The Winx Club were heroes. Before she even knew her own name, Jane understood that her mother was a hero. Growing up, the walls of the Eraklyon palace were lined with grand murals and tapestries of the queen and her friends fending off evil and saving the Magic Dimension over and over and over again. Jane always felt trapped in her mother's shadow, but she always felt safe. Now at Alfea, she was finally free of the Winx Club's legacy, but everything was new and terrifying. It was a bittersweet trade-off.

Looking up at the silhouette that the looming spires of Cloud Tower cut against the overcast sky, she began to feel a little less safe.

"Girls, fly down first. We'll follow," Will said, standing alert in front of the gaping hole in the ground.

Their hero team consisted of four teenage boys, each one more tall and muscular than the last.

Will was the leader and Jane thought it suited him, what with his charming smile and princely stature. The way his hand rested on the hilt of his white phantoblade made her feel safe. Even if Faragonda was sending them on a suicide mission.

Ace wandered over to the hole and wondered aloud, "So that's what the Invisible Road looks like… kind of underwhelming."

"Good," Delta said, not looking up from her sharp nails. "I literally didn't even agree to this mission."

"None of us did," Piper said. She rolled her cold black eyes. "That doesn't mean you had to go make it worse by fighting with our headmistress."

"Oh, boo-hoo," Delta taunted. "Scared you're going to get a bad grade or something?"

"Hurry and transform before someone sees," Will urged.

The girls all looked to Jane. It took her a second to realize why.

"Alright, girls," she begrudgingly said. "Magic Winx!"

Each took up their poses as they were enveloped in a light that left them standing in their Winx transformations. Jane, despite her usually plain outfits of tank tops and boyfriend jeans, welcomed the magically manufactured outfit, feeling at home in her sparkly miniskirt. Most of all, she enjoyed the feeling of her wings sprouting from her back, suspended by magic.

One by one, they each hopped into the hole and fluttered to the tunnel floor to embark on their first adventure together. The ground was soft and sticky with the goo which was natural to the soil of Magix, urging Jane to flutter above it. The other fairies followed suit, making Jane feel like she was leading a non consensual game of Simon Says.

"How does anyone find their way in here?"

"I can fix that!" Sylvie eagerly volunteered.

The tunnel was flooded with a pale light that didn't do much for visibility, but it helped a bit.

"Sorry. I can only do moonlight."

As she looked around, Jane was surprised to see that the tunnel was actually a natural cave with dripping stalactites and mushy stalagmites clinging to the warped cave walls. Crevices of different sizes led off into different directions both high and low. Jane decided that Invisible Road was a misnomer. It was more like an Invisible Complex Cave System. Between the wet chill and the shadows cast by the stalactites and stalagmites, it seemed more akin to a nightmare from Obsidian than a tunnel. The fire fairy sighed.

"So much for just going in the direction of the school."

The heroes jumped down after them.

"Holy gangue," Mica exhaled as he jumped down. He walked over to hold Jane's pale hand in his own tan one. Jane wasn't sure if she had luck or Faragonda to thank for her childhood best friend being on her hero team. "This place is terrifying."

"Scared, Mikey?" Will taunted, flexing his arms. Jane struggled to focus on finding the right path with the blond prince of Thordal standing so close and looking so good. Mica let go of Jane's hand.

"Shut up, Will," Mica said, shoving the taller boy, but the prince didn't budge.

"So what's the plan?" Orlando asked. Everyone just looked at him. His lazy gold eyes were fixed on the poorly lit cave walls as he took off the Ring of Solaria. With a disappointed look on her face, Sylvie let her twin brother illuminate the cave with his much brighter light.

Finally, Delta said, "Jane, aren't you, like, the leader or something?"

"What? No. Why do you guys keep assuming I'm the leader?"

"You're Bloom's daughter," Sylvie said as if it were obvious, but it kind of was.

"Wait, you're Bloom's daughter?" Lee asked in that deep tone that made the girls' hearts thump in their chests. The violet-haired hero scratched the back of his thick neck nervously. Jane still couldn't get over the sheer size of him or the fact that the gentle giant had to duck for a few of the stalactites.

"Um… yes…"

"Lily, all their moms are in the Winx Club," Will said with a charming laugh. "Pay attention, man."

"Please don't call me Lily," Lee asked, but the group was still fixated on his obliviousness.

