"Faragonda!" Bloom said, slamming open the door to the Head Mistress's office. Faragonda rose from her chair, alerted at the girl's sudden entrance.
"Girls!" she gasped as the Winx stormed in.
"Go on, Stellz," Layla pushed her forward. "Tell her what you told us."
Stella wrung her hands together nervously, licking her lips. "Well, Alex stole the diamond that powers all of Red Fountain's weapons-"
"The Diamond of Jjuvios," Faragonda breathed.
"The diamond of who-what?" Musa cocked an eyebrow.
"Jjuvios, he was the first warrior to figure out how to power a weapon. He used a special diamond from a mine," Faragonda explained.
"What mine?" Techna asked, already whipping out her phone.
"It's out of commission now," Faragonda shook her head. "There's not much you will find with a web search. The mine was located in...let's see now, where was it located...Dévildania, if I remember correctly."
"Hey, weren't we talking about that place earlier, girls?" Roxy asked from the back of the group.
"Yes," Techna's fingers flew across the keyboard of her phone. A hologram shot up, a geographic map of Dévildania. "We were discussing the fact that Alex was talking about princesses."
"Maybe Alex has a plan for the princess of Dévildania!" Flora gasped, finally catching on with everyone else's suspicions. "What was her name again?"
Techna quickly typed, and a hologram of a young girl appeared above her phone.
"Oh, I know her," Faragonda waved her hand dismissively. "But that picture is outdated."
"Princess...Alexandra," Techna read. "Daughter of King Bennett, the one who ended the kingdom's wickedness. Only child, seventeen years old."
"When I was in my thirties, she was that age," Faragonda motioned to the hologram. "But she's much older now. They try to keep what happened a secret, so they don't update her biography."
"Where is she now?" Bloom asked.
The woman Alex was taking care of laid in her bed, coughing. Alex spun from his word to look at her worriedly.
"Are you alright? Do you need water?"
"I'll get some," Icy offered, rushing out of the room as the rest of the Witches and Jiminy surrounded the Diamondof Jjuvios on the table.
The woman smiled weakly. "Just...figure out how to work that diamond."
Alex nodded. "Yes, on it," he spun around, staring at the diamond intently. "Darcy? Any updates?"
Darcy held her hands above the diamond, purple waves bouncing back and forth between the two. "It holds immense magic power, I can tell you that much," she said, her voice elongating with awe. "No wonder this can be used to save her."
"And me," Alex ran his fingers through his choppy, messy hair, brown eyes never leaving the diamond. "It's getting worse, I'll tell you that much."
Stormy sighed, looking down at Alex. "Poor kid," she ruffled his hair with an...almost KIND smile? "We'll get you fixed up in no time."
"Yeah! Don't worry, don't worry!" Jiminy danced around the older boy. Alex chuckled and patted the six year old on the back.
"I'm not worried for myself. I'm worried for her," he looked over his shoulder at the bed again. "How're you feeling, mom?"
"I'm fine," the woman whispered with a raspy voice as Icy came back in with a glass of water. The ice cubes bounced against the glass, like tinkling bells.
"I just checked with security," Icy said, setting the glass of water on the bedside table. "No sign of those pesky Winx girls anywhere."
"Good," Alex sighed. "We can do so much with this diamond!"
"If I can only figure out how it works," Darcy added with bared teeth.
"You can do it!" Alex cheered, chuckling and raising his fist. Darcy looked away from the diamond for one second to wink at the kid before looking back at the jewel.
The woman on the bed sighed and closed her eyes.
"He's gone!" Sky was practically screeching by now, completely destroying the dorm room. He threw blankets across the room, yanking the chair out and looking under the desk before letting it fall to the floor. He left the closet door swinging open and he began to pull piles and piles of clothes out of drawers. The window was open, letting in a draft, and the carpet was rolled up and tossed against the wall.
"He's not here!" Brandon groaned, throwing the pillow up into the air, quitting. "He's gone!"
"He couldn't have just up and left," Helia tried calmly. "This is just a coinciden-"
"COINCIDENCE?! You can't still be DEFENDING Alex, man!" Timmy yelled. "All the power in the school happens to go out, our weapons happen to not be working, and Alex just HAPPENS to be missing?!"
