This chapter contains smut. A warning will appear to mark the beginning and end.
Enjoy far too many words for a Halloween party :)
Stella stuck to what she'd told Bloom even if it meant that she'd had to get out of bed much earlier than she cared to on a weekend. Stella was usually up with the sun, but she liked to lie in the warmth and comfort of her bed until she was hungry or needed to pee enough to force her out of bed. She had told Bloom they would go to Red Fountain as soon as they were both up. Knowing Bloom, she'd spent the night worrying instead of sleeping, so Stella dragged herself out of bed with the sun and started getting ready. Some few minutes later, Bloom, looking like she hadn't slept at all, poked her head in and brightened a bit seeing that Stella was already awake.
"Timmy says Sky is feeling a lot better" Bloom announced as she shoved her phone into the back pocket of her jeans.
"Oh, that's good." Stella took a seat at the back of the bus. Bloom sat beside her and rested her head on Stella's shoulder. Stella gripped Bloom's thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze. The poor girl hadn't slept at all if the bags under her eyes and the way she seemed to fall asleep standing up were anything to go by.
Stella leaned her head on top of Bloom's and stared out the window, watching the trees fly by. There was only one other girl on the bus, which was surprising for a Sunday. Usually, the bus that went into Magix City was full on weekends, filling up even more when the bus stopped at Red Fountain before heading into the city. Stella supposed the early hour might have something to do with it. She'd never been on the bus this early before, and she didn't think many other students had either.
"I'm really glad you're all so excited about the Halloween party" Bloom commented after a few minutes.
Stella adjusted to look at Bloom. Her head was still on Stella's shoulder, eyes focused on the passing trees. Stella could almost see her heart begging to have something else to think about. "Are you not?"
"I am, yeah..."
"You're not very convincing."
Bloom lifted her head and shook it. Her somehow permanently messy hair had barely been brushed that morning, so it looked something akin to a somewhat neater bird's nest. Stella had tried her best, but Bloom just wanted to go and who was Stella to deny her best friend when her heart was hurting. Still, that didn't stop Stella from pulling her travel mascara out of her purse and trying to touch Bloom up on the bus. The fire fairy laughed when she saw the tube. She sat as still as she could on a moving bus while she spoke and Stella tried to make her somewhat presentable.
"It's not that I'm not excited, but Mitzi's always been such a bitch to me. She spent years picking on me for every little thing – not having the coolest clothes or the newest phone, having a bunny as my best friend, dating a guy whose attention she wanted. Any little thing, she managed to turn against me. I'm looking forward to going to the party with you girls. I'm not looking forward to seeing her."
"Sorry" Stella said when Bloom's face almost ended up covered in pink lipstick after the bus hitting a small bump.
Stella hated Mitzi on principle anyways, but now she found herself hating Mitzi because the girl was clearly a lunatic. "She bullied you because you got the guy?"
"Yes."
Stella had found herself on the losing end of a love triangle more than once and, while she had shit talked the girls to her friends; she'd never gone out of her way to be a bitch to them. It looked much better for her to be a gracious looser. She'd even made a friend or two with the girl that got the guy when he turned out to be a complete tool. "That makes no sense."
"I know."
"Whatever. So, we don't go."
The bus came to a stop in front of the Red Fountain campus and the two girls made their way off. "But the girls are excited about it. I don't want to disappoint them."
Stella gave her a leveled look. Bloom didn't want to go, but she was the one who had brought it up. What sense did that make?
The princess shook her head and walked past Bloom, leading the way to Brandon. He'd agreed to meet them in front of the school since they had no idea where the infirmary was. Sky had to go in to get his vitals checked, but he'd been released earlier that morning. The healers managed to get him in pretty good shape given the circumstances, and he'd somehow convinced them that he would be more comfortable in his own room.
"Okay, so we go, we look amazing, we have fun, and we just avoid Mitzi" Stella shrugged.
"We're going to avoid Mitzi at her own party?" Bloom moved ahead of her as Brandon stood to greet them.
It clearly puzzled the redhead, so Stella stopped to explain it. She knew Bloom had a small group of friends back on Earth – not that she ever mentioned them much – but she must have gone to at least one house party."It's probably gonna be crowded, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Can't be that hard then" Stella shrugged, moving past the redhead to kiss her boyfriend. The poor thing looked as haggard as Bloom did. His usually perfectly coiffed hair was a mess and he looked like he hadn't slept at all. "If we see her, we go the other way."
"I don't know... I mean… I guess it might work. She's got a pretty shrill voice..."
"Perfect! We'll get Musa to keep an ear open for her."
Stella wrapped her arms around Brandon's neck before giving him a quick peck on the lips. She gently brushed her hand through his hair, smoothing it down. When he joked that he'd tried to make himself presentable, she assured him that he could never look bad. A small smile hit his lips as he leaned down to kiss her again. He brushed his teeth, Stella noticed gratefully. Then, she let him go so he could lead them to the infirmary before Bloom had a meltdown.
The Red Fountain infirmary was much more clinical than the Alfea infirmary. Where Ofelia and the Alfea staff had made a point to add cozy touches to Alfea's infirmary – plants, pictures, a throw pillow or two – Red Fountain's had not. The walls were white, as were the floors. The beds were covered in grey sheets with blue blankets that matched the Red Fountain uniform. The only added warmth to the room was a single potted tree by the nurse's station and the sunlight filtering through the large windows.
Bloom had gone into the infirmary with Sky while Brandon and Stella stayed out in the hall. The two lovebirds claimed it was to give Bloom and Sky space to talk, but she got the feeling they wanted to be alone too. Brandon looked to be about as well rested as she was – that was, not at all – and Stella probably wanted to make sure that he was okay after yesterday. Not to mention that, while the princess hadn't actually said anything, Bloom got the feeling that Stella wasn't Sky's biggest fan; that she still placed blame for last year's incident on him.
In what was a shocking twist, Sky didn't look nearly as bad as she'd expected him to given that he had almost died not even twenty-four hours earlier. He bore a pretty nasty scar to the chest, but he wasn't pale or gaunt. His hair was brushed, and he looked like he'd had a decent amount of sleep. Still, when asked how he was feeling, he admitted that he'd been better.
They fell into silence after that brief exchange. Bloom stared at the clock on the wall, watching the seconds and minutes tick by as she wondered what to say. Would it be insensitive of her to ask about the talk they were supposed to have? Maybe she should just let it go, she thought. Sky had almost died – she had almost lost him. Just the thought of him being gone was enough to make her want to break down. Some stupid argument wasn't worth it, not when there had almost been no more arguments to have. She considered asking what almost dying was like. She considered that maybe he had died – that Flora and Helia had revived him – but she didn't want to face that possibility.
"Wh-" Sky started, pausing to clear his throat. "What did it feel like after you lost your powers?"
"Huh?"
He shuffled awkwardly on the bed beside her, brushing his hair out of his face. His eyes were on the ground, but he forced them to rise and meet hers. "We never really talked about that with everything else going on at the time. I've been thinking about it since last night and I..." He must have noticed the way she hesitated and the uncertain look on her face because he slowed his speech. "I was, uh, wondering. We... we don't have to talk about it if you want to."
She didn't really know how to answer. No one had asked her how those long, miserable days had felt, not that she had volunteered the information either. Really, she preferred to pretend it didn't happen. At night, when nightmares of ice encasing her and her classmates losing their lives woke her, she would bury herself in childhood cartoons and a carton of ice cream from their freezer or cookies. Sometimes, when the nights were warm, she'd go sit on the balcony and stare at the quiet, still, and above all, peaceful, Alfea courtyard to remind herself that they were just nightmares. Sometimes one of the other girls would be awake too and they'd sit on the balcony together. They never talked about what had them up, but Bloom had a feeling they were just as damaged from the war as she was.
Bloom realised that she had spent the last few minutes staring out of the nearest window at the forest beyond Red Fountain's campus. When she turned back towards Sky, all she saw was concern and love in his face. This was her boyfriend; he cared about her. If communication was their issue, refusing to talk wouldn't help, so she tried to find the words to describe what having the powers she never knew had lain dormant in her ripped from her body felt like.
"Um... Tired, desperate." The words came out sounding weak and uncertain, so she tried to find a better description even if it took her a few minutes for her to force the words past her lips. "Like... I was free falling or running after something I couldn't catch. But mostly, empty."
He took her hand in both of his as he nodded. "I know it's late, but I'm sorry for any ways I might have contributed to the stress and pain."
"You didn't -"
"I did. You hated me. It's okay. You don't need to protect my feelings."
"I did hate you" she admitted reluctantly. Sky flinched lightly at her words, but his loving gaze didn't change, and Bloom felt like she'd been pierced through the heart. She hated hurting him. How had she forgotten how much she cared about him? And how much he cared about her. He'd broken off an engagement and potentially cost his realm and family a loyal ally for her. "But I don't anymore. Hate you, that is. Just the circumstances that made the whole switch situation happen."
"Me too" he sighed.
"The switchuation" she joked to lighten the mood. Sky chuckled, his face lighting up with laughter. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulled her in and kissed the top of her head.
The nurse came in, so Bloom stepped to the other side of the room to let him work. He was short and scarily buff with shaggy dark blue hair and horrifyingly white eyes. His voice was smooth and soothing. Bloom was almost thrown off by the contrast until he started making jokes while taking Sky's vitals, then she decided she quite liked him.
When the nurse left, reminding Sky to come back the next day, Bloom moved back next to Sky, offering her hand to help him up. He took her hand, but instead of using it to get up, he just held it. She thought he might have fallen asleep sitting up until he looked at her, his face much more serious than it had been moments earlier.
"We never got to have our talk" he whispered.
"Do you really want to do that right now?" Bloom had decided sometime in the last few minutes that she didn't want to think about their stupid fight or how unreasonable he'd been lately. She just wanted to enjoy his presence and forget all the bullshit. Sky, it appeared, wasn't on the same page because he answered: "No, but we need to."
While Bloom and Sky spent time together in the room, Stella and Brandon waited out in the hall beyond the infirmary. The bleak corridor - painted an almost white shade of grey with clinical lighting and minimal natural light – was not the most uplifting, but Brandon didn't want to stray too far from Sky, so they stayed. They sat in silence for a few minutes; watching as nurses walked by and students were permitted to leave. Sky, it appeared, had been lucky. He'd almost died, but he had no actual injuries beyond a scar on his chest. When Stella asked Brandon how the night had gone and how Sky was, he went into detail about what the doctors and healers had said.
"And how are you?" she asked once he finally stopped talking about the Eraklian prince.
"I told you: I didn't get hurt, Stella. You don't need to worry about that."
"That's not what I mean." She knew he hadn't been hurt. The first thing she'd done when she got to her room the night before was call him. It was a short phone call, no more than seven minutes and cut short when the nurse came to see Brandon, but Stella must have asked him if he was hurt in any way close to ten times. "You look like you haven't slept. How are you holding up?"
Brandon ran his hands through his hair as he dropped his back against the chair. Stella reached forward to smoothe his hair back down. From his hair, she ran her hand down to his cheek and cupped it. His stubble tickled at her palm. He hadn't shaved since yesterday morning, that was certain.
"Not great" he admitted finally. "I keep replaying that moment last year when Erendor was ready to have me hanged at the showcase after Bloom attacked Diaspro and some pieces of wall almost hit Sky. This time he almost died! If Erendor finds out about that, he's gonna have me thrown in the dungeons and tortured for the rest of my life."
"Solaria will happily offer you refuge if it comes to that." Brandon smirked at the joke and took her hand in his. "Seriously, though: Sky is totally fine. He's alive and not injured. Erendor will never know."
"I guess... Yeah, you're right. I don't think Red Fountain tells our parents when we get hurt unless it's serious." Stella nodded in agreement. It was military school, after all. Parents should expect their children to get hurt when they were learning how to use weapons and fight. "Like dying..." Brandon added as an afterthought. He sighed heavily and turned his head to look at her. "How was dinner?"
"Ugh... awful."
Brandon's hand tightened around hers. She let go so she could scoot the chair closer to him and throw her legs over his. It wasn't the most comfortable with the chair arm pressing on the top of her thigh, but she couldn't exactly sit on his lap on the narrow hallway chairs so it would have to do. His hands settled on the bottom of her thigh "How much more responsibility does he want you to take on?"
"Oh, no. None of that. Worse than that!" she cried dramatically, leaning forward to rest her forehead against the back of Brandon's hand. The stretch in her thighs felt nice so she stayed there for a minute. When she came back up and pushed her hair out of her face, Brandon was looking at her as if she'd told him that the sky was now lime green. "He's dating."
"Oh."
"I can't believe he would do this to me..."
"I'm sure it'll be fine" he told her reassuringly.
"You think they'll break up?"
"I... don't know" he laughed. Damning the tight squeeze of the chair, Stella shuffled forward until her options were to fall on her ass or sit on his lap. Obviously, she chose the latter. Brandon wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in so that her back was against the arm of the chair. "I'm not psychic, unfortunately. What I do know is that your dad loves you, and he wouldn't do anything if it really upset you."
"...Yeah" she signed, adjusting her legs to hang over the opposite arm since no one was using it.
"Why don't you give the woman a chance? Maybe you'll like her."
"I can't."
"Stella" he said patiently in that tone that Tecna used to say condescending things. "I know you love your mom, and the divorce was a lo-"
"No, I mean I actually can't" she explained quickly, cutting him off. "I don't know who she is."
Brandon started to speak but stopped before any sound came out. When Stella followed his gaze, she saw Sky followed by an uncertain-looking Bloom come through the infirmary doors. She stood up, trying to figure out how to ask Bloom what was going on without letting the boys know. Maybe she could drag Bloom to the bathroom with her? The words started to form on her lips but were interrupted by Sky saying that he and Bloom wanted to spend some time alone. Brandon argued that, after yesterday, he shouldn't leave Sky unattended, but Sky insisted it would be fine, even going as far as to threaten to order it, so Brandon relented.
