"You want us to do what?"

Bloom gritted her teeth and forced herself to look up to where Stella and Layla were standing over her having a stare down of epic proportions.

"Go rescue my friends first," Layla said. Where a red blush was giving away Stella's growing frustration, Layla was staying maddeningly calm, which Bloom thought was only serving to irritate Stella further. "At this point we're much closer to Shadowhuant than Downland; it only makes sense to keep going and then circle back for Brandon."

"That's ridiculous! What about my boyfriend? That crazy queen could be…"

A sudden burst of pain shot through Bloom's leg, tearing her attention away as she gasped and glanced down. Sky, who hadn't looked up at all throughout Stella and Layla's argument - and in fact looked like he couldn't care less that they were speaking at all - finally paused in his ministrations and looked at her.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

Bloom smiled a bit despite the pain as she said, "Yeah, but I don't think there's a way you can get it out without it hurting at least a little."

Sky took her hand, squeezing it briefly, before his hands returned to the spike still embedded deep in her thigh. He tried to slide it out as slowly and gently as he could, but stopped again when Bloom couldn't contain a noise of discomfort. "I don't think this is working," he sighed. "I want to try and pull it fast, okay? It'll probably hurt more but at least it'll be quick."

"Alright, let's do it."

He took her hand again, giving her something to hold as he prepared to yank the stone spike. Stella and Layla finally seemed to notice what was going on, as their argument abruptly came to an end as they came over, Stella taking Bloom's other hand. Sky didn't give her any warning before he pulled the spike out, but that might have been a good thing because it didn't give Bloom a chance to anticipate the pain or tense up.

The agony that raced through her leg was even worse than before and Bloom let them all know about it by the vicious curses she spat out in protest but at least the spike was out. And the pain abated quickly as Layla helped Sky apply gauze and bandage the wound.

"There wasn't a lot of blood," Sky told her as he secured the bandage. "It'll be sore, but I think you'll be okay until we can get you back to Alfea and see the healer. You want to rest a while longer?"

"No, no, we should keep going."

"And rescue Brandon, right?"

"We're going to rescue the pixies first!"

"Enough!" Bloom snapped, the pain in her leg and their constant arguing finally getting to her. She tried to push up from the ground and had to bite back a curse when she stumbled and Sky had to reach out and steady her. "Stella," she said, once she had both feet on the ground again. "I know you're worried about Brandon, we all are, but the way it sounds, Amentia isn't going to hurt him anytime soon, not if she wants him for a husband. But the pixies have been in Shadowhaunt for days by now. We need to get them out before anything bad happens, if it hasn't happened-" Bloom cursed herself internally, and cut herself off when she saw Layla's face go ashen at the implication. She looked to Stella pleadingly.

The blonde looked like she wanted to argue further, before she too glanced at Layla and sighed. "Alright," she said, sounding defeated. "Pixies first, then Brandon."

All eyes turned to Layla, waiting for her to guide them on where to go next. Their new friend swallowed roughly, and cleared her throat a few times, before she was able to talk.

"Well, the good news is that while the middle tunnel would have been a more direct route into Shadowhaunt, the one we took didn't take us too far out of the way."

When the underground cavern had been shaking, Layla had only had a split second to decide the best tunnel out of three to take. The one on the right side she'd led them down had eventually opened out into the open air, a small area further down than most of the rest of the surface, and which fell away into a steep ravine. The open area had given them a good chance to enjoy the sun and regenerate a little bit while Bloom had had her leg tended to by Sky.

"I'm fairly certain if we go down into this ravine we're going to be on the other side of cavern Shadowhaunt is in."

"And what if there aren't any openings?" Stella asked challengingly. She might have agreed to rescue the pixies first, but that didn't mean she was happy about it. "I can teleport us inside, of course," she continued haughtily, tossing her hair. "But that'll drain a lot of my power."

"Well, we'll just have to hope we can find an opening." Irritation was starting to creep into Layla's voice and Stella smirked a little.

"That's hardly a great plan-"

"We could always use the PHA," Sky broke in. "It has a teleportation feature. It can't handle big distances or anything, but it'll be fine to get us through a bit of rock.

Layla smiled, victorious, while Stella scowled.

"How convenient."

Layla acted as though she hadn't spoken and led them to the edge of the ravine, saying happily as she went, "Down we go."

The bat's screeching reached the pixies a minute before the swarm itself arrived, giving them a chance to brace themselves. Lockette whimpered, hiding her face in her hands while Tune wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. Amore on the other side of their cell was being comforted by a tight hug from Chatta.

"Why do they do this?" Lockette cried just as the swarm arrived.

"To scare us," Tune said grimly.

The shadow bats, native to Shadowhaunt like the rest of the monsters, came flying through the area that contained their cell, screeching and swarming around their cage even though they couldn't enter it. The noise combined with the violent movements made all the pixies - even Digit and Tune who were the most stoic of the group - flinch, with Lockette and Amore letting out cries of distress.

"Well, I wish they would go away!" Chatta harrumphed. She disentagneled herself from Amore and strode right up the edge of their cell, waving her arms to shoo the bats away. "Go away now! Shoo!"

"That's not going to work," Digit said knowledgeably. "Shadow bats are blind and you aren't being nearly loud enough to scare them away."

Chatta whirled around and planted her hands on her hips. "Are you telling me, a pixie of gossip, that I'm not being loud enough?"

"Yes, because your magical core is hardly relevant when you need to increase your volume by at least 150% if you want to scare them away."

The bats immediately forgotten, Chatt stomped up to Digit, who looked completely nonplussed by her irritation, sprawled on the ground of the cage as she was. "You can't possibly know that."

Digit's eyes flashed as she straightened. "Yes, I can, because I'm right."

"It's so unbecoming when we bicker amongst ourselves," Tune sighed. Her eyes still on the swarming bats, as she stroked Lockette's arm subconsciously. Both Chatta and Digit ignored her.

"You listen to this, Digit," Chatta was saying. "I'm sick of your know-it-all attitude. The other day it was that thing about the berries I found making me sick, and now you're pretending to be an expert on shadow bats."

"Knowledge is power," Digit said sagely.

Chatta plowed on, ignoring her. "At least I'm doing something to try and drive those revolting things away. So instead of sitting there in your standing code-"

"Do you mean standby mode?"

Chatta stomped her foot. "Whatever! My point is that you could be helping me!"

"They'll go away on their own soon enough."

"Digit-"

"Oh for goodness sake!" Tune ripped her arm away from Lockette and just like Chatta went right up to the forcefield encircling their cage. The other pixies exchanged glances before quickly clamping their hands over their ears. "Will all bats vacate the premises right now, PLEASE!"

Tune's voice was loud at the best of times, but when she used magic to enhance it, it turned downright deafening. She held the last word in a shrill, ringing tone, far surpassing the 150% increase that Digit had recommended. It had the desired effect however, and with one last squawk, the bats cleared out, fleeing from the noise.

A demure smile appeared on Tune's face. "Thank you."

Hesitantly, the other pixies pulled their hands away.

Chatta shook her head and smiled. "Even when she's angry she's polite."

Tune looked affronted. "A lady never displays her anger," she sniffed, pulling up one of her elbow length, white gloves. "I was merely suggesting they reconvene elsewhere."

