Rays of Hope
6:30 A.M., Wednesday Morning, Gardenia
The Peters' car worked its way through the crowded streets of Gardenia. Bloom wanted to facepalm as she saw the long line of cars that greeted them at each stoplight. There were at least six cars at every red light, ballooning the trip to the fire station from fifteen to forty-five minutes.
"Can't we get there faster? I calculate if we get there sooner, we'll have a five percent better chance at saving Magix," Tecna asked.
"No," Mike said from the front seat. "If we go faster than the speed limit, we'll get pulled over. And we can't go faster than the car in front of us."
On cue, they passed a police cruiser on the side of the road, sirens blaring. A green SUV was in front of the cruiser, hazard lights on. The police officer was at the driver's window, talking to the woman inside.
"What happened there?" Tecna asked.
"They were going too fast," Bloom explained. "So a police officer pulled them over."
"Are you telling me that people do that here? That's is their occupation?"
"Yes."
"In my world, a computer in your car measures your speed. If you go faster than the speed limit, you are automatically ticketed."
Bloom rolled her eyes. "We aren't that advanced, Tecna."
"This world is strange."
Bloom leaned onto the backseat disagreeing with Tecna. Over the last week, she'd begun to embrace her new Earth life, which had a slower pace compared to Alfea. No nightmare monsters, senior witches, cleaning an entire school as punishment, or boys pretending to be royalty. Only boring Earth life.
The rest of the trip passed in silence until Mike pulled into the fire station parking lot.
"Stay here for now," Mike said. "I have to talk to the firefighters and get the dish shut down."
Mike opened the car door, turned off the car, and went inside the fire station. Tecna was busy sorting through a purple backpack borrowed from the Peters. She pulled out a roll of multicolored wires, her laptop, and other electronic supplies out of the pack. She arrayed them on the backseat. Tecna put her wires first, her laptop, wire cutters, and a magically enhanced splicer, and put them back into her backpack in that order.
Vanessa, Bloom, and Tecna didn't have to wait long. Mike was back with news. "I got it shut down. Luckily, most of the firefighters are out on exercises, so I can get Tecna to the roof without seeing her. You'll have to go in something more formal than that."
Tecna was wearing her purple tracksuit halter top and pants. Mike knew no one would believe him if she walked into the fire station dressed like that.
"No problem, Mr. Peters," Tecna said.
She clicked her fingers, and sparkles began to surround her. Her purpled open-toed outfit melted away. As her magic traveled down her body, her purple skirt vanished to reveal neon green work overalls. Her purple halter top extended into a light green button-up full-sleeve shirt. Tecna heard laughter from beside her and saw Bloom was clutching her stomach.
"What?"
"You...you...look...like..like...a...leprechaun," Bloom cried.
"What's that?"
Bloom pulled out her phone and googled an image of said magical creature. She showed it to Tecna, who blushed bright pink when saw the resemblance. The redhead cleared her screen and pulled up an image of an Earth radio technician in a blue uniform. Tecna clicked her fingers and her outfit changed to match the one on Bloom's phone.
"Okay," Tecna said, looking down at her outfit. She exited the car and walked into the fire station.
"Let's go," Bloom said.
"No Bloom. We have to wait here," Vanessa said.
"Just trust me."
Vanessa blinked in confusion, wary of what her daughter had in mind. After a minute she decided to trust her only child and nodded. The fire station that Mike worked at was on the north end of town. Behind where the fire station stood there was a sprawling industrial complex. Years of decline though had left it a shell of its former self. Bloom led her mother among the abandoned buildings caked with graffiti, seeking a launch site. When she found a toppled water tower that hid Gardenia from view, she turned to her mother.
"Bloom, no," Vanessa said, realizing what Bloom had in mind. "You can't carry me."
"I won't carry you. My magic will," Bloom insisted. "Paladium taught us."
"Bloom, are you sure?"
"Mom. Trust me."
Bloom closed her eyes and red magic surrounded Vanessa. The redhead sprouted her wings and they began to beat at a furious rate. Bloom closed her eyes, teeth gritted as she felt gravity trying to both of them back to Earth. Vanessa, meanwhile, was trying to grab onto anything as her feet left the ground.
"I don't like, I don't like this, Bloom please..." Vanessa pleaded.
"Mom, please trust me."