Flora liked the greenhouse. She especially liked the fact that Palladium had given her a key for it so that she didn't have to wait for it to be open. She hadn't even needed to ask; he had offered her a copy when he noticed that she spent a significant amount of time there. More specifically, any free moment she had.
Despite having powers that allowed her to speed up the growing process – to completion, actually – Flora enjoyed the slower pace. Much in the same way that Musa could create an entire symphony from nothing but preferred to play the instruments or Tecna could wave her hand and assemble an entire machine but preferred to build it, Flora liked doing the planting and growing herself. It would be easy to drop a few seeds on some dirt and magic them into the soil and to full bloom, but she found peace in digging in the soil and placing the seeds. She found joy in watching the plants sprout and bud, knowing that it was her care and attention that made them grow.
There was one other girl in the greenhouse – Maya, a third year that kept to herself – but she was working at the opposite end of the large space. Flora was just about done with taking care of her plants for the day, but she thought she'd stick around a bit longer anyways. Her friends were all busy and she wasn't in the headspace to study. Not since yesterday. Since Helia was beside her; since he'd told her what a great team they made (and, yes, Sky almost dying). She kept imagining the smile on his face and reliving this incredible desire to kiss him, and while it made for great daydreaming, it did not make for good studying.
"Flora?"
For a second, Flora was convinced that her daydreaming – watering plants was very easy to do while she thought of Helia – had conjured him. Like that movie Bloom made them watch last night in the spirit of Halloween – something about bug juice (Antjuice? Roachjuice? Spiderjuice? Beetlejuice!) - where they'd had to say his name three times and he appeared; think Helia's name three times and he appeared. But no, the voice was not his. When she turned, a small girl with dark red hair and a far too friendly face to believe she had been a witch was smiling at her. "Mirta! Hi!" Flora pulled Mirta in for a hug, which the redhead returned. "What are you doing here?"
"It turns out I'm really good at potionology and botany. Palladium suggested I come check out the greenhouse."
Flora smiled brightly. The idea of having someone to share her love for plants with made her happy. It was one of the things she missed the most about home. As great as her friends were, they mostly tolerated her enthusiasm about the topic with feigned interest – though Bloom did tend to show more genuine interest, but it was mostly when she needed help with her potionology homework. There were the other girls that worked in the greenhouse and professor Palladium, of course, but none of them were really her friends – and one of them was her teacher. If Mirta were here, though, she'd have someone to talk to about how well her plants were doing and she could stop boring her friends. "Well, welcome to my own little slice of heaven at school."
"Do you spend a lot of time here?"
"At least one day a week. More if I can or if I've got something on my mind." It was mostly the truth. She did try to go at least once a week, but that was the bare minimum. Most weeks she was there between three and six times.
"Do you?"
Flora turned to grab her watering can and finish her plants. She could tell Mirta that she was pretty sure she was falling in love with a man she barely knew, but not even her closest friends – except Aisha who had not been told, but rather called her out on it – knew. "Not today, no" she lied. "But I do find that working usually clears my mind. I end up here in the middle of the night most of the times I do need to clear my mind."
"You break in?" Mirta gasped.
"No, silly. Palladium gave me a key." Mirta's horrified expression made Flora laugh so much that she'd had to take a pause between words to let the laughter subside. Her already large grey eyes nearly popped out of her skull and her mouth had opened so wide her jaw looked like it might unhinge itself at any moment. The former witch's features returned to normal once Flora managed to get her explanation out, and she slapped her palm against her forehead as if Flora having a key were the most obvious thing in the world.
Once Flora regained her composure, she grabbed Mirta by the hand. "Come on" she said, pulling the small girl further into the greenhouse. "Let me show you around."
Flora gave Mirta a tour of the greenhouse. She may have gotten overenthusiastic at some points and gone into way too much detail about certain plants and the fascinating things they could do or their very practical uses. Where anyone else would have tolerated her rambling or told her to cut it short, Mirta listened with rapt attention, even asking questions when Flora bothered to take a breath.
"Wow. You know so much about this stuff" Mirta commented with awe at the end of the tour.
Flora laughed awkwardly. "It's always been a passion of mine. Shocking, right? Girl from Linphea loves plants." When she was a bit younger – during the days when she was trying to be someone different, the days that had led to Jabez – she thought that she might not enjoy plants because she enjoyed them, but because it was all she knew. She'd stopped taking care of her plants and stopped helping in the greenhouse. When she finally went back to her family's greenhouse after months of not stepping in, the peace and comfort she felt was impossible to put into words.
"Maybe you could help me out?"
"With what?"
"I wanted to start taking care of some plants myself, but I don't really know where to start."
Flora smiled brightly. She couldn't believe Mirta wanted her to talk about plants even more than she already had. It had been close to two hours since the first year had startled Flora out of her lovesick thoughts.
"Hmmm... Well, the marjolies are pretty good for beginners. They're pretty resilient and don't need much water so you won't feel bad if you forget them for a few days – or weeks" Flora said after a moment's consideration. She thought Mirta might like marjolies: they came in beautifully saturated shades of navy and maroon. "There's also klampies if you're worried about the opposite. These beauties love water – can't get enough of the stuff – so it's almost impossible to overwater them."
"I guess getting one of both would be a bad idea... I might overwater the marjolies or underwater the klampies..."
"Just leave yourself a note on the pot. That's what my parents do so that my sister knows which plants to water often. And keep a tracker by your bed or on your phone if it helps."
"Wow you're really organised too..."
"I guess" Flora shrugged. She supposed she was fairly organised, but she wouldn't say that she was really organised. She knew how to manage her time well enough that all her homework was done on time and properly, and she knew how to keep plants alive. Her half of their room, though, was fairly messy. Not Bloom, Musa and Stella messy, but she was far from Tecna neat. There was a small pile of dirty clothes on her floor alongside a few of her schoolbooks and more than a few gardening tools or jars of plant food for the more than a few plants that she had in their dorm.
Flora led Mirta towards the back left corner of the greenhouse where they kept their supplies. "Come on, lets pick out some pots and get you some seeds and dirt. I can help you plant them."
"Thanks, Flora! You're really great."
"It's my pleasure, sweetie. It'll be nice to have someone to talk to about botany projects that isn't Palladium."
They told Stella and Brandon they wanted to be alone. Stella gave her a questioning look, but Bloom didn't acknowledge it. She hated not telling her best friend about her and Sky's issues, but Stella and Brandon's relationship was just so perfect. Stella would never understand. So Bloom said nothing.
They settled on talking in the dorm. Sky was pretty sure Riven would be in the garage working on his bike – he loved that thing like it was his child, Sky joked. Timmy would likely be in the library studying or in the garage with Riven. They would have the whole place to themselves to talk in peace. The thought of talking alone made Bloom nervous. When they spoke just the two of them, it always ended in a fight.
The walk to the dorm was long and quiet. Neither of them knew what to say. They didn't want to start the conversation in the middle of Red Fountain's crowded hallway, and it seemed weird to have a lighthearted chat on the way and then get serious two minutes later. Bloom kept her eyes straight ahead the whole walk up as she followed half a step behind Sky because she barely knew where she was going. Helia had brought them up yesterday, but any memory of the path had been wiped by yesterday's horrors.
Before she knew it, they were there. Sky unlocked the door and let her through first. The relief she felt when she saw Timmy sitting on the couch playing a video games was immense. It wouldn't stop too much of the disagreement, but maybe they wouldn't yell at each other quite as much. Actually... maybe she could ask Timmy to be their impartial third party. He was a pretty good mix of Flora and Tecna; he didn't have Flora's level of emotional intelligence, but he did have some, and he didn't have Tecna's level of logic, but he did have some of that too.
Before she could say anything though, Sky had told Timmy they'd be in his room and pulled her in behind him. She stood awkwardly in the room, wrapping her arms around herself as Sky kicked some loose clothes and workout equipment under one of the twin beds. Both of the beds were made perfectly; their matching navy sheets tucked tightly under the mattress and two white pillows at the head. It was an interesting contrast to the room that otherwise looked like it was inhabited by two teenage boys. Bloom identified Brandon's side by the pictures – namely the one of Stella placed on his bedside table, of the couple together and of what she guessed was Brandon's family. Sky's bedside table held several books and three pictures too: one of her and Kiko – which made her smile despite the tense situation – one of the whole squad at the dance last year, and one of him and Brandon when they were kids.
"Do, uh, you wanna go first or, um, should I?" Sky asked, sitting on his bed as awkwardly as he'd spoke.
"Uh... I guess I can start." When she was a kid, her dad always encouraged her to volunteer for presentations first that way she set the standard and she didn't have more time to let her nerves build. Not once had she listened to that advice. She always ended up near the end of the presentations, more nervous and stressed out than she had been when she got to the class. She told herself this was like those presentations, and that going first would help alleviate the nerves.
Bloom took a seat beside Sky and turned to face him. She didn't even know what the fuck she was supposed to say. Tecna was right: she should have written her points down. Without a clear plan, she just let herself ramble and prayed she made sense. She was halfway through her rambling when she realised she was only telling him about their fights, all of which he already knew. Bloom took a breath and tried again. "I... I feel like you're not listening to me and being irrational."
"I do too" he admitted much to her surprise. She tried not to let it show on her face, but it must have anyways because he gave her a small, sad smile. "But I just have this really bad feeling-"
"Why?"
Tecna had said something similar; that Avalon just gave her a bad feeling. What that feeling was, though, was inexplicable to Tecna. And it just flat out made no sense to Bloom – or any of the other girls for that matter. Avalon was a great teacher and he was trying to help her. What about that could possibly give them a bad feeling?
"I don't... I can't explain it; it's just a feeling."
Bloom resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Is it? Or are you just jealous?"
"It definitely doesn't help that you're so enamored by him" Sky snapped back. Bloom reeled, ready to argue but she stopped short. The image of Sky on the ground, the feeling of Musa and Riven ripping her from him, the crushing panic and heartache as she cried in Musa's arms watching through blurry, half-closed eyes as Flora and Helia tried to save him all came rushing at her before she spoke. Instead, she took a deep breath and his hand, cradling it in hers as if it might break under the slightest pressure.
Yes, Avalon was incredible. Yes, she thought he was attractive – really attractive. He had that sophisticated intelligence that anyone would be charmed by, and he was nice to look at. And he was nice and smart. But he wasn't Sky. He didn't make her laugh or smile like Sky did. She didn't feel the safety or the warmth that she did with Sky. She didn't love Avalon. But she did love Sky. She knew she did.
"I think he's brilliant. But he doesn't even come close to you."
The way Sky's face lit up at her words made her heart swell. She freed one of her hands and brushed the back of it against his cheek, turning her hand in place to hold his face and keep his eyes looking into hers. "You are the person I want to be with. When I think of my life and the people I want in it, you are the first one that I think of. You are my person. The peanut butter to my jelly… Or the mustard to my ketchup. It's more accurate cause of hair colours" she joked. "You have nothing to be jealous of."
Sky smiled at her, reaching over their intertwined hands to put his over the hand on his cheek. He pulled her hand away from his skin and brought it down to his lips so he could kiss it. "I know. I'm... Just promise me you'll be careful?"
"I will" she told him honestly. It would be easy to be careful when she had nothing to be careful about. The worst that could happen to her with her friends and Sky and Avalon looking out for her was that she fail one of her classes (a very real possibility if she didn't get serious about her magic theory classes).
"Good. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"To me? You almost died yesterday! God, Sky, I... I thought I was gonna lose you." As with every other time she thought about his body lying there, struck down by Darcy and Stormy, helpless and dying, her eyes pooled with tears and her voice cracked. She tried to brush them away but looking at him and the way his brows crinkled with worry made her cry more.
His arms found their way around her, pulling her in tightly to his chest. A light kiss was placed on her forehead before his fingers placed themselves on her chin and lifted her face to meet his. He kissed her, softly, lovingly. "But you didn't. I'm right here" he whispered reassuringly. Bloom smiled through her tears and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into another kiss.
Aisha sat with her back against one of the mirrored walls of Alfea's dance room. Her presence being required there this afternoon had been a surprise that she'd only learned about last night, but she wasn't complaining. The prospect of joining the dance team excited her; having a reason to dance again excited her. And having someone whose company she enjoyed to do it with made it even better. It had been years since she'd had anyone to dance with.
Musa, dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt both far too large for her small frame, sat cross-legged on the floor in front of her. She was scrolling through her phone, trying to find a song she'd come across while she was trying to relax yesterday. It was the perfect song, she claimed. Aisha had to wonder what kind of dance routine Musa thought they were going to do with relaxing music – or what kind her definition of relaxing music was.
"Oh, here it is!"
The song had her sold from the very beginning. It was fun with a great beat that she could see a routine being made to very easily. Aisha smiled at the musical fairy, who returned her smile while nodding her head along to the music. As the song moved into the chorus, Musa stood up and started walking through some steps she thought would work really well for the chorus. The steps were simple enough, but for a rough idea, they were great.
"So, you like it?" Musa asked once the song was over. She sat with her legs tucked under her and picked up her phone.
"I like it. It's got a really great beat." Aisha moved herself closer to Musa and peered over at the phone to see the name of the artist and song. "I've never heard of this artist before. How did you find them?"
"I tend to spend a lot of time just digging through random playlists. I like seeing what's out there" Musa shrugged. She stood up and started walking through possible steps again, humming the beat and walking Aisha through some ideas she had. "I like hearing what people come up with. I even bother to look up the concepts they've come up with and how they brought it to life."
"That's cool."
"Is it?" Musa laughed.
"I think it's pretty cool, yeah."
"Well, thanks. I think I tend to get a bit too nerdy about it for a lot of people."
Musa motioned for Aisha to join her in the center of the room. They spent the next few hours selecting the minute block of the song they wanted - which Musa would cut down later that evening – brainstorming and rehearsing. As the minutes passed, Aisha found herself forgetting any discomfort as she let herself be wrapped up in the music and the steps. It felt like wrapping yourself in a soft blanket or dipping into a warm bath on a cold day; it felt like coming home.