"Dude, like, where have you been?" Delta chirped from the back.

"All of them?" he asked in the same nervous tone that sounded out of place coming out of the hulking hero's throat.

"Lee, MY mom was in the Winx Club," Orlando said, rolling his eyes.

"Why? Is that a problem or something?" Marissa asked.

"No. What? No problem. Not a problem. Not a problem at all."

The group stared at their tallest party member in confusion, but Jane's eyes were trying to make sense of the gooey, convoluted cave.

Behind them was a shriek followed by, "Who the hell are you?!"

They whipped around in a fighting position and found a bedraggled-looking boy with pale skin, white hair, and glinting eyes who, for some reason, terrified Jane beyond belief. He was wearing torn, velvet trousers - of all things - and an off-white pirate shirt that hung like curtains off his skin frame and tucked into his pants, like a baroque Huck Finn. His bony arm was wrapped around Delta in a loose headlock.

"Hi," he said with a dangerous grin.

"Let her go," Orlando demanded, holding up his golden phantoblade to the strange boy's neck. He let go without protest.

Holding out a pale hand, he introduced himself as Val in a thick accent that Jane had never heard before.

Understandably, no one shook his hand. Ace grabbed Delta and pulled her away from the strange boy into a hug. Delta shoved Ace off in disgust before wiping Val's grime off of her sparkly green skirt.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he said with a shrug as if there weren't a sword to his neck. "What're you wandering my caves for?"

"Your caves?" Piper asked.

"Who are you?"

"Val."

Once again, he held out a hand and was met with open air. Jane crossed her arms, curling in on herself.

She nervously asked, "Do you want something?"

"That's what I came over to ask you."

"We need to get to the Cloud Tower dorms," Jane explained tentatively.

"I think it's the first right," Delta chimed in, grasping her necklace tightly.

Val tilted his head curiously and eyed her necklace.

"You're right. Say, where did you get that jewel? Few people have ever seen it in person. It's a- what do they call it? Dimensional secret or something?"

This sparked Jane's own curiosity, but she kept quiet.

"Yeah, something like that," Delta muttered more to herself than to the bony boy.

"I can guide you folks if you'd like," Val offered, watching Jane intently. "Do you want to follow me, Janey?"

Jane's breath caught in her throat and she found herself slowly nodding before she could even think it over.

Val smiled again, dangerous as ever, and it took the rest of Jane's breath away. Something inside of him pulled her to him.

"Well, in that case, follow me."

He turned and left. Jane moved to follow him but a hand on her wrist stopped her. Looking back, she saw Mica, red eyes glinting in the low light. The most telling sign that he was the prince of Isis was the way he sparkled like a jewel from the ruby gem on the center of his chest to his red-hot hearing aids. His usually comforting sparkle now seemed eerie by the light of Orlando's staff. Maybe everything is like that underneath Magix. Maybe it worked that way for Val too.

"Jane, don't."

"Do you know the way?"

He didn't respond.

"I trust Jane's gut," Will said, going out of his way to inject himself into their conversation. Jane blushed at having his bright eyes trained on her. Will smiled softly. "Lead the way, Red."

With a huff and a roll of his own eyes, Mica said, "Well, if we're going to follow him, we should go before he gets too far."

The group set off to follow the stranger through the caves beneath the three schools of Magix.

"So... Val," Jane began awkwardly, "do you live down here?"

"I live over in a cave house," he replied matter-of-factly.

"A cave house?" Will asked as he ducked to dodge a stalactite.

"Tight squeeze, folks!" Val announced. The cave grew narrow and the group had to turn sideways to get through. Lee almost got stuck on account of his giant muscles. "As I was saying, I live in a cave house. That's a house in a cave. Woah, watch out for that cave rock!"

They all walked around a large boulder in the middle of the path as the walls opened up again.

"It's just a rock," Piper muttered, but the only one who heard her was Lee, who snorted to himself and kept on walking.

"This should be the cave path you're looking for," he said as we stopped at an upward slope that ended at a cave opening with flickering light pouring through. "Come back and visit."

And then he was gone. The group looked around in confusion, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. With a shrug, they decide to forge ahead anyway.

At the top of the hill was another passageway running perpendicular to the passage that they had just come from, except this new passage was paved in wet stones and dimly lit by torchlight. Jane looked back over her shoulder before stepping into the darkness.