"I told you you needed to increase the volume of your voice," Digit muttered.

"Oh, Digit! You listen here-"

"Well, well, what do we have here? Not arguing amongst ourselves, I hope."

The silky voice announced Darkar's arrival and instantly the animosity between Chatta and Digit disappeared. The pixies didn't cluster together as he stalked closer, but they did grow completely still, watching him warily as he approached their cage. He circled once without speaking, and then twice, trailing his clawed fingers along the surface of the cage, apparently unconcerned with the little pops and hisses as the energy force was disrupted.

"We're not arguing," Chatta finally said, and her friends were impressed when her voice didn't so much as quiver. "And there's no point questioning us again," she continued, sounding much fiercer than she felt. "Because we're never telling you where our village is."

The location of their village back on Magix seemed all Darkar was interested in but despite racking their brains, they just couldn't figure out why. The village was important to them but that's because it was their home and where the rest of their friends lived, there was nothing of much power there that Darkar could want.

But he didn't seem to like Chatta's insolence if the growl he let out and the way he lunged straight through the cage wall was any indication. The pixies all skittered back a few steps and Darkar stopped short, glaring at them.

"You insolent pixies will tell me where your village is," he hissed, sounding as though he was speaking through gritted teeth. His hand shot out whip fast and wrapped around Chatta's middle, yanking her off the ground. His talons cut into her skin and she let out a shriek of pain, instantly beating his hand with her little fists and kicking out, but she was too small to have any impact.

Her friends all let out cries of fear at her obvious pain, but Lockette's voice rose above them all. "Wait!" she screamed. "I'll tell you!"

The pixies all grew still and quiet, even Chatta, as Darkar cocked his head and shifted his gaze to Lockette who was trembling right down to the pointed tips of her boots.

"You can find our village at the base of a large tree-"

"Fine! I'll tell you!" Chatta broke in, talking fast. "It's underneath a boida fruit tree in the Endelong forest, ten minutes away from Whispering Falls." Darkar's eyes slid back to Chatta, narrowing in suspicion. The other pixies could recognise the power of persuasion Chatta was infusing in her words, but Darkar was oblivious, and therefore susceptible to its thrall. She would be more powerful if she could use the megaphone charm hanging from her necklace but with Darkar's attention focussed solely on her, she had to rely on her natural ability. Chatta ducked her head, looking heartbroken, and the others tried to do the same. "Just don't hurt our friends please," she whispered brokenly.

There was a long, tense moment, where they all avoided Darkar's eyes, hoping he'd take the bait. "You'd better be telling the truth," he finally said, tossing Chatta back onto the bottom of the cell and stepping back out. "Because if you're not, I'll be back, and you definitely won't like me then."

None of them dared move, not even to breathe a sigh of relief, until they were sure he was gone. They rushed to Chatta's side who slowly pushed herself to her feet and brushed the grit from her palms.

"Alright," she said grimly, a rare occurrence for the usually chipper pixie. "That will buy us a bit of time, but now we really need to get out of here."

"Do you think Layla has a thing for Sky?"

The question took Bloom by surprise so much that her head jerked around and she stumbled over a rock. Luckily Stella already had her arm wrapped around her friend's waist and was able to keep her upright.

Bloom stared at the side of Stella's face. "Where did that come from?"

The blonde shrugged as best she could and inclined her head forward. "They seem pretty chummy to me."

Bloom followed her gaze to where Layla and Sky were further down the ravine, frowning a little. Sky had wanted to stay with Bloom and help her traverse the loose, uneven ground on her sore leg, but Layla had suggested that they go ahead and scout out the best way down while Stella assisted Bloom. So now, while Stella and Bloom were only just reaching the halfway point, Sky and Layla were nearing the bottom, chatting amicably, their occasional laughter drifting back to the other two.

"I think you're imagining things," Bloom said firmly.

Stella harrumphed. "I would just be keeping an eye on my man if I were you."

"Sky isn't 'my' anything," Bloom said crossly, pulling away from Stella. "He's my friend, that's it, now give it a rest." She attempted to stomp off but made it only a few steps before a section of gravel gave way under her feet. She scrambled for a few seconds trying to keep her balance, but her bad leg was ultimately too weak, and she ended up tripping backwards and landing heavily on the slope of the ravine.

"For fuck's sake." Bloom kicked out with her good leg, sending a plume of dust and dirt into the air while she wiped her sweaty forehead with her forearm. Being outside in the sun had been nice at first, but now the morning sun was painfully warm and she was almost looking forward to getting back into the caves as crazy as that sounded. She was beginning to see why the surface of the Under Realms was completely unlivable.

"Bloom, are you okay?"

Bloom waved away the concern, an act that was at complete odds with how she was feeling. "Yeah, I'm all good." Further down, Sky frowned and looked on the verge of turning back and making his way back up to them.

"You guys keep going," Stella called down to them from behind Bloom. "We'll be there soon."

Sky still looked unsure, but Layla touched his elbow, and gestured for them to keep going. Stumbling a little over the same loose gravel that had felled Bloom, Stella made her way over, and in a very un-Stella move flopped down gracelessly beside her friend.

"Consider the subject dropped," was all Stella said before handing Bloom a water bottle as a way of apology.

"Thanks." They were silent for a bit while Bloom drank and Stella watched Layla and Sky pick their way down the steep slope. "You know, she's not so bad."

Stella narrowed her eyes and made a cryptic noise low in her throat, but didn't otherwise respond. "Come on," she said finally, standing and brushing off the back of her shorts. "We should keep going."

Bloom sighed but stowed away her bottle and let Stella haul her to her feet again. The rest of the trip down the ravine was as painful as the start, but eventually the stiffness in Bloom's leg began to recede and by the time she reached the bottom she could walk unassisted with only the slightest limp.

"So, did you find an opening?" Stella asked, cutting Layla off in the middle of saying something to Sky. Her pale green eyes settled on Stella but she didn't say anything, leaving Sky to explain that the tunnels were all closed up.

"But," he said, brandishing his PHA. "We still have this."

Sky gestured for them to get closer to the rock wall while he punched numbers into the PHA, readying the program for teleportation. "It's simulated on a fairy's teleportation spell, so it should feel very similar. Everyone's down that before, right?"

When everyone nodded, he punched in the last number. "Alright. Here we go."

There was a bright flash of light - not dissimilar to what happened when Stella used her sceptre to transport them - followed by the brief but disorientating feeling of moving through space very quickly. The light overwhelmed them and the ground disappeared beneath their feet before it abruptly reappeared as they slammed back to earth and their vision returned.

"My sceptre is much smoother," Stella sniffed, trying to shake off the disorientation. She frowned when her eyes caught on the sight of Sky offering a steady hand to Layla who looked unbalanced from the journey. She glanced at Bloom but her friend was shaking her head to clear the momentary disorientation and hadn't noticed the exchange.

"The PHA is but a poor imitation of your magic, Stella," Sky agreed, a teasing grin tugging at his mouth. "Now should we keep going or do you guys need a minute?"

"Let's keep going," Bloom said, going to stand beside him. "The quicker we rescue the pixies the better. Besides," she added as they took the lead and started walking. "We should be almost there by now."

Layla moved to follow them but Stella stepped smoothly into her path, forcing the girl to stop and look up at her with a frown.