By the time they stopped, it was almost time to meet the rest of the girls for the party. Aisha didn't know what the plan was – just that they would take the portal there and Stella would take them back through an enchanted postcard since she couldn't risk using her ring – or what to expect. This would be the first event she attended that wasn't some ball or high society event where she would sit around bored out of her mind or waltzing with whatever too old man was trying to suck up to her parents. She had spent the better part of last night wondering what it would be like and whether she'd spent all night at a table alone watching the girls dance. Musa did make some joke about how Tecna didn't dance and would probably spend all night avoiding the dance floor, so at least Aisha could take refuge in the knowledge that she wouldn't be alone at the table.
That thought, though, had vanished over the afternoon. By the end of the day when Musa picked up her phone and chugged down the remnants of her water bottle, Aisha had decided she would dance alone if she had to. She'd done everything else alone since Anne left anyways.
"Hey, um... thanks" Aisha said awkwardly as she grabbed her own bottle and chugged it too. The water was warm by then, but it was needed and refreshing. Musa stopped drinking and fixed her with a confused expression.
"For what?"
For reminding me why I loved dancing in a single afternoon, she thought. That required too much explanation and, though she thought the musical fairy liked her well enough, she knew Musa didn't care enough to hear the more upsetting details of her childhood.
"... This" Aisha replied, gesturing to the empty dance room.
"Oh, yeah, of course. It's nice to have someone to dance with."
"I haven't danced with someone in years. I didn't realise how much I missed it" Aisha told her before she could stop herself. She braced herself for the inevitable why? but it never came.
"We should go dancing then. It'll be fun" Musa said instead.
Aisha smiled brightly at the songstress with a nod of her head. She would love to go dancing with Musa; with, she hoped, her friend.
Tecna was happy to spend the afternoon alone. As much as she loved the girls, it was nice to be able to just exist without their chatter and drama. Flora was in the greenhouse for potentially the twentieth time that week, Bloom and Stella had gone to Red Fountain, and Musa was with Aisha in the dance room, which gave Tecna the dorm to herself. She wasn't a person that required a lot of space, but she did take small pleasure in being able to stretch herself out on the couch with some snacks to play her game without the girls in the background commenting on it.
She played for close to two hours before deciding that she should be responsible and start on the ethics assignment she'd been avoiding. Tecna prided herself on doing things well and punctually, but the ethics homework was just so uninteresting that she couldn't find the motivation to work on it.
The ethics books laid at the top of her pile of homework in a pathetic attempt to remind – or nag – her that it needed to be done. Tecna regarded it with disdain before opening it to the page where her assignment notes had been haphazardly crammed in as a bookmark. Forcing herself to read the required pages felt like pulling teeth.
Only three pages had been mostly successfully read – she may have needed to reread a paragraph or two per page more than once – when her phone rang. Tecna considered ignoring it entirely in favour of studying, but her desire to not have to do the homework won out in the end. Her heart fell to her stomach when she saw the caller ID.
She'd barely pressed the ignore button when a text popped up.
Red (3:54 pm): Hey! U in for a game night tonight
Tecna (3:55 pm): I can not, sorry. We are going to a party tonight.
Red (3:57 pm): No worries! Were planning a video game marathon next Saturday. Care to join then?
Tecna (3:59 pm): That sounds fun. I will be there.
Red (3:59 pm): Great! Cant wait :)
Tecna smiled to herself as she put the phone down beside her book. She liked Red and the boys. It surprised her because, looking at them from the outside, they seemed positively juvenile; like they'd all break out into laughter at a fart joke. But working with them last year, she knew that they were reliable and serious when needed, and having hung out with them just once, she didn't doubt that they were genuine people. Best of all, they made her feel welcome and comfortable, a rare feat for any single person to do, much rarer for an already bonded group.
Red (4:04 pm): Bring a game
Tecna (4:05 pm): What kind?
Red (4:06 pm): Anything. Ur favourite, one u think we'd like, one uve never played but want to try. Whatever tickles ur fancy.
Tecna (4:08 pm): Whatever tickles my fancy?
Red (4:08 pm): Means whatever interests you lol
Tecna (4:09 pm): Oh... Okay. I'll think of something.
She dropped her studies in favour of trying to figure out which game she should bring. She pulled out some of her personal favourites and ones she thought the guys might like. After looking them over, she decided to also pull out the ones Bloom and Musa liked best, figuring that maybe their tastes would be more to the guys'. She was so deep in consideration that when her phone rang again, she answered without taking the time to look at the caller ID.
"T-Tecna... uh... h-hi" Timmy's voice sputtered out on the other end of the line.
Tecna's shoulders dropped with a sigh. She should've checked her caller ID. Or better yet just never answer the phone again. The only people that called her were Flora and, on occasion, Timmy. Those occasions were few and far between, and usually included him asking her to talk to him. Something that, at this very moment, she had less than no interest in doing. She was still furious that he'd let the witches get away with whatever they were after. Had he forgotten what their quest last year had led to?
"I am not talking to you."
"Tecna, please just hear me out" Timmy begged.
"I would rather not."
Tecna hung up rather abruptly and tossed her phone aside. Her good mood from moments ago ripped away from her, Tecna decided that she could treat herself. Stella would approve of her logic even if the blonde wouldn't be quite as fond of Tecna's method of treating herself.
She picked up her comfort game from the pile of considerations and popped it into her computer, pushing aside the ethics book to make more space. That's where she stayed, trying to forget about Timmy and his stupid decision until Stella came to drag Tecna to her room a few hours later.
Stella sipped the coffee she'd gotten from Red Fountain's cafeteria as she and Brandon wandered the school grounds. She had to give Saladin his credit. As much as she'd despised his way of presenting the new school, he'd commissioned a beautiful campus. Stella wouldn't have expected gardens that gave her mother's a run for their money from a military school.
"I don't think I've ever seen this part of the grounds before" Brandon commented as he ducked under one of the shorter tree branches, holding it up for Stella to pass under it. "I usually stick to the training grounds on the other side."
"It's beautiful. Flora would love it."
"I think it was Helia's idea." Stella paused, wondering what Helia had to do with Red Fountain's campus having a garden, but Brandon explained that Helia had been around when Saladin was getting the plans for the school done and had made some suggestions. "I don't think a garden was Saladin's idea and it definitely wasn't Codatorta's" Brandon chuckled.
There was a lull as they walked down the garden to a man-made lake on the edge of the campus that flowed into the new Red Fountain campus's waterfalls. Stella thought Flora and Helia might make a good match. Both were, apparently, very enthusiastic about gardens. There had also been that moment when Flora noticed the fern in his paper; Helia's eyes had gone wide, and he'd looked at her with so much intrigue. "Bran, what do you know about Helia?"
"Not much, to be honest. He keeps to himself a lot. He likes to draw and write – poetry, I think. He seems nice enough" Brandon shrugged. He paused for a moment, then turned to look at her with narrowed eyes. "Why?"
"No reason."
"Stella. Musa's going to throw you over a cliff if you try to set her up again."
"I'm not!" Stella insisted. Brandon looked at her skeptically, so Stella promised. Musa and Helia wouldn't match anyways. They might find common ground if they could collaborate on something, but there was no romantic match in her eyes. Helia would be too calm for Musa. But perfect for Flora.
"Okay, but if you do, don't say I didn't warn you when Musa either tries to kill you or just flat-out stops talking to you."
Stella didn't respond, so Brandon let it go. He sat on a bench and put his hand out for her to join him. Stella took it happily, sitting next to him and leaning her head against his shoulder. Brandon wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in closer, leaning his head on hers. He placed a kiss where his cheek had been and leaned against her again.
"I was thinking that maybe I could go to Eraklyon with you over winter break" Stella said, breaking the peaceful silence.
"Uh... if you want. We won't be there for very long since it's a pretty long flight and there's a huge time difference."
"That's okay. I was talking to Kelly and Margie last week and I told them I would take them on a shopping trip. I've already been looking into the best boutiques in Eraklia." Eraklia – Eraklyon's capital city - it turned out, had so many gorgeous boutiques. The city had a particular disdain for chain stores, which led to a lot of locally owned stores. Kelly had admitted to her that they only ever got new clothes for special occasions; four girls meant a lot of hand-me-downs. It broke Stella's heart to think that they never got to have anything that was theirs, so she'd resolved to take them shopping.
"You talk to my sisters?"
"Yeah, Kelly found me on PhotoVerse and we videochat every now and then."
Brandon looked surprised, but smiled brightly. He insisted that she didn't have to be friends with his sisters just because they were his sisters. A ridiculous notion, in her opinion. "I love your sisters!" Kelly, she told him, was probably one of the funniest people she'd ever met, and Margie was legitimately the most precious person in existence. Frannie – which Francesca had given Stella permission to call her – was so smart, and while she didn't actually talk to Vanessa much, Stella could tell from her socials and what the other sisters said that the oldest Cavaliere child was bold and unapologetically herself, both traits that Stella admired deeply.
Brandon planted another kiss on her temple before sliding his hand under her chin and tilting her face towards his. His kiss was soft and warm, one that Stella could easily get lost in. Her arms found their way around his neck, keeping him locked in the kiss. "I love you" he whispered as he pulled away, keeping his face inches from hers and looking at her in that way that made her melt inside.
The kiss that had started off so sweet and innocent grew into something more. Her arms wrapped around Sky's neck, the ends of his shoulder-length hair brushing her bare skin. His arms squeezed her tighter to him until her options were to pull away, stop breathing or move onto his lap. The answer seemed obvious, so she pulled away long enough to straddle him. The absence of his hands on her back for even just a few seconds felt far too long and she found herself breathing a sigh of relief when she had them back.
It took no time after she'd repositioned herself for Sky's lips to find hers again. His hands slid lower down her back, stopping just above her ass. She wanted him to go lower, but he was too much of a gentleman to do so without her permission and the thought of not having his lips on hers made her want to die. Instead, she pulled herself closer into him, pushed herself deeper into him. Sky groaned into the kiss, and she thought it must be the most wonderful sound ever – and it was all for her.
Bloom groaned in frustration when he pulled away from her. Sky's heavy breathing mirrored hers, and she thought his red freshly kissed lips must too. He looked so beautiful. Bloom brought her hands up to hold his cheeks, pushing his golden hair back and pulling his face forward. If kissing him was heaven, she would happily accept death now.
"We should stop..." Sky mumbled into the kiss. It had escalated beyond their usual making out. Somewhere in the kiss, Sky's shirt had been hastily removed and tossed aside; her own was hiked up to her bra. She was so wrapped up in him and high from his touch, she didn't have the consciousness to wish she'd worn a cuter bra.
"Why?" she pouted,
Sky kissed her shoulder. She rested her cheek against the side of his head and pressed a kiss into his hair. "I don't want you to feel press-"
"I'm ready for this" she told him abruptly. Sky looked up at her, surprise etched in his every feature. "With you" she added in a whispered tone, giving him a gentle kiss on the lips.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm ready for anything with you." He smiled at her as he brought his hand up behind her neck and pulled her into a kiss that put every kiss she'd experienced up till then to shame. Those butterflies that she'd heard so much about erupted in her stomach, taking flight and carrying her to new heights with them. Whatever the world threw at her, she knew she'd be fine with him by her side.
*SMUT WARNING*
Soon enough, she found herself lying on her back on Sky's bed, her shirt and comfy bra long removed. Sky's own shirt sat bunched up at the foot of his bed. Bloom ran her hands over his back appreciatively as his lips traced the lines of her neck down to her collarbone and breasts, stopping to kiss and suck her nipples.
Bloom arched her back into him. The desire pooled in her body, filling her until she was struggling to keep her head. She wanted him so badly it ached; so badly it burned. Her hands fumbled with the buttons of his pants and Sky, bless him, got the message. He sat up on his knees and unbuttoned his pants for her before standing and slipping them off. Before she could fully register his movements, Bloom found her own pants being tugged off and watched them be thrown aside.
Her nerves felt like they were moments away from sparking a fire, but her heartbeat was steady. She had no doubts about this decision. It was Sky – her Sky – and she loved him so much it made her a little crazy. She was certain, even if he hadn't said so yet, that he loved her just as much.
She watched in anticipation as he walked over to his bedside table and pulled out a condom. The wrapper was quickly discarded onto the floor and the condom was slid on to his already hard dick.
"How long have you had that?" she teased, knowing full well that Red Fountain supplied its students with condoms. That didn't stop Sky from going red as he fumbled to explain that he hadn't planned this, but that the school- He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Bloom break her serious expression.
"You're messing with me" he accused with a smile as he leaned over her on the bed and trapped her between his arms. Sky leaned down and kissed her firmly. Gone were the thoughts of teasing him further, replaced with the feeling of his lips on hers and his hands sliding down her body. His fingers found their way into her, and his lips smirked into the kiss when he realised how wet she was. "Are you sure about this?" he asked again.
In the second after Bloom affirmed her decision, Sky's cock was pushing into her. He gave her a moment to adjust, but she didn't need it. He felt so right in her. He gave a thrust to test the waters, and continued when Bloom moaned in approval.
His pace was steady, perfect. Tension coiled in her, begging for sweet release. Sky kissed her collarbone, eliciting happy sighs from her. She loved the feeling of his lips on her skin, of his stubble brushing her neck.
She raced to the precipice as he continued to fuck her. Moans escaped his lips right next to her ear, as if the sounds were a secret just for her to hear. The beauty of those sounds combined with his hands on her body and his cock filling her so well brought her right to the edge.
Then, just as she was about to fall over into bliss, his pace change. Sky's movements became erratic causing her to lose the feeling. He moaned loudly, the stopped leaving Bloom confused.
Sky pulled out of her and placed a kiss on her temple then her lips. He got up. Bloom pushed herself up onto her elbows and looked at him as he walked to the trash can by his desk. The condom hung on his limp dick, cum filling the tip of it.
Bloom dropped herself back onto the bed as he discarded the condom and crawled back into bed. The desire that had built up in her was still there, buried under a layer of disappointment. Should she tell him?