Vanessa closed her eyes and clenched her fists. Bloom heaved with everything she had until she could gently set her mother down on the roof. Vanessa hurried over to her daughter. Bloom felt like n Olympian who'd completed a marathon. Her body ached, especially her upper back, and she was sweating buckets. Vanessa dropped to her knees, pulling Bloom's right arm over her shoulders. Vanessa stood, pulling her daughter to her feet.
"Wow, that was something," Bloom admitted. "I think I ran a marathon."
"Never do that again," Vanessa told her daughter. "You know I hate heights."
Bloom let her fairy form vanish as they watched Tecna go to work. When she had wired everything up, Tecna split the two cables connecting the dish to the fire station. She clicked her fingers and the wires connected themselves to her laptop.
"We have to be quick," Tecna said, her fingers tingling with anticipation. "The first thing we need to do is interface my laptop with the dish. I hope it doesn't fry it."
"Fry it?" Mike repeated.
"Yes. My calculations state it only has a 26.2% chance of happening."
Mike wasn't happy at all with those odds. Bloom was glad Tecna wasn't looking at her father as her attention was on her laptop screen. She'd seen the look on his face and it made her shiver.
"Dad, Tecna knows what she's doing," Bloom said, intervening. She hoped she was right.
The radio dish started making a whizzing sound, indicating it was warming up. Tecna adjusted the wavelength of her laptop, syncing it with the radio dish.
"Okay," Tecna said. "Wait, wait, I've got it. I'm connected to the Red Fountain ship."
Tecna pushed a button and winced as she lost contact. Blast the digits. Tecna punched a new line of code into her laptop, reestablishing communication with the Red Fountain ship. She activated the microphone on her laptop and motioned for Bloom to come close to her.
"Stella, Musa, Flora, you must get to Red Fountain and find this ship I'm transmitting from. I'm sending coordinates to Stella's phone," Tecna said.
Tecna waited until the message had been sent then turned to the Peters. "Bloom you have fifteen seconds to send a message. Everything else I'm sending is a program for the autopilot to fly the ship. All someone needs to do is start it up."
Bloom moved next to Tecna, rubbing her hands together to relieve the tension that was building in her heart.
"Tecna," Mike said. Having worked with the radio dish for years, he knew by listening to it that it was starting to overheat. "You have to shut it down now."
"Hurry Bloom."
"What should I say?" Bloom asked.
"Tell them we are okay. Tell them it will be alright when they come and pick us up."
Bloom felt her hands start to tremble, her concerns about going back to Magix frying her nerves. She closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded at Tecna.
"Stella. This is Bloom. I'm alright. If you just took..." Bloom choked.
Tecna hit a large button on her laptop and sent the message. She closed her laptop and waved her hands, magically disconnecting all the wires. The radio dish sound faded as sparks and smoke spewed from the base.
"Tecna!" Mike exclaimed, horrified.
"It's okay," Tecna said. "I'll fix it."
Purple light emanated from her hands which she then directed at the dish. The wires magically rolled themselves into small balls that Tecna put into her bag. When she had finished she rounded on Bloom. "What was that?"
"What?"
"What's up with you Bloom?"
"I..."
Bloom needed to get away. She stormed off to a corner of the fire station roof, out of earshot of Tecna. The tech fairy started to follow but Vanessa stepped between the two of them.
"Enough Tecna. My daughter has enough on her plate. Hurry to the car with Mike and we'll meet you at Gardenia Park."
Tecna looked after her friend with concern but bowed to Vanessa's wishes. She picked up her stuff and followed Mike into the fire station. Vanessa raced over to where her daughter was looking out over the city.
"Bloom?"
"Why doesn't anyone get it?" Bloom asked, frustration oozing from every syllable. Her hands clenched in frustration, her nails digging into her palms. "I'm freakin' trying and nobody sees it. This isn't Superman or Star Wars. I can't control this damn power. Why are they asking me to do something I can't?"
"Bloom, look at me," Vanessa said, taking her daughter's shoulders and spinning her so they were looking at each other. "I do. I know it doesn't count for..."
Bloom hugged her mother, seeking comfort.
"...much. But, this isn't a burden you should carry alone. Put it from your mind for now. Let's wait until we can make contact and get more information."
Bloom nodded. She transformed into her fairy form and flew Vanessa off the roof to the deserted building behind the fire station. When they got into the car, Tecna glared at Bloom, arms folded across her breasts.