"What?"

Stella glanced over her shoulder to make sure Bloom and Sky were still unaware before turning back to Layla, leaning forward into her space a little.

"I don't know what your deal is," she said, talking low and fast. "Maybe you mean nothing by it, maybe not, but I'm just telling you now: Sky's off limits."

Layla blinked, her eyes shifting to glance at Sky and Bloom's retreating backs, but otherwise she didn't react. "I didn't realise they were together."

"They're not," Stella said dismissively. "But they will be. And they've been through enough shit without having to worry about you as well. So back off."

Stella liked to think she was pretty good at reading people, she kind of had to be when she dealt with members of royalty and diplomats so often, but there was something guarded about Layla that made it hard for her to get a good feel on her.

"You don't have to worry," Layla said, sounding completely unconcerned. "He's not really my type."

Stella narrowed her eyes. "I just wanted to make sure we understood each other."

"Don't worry, we do," she said, and stepped smoothly around Stella to follow the others.

The blonde huffed out a sigh. Bloom would be furious if she found out what had just happened but Stella couldn't bring herself to regret doing it; no one messed with her friends.

"Stella! You coming?"

She glanced over her shoulder to find the trio looking back down the tunnel at her, Bloom and Sky curious and a little concerned, while Layla still wore that unreadable expression.

"Yeah," she said, heading back towards them. "Just had to fix my shoelace."

"-think the opening is just up ahead," Layla was saying to the others when Stella reached them.

Neither girl looked at each other, or acknowledged the conversation they'd just had. Instead, Layla led them the short distance to the end of the tunnel, stopping where it opened out into an enormous cavern.

"This is it, guys," Layla breathed, looking around. "This is Shadowhaunt."

Brandon had been poked, prodded, and plucked, forced to bathe, undergo a full physical, and dressed in a ridiculous looking ceremonial robe and it was still only early in the morning. Well, he assumed it was early in the morning. Being underground it was impossible to tell for sure but it had felt like he'd barely gotten to sleep a few hours before a troop of trogs had woken him to begin preparing him for his wedding that night.

His wedding that night.

Even thinking the words made Brandon shudder, not that the trogs seemed to notice. They were too busy running critical eyes over him looking for imperfections. Imperfections, they'd assured him, would not be tolerated by Amentia.

Sixteen and married. It sounded like a bad reality tv show.

"Perhaps another bath in Pristine Complex B."

"Couldn't hurt."

The conversation brought Brandon back to his senses with a jolt. "No," he snapped. That stuff they'd made him wash with had stung his skin and no way was he going through that again, once was more than enough. "I've scrubbed myself within an inch of my life, let you cut my hair, and wax my eyebrows, which I can assure you is a pain I never thought I'd go through. I'm done. Amentia can have me as is or not at all."

"Speaking of the eyebrows," one of the trogs said. "I'm not sure they're completely symmetrical yet."

"Did you hear me?" Brandon yelled, finding himself on his feet, with no memory of deciding to stand. "I'm not doing it!"

The trogs continued to converse amongst themselves, while Brandon stood there, breathing hard as his pulse thudded in his temple. Brandon didn't get mad very often; having six younger siblings had taught him how to have a world of patience after all, and he could probably count on one hand the number of times he'd raised his voice but in that moment he didn't care.

The trogs were still ignoring his outburst so they didn't see it coming when Brandon suddenly lashed out and sent the contents of a nearby table crashing to the floor. Pots of powder plumed into the air, glass bottles of foul smelling potions cracked and spilled, and the clasp of a necklace he was to wear during the ceremony burst open, the beaded ornaments sliding off the ends and rolling across the floor.

Horrified gasps emerged from the trogs as Brandon was abruptly forgotten and they all converged on the mess to begin cleaning up. But Brandon wasn't done. He raced around the room knocking over bolts of fabric and upending tables and chairs. A gold box of clothes was tossed over his shoulder as he considered an ancient looking vase, wondering if he wanted to go so far as to smash it.

Somewhere at the back of his mind Brandon knew it probably wasn't the trogs fault. Having spent even a few minutes with Amentia he already knew she couldn't be an easy ruler to live under, but that rational part of him was easily and completely overwhelmed by the fear of what was coming in just a few hours.

"Announcing the one and only, immaculately beautiful, and fabulously perfect, Queen Amentia!"

At the guard's sudden booming announcement, the trogs exchanged aghast looks and redoubled their tidying efforts. But there was no way they were fixing the mess Brandon had made in time.

"I know you have that silly little tradition, darling," Amentia trilled as she swept into the room. "But I couldn't resist checking in- what is the meaning of this?!"

Brandon winced at the sound of Amentia's voice, convinced she'd reached a higher octave than ever accomplished before. The trogs abandoned the mess and threw themselves onto the ground in front of her, foreheads pressed to the ground in the ultimate act of deference.

"Your Majesty," one of them whimpered. "We're so-"

"What are my groom's wedding clothes doing on the floor?! He will not wear clothes that have touched the floor! Not even once! Now talk! Who is responsible for this?!" Amentia stalked from side to side in front of the trembling trogs, her long clothes swirling around her and revealing more of her sallow skin. "Speak!"

But the trogs despite their clear terror didn't speak, probably thinking it wouldn't do them any favours to throw the Queen's future husband under the bus.

"Was it you?" she spat, leaning over a trog and nudging his shoulder none too gently with her sandaled foot. It was the fury that the gesture sparked in Brandon that prompted him to speak.

"It was me," he said without stopping to wonder if he was making a big mistake. "I was the one who made the mess."

Amentia pulled up short, looking thoroughly confused by the confession. She tilted her head and took a halting step towards him before an understanding smile broke across her face.

"Taking the blame? How noble. Take note," she said, sneering at the still cowering trogs. "This is how a future consort behaves. What a fine husband you'll make."

Any hope that confessing would lead Amentia to kick him out died in Brandon's chest and he just sighed, not offering any other response. Amentia's focus shifted back to her subjects.

"Is he ready?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the trogs immediately said together, no doubt wanting to spend no more time with Brandon.

"At least you managed to do that. Take him back to his quarters," she said to the guards, indicating Brandon with a lazy wave of her hand. "It's time for your reflection before the wedding. You'll spend the remaining hours before the ceremony being thankful for the wonderful life you'll lead from now on."

All hope had left Brandon so that he didn't even have a sarcastic comment in response to that and didn't put up a fight as two guards came over to escort him out the door. The last he heard as he was leaving the room was Amentia screaming for the trogs to clean up the mess.

The sheer scale of Shadowhaunt took Bloom's breath away. The castle itself was massive and built right into the rock wall opposite them with various turrets and chambers forming what had to be a warren-like interior. Then there was the cavern that contained it which was tall and gloomy, the bottom of which was covered in the lake that she presumed fed the river Stella and Brandon had fallen into. The tunnel opening they'd come out of was probably halfway up the cavern and looking around it all, it was hard for Bloom to remember that this was all underground.

"Was Downland bigger than this?" Sky asked Stella. Bloom glanced at him, thinking that his best friend was clearly still on his mind and that he was already planning their trip to rescue him.