* END SMUT WARNING*
"That was great" he sighed happily, placing light kisses along her neck and face. "My nurse would kill me if she knew I'd exerted that much energy while on bedrest." Sky pulled her closer to his chest. Bloom chuckled halfheartedly, resting her head against him. Once her face was buried in him and out of his sight, Bloom dropped the small smile she'd plastered on her face to spare his feelings.
Flora looked up at Stella through her eyelashes. The princess sat on her vanity table in front of Flora, applying mascara to Flora's lashes. She'd offered to give the girls a full glam look for the party. It seemed a bit much given that it would all be wiped clean in exchange for the gentle shimmer of their fairy forms, but Flora didn't get the opportunity for full glam very often – or ever – so she went for it.
Once Stella was done, Flora took a seat with Bloom who'd been lying on the princess' oversized bed with Tecna so that Stella could take a seat at her vanity to do her own makeup. Aisha sat on the floor beside the bed, scrunching a towel on her curls. Flora slid herself onto the floor beside Aisha and picked up the curling iron that Stella had – much to Tecna's dismay – left to heat on the floor. There wasn't enough counter space she'd argued, to which Tecna had rather harshly pointed out that Stella had four table surfaces in her room plus the bathroom counter. Stella's two bedside tables were taken up by pictures of herself, Brandon and her friends, as well as a chocolate bar and a candle. Her work desk was littered with books and papers that, upon closer inspection, Flora discovered were not school related. Until moments ago, Stella herself shared the space on her vanity with several pallets of eye shadow, some mascara, two liquid blush bottles, six shades of foundation (why Stella had foundation in all their shades, Flora didn't know), a few tubes Flora couldn't identify, an eyelash curler, an estimated twenty-three tubes of lipstick and a dozen brushes.
She was mid-curl when Musa finally joined them after her shower. She sat on the bed, ignoring Stella when she told Musa not to put her wet hair on the pillow. Flora was jealous of Musa's hair. When she let her hair air dry, it got really puffy and wavy. When Musa let her hair air dry, it remained completely sleek and straight. Because a big part of Linphea's culture included respect for nature – including how Prirodana (1), the mother goddess of the natural world in Linphea's main religion, made you – and general dislike of anything electric, hair tools weren't very common. As a teenager, Flora had taken to braiding her hair to control it. When she'd come to Alfea, Stella had taught her how to use a curling iron and Flora had fallen in love with the delicate curls that she'd never quite been able to achieve before.
"Why are you doing makeup?" Musa questioned. "We're going to the party in our fairy forms."
"Because, Musa dah-ling" Stella replied, looking at Musa in the mirror and waving one of the brushes around as she spoke. "We want to look party-ready in all of our forms."
Beside her, Aisha stopped drying her hair and rested the towel on her lap. "I kind of agree with Musa. It seems a bit pointless. Your makeup will change in your fairy form anyways."
Flora shrugged and Stella rolled her eyes. Flora started to explain that it was just to bond, but Bloom spoke before the first word could leave her mouth. "You guys ever think of how weird it is that we have specific hair and makeup that happens in our fairy forms?"
Five pairs of eyes turned to look at Bloom blankly, then at each other. They all shrugged and returned their attention to the previous conversation. Flora assumed that, like her, the girls had never questioned it. Fairies had transformations and wings; that was just the way it was. Witches had transformations too, they were just less showy. There were myths and legends of the first fairies, hundreds of years earlier, and how they'd gotten them – sheer willpower, good deeds to the gods, pure hearts, self-sacrifice (a well-known legend connected to the Enchantix form) - but as far as modern day was concerned, it was just that way.
"Getting ready is part of the fun" Flora told Musa and Aisha. Bloom's reflection in the floor-length mirror still looked perplexed.
"Exactly! Thank you, Flora" Stella exclaimed.
"I have to agree with Musa and Aisha. It does seem rather pointless. Not to mention that, if you do not get made up, you will not have to go through the effort of removing our makeup and taking down our hair before bed. It would be much more efficient."
"Tecna, it's not about efficiency. It's about feeling hot." Stella turned in her chair and leveled the technological fairy with an unimpressed eye roll. She waved her small brush around as she spoke, pointing specifically at Musa, Aisha and Tecna. "Now, you three party poopers can do whatever you want, but I plan on looking and feeling great."
"That does sound nice. Can you do my make up next?"
"Of course, my love" Stella told Bloom as she turned back towards her vanity and continued applying her makeup. Flora returned her attention to the last few strands of hair to curl as Aisha got up to hang the towel. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Stella spoke. "Is everything okay?"
Flora maneuvered to look at the princess, trying not to burn her face or neck on the iron. Stella was clearly looking at the two girls on the bed, but Flora couldn't figure out why. Musa and Bloom didn't seem particularly nervous or upset, but Stella must've noticed something if she asked. She released her hair and adjusted it, then looked at the two girls on the bed. Musa seemed as confused as her, but Bloom was picking at her thumb anxiously. Flora nudged her legs lightly, hoping to prompt her to answer. "Yeah... I'm just nervous about dealing with Mitzi" Bloom admitted in a whisper.
"You'll be fine, sweetie." Flora put down the iron, and reached up to takeBlooms hand in hers and squeeze it tightly. The redhead looked at her with a tight smile.
"Yeah, you've got us to back you up" Musa agreed, dropping her phone and wrapping her arm around Bloom's shoulders and pulling the redhead towards her. "And if she tries to fuck with you anyways, I can mess her up pretty well."
"Musa, you are not deafening anyone tonight please" Flora sighed.
"I wasn't going to deafen her. I was going to punch her."
"You're not doing that either!"
Bloom laughed at their bickering, somehow spawning the conversation of how they could punish Mitzi if she messed with Bloom at the party. Flora suggested the high road, but that was met with unanimous rejection. Aisha proposed throwing her in the pool, but Bloom informed them there was no pool. Tecna suggested that they break her computer or tell her parents, but both of those options were rejected by Stella booing loudly. Stella suggested that they cut her costume up, but that was rejected by Bloom who didn't want to leave Mitzi naked at her party.
"You're far too nice" Stella sighed.
The house Mitzi had chosen was an old home on the outskirts of Gardenia. It sat on acres of wooded land with a winding driveway that led up a small hill. The metal gate at the bottom of the driveway had been opened a crack when they'd arrived, so they pushed it the rest of the way. It creaked loudly as they did. After Aisha had brushed the dirt off her hands, Bloom led the way up the drive silently. Behind her, Flora commented on how tragic it was that more than half of the trees on the property were dead. If Bloom hadn't known Flora, she would wonder how the fairy could tell through the dense fog around them.
"This house is really creepy" Flora commented with a shiver as they approached the building. Through the fog, Bloom could see where the driveway rounded in front of what must have once been a beautiful fountain but was now just a cracked stone basin. The house itself was a surprisingly imposing two-story stone building. According to the plaque outside the gates, it had been built by the founder of the town of Gardenia in 1889 as a gift for his young bride.
"Agreed. How does this Mitzi girl live here?" Aisha shuddered.
"This isn't Mitzi's house. She rented it for the party." Bloom pulled her cloak closed, fidgeting nervously with the edge of the soft fabric.
"According to my research, the house being creepy is a good thing" Tecna stated, pulling the hood of her cloak up at Stella's insistence. "Does it give you a feeling that could be described as eerie or unsettled?"
"Uhm, yes?" Flora's uncertain voice replied.
"Then Mitzi made an excellent selection for her party location." Bloom had to agree with Tecna's assessment. The house itself must have been a dream in the daylight with its turret roof and vine-covered stone. In the dark and the fog, it felt more like a nightmare.
"Did you really look up Halloween?" Musa questioned.
"Yes. Did you not?"
"No."
"But then how will you be prepared for what is to come?" Tecna wondered. Bloom laughed quietly at Tecna's need to constantly be prepared – sometimes overprepared. She thought it was cute of the technological fairy to like having all the answers even if sometimes it was annoying that Tecna had all the answers.
"We're not. That's half the fun – the surprise!" Stella said as she pulled her hood over her head and shivered. Bloom didn't think it was very cold, but Stella seemed to always be cold on nights like this where the moon was hidden behind the thick fog. The blonde took the lead towards the house. The rest of the group followed behind her slowly, Tecna trailing last behind Bloom.
"That does not sound fun."
"Yes it does" Musa teased from the front of the group.
"I think it's sweet that you looked it up" Bloom told the clearly annoyed fairy. Tecna shot her a smile that Bloom returned warmly, hooking her arms in Tecna's. Bloom smiled warmly at how comfortable Tecna had gotten with them. Last year, she refused all physical contact until their lives were on the line. She still refused hugs, but little things – like hooking an arm in hers or the occasional arm around her shoulder (mostly from Musa) - didn't seem to bother her quite as much as they used to. "And it's true: spooky is good."
"Then why did we go in our fairy forms?" Aisha questioned.
"Yeah. Why not like zombies or something?" Musa agreed.
Up ahead, Stella told them to stop being party poopers again. "Because zombies are gross. We want to impress not depress" she explained.
"I don't particularly like zombies..." Flora commented as they reached the main door. Bloom wasn't sure if they should knock or just enter. She was even less sure if she wanted to. Mitzi had never made her particularly nervous – she was more like a fly that wouldn't stop buzzing around Bloom's head – but she hated the idea of subjecting her friends to Mitzi's less-than-pleasant personality. The closer they got to being at the party, the more she hated that she'd even brought it up. Bloom considered suggesting they go back to Alfea and watch some scary movies instead, but she knew that the idea would be rejected; her friends were far too excited to experience a real Earth Halloween party.
"Zombies are not realistic anyways" Tecna shrugged. "Should we knock?"
"Neither are fairies to the people through those doors" Musa pointed out.
Tecna nodded her head lightly, considering the musical fairy's comment."A valid point. I rescind my comment."
"No point in knocking" Stella said, pushing open the door. It wasn't locked and none of the guests seemed to notice or care that six people had just walked in without announcing their presence. "It's a house party not a dinner party."
The door opened onto a sitting room filled with people in costumes of varying horror and indecency levels. There didn't appear to be much in terms of Halloween décor - a few fake spider webs in some corners, lots of pumpkins that Mitzi had painted black and white, some (Bloom assumed) LED standing candles on various surfaces and along the steps to the second floor, and some black balloons. Bloom didn't know what to expect but given how elaborate she knew Mitzi had gone for her sixteenth birthday, Bloom expected more.
They barely got five steps into the room when Mitzi's voice grated on Bloom's ears. Her former classmate bounded down the steps in a barely existent black latex top and skirt combo. Mitzi's already fair skin seemed even paler than usual thanks to the dark makeup she wore. "Bloom! You brought friends..."
"I told you I would?"
Mitzi shrugged as her friends - three girls dressed similarly to Mitzi – joined them. Bloom's old friends – who she hadn't even thought to ask if they'd be there – had called them Mitzi-bes, a bad wordplay on wannabe. "Yeah... but I thought that I don't know... they'd have to cancel or whatever..."
Out of the corner of her eye Bloom could see her friends exchanging confused looks. She rolled her eyes as Mitzi's friends laughed. It wasn't like Bloom had been friendless at Gardenia High. Sure, she'd always felt kind of left out with her friends, and since she'd left for Alfea, not one of them had reached out (but then again, neither had she), but she wasn't friendless.
"What are you?" Carmen, one of Mitzi's friends – a redheaded girl with freckles covering every visible surface of her body – looked them up and down. The six girls wore plain navy cloaks that were, Bloom admitted, not particularly special to look at. She'd had her doubts when Stella had presented them to the group, but the blonde insisted it was necessary if they were to wow with their winx forms. The drab cloaks, she'd said, would make the colour and sparkle of their forms stand out even more.
"Monks?" Another of Mitzi's friends guessed. Rebekah and Bloom had been partnered for a science project in middle school. She was sweet – not the brightest, but sweet. Bloom thought they could be friends, but then she'd fallen in with Mitzi and any hope of that vanished. Rebekah was never as mean to Bloom as the others were, so maybe she still held some small liking for Bloom.
"The cloaks are definitely an interesting choice..." The last girl – Chrissy – commented. If Rebekah was the best of the Mitzi-bes, Chrissy was the worst. Every word out of her mouth sounded snarky and condescending. She had a way of looking at people that made them want to crawl into a hole, shrivel up and die.
"We just didn't want to be cold" Stella giggled, reaching up to lower her hood. The girls had been instructed by the queen of the dramatic entrance – though Bloom thought she'd given Stella a good run for her money last year when she'd shown up at Alfea with the flame – to follow her lead. Bloom, along with the rest of the girls, untied the cloaks as Stella did, letting the fabric fall to the floor.
The room filled with oohs and ahs as the fairies revealed their 'costumes'. Bloom smiled brightly as Mitzi's face fell. She looked like she'd been bitchslapped by all six of them. It was glorious. Bloom had never been a vengeful person, but hearing the guests comment about how cool their looks were while Mitzi fumed felt like payoff for the years Mitzi had tortured her.
"How the fuck did you make your wings look so real? These must have cost a fortune" one of the girls standing closest to them asked. She stepped forward to admire their wings, commenting that she did cosplay and she'd never managed to make her wings look so good. The girl tried to touch Flora's wings causing the nature fairy to stumble into Bloom a bit.
"The wings are delicate; please don't touch them" Aisha stepped in, grabbing Flora by the waist and helping her steady herself. As far as Bloom knew, their wings weren't actually that delicate. If they were, someone's would have been damaged last year.
"Oh my god! Of course!" The girl said loudly, followed by some very profuse apologizing. A few of her friends gathered around them, admiring their wings and asking if they could take pictures as inspiration. Stella posed happily, fluttering her wings for extra show causing their new little fan club to ooh some more. When prompted about how she'd done that, Stella froze. Thankfully, Tecna jumped in and explained that she was an inventor and had patented a way for the wings to beat lightly. She bluffed that she'd be happy to explain it in detail and, thankfully, everyone told her it wasn't necessary.
