Bloom was back on Alfea and sleeping in her bed again for the first time. But Bloom's return was not without loss, Grey had sacrificed himself, to save everyone. They had taken Grey to the place where Aisha always swims, Aisha knew that would be the right place to bury him.
The next morning the girls had all woken up early and went to their living room, Maya was sleeping on the couch there and she woke up too.
"Good morning all."
"Hey Maya, Bloom said, she sat down next to Maya on the couch. "Did you sleep well?"
"Sorry you had to sleep on the couch," Terra said.
"No need to say sorry, I had a great sleep," Maya said.
"You did?" Bloom asked, kinda surprised about this, because as for as she knew nobody liked sleeping on a couch.
"I've never slept so well," Maya said.
"You slept on a couch," Stella pointed out.
"It's a fine couch. It's much more comfortable than my bed in the Realm of Darkness," Maya said.
"We have to go now, breakfast is ready," Musa said.
"I'll get you something to eat, Maya," Bloom told Maya.
"Thank you, Bloom," Maya said.
The girls were about to leave, but then received a message saying that all students should gather in the Central Hall. Bloom felt that almost everyone was staring at her.
"Why is everyone staring at me like that?"
"You escaped from the Realm of Darkness, everyone is just still amazed that you are still alive."
"Ignore them Bloom."
"Does anyone know why we were all called here?"
"Not a clue."
"Attention!"
Silence fell in the Central Hall, none of the students said a word, a woman around 50 years old walked forward and turned to the students.
"My name is Griselda Griffin and I'm your new headmasters," she said.
Terra looked at her friends and began to whisper. "She looks stern."
"Under my supervision, I will see to it that no fairy or specialist will cause chaos," Griselda said.
'As if she can really promise that, we know what this school is like, Stella whispered.
"I want this school and its students to be the best," Griselda said. "Anyone who opposes that can pack their bags and leave the school, you are not welcome here."
"She's not kidding," Musa whispered.
"That's it, go have breakfast then go to your classes," Griselda said.
The students got up and started to leave the Central Hall.
"I want the girls from the Winx Suite and the four specialists Sky, Brandon, Riven and Dane in my office."
The fairies and specialists followed Headmistress Griffin into her office, Griffin sat down at her desk and looked at her students.
"Why are we here?" Stella asked.
"I know everything about your mission, what happened in the Omega Cave, I know all of it," Griselda said.
"How do you know everything that happened?" Flora asked.
"That's my job as headmistress," Griselda said.
"Are we being punished?" Dane asked.
"Your action was courageous and something many fairies and specialists your age cannot handle, I am impressed," Griselda said.
"So we're being rewarded?"
"You can go."
The fairies and the specialists left the office. And Griselda also left the office and went towards the Winx suite and saw Maya coming out of the suite.
"Hello."
"Good morning, I know you don't know me and you must be wondering what I'm doing in the students' suite?"
"That's not important," Griselda said, she stuck her hand out. "Griselda Griffin, the new headmistress."
Maya shook Griselda's hand. "Maya."
"You are from the Realm of Darkness?" Griselda asked.
"That's right," Maya said. "But I'm not evil or anything like that if you think that."
"I didn't think that at all," Griselda said. "Bloom survived the Realm of Darkness, is that because of you?"
"I made sure the negative energy would have as little effect on her as possible," Maya said.
"You have a lot of knowledge about how to fight off negative energy?" Griselda asked.
"Yes," Maya simply said. "If you don't mind, I'd like to explore the area now, so I'll go."
"I will walk with you then, there is something I want to discuss with you," Griselda said.
The girls had had their first few lessons and were now on break, they sat on the bench in the courtyard, many students looked at Bloom with perplexed looks and began to whisper.
"What are you looking at!" Bloom yelled. "Just keep walking!"
"Calm down Bloom," Aisha said.
"I can't stay calm," Bloom said. "Do you know how annoying it is to get stared at from the moment I came back."
"I told you before you have to ignore them, Aisha said.
"The girls saw Dane and his boyfriend Luke coming their way. "Hey ladies."
"Hey Dane, hey Luke."
"What's up, Bloom?"
Other than being stared at like I'm an alien, I'm doing okay," Bloom said.
"You've become something of a legend here, first fairy to get her wings after so many years, you own the Dragon Flame and you've escaped from the Realm of Darkness," Luke said.
"But I'm just Bloom," Bloom said.
"How about we change the subject?" Flora suggested.
"Good idea, I want to talk about everything that's not about me," Bloom said.
"I know a fun topic."
"What?"
"There," Stella said, she pointed to the cute guy she and her friends had seen before. "Let's talk about that hottie."
The girls, Dane and Luke turned and looked in the direction Stella was looking up and saw the handsome young man coming their way.
"Hi there," Stella said.
"Hello, are you guys all right?" He asked.
"We're fine," Stella said.
"We've never seen you here before, so we can assume you're new," Terra said.
"I'm Xander, I work with the specialists," Xander said.
"You're a specialist?" Dane asked.