"What in the name of computer programming happened back there?" Tecna demanded.
Bloom couldn't look her tech friend in the eyes. "I'm sorry Tecna. It's just..."
"The whole Magix Dimension is in trouble and you hesitated?"
"Enough Tecna," Vanessa intervened.
"No," Bloom said, determined to stand up for herself. "Tecna, I get the Magix Dimension is in trouble. But so is Earth and my family as if your world as well. So, lay off of me."
Tecna wasn't mollified but she didn't say anything until the fire station was out of sight.
"I'm sorry Bloom. My home is under threat as well. We've been under a lot of stress," Tecna apologized. "Forgive me?"
"Forgiven."
Bloom and Tecna hugged awkwardly in the back seat as the car pulled away onto the highway.
"Did that message get through?" Bloom asked when they let go.
"I don't know," Tecna confessed. "The real question is, will they make the right calculations and actually do what we need them to?"
Bloom facepalmed, knowing immediately what Tecna meant. "Please don't let it be Stella who takes the lead."
Tuesday Evening, Alfea
The entire day had been torture for Stella, Musa, and Flora. Each girl had pulled herself out of bed after a night of restless sleep but made it only to breakfast. Emotionally drained, the girls had barricaded themselves inside the dorm. Faragonda checked on them from time to time, but neither her or any of the other students had the heart or knowledge to help them. Noon found them in their common room lying on couches and chairs.
"We have to do something," Stella moaned, for the hundredth time.
For the first time that any of her dormmates had ever seen her, she hadn't combed her hair. Her hair had twisted into countless random knots, clinging to anything they touched. Stella didn't care, too depressed at the loss of Bloom and Tecna.
"Like what? The one who'd be able to do something would be Tecna," Musa pointed out.
She looked just as bad as Stella. She too hadn't done her hair, letting it flow down her back to her neck. Dark bags were underneanth her eyes, showing her lack of sleep.
On a couch across from them, Flora was mindlessly twirling her right hand around in a circle. A plant was growing and decreasing in a pot on her side table as she pushed and pulled magic from it. Musa and Stella looked over to the brown-haired girl, who had been acting like a zombie ever since she had arisen that morning.
"What should we do for her?" Musa asked.
"How do you comfort someone when you feeling just as horrible?" Stella asked morosely, eyes fixed on the carpet.
Stella's phone went off, ringing beside her. It was as if corpses were raised from the dead as the three girls leapt to their feet. Stella picked it up, her fingers trembling as she tried to steady it in her hand.
"Unknown Number. Really!" Stella said, about to hit the red button when it changed to 'Tecna".
Stella pulled the phone to her year.
"Tecna, glad to hear..oh..."
Flora and Musa gathered around the Sun and Moon fairy. Both of them shivering in anticipation, anxious for news. Stella almost dropped the phone as Tecna's message played. Joy replaced the depression she had been feeling, beginning at her toes and spreading up to her arms. She beamed at Musa and Flora, happy for the first time in almost 24 hours.
"What?" Musa said.
"They're okay. And they've got a way to get them back here," Stella announced.
"How?" Flora and Musa said together.
Stella read the text message Tecna had sent to her phone. "She's using a Red Fountain ship to communicate. Which means..."
"One is undamaged," Musa said.
The Winx Club scurried about their rooms, fixing their hair and getting ready. Stella and Musa emerged from theirs room in her usual day attire.
"No," Flora said.
She waved her hands and green magic began to flow from them to each girl. Flora was wearing the expedition clothing from their journey to the Black Mud Swamp and copies of her outfit appeared on the other two girls. Musa wasn't bothered by it, even doing a twirl for Flora in her new outfit. Stella pulled at her outfit, not happy with what she was wearing.
"Wait?" Flora said. "Shouldn't we tell Faragonda about this?"
The girls paused for a moment, pondering on Flora's observation. They looked at each other knowing what they should do but...
"We shouldn't go to her," Stella said.
"Why?" Musa asked.
"Darlings we're wasting time here. And Faragonda isn't here and you know what Griselda or any of the faculty will say."
Stella had made her point and the other two didn't question her conclusion. The three changed into their fairy forms and flew out the window for Red Fountain.
Yes I know Kiko is missing. I'm working him into the story and he'll reappear in the previous chapters. Just a busy life.