"Well, have fun I guess" Mitzi said bitterly. She turned on her heel, whipping her long black hair as she did. Her friends followed behind her as she shouldered some of the congregating guests out of her way.
"She seems delightful" Stella commented sarcastically, as she posed with other guests.
"Yeah. Like having a picnic in an ice storm" Musa added. Stella laughed loudly as she pulled Bloom and Aisha into the picture. They took so many pictures that, even if they left at that very moment, everyone would think they'd been there all night. It took close to half an hour for everyone to get pictures with them. Aisha and Stella – the perfect, graceful princesses – were the only ones who never grumbled. Musa, after some mild complaining, was reminded by Stella that she'd one day be bombarded for pictures by adoring fans so she best get used to it. The singer sucked it up without further complaint after that.
As miserable as Mitzi seemed, she had hired a good DJ. After their photoshoot - which hadn't been so bad once Musa let herself get swept up with Stella posing – had ended, she'd headed towards the makeshift dance floor on the far left of the room by the DJ booth. She had thought Stella or Aisha would want to come with her, but the former had been enticed by the snack table on the opposite end of the room and the latter insisted she didn't want to dance. Flora, however, had happily agreed to dance with her while Bloom and Stella piled up on snacks and drinks, and Aisha and Tecna found a spot for their group to claim. Somewhere people can admire us from all angles Stella had insisted, but Musa was certain Tecna would hunt out the very opposite where she could hide and get as little attention as possible.
Something was up with Tecna but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. After she and Aisha had finished in the dance room, they'd gone up to the dorm to shower. Tecna was already in their room when Musa got there, which was expected. What was unexpected was that she was just sitting on the bed staring at her laptop in front of her. It wouldn't seem too strange to anyone else, but Musa had listened to Tecna tell her she shouldn't use her computer in bed cause it made her hunch her back and that's how she'd end up with back pain more times than Musa could count. There hadn't been time to ask because Stella burst into the room demanding they join her and Bloom in her (and Aisha's, though Stella seemed to forget that detail pretty often) room immediately. Musa had been permitted to shower while Tecna had been grabbed by the wrist and dragged away. A party wasn't the place to ask about it either, so it would have to wait. If they didn't get back to Alfea too late, Musa might ask.
Flora grabbed Musa's hand and spun her around, freeing any lingering thoughts of Tecna from their tethers. Not that the music wouldn't have done that within the next few minutes anyways. They danced together without speaking, twirling each other around to the beat. Flora, who stood a whole 7 inches taller than Musa, had to duck under Musa's arm to complete the twirl, but she still laughed the whole time.
Their dancing was cut short by someone tapping Flora on the shoulder.
"Do you wanna dance?" he asked, clearly very confident that Flora would say yes. Musa could see why too. He was tall, broad shouldered with the face of a supermodel. He was the type of guy all the girls and gays would fawn over. Musa included, but she was a sucker for tall and broad shouldered guys.
"Uhm... no thanks" said Flora, who, apparently, didn't have eyes. Musa worried he wouldn't take kindly to being rejected, but he just looked at the nature fairy weirdly and walked away to ask someone else.
"Why would you say no? He was gorgeous!" Musa exclaimed, sounding more like Stella than she ever had.
"I'm enjoying dancing with you."
"Can't blame you there" Musa laughed. She and Flora seemed to always end up dancing together at parties and have a blast. "But you can always come back to me after a dance with him."
"I don't want to." Musa shrugged, taking the nature fairy's hand and wrapping her other arm around Flora's waist for the slow song that had just started. Flora's free arm landed around Musa's neck. "You know, it's been a while since we talked..."
"We talk every day" Musa pointed out. Had Flora forgotten that they lived ten steps from each other? It was literally impossible to avoid each other.
"No, I mean... actually talked" Flora replied awkwardly. She stopped dancing and looked at Musa with a compassionate face that made Musa want to leave. "How are you?"
"Uh... good?" Musa stammered. She wondered why the fuck Flora had decided here and now was the right time for this conversation instead of after the party. Not that there'd be much to discuss after the party either. Musa was fine. The nightmares she'd told Flora about after being chased by witches had stopped with Flora's tea, and because Musa had continued to take it, she'd not had too many nightmares about the war either. She had barely spoken to her father beyond his asking if she was okay, but that wasn't anything new. Stella was on the verge of being murdered if she kept meddling in Musa's life, but that also wasn't anything new. Besides, Musa was pretty sure Stella had gotten the message with the Jared incident. And then -
"No more nightmares?"
"This isn't really the time for that."
Flora sucked on her lips and nodded. She started to move to the music again and Musa followed her lead, hopeful that the conversation was over. "How are things with Riven?"
"There are no things with Riven." Musa's reply was curt. She had thought that, after his concern yesterday, there might be. Then, when they were getting ready, she'd seen multiple texts from him pop up on Flora's phone. It made some sense that she would try to get closer to him; she had always been one of his defenders when the other girls trash talked him. Musa knew that eventually – as much as it would hurt – she would be happy if they were happy together, but she wanted Flora to talk to her about it first. It was really shitty of her to go behind Musa's back when she knew she had had (still had) feelings for him. And, as much as Musa was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, she suddenly found herself not wanting to dance with Flora anymore.
"I'm gonna get something to drink."
She dropped Flora's hand and walked away before Flora could say anything. The bar was in the kitchen and Mitzi – despite the legal drinking age, according to Bloom, being 21 and far above their 17 years – had hired a bar service for it. She ordered a shot and found herself making eye contact with a cute girl dressed as a scarecrow across the bar. Musa took a second shot and asked her to dance. The girl – Mia – happily agreed and followed Musa's lead back to the dance floor where Musa spotted Flora watching her from the side of the room with an unhappy face.
Tecna had found them a spot at one of the tables that had been set up near the snacks table. It wasn't made for six, but while it was just the two of them, it would do. Undoubtedly, Stella would ask some of the nearby tables if they could steal chairs when she and Bloom joined them.
Aisha played with the small pumpkin on the table as she waited for one of the other girls to come find them. Tecna was, as Aisha had predicted she would, ignoring her in favour of some game on her phone. She should have agreed to dance with Musa. Just that afternoon, Musa had suggested they go dancing and Aisha had been ecstatic about the idea. Yet tonight when Musa suggested they dance, Aisha had said no for some reason that she couldn't explain.
She had gotten bored of waiting for Tecna to notice that someone else was with her and thought maybe she'd go find Musa and Flora. They were the only two in the group who'd taken any liking to her, anyways. Aisha stood up and told Tecna she was going to find the girls, but Tecna didn't even nod.
She found Flora standing by the wall between the sitting room and kitchen. Aisha approached her slowly. The floral fairy had her arms crossed, a glass of what Aisha thought might be apple juice or very yellow white wine hanging precariously in her hand, and was staring out into the room with furrowed brows. Aisha followed her gaze to Musa who was dancing with some dark-haired girl in a scarecrow costume.
"Who's that?"
"Some girl she's using to make a point" Flora grumbled. Aisha questioned what Flora meant, but got no response once again finding herself shut out of something she was sure the rest of the group would be told about. Choosing to brush it aside for the sake of the party, Aisha suggested they dance. Flora refused. The morphix fairy leaned against the wall with her, watching Musa and the girl dance. They looked like they were having fun. Would Musa accept to dance with her instead if she cut in?
"This house is so creepy" Aisha overheard someone comment. She leaned forward, looking past Flora's still crossed arms. Two of Mitzi's friends were standing between the doors to the kitchen. One of them – the one who'd guessed that they were monks – was standing with her arms wrapped around herself and looking up at the ceiling. The other – the bitchy one who'd commented on their cloaks – laughed.
"Isn't it? It's apparently haunted."
"It's not apparently haunted, Chrissy. It's legit haunted." the first girl said again.
Aisha rolled her eyes. These two couldn't possibly believe that ghosts were real. Growing up, she'd hear the staff whisper about the ghosts of the palace when they didn't think anyone was listening (which, she shouldn't have been), but Aisha had never experienced any of them herself. It was all nonsense. "Right..." she mumbled with an eye roll much louder than she should have.
"What?" Flora asked.
"Do you not believe in ghosts?" The first girl asked. Aisha shook her head dumbly. "You should. Spooky shit's happened here."
"Like... bad spooky?" Flora seemed to have lost some of her colour as she looked around the crowded room. The first girl nodded dramatically. Aisha rolled her eyes.
"Beks, don't freak them out over some stupid legend" Chrissy reprimanded.
Musa joined them seconds later, asking where Tecna was and if anyone had seen Stella and Bloom. The girl she'd been dancing with walked up to them and, seeing the group, suddenly looked a lot more uncomfortable.
"Uh, here. Call me or whatever" she said before handing Musa a folded piece of paper and scurrying off to join her friends in the kitchen. Musa smiled to herself and shoved the paper down the front of her shirt. "This stupid skirt doesn't have pockets" she explained with a chuckle.
"This house is haunted" Flora announced suddenly. Musa regarded her with a look that Aisha couldn't quite decipher. It was somewhere between curious and… annoyed?
Beks, who introduced herself fully as Rebekah, told them about the Leveau sisters. They were a set of quadruplets that owned the house almost a century earlier. The sisters were apparently recluses and, until they were brutally murdered, had only ever been seen through the windows of their house. It made for a good spooky story, Aisha admitted, but it was still bullshit.
After Rebekah finished the story, Chrissy rolled her eyes and pulled her away. At least she'd had the decency to let her friend finish the story, but Aisha found it hard to figure out why someone that seemed nice enough – Rebekah – was friends with that bitch. Musa, after a muttered well then Suggested they get a drink and took off towards the bar followed closely by Flora, who whispered something to the musical fairy. Aisha, left with the choice of following or heading back to Tecna, followed. She didn't hear whatever Flora had said, but whatever it was, Musa didn't seem to be acknowledging it.
When they got to the bar, Musa ordered a beer and a refill on Flora's juice. She turned to Aisha to ask what she wanted to drink. Aisha had never drank much before. She'd had a glass of wine at dinner once and had a digestif of Androsi liquor at official dinners, but nothing else. So she figured she'd just have what Musa was having, which left her holding a bottle of beer and sniffing it curiously as she led them back to Tecna.
Bloom had been shoving an orange-topped chocolate cupcake in her mouth when a song came on that Stella recognised from Bloom's playlist and insisted they dance. She'd dragged Bloom by the elbow mid-bite, not caring when Bloom complained, onto the makeshift dance floor. Admittedly, it had felt good to just dance and joke around with Stella, even if it was a slow song. It was a small respite from the crushing stress she'd felt since Friday night.
They danced until Bloom couldn't breathe anymore and needed a break. And something to eat because the cupcake just hadn't been enough when she hadn't eaten anything except toast when she got back to Alfea earlier. Stella stayed on the dance floor as Bloom went to find food, requesting Bloom get her something too.
Bloom returned to the snack table and eyed the chips, candy and popcorn wondering if there was anything more filling available. She didn't want to, but she would order a pizza to the party if she had to. Or she'd get Musa or Stella to do it and snap back at Mitzi when she inevitably got pissed about it.
"That is a great outfit!"
"Oh, thanks" Bloom said to the guy, hoping that if she turned to look at him, he wouldn't be leering at her. That was one of her favourite things about the magical world: men were less creepy because there was a decent chance that the woman you were creeping on could turn you into a toad.
When she did turn around, she found herself looking at a familiar grin and warm spectacled brown eyes. "Andy!" she laughed, throwing her arms around his neck and dropping the chip she'd picked up.
"Hey!" He returned her hug. "What are you doing here?"
Bloom stepped back and grabbed a handful of chips. "Mitzi invited me and I was in need of a good distraction, so..."
Andy raised his brows curiously. "And a good distraction is Mitzi's Halloween party?"
"Well, I'm not alone." Bloom pointed out Stella, still dancing alone in the crowd. She managed to spot the bright pink of Flora's outfit in the sea of blacks and reds and, by extension, Musa and Aisha. "And Tec is around here somewhere" Bloom finished, looking around for the technological fairy,
"Oh cool. Uh... Are they all..." Andy looked around at the people nearest them before leaning in and dropping his voice to a whisper "fairies?"
"Yes" she replied in mock whisper. "Didn't I tell you about them? Uh... except Aisha: she's new."
"You did, yeah."
"Come on, I'll introduce you. If they're feeling nice, maybe they'll even entertain you a bit." Bloom caught Stella's eye again and pointed her towards the trio. By some miracle, Stella understood what Bloom meant because she started moving to join the other girls. Bloom led Andy towards her friends, stopping halfway to the table the girls had stopped at as a perky blonde walked up to her and Andy.
"Hey babe" she said, wrapping her arms around Andy and pulling him in for a kiss. Bloom looked at the ground and the other dancers – anything else to avoid the uncomfortable display of affection from the blonde.
Andy managed to pull his face away from her long enough to stand up properly and drape his arm over her shoulder, turning her out to face Bloom. "Dani, you remember Bloom?"
"Of course. It's nice to see you again." Dani was curvy and tall with shoulder-length strawberry blond hair. Bloom had never spoken to Dani much, but she remembered the girl being sweet. She was one of those people that was just likeable. Dani smiled at Bloom, but there was a tension in the air that was undeniable.
Bloom excused herself, claiming that she should really get back to her friends. Andy tried to object, but Bloom insisted that she'd see them later. Something was going on between the couple and she wasn't particularly interested in being around their awkwardness. She had enough of her own, thank you.
Tecna didn't like the music the DJ was playing. It was too loud and bass heavy. She sat at the table she'd found thinking that maybe she should have accepted Red's offer to hang out with them. A night of video games with the guys would surely be more her speed than a party. She didn't even know why she'd accepted. Maybe it was because Bloom was upset and she'd read that a night out with girlfriends was commonplace when one of the group was upset. Maybe it was because even she could feel the tension that had started to course through their group and a night out would do them well. Maybe it was because she was hoping for a distraction from -
"Would you believe that we're apparently in a real haunted house?" Musa announced as she pulled up a chair she'd taken beside Tecna. Flora, Aisha and Stella followed behind, each claiming their own chairs from nearby. Bloom joined them moments later.
