Soul Fire

6.4

Bloom couldn't believe her eyes when she emerged in that clearing. Before the girls was a quaint little college. It looked homely and unsuspecting enough, with a straw roof and cobblestone exterior. There was even a front porch with an old rocking chair out front.

But something felt... off. There was dark magic here.

"I don't like this place." Bloom whispered. "Flora, are you sure she's here?"

Flora nodded wordlessly, but it was impossible to say with 100% certainty. She had been fooled before.

"It could be a trap." Xenia said. She fidgeted nervously. Xenia felt as if she was blind. Her ability to disrupt or control any electronic equipment had become a sort of sixth sense for her. She relied on it to know how many people were around her, the layouts of rooms or buildings, the presence of weapons. Xenia could even see all of the information in a person's smartphone with half a thought. It was almost as effective as reading their mind, but it was a line she never crossed without reason. It was better not knowing peoples' inner secrets.

But it didn't matter here. Not in this forest, where the strange energy interfered with all tangible impulses and made them impossible to distinguish from the noise that clouded her mind.

Xenia was on edge. That might even be an understatement.

"It could be a trap." Bloom agreed. "But if there's a chance that Stella's in there..." she trailed off, scanning the tree line around her. Bloom didn't like feeling like she was being watched.

Bloom felt a zap of magic and her eyes trailed to Musa as a C Major chord filled the air. So much for subtlety.

Musa's sparkling red dress shimmered as she fluttered her four skinny pixie wings to loosen them up. She cracked her neck and then proceeded to tighten her pigtails, a look of determination on her face. Musa took a step forward. "Well, what are we waiting for?" She said, turning. "Let's go."

The girls exchanged a look before summoning their wings, one after another. Bloom gritted her teeth as she felt that excruciating burning on her skin and the explosion of pain from beneath her shoulder blades. But she didn't incinerate anything around her, so she considered it an improvement.

"We're going to light the room up like a disco ball." Bloom hissed as the girls stepped onto the porch of the cottage.

Musa shrugged. "I'm sure whoever is in there already knows we're here."

Xenia kept her voice low as she said, "A fair assumption, since one of us isn't capable of transforming quietly."

Musa snickered and grasped the doorknob of the door to the cottage. She twisted and pushed, the door opening into the dark room. There wasn't a single light on inside. of course not.

Musa hesitated by the doorway, and glanced at the faeries. Slowly, her foot crossed the threshold, and her red heeled boots stepped onto the creaky wooden floor of the dark cottage.

Without Stella's faerie lights, Bloom was the next best option, though her light was not nearly as effective as Stella's. Bloom lit a flame in her hand and held it up slightly as she followed Musa into the tiny cottage, Xenia then Flora entering behind her. As soon as Flora stepped over the threshold, the door to the cottage slammed shut with a bang. All of the girls jumped, their bodies turning to face the door. Bloom instinctually brought her other fist up, small flames crackling over her knuckles.

Nothing was there. They were completely alone in the dark room. The cottage was cozy, with peeling lavender paint and old creaking floorboards. A brick fireplace crumbled against the far wall.. It was definitely a fixer-upper.