Set In Stone | Fate: The Winx Saga

Chapter Ten

Left. Right. Right. Straight ahead. Right again. Dead end.

"Fuck." She cursed as soon as she saw the wall made of shrubs blocking her way once again.

Professor Pally's challenge for today was a hedge maze, and this time Amber was paired against a light fairy named Selina. It was supposed to be a piece of cake, if only the walls weren't constantly changing, throwing her off her focus.

The first one to get to the blue rose hidden among the labyrinth's passages would win the challenge, and Amber was not going to give up after last week's embarrassing failure.

Right. Left. Right. Shit.

She felt hot anger slowly dripping into her bloodstream, entering her system like poison. She couldn't use the bangle, her magic was way weaker with it. She had to calm down and get to the flower.

The maze moved so quickly, sometimes it felt like it was purposely closing on her, and Amber was getting exhausted by the minute.

Tap. Tap. Behind you.

The familiar tingle of magic guided her, urging her to turn around. She could feel it – the flower. It was so close. But the path was blocked.

Something was wrong, though. She could feel it as her magic was pushing her toward the blocking wall. Every other wall felt anchored to nature, but the one ahead of her was weird. It didn't feel present, like it wasn't even rea— her hand went through the bushes, which quickly dissipated in a ripple-like way.

Once it vanished completely, Amber glanced upwards to see Professor Pally watching her, and behind him was Selina, whose eyes were lightened in a golden shade as she twirled the rose in her hands.

Amber lost, once again.

"Good job with the mirage, Miss Harris," The man said, glancing at the dark-skinned fairy with a proud smile. "You're dismissed."

The two fairies turned to the opening that led outside the maze, but just as Amber began to walk, Professor Pally spoke again, "Not you, Miss Rackley."

Defeated, Amber pivoted to look at her professor, trying to bite down the irritation as she saw the look on his face. He was not happy.

"If you're going to lecture me, just know that Miss Dowling already told me to come to her office today, so I'll save you the trouble," Amber said, not bothering to hide the frustration in her voice.

"Is this what you think it is? A lecture?"

"Kinda feels like it,"

"Perhaps if you stopped closing your mind, you'd realize there are other ways to look at things."

Amber frowned, "That's exactly what I would expect of someone to say if they were trying to lecture me."

The professor seemed slightly taken aback by Amber's stubbornness and turned to look at the maze around them. He let out a quiet sigh, "You were supposed to pass this exercise. Easily. Nature is your birth element, yet you are refusing to truly connect to it."

Amber slightly lowered both her gaze and her voice, "Can you blame me? You saw what happened in class last time. I can lose control and my magic is dangerous."

She remembered Beatrix's words to let the real magic out. And while she had caved in and tried, she really didn't want to do so again. Her magic was wild. Most of the time it did more harm than good.

The man tsked his tongue, disregarding Amber's claims as if they were unimportant, "All magic is dangerous." There was something cold in his voice, it sent a shiver down her spine. "But you are not defined by your magic, just what you choose to do with it."