A/n: Apparently, Winx Club is getting a live-action installment on Netflix. I coincidently checked tumblr the day it was announced and everyone was freaking out about it. I, on the other hand, refuse to get my hopes up. I honestly think the show is going to be cringe. I mean, it's interesting that the show is going to be targeted towards young adults, but I don't trust that Rainbow knows what they're doing. Is Winx Club even popular enough to get a live-action adaptation? Eh, I don't know. I just hope Rainbow actually puts some effort into this. What do you guys think?
A few minutes later I also found that someone posted an official promotional poster from Rainbow that included a sneak peak of Winx Club's eighth season. And all I have to say is…wow. Just wow. It only showed Flora and Bloom's new transformation and trust me, that was more than enough. Their hair is all pastel-colored now and the animation style almost looks anime-ish. It's certainly interesting, I can tell you that. I just hope the plot is decent this time; I don't really give a shit about the new
fairy transformation. If you asked me, Rainbow made a mistake in adding more forms after Enchantix. It was clearly stated that Enchantix was the final level of fairy transformation and it should've stayed that way if you ask me. The girls can still get stronger, but I honestly don't think they need a new outfit and set of wings to show it. Does Rainbow even notice the technically made Headmistress Faragonda a liar now? She told the Winx Enchantix was the last transformation, yet there's been at least five after it and Faragonda knew about each one.
Eh, enough about that. I'm supposed to be fixing chapter 24 since it was so bad, but I'll do that later. I just came up with a shitload of new ideas and got super excited to continue the story. So without further ado, here's chapter 25! I hope you guys enjoy, and be sure to leave a review at the end!
Procrastination was my trademark.
I procrastinated when it came to EVERYTHING; finishing my homework, doing my laundry, even practicing my magic. The last one made me an utter hypocrite. As obsessed as I was with magic growing up you'd THINK I'd jump at the chance to learn everything I could about it when I miraculously obtained it, but that simply wasn't the case. Yes, magic still fascinated me as much as it did upon my arrival in Magix months ago and I was more than eager to learn how to fully utilize my wind magic, but when the time came to actually practice my laziness got the better of me. Every. Single. Time.
Due to the lack of wind fairies at Alfea, there weren't any elective classes I could take to increase my knowledge/skills in wind magic so it was completely up to me to teach myself. And so far I'd barely taught myself anything (because I was lazy as fuck). I always put off my lessons for something else (and by 'something else' I basically meant hanging out with the Winx) and it was staring to take a toll on my magical journey. I only knew a handful of basic charms and about two or three wind magic spells, which was extremely pitiful. I mean, sure, I was completely knew to magic so of course I wouldn't know a variety of spells like Tecna or Flora, but BLOOM was almost doing better than me and I'd been using magic longer. True, she didn't know about her fire magic yet, but she was getting better and better at using energy attacks and deploying charms, which was more than what I could say. Apart from charms, the only spells I knew how to do were Wondrous Wind and Protection of the Wind. I knew how to do energy attacks as well, but those were literally the easiest kinds of spells to use since they were just raw power that lacked a specific function.
I needed to get my shit together and put some effort toward my studies. No way in hell did I want to get through the rest of the school year (if I was even here for that long. Though I kinda had a clue I was going to be here for a while, I never knew when I'd wake up from a night's sleep to find myself in the Real World again) on two measly spells alone and I definitely wanted to be ready for when new trouble arose. Regardless of it was a threat from the cartoon or a whole new never-before-seen evil, the Winx were destined to battle bad guys that would only get stronger and stronger the further they progressed through their adventures at Alfea so I needed to become stronger myself. That was why the next Saturday I finally overcame my laziness and geared up for a training session.