Stella ran critical eyes over the cavern. "Similar size, but different shape. Downland's main chamber wasn't nearly as tall but it had a lot more ground space." She rolled her eyes a little. "As much as it pains me to admit it, at least the cave queen's place was nicer than this."

Bloom chuckled before glancing at Layla. "So how do we get up there."

"Well, I came in from another tunnel on the right side," she said pointing to a tunnel further up and close to the castle. "And climbed in from there. But there's no way to get from here to that tunnel."

"This opening does go further round," Sky pointed out. He indicated to the left where a ridge had been cut into the rock, making a narrow path that traveled around and up.

"Right," Layla agreed. "I think the ledge stops where that bridge starts so we can cross there. It's a bit conspicuous and will take us a while to walk around to it, but it's probably our best effort."

Stella wrinkled her nose at the prospect of so much more walking. "Won't it be quicker and easier just to fly in? We could hit them before they even know we're coming."

Bloom nudged her in the ribs while Sky held up a hand and said, "Hello? Can't fly, remember?"

Stella smiled thinly. "Maybe that's a sign you should sit tight here and let us go ahead."

"We're not splitting up," Bloom said firmly.

"Oh, right, because why use our magic?"

"Because this place drains our magic too fast? And we need to conserve as much as possible in case there's a fight. A fight that we'll have a much better chance at winning if there's four of us, instead of three."

"I agree with Bloom," Layla chimed in. "And it's really not that far. I know you're worried about Brandon, Stella, but this is the best plan."

"Whatever," she replied, throwing her hands up in defeat.

Layla offered to go first on the ledge, and as if to prove to Stella that it wouldn't take long, she set a fast pace. The ledge had been cut far enough into the rock that they didn't have to duck their heads or worry about where they put their feet and in no time they were scaling the slope and approaching the bridge.

"It looks pretty rickety," Bloom said, eyeing it dubiously. The bridge was little more than a collection of planks to walk along, held together with metal and rope, and a long chain on either side to hold onto. She reached out a hand to one of the chains and gave it a shake, sending the whole thing moving and trembling.

"We're just going to have to give it a chance and hope that it holds. If it breaks, just hang on tight, and swing to the other side. We'll be able to climb up from there."

Wasting no time, Layla took a firm hold of the chains on both sides, and stepped onto the bridge, moving as fast as she dared.

"I went to a water park in Sacramento once that had a ride like this," Bloom told Sky. "Of course," she continued through gritted teeth as she took the first, hesitant step onto the bridge. "It wasn't nearly so high and there was a nice pool of water to fall into." Rather than Layla's way of holding onto one chain in each hand, Bloom elected to hold one side with both hands and shuffle sideways along the bridge.

"You sure do some strange things for fun on Earth," Sky said, as he stepped onto the bridge after Bloom. All his training was telling him to move as fast as possible before the bridge had a chance to break, but Bloom clearly wasn't comfortable moving any faster and there was no way he was leaving her behind.

Stella was the last one to step onto the bridge and she did so with a fierce scowl on her face. "I swear on the Dragon," she hissed under her breath, trying not to look down. "If we don't get back to Downland before Brandon is forced to say 'I do' I'm gonna shove my foot so far up that cave queen's-"

"What's that, Stel?"

"Nothing," she called back sweetly, before going back to grumbling under her breath. Amentia wasn't going to know what hit her when Stella finally got her hands on her.

"Stupid piece of shit!"

The aggravated cry came a second before the phone was tossed down on the grass beside Flora making her jump. She lifted her hand to shield against the glare of the sun as she blinked up at Musa who was scowling furiously down at her.

"Damn thing's broken and it's not even that old. My dad's gonna kill me if it needs to be replaced."

Still clearly fuming, Musa threw herself down onto the grass, ignoring Flora when she patted her hand sympathetically. Instead she shifted her irritation to Tecna who was so absorbed in her laptop that she hadn't even noticed her friend's arrival.

"Hey," she said, nudging Tecna's knee with her foot. "Can you take a look at my phone? It's not working." Flora shot her a pointed look and she sighed. "Please."

Tecna stopped chewing her thumbnail long enough to shoot Musa a distracted look and say, "Later. I'm in the middle of something."

Musa's scowl deepened. "Have you at least heard anything from the girls? Are they on their way back?"

"No, now stop distracting me. I'm trying to boost my phone's power so I get messages faster. That way the second Timmy messages to tell me that they need to be picked up, I'll know."

Musa opened her mouth to argue, but Flora jumped in, trying to diffuse the tension. "Why don't we go into Magix this afternoon to get someone to look at it. It'll be a nice distraction and I'll bet it's something really simple wrong with your phone. Maybe the battery just needs to be replaced or something."

Musa brightened at both the idea of getting away from Alfea for a few hours and the possibility that her phone could be fixed that very night. She usually wouldn't be sick of Alfea so quickly, but without Bloom and Stella there, not only did it feel like something was missing but there was this horrible worry hanging over them.

"Maybe you're right," she said, gentling a little from her earlier anger. She sat up and picked her phone back up, glad to see that the screen wasn't scratched. She carefully pried off the back panel, looking to see if there was anything visibly wrong with the battery before stopping short at the empty spot.

"Well, no wonder it's not working. Someone's taken the fucking battery out." She glanced from Flora to Tecna. "Do you know who would- what's that?"

"What's what?"

"Tecna, is that the battery from my phone?"

Tecna blinked at her owlishly. "Yes? I took it last night. I told you I was trying to boost my phone's power."

"And that means taking the battery from my phone without asking?"

"Yes?"

Letting out a frustrated yell, Musa reached over and snatched the battery back, ignoring Tecna's squawk of protest as she yanked it free of the cable.

"I can't believe you sometimes, Tecna," she said bitterly, cramming the battery back into place.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for trying to get messages about our friends faster," Tecna sneered in response, folding her arms across her chest.

"You just take things without asking-"

"-simply trying to boost the power of my phone-"

"-what if someone had needed to get in touch with-"

"-would have gotten you a new battery soon-"

-"important messages to receive-"

"What important messages?"

"What?" Musa said bluntly, and Tecna fell silent, similarly curious.

Flora tilted her head. "You said you had important messages to receive. Who from?"

Inexplicably Musa's cheeks filled with colour and she stared determinedly at the phone screen where she was thumbing through the messages that had come in during her phone's recess. Whatever she saw, or perhaps didn't see, seemed to disappoint her. "No one. I'm getting important messages from absolutely no one."

Flora eyed her friend, who was now avoiding her eyes determinedly, while a small smile played on her mouth. Still, she didn't push the point. She didn't have much of a chance to, for in that moment something very small and moving very fast appeared out of nowhere and crashed into the back of Tecna's laptop.

"The fuck?!"

"What was that?!"

"Oh dear," Flora gasped, looking at the crumpled figure who had fallen into a heap on the grass.

"Another pixie?" Tecna asked, shutting her laptop and moving it to the side.

"Looks that way."

The pixie sat up and rubbed the top of her head, mussing her blonde curls even further. She wore a white buttoned up blouse with pale blue leggings. Her feet, like Piff's were bare, but she wore a pair of interesting looking anklets which made it look as though she had a wing sprouting from each ankle. Lying on the grass beside her was an envelope that was the same shade of blue as her pants but looked much too large for a pixie to use for it was easily as long as the pixie was tall.