"No, I work for you guys, I handle your suits, weapons and vehicles are, make sure everything is in order, Xander said.
"So you're the handyman?" Luke asked.
"I prefer to say maintainer," Xander said. "But I have to go now."
Xander walked away in the direction of where the specialists' weapons were stored, Stella and Dane watched Xander walk away.
Dane realized that was staring at Xander for too long and stopped. He looked at Luke, who didn't realize he had been staring at Xander. "We have to go, too."
Dane and Luke left again, Stella made another comment about Xander and the girls laughed except for one and that was Aisha, she didn't pay attention to what the others were saying and stared ahead.
"Are you okay Aisha?" Terra asked.
"I should have forgiven him earlier," Aisha said
"Grey loved you," Flora said
"I didn't believe him," Aisha said with a sad tone in her voice. "He wanted to prove himself and gave his life, to prove his love."
"Aisha we are here for you," Bloom said.
"Thank you," Aisha said.
"And if you want to talk about it," Flora began.
"I rather not right now," Aisha said, she wiped away her tears. "Come we must go to the next class."
Aisha got up to leave, but Musa grabbed her wrist and pulled Aisha towards her and group for group embrace.
The girls headed toward their next class. The second and third year specialists were doing fitness exercises down by the lake.
"So how is now that Bloom is back?" Riven asked.
"I'm glad she's back, but we haven't spent much time alone yet, Sky said.
"She hasn't been back for a day, Riven said. "And plus she has school right now.
"Maybe you should do something to her, Brandon suggested.
"I want to do something to her, something special and something intimate," Sky said.
"There's nothing more intimate than you know," Riven said.
Sky knew what Riven was gone say, and gave him a soft push. "Shut up Riven," he said.
"It's true, isn't it? Say it and I'll sleep somewhere else tonight so you can have the room to yourself and your girl," Riven said.
"Shut up," Sky said again.
"You want to do something with your girl, don't you?" Riven asked.
"What about your girl?" Brandon asked.
"My girl? Who are you talking about?"
"Musa."
"Musa is not my girlfriend," Riven said.
"Oh no, I thought you two had something going on, Brandon said.
"We're friends," Riven said, he received a look from both Sky and Brandon. "What I can just be friends with a girl."
"So there's nothing going on between you and Musa?" Brandon asked.
"There's nothing going on between us," Riven said.
"But you wish there was," Sky said with teasing voice.
Riven didn't answer that. He ignored Brandon and Sky's laughter and continued with the exercises.
After a long school day the girls arrived at their suite and saw that a letter had been picked up with Bloom's name on it, Bloom grabbed the letter from the door and began to read it, while Stella entered the room.
Dear Bloom,
If you're reading this I'm no longer in the suite, I've found my own space. But I'm not far away you know.
Maya.
"From whom is the letter?" Terra asked.
"From Maya," Bloom said.
"That old hag," Stella said.
"Stella, that's not a nice thing to say about a person," Terra said.
Bloom and the rest of the girls entered their suite and saw that their couch was gone. "What the…"
"Our couch is gone, that Maya must have taken it," Stella said.
"We don't know that for sure, Aisha said.
Bloom saw that there was something else written on the back of the letter. "Also I took your couch."
"I knew it," Stella said.
A few hours later the girls were asleep except for Stella, she got up, she grabbed her robe, put the note in her pocket and she left the room. Stella walked across campus and headed toward the kitchen. She picked up the note with Beatrix's sisters address, she looked at it for a few seconds and put it down on the counter, she walked towards the refrigerator and looked at what was in it, suddenly she heard noises coming from behind.
"Who's there? Stella asked, the door of the fridge closed and it was Brandon. "Oh, it's you."
"Good to see you to Sunshine", Brandon said.
"Stop calling me that," Stella said. "What are you doing here?"
'I was hungry and since I couldn't sleep because of my roommate's snoring I decided to come over here for a midnight snack," Brandon said.
"What are you eating?" Stella asked.
"A grilled cheese sandwich with barbecue sauce," Brandon said. "Want to try it?"
"No, thank you," Stella said.
"What are you doing here? Brandon asked as he took another bite of his sandwich. "Also looking for a midnight snack?"
"Sort of," She said.
Brandon put his plate on the counter, He saw Stella's note lying and grabbed it. "Diamond Hill?" He read, he then looked at Stella "What's that?"
"None of your business," Stella said, she grabbed the note back from Brandon.
"I've never heard of Diamond Hill," Brandon said.
"Neither have I, Stella said.
"If you need help figuring it out, I can be your guy," Brandon offered.
"You're the last person I want help from," Stella said.
Stella put the note back in her pocket and walked out of the kitchen. Brandon continued eating his grilled cheese sandwich.
The next day. Bloom and her classmates had been told to go to the campfire pit.
"Why do you think Griffin would send us here?"
"No idea."
Bloom saw Maya in the middle of the pit. "Maya, what are you doing here?"
"I'm your new teacher," Maya said.
Stella looked at Maya with a questioning look. "You?" She asked.