I switched into my sweats, stuffed a few water bottles and my textbook in my duffle bag, and headed out. With it being the crack of dawn on a Saturday, the dormitory was empty so it was easy to slip outside. I felt five pounds lighter the moment I stepped foot into the courtyard. There was just something so crisp and rejuvenating about morning air; it calmed my body and soul, putting me at ease and making it easier to think. Morning had always been my favorite time of day, not only for the better air quality but also for the majesty, breath-taking sky. Behind the trees was the horizon, which was streaked with deep reddish-orange that lightened to neon orange with faint yellow hues the higher you looked up. The colors bled into the fading indigo sky of night in the middle, producing stripes of wispy rose-pink that blended everything together perfectly.
The courtyard was empty too save the quirky squirrels and birds that were wandering about, relishing in the tranquility of school grounds before the rest of the student body woke up and was unleashed. I followed the concrete path that led behind the school and into the bordering forest. Rays of light from the rising sun poured through the treetops, bathing the sleeping forest in a golden glow. Besides the low chirping of the birds in the trees above and the sounds of Lake Roccaluce churning nearby, all was quiet. Perfect.
I wandered a little deeper into the forest until I found an opening in the trees that led into a small, secluded clearing. It wasn't too far away from school, from far enough so that I wouldn't be disturbed by the other students when they wandered into the forest later to do whatever the hell it was they did. Deeming it good enough, I set my bag down on an oddly shaped rock before proceeding to do a few stretches. I slowly inhaled the pure morning air as I warmed up, letting it fill my lungs and soothe my body and soul. I did this for about five minutes before I took up the textbook of magic—grimoire. "A Sorcerer's Complete Guide to Air Magic." A pretty generic name, I know, but this thing was the shit. The headmistress had lent it to me to utilize during my full time at Alfea so I could learn and grow in my elemental magic. Though I was nowhere near chapter 10 (I hadn't been lying when I said I laid off from studying), the book seemed pretty legit. At the beginning it gave a detailed overview of the history of air manipulation/magic, explaining how it came to be, when it was first used, and by whom, which I actually found pretty interesting. According to the first few chapters, my powers originated from an ancient, legendary fairy called Farcelia Wind-Bearer , who was fabled to not only be one of the first and strongest fairies in history but also a Nymph, was the first sorceress to have air powers and believed to the embodiment of the wind itself . In addition to the historical summary, the grimoire also gave thorough descriptions and lessons on wind magic/manipulation, starting from the most basic spells all the way to the most complicated. Not only that, it even gave instructions on how to perform various air-related feats, which was actually pretty cool. It explained how to do so many cool things with my type of magic but they were advanced, for wind sorcerers who had mastered all the previous techniques, exercises, and spells. And like it or not, I was only a fledgling. I was inexperienced in air magic and it was time to put on my big girl panties and start teaching myself.
I flipped straight to the page on air manipulation. See, there was a difference between it and air magic. Air MAGIC was the ability to cast different spells and feats through the energy of air. Air MANIPULATION was the ability to actually control unadulterated air. Though they were technically two different things, all air-related powers in their entirety was just referred to as air magic for the sake of simplicity. I leaned more toward air spells since they were easier. Though they were useful and in no form weak, air manipulation was the art I really wanted to learn and master. It not only gave the user the power to shape/generate/control air, but it also had more diverse applications and techniques like pressure manipulation and air solidification. The skill I wanted to learn most, however, was aerokinetic flight, which allowed one to take flight by riding wind currents. Imagine that, being able to fly without transforming. I wouldn't have to rely on my wings at all. And when I did, aerokinetic flight would give me a major speed boost. But, unfortunately, I was nowhere near that level, especially when air manipulation, which was NOT my strong point, was a fundamental skill in performing the technique. I mean, air manipulation wasn't exactly hard—I'd done it a few times—but it was something I kind of struggled with. You couldn't just control air like you could fire or water. It required a special process, one I wasn't a big fan of. Nevertheless, I had to man up and deal with it if I wanted to actually accomplish something.