Tecna paused her game and looked at the musical fairy, who nodded enthusiastically. Musa told them about the four sisters who'd lived in this house. In the mid-1930's, three of them had been brutally murdered in the middle of the day. The fourth sister's body was never found. It's believed that she was abducted. "Apparently the three sisters haunt this house, still looking for their sister. Some people have claimed to have seen the fourth sister. A-"
"They haven't seen anything because it's all bullshit" Aisha mumbled. Tecna was sure Musa had heard it because the girl heard everything. She'd once started laughing at a comment Tecna made under her breath while she was across the room. It had caused many confused looks from the girls. If Musa did hear what Aisha said, though, she made no sign of it. Nor did any of the other girls.
"-ll of those people died within a month of the claimed sighting."
"That sounds like nonsense."
"Thank you!" Aisha motioned to Tecna dramatically, accidentally hitting her hand on the table and causing it to shake. The Androsi princess rubbed her hand.
"That's spooky..." "Those poor sisters..."
"Flora, there were no sisters."
"Tec's probably right. Ghost stories are bullshit most of the time."Tecna questioned Musa's need to add in the probably and most of the time as ghost stories were always, to quote the singer, bullshit. There was no such thing as ghosts.
"I think I've heard that story before..." Bloom ran her hands through her hair. Tecna thought that it didn't quite matter if Bloom had or hadn't heard the story because it simply wasn't true. Aisha – in what may have been the first time Tecna paid her much attention since the whole Shadowhaunt ordeal – pointed out as much, though she phrased it in a nicer way.
Truthfully, Tecna had no idea what to think of Aisha. If possible, Aisha might have been less communicative than Tecna. It was true that Tecna had never interacted with her alone, but even in the group, she didn't speak much unless spoken to. When she did speak, she seemed clever and friendly though.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. I've been looking around and I think we've got the best costumes." Stella – ever on topic – sat back in her chair proudly, looking around the room at the multitude of costumes that required far more effort and creativity than theirs because they actually were costumes. Tecna had known what to expect thanks to her research, but she found herself surprised by the variety. Far too many girls were dressed like sexy versions of things, but there were a lot of great costumes too. Her favourite was the guy that was dressed as a robot; his costume lit up and beeped. It was very cool. Would it be weird of her to tell him as much?
"These are not costumes" Tecna reminded the Solarian princess.
Stella rolled her eyes. "Tecna. To the NMBs they are."
Stella had stopped her bickering with Tecna to grab them a plateful of snacks that Bloom had forgotten about when Andy distracted her. A waitress that Bloom hadn't expected came around and asked if anyone wanted a drink. How had Mitzi managed to not only hire a bar service for her underage Halloween party, but also someone to serve drinks? The last Mitzi party Bloom had been to had been nowhere near this adult – unless you counted all the drunk teenagers with their snuck in beers grinding on each other and making out in every corner.
Musa ordered another beer and a round of shots for the table. Tecna objected, but she was shushed by the musical fairy who insisted Tecna could pawn off her shot on Stella. The waitress brought Musa's beer, a vodka cranberry for Bloom, Stella and Aisha, and water for Tecna and Flora, along with the round of shots – five of them because she wasn't aware of Stella's existence despite a sixth drink having been ordered.
Stella came back moments later with a plate piled high with every snack she could find and placed it in the middle of the table. Hands – including Bloom's - were thrown at the plate, and cheers were said as the girls chased their candy with a shot of, Bloom realised with horror, gin. She despised gin.
"Hey" Andy's voice said, pulling up a seat beside her, as she grimaced at the gin. "Sorry about... that"
Bloom tried to school her face, but the taste of the gin was still so fresh on her tongue. She'd tried it once at a party with her old friends and hated it immediately. She shoved one of the mini cupcakes on the plate in her mouth, worshipping the sweet chocolate after the bitterness of the gin. "No, it's... Is everything okay?"
Andy looked away. Bloom followed, noticing with interest that his eyes landed on Dani who was laughing with some of Bloom's other former classmates. "Uh, yeah" he answered in an unconvincing tone. "Don't worry about it."
It seemed all was not well in his paradise either. Bloom hadn't been able to stop thinking about Sky. Their Avalon problem was resolved – sort of – but now she had the sex issue. How was she supposed to be honest with him if she knew it was going to hurt his feelings? And Sky already tended to be hard on himself... Maybe it didn't matter enough?
"Bloom" Stella's voice cut through her thoughts. She turned to face the blonde and realised that all her friends were looking at her – at them. Stella raised her brows and pointed her chin towards Andy. "Who's your friend?"
"Oh... um, this is Andy." She could see their brains going ex boyfriend Andy?. "Andy, these are my friends." Bloom went around the table, introducing the girls. They all greeted him warmly, but she could see the curious look Stella was shooting her out of the corner of her eye.
"So, your powers are technology based?" Andy asked, turning towards Tecna. Bloom had thought he'd go to Musa first given their shared interest, but he'd always been one to surprise her. Then again, he may be as confused as she'd been about the mix of fantasy and technology. Honestly, she still wasn't quite sure she understood how it meshed so well, she'd just gotten used to it.
Tecna – much to Bloom's surprise – remained completely neutral while Stella and Flora sputtered their drinks, and Musa and Aisha's eyes grew wide. Bloom laughed as she realized they didn't know that Andy knew."They are, yes" she answered for Tecna.
"Bloom, darling… magic isn't real" Stella hissed as if she were scolding a child.
"He knows."
"Oh" the five girls said in unison. "Well, then yes, technological powers" Tecna confirmed.
"That's funky. Magic and technology aren't exactly a mix you think would work."
"Actually, it's quite the opposite."Tecna started to explain how magic and technology coexisted and the history of technology in magic and vice versa. Bloom was pretty sure that the girls tuned it out, but Andy listened with rapt attention as Tecna went on and on. He even asked questions, all of which Tecna answered with surprising patience.
"And music powers!" Andy exclaimed far too loudly. He seemed to realise his mistake because he gave Musa a guilty expression and lowered his voice. "That must be so fucking cool! That would be like my dream powers if I had any."
"It is." Musa had to roll her eyes because obviously Bloom's ex-boyfriend was into music. And, of course, he had to be cute too. He wasn't her type – brown eyes and a rounder face – but he looked like a sweetheart (also, unfortunately, not her type).
"Do you play any instruments? Or is it just the powers?" he asked, his eyes lighting up. "Ooh! Do the powers give you the ability to play any instrument?"
Musa laughed. "They don't." It would be pretty cool to play any instrument she wanted. "But I do play." She started listing off the instruments she knew how to play, realising halfway through that she didn't know if Earth had the same instruments as the magical dimension. From the wide eyes and grin on Andy's face, he wouldn't have noticed or cared if he didn't know the instrument.
"She sings too!" Flora piped in. Musa looked at her sideways. The nature fairy was smiling brightly as she leaned on the table, resting her cheek on her hand. "Like an angel"
"Nice! You know, if ever you're in Gardenia again, you should totally come jam with my band."
Like Andy had said some magic word, Stella's head turned. Suddenly, the Solarian princess was interested in the conversation. "Band?" she questioned. "You're into music?"
"Yeah" Andy replied enthusiastically, blissfully unaware that Stella had likely started to plot already. Musa wanted to believe that Stella wasn't going to do anything stupid, especially with Bloom's ex, but she didn't know if she dared get her hopes up. "Have been since I was a kid. I started playing guitar when I was four."
"And are you the bands guitarist?"
"No, lead singer."
"Oh, so you sing too? That's super cool. And are your ban-"
"Stella" Musa warned. Stella looked past Andy at her. Their eyes met and a silent conversation passed between them that ended with Stella standing up abruptly and demanding that someone dance with her. Flora volunteered. Bloom started to as well, but Stella told her she should spend time with her friend. "Tecna, come on."
"I would rather not."
Stella shook her head and took the technological fairy by the hand, tugging at her gently. Tecna, without much further prompting, got up. She claimed to hate dancing, but Musa thought it was that she didn't want to dance alone. The few times – as in, two times – Musa had managed to get her onto a dance floor, she'd seemed to have fun.
"Okay then..." Andy mumbled, taken aback by Stella's abrupt departure. He shrugged it off and turned back to Musa, asking how she had learned so many instruments. Musa had to give him a brief explanation of Melody because he thought it was insane (in a good way, he insisted) that just about everyone there could play multiple instruments. Andy listened to every word with rapt attention.
Several songs passed. Musa bopped along to the music, never wanting to end her conversation with Andy. If they lived in the same dimension, they would have been the best of friends. She could imagine them writing songs together, especially after he admitted that he loved to write, but was never confident enough in his lyrics. When he slid his earbuds over to her to play one of his recordings, she listened to it closely.
"You're good" she told him honestly. His writing was far from amazing, but he had talent that much was for sure.
Andy smiled gratefully at that. They went into what many would call an unnecessarily in-depth discussion of the differences between music on Earth and in the magical dimension. Musa was so enthralled by the conversation that she was surprised to realise that her friends paid them no mind, except Aisha who listened quietly.
She almost said no when Andy asked her to dance on the basis that he had a girlfriend, but she had no interest in him and if he showed any in her, she'd turn him down quick. Musa figured that was enough. Besides, she recognised the song that was playing as one that she really liked from Bloom's playlists.
Musa was completely overreacting, Stella thought. Maybe asking Andy about his love for music had been a bad idea, but she hadn't been planning on setting her up with him. She just thought it was nice that they shared a passion. Really, Stella should just keep her stupid mouth shut. She was fucking up a friendship that she really cared about all because she had decided a year earlier that Musa could do better than Riven. Brandon was right: she needed to let it go.
She led the girls to a corner of the dance floor that wasn't too crowded. If it was just Stella, she would have found a spot front and center, but she was with Tecna and Flora, and they didn't like being the center of attention. The trio ended up in the corner of the room close to the staircase that led up to the second floor. A red cord had been placed across the staircase to stop people from going up.
Stella took Flora's hand as they danced. She would have to ask Bloom the name of this song – or maybe the DJ – because she was loving it! Flora twirled her, laughing as Stella grabbed Tecna and dragged her into their dance. She knew Tecna wasn't the biggest fan of dancing, but they were here to have fun; she needed to loosen up.
And loosen she did. Tecna rolled her eyes and moaned to herself at first, but she quickly gave in to the two girls encouragements. Tecna's moves were stilted and massively offbeat, but that didn't matter. At some point Tecna even started to pretend she was disco dancing. Stella smiled big at that. It was probably the most endearing Tecna had ever been in Stella's opinion.
"Goodness, are you okay Mitzi?" Flora exclaimed, worry dripping in her voice. She pushed through Stella and Tecna to get to the hostess. Leave it to Flora to be worried about someone as awful as Mitzi.
When Stella turned to see why Flora was asking, though, she understood. Mitzi looked pale – ghostly so – and was hanging on to her friends for support. Stella wondered what had happened; she'd seen Mitzi on the way to the dance floor and the girl had seemed fine as she talked with some guy.
"She'll be fine" Mitzi's redheaded friend said, pushing past the three worried girls.
"No, she won't! You know it's the curse!"
"Curse?!" Stella demanded as Flora gasped loudly. She saw Tecna roll her eyes, and while she herself had never really believed in ghost stories, she was not one to fuck around with curses. That's how people ended up with eyes in their hands or as swamp monsters.
"You invited us to a cursed house?" Stella ducked under the rope and followed the three girls up the stairs. They went into one of the bedrooms – a small one with a canopy bed and an ornate dresser set. Black and white pictures of, Stella assumed, the sisters from the story Musa had told them hung around the room, just like they had in the corridor.
Stella and Flora approached the Earth girls as Tecna walked around the room, observing the pictures. One of Mitzi's friends – Rebekah – started to tell them about the sisters who'd lived here, but Stella cut her off. "We know that part. Get to the curse."
"It's bullshit" the last girl – Chrissy – insisted, but Rebekah argued that it wasn't. She told them about the sightings of the sisters, particularly the missing sister. Sightings of the three murdered sisters were not uncommon, but the missing sister's sightings were rare – and deadly. Those who'd wandered into the house and seen her claimed to experience unexpected dizziness and lightheadedness; they'd start coughing blood; random changes in temperature; blood pouring down the walls; and inexplicable changes in the house.
"Which means what exactly?" Tecna's tone dripped with disbelief. Stella recognised her expression too – unimpressed; she used it often. Stella, for her part, though, was starting to hate being in this house. She came for a party, not for a fucking haunting or curse.
"One guy said that the pans from the kitchen showed up in the foyer and then again in one of the bedrooms. The creepiest – and I think most common – is changes in the pictures."
"You mean like that?" Tecna pointed to one of the pictures on the wall. From Stella's point of view, she could see the way Tecna's finger shook slightly as she lifted it. It may have been the poor lighting in the room, but Stella could swear the logical fairy was even paler than usual.
Stella turned to look at the picture in question. "A picture of the four of the sisters?"
"There were three of them in the picture a minute ago..."Tecna replied.
"Ooooh, I don't like this" Flora quaked. Stella could feel her heart beating in her chest. She stared at the picture as Mitzi's friends yelled at each other behind her.
"Maybe you're mistaken, Tecna." Stella hoped against all odds that Flora was right; that Tecna was making a mistake.
"Yeah, you have to be cause if you're not then... this is bad."
Mitzi went into a coughing fit before Tecna could answer – and, preferably, tell them that she'd actually done drugs while she was alone and that she was likely hallucinating. The three fairies turned to look at their host, sitting up in bed with the assistance of one of her friends. When Mitzi stopped coughing, her arm had blood on it, and a thin trail of blood dribbled down her lips. Mitzi wiped it off. Her eyes opened wide in horror as she saw the stains of red.
"I do not like this. I am leaving."Tecna turned away and sped down the hallway. Stella shouted after her, but she didn't come back for them.
Rebekah looked around the room with trembling lips and tear-stained cheeks. "Should we be calling an ambulance?"
"Uh..." "Yes?"
