Chapter 12

What do we do? What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?

Bloom repeated that question over and over again in her head.

After her mother told them that she knew Bloom attacked the ice witch,she knew they were going to get into trouble. Especially Icy.

'What do we do?' Bloom whispered to the ice witch as they were following Oritel and Marion. Two guards walked behind them.

'I'll let you know when I have an idea.' Icy replied equally as quiet.

They walked around a corner.

Bloom immediately saw her earth parents, Vanessa and Mike. The rest of the group was there as well. They were sitting across from a door. Stella, Layla and Sky were not there. Bloom assumed they were on the other side of the door

'Please wait here for a minute. We will let you know when you can come inside' Marion said. She and Oritel opened the door and disappeared.

'Bloom, thank god you are alright' Vanessa hugged her daughter. Mike hugged her as well.

'Faragonda told us about what happened in the last few days.' Mike looked concerned.

In the meantime Icy went over to her sisters, Addy and Darko.

' I just directly lied to Blooms parents. I didn't know they knew about the attack, Faragonda must've told them. Please tell me no one knows about the blood curse or the blood ritual.' The ice witch whispered. She was extremely tense. In a minute she had to go inside a room full of kings and queens of kingdoms she has threatened in the past. If they knew everything she was in a lot of trouble.

'Stella, Layla and Sky haven't come out yet. We don't know if they revealed anything.' Darcy replied.

'How high are the chances they would lie?' Icy asked.

Her question was left unanswered, because the door opened and Bloom and Icy were asked to come inside.

They didn't know what to expect when they walked inside, but Stella, Layla and Sky standing in the room looking very guilty wasn't a good omen in their opinion.

'Just to be clear, I am not angry, I am disappointed. You both lied to us even though you had the chance to tell us the truth.' King Oritel was the first one to speak.

Both Bloom and Icy just stared at the floor. Neither of them said anything but it was obvious they were nervous. Bloom wasn't going to get into a lot of trouble, they both knew that. She might lose her title as princess of Domino, but no one would arrest her.

They also knew that Icy might get locked away for all eternity, just because she tried to help. Bloom suspected she would be taking all the blame, she wouldn't tell anyone Darcy was involved. It didn't matter if the ritual was successful.

'Sky, please tell them everything you just told us.' King Erendor said

Sky stepped next to both Bloom and Icy. He took a few seconds until he spoke up. Bloom interrupted him.

'No wait, I want to explain…Icy did nothing wrong, she just tried to help….I agreed….' Bloom wanted to say more. Now it was her who got interrupted.

'Bloom! Let. Him. Speak.' Marion said angrily. The fire fairy widened her eyes. Her mother never spoke in a tone like that. She immediately fell silent again.

Sky took Blooms hand before he spoke.

'Belladonna controlled Blooms mind.'

Bloom and Icy instantly turned their heads towards Sky. He just lied. He didn't tell them about the blood curse or the blood ritual.

'There was a reporter in Alfea yesterday who was controlled by Belladonna . She disappeared before we could help her. We think that's when the old witch got into Bloom. Unfortunately we only figured out a way to get her out of Bloom after she attacked Icy.' Sky finished.

Icy tried not to show any reaction to what Sky said. But she felt like she was going to throw up because of all the tension that suddenly left her body.

They covered up for her.

'Thank you, Sky, for your honesty' The future king of Eraklyon looked at the two girls for a second and stepped back again. 'I want to know why the two of you didn't tell us about the mind control.' Oritel continued

'I…I was.. embarrassed by…by the fact that… Belladonna was in my mind.' Bloom lied. 'I asked everyone to keep it a secret. That's why Icy lied.'

'Belladonna made you attack Icy. Why did Icy agree to lie?' Oritel asked calmly. Good question, Bloom didn't have an answer

'Isn't it obvious' Marion stepped forward ' It is a strategic decision to follow the request of Bloom. Right, Icy?'

Something told the ice witch Marion wanted her to play along.

'Yes, Bloom is the keeper of the dragon flame. I am not stupid, I know her powers are useful in the battle against the ancestral witches.' Icy didn't even have to lie, it was the truth.

''Are we in trouble?' Bloom asked.

'No, Bloom, you are not. Miss Faragonda and Miss Griffin informed us that you have an agreement with the Trix. We just want you to be careful. And don't lie to us.' Oritel put a hand on his daughters shoulder. 'Is there anything else you want to tell us?'