I plopped down onto a patch of grass and folded my legs, readying to meditate. Like Iroh said to Zuko in Avatar, the Last Airbender. Air was the element of freedom. In order to learn how to control the element of freedom you had to BE free. Well, your mind anyway. The purpose of meditation was to clear the mind of all distractions and troubles or else you'd be fucked up. An inexperienced magician who tried wielding the winds without properly meditating first could suffer from headaches, migraines, or even possibly pass out so even though I wasn't a big fan of meditation, I wasn't about to take my chances.
It wasn't like I hated meditation—it was just time-consuming. That was one, if not the main, reason I hadn't practiced wind-wielding a lot; it took up a lot of time, time I would rather spend hanging out with my childhood heroes. Though I'd grown used to being around the Winx, the fact that I could interact with them in real life (I think?) never ceased to amaze me. It was literally a dream come true and I wanted to savor every moment of it instead of sitting in one place for hours at a time. But, regardless of what universe or dimension this was, there was always a time to chill and a time to work. I'd been chilling for far too long and it was time to woman up and work, even if that work required me to keep my ass in this one spot the entire day.
I inhaled more of the refreshing air and my head already begun to feel lighter, clearer. That was why I'd chosen to come out here so early; there was just something about the morning air that that soothed my mind, making it easier to concentrate. See, I struggled with stray thoughts (mental pop-ups, basically), which was a major hurdle in meditation. The light scent of morning air helped me to stabilize my mind without any stress or even effort, giving me a huge advantage in meditation.
I closed my eyes, directing my attention toward the air. A lot of people thought meditation meant stopping all thoughts, which was simply absurd. The brain was always at work, always thinking. It was impossible to stop having thoughts. No, the purpose of meditation was to sharpen your mental focus. And in my case, I had to sharpen my mental focus on the air.
I sat there, thinking of the wind and only the wind. I paid close attention to the breezes that blew through the clearing, to how they caressed my skin and made me tingle with energy. I did this for heaven knows how long; I grew so comfortable in my position and state of mind I lost perception of time. Eventually, I felt this internal clicking sensation, like something was switching on inside of me. That was a good indicator it was time to move on to the next step. I'd successfully gotten a good feel of the air, so now it was time to connect with it. And the only way to do that was through mana.
I don't think I'd ever explained this, but "mana" was the term coined to name particles of magic. It was an invisible, everlasting, and ethereal energy that was the primary source of every kind of magic in existence in the Magic Dimension. You could almost say mana WAS the Magic Dimension, as it made up everything. Everything had mana, including the wind. And it was this energy that fueled and replenished my magic. That being said, I had a special connection to the wind and that was how I was going to wield it. It was kind of hard to explain.
See, every magician was capable of channeling and controlling their unique mana, a skill my classmates and I had nearly perfected thanks to the dozens of exercises we'd taken at the start of the school year. Not only was this technique essential in magic-casting, but it was also the key to wind-wielding. Since my individual mana was derived from the wind's, the two were compatible and it was by fusing them I'd be able to harness the full power of both. And if I controlled the wind's energy, I controlled the wind itself.
I stood, focused on my inner mana, and then visualized my body emitting some into the atmosphere. Mana was an invisible energy that lacked a physical form so imagining it with one made it easier to manipulate, mainly because doing so demonstrated freedom of the mind, yet another secret to wind-wielding as mentioned earlier. I pictured my mana to be this transparent white and squiggly substance that was intertwining with similar lines of whispery-blue—the air's mana. I stood back, letting the two blend naturally all around me. Once this was done I drew some of the combined essence toward my hand. Since my energy was now merged with the air's, they both flowed toward me like a harmonious current, as one force. This force connected with the soles in my palm and I felt something circulate throughout it—air. It felt so weightless and cool, so gentle and powerful. This same sensation surged through my veins and the rest of my body, successfully joining me with the air. Now I was ready to "bend" it, which was the difficult part. The trick wasn't getting connected to the air—it was STAYING connected to it.
