Author's Note: YAYZZZ! MORE story alerts! I'm so happy! I already have 17 story follows from just 8 chapters! That's never happened to me before! I think I'll have 20 before I reach chapter 10! I'm so excited!

There are so many different versions of Winx Club, I just wanna punch someone.


When I awoke, I found myself in my dorm room bed with a memory as empty as beer cans after a football game.

"Shit. What happened?" I groaned, sitting up and swinging my legs over my bed. I rested my bare feet on the floor and tried to remember why I had been knocked out. The only things I could remember were Riven and a murky swamp. I was going over to fight him…And then everything went back. What happened afterwards was unknown as the number of boob jobs the Kardashian Sisters had (and how much they cost).

Dammit. Did I get into a bottle of tequila again? Was what I was experiencing just a bad hangover? No, that was impossible. I didn't remember stashing any alcohol in my bag before we left for the swamp. No, this was from something else…

I jumped up to my feet. Well, all of that didn't really matter now. As long as I was up and breathing, everything was fine. Correction: it would be. First, I had to get some grub. I was hungry as a hostage.

Not bothering to put any shoes on, I wandered out of the room and into the crowded hall. Where was this kitchen in this place anyways? Griselda had given all the students maps of Alfea at the beginning of the year, but I think I threw mine away or something.

As I proceeded down a wing, I looked at the window. The sky was gray with thick dark clouds, meaning a storm was coming. But why?

"…a dazzling light appeared…"

I paused in the middle of the hallway at the sound of Ms. Faragonda's voice, noticing I was right outside her office.

"It was the Great Dragon," her faint voice explained. My heart skipped a beat. She was telling Bloom the story of the Great Dragon and its Flame. Taking advantage of the fact I was now the only girl in the corridor, I pressed myself against the wall beside Faragonda's closed door so I could eavesdrop.

"And with his fiery breath, he created countless worlds and universes," went on Faragonda's voice on the other side, "he spread love, light, and heat across the universe. His power was truly magnificent." I allowed myself to slide into a sitting position as Faragonda went on with the story. "Eventually, the Dragon grew tired and chose to rest in a place called Domino."

"But according to Stella, Domino's an unfriendly, cold, harsh wasteland," pointed out Bloom's soft voice.

"Now it is. But it wasn't always that way. It used to be happy and prosperous until dark forces came and put out the Dragon's Flame once and for all."

And that would be the handy work of Valtor and his mothers, the Three Ancestral Witches. I narrowed my eyes. That sick bastard was still frozen solid in the Omega Dimension, waiting to be freed by the equally as sick Trix sisters. I clenched a fist. But now that I was in Magix, I could stop that from happening. I could destroy Valtor and his block of ice before the Trix or anybody had the chance to find him. But first, I had to get stronger.

"Tell me Bloom. Why are you suddenly so interested in the Dragon?" Faragonda was asking Bloom when I shook out of my thoughts.

Well, that meant it was time for me to make like a banana and split. This conversation was over. Shoving my hands into my hoodie's pockets, I casually started back down the hall like nothing happened.


"GUYS!" I exploded, barging into Stella's room. I was immediately greeted by the smell of lavender and plotting. All faces turned to me welcomed myself into the room.

"Acadia!" Bloom and Musa threw themselves at me. "You've been asleep for about a week," informed Bloom as Musa squeezed me half to death. "We were worried sick."

"Yeah, yeah. I missed you guys, too. Now, when are we going to Cloud Tower?" I asked quickly, sitting down on the floor beside the door. There was sudden silence, the sounds being the rain pitter-patting on the window.

"How'd you know about that?" asked Stella, raising an eyebrow at me. "Were you eavesdropping again?"

"They took your wing, didn't they?" I yawned. "And you want it back." Man, sometimes I felt like a goddess in this universe. I knew everything before it happened, meaning it was up to me whether to change them or not.

Flora's face twisted in confusion. "But how'd you know? You weren't there when Icy took Stella's ring."

"Doll, I know everything," I insisted, puffing out my chest. That was a lie straight from the pit, but hey! Who gave a fuck?