"What happened?"

"You crashed into us. You must have been flying very fast."

The pixie frowned but didn't confirm nor deny Tecna's assertion. Instead she pushed herself to her feet, stumbling a little, before finding her bearings.

"Are you okay?"

"Never been better," she said confidently, planting her hands on her hips.

"Are you sure? You hit that laptop pretty hard."

"Absolutely. Now if only I could remember why I was flying this way." The pixie scratched her head.

"Well, why don't you sit down," Tecna suggested kindly, and the pixie obediently flopped back onto the grass. "And maybe we can help you remember. Or at least take you to a healer if you can't."

"Thanks, that would be great, you guys are so kind and so nice, and oh my Dragon I didn't even introduce myself!" The girls watched her jump back to her feet, eyes widening at her hyperactivity. Not only did she talk extremely fast but watching her stand up and sit down and stand up again was giving them all a headache. "Hi, my name's Livvy and I'm a Messenger pixie from Herrolan Wood."

"Hi Livvy, it's nice to meet you. I'm Flora, and this is Musa and Tecna."

"Herrolan Wood," Musa repeated slowly. "Then you must know Layla, then?"

Livvy's eyes lit up. "Yes! Layla's our friend! Is she here? If she's here she'll be able to help me work out where I was going. She always helps me. Like there was this one time-"

"I'm afraid Layla's not here, sweetie," Flora broke in gently because it looked like Livvy was showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

"She isn't?" That pulled Livvy up short, and with a frown she sunk back down on the grass to sit cross-legged.

"Have you been back to your village lately?"

"Oh no, I was out all day yesterday delivering messages all over Magix. I didn't get to all of them so I decided to spend the night in the city and finish delivering the rest this morning. Maybe that's what I was doing, maybe I had a message to bring to someone here at Alfea. I wonder who it could be, of course I could…"

As Livvy prattled on, the three girls exchanged sad looks. It was almost lucky in a way that Livvy hadn't had a chance to go home yet because she almost certainly would have led any monsters still in the area back to the village. But on the other hand, she likely didn't know what had happened to her friends yet.

"Livvy," Flora broke in quietly, and Livvy immediately grew quiet, cocking her head curiously. "Did you know that some of your friends were out picking fruit a couple days ago?"

Livvy thought for a moment, before exclaiming, "Oh, yes, I remember now. A whole group of them were going so they could get some boida fruit. Amore always makes boida fruit pie for the Autumn festival. It's the best pie you ever did eat, I promise. She tried to teach me how to make it once but-"

"Well," Tecna cut in. "While they were out in the forest they were captured by some monsters. That's why Layla isn't here. She's gone with some of our friends to rescue them."

Livvy's hyperactivity seemed to disappear in a flash and she grew solemn. "Are they okay?"

Flora bit her lip and glanced at the other two. "Well, we're not sure. But we managed to get Piff back," she continued, clearly trying to cheer Livvy up. "She's sleeping in our dorm. Do you want to go see her?"

"Yes, please!"

They'd just stood and were preparing to sneak Livvy up to their dorm, since it was morning break and they weren't supposed to be in the residential wing, when the silver watch on Livvy's watch gave an abrupt chirp and spat out a small piece of paper.

"Oh, it's from Ninfea. She's an elder pixie from my village. She just wants to know if I've delivered the message to Headmistress Faragonda… what message to Faragonda?" Livvy's lips tugged down in a confused frown before she smacked a hand to her forehead. "By the Dragon, of course! That's what I was coming to do! Deliver a message to Headmistress Faragonda!"

"Then I guess you're in luck then," Flora said and Livvy flew up to settle on her shoulder. "Because we happen to know where her office is."

By the time Stella, Bloom, and Sky reached the other side of the bridge, Layla had been standing there for some time, looking up at the castle looming over her as she tried to get her bearings. The area she stood in was large and completely deserted, filled only with countless stone pillars that supported the upper levels.

"I think I need to get up there," Layla explained, pointing to an open arch set into the next level.

"Great," Stella harrumphed, looking around. "But how are we going to get up there?"

"We'll look around until we find some stairs or another way up," Bloom said reasonably.

"What?" Sky said to Layla when the fairy didn't respond to the suggestion.

"I could scale that easily," she said, but there was no arrogance in her voice. She was simply stating facts. "I could at least get up there and start working on breaking them out while you guys find another way up."

The other three exchanged glances, before finally Bloom shrugged.

"Alright," Sky agreed. "But I'm going with you."

Finally Layla dragged her gaze away from the arch, her eyes sliding to Stella before flicking away again. "No, don't worry about it. You three should stay together in case there's any monsters in there."

The others reluctantly agreed and watched as Layla fitted her foot into the ornate detailing of the castle's outer wall and began to climb. The various ridges and curves of the stone gave her more than enough handholds to pull herself up and within just a few minutes, Layla had gotten to the top and was disappearing through the arch and into the depths within.

The second her feet touched down, she crouched down low and ducked behind one of the stone pillars to conceal herself. Peeking out from behind it she could see the cage her friends were being held in in the distance but more importantly she could see that they were alone.

"Layla!" she heard Lockette cry as she approached and couldn't help but run the rest of the way, stopping just short of the humming barrier separating them.

"Hey," she said, almost overcome with relief at seeing them all there and uninjured.

"We knew you'd come back," Amore said, flying up into the air so she was at Layla's eye level. "And thank goodness you did. We don't have much time left."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"He was going to hurt us if we didn't tell him where the village was," Lockette began, and Layla felt her stomach sink. "So Chatta told him, but purposefully gave him the wrong directions. I'm sure it won't take him much longer to find out she lied."

"That was good thinking, Chatta. I guess, it's a lucky thing that I'm here to break you out. For good this time."

The pixies let out quiet cheers, except for Digit who didn't look convinced.

"But how?" she asked Layla. "I'm pretty sure hitting the gargoyle last time was a red herring and that guy really let us out so he could follow us back to the village. I don't know why but all he wants is to know where it is."

Layla tucked that piece of information away for later; she didn't know what he could be after there but she was sure the pixie village held its own secrets. What she was concerned about in that moment was getting her friends to safety.

"You're right, hitting the gargoyle was too convenient last time. But maybe if three of us hit the cage itself this time we can overwhelm the magic fueling it. Lockette and Digit, do you have enough power to try?"

Lockette was already reaching for her clip to transform it into her sceptre, but Digit hesitated, cocking her head to the side.

"You want me to try an unlocking rune?"

"Yeah."

Runes were a very old style of magic that had long since fallen out of disuse for their fiddly and unpredictable nature. When drawing a rune one had to be extremely precise otherwise there was no telling what spell the rune would activate nor how powerful it would be. Digit, having a keen interest in all branches of magic, had studied the ancient language for many years, but rarely had the opportunity nor the need to use them.

Layla knew Digit was thinking about this as she hesitated, and she knew despite the pixie's tough bravado that she would be terrified of getting the rune wrong and accidentally making their situation worse.

"You can do this."

"Of course she can," Chatta said briskly, as if there were no doubt in her mind. "But if you need a hype up I can always-"

"Nope," Digit said quickly, and reaching for the stylus she kept tucked behind her right ear. "That's not necessary."