This was how wind-wielding worked: the practitioner united their energy with the one in the atmosphere, giving them control over air molecules. With this power, the person could change the flow of current and fashion the air into whatever shape or form they wanted whether it be a tornado or a simple gust. But in order for this to work their mana had to be laced with the air's at all—ALL times, which proved to be difficult since air's mana was naturally looser and prone to wander if it wasn't constantly being bound. If this link did not continuously exist, if the two ambient energies so much as separated in the slightest, all of it would start coming undone like a domino effect, making it impossible to "airbend." That being said, I had to keep my unfaltering concentration trained on the combination consistently while at the same time try to manipulate it which wasn't easy for me since I wasn't a good multitasker.
Every time I tried pulling some wind toward me I slightly lost focus, accidentally causing my mana to start unfolding itself from the air's. And whenever I stopped to correct myself and rejoin them, I then lost focus on the current I'd been manipulating and it dissolved, forcing me to start the process all over again. I struggled with this for the longest. Whenever I got the feel of holding both manas together I tried to bending them into a current with unequal concentration on both tasks, screwing up the balance and inevitably failing at doing both.
I had no idea how long I failed miserably at this and at one point I finally gave up. There was no use in forcing myself to keep trying when it was obvious I needed WAY more practice. I decided to throw in the towel and come back out tomorrow morning. Besides, judging by how deep of a blue the sky had darkened to, I'd been out here for a good few hours and it was time to call it a day anyway. I dug my phone out of my bag and checked the time. Sure enough, it was nearly ten, meaning my training session had nearly lasted for four hours.
Right as I was packing up my shit to leave, my phone chimed with a new text from Musa.
Musa: Dragontail, ASAP.
Ugh, what was it now? Musa only ever told me to come over when something had gone down. But what? I bet it had something to do with Candi somehow. My whole body tensed when realization dawned on me.
Wait, could the police have come back to Alfea while I was out? I needed to get to Flora NOW.
I swung my bag over my shoulder and jogged out of the clearing. On the way back to school I spotted the most majestic owl I'd ever seen perched on a high tree branch. It had a coat of snow-white feathers that was accented with an elaborate pattern of blue markings down its backside. In between its golden eyes was an odd, swirly arctic-blue symbol I knew I'd seen before but couldn't remember where. I would've taken a picture of it, but I was in too much of a hurry to stop.
When I neared the strip of forest bordering the Alfea school grounds I spotted a FLOATING police car parked outside of the gates of the school. My heart started pounding a thousand miles a minute. So I was right. The police DID come back. I ducked behind a bush and studied the cruiser, making out the silhouettes of two officers in the front seat. They were in the middle of a conversation. While they weren't looking in my direction I straighten and emerged from behind the shrubbery and started toward the castle as casually as possible. I stared straight ahead, keeping my face relaxed like I was a normal student who was more concerned with her weekend plans than the police cruiser a few feet away. I had no idea if they even noticed me or not, but I continued to feign obliviousness to their existence until I was halfway through the courtyard and safely out of their view.
When I knew for sure they couldn't see me anymore I dropped the act and ran like hell, racing toward the dormitory.
I burst into the building and charged upstairs, not heeding the hall mistress's warning to stop running in the hall. I made it to Wing A, gliding down the hall all the way to the Winx's apartment. I barged into Dragontail, tossing my bag on the floor.
The first girl I saw was Flora, who was white as a ghost. She set on the couch, knees knocking against one another as she trembled. Bloom and Stella were on either side of the nature fairy, wrapping arms around her supportively and whispering in her ear reassuringly in an attempt to calm her nerves. "What did they ask this time?" I demanded.
"They know," said Musa, her voice wintery. "They know about the pictures."
!
I spun around on my heels and stared at her in disbelief, completely lost for words. "H-how?" I managed to stutter.
"They don't know about the pictures exactly," clarified Stella, "they just know Candi had something on Flora."
I whirled around to stare at Flora next. "What happened, Flora?" I inquired of her, trying my hardest not to sound panicky. "What did they ask you?"