"Alright, but you need to be quiet about this," advised Tecna, observing me closer. "We all know how much of a big mouth you have-"

"Hey! You should be telling that to Goldilocks over there!" I snapped, pointing at Stella.

"Okay, okay! There's no need to argue," interrupted Flora, smiling sweetly. "We need to work as a team if we want to complete this mission successfully. And that means being on the same page." Stella and I murmured our agreements.

"So here's the plan: when everyone goes to sleep later on tonight, we use the tunnels underneath Alfea to sneak into Cloud Tower," Bloom told me quickly. Of course, I already knew that but I didn't say so.

"What do we do until then?" asked Musa, looking up at Stella's wall clock. "We still have another hour and a half until we can leave."

Stella shrugged. "I hate waiting. It's so boring. That being said, let's play a little game."

"I'm not killing anybody!" blurted Flora randomly, causing all of us to turn and stare at her.

"I wasn't going to ask you to." Stella, who was seated on the floor, rolled her eyes at Flora's innocence. She rubbed her hands devilishly. "I was talking about a little game of truth or dare."

"I'm not playing that," I glowered, "thanks to one of you guys, specifically STELLA, I'm gonna end up getting expelled."

"Oh, c'mon! I promise I won't get too crazy," giggled Stella, twirling some blond hair around her finger.

"No way."

"But what are we supposed to do for the next hour and a half?" Stella pouted, sticking out her bottom lip childishly. "Sit around here and do nothing?" There was silence.

"Fine, fine. But if this goes wrong…" I trailed off warningly. Usually, I would be all up for a juicy game of truth or dare. But tonight…I just felt uneasy. I wasn't nervous about my first trip to Cloud Tower. Something else was bugging me. Something…important. But nevertheless, I stayed quiet as we all formed a circle. This time, Flora made sure she wedged between Bloom and Tecna instead of me, Musa, or Stella.

"Okay, so let's begin," announced Stella with a small giggle. "Musa, truth or dare?"

"I'll go with truth. For now." Musa grinned evilly.

"What's the worst rumor you've ever repeated?" questioned Stella, her eyes glowing with curiosity. "That ultimately turned out to be wrong."

Musa didn't even have to think about that one. "Well, in middle school, there was this rumor going on about this eighth-grader who got pregnant the night of a school dance…"

"Ooh!" the rest of us went.

"One of my friends was sick the week the rumor started so when she came back, I told her everything. But it wasn't because I believed it. Everyone was talking about it, and my friend was super confused so I only enlightened her. Cadey, truth or dare?"

"Huh?" I shook out of my thoughts. "Oh, uh, truth." I wasn't really paying attention to the game. For some odd reason, I was just…feeling creeped out.

"What's the wildest thing you've done with a guy?"

I gagged at the question. "Well, there's this white-trash family across the street back at home," I started with disgust, "I accidentally threw my dad's expensive watch into their yard and I had to wrestle one of them for it."

Stella snorted. "If someone dared attack me, my bodyguards would take them down in two seconds."

"Well, not all of us have that option. Where I come from, if you want something, you gotta fight for it. That goes double for me, considering I have six siblings." I yawned despite the fact I'd been in an enchanted sleep for who knew how long.

Stella gasped. "Six siblings? You poor thing."

"Yeah, yeah. Spare me the memories. Anyways, truth or dare, Bloom?"

"Truth."

"What's the worst decision you've ever made?"

Bloom winced, making all of us sequel. "Well, when I was in middle school-" It's always middle school. "-I decided to go to this teen party with my friends. The whole place smelt like smoke and alcohol and some creep even tried to offer me some beer."

"I would've taken it," I snorted.

"Why, so you would end up like you?" countered Stella with a mean laugh.

"Shut up."

"Flores, truth or dare?" Bloom asked Flora, ignoring me and Stella as we bickered.

"You can never go wrong with truth."

"Okay then. Have you ever peed in a pool?"

"Nope. I didn't really care for swimming as a kid anyway. Tecna, truth or dare?"

"Truth of course."

"Have you ever been out with a bra on?" giggled Flora.