Digit wasted no time in flying back down to the ground to kneel on the bottom of the cage and hesitated for only a moment before the tip of her stylus glowed a bright white-blue. Then she brought the stylus to the ground and began to draw.

It felt like she was drawing for hours, the slow and methodical way she drew the glowing white-blue lines on the ground, but it really could have only been a few minutes before she set the stylus aside and sat back on her heels and they all let out the breath they hadn't realised they'd been holding.

"It's ready."

Layla glanced at Lockette whose hands tightened on her sceptre. "Ready?"

"Ready."

All three of them readied themselves to attack, Layla squaring her hands up to target the cell wall, while Lockette pointed her sceptre at it from the other side, and Digit laid her hands atop the rune, preparing to activate it. And then on the count of three they each unleashed their magic.

For a moment it felt as if nothing had happened, then a trembling started from beneath Digit's rune, and Lockette took the brute strength of Layla's attack and shaped it into an unlocking spell and directed it at the cage wall until the magical energy gave a final shudder and went out. There was a cry of happiness for the pixies and they threw themselves at Layla, knocking her to the ground, not that she seemed to mind what with the way she was laughing.

"Come on," Bloom said, finally looking away from where Layla had disappeared out of sight. "The quicker we get up there, the quicker we save the pixies, and the quicker we get out of here."

"And the quicker we save Brandon," Stella agreed.

But they hadn't managed to take more than a few steps through the gloom before a spell from out of nowhere caught Bloom in the back and threw her to the ground. It felt as though something charged with electricity had kicked her in the back, a feeling she hadn't felt in months.

"Bloom!"

Sky spun around, hand darting to the sword hilt in his belt as he tried to identify where the attack had come from. He wasn't quick enough to withdraw his weapon however and had nothing to defend himself with as another attack, this one a dark purple and feeling of heavy darkness came at him, catching him in the stomach and knocking him down beside Bloom. Light on her feet, Stella managed to skitter backwards and dodge the pale blue stream of razor sharp icicles that punctured the hard rocky ground at her feet.

"What was that?" Bloom groaned, rolling over onto her back.

"I have a pretty good guess," Stella muttered, kicking one of the icicles and reducing it to quickly melting slush.

Bloom's eyes fell on the rest, going wide as she identified the familiar attack. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I thought they were supposed to be locked away." Sky was already sweeping the surrounding area with his eyes, identifying the many pillars that were supporting the upper floors and would make perfect hiding places for a certain trio of witches.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Stella called tauntingly, as she helped Bloom and Sky to their feet.

It didn't seem possible but the cavern seemed to grow even darker and though it was impossible, being underground as they were, Bloom could have sworn she saw dark clouds forming, out of which came jagged, red lightning. In the flashes of red light, she spotted three figures peel out from behind the pillars and walk towards them.

The one in the center was both the tallest and the thinnest, with silvery white hair that seemed to glow unnaturally in the darkness. To her left stood the shortest, with powerful arms and legs, and curly hair that seemed to defy gravity. And to her right stood the most innocuous one, average in both size and stature, and who's eyes almost seemed to glow purple. Simultaneously familiar and terrifying, Bloom couldn't decide if she wanted to flee at the sight of them, or stay and fight.

The Trix.

They stopped a few feet away, far enough to stay out of reach, but not so far that anyone would misunderstand their intentions. The storm died away, some of the light returning to the cavern.

"Well, if it isn't some of our favourite pixies," Darcy smirked.

"Did you miss us?" Stormy wanted to know.

"We certainly missed you." Icy was smiling, but it was the kind of smile that made Bloom think the only thing Icy had missed about them was seeing them on the receiving end of one of her attacks.

"Can't say that I have," Bloom said tightly, looking Icy dead in the eyes.

After all the night terrors, and day mares, and visions, she had wondered at length how she would react should she ever come face to face with the Trix ever again. Rhonwen, probably in an effort to comfort her, had always assured her that that would never happen and that the Trix were somewhere they could never get to her again. But something in Bloom had always felt the need to be ready in case they did. And now that she was here, she found that she felt almost as if nothing had changed.

"So," Stella said airily, in that way only she could while staring down an enemy as formidable as the Trix. "Did you guys enjoy the loony bin?"

"You know, not so much," Darcy said, echoing Stella's tone.

"They tried to make us nicer," Stormy added.

"And the funny thing is, all those affirmations and positive thinking, it just made us meaner." The last word was spoken through gritted teeth, as Icy bared her teeth in an alarming grimace, and Bloom found herself with no doubts that going through Light Haven's rehabilitative program had done nothing but make the Trix even crueler.

Sure enough, the time for talking seemed to be over for Icy lifted her hands, the air around them growing frigid as lethal looking ice shards appeared around her. Bloom just had time to notice the necklace around Icy's neck as the gems suddenly glowed a bright blue before Icy's hands slashed through the air and the shards found themselves at the trio. Sky's hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked her behind a nearby pillar while Stella ran the other way to take cover.

They heard the sound of the ice embedding in the stone and Bloom looked over to make eye contact with Stella. The fight was on, and it was time they joined it. In a flash they had transformed into their fairy forms and were ready to remind the Trix what they were made of.

But as they quickly found out, the Trix's new jewelry weren't just decorative, but the gems in the bracelets on Stormy and Darcy's wrists, like Icy's necklace, glowed with bright light and seemed to make them both stronger and faster. In a flash Darcy disappeared from beside her coven sisters and appeared behind Stella, already glowing a deep purple as her magic swelled.

"Watch out!" Bloom cried as she darted over and tackled Stella out of the way of the attack.

Bloom spun around in mid air and summoned flames to her hands in one swift movement, before hurling them at Darcy. But the witch was too quick and disappeared with a throaty chuckle before she was so much as singed by the fire.

Stormy closed in from the other side, immediately unleashing one of her signature tornados, which Stella flew to head off. The blonde chose to combat the attack with her own physical strength, remembering how difficult it was to wrestle away control of a tornado from Stormy. So she constructed a shield of glowing gold magic and used it as a barrier as she leant into the tornado, trying to force it back into Stormy. But the witch really had grown stronger because she shoved back harder and Stella was forced to stumble out of the way lest she get caught up in the torrential winds. Her boot caught on the uneven rock and she went down, hitting her head on the ground before everything went black.

"Stella!" Sky yelled at seeing her fall, but there was no answer.

Her friends wanted to go and help her but they had their hands full dodging Icy's seemingly unending supply of icicles. Bloom and Sky darted to and fro, ducking behind pillars and using every move in their repertoire to avoid getting skewered by the deadly sharp ice crystals. Eventually they found themselves huddled behind one of the slightly slimmer pillars listening as Icy cackled and threw ice shard after ice shard into the stone.

Thinking the cover would give them at least enough time to get their breath back, they almost didn't notice Darcy materialising in front of them, until her laughter alerted them. With Icy at their backs, and Darcy blocking any movement forward, there wasn't really anywhere they could go. Bloom tried to fly up and draw Darcy's attention away, giving Sky a chance to escape, but Darcy wasted no time bringing her fingers to her temples and locking eyes with Bloom. The normally brown irises flashed a bright purple and instantly Bloom felt every muscle in her body, including her wings lock up and she was frozen in mid air.