Flora looked up at me with dull, defeated eyes. "I was on my way to the greenhouse when Ms. Griselda stopped me in the hall. She told me to follow her to the headmistress's office and I did." She inhaled slowly, like she willing herself to keep going. "Ms. Faragonda and two detectives were waiting for me. The headmistress explained that they wanted to ask me some more questions and that I didn't have to talk if I didn't want to—"
"Why did you?" I cut in, biting my lips as I struggled to keep my patience. It didn't make sense. If I were her I wouldn't have even entertained that shit. I would've let the authorities leave this bitch empty-handed.
"Let her tell the story, dammit," snapped Musa.
"They were the police. I couldn't just turn them down," said Flora shakily, a defensive edge in her voice. "I agreed to answer their questions and Ms. Faragonda left me alone with them. The detectives assured me they only had a few questions and that it wouldn't take long. They asked if I knew anyone who didn't like Candi or was capable of hurting her and I said no." Musa and I both snorted at that. Flora continued, "And then they wanted to know if I knew whether or not Candi knew or was involved in something that could lead someone to harm her. I said no."
"And?" I pressed.
"They changed the subject and wanted to know when I started hanging out with Candi. I gave them a date. They said that according to eye witnesses, she and I had never really interacted with each other before then, which was 'unusual.'"
My stomach started doing summersaults.
"They were curious about the terms of Candi's and I's friendship and wanted to know why and how we became friends. The question caught me off-guard and I couldn't give a straight answer." I then found myself extremely annoyed. This was what I didn't like about Flora. She was easily intimidated and didn't know how to firmly stand her ground. "When they saw how nervous I was they asked if Candi knew any of my secrets or anything that could've forced me into a 'friendship' with her."
"And you said yes," I said flatly.
"No, I denied it," responded Flora, much to my surprise. "But I think they knew I was lying."
"What did they say next?"
"They just thanked me for my time and left. I was scared stiff through the whole thing."
"This isn't good. Sooner or later they're going to find out the whole truth," said Bloom lowly.
"Maybe I just should've told them," said Flora, tears welling in her eyes. "So they would've—"
"Are you stupid?" exploded Musa, startling even me. "Flora, if they know the truth, you'll be in even bigger trouble. Think of the dates, Flora. They add up. Candi disappeared after she started blackmailing you and that could give the police the impression you did something to her to get her off your back."
"But I didn't do anything!" squeaked Flora, her voice hitches like she was about to burst into tears.
"So? You think they care?" Musa fired back, "for all we know you could be framed. It doesn't matter what you did; if there's enough evidence that points to you then—"
"Enough, Musa," interrupted Bloom firmly. "You're scaring her." Sure enough, Flora's skin had somehow gotten paler and she looked about ready to puke all over the carpet.
Musa's face softened, guilt burning in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just...Ugh, this is just a bunch of bullshit and Flora doesn't deserve it."
"Flora, things are getting more serious by the second. Please, just call your parents so they can hire a lawyer," I pleaded, "so they can defend you."
"No!" the nature fairy protested. "I just...I can't, okay?"
"But you need to do something," I said desperately, "this drama just won't magically disappear. It's just gonna get worse from here."
"Yeah, especially since we have no idea what the police knows," added Stella.
"I can change that," announced Tecna. I nearly jumped, having forgotten she was even there. "I can hack their database to see what information they've acquired on the case."
Bloom's eyes bulged. "You can do that?"
Tecna looked somewhat insulted. "Of course I can. With my skills it'd be like child's play."
"Yes! I say we should go for it," said Stella, nodding. "Then we can do a little investigating of our own."
"How long will that take?" I asked, glancing at the technofairy.
"I don't know. I'm sure the police's database is highly secured with various firewalls and—"
"Then how about we call Timmy?" suggested Bloom, "he's good with computers."
"No, absolutely not. I know what I'm doing and I don't need any assistance."