Stella and I gave her an eye roll. When it came to Flora, that was about the dirtiest she would ever get. "Negative. I always have one on. Even when I sleep," answered Tecna effortlessly. "Wait. Is that weird?"

"No. I do it, too," giggled Flora, "just in case."

"Just in case what?" I asked, glancing at her.

"Just in case I wake up and something happens. I won't have time to put one on, so I just wear one at all times," answered Flora with a smile.

Usually, I would've made a rude comment but that didn't happen. Instead, I smiled. "Good for you," I said. And I meant it.


Again, Somewhere Beyond the Reader's Knowledge

Stormy giggled and sighed hopefully at the Eye. Inside the crystal ball was a live capture of Other-Universe Winx, laughing and joking around with each other in a bedroom. What Stormy would give to experience such happy times again. She couldn't remember the last time Darcy or Icy laughed. Or anyone for that matter.

Knowing such uses of magic items could get them caught, Stormy turned off the device and looked up at the ceiling. Above it was the surface. The world. Sometimes, Stormy yearned to be up there. She yearned for friends and happiness. But that was simply impossible. The world was no longer filled with the light and hope it used to have. Instead, darkness, injustice, and corruption ruled all of the worlds. No matter how much the hopeful fought against it, the evil couldn't be erased. Like always, it remained. And got stronger.

At this rate, the darkness would spread throughout all universes and dimensions. Not even one corner would be missed. The Dark Empress's power was that flawless.

But there was hope. As long as there was a dimension out there that was filled with light, salvation was possible. But until then, there was nothing anyone could do against Dark Empress Bloom.

"I'm telling you, we should use this to our advantage," argued Gantlos' muffled yet gruff voice from the next room over. "They won't see us coming."

"I disagree. The empress has eyes and ears all over Magix. We need to remain where we are for time being. How many times have we rebelled against her and lost? How many battles have we lost, Gantlos?"

"Fighting beats standing around doing nothing!" shot back Gantlos, his voice rising.

"I'm with Gantlos on this one. Staying underground isn't going to solve anything," hissed Icy's chilly voice. "We need to act. We're wasting our time and lives hiding from that harpy! So what if she's stronger than us? If we die while fighting her, that'll be far better than living in this world!"

"Sister, you can't say things like that? What about Stormy?" reasoned Darcy's voice. At the mention of her name, Stormy slid her chair over to the wall so she could hear the conversation better. "She's the weakest out of us all. She's our little sister! We can't just make unwise decisions and risk losing her…"

Stormy clenched a fist and her eyes welled up with tears. So THAT was how they saw her. The weakest. The typical little sister. That wasn't fair!

"Enough. Until things look up, none of you will leave base," spoke up Valtor, making everyone go silent. "And that is an order."

Even from the other room, Stormy could feel the glares Icy and Gantlos were giving their leader. Things weren't any different from what they had been since Bloom first took over. Everyone was always split on their next move. No one knew what to do. No one could agree.

That was why they needed help. Because of they didn't get it, not only would their family fall apart, but the very dimension as well.


Hey, guys. Check this out," I giggled evilly, digging through of the bureaus. I held up a pack of feminine sanitary napkins. And it was open. "Someone's on their period," I chuckled in a sharp whisper, waving the bag around in the air. The Winx and I had successfully taken the tunnels leading into Cloud Tower and had managed to find the Trix's room. Now, we were just going through their personal belongings for Stella's ring. Of course, having already watched the episode, I already knew where the wing was but I wasn't going to reveal it to the others.

It was best they found it themselves. That and I also wanted some extra time to go through the Trix's stuff.

" Ew! Put that down! Don't you know if you come in contact with a girl who's on her period, you'll get yours too?" snapped Stella, putting her hands on her hips.

"Is that really true?" gasped Flora, suddenly turning bright red. "I-I didn't know that."

"That's completely illogical. Every girl gets her period when it's her own time of the month," said Tecna, shaking her head at Stella's ignorance as the rest of us searched the room. Because the Trix and Knut were gone, we were totally taking advantage of the situation. "You can't just contract a period like it's some kind of disease."

"Yeah. In that case, we'd all have our periods from touching Flora," piped up Musa with a giggle.

