix in an hour, and how does the Violet Café sound?"
"Sounds great, I'll see you then."
The Dragon Fang was an infamous nightclub, packed to the roof every night with patrons all wanting their piece of the action or a good night out. As Tamara walked past the front windows there was something telling her that this place was special and that it could be of great use for her plans so she stopped and looked around. The clubs exterior featured the clubs name above, unlit because of the daylight hours, but the dragon backdrop and use of what looked like a fang for the end of the letter g's showed a sense of danger and she liked it. The rest of the exterior was quite plain, bricks that had been colored black and red threshold for the door. The door itself featured two dragons, gold, over the black surface and were just begging for her to open them, even though the sign to her right said they were closed.
Pushing them open she entered the reception area, where people finally arrived after cueing down the street for hours. The club had various red sofas along the back walls, curtains closing off certain areas, while one long bar to her left, made of wood and engraved with a dragon head and tale at the ends looked amazing. Bar stools sat along the side, all modern furniture before she walked through another arch and saw the dance floor. Another dragon and the clubs title was on the floor that dance to life at night with various colors but all of which was turned off now. A tall man of about thirty leant against the bar while a few other younger people washed glasses and set the bottles against the wall. He turned the moment her heels clicked on the dance floor. "Sorry, we're closed."
"Yes," Tamara replied as she looked around the room, "This will do nicely."
"Again ma'am we're closed," The man said as he walked toward the young woman on the dance floor, "You'll have to come back later tonight when we open."
"Tell me are there any other rooms then what I have seen?" Tamara asked as she turned her vision toward the man.
"Yes we have guest rooms for the people that can not make it home at the end of the night," The man responded as he placed his hand on Tamara's shoulder which sent him blasting into the bar and into a heap on the floor.
Two bouncers rushed to his side, helping him onto his feet as he shouted orders for them to get her out of there. They charged towards her but Tamara just smiled, she held one hand forward and blasted one of them into a pillar that held up the roof while the other she sent into a mirror at the opposite side of the room. Neither of them moved as she stepped toward the terrified owner and looked him deep in the eye. "I'd like a grand tour."
"And what if I say no?" He asked, voice quivering and quaking.
"You don't want to find out."
The tour ended in the owner's office high above the dance floor. After looking down below through the darkened glass a smile started to grow on her face before she walked over to the large leather chair seated next to the wooden desk. After sitting in the chair Tamara lifted her feet up onto the desk and looked over at the owner.
"This place will do," She said with a smirk on her face, "now if you'll get those two off of my floor it will make this place perfect."
"What do you mean your floor?" The owner asked, "This is my establishment that I poured my sweat and blood into to have it become as successful as it is."
"And I thank you for that but your leadership will not be needed any longer."
Tamara could see the anger in the owners face as she began to cackle before looking back out at the dance floor. She slowly lowered her feet to the floor and stood up to walk back to the door of the room, turning back to the man she glared at him.
"I will be returning in a little while I want to go and get something to eat." Tamara smiled at the man, "But just so you don't get any stupid ideas, Siren's Song!"
A melody filled the dance club causing everyone to look up at the glass above, when it stopped Tamara was looking at the owner of the club as he looked at her with glazed over eyes.
"What would you like me to do mistress?" He asked.
"Just prepare for a few visitors later tonight." Tamara replied as she walked out of the office.
Flora was rushing for the main exit of the school. She was running late to meet Brandon in Magix. Her sister Miele had laid back down and started having a nightmare while she was getting ready for her trip. It had taken nearly forty five minutes to calm her down. When she picked up her phone to call Brandon to tell him that she was going to be late she noticed that her phone was out of power.
Quickly she started to look around the room for a way to contact him. It took her a few minutes to find a phone sitting on the counter, after picking it up she noticed that it was Stella's phone and quickly wrote a little note to tell her where the phone was.
Dialing Brandon's number as she walked toward the exit she listened as the phone rang once, then a second time. After the fifth ring his voice message picked up.
"Brandon it's me Flora. I am sorry that I am running late." She apologized, walking out the front door, "I had to use Stella's phone mine ran out of power. I'll be in Magix in about twenty minutes."
Flora hung up the phone and made her way to the bus stop. She never knew that Ms. Faragonda was watching from the window of her office with a smile on her face.
The Violet Café was situated inside a quiet part of Magix. It consisted of tables outside surrounded by beautiful hedges with purple flowers and great service. Sitting outside at one of the tables under an umbrella Brandon took a sip of his soft drink and checked the time on the side of city hall. "Come on Flora where are you?" He asked softly when he felt his phone and took it out. Stella's smiling face greeted him but, instead of hitting accept he touched decline, sending her to voicemail. "Sorry Stella, but I can't talk right now; this is a surprise for you."
After taking another sip of the soft drink a smile grew on his face as he saw a familiar face walking toward the café. But confusion entered his eyes when she walked right past it. Quickly gathering his things and leaving some money on the table, he took off after her.
"Flora." He called out causing the girl to come to a stop and turn to look at him.
Tamara looked at him through the pair of black sunglasses as a small smile spread on her lips.
"I thought that we were going to meet at the café and then you walk right past it." Brandon said, "Is everything alright?"
"Oh yes," Flora replied, "I just have a lot on my mind."
"So what took you so long to get here?" Brandon asked.
"I'm sorry Brandon but I fell asleep for a little bit." Flora admitted, noticing Brandon's nod of acknowledgment.
"Okay are you ready to go and find something for Stella?"
Flora just nodded her head before the two of them walked off toward the shopping mall.
"Hey Brandon I know a little shortcut to a little shop that might have just what you are looking for. It's through here," She pointed to an alleyway, making Brandon raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Are you sure this is a shortcut, it looks pretty dark down there."
"Trust me." Flora replied with a kind smile on her face.
Exiting the bus Flora pulled out the phone that she was borrowing before dialing Brandon's number again. The ringing continued till his voicemail picked up again. 'Please Brandon pick up,' Flora thought to herself as she walked toward the Violet Café.
Reaching the café Flora saw that Brandon was not waiting for her, when she noticed one of the waitresses walking by she stopped the young woman. "Was there a young man waiting here for someone?"
"Yes, he said that he was waiting for a friend." The waitress said with a smile on her face, "He left when someone walked by and headed off in that direction."
Flora thanked the waitress before running off in the direction that she had pointed. As she continued to move quickly she pulled out the phone and dialed again. Nearing an ally she heard a familiar sound to her left. It was Brandon's ring tone for Stella which he had set to her favorite song.
When Flora turned into the ally her eyes shot wide. She took a few steps back as her breathing began to speed up and could feel her heart rate increasing, a few seconds later a loud scream could be heard from a few blocks away. The strength in her legs left her body as Flora collapsed to the ground.
"Flora what have you done?" A voice asked from behind her.
Please Review
Authors note: I would love to know who people think is talking to Flora at the end of the chapter, let me know in your reviews or send me a PM.