"Yeah, but two's always better than one," reminded Stella, "it'll go a lot faster if you have some help. And the sooner we can get our hands on the report on Candi's kidnapping the better."
Stubborn Tecna looked like she wanted to protest again, but relented to our pleading looks. "Fine. I'll text Timmy."
"What's the emergency?"
It was about forty-five minutes later and Musa just opened the door to find Timmy standing in the hall, gravity burning in his eyes behind the lenses of his crooked glasses. "Timmy, hi. Thanks for coming on such short notice," said Musa gratefully, quickly ushering him inside before someone spotted him. Having a guy—especially one who wasn't related to you by blood—in the dormitory without a staff-member chaperon was a serious offense to Alfea's rules and we'd get in serious trouble if we were caught. How Timmy somehow managed to sneak past the hall mistresses-who, mind you, were actively on duty ESPECIALLY on weekends—without getting caught was beyond me. Apparently, he was stealthier than he looked.
"It's no problem. I came as soon as Tecna sent me that text," said Timmy, advancing into the room with a black canvas messenger bag on his shoulder. Musa was about to close the door but a big-ass sneaker appeared in the threshold out of nowhere, preventing her from doing so. My first thought was that we'd gotten busted already, but I immediately calmed down when Brandon (Sky) came in next.
"Brandon? You came too?" asked Bloom, perking up at the sight of everyone's favorite blond (sorry Stella).
Brandon (Sky) managed a tight, strained smile as he trudged inside with his shoulders slouched and hands stuffed in his pockets. "Hi." Okay, someone was obviously feeling down in the dumps. Bloom knew it too judging by how she dropped her smile, but didn't press the subject.
After making sure no other Specialists were waiting to pop out, Musa gently shut the door. "Remember, we have to be quiet," she reminded in a hushed tone, "or else Ms. Nikolaeva will catch us." Like she even had to say it. No one had time to be put on detention for three weeks.
"What, Prince Sky didn't want to come say hi?" asked Stella from the couch, giggling at the thought of the "prince."
Brandon (Sky) just shrugged. "I think he's staying with one of his girlfriends this weekend." That wiped the smile right off Stella's face.
"Hey Timmy, we didn't happen to wake you up, did we?" asked Flora, who had calmed down a little, giving a Timmy a once over with guilt-ridden eyes. Well, that was a dumb-ass question. The nerd's chestnut hair was sticking out at odd angles and he was literally wearing a pair of pajamas pants with his size-too-big sweatshirt. It looked like dude had been UNDER the bed before we called.
"Not at all. I've been up for hours. Now what's going on?" he asked, automatically proceeding over to Tecna, who was already in the hacking process. She was seated on the other couch, impassively operating the digital screens her little gadget on the table was projecting. For hacking the police to be "child's play", the fairy of technology had been at it for nearly a good hour now. Turned out she needed more help than she let on.
"Okay, so what we're about to ask you is extremely illegal," I warned, folding my arms across my chest. "And will possibly earn you a one-way ticket to jail if you're caught."
"You want me to hack something," inferred Timmy casually, already setting his bag down and unzipping it. He came prepared, having brought along an assortment of wires and electronic devices.
"Help hack something," corrected Bloom, cutting a quick glance at Tecna as if to make sure she hadn't been offended. The magenta-haired fairy continued to stare at her virtual screens blankly.
"Yeah. Tecna here's been trying for nearly an hour now and hasn't made any progress," said Stella nonchalantly, earning a sidelong glare from the fairy.
"It's just taking longer than I thought it would," insisted Tecna, frowning deeply. "The database is highly encrypted, too encrypted to be normal tech. The authorities must've hired computer scientists from Zenith to improve their software."
"They did just have a major security breach last year," reminded Timmy, totally cool with the fact Tecna just admitted to being in the midst of breaking into an police data system as if it was an everyday occurrence. For him it probably WAS. "So they had to upgrade their tech to stop further hacks. That can't stop ME, of course." He took out an advanced-looking handheld device and plugged the cord into the back of Tecna's gadget.