Flora turned even redder. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Oh, c'mon, Flora! It's obvious! You literally went to the bathroom every hour. And unless you had the runs, you were obviously going there to change your pad," pointed out Musa, side-leaning on the wall.

"You don't' use tampons?" I ask-teased, stuffing the bag of pads back into the drawer.

Flora blushed. "I-I don't feel comfortable putting aything 'down there'."

"You do know they won't take your virginity, right?" asked Musa, the corner of her mouth curling up into a smile.

"I don't use tampons either," admitted Stella, crossing her arms and holding her chin high with a snort. "I bet those things aren't comfortable. How do you insert them anyway? You just slide it in or what?"

I shrugged as I moved on to the next drawer. "I dunno. I don't use them either. But I did see a wikiHow page on how to. And there was this one time I tried using one and my brother walked in right when I was about to stick it in my-"

"Guys! We're here to find Stella's ring, not to discuss experiences with periods," interrupted Bloom seriously, frowning at us disapprovingly.

"More like hardships," muttered Stella.

"Unfortunately," murmured Tecna.

"Here here," grumbled Musa.

"I hear you, sister," I snorted, "and Bloom, what the fluff are you talking about? You literally have done nothing but stand there."

"What? I'm supervising!"

"Hey, girls. Check this out," I snickered, holding up a ragdoll that had a lot of pins and nails stuck in its backside. "I didn't know the Trix specialized in voodoo."

"Well, they are witches," reminded Stella, opening a bottle of perfume she found atop a nightstand. She took one whiff of it and hissed. "Yuck. No wonder you can smell those witches a mile away. That stuff smells like armpits."

I gasp-squeaked the second I pulled open the bottom drawer. "Dudes! The Trix have condoms!" I whispered fiercely, holding up a package. "And they're extra-large for males." Musa choked on nothing, Flora looked about ready to faint, Tecna gagged, and Bloom just facepalmed. "One of the Trix are getting it on with a guy who's super-long down there!" I exclaimed, noticing the box was opened.

"That or those belong to Knut," considered Stella aloud.

Everyone exchanged glances. "Ewwwww!" we all shrieked.

Man, I literally find the grossest stuff whenever I decide to go snooping through someone else's stuff. "Uh, let's get back to the task at hand!" I suggested quickly, returning the box to its place in the drawer. "But honestly, can you imagine anyone having 'it' with a beast like Knut?" I wondered aloud, eyeing the closet with curious temptation. I wanted to go int here and see what other freaky stuff the Trix kept, but something told me that wasn't such a good idea.

"Yeah, I know," giggled Stella, getting on all four and sticking her butt out. "Do they do it like this or…" She then laid down on the floor on her back and spread her legs apart so much, we could see her green panties. "…or like this?"

"Honestly, I think Knut's far too big to fit in between any girl's legs," implied Musa thoughtfully.

"Guys! Enough!" blurted Flora, looking overwhelmingly embarrassed and uncomfortable. "We have a mission, remember? We have to hurry before the Trix come back."

"Everyone, look at this!" hissed Musa, pointing at something on the wall. We all gathered around to see she was pointing at some kind of crest mounted high beside a desk. "Watch this," directed Musa, holding her finger in front of it. She slowly moved it to the right and the creepy eye followed her motion, its eyeball rolling to the right as well.

"Super creepy," shuddered Bloom.

"The Trix are typical witches. And speaking of the Trix, where are they?" mentioned Stella, running her fingers across the spines of the books on the shelf.

"Maybe they had a party," suggested Flora, eyeing a disgusting glob of brown stuff against the wall. "It sure looks like it."

"Well, if that is the case, I'm glad they didn't invite me," scowled Stella, bending down beside the brown pile. "What's this junk?"

"I think that might be Knut's test," assumed Musa as we all dared to get closer to the blob of shit.

"Highly unlikely. Ogres don't make tests," insisted Tecna logically, frowning with disgust. "But considering how revolting Knut is…"

"Hey! Look at that!" exclaimed Bloom, pointing at the gleaming object atop the glob.

"My ring!" squealed Stella, reaching out and gently picking up the heirloom. "Aw, come here, little one. Did you miss me?" She giggled, sliding it on her finger.

