Palladium paced up and down his livingroom for the thousandth time. His heart was racing and his lungs were begging for more air which he couldn't provide for in his panic. Samara was out there in the most dangerous place in the whole magic dimension facing the most horrifying things and he wasn't with her. A dozen scenario's filled his mind, one more gruesome than the other.
He had taken Stella straight to Faragonda's office. He heard how Stella told the two of them everything about their plan and how they used Tecna's device to get to Andros unnoticed. He had asked her when the other Winx would come back. Saturday morning…
An orange glow filled the room. The elf looked at the clock on his wall. A few minutes past six o'clock.
"That's enough waiting." He muttered as he walked out of his appartment.
"Come in…" A tired voice sounded when the elf knocked at the Headmistresses office.
"Miss Faragonda I wondered if you…"
"No Palladium I have not." Faragonda said from behind her desk. "We have not been able to contact someone at Andros."
The elf fell down in one of the other chairs.
"Have you gotten any sleep at all?" Faragonda asked concerned at the sight.
"Sleep…" Palladium repeated with a laugh. "Our students are in tremendous danger and you expect me to sleep?"
"I think this has more to do with one particulair student am I right?" Faragonda asked with a small smile.
Palladium looked up feeling his cheeks warm up.
"Don't feel guilty professor." She went on. "Once you love someone you want to keep them safe, it's completely natural."
"But…"
Palladium didn't get the chance to finish his sentence. A white light appeared from outside. The two of them ran to the window, where they saw the Winx standing in the middle.
…
"Oh thank goodness we made it back!" Flora sighed.
Musa fell onto the ground. "Oooh never thought I'd be so glad to see the school!"
"Uh oh…our trip back has caught some attention…" Tecna said as some students and staff came running outside.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Griselda yelled as she marched towards the group.
"Oh please Griselda not now!" Bloom said. "We need urgent help, Layla is blind!"
The Enchantix fairy stood still, staring into nothing.
"Oh dear, come lets get you to Headmistress Faragonda." Griselda said in a more gentle tone.
The group walked in silence, trying to ignore all the stares they got from the other students. Samara felt her leg sting as they walked up the stairs.
"You're bleeding." Flora whispered to her.
Samara glanced down to see some bloodstains on her pants right where the monster had grabbed her.
"Just a scratch…" She whispered back.
Griselda opened the door to the office and Samara gulped when she noticed Palladium sitting next to Faragonda. Both stood up as the group entered.
"Thank you Griselda, please bring miss Stella here as well." Faragonda said.
There was no emotion in her voice.
"Very well headmistress, please be aware that Layla needs your help." Griselda said before closing the door.
Faragonda walked towards Layla.
"My poor girl, what happened to you?"
"Valtor…he used his dark magic to make me blind." Layla said with a trembling voice. "I had a chance to undo it, but I choose to heal someone else."
"Thus earning your Enchantix." Faragonda said understanding. "Enchantix is a powerfull thing." "It gives you access to fairy dust, one of the most powerfull things in the magic dimension." "Can you feel it?"
Layla's wings trembled a bit and purple dust came off.
"Good, now use it to cure yourself." Faragonda said.
The door opened and Stella entered. The others shushed her when she opened her mouth. Samara shot a quick look towards Palladium but he kept his eyes on Layla. The Enchantix fairy frowned in concentration and a vial appeared. The fairy took the vial in her hands and poured purple dust onto her eyes. Slowly the white eyes regained their dark blue colour.
"I can see again!" Layla said with tears in her eyes.
The others cheered and hugged their friend.
"Yes good job Layla." Faragonda said as she sat back down behind her desk. "Now, for your violation of the rules and more importantly putting yourselves in danger!"
"You couldn't expect us to do nothing!" Bloom said. "Andros needed our help."
"It was my fault miss Faragonda, I was the one to encourage the others…" Layla said. "I just couldn't leave my people in danger."
"We all wanted to come along." Musa said crossing her arms in front of her chest.
The headmistress sighed deeply.
"No matter how noble your intentions were…this is unacceptable." She said. "I need you to understand how dangerous this was."