Now that their tools were linked, his gizmo projected a holographic screen similar to Tecna's. "Okay, let's see what we're working with here," he mused, taking a seat on the floor and getting to work. He and Tecna immediately launched into tech talk that threatened to melt my brain as their fingers flew across their screens, drifting into their own private little world that included algorithms, binary, and lots and lots of algorithms.
While they did that, Bloom took notice of Brandon (Sky), who was hovering in the background with a distant look on his face. "Is something wrong, Brandon?" she finally asked, inching toward him.
"Hm?" Brandon (Sky) snapped out of whatever daze he'd been in and lifted his head, looking around confusedly as if he'd momentarily forgotten where he was. "Oh. Yeah."
"Sure doesn't look like it to me," said Musa matter-of-factly, putting her hands on her hips. "What's the deal?"
Brandon (Sky) looked reluctant to talk. He probably would've brushed the question off if Musa's eyes hadn't been boring into him so inquisitively. "It's my home world," he admitted at last, releasing a heavy sigh. "There's been this small band of rebels who've been going against the crown for years now. They launched a surprise attack on one of the king's ports yesterday while a shipload of resources from Andros was being delivered."
"Wait, I think I saw that on the news," recalled Musa, her eyes widening.
"Yes. It was a coordinated ambush. Rebel spies somehow obtained confidential information about Eraklyon's deal with Andros and used it to their advantage. They assaulted the unsuspecting guards that were in charge of unloading the ship and easily slaughtered most of them. Then they seized the ship and destroyed most of the cargo. According to Prince Sky, by the time his father sent men to investigate the missing shipments the rebels were long gone."
"Ah, so that's it. Prince Sky must be on his home planet sorting this out with the king, not messing around with some girl," said Stella, slight satisfaction lacing her voice. We all shot her fierce glares and when the blond finally realized she'd said that aloud, her whole face went red and she suddenly sounded very sympathetic. "I mean, that's terrible. Why would anyone want to do such a thing?" I kinda had a clue. From the little screen time he had in the cartoon, it was a known fact the King of Eraklyon was a textbook asshole. And though I wasn't justifying the rebels' actions, I could somewhat understand why they'd rebel against him.
Brandon (Sky) shrugged. "They've lead a small series of attacks here and there but nothing this major. This could lead to some serious problems." He didn't have to say what they were because in a way we all already knew. Those "problems" were only just one, and that was war.
Flora touched Brandon's (Sky's) shoulder gently. "I'm so sorry, for both you and Prince Sky. I hope what happened doesn't escalate to anything worse." Innocent, naive Flora. Brandon (Sky) just nodded but didn't look convinced.
"Alright, we're almost in," announced Timmy, "we just need to get intercept the final firewall." That was a cue to drop the subject and gather around the two tech wizards. We all watched as Timmy and Tecna worked their computer magic, swiping across the screens and inputting in all codes. When they were finally finished, large loading bars took up all the virtual monitors. "Here we go. The moment of truth," said Timmy as the loading bar slowly moved to the right. "Processing, processing..." The bar started to buffer, making all of us draw in sharp breaths. It stayed frozen for a minute before speeding up, loading completely and triggering a whole new set of complicated-looking windows to pop-up. "We're in!" exclaimed Timmy triumphantly.
"Shhh!" we all hissed at him.
"Sorry," he squeaked, faint pink splotching his cheeks as he adjusted his glasses.
"We've successfully broken into the database of the Magix City Police Department," said Tecna, opening one of the files. "Now I have full access to all their information. I'll take it from here, Timmy." There was a flash of emotion across her face for a split second as she added, "Thank you."
Musa flashed a grin at the Specialist. "Yeah, thanks Timmy. This means a lot."
Timmy tried to hide his blush as he disconnected from Tecna. "It's no problem."