Before Darcy could attack Bloom, who, defenceless as she was, would have no chance to get out of the way, Sky leapt between them, drawing his sword and slashing at the witch in one swift movement. Ducking and weaving around Darcy, Sky drew her attention enough to lure her away, deflecting each energy blast she threw his way. Bloom had no choice but to watch on as Sky battled his way through Darcy's defences only to be thwarted at the last minute as Icy appeared out of nowhere to freeze his feet in place.

"Oh, you Red Fountain boys," she crooned. "You're all so chivalrous."

The ice grew, wrapping around Sky's shins and locking his knees. But Sky didn't lose his cool, yanking a boomerang from the pocket of his uniform, and throwing it without a second's hesitance. For a horrible moment, Bloom thought Sky had badly misjudged his aim, as it flew high through the air, cutting neatly between the pillars and missing Icy completely. But then she heard the crack as it hit it's target, cutting an upper bridge neatly in two, and sending one half of the bridge swinging swiftly through the air towards Icy where it was sure to knock her flying. The plan had been good, and perhaps had this been the previous year, before Icy had received that deadly necklace, she might not have had the speed to turn around and freeze the bridge in place before it hit her, but as it was her ice reached it just in time, and she only had to curl her hand into a fist for it to explode into a mess of ice shards and splinters.

She turned around slowly and stalked towards Sky, who even thought he was frozen in place by ice that had reached his hips and was still climbing higher, didn't so much as flinch as she approached. No, he stayed completely still, staring her down with eyes dark with dislike, almost daring her to do her worst.

"That was a nice try," she said, her voice like silk even as her eyes remained the same cold grey. "But I think time's up for you now, hero boy."

He caught sight of something over her shoulder and smirked. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Icy didn't even have the chance to turn around before Layla's wave was crashing down on her.

Lord Darkar lounged on his throne within the castle watching the fight between the Trix and the fairies with idle amusement. The one in green arriving back had thrown a temporary wrench in the witches attack but he doubted it would matter too much, with her allies momentarily down for the count, the fight was three against one.

His companion, lurking in his usual corner, spoke, the voice drifting out from the shadows. "She managed to get the cage open."

"Hmmm?" That was a surprise. Darkar was momentarily distracted, wondering how the fairy had managed to break through his magic. Maybe, he mused, she was the key to it all. "Are they still up there?"

"No, my Lord. They're flying towards the cave entrance on the north side, but it wouldn't be particularly hard to contain them again."

Darkar didn't answer straight away, drumming at the arm of his throne with clawed fingers as he thought. "Leave them," he decided. "We need them to escape if they're ever going to lead us back to their village."

"They gave the wrong directions then?"

"Of course." Darkar reached out a hand and stroked those taloned fingers over Kerbog's slippery wing. The faithful shadow bat was really the only creature that the Lord of Shadowhaunt held close and that was mostly for the convenience of being able to send it out on convert missions, like checking whether or not the pixies had been lying about the location of the village. As he'd expected, Kerbog had reported back that there was no village in the area, so it was time to try something else. "It's no matter, sooner or later they will lead us there and I'll take what I need. But in the meantime," he continued, eyeing the fight once again. The fairy was still putting up a fight but it was clear her strength was waning. Soon it would be all over. "I think it's time to put the next stage of our plan into action, don't you think?"

His companion stepped out of the shadows, head dipping in agreement even as his features began to shift and move. "I couldn't agree more," he said, his sharp teeth catching the dim light as his lips pulled up in a dangerous smile.

Icy gave an outraged shriek as the cold water washed over her, the weight of it forcing her to her knees.

"Oh, sorry," Layla said innocently. "I thought you could use a cool off."

Twisting smoothly, Layla turned and smacked Darcy in the face with a smaller, secondary wave, forcing her to gag and rub the water from her eyes, while snaking a rope of water around Stormy's feet and freezing her in place. Icy practically hissed at the sight as she clambered back to her feet.

"You dare use ice in front of me," she spat, looking much less threatening than usual with the makeup streaming down her face and her hair plastered to her skin. "You think your magic is any match for mine?"

In an instant, Icy had forced Layla's ice to evaporate, freeing Stormy, while Darcy wiped the last of the water from her eyes. The three of them converged on Layla. Bloom wanted to scream at them to leave her alone but moving was still impossible, even her mouth. Sky was yelling enough for the both of them but it was entirely in vain, because with the ice now reaching his shoulders, there was nothing he could do.

"Who's the new girl?" Darcy asked, as they circled Layla.

"Who cares?" Icy snapped back, clearly not over the fairy's use of ice.

To her credit, Layla's composure never slipped, not even when Darcy disappeared and reappeared behind her, blasting her in the back with more of her dark purple magic. The force of the spell sent Layla's prowling but she kept her feet under her, pivoting and sending another wave of water at Icy. Growling, the witch's hands came up to freeze the water before it could touch her and shatter it into a million pieces.

"Finish her off, Stormy."

There were no arguments from the witch, and she swept an arm through the air to conjure a gale force wind that threw Layla bodily to the ground. She tried to get up and fight back but the hit had disoriented her too much and she slipped back to the ground to the sound of the Trix's cackling laughter.

"This was almost too easy," Icy smirked, glancing around at them all. Stella was still out cold on the ground, with Layla lying dazed beside her. Bloom was stuck frozen in midair, wishing she had the ability to curse at them all, while Sky was more concerned with the ice that was almost to his chin. "Now the only question is whether we go get Lord Darkar, or do we finish them off ourselves."

She exchanged smirks with her two coven sisters.

"Finish them off ourselves," they said together, grinning vindictively.

But before they could take even a step closer to finish the job, there was a sudden, bright flash of gold light that eclipsed the entire area. The Trix shrieked and shied back from the brightness of it, and even Layla and Sky turned their heads, but Bloom had no choice but to keep watching through squinted eyes.

And she was glad she did, for she got the first glimpse of the winged man who emerged from the bright gold. He was tall, and strong-looking with long, dark grey hair that fell in a long plait down his back. He kind of reminded Bloom of an old fashioned lord with his armoured breastplate, puffy cream sleeves, and tight fitting black pants that were tucked into shin high boots. The thing that set him apart however were the large, expansive wings that emerged from his shoulder blades. They were completely unlike the thinner, transparent membrane of fairy wings, but rather were thick, and muscled, and covered completely in white feathers that made them look not dissimilar to angel wings.

And there was something of an avenging angel in the gold aura that followed the man as he touched down on the ground and stepped past the Trix who were frozen with their mouths hanging open. He knelt first beside Layla, touching a hand to her head, and evidently healing her as the gold aura passed over her, before turning and doing the same to Stella. The girls straightened, Stella pushing herself up on one hand, and exchanged amazed glances.

The Trix still seemed completely befuddled as they made no move to stop the man as he walked over to Sky and melted the ice by pressing a single hand to it. Then finally he crossed to Bloom, casting away the spell that had her frozen, before catching her with deft, sure hands and helping her back to the ground. Despite his help, Bloom backed away from the familiar touch, joining Sky where he stood with Stella and Layla.

"Damn," Stella breathed, still eyeing the man appreciatively as Bloom helped her back to her feet. "He is seriously fine."