"Why is that a question? Yes!" Flora shouted. Stella looked at her in shock. She hated when Flora yelled; that was a bad sign.
Rebekah pulled her phone out of her bra and started to dial. Mitzi slapped the phone out of her hand and onto the grey duvet. "We can't call an ambulance!" she shouted. "We're not supposed to be here. You morons already know that!"
"Yeah, but Mitzi, the curse..."
"We're trespassing?"
"In a way..." Carmen mumbled in response to Flora's question. The flower fairy went white and, with a very quick I can't be here headed out of the room and back down the hall. Stella looked back at the four girls in the room with her. Rebekah and Mitzi were arguing about calling an ambulance – or an exorcist – while Carmen and Chrissy looked around the room in a panicked state. It was obvious that, as much as they tried to claim it was crap, they were starting to believe in the curse too.
"And I... just don't want to be" Stella said before following Flora down. She'd decided that if she was going to be anywhere that was cursed, it was going to be with her friends. They were the people she cared about. It didn't hurt that they were also the ones with powers that could help her fight if need be.
"Tecna, are you okay?" Bloom asked as she approached the table. Musa had disappeared – as had Andy. Bloom stood up, followed closely by Aisha once she reached the table. Tecna felt Bloom's hand hovering behind her back, hesitant to touch her.
"I have… been better."Tecna felt like she was going to pass out. Even through the battles last year, she didn't feel like her heart had dropped into her stomach the way it had now. She placed her hands on the table to steady herself and explain what had happened when Flora and Stella came running up behind her, making a fuss about the curse.
"Excuse me?" Aisha replied skeptically. Tecna would have sided with the morphix fairy if she hadn't seen what she had seen. That picture, she was certain of it, had been of three of the sisters. She'd paid particular attention to it because it had creeped her out. The sisters were sickly pale – even for a black and white photo – with stringy black hair and beady eyes. The thought of the picture made her want to throw up.
"This party is cursed!" Flora repeated in a pitch higher than Tecna thought possible.
"She's right. It is."
"No, it isn't" Aisha scoffed. Tecna found herself being irritated by the princess. How could she dismiss what they'd seen so easily? Mitzi, as far as Tecna knew, didn't have any illnesses that would cause her to cough up blood. She had seemed perfectly healthy at the beginning of the night, and Tecna wished she had had the foresight to analyze the room.
"Why do you guys think the party's cursed?"
Tecna recounted what had happened when they followed Mitzi and co. up the stairs – with some input from Stella. Tecna could see Bloom's face grow worried as she spoke and it only served to reinforce her certainty. It was worrying. Monsters and creatures Tecna could handle. Ghosts, well, she knew nothing about them and that made her uneasy.
"Okay, yeah... That's super spooky" Bloom admitted.
"Maybe you made a mistake? Confused it with another picture?
Tecna fixed Aisha with a glare that made the princess shrink back into her seat. How dare she doubt Tecna so much. She knew she wasn't the easiest to read, but Tecna wasn't one to let herself get carried away by emotions. If she was flipping out, it was because there was valid reason to be flipping out. "I know what I saw."
Dancing with Andy was nice. He was nice. He kind of reminded her of Jared: sweet, easy-going, kind of a goof. She could see why Bloom had liked him. He wasn't Musa's type, but she could see it. He was a likeable guy.
She had been nosy – she was willing to admit it – and had asked what he had apologized to Bloom for, and he spilled everything with very little prompting. He told her all about his girlfriend and how, as much as he cared about her, the relationship was ending, and it was causing a lot of awkward moments. It's like we're just waiting for the other to make a move he'd admitted.
And then, like she'd been possessed, she told him about Riven; about how she was basically in love with a guy that gave her the bare minimum of attention. He'd laughed and told her the guy must be a moron, so she recounted the non-existent story of them – all of it. She told Andy about meeting Riven, about their conversation in the middle of the night on the day of the rose, his refusal to save her from the hoard of witches, Darcy's mind control and their meeting in Magix during break week, the conversation they'd had during the war and about what happened at Red Fountain the day before.
"Why did you stay with me?" she asked Riven, rubbing the back of her head as she tried to sit up. It hurt like an absolute bitch, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't kind of happy about it and, specifically, that it meant he was with her.
"To check on everyone" he replied coldly. Musa gave an exasperated sigh, which caught his attention more than her movement had. He turned to her and tried to help her adjust comfortably. Something she was conscious enough to note he hadn't done with a single other person. In fact, besides asking one of them – Chris – if he was okay when he came to, he hadn't even acknowledged them. She pointed out as much, but he ignored her. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine" she replied.
"Good." He got up and started checking on the other students, but every now and then when she was shamelessly watching him, their eyes would meet. He'd look away quickly like he'd been the one to get caught staring. Musa didn't care. She didn't get to look at him in person as often as she'd like, so she was going to take advantage.
When he was done 'checking' on the other students, he sat in front of her. Musa watched silently as he looked at the ground between them, wondering if she should ask if he was okay too. To her knowledge, this was the first time he'd seen Darcy up close since the end of last year. It couldn't have been easy.
"A..." she started, but the words died in her throat. Riven looked up at her, eyes wide, curious and attentive. He looked so fucking adorable that she impulsively sat up quickly to start moving towards him. She only stopped because it made her a bit dizzy.
Riven was at her side in seconds with his hand on her shoulder. His other hand hovered around her, ready to catch her if she fell. Musa leaned back against the wall and looked up at him. He watched her, worry wrinkling his features. "I'm okay" she assured him. Riven nodded, falling back a bit but remaining close enough that he was by her side if she needed him until she was well enough to get up. When medics arrived for the other students, he offered his hand to help her up. When she confirmed that she could walk, he led her down to the tunnels where they found chaos.
It was even more confusing because he'd made a point of asking if she was okay after Sky was taken away. It was brief and awkward, but most of their exchanges tended to be these days. He asked if she was okay, she said she was and asked if he was, he said yes then walked away. He didn't look back – she knew; she watched him go.
"I know what I saw" Tecna said firmly, glowering at Aisha. The Androsi princess sunk into her seat and put her hands out in front of her in forfeit. Musa stopped still at the edge of the table, eyes darting around the group curiously. Bloom sat at Stella's side, staring at the table awkwardly while Stella looked across the room. Flora was biting her lip beside Musa, so she leaned into the nature fairy and asked: "What's happening?"
"We're cursed" Flora mumbled.
"It's the sisters. This party is cursed" Stella elaborated.
Musa stared at the two girls blankly. "You've gotta be shitting me."
"No. We are all doomed."
Musa turned to Tecna slowly. Flora and Stella believing this crap she could understand, but Tecna? There's a logical answer behind everything Tecna. Tecna believed in the so-called curse. "This is ridiculous" Musa insisted, which seemed to offend Tecna, but she didn't really care. Tecna had said plenty of things that were not exactly nice. Like that time Musa had let her read one of the songs she'd written and Tecna criticized it to bits under the pretense of it being meant to be constructive. Except that Musa's reasoning for being offended at Tecna made sense, and here Tecna was just being, well, ridiculous. "How about we dance? That'll get your minds off it."
"Good idea!" Bloom agreed, clearly desperate to stop thinking about this nonsense. The redhead stood up, grabbing Stella and Tecna – the two closest to her – by the wrist and dragging them to the dance floor. Aisha followed behind them, as did Musa.
"But the curse..." Flora mumbled. Musa turned back to see she'd barely moved from the table, so she followed Bloom's lead and took Flora by the hand and led her to the dance floor. "There's no curse, Flora. Come on."
Musa and Aisha were right (Bloom hoped): there was no curse. At least, she hoped there was no curse. She and the girls danced quietly for a few minutes. Bloom tried to get into it and just have fun, but Flora, Stella and Tecna kept looking around the room like the walls were going to try to eat someone. And Bloom couldn't get into it because she hated that Musa had agreed to dance with Andy. She knew she had no reason to be, but why would the singer agree to dance with her ex – who was also currently in a relationship.
Bloom couldn't get it off her mind and – since today was apparently a day for conversations – she pulled Musa aside. "Why did you dance with Andy?" she demanded before Musa could say anything. And before she could lose her nerve. "He has a girlfriend..."
"And?"
"He has a girlfriend" Bloom repeated more forcefully. If she were in Dani's place, she wouldn't be too happy about someone else dancing with her boyfriend. Musa probably wouldn't be either.
"Yeah, I know. It was just a dance."
"So you're not into him?" Musa looked at Bloom incredulously. And, as the musical fairy explained that it was just a dance and that she actually convinced Andy to have a talk with his girlfriend, Bloom realised that maybe she was overreacting a bit. "Oh... okay."
Musa returned to the group and Bloom walked away to find Andy. She walked through the entire first floor of the house past girls taking shots and laughing, through groups so large she'd had to walk into their circle, and past more than one couple making out and seconds away from tearing their clothes off. When she finally found him, he was sitting outside by the path that led up to the house with Dani.
She watched from a distance as the couple talked, noticing in the dim light of the lamp posts that lined the path that they were holding hands. Dani had her body turned towards him and was resting her forehead on his shoulder. Bloom thought she could see the blonde tremble, but it was hard to tell in the dark. Whatever they were talking about looked serious, so she didn't stick around.
The music stopped abruptly as Bloom was heading back into the house. A cacophony of murmurs and shouts filled the space, one word indistinguishable from the other. Whatever had happened to cause the frenzy was happening at the opposite end of the room where the guests were all fixated, and her friends were located. Fuck, she hoped none of them had gotten hurt. She couldn't handle almost losing someone else. Bloom pushed through the crowd, elbowing people out of her way. The further into the room she went without finding them, the more her heart started to beat and breathing became hard.
She finally found her friends. All of them seemed fine, but they were facing away from her. "What happened -" Bloom pushed through the winx girls to see what everyone was going on about. Her heart dropped as she looked up at the wall. "Oh fuck..."
"You all see that right?" Flora squeaked out from somewhere beside her. Bloom swallowed heavily as she nodded.
Suddenly, the blurred words around her started to sort themselves out and Bloom realised how terrified the people around her were.
"Is that fucking blood?"
"Oh fuck no. I've watched enough horror movies to know we need to get the fuck out of here."
"Wait for me! I don't want to be here either!"
"What the hell is happening?!"
"This better be a fucking prank, Mitzi!"
"I think I'm gonna throw up..."
"Whose blood is that?"
"This is one of the signs" Flora cried, turning towards Aisha and Musa. Bloom had never seen her look so wide-eyed and panicked. Flora had seen students be brought into the infirmary torn open and half dead without flinching much, but this was pushing her over the edge. "Now will you admit there's a curse?"
"I would rather not." Aisha crossed her arms over her chest.
"Really? Because we are looking at a wall of blood. The curse appears to be the only logical conclusion."
"See, it's the curse. And we're gonna die here" Stella shouted. The blonde started to walk in circles, holding her temples as she spoke. Bloom wanted to grab Stella's hand to keep her nearby, but all she could do was stare at the wall and try not to throw up. "We survived an entire goddamn war to die because of some poorly dressed ghosts! That's just great!"
"I..."
"Just accept it, dude." Musa cut Aisha off, placing one of her hands on the princess' shoulder. "If Tecna can't see any other explanation, there probably isn't one. It's the curse."
Bloom finally managed to tear her eyes away from the bloody wall to put her arms around Stella's shoulders and stop the blonde from walking a circle into the ground. Stella put her hands over Bloom's and squeezed them tightly. The tan had drained from her face, leaving her looking pale and scared. Bloom took a deep, shaky breath, trying to steady her nerves.
A troubling flicker of the lights started causing the guests who'd been frozen in place to go into a frenzy. They were tossed around as party-goers pushed past them to get to the front door and away from the house as quickly as possible. Bloom held on to Stella as a guest knocked her to the floor in their panic. Stella managed to stop Bloom from hitting the old wood floor and helped her back to her feet.
"Faulty electricity?" Aisha suggested weakly when the girls looked at her, asking for an explanation.
"Uh huh... and that?" Musa raised her hand, pointing towards the stairs that led off to the second floor. Bloom followed her arm, nearly falling to her feet when she saw a ghostly white woman with long dark hair and a blood smeared nightgown standing on the stairs. The woman stared at them with furrowed brows and flaring nostrils. Bloom thought she looked kind of familiar. Her already rapidly beating heart threatened to stop then and there when she realised that the woman was familiar because Bloom had seen pictures of her around the house while she was looking for Andy: it was one of the murdered sisters.
"I'm too beautiful to die in a dingy old building on Earth!" Stella cried, dropping her head onto the nearest shoulder – Tecna's.
"Does the where really make a difference?"
"If it was at least a building as beautiful and interesting as me..." Stella's sniffling continued.
Bloom looked around to realisein horror that they were the last people still standing in the room. Everyone else had run, leaving the six of them standing there with their hearts in their stomachs and their feet glued in place. "Girls! What do we do?"
"Leave?" "Panic?" "Attack?"
"Ghosts?" Musa squeaked in response to Aisha's suggestion that they attack. "Do our powers work against ghosts?"
"Whether or not they do is neither here nor there. We cannot use them on Earth."Tecna took three steps away from the group as she spoke. "Alfea has trackers for this sort of thing. We are not supposed to be on Earth, much less using magic on Earth."
"Does that matter if the ghosts are gonna kill us anyways?" Stella wondered as Bloom questioned Alfea's tracking their students' magic use on Earth. Was that even legal? And how exactly did they track the students' magic in an entire other dimension?
"Girls! Ghosts!" Flora's shout brought the girls back to more pressing matters. Bloom yelped as she turned to face the nature fairy and locked eyes with a dark pair behind her.
The two other sisters had joined the party.
One stood at the kitchen entrance, staring back at Bloom. Her dark hair hung in her eyes and down her back. Like the sister on the stairs, she wore an ankle-length white nightgown spattered in blood. A knife protruded from her chest where most of the blood was concentrated.
The other stood by the front door watching the group with a devilish look that made Bloom's blood run cold. Her gown was so soaked in blood that it clung to her legs and dripped down her ankles and heels onto the floor.