"We should have acted on our suspicions!" Riven slammed his fist onto the desk, growling. "We knew that kid was bad news!"
"And what if he comes back, huh?" Helia's voice began to raise (a rare thing for the calm man). "What if he comes back from...I dunno, being out to lunch or something, and sees everyone blaming him? He could come back any second, perfectly innocent, and we would be crushing a poor KID, need I remind you, all because of some stupid-"
"DON'T!" Riven interrupted. "Don't say coincidence!"
"Timmy, you need to go down," Sky said. "They wanted you in the office."
"Yeah, remember? They called you down for your tech-y geniusness," Brandon added with an uncertain smile, still rattled by the missing Alex.
Timmy sighed. "You guys are alright by yourselves?"
"We're going to run to Alfea," Riven tossed his thumb over his shoulder casually. "Let the girls know about it."
"Really, guys?!" Helia groaned, uncharacteristically annoyed with their suspicions.
"Alright. I'll stay in touch. Good luck," Timmy headed to the door, but before he left, he turned back around. "Guys...we don't have our weapons."
"Yeah?" Riven rolled his eyes.
Timmy hesitated. "Just...don't get hurt." With a self-conscious smile, Timmy left.
Timmy entered Red Fountain's main office, where the Headmaster was waiting for him with their main technician, Kenny, standing in the light of two lanterns resting on a desk and a flashlight in Kenny's hand.
"Timmy," Kenny sighed with relief. "You're here."
"Alex is gone," Timmy informed the two men melancholy.
"That just confirms our suspicions, doesn't it," the Headmaster sighed.
"If you don't mind me asking, sir," Timmy spoke up timidly. "How exactly did all the weapons stop working?"
The Headmaster sighed, glancing at Kenny. "Well, Timmy, I suppose you should know."
"Know what?"
"Here, help me check out the backup wiring as he explains," Kenny nodded to a box on the wall. Timmy opened it, studying it with the light of Kenny's flashlight.
"It's called the Diamond of Jjuvios," the Headmaster explained. "Not only does it power our school, but it powers all the weapons used by all Specialists. You used to be able to find it in mass quantities in Dévildania, from one of their mines. They never exported it though. It was still in the time when the kingdom was evil, and they kept it all for themselves. Except for the first Specialist, Jjuvios, who stole a piece and brought it to the rest of the magic world."
Timmy connected a red wire to a green one, and the backup power source booted up. With a whirring sound of an engine, the lights flickered back on. Kenny flicked off his flashlight.
"The Diamond of Jjuvios," Timmy tested the word out on his tongue. "How come I've never heard of it?"
"Probably because you've learned about it under a different name," the Headmaster said.
"What name would that be?"
The Headmaster hesitated again, unsure if he should be explaining all of this to a student. "Tyminuim. The Devil's Heart."
Sebastian, the man from the city that spoke with Alex, wandered through a long hallway, his tailcoat fluttering behind him. In his arms, he held a pile of papers, reports.
"Hello," he calmly nodded to a sharply-dressed knight, in the stereotypical shining armor who was standing in the middle of the hallway.
"Sebastian," the knight responded with a nod. "I heard that the Yo-"
"Alex," Sebastian interrupted. "The name is Alex, now."
"Really? But I thought...Alex was off of the mission."
"We're keeping it for now, to be safe," Sebastian explained. "Are there any updates from security?"
"The Winx are not to be seen," the knight answered. "And the Specialists most likely won't show up without their weapons working."
"Well, that's promising," Sebastian chuckled. "I needed a little good news."
"We have all of our best armies prepared to fight off anything, in case the magic realms get any ideas," the knight continued. "We've never been on their good sides in the first place, and I'm sure this didn't help."
"And what of the kingdom?"
The knight's shoulders slumped. "Not doing so well, I'm afraid. Fights have been breaking out all over town. Squabbles about the poverty, and the need for updated technology. And they're wondering about...about Alex."
"Let them know that he has returned," Sebastian ordered. "With the Diamond of Jjuvios."
"But we don't know how it's used yet," the knight pointed out.
Sebastian sighed, rubbing the back of his sore neck. "They don't need to know that part. Maybe if the people just knew that we are in possession of it, they would be content, at least for a while."
Sorry about the lack of updates, guys! So, what do you think?
Reviews? Predictions? Questions?