"Yes," Maya said.
"You don't even have powers," Stella said.
"Just because I don't have powers doesn't mean I can't teach you anything," Maya said.
"I doubt that," Stella said.
"Stella, don't be like that, show some respect," Terra said.
"If everyone will sit down now, we can begin the lesson," Maya said. The fairies sat down. "What drives the power of a fairy?"
Terra raised her hand. Emotion," she said.
"Right," Maya said. "But how do you know if your emotions are right?"
"Duh, if you're happy you're happy and if you're angry you're angry," Stella said.
"But how do you know it's real?" Maya asked. "The key is to keep your emotions in control forces is balance."
"What do you mean by that?" Musa asked.
"We are going to do an exercise," Maya said. "Stella and Terra can you come forward?"
Stella and Terra stood up and walked toward Maya.
"You are each going to stand on a rock with one leg up and you are going to keep your balance for as long as you can," Maya said.
"Is that it?" Stella asked.
"No," Maya said. "Terra I want you to think of a positive memory, Stella you are going to think of a negative memory."
Both Terra and Stella got on the rock, Maya gave them the signal and they got on one leg. Terra wobbled a little, she struggled to keep her balance, but then she started to think about what Maya said and she managed to find her balance. Maya walked up to Terra and put two fingers to her forehead and nothing happened. Then Maya walked toward Stella, her fingers didn't even touch Stella's forehead yet and Stella fell off the rock and into the mud, causing some of the fairies to laugh.
"Why did you push me?" Stella asked.
"My child, I didn't even touch you yet," Maya said, she turned to the rest of her class. "But this is the lesson, that negative thoughts can easily throw you off balance."
"What can you do to keep your balance?" Flora asked.
"You have to cancel everything out, your inner focus has to be totally in balance," Maya said.
Maya continued her lesson and many fairies were listening intently. After the lesson the fairies walked from the Winx suite to the school building, Stella was not happy as she was totally covered in mud.
"I will get her back, I will not let her humiliate me," Stella said.
"Calm down Stella," Musa said.
"See this is exactly what Maya means," Terra said.
"Are you taking her class seriously?" Stella asked.
"I take her very seriously," Terra said.
"It's thanks to her that I've been able to survive in the Realm of Darkness," Bloom said.
"She has words of wisdom," Flora said.
Stella wasn't listening to what her friends were saying. The girls arrived in the hall and were approached by Sky.
"Hey," Sky, Bloom said.
"How are you doing?" Sky asked.
"I'm doing fine," Bloom said.
"Glad to hear it," Sky said. Bloom, Would you like to do something with me tonight?
"Yeah, sure I would like to," Bloom said.
Sky gave Bloom a kiss on the cheek and walked away again. The rest of the girls started giggling and teasing Bloom a little about her date with Sky, and that did make Bloom a little happy, she was starting to feel at home again.
Later that day, Stella had changed clothes and was walking toward the food hall and bumped into Brandon on the way.
"Watch where you're going!" Stella yelled
"You're the one bumping into me, Sunshine," Brandon said.
"My day is already off to a bad start, so please don't call me that today," Stella said.
"Still no luck on your Diamond Hill quest?" Brandon asked.
"Not that it's any of your business," Stella said. "But no, I still have nothing."
I know I'm the last person you'd want help from, but I wanna help you," Brandon said.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Maybe it would be good to have someone take a fresh look at it," Stella said. "Tomorrow after dinner "at the library and don't be late."
"I'll be there," Brandon said.
Without another word to Brandon, Stella walked away.
The day had passed quickly. The girls were busy with Bloom and getting her looking good for her date with Sky. After getting all ready for her date, Bloom walked toward Sky's room; he had asked her to come there. Bloom arrived at Sky's room, she knocked on his door and walked into the room.
"You look great," Sky said.
"You don't look bad yourself," Bloom said.
"Thanks," Sky said. "Come sit down."
Bloom walked over to the table and sat down. Sky took out two cold drinks from the freezer.
"For you."
"Thank you."
"And I made you one of your favorite meals."
"Macaroni and cheese with hot dogs and chili peppers."
"Yep."
"This is really, sweet of you," Bloom said.
"You're back and I just want to show you how much I missed you," Sky said.
"I missed you too," Bloom said.
Sky looked down on his meal. "I seriously have no idea how you like this?"
"Well, you know I'm a girl with a different taste," Bloom said.
"That's what I like about you so much," Sky said.
Bloom and Sky enjoyed their date. After they finished their, Sky turned up the music and asked Bloom to dance it to him. She didn't care if it turned into a typical Rom-Com moment, she was just happy to be back with Sky and share this moment with him.
Somewhere in a very different part of Solaria. In an old abandoned apartment building sat and young one a girl. The young one was tall and skinny and he had all different colors in his hair. The girl was a little smaller and she had green hair. Both were dressed in black.
A shadow figure appeared on the wall. "Selina, Duman."
"Hello brother."
"It is time, my brother and sister."
"Tell us what to do Sebastian," Selina and Duman said.