Bloom could only shake her head. She wasn't able to get another word out.

'Then you can go back. I am sure the rest of your friends are eager to know what happened.' Marion dismissed them.

Bloom, Sky, Icy, Layla and Stella walked out of the room as fast as they could.

The others instantly wanted to know what happened. The five of them told them they would explain when they were back in the winx suite.

'Why don't you go back already, I'll catch up with you in a minute.' Bloom said. She wanted to talk to Vanessa and Mike and explain shortly , or rather lie, about what happened .

'It worked?' Sky asked when Bloom walked in.

''Yes, it worked. Belladonna has no control of me anymore.' Bloom nodded and was immediately pulled into a hug by her friends.

After they let go of her they walked a little further into the room.

''Everything ok?' Icy asked.

'Yeah, my parents are on their way back to Gardenia.' Bloom answered

'What exactly happened?' Timmy wanted to know.

Bloom explained to them, what happened after she took the potion.

They also talked about the fact that Sky, Stella and Layla lied in front of the royal court.

'Thank you by the way.' Icy said. 'I know you didn't have to do that.'

Sky nodded ' You're right, we didn't. But your blood saved Bloom. It was the right thing to do'

'We didn't want you two to get into trouble.' Stella explained 'It didn't seem fair.'

'Sky came up with the lie.' Layla added. 'Thank god, it was plausible, I wouldn't have known what to say.'

Suddenly they all felt how exhausted they were. They were barely able to keep their eyes open.

'We should all go to bed. It was along night.' Musa yawned.

'I'll sleep on the couch.' Bloom immediately said. She was terrified of sleeping in the same room as Icy after what she did to the witch.

'You can sleep in your bed. Icy and I will be going back to the infirmary. I want to give her a salve for her neck.' Flora announced. She and Icy were about to leave.

'Can I come with you?' Stormy walked up to them. Neither her sister nor the fairy had something against that.

'The burn marks should be gone in a day or two. Just put on the salve as often as possible.' Flora handed Icy a little jar.

'Thanks.' Icy replied.

So far only Icy and Flora had been talking. Stormy was unusually quiet. A few times the ice witch saw her sister stare at Flora, who didn't notice the looks she was getting.

'How is your throat? You don't sound hoarse anymore.' The flower fairy continued.

'I have no clue what was inside that disgusting potion you gave me, but it worked wonders.' The ice witch said.

Flora smiled at the witch. She has always been good at healing people.

'You know, I am surprised Darko decided to let you out of his sight.' Flora changed the topic.

'Oh look at that, Icy is blushing.' Stormy teased her sister and gave her a little nudge.

Icy didn't reply and only boxed her sisters arm. Couldn't she go back to silently checking out the flower fairy.

'Ow, that hurt. ' Stormy said and rubbed her arm. 'How rude.'

'Oh shut up, I didn't hit you that hard.' Icy rolled her eyes.

'What is stopping you two?' Flora wanted to know. 'You and Darko, I mean.'

''Can't we talk about something else?' Icy whined

'Answer her question. She is treating your wounds.' Stormy said grinning. She only barley managed to escape another punch.

''It's alright if she is too shy to answer.' Flora smirked. They were teaming up against her. The fairy decided to join Stormys game. That was a mean trick. Icy didn't even know a fairy could be so sneaky.

'You have been spending too much time with Stormy.' Icy mumbled.

'She is a quick learner' Stormy said and gave the fairy a high five.

'Listen, the thing that is stopping us is that we both know it wouldn't work. We went out for a year and constantly fought about the most random things. We're just not boyfriend and girlfriend material.' Icy answered.

'You went out for a year?' The fairy asked. Icy nodded and Flora continued ' Why did you break up?'

'I asked Addyson to help us with the dragonflame. Darko didn't like that. We had a huge fight and ended up going our separate ways.' The ice witch explained.

'The first two weeks after they broke up neither Darcy nor me dared to talk to her. She was even colder then before.' Stormy whispered to Flora. Icy just gave her a glare that made the storm witch shut up.

'I think you are fooling yourselves. It is obvious you both want more.' The fairy told the witch. ' Can I suggest something? Just go for it, you might regret it if you don't try.'

She let the last sentence sink in for a few seconds. And then excused herself to go into the room next door to get something.

'You are too comfortable around her.' Icy whispered to her sister when she saw how Stormy stared after the fairy.