"Uh huh," Bloom said vaguely. She was more intrigued by his sudden appearance in the dank and dark Shadowhaunt but she could agree that he certainly was as aesthetically pleasing as Stella said.

Apparently satisfied that they were all okay, the man soared into the air once more and flew over to hover above the Trix, looking down on the witches with an almost disapproving expression on his face. He opened his mouth and recited a spell, the language he spoke in old and flowing and indecipherable as more golden magic poured from him.

"What are you doing?" Icy snarled, all she managed to say, before the golden light overwhelmed the three of them and they disappeared.

Again satisfied that his work was done, the man turned away as though preparing to leave. Sky, Stella, and Layla watched, mouths hanging open in awe of his power, but Bloom found herself stepping forward and calling after him.

"Hey! Wait!" The man stopped, half turning back to her with an enigmatic smile. "You saved our lives."

He raised an eyebrow, and when she didn't say anything else, said simply, "Yes, I did."

"Thank you. But how did you know we were down here?"

The man's smile grew slightly. "Just a hunch."

"But-"

"I need to go. And you all should too, it's not safe down here. I have a feeling though, that we might meet again one day soon." And with that last, cryptic statement, another bright gold light appeared, and the man disappeared into it.

"Well, that was kind of weird," Layla said, frowning at the spot where the man had disappeared.

"Who cares? That guy was hot."

"And pretty brave to take on those witches like that," Bloom said, and Layla nodded grudgingly. "I just wonder why he thinks we're going to meet again soon."

"I don't know, but he is right that we should probably get out of here," Sky said, looking over his shoulder into the depths of the castle. Nothing stirred which almost made him more nervous.

"The pixies-?"

"Waiting for us in the tunnel," Layla finished.

"So we can get out of here then?" Stella asked, already leading the others over to the bridge.

"I think that guy was a paladin," Sky said to the others after they'd hustled across the bride and begun the trek back around the edge of the cavern.

"The wings and the gold magic are right for a paladin," Layla agreed.

"What's a paladin?"

"Another class of magic user," Stella said. "They study lots of different branches of magic so most of them are total book worms but that guy…" she trailed off, pretending to fan her face.

"Do they work for the Guardian Network?" Bloom wanted to know. "Maybe that's why he was-"

"Oh, who cares why he was here? All that matters is we're safe now, the pixies are safe, and we can finally go rescue Brandon."

For the first time, Layla seemed inclined to agree with Stella. "Speaking of the pixies," she muttered to herself just as the entrance to the tunnel came into view, and she put on a burst of speed.

Stella was hot on her heels, leaving Sky to share a commiserating glance with Bloom as they too followed.

"Guys," Layla was calling out softly to the pixies when they arrived. "Guys, it's safe to come out now."

One by one, peeking out from behind stalagmites, stalactites, and ridges in the walls, the pixies appeared, casting around nervous looks before they eagerly threw themselves at Layla.

"You did it," they cheered, their little voices overlapping each other. "You got us out!"

"Well," Layla said modestly. "I had help. Guys, these are… these are my new friends, Bloom, Stella, and Sky. And this is Digit, Chatta, Zing, Jolly, Amore, Tune, and Lockette," she said, pointing to each of them in turn.

Bloom, Sky, Stella, and the pixies each chorused greetings to each other, but it was Amore, one of the tallest of the pixies who broke ranks first, zooming across the space between them and circling around Stella.

"You're so beautiful," she gushed in a musical voice.

"Why thank…" Stella trailed off as Amore came to a stop in front of her and the two locked eyes for the first time. "Oh my gosh, I love your outfit," she said, eyes running over the flower crown nestled in Amore's long brown hair, and sweet, little pink dress.

"Stella's returning a compliment?" Sky muttered to Bloom and Layla.

The latter gave a little gasp, eyes flicking between the fairy and pixie. "Oh, they're bonding," she said, a note of excitement creeping into her voice. "Amore's been talking about finding her bonded fairy as long as I've known her." She noticed the confusion on Sky's face and tried to explain. "Some people equate it to love at first sight, or finding your soulmate, but I don't think that's quite right. It's more like friendship at first sight; there's just this feeling that you would do anything to protect them, and the knowledge that they would stand by you no matter what."

"I'm a pixie of love," Amore was telling Stella.

"And I'm the crown Princess of Solaria."

"I've always wanted to visit Solaria! What's it like?"

Another pixie came over to settle on Layla's shoulder while Stella launched into a detailed description of her home planet for Amore.

"Isn't that so exciting for Amore, Layla?" she said, hanging onto one of the fairy's curls for balance. "Very exciting," she repeated, glancing around nervously. "But when are we going to keep going? Monsters could come-"

Her eyes met Bloom's and her nervousness seemed to melt away. The redhead heard herself let out a quiet "oh" as that rush of feelings Layla had described washed over her. It was like cracking her knuckles, or putting in the last piece of a puzzle, the feeling of something right clicking into place.

"You have a very complex heart, did you know?" Lockette said, pushing off from Layla's shoulder to fly over to Bloom. "So many hidden passageways."

"Really?" Bloom breathed. "I love your hair." She indicated Lockette's pink hair that was cut into a sweet bob to her chin and was held back by two clips.

"Is it always like this?" she heard Sky say distantly, and Layla chuckle in response.

"Always. It's the endorphins of the bond settling in, it makes them gush. I think the time after my bond with Piff settled in is the most I've ever heard her say in one go without falling asleep."

"You're the Princess of Sparx, right? I read all about your battle with the witch Icy in the Pixie Post. You must be so brave."

"Not as brave as you coming with Layla to rescue your friends."

Lockette blushed and shrugged bashfully, before coming to settle on Bloom's shoulder. The redhead found she quite liked the weight of her sitting there, like something had been missing but she'd never realised it.

"-a paladin came and helped you?" The pixie, Digit, was saying to Layla. "How strange. I wish I had a connection down here, I would be able to see if the Guardian Network had someone scheduled to patrol this region. I guess it'll have to wait until we get back home."

"Which," Stella broke in, visibly forcing herself to stop gushing over Amore. "Isn't happening until we save my boyfriend, right?!"

Oh my Dragon," Amore breathed, staring up at Stella with shining eyes. "You have to rescue your one true love? How romantic."

"Yes, yes, so adorable," Tune said impatiently, her eyes glinting with interest. "What's this about a rescue operation? What's the plan?"

"Let's walk and talk," Layla suggested, casting a quick glance at Shadowhaunt's cavern that remained just over their shoulders. The quicker they got away from that place the better off they'd be.

Hey friends,

Well, we survived another month. And holy fuck what a month. I won't get into it much but I think anyone who's been online can attest to how crazy November has been already. But it's okay we survived to see another chapter.

Not much to say about this one, I'm pretty happy with it, even happier to see the Shadowhaunt arc start to wrap up because as much as I like it, it does drag on and it's just a lot of caves and monsters. I did enjoy putting in a few more character moments, especially between Stella and Layla since I think they have a really interesting dynamic at the start of season 2, and I love seeing how their friendship develops.

Not much to say besides that, I think. I start my christmas job on Monday so I'm going to try and get at least one more chapter out this year but I can't make any promises. As always go follow me at gins-potter on tumblr for updates, and thank you everyone who reads, favourites, follows, and leaves reviews xxxx