Chapter 5- Walls and Dead Ends

Stella burst through the doors of the Sparks palace, not waiting for the guards to open them. Her heels clicked on the marble floors and she walked across the empty room toward the staircase. She climbed the stairs and spotted her friends huddled around a certain part of wall. "What has happened? I received a call that Bloom was in trouble."

The rest of the Winx looked at her, then back at the wall. "The unimaginable has happened." Flora said quietly. Her gaze never left the wall.

"The wall ate Bloom?" Stella joked. The Winx gave her a bunch of serious and mournful looks. Stella couldn't believe it. "Whoah! The wall ate Bloom? How the…"

"We don't know." Musa sighed. "Sky called us, we got here and he told us that Bloom just disappeared. Right here. One second she was gasping for air and Sky was reaching for her, the next she was just gone." Musa's dark eyes met Stella's brown eyes and Stella knew it was no joke.

"Well, what do we know?" Stella said cautiously, feeling a bit insensitive about her earlier statement. Sometimes she could be so dumb. "Did Tecna use her PDA or something to scan for the magic used? I mean, Bloom wouldn't just disappear like that unless magic was involved, right?"

Stella didn't like the frown Tecna gave her. "I tried using my computer to compare the magic here to the magic sequences I've got stored in my database. It would've worked too, if not for the lack of magical essence at this very spot."

"What?" Stella stared at Tecna in disbelief. "You're telling me that…that…no magic whatsoever?"

Tecna shook her head. "None."

Stella walked over and placed her hand against the wall. It was impossible. Magic wasn't involved with Bloom's disappearance? Then what was? It didn't make sense. "Perhaps, there was a natural cause?" Stella said softly, turning to Roxy and Flora. "You two are the fairies of nature. What do you think?"

Roxy shook her head and sighed. "Trust me when I say animals or animal magics weren't involved. And I doubt the plants would come up with some revenge scheme on Bloom, Stella. Let's face it. We're at a dead end with this ordeal. We've got nothing."

Stella turned and stared angrily at the wall. There had to be something. Anything. Bloom wouldn't just disappear like that. "There has to be something." She paced back and forth, the Winx all watching her helplessly. She stopped pacing when she heard footsteps approaching.

"Anything?" Sky asked hopefully.

"We're stumped." Flora said quietly and Musa snickered. "Yes Musa. I said stumped. Get over it."

"It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense." Stella muttered.

"Say it one more time. It might make sense." Layla suggested. Stella threw her a glare.

Sky shook his head. "She was in pain too. She was yelling in pain. I came as fast as I could. I reached the top of the stairs. Bloom was leaning against the wall, breathing hard. I thought she was hurt so I reached out for her. Then she was gone." Sky looked at the floor and clenched his fists. "Miriam's heartbroken. Oritel's trying to calm her down now. We need to find her."

"We're doing everything we can, I assure you." Tecna said calmly. "Bloom's tougher than any of us. She'll be alright by herself for a little while."

"Not if she's hurt!" Sky cried out. "She was in pain, remember? What if it was life threatening? What if she'd been attacked? What if she dies? What if she never comes back? I should have been faster. I should have held on to her."

"Sky." Roxy walked up to the blonde prince and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We could go on forever with 'what ifs' and 'should haves' but we can't exactly take back time we've wasted nor can there be more than one future. Understand that the 'should haves' will never be and only one 'what if' will come in the future."

"Words from beyond your years." Sky muttered. Stella felt her own angers and fears lighten at Roxy's words.

Roxy smiled. "They say I'm pretty level-headed and wise. Now let's look at this situation from another angle." Roxy stood next to Stella and looked the wall up and down. "Perhaps there's something other than nature and magic at work here. Something greater. More powerful."

Stella looked at Roxy in surprise. "But all we know is nature and magic. The two are intertwined with one another and together run the forces that make up life. I've never heard of any other sources."

"Maybe…" Tecna started, then fell silent.

"What?" Stella asked. She grabbed Tecna by the shoulders. "Don't bottle up now Tecna. Speak!"

"Maybe it's a different level of nature or magic than we're used to." Tecna said quietly. "We've got plant magic and animal magic. But there is more to nature than flora and fauna you know."

"Yeah, okay, okay. We'll consider water, rocks, and air too." Stella said.

"No. Well, yes I think they're a part of nature, but maybe it's something else entirely." Tecna took out her PDA and began typing furiously. "I'll scan for any anomalies beyond magic and nature and see what I come up with. If that doesn't work than I'll pick apart the natural aspects and do some comparisons."

Stella smiled. "Good. I'm glad you figured something out, even if I didn't get a damn word you said. The Winx won't give up."

Baltor gazed at the grain of sand in the vial with fascination. Such a small thing could affect one's entire lifetime. If one just glanced at the grain they'd see a simple, ordinary grain of sand, like any other one you'd find on the beach. But upon close inspection, the many faceted grain held power, an immense amount of power. This alone intrigued Baltor. If one could harness all that energy within these granules, why they'd be skirting the level of divine.

"Hello? Baltor!" Diaspro snapped her fingers next to Baltor's ear.

Baltor rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the impertinent fairy. "What is it now?"

"My revenge scheme is not finished. It isn't even close. Our next step involves finding Bloom's space aspect." Diaspro looked at the vial in his hand, then at him. "Why do you keep staring at that thing? It's sand! Exciting!"

He shook his head in amazement. Diaspro would never drop her ways of haste and ignorance. He'd given her too much credit earlier when he thought he was impressed. "Have you ever heard the cliché that there's more than meets the eye, Diaspro? I'll tell you now that that cliché applies to this sand, so to say."

"Whatever." Diaspro began fiddling with her hair. "I'm not sure where to start looking for this space aspect.

And people said men were dense. Baltor shook his head. There had to be some huge sign that said "Evil Plot Possibility Here" in the book she found her information in for her to come up with such a devious plan. "Well, perhaps we'll go back to the shadow realm. There has to be an entrance there. They interconnect all the realms of the universe." Baltor suggested.

Diaspro shook her head. "No. I don't think so. One it's space. It should embody all the realms. Two, it must remain parallel with time for harmonious balance. That's the only reason the universe isn't collapsing in on itself right now. Because time and space are parallel to one another."

"Well, the expanse of space has to be kept in one spot in order for there to be one fairy to protect them all. It was so with the time aspects and must be for the space aspects." Baltor pointed out. Perhaps Diaspro wasn't as dense as he thought.

"Maybe we need to use the opposite of the shadow realm for travel." Diaspro suggested. "Is there not a realm that runs perfectly parallel with the shadow realm?"

Baltor thought for a moment. "No. The shadow realm interconnects with all the realms, remember? Even if there were such a realm there would be no way for us to get into it."

Diaspro looked at him, surprise evident in her eyes. "Why is that? Isn't there some spell we can use to break into the realm? Do they have defenses setup for those who try to enter?"

"No. We're beings of darkness. We can't just enter and exit a realm of light as we please." Baltor fingered the vial in his hand. " No. There isn't a light realm perfectly parallel to the shadow realm. But…" Baltor gave a malicious grin. "…there is a form of travel that runs parallel instead."

"What?"

"Light travel." Baltor said carefully.

"But we're creatures of darkness, if you recall saying mere moments ago. We don't have the magic needed to use light travel. We'd have to be beings of light!" Diaspro said exasperatedly. "Let's face it. We're at a dead end."

"We don't have the magic. But certain others do…" Baltor chuckled.

-Author's Note- Finally! Another chapter right? I hope you all enjoyed it!