Brandon (Sky) glanced over at the creepy cat-shaped wall clock Flora swore on her life was cute. "If you guys are done we should be leaving, Timmy. We have a dragon-training exercise later on today and Codatorta will kick our asses if we're late."
"Shoot, I completely lost track of time!" he panicked, sloppily stuffing the rest of his equipment back into his canvas back and shooting to his feet. "Sorry girls but we gotta go. Just call if you need anything else, okay?" After exchanging rushed goodbyes, Timmy and Brandon (Sky) slipped out of the Winx's apartment. Hopefully they wouldn't get spotted on their way out or I'D kick their asses.
"Okay, I found the file on Candi," said Tecna, shifting our attention back to the task on hand.
"Wow, that was fast," commented Musa, slipping onto the seat beside her.
"It wasn't hard to find. It was the most recent log since Candi's case is what the authorities are mainly focusing on," said Tecna, effortlessly sorting through the data. She pulled up several windows that were detailed with words writing in Basic. "Here are the police reports. Everything we need to know is at our fingertips." She pulled a memory stick out of nowhere and plugged it into her device. "I'm downloading it all to a hard-drive for later reference."
"Wait, won't the police we able to tell you hacked their files?" I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. We soooo didn't need them coming back up here anytime soon.
"Don't worry. Timmy and I scrambled our IP addresses through a series of proxies. Leaving behind tracks is an amateur mistake."
"Wow, there are so many files," stated Bloom, "where should we start?"
"How about the suspect list?" suggested Musa, "we obviously already know Flora's a person of interest, but let's see who else the police are keeping tabs on." Tecna nodded and opened the desire document. When it appeared onscreen Musa leaned in a little closer to read it. "Wow. This list is kinda long."
"OBVIOUSLY. Look at the kind of person Candi was," I pointed out, peering over her shoulder. "There are literally dozens of people who could've had it in for her. Look, even her PARENT'S names are up there."
"Hold on a minute." Musa scrolled down the page. "Your name is up there too."
I thought I misheard her for a second. "What?"
"Look." Musa pointed toward the bottom of the column and sure enough, my name was written there. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? I was a suspect too? How was that even possible? Musa tapped on my name, which directed us to another report, though this one was way smaller. "Apparently, one of Candi's friends heard you make a 'death threat' against her," said Musa after skimming through the provided info.
"Death threat? What fucking death threat?" I spat, truly pissed. Suddenly, one of my last words to Candi rang through my head.
"You're going to be a ghost if you don't stay the hell out of my way."
I bit my tongue and clenched my fists. "One of Candi's goons must've overheard the warning I gave Candi the day we found out she had Flora's pictures."
"But they can't prove she actually said that," pointed out Stella, wrinkling her nose.
Musa frowned. "She's the senator's daughter, remember? They can't afford to overlook anything,"
Oh great. Now whenever the police came to Alfea again, there'd be a good chance they'd come looking for me instead.
Tecna was silently reading from a separate file on a different screen. "They have yet to find a body, which means they can't rule her disappearance a murder." After a little bit more reading, she said, "Wow. They haven't even found any physical clues. They investigated all the locations Candi was last seen that day but have found nothing. It's like she just disappeared off the face of the planet."
"Maybe she did," shrugged Bloom. "It's not that hard to travel between worlds. She could've just run away from home or something."
"If that was the case I'm sure they would've found her by now," said Flora quietly.
"Oh no. That isn't good," Tecna vacantly remarked at whatever she'd just read next.
That caught all of our attentions. "What isn't?" we all demanded.
"It says here the police attempted a locator spell to find the missing person," she answered. "And it failed."
There was a moment of silence.
"What does that mean exactly?" asked a confused Stella, voicing the question that was on all of our minds.
"From my knowledge, there are only three reasons a locator spell could possibly fail," answered Tecna, "it could've been cast improperly—which I'm sure isn't the case since the police force only recruits the best magicians—the target is somehow evading the magic, or the target themselves is dead."