"I guess we're, like, inside the walls of Cloudtower," Delta said, looking up to see no ceiling, only darkness that stretched on for ages.

"Clever deduction, sweetheart," Orlando teased, but his eyes were also fixated on the neverending shadows hanging above their heads.

"Don't call me that," Delta muttered as her eyes strained to look for the ceiling.

There was an awful chill about being underground and it didn't go away once they entered the building. It was the sort of chill that just sat in a person's bones and didn't let up no matter how many layers they put on. Even with the fire burning inside of her, Jane had to rub her goosebumps away to stop shivering.

They kept walking, not really knowing what to look for, until Sylvie tripped on something.

"Watch where you're going, birdbrain," Orlando teased as he helped her up.

"You watch it, barf breath," Sylvie shot back oh-so-cleverly.

"Sylvie, you found the exit!" Jane cheered as she inspected the raised stone that Sylvie had tripped over. "Could you, uh, turn off the staff? I think this is it."

Orlando took the staff and slipped it on his finger as a ring. The group was left only with the faint light from the fairies' wings. They all watched with bated breath as Jane tentatively pushed the raised stone back down into the floor. The wall slid aside, scraping against the outside as the light of the school hallway flooded in.

Jane slowly poked her head out into the hallway and Will did the same, looking the other way down the hall.

"Coast is clear."

One by one they filed out of the secret passage in the wall.

"Where's the dorm?" Marissa asked.

"It's the last dorm at the end of the hall," Delta replied, pointing down the curving hallway. Jane made a mental note to ask her later about how she knew everything all the time and what Val had been talking about in the cave.

"What are you doing here?"

They whipped around to face a witch with wild hair and weepy eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Sylvie shot back.

"It's my free period," the witch replied, looking between the group confusedly. "Wh- oh my Dragon, you guys are fairies!"

Suddenly, blue magic was swirling at her hands and her pink lips were set in a snarl. She floated up into the air as her eyes went white and she let out a wail that brought them all to their knees.

Jane screamed, clasping her ears like they were going to bust.

"No!" a voice bellowed.

Looking over with a pained squint, Jane saw Lee reach for his holster and pulled out his handle. She watched as a phantotrident formed from the handle and he flung it at the witch, knocking her to the ground.

"Girls, run!" he roared as he jumped to his feet.

Jane stood up and bolted down the hallway. Looking to her left, she saw Marissa take flight and followed suit. The girls zipped down the hall, watching doors fly past them with the sounds of a battle behind them.

"Who was that?!"

Delta fingered her necklace and replied, "Maureen, Witch of Grief. She's part-banshee and a member of the Sisterhood of the Lamplight."

"Great!" Sylvie said sarcastically. "Now they'll know we're here!"

"What do we do?!" Marissa asked.

"Don't worry about that! Just keep flying!"

Finally, they landed and skidded to a stop at the end of the hall. The battle was far behind them now.

"This is it," Delta confirmed with arms crossed as Jane tentatively reached for the doorknob.

She slowly pushed the door open and crept inside. Piper went in last and closed the door behind them. Jane pulled out the scroll Faragonda had given her and showed the girls the illustrations of the three relics they had to find: the crystal ball, the spellbook, and the cauldron.

"They say the cauldron responds if you call out its name."

"What's its name?" Marissa asked, looking over Jane's shoulder and squinting at the page.

"Gristlebum?" Jane replied, looking at the word strangely. "Gristlebum!"

Nothing happened. They all tried calling out but it didn't make a difference.

"It must not be here," Ace deduced.

"What was supposed to happen anyway?" Sylvie asked with a joking smile. "Was it supposed to run out wagging its tail? Here, Gristlebum! Good boy! Come here!"

They all laughed at the image of the cauldron bounding up to them like a puppy but screamed when an actual cauldron bounded up to them like a puppy. The six fairies jumped back, away from the shaking pot.

"Oh my Dragon."

The cauldron stopped and sat back on its hind legs - which were actually just the four stubs that hold it above the flame - and wagged its tail - which was actually just one of its handles. This made an awful clanging noise. It flapped its front handle and made a yapping sound. Ace dropped to her knees.

"Guys, he's so cute!" she squealed, petting its cold metal exterior. The cauldron made a delighted sound and cuddled up next to her.

"Ace, get away from that thing!" Sylvie shrieked.

"No, grab it!" Delta countered from where she stood on the desk.