There was a long silence.
"A week of detention…assisting the teachers."
"Oh that's not too bad." Stella said.
"Without your powers."
"WHAT?!"
"You are in no position to complain miss Stella." Faragonda cut her off. "I could have easily chosen to expell you all."
Stella nodded and stared at the floor.
"But the anniversary of Eraklion is next Saturday evening!" Bloom said. "Surely you must allow us to go."
"That depends on your efforts this week, I will ask the staff about your work." Faragonda said. "You will report to miss Griselda at twelve o'clock this afternoon." "And never let this happen again."
The Winx nodded and slowly left the office.
"I can't wait to see my bed…" Musa said in a hushed voice.
"Same…" Bloom groaned.
They were almost at the end of the corridor when footsteps sounded behind them.
"Samara!"
The girl in question turned around to see Palladium walk towards her.
"Good luck…" Stella said as the others walked on.
"Were you really just going to walk away without a word?" The elf asked angry.
Samara crossed her arms in front of her chest. She was exhausted, her whole body was sore and her leg really was starting to hurt badly.
"I really am not in the mood to talk." She said.
"Too bad." Palladium said. "Do you have any idea how worried I have been?"
Samara stared at him, not knowing what to say. Her heart started to pound loudly.
"You…you weren't even supposed to…"
"To find out?" He cut her off. "So what was your plan exactly?" "Disappear for a whole night and then just come back and then tell me what happened or rather not let me know at all?"
His voice grew louder and louder and the fairy of the Moon felt her headache grow as well as her own anger.
"We saved a lot of people in Andros, they would have drowned if it weren't for us!" She bit back. "We were the only ones to help, not one other realm has offered their support!"
"But it shouldn't have been you, you are students!" Palladium said. "You could have gotten seriously injured or even worse!"
Samara groaned as she shifted her weight on her injured leg by accident. Palladium didn't notice as he kept on talking.
"You promised me not to interfere, you straight up lied to me in my face!"
"Well what else was I suppose to do!" Samara yelled. "Tell you about our plan so you could stop us?" "Give us detention yourself or rat us out to Faragonda?" "You didn't act this way when we fought a whole army of dark creatures during my first year, or when we fought Celena and Salvador last year." "I can't just sit around when I know people are in danger…I thought you knew me by now."
She turned around and walked away, trying to walk as normal as possible. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her injured. Palladium groaned deeply. A door to his right opened slowly and Wizgiz peeked around the corner.
"You okay lad?"
The elf sighed. "You heard all that?"
"I think the entire floor heard ye…" "Come on in."
Palladium walked into Wizgiz appartment and collapsed into the deep green couch.
"Up for something to drink?"
"Yes please…" Palladium said as he closed his eyes and massaged his temples.
The leprachaun handed him a mug which he drank without opening his eyes. A burning sensation filled his throat. He started coughing like crazy.
"What…is this…is this Whiskey?"
Wizgiz stared at his friend and shook his shoulders. "The finest I've got, what's the problem?"
"The problem…(more coughing) …it's seven in the morning Wizgiz!"
"You seemed like you could use it."
Palladium sighed and sat the mug down on the table.
"Good to see that the Winx have returned safely." Wizgiz said. "You must have been worried sick."
"You have no idea." Palladium whispered.
"It is our fault they went behind our backs." Wizgiz said.
"What do you mean?" the elf asked frowning.
"Well…" Wizgiz said as he sat in a chair next to the couch. "After teaching those girls for two years there is one thing I know by now and that's that they can't just sit still while others are in danger." "Especially when it involves the realm of one of their own."
There was a little pauze.
"And I know that you know that as well…so what is the issue here lad?"
Palladium swallowed. "She put herself in danger."
"She has done that before, so what is different this time?" Wizgiz asked.
"I wasn't there with her."
Wizgiz clapped in his hands. "There you have it."
"What do I do now?" The elf asked with his voice trembling.
"You go find her, talk to her and after that get into bed, you look like a zombie."
Palladium nodded, grabbed the mug and chugged the rest of the whiskey down.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Wizgiz said with a grin.