"Alright. Now since Stella has her ring back, let's bail before the Trix get back," urged Musa, following Tecna over to the door.

The shit was about to get real starting now. I just stood back and watched as Tecna tried to force the secret entrance open. "I believe there might be a lock or safety mechanism," she frowned, stepping back after her failed attempts to pull the door open.

"Maybe there's another way out…." hesitated Bloom slowly, starting for the old-as-Bill-Clinton-looking door on the opposite side of the wall. "There's something behind this door," she decided, "and it's not the way out. It's something completely different."

"This is not the time to be listening to your sixth sense. We need to go now," argued Tecna.

"Just give me a minute. This could be important," insisted Bloom, grasping the iron handle and pushing the door open.

And just like in the episode, the door led us into an archive. While the others gasped and marveled, I just yawned. Been there, done that.

"Look at all these books. Maybe they say something important," breathed Bloom, reaching out to grab a book.

That's when my sixth sense kicked Bloom made contact with that book, Headmistress Griffin would find us and report us to Ms. Faragonda! I was about to stop Bloom for making the mistake but I froze. If I didn't let this happen, Bloom would never have her first encounter with Daphne and that was something I didn't want to prevent. Such a decision wouldn't be pair to Bloom or her ghostly older sister.

That being said, I pressed my lips together and let Bloom pull the giant tome off the bookshelf. She it on a stone podium and opened it. Instantly, golden rays of magic emerged from the pages and shone in our faces.

"Wow. That was magical," exhaled an easily impressed Bloom once all the light faded.

Indeed it was. In fact, so magical that it was alerting Griffin just about now. She was most likely already spying at us through her crystal ball.

"I wonder what other kind of stuff is in here," said Flora, getting on her knees so she could read the spines of the books on the lower shelves. "This one's about a fairy named Carla."

"And this one's about a witch called Abigail, which gives me the creeps," shuddered Musa, putting down the book she had picked up.

"There must be a book on every fairy and witch that ever existed," realized Bloom, her eyes twinkling. "That's so cool."

"Cool? Does it not creep you out that Cloud Tower somehow has personal intel on everyone?" I snapped, putting my hands on my hips. Background checks, criminal records, copies of birth certificates, you name it, they got it!"

"Guys, I think we need to get out of here," repeated Tecna, looking a little too anxious.

"Just give me one more minute?" pleaded Bloom, "maybe there's a book in here about me. If I find it, I could find out more about myself and my powers."

That sparked an idea in my head. Perhaps she did have a point. Like Bloom (at the moment), I didn't know anything about my origins here on Magix either. If I even had one. Maybe the Ethereal Fairies just gifted these powers to me. Maybe they didn't have a true origin like everyone else's.

"EEK!"

Bloom's freakishly girly scream woke me up from my daydreams. I hurried around the corner to see Bloom screaming at a laughing book on a table. Dang it! I was so unfocused, I hadn't even noticed she found the book with her name.

"The book! What's wrong with it?" she cried out.

That, my friend, was the work of the headmistress playing with us. "Um, I think we should get out of here now!" exclaimed Musa, grabbing Bloom's shoulder.

"This way, everyone!" called Stella, pointing at the stone door in the front of the room. While the other rushed over to it, I didn't bother. Why? It was just going to disappear.

And just as the other made it over, the door completely disappeared. What did I tell you?

"Woah! The door…it's gone!" exclaimed Tecna, feeling the wall where the door used to be. "I don't wanna sound like a pessimist but um, I think we're in trouble?"

"We've got to find a solution and right away!" said Bloom determinedly, looking around as if in search for a fire exit or something.

Tecna stepped back with her hands clasp together and her index fingers pointed straight at the wall. She gathered energy to the tips of her fingers. "Let's try a little... Tecna power!" she exclaimed, shooting a green beam at the wall.

The door just emitted smoke but nothing else happened. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that failed," I snorted, suing my wind power to clear out the smoke.

"Not even a scratch." Stella shook her head.

"Now what?" asked Musa thinly.

"Power convergence," replied Tecna simply, "it's obviously the only solution."