Stormy looked like a deer caught in headlights when she turned her head around

'What are you talking about?'

'I have no idea what kind of friendship is forming between the two of you and currently I don't care. But at some point we will leave Alfea and be on separate sides again.' Icy tried to be as careful as she could with her choice of words. She didn't want to fight with her sister again, but she also didn't want Stormy to get hurt.

'I really don't understand what you mean.' The storm witch replied. 'You literally just gave Bloom your blood. We are supposed to be working together and that is exactly what I am doing.'

'No, you are developing a crush on her.' Icy looked at her sister. The white haired witch has never seen her sister so shocked.

'I…What...No, that's not…that's not true.' Stormy stuttered.

'I am not judging you. I am telling you to be careful ' Icy told her sister.

Stormy got that the wrong way.

'Oh, so I have to be careful?' Stormy whispered angrily 'Then maybe I have to tell you to be careful as well.'

Icy raised an eyebrow. She knew Stormy was changing the topic, but wanted to know what her sister had to say.

'You and Darko have been undressing each other with your eyes all night long. And we all know how that is going to end'

'That's different ' The ice witch simply replied

'How?'

'Because neither of us is in relationship.'

Icy knew she just hurt her sister but there was no nice way to say it. Flora was in a relationship with Helia and there was nothing Stormy could do to change that.

'You don't even know what a relationship is.' Stormy hissed. 'What you had with Darko only took place in bed. And you are fooling yourself if you think it was more'

The storm witch knew she shouldn't say anything further. But she couldn't stop herself.

'You aren't even capable of having feelings.'

Stormys eyes widened immediately after she finished that sentence. She knew that she just told a lie. There had been real feelings involved between her and Darko and probably still were. And Icy loved her and Darcy. She was the oldest of them and always took care of them. Even if they drove her crazy.

'I..I didn't…'

'No.' Icy interupted her. 'You've said enough.'

The ice witch had to take a deep breath to not explode.

Flora chose that moment to walk back into the room. Both sisters were certain she had no clue what they had just talked about, because she cheerfully walked up to Icy and gave her a vial. It looked like a sleeping draught.

'Did I miss something?' Flora asked. The fairy felt the tension in the room.

'No, you didn't' Icy answered

'Are you sure?' Flora looked at Stormy who avoided her gaze.

'Yeah, I think we're all just tired.' The ice witch replied.

'Okay. Ehm…This is a sleeping draught, the same I gave Stormy earlier.' Flora felt uneasy with the tension ' It is quite strong, but it will keep any unpleasant dreams away.'

'Thanks.' Icy said quietly

'Ofelia, our school nurse, said she is alright with you sleeping here.' Flora added.

Icy drank the potion.

'Good night, or day, I guess.'

Has it really been that obvious. Icy noticed it. That means Darcy did as well. Did they talk about it? What if someone else noticed it? It was just a harmless crush, it would go away. No need to make a fuss about it. She would have herself under control again after she got enough rest. No more distractions.

'Stormy? Stormy, wait.'

Speaking of distractions.

Flora had a hard time keeping up with the witch. They were on their way back to the winx suite.

Stormy stopped walking abruptly. Flora almost ran into her.

'What happened? You and Icy were acting weird.' Flora walked around the witch to look at her.

Stormy just crossed her arms.

'Did I do something?' the fairy wanted to know

'No.' Stormy answered quietly and looked at her feet.

Don't get distracted.

'You know you can trust me, right? I thought we got along pretty well.'

Flora still didn't get a reaction.

'Stormy, look at me.' The witch looked hesitantly at the fairy. She was surprised to see actual worry in Floras eyes. Worry about her?

It distracted her.

'I understand you had a rough night. You almost lost your sister today.' Flora told the witch. 'Is there anything I can do to help?

'Did you mean it?' Stormy asked.

'What?' There was something in her turquoise eyes Flora hadn't seen before. Nervousness.

'You told Icy to just go for it. With Darko I mean. Because she might regret it if she doesn't.' Stormy said.

'Of course I did. Did you think I was making that up.' The fairy frowned 'Why, was that a mistake?'

Stormy didn't answer. To Flora it looked like the witch was fighting an internal battle with herself.

'Stormy?'

The witch still didn't answer and just stared at the fairy standing in front of her until it looked like Stormy made a decision.

She took two steps towards the fairy.