A creak echoed through the old, empty house as the first sister took a step down the stairs. The other two followed in her stead, approaching the group of fairies. Tecna, who'd started moving towards the front door, retreated into the group. Bloom stepped back too, bumping into Flora who grabbed her hand tightly as the lights went out.
"Okay, fine! There's a curse!"
Bloom jumped as someone touched her arm, calming a little when she heard Tecna whisper beside her. "We need to leave..."
"How?" Aisha hissed. "They're by all the exits."
"Does anyone smell that?" Stella's voice questioned from somewhere in the dark.
"Not the time, Stella."
"No, but..."
"Guys, I think someone is coming towards us…"Musa whispered. The group stopped. Frozen in place with Flora's hand in hers and Tecna's hand – at least, she thought it was Tecna's– on her arm, Bloom listened attentively for footsteps. She heard nothing except the sound of her own heart beating furiously in her chest and her short, ragged breaths.
Seconds passed like molasses as she waited for something – anything – to happen. She was sure that everyone could hear her wild heartbeat in the otherwise unsettlingly silent house. She knew that any moment now the sisters would reach them. She waited anxiously for the moment where a hand would reach out to grab her, or a voice that she didn't know would speak.
What would happen after that, she had no idea. She didn't know if their powers worked against ghosts. Hers certainly wouldn't; how do you burn something that's not really there?
The lights buzzed to life, temporarily blinding Bloom. When she got a sense of herself, she realised that Musa was actually the one holding her arm and that the reason Tecna sounded so close was because she was holding on to Musa for dear life. Bloom ventured a look at Stella on Musa's other side -
"Oh fuck!" Flora shouted, dropping Bloom's hand and stepping back onto Bloom's heel. Bloom turned to her, heart stopping when she saw what had scared Flora. The fourth sister was standing inches from the nature fairy, staring at her through wide, pitch black eyes like her sisters, but there was something unsettlingly demonic about hers. She smiled maliciously at Flora, who had taken a few steps back and folded into herself. "Please don't kill us..." Flora whimpered.
Flora pushed back into the group, cowering away from the girl. In turn, the sister took a step forward. Bloom took Flora's arm and stepped back. The group moved with her – all of them except Stella who stepped up to the fourth sister and smirked.
"Nice try Mitzi" the blonde scoffed. "As if I wouldn't recognise your nauseating, cheap drugstore perfume."
Bloom caught a glimpse of confusion of all of the girls' faces as the ghost reached up to her face and peeled off her skin – prosthetics Bloom hoped – to reveal Mitzi, who glared at Stella furiously. Bloom couldn't believe it. She stepped forward, demanding Mitzi explain what the fucking deal was.
"Chill out, Bloom. It was just a prank." Mitzi peeled off the wig and fake eyebrows as her friends joined the group, removing their own prosthetics.
"You should've seen your faces" Chrissy laughed hysterically.
Bloom didn't see what was funny about making people fear for their lives. She was all for harmless pranks – she'd once done that thing where you put saran wrap across a door frame and call someone into a room, and she and her parents had had a good laugh at the makeup her mom had left smeared on it – but this was far from harmless. What if one of them had a heart condition and had dropped dead?
"You ruined your own party for a prank?"
Mitzi rolled her eyes at Aisha's question. Mitzi's flippant attitude towards her friends made Bloom fume. Was it really so hard to show even the least bit of consideration for someone else? "People will still be talking about it" the dark-haired girl shrugged. "So there's no downside really."
"That's not very nice..."
"Fucking lame" Musa said in agreement with Flora's comment. The musical fairy gave Mitzi a scornful look. "Let's go."
"Yeah. There are so many better places to be than a mediocre party thrown by a less than mediocre person." Stella flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned her back to Mitzi and her friends. The sun fairy took Bloom's hand as she led the way out of the house. Bloom wasted one last glance at the so-called pranksters before she stepped out. Mitzi's entire face crinkled in offence and, despite having turned her body towards her friends, she stared at the group of fairies with a burning hatred in her eyes. And, because she was furious at the girl – or because there was nothing Mitzi could do to her anymore – Bloom flipped her off before letting the door close behind her.
Musa, who'd caught the action, laughed loudly, as she wrapped her arm around Bloom's shoulders. Somehow, the group found themselves forming a linked chain: Tecna's elbow hooked with Musa who had her arm around Bloom who held hands with Stella who held hands with Flora who had her elbow hooked with Aisha.
"I told you guys there was no curse" Aisha commented as they made their way down the winding road that led back to the gate and the small street.
"Shut up. You fell for it too" Musa snarked with a laugh.
"A prank... It seems so obvious now." Laughter erupted from all of them at Tecna's comment. They dropped each other's arms and hands, rounding out into a circle as they exited the property. It took a few minutes for them to find their composure. Every little thing made them crack up – from Bloom snorting as she laughed to Stella almost tripping over her own feet and Flora accidentally knocking Aisha in the boob with her elbow.
"So where do we go now? Back to school?" Flora asked once they'd managed to stop laughing.
"Fuck no" Stella replied. "Let's find food."
"Ooooh, yes!" Musa agreed enthusiastically. "All Mitzi had was sweets and I would fucking kill for something more substantial."
"There is someone you can kill at the top of the hill" Tecna replied in a tone that worried Bloom. The technological fairy didn't sound menacing or angry, but it was hard to tell if she was joking or not. Musa appeared to know, though, because she started laughing again.
Bloom's stomach rumbled loudly, earning amused looks from her friends. Food did sound like a good idea, especially if it was something she couldn't get in Magix. "McDonalds?" she suggested with a wide grin. Five sets of confused eyes looked at her as she remembered that they would – obviously – have no idea what that was. "Burgers. It's burgers."
"Yes! That. Let's do that." Stella motioned for Bloom to lead the way. Bloom had no idea where to find a McDonalds on the outskirts of Gardenia, but she did know where to find one in the city itself. She led them down the streets until they found a bus line that took them to the city center – a surprisingly quick feat.
By some grace of the gods, the bus pulled up a few minutes after they'd found the stop. The girls piled in, dropping the exact amount of change (courtesy of Bloom's old change purse which had made its way to Alfea with some American coins and, thanks to her desire to be ready for anything, into Flora's purse).
The bus was completely empty. Bloom took her go-to spot on any public bus – the back corner. Musa sat in front of her with Stella taking the seat beside the singer. Tecna took the opposite corner with Flora and Aisha sitting in front of her facing Musa and Stella.
"Hey Stell, don't cry and call Brandon this time" Musa snickered.
"Don't eat my fucking food this time." Stella flicked Musa's pigtail, leading the two girls into an argument that had them in stitches seconds later.
"What are they talking about?" Tecna wondered as the bus came to a halt at the next stop. Bloom shrugged as Dani stepped onto the bus – alone. The blonde looked like she'd been crying. The near perfect makeup she'd worn was smudged under her eyes and down her cheeks. Dani noticed Bloom and waved but took a seat near the front facing away from them.
Bloom excused herself from the group and went to sit in front of Dani. The girl looked much more torn up from close. Her entire face was blotchy and her eyes severely red-rimmed and glassy. "We broke up" Dani mumbled, never taking her head off the bus window or looking at Bloom.
"Oh..." Bloom didn't know what else to say. She'd been heartbroken when she and Andy had ended, but she didn't think Dani really wanted to hear about her now-ex-boyfriend breaking another girl's heart before her. It didn't help that Bloom didn't know who had been the one to end it – though she had a feeling it was Andy – whereas she had been the one to break up with him. "Do you want to come to McDonalds with us?" Bloom offered, not really knowing what else to do. Dani smiled through her tears but refused the offer.
They sat in one of the back booths of a nearly empty McDonalds. Musa had expected more people – or people in general – to be there. Bloom had said this was probably the most popular food chain on Earth and that it was always packed. In a very Tecna-like moment, Musa had taken Bloom literally and found herself surprised to see a very bored-looking cashier standing behind the counter of an empty restaurant.
"This is such a good burger" Stella stated between bites of her burger. Musa watched in a mix of horror and amusement as the princess – making her etiquette teacher proud – shoved a handful of fries into her mouth and swallowed with the help of a big gulp of soda.
"Have you ever met a burger you did not like?"
Stella paused her sip to consider Tecna's question. "No" she replied with a laugh. "But this one's extra delicious. I really needed something much more filling after all those sweets."
"You did eat a lot of sugar" Tecna agreed. Stella insisted she hadn't, but had to relent when Tecna started to list off the contents of the pile of sugar Stella'd brought to the table. From there, the conversation slipped into what everyone had thought of Halloween.
Musa's mind trailed off to her conversation with Andy. She had told him to be honest and talk to Dani, but she hadn't expected him to do it ten minutes after they'd stopped dancing. Her heart had broken for the girl she'd never met when Bloom told them. She shouldn't have said anything; should've just nodded and told him that she empathized.
He'd told her the same. Talk to Riven. Tell him how she feels. Like that was going to fucking happen. She'd rather chew off her own arm. The sheer humiliation of admitting to those feelings to someone who seemed to have no interest in her was too much. She'd never be able to face the squad again. If Riven liked her back, he'd have done something about it by now… well, maybe not by now. He needed time to heal from the mind control; she understood that. But he would do something about it. He was too stubborn to not go after what he wanted.
"I can't believe Mitzi would do that..." Flora was saying when Musa tuned back into the conversation.
"I can" Bloom scoffed. "She's always been a bully."
"To ruin her own party though..."
"I'll take those." Musa leaned forward, picking up the two small pickle slices Tecna had pulled out of her burger. She placed them in her own and took a bite. These Big Macs needed more pickle, less shredded lettuce. "It was definitely fucked up" she agreed, covering her mouth as she spoke.
"Beyond."
Tecna shook her head. "I still cannot believe I did not think of a prank..."
"It seems so obvious now, doesn't it?" Aisha said, leaning over to take one of Flora's nuggets. "This doesn't taste like chicken..."
"It really does seem obvious in retrospect..."Tecna said blankly. Musa watched in amusement as the technological fairy took a bite of her burger without blinking or taking her eyes off the spot on the table she'd fixated on. "Poor Tecna. I think Mitzi broke her."
"I don't think I like Mitzi."
"I know I don't" Bloom scoffed at Flora's comment. Flora grimaced, reluctantly admitting that she didn't like Mitzi.
"I have a very important question" Stella announced, pausing to take a sip of her drink. Her eyes went wide and she slowly replaced the drink in front of Bloom and reached for the one beside it. When she was done her sip, she turned to Bloom. "Okay, if Mitzi and Diaspro were both hanging off a cliff about to fall to their deaths and you could only save one of them, who would you choose?"
"Diaspro has wings..."Tecna pointed out only to be completely ignored.
Bloom made a face as she considered the question. "Neither."
Stella stared at Bloom blankly. Beside her, Flora chuckled. "Okay," the blonde said, changing her strategy. "you have to save one of them."
"Once again: Diaspro has wings."
"Am I allowed to throw myself off the cliff instead?"
"You also have wings."
Musa laughed, claiming that Bloom's request seemed reasonable. If she were in Bloom's place, she wouldn't save them either. If she were in Bloom's place and Mitzi and Diaspro were replaced with Darcy and her cousin Galatea, she would stomp on their fingers until they let go and fell.
Stella, through her laughter, insisted that she prefer Bloom not toss herself from the cliff and just make a choice.
"I would save Diaspro" Flora advised.
Aisha scoffed. "I wouldn't."
Bloom eventually chose Diaspro, citing the fact that, while she hated the princess, Diaspro never went out of her way to make my life miserable. "I still hate her though" Bloom added on for good measure.
Stella teleported the girls home not too much later via magic postcard. Flora had never seen a postcard that could teleport people before. She knew teleportation was a thing – though not very common on Linphea – but the postcard was an exciting discovery. Miele would be so impressed and curious about how it worked and what it was like. To answer the barrage of questions she knew her sister would have, Flora – in her exhausted state – tried to remember every detail: how Stella had activated it, how falling through it felt, and what landing was like.
They'd had to sneak into Alfea, a feat Musa led them through with discomforting ease. When they finally got back to their dorm, there was no dallying around. They all went right to their rooms to get some sleep. As much fun as it was getting dolled up and feeling the confidence of that as she walked into the party, Flora found herself wishing that she'd done like Aisha, Tecna and Musa, and not worn makeup.
"Brandon texted me earlier" Bloom told Flora as she crawled into her bed. "Sky is sleeping, but he seems to be doing well."
"Oh, that's great, sweetie." Bloom smiled brightly before turning off her bedside table and falling into a well-needed sleep.
Flora found herself unable to drift off despite her exhaustion from the long night. From Sky and how he was doing her mind wandered over to Riven and how he was doing. Something had happened when he'd come face to face with Darcy, and Flora had the feeling it hadn't been the easiest on him. She wished he would stop being so closed off and stubborn. Friends – confidants – were good to have and this ridiculous tendency he had to shut himself off from the people that cared about him made her want to scream.
She pulled her hand out of the warmth of her covers and shot it out aimlessly to grab her phone off the bedside table. She texted Riven that she was coming over the next day. It wasn't like her to be so forceful, but Flora was determined to be the friend he needed whether he wanted her to be or not.
Riven (2:51 am): Uh... ok...
Flora chuckled to herself. She could hear the confused tone of his voice in his text. Why was he up, she wondered. Was he lying in bed unable to sleep with Helia fast asleep across the room? Or were they up and hanging out?
From there her mind drifted off to the artist. She smiled, remembering the picture in her bedside drawer that she didn't dare show the girls lest they ask where it came from and find out about her crush.
And then, in a completely out of character moment, she picked up her phone. She opened her contact book and scrolled to the number Aisha had added two days earlier before nearly throwing her phone back onto the bedside table and turning over to get the sleep she knew she wouldn't get if he did answer her as fast as Riven had.
Flora (2:57 am) :Hi Helia. It's Flora.
1. Prirodana is inspired from the word priroda, which means nature