"Then why didn't you say something before?" I asked dully.

"Tecna's right! Let's just transform!" directed Bloom confidently.

We all gathered around in a circle. "Magic Winx!" we shouted. Instantly, we were in our sparkly and glittery winged forms.

"Everybody ready? All together!" encouraged Bloom. We all lined up in front of the wall, gathering energy in our hands. "Now!" shouted Bloom. We all blasted the wall together, creating a huge hole.

"I don't know about you girls, but I'm getting my ass out of this freak show!" I assured, running out into the wall. As much as I'd seen Cloud Tower on TV, the actual place was creepy as my granny's saggy skin.

The six of us sprinted down the hall, which appeared to be endless. "There doesn't seem to be a way out of this place!" exclaimed Flora when we stopped to catch our breath.

Tecna looked around observantly. "We've never been through this tunnel before, it's not the one we came from," she stated.

"How can you tell? They all look the same!" complained Stella.

"I've a photographic memory, I notice details."

"Please guys, tell me we're not completely lost!" begged Bloom, looking somewhat panicked.

"Um..."

"Mmmmm…."

"At least we're together," said Flora, forcing a smile.

"In that case, we're screwed," I threw in.

"I am so gonna miss my hair appointment tomorrow," complained Stella.

And right on time, small clattering footsteps echoed through the hall. We gasped (even though I already knew this would happen, how can one not get freaked out?) Giant spiders suddenly came crawling towards us from both ways.

"Giant spiders!" shrieked Musa as we huddled together.

"They're everywhere!" added Bloom.

"My horoscope was right!" whined Stella, "Giant spiders are going to tear me apart limb from limb!"

"Okay, what's the plan now?" panicked Musa as the spiders closed in on us. "I-I mean... these things don't look too friendly!" Those little fuckers were all on the ceiling and walls, completely trapping us.

"We have to create a protective shield like a force field," answered Bloom quickly. We all kneeled on one knee and created a giant blue shield around us. The incoming spiders tried to breach the barrier but they get burned the second they made contact with our shield and fell onto the floor. Unfortunately, they got right back up and went for the shield again.

"Oh shit!" I swore as they started to swarm around us.

"The shield won't protect us for much longer! We gotta do something," warned Bloom.

"Well, I've got an idea!" winked Flora cheerfully, "just follow me. Ready? Go!" On her command, we all jumped upward into the air, our shield dispelled as our flittering wings keeping us in midair. Below, the spiders were crawling and piling up on each other due to the lack of room in the hall.

"Got any bug spray?" Stella asked Flora hopefully.

"If I did, I would've used it on you a long time ago," I joked.

"Hey, watch it!"

"No need for that Stella, we'll just use the spiders' natural enemy," chuckled Flora. She blew some magic dust onto the ground and a huge, furry creature appeared. "Here you go! A beautiful spider eater!" exclaimed Flora as the animal began to eat the spiders with its long tongue. While it did this, it stomped on a few spiders, leaving behind muddy remains.

"Goodness, Professor Palladium's lessons are good for something after all," grinned Stella as the animal continued munching. It got rid of all the spiders in a few short minutes and disappeared after its job was done.

"You know what? Something tells me we're not out of the woods yet!" worried Bloom as we returned to the ground.

"Bloom's right. That was way too easy," agreed Tecna.

"But you didn't even do anything," I said shortly.

"Hey, let's not sell ourselves short. We simply dealt with the problem efficiently!" insisted Stella, laughing. While that stupid head kept laughing, the muddy reminisces of the spiders start to gather. Musa cleared her throat loudly, but Stella kept on like nothing was wrong.

"Stella, not to rain on your parade but maybe it's time to go!" interrupted Musa, grabbing Stella's wrist as the remains became a horrifying monster.

"We have to run!" shouted Flora as it charged for us.

"Fuck running! Use your wings!" I snapped, using mine to become airborne. The others followed my lead and we charged down the hall, the monster hot on our trail.

"How do we get rid of that thing?!" asked Musa loudly over the beast's screams and moans from behind.

"There's a turn up ahead! Let's go that way!" suggested Stella, pointing straightforward.