"Delta, get down!" Marissa exclaimed, tugging on the Zenithian's arm. Delta screamed as she teetered over the edge.

"No way am I going down there!" Delta countered. "Who knows what that thing can do?"

"It can mix potions," Piper deadpanned, rolling her eyes at the chaos in the room. "That's what cauldrons do."

"Yeah? Well, cauldrons don't bark or wag their tails," Delta said as she cautiously fluttered to sit on the edge of the desk.

"Oh, it's just a little angel," Ace cooed, scratching the underside of the cauldron. It rolled over onto its back to give her better access.

"Whatever it is," Marissa said, "the witches shouldn't have it. Ace, grab it."

The Lynphean picked him up and perched him on her hip. Piper stepped closer and inspected the tag on its rim that said "GRISTLEBUM" and underneath that "Please return to Avalon." Slowly, the name Avalon faded away to be replaced with Acacia.

"Now… where's that spellbook?" Jane muttered to herself. The girls fanned out and searched the room.

"Hey, guys?" Piper said, holding up the sketchbook. "It's not a spellbook, but it does have some familiar names."

The girls crowded around to read the sketchbook, which was filled with large notes chronicling one half of a conversation. The first one said "What for, Avalon?" and the second one said "Better them than the Cult of the Midnight Moon" and next "What else? Obviously the Obsidian Coven" and then "No, Maureen, we can't just let them have it."

"Those are some of the covens in the census," Sylvie said upon closer inspection. Then she gasped and said conspiratorially, "Do you think the covens are actually organizing against the Company of Light like Faragonda said? What would happen if the Sisterhood of the Lamplight teamed up with the Obsidian Coven?"

"I found it!"

Jane whipped around as Marissa popped up from under a bed, holding a crystal ball above her head. Just then, the door swung open.

"Girls, we need to leave," Will announced. The other boys stood behind him, looking over their shoulders warily.

"Oh, but we haven't found the spellbook yet," Jane said, flying over to him.

"Remember what Faragonda said?" Sylvie reminded her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "There's always next time."

Dejectedly, the girls left the dorm with only the cauldron and the crystal ball. Once they reached the secret passage, they saw another witch, this one with vivid purple hair and an exuberant number of rings, cradling Maureen on the floor. Her head snapped up as they approached.

"You. What did you do?" she spat.

Jane's head snapped to Lee as she whispered fearfully, "Lee, what did you do to her?"

Putting his hands up in self-defense, Lee said, "It wasn't me."

Jane followed his gaze to the self-righteous hero looking unfazed by the unconscious girl on the floor.

"Relax," Will replied to both the witch and Jane. "She's just unconscious."

"Just unconscious?!" the witch shouted as she jumped to her feet. "She could have a concussion and you just left her here?!"

"She shouldn't have attacked us!" Will argued, but the other boys were starting to look guilty. They also all had tear tracks running down their faces for some reason. Also, their eyes were red and swollen like they had been crying. Lee even had leftover tear tracks going down his face.

"You shouldn't be here!" the witch bellowed, towering over the body of her friend. "Wait- what are you... is that my cauldron?"

The cauldron whimpered and Ace hid it behind her back.

"Gristlebum, come," the witch demanded. The cauldron didn't budge. "Gristlebum, come."

At its defiance, the witch's nostrils flared in fury and she stomped her foot, summoning magic to her hands. Jane blanched and stepped back in terror. She was nowhere near ready to take on a sophomore witch.

"Wretched Waters!"

A light blue blast came out of nowhere and knocked Avalon onto her back. Jane recognized the voice before she even turned around.

"Julia?"

"Jane?"

Jane's older sister hurried over to the group of first years as Avalon groaned on the ground.

"What are you doing here?"

Jane stared at the relics in their arms and then the witches on the ground.

"Jules, it's a long story, but I need you to trust me right now."

Eraklyon's eldest princess looked down at her fallen classmates before giving a solemn nod.

"Sure, Jane, but you totally owe me an explanation later."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"There are powers at play here that you don't understand," Avalon said threateningly as she stood. She wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. "You're going to regret that, Blueblood."

"Probably," Julia replies with a shrug. "Jane? Run."

The fairies all looked to Jane who could only shrug. WIth an exasperated eye roll, Piper nodded towards the whole in the wall. Only one thought flew through Jane's head as she flew through the cave.

"I really don't want to be a Winx girl."