"No! Whatever you do, don't go that way!" I countered.

"If we keep going straight, we're doomed so I say we at least try loosing it!" disagreed Musa. The others hummed their agreement and I sighed hopelessly. Unlike them, I knew the next corridor was a dead end. But nevertheless, I followed them anyway.

We turned down the other corridor and were able to fly for about a minute or two before the dead end came into view. "Watch out!" yelled Bloom, being the second to see it.

"Huh—AHH!" Stella stopped just in time before running straight into the wall.

"The hell, Stella? Do you fly looking down or something?" I hissed as the monster got closer.

"It's a dead end, so what should we do?" whimpered Flora.

"We have no choice but to take him on," responded Tecna as we landed on the ground in badass fighting stances. The second the monster was close enough, we all blasted the beast with all our might. We kept throwing spells at it, forcing it back.

When I saw the thing was about to burst from our assaults, I held up a hand. "Protection of the Winds!" I yelled and a sphere of air encased us as the monster exploded. "You can thank me later," I boasted, disintegrating my shield.

"Um, there's a door here," spoke up Stella, turning around and noticing the twin doors behind us. "And it's locked, so we have a problem." Tecna suddenly rammed into the doors like a badass, forcing them open. "Not anymore!" chimed Stella as we hurried into the room.

The room was ceiling-high full of junk from poll tables to old bed frames to broken tables. "Where are we?" asked Musa.

"Like we have a fucking clue!" I said, though I actually did.

"I've heard of rooms like this but I'd never thought they'd really existed, "explained Stella, looking around. "Witches are very messy creatures! Instead of organizing their library, cataloging their stuff, they just tuck everything away like that."

"What an eerie silence... I have a bad feeling," muttered Musa, "huh? Uh! Ah!" Screaming, she pointed down at the floor at a bug. "A beecomb monster!"

Stella jumped in front of Musa, who was uncharacteristically trembling in fear. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it! Sun Shower!" She emitted a bright light that was apparently too bright, because it immediately set the room and everything stored away in it ablaze. While we coughed due to the smoke, Stella looked around for the bug as if almost oblivious to the disaster happening around us. "Ha! I got it!" she triumphed, noticing the burnt-to-a-crisp beecomb upside down on its back by the fire. "Nipped in the bud!"

She took a moment to look around. "OH GOODNESS, WE'RE GONNA BURN!" she cried, reality soaking into her brain as the fire grew larger.

"Thanks a lot, Stella," frowned Musa, crossing her arms and glaring at the girl.

"What the—I was protecting you!" countered Stella, growling.

Flora coughed even more. "I-I can't breathe. The smoke's too thick," she rasped, her face reddening.

"The flame's blocking the door, so we're trapped again," said Tecna as the fire surrounded us.

"Cadey! You have the power of wind! Just put the fire out!" suggested Stella.

"Dummy, don't you know oxygen only fuels fire?" I facepalmed.

"Ooh! Just as we bickered, Bloom mindlessly started for the wall, meaning Daphne was guiding her to the way out. "Hey, Bloom? What are you doing?" asked Stella as we all turned to watch. "Get back, it's dangerous!"

The flames parted, revealing a metal circular door on the wall. Bloom rested her palm against it and it opened. "Hey, you found the way out!" exclaimed Flora.

"Way to go, girl!" Stella slapped Bloom on the back.

"Huh?" Bloom shook out of her trance. "What just happened?"

"Who gives a fluff? Let's get out of here!" I threw myself in the hole. "WOOHOO!" I shouted as I slid down the tube. I squealed and laughed the whole way down until I landed face-flat on the ground at the end of the chute. "Damn it," I grumbled, "that hurt."

"Coming through!"

When I turned around, all I saw was Flora's ass. "Oh shit-!" She landed on my face, forcing me back onto the ground. "Get off me!" I ordered, my voice muffled by Flora's rump.

Flora giggled nervously. "Sor—AHH!"

One by one, all the Winx flew out, resulting in a six-fairy pileup. And of course, I was at the bottom.

Yet somehow, I knew the pain from our dog pile was going to be nothing compared to what was waiting for us in the road ahead…