Bloom's heels echoed through the empty hallway as she walked, tears welling up in her eyes and obscuring her vision, and she turned the corner to go down the main stairway.
Stupid. Stupid, letting herself get riled like that, stupid for losing control of her magic like that.
She wanted to burn and burn and burn. Wanted them to see just how awful she truly was. How hateful she was inside, how lost, how utterly rudding broken.
The lights were dim in this part of the school, as the magnificent chandelier over the space remained unlit. Why it was dark, Bloom didn't know. But she was thankful to not have to see those hateful flames dancing along the chandelier. She hated them.
Small faerie lights bobbed around, barely illuminating the hallway, and Bloom slowed her pace before the stained glass mural of the dragon and faerie warriors.
The images seemed to move in the darkness, the whorls of red and greens and blues mixing together like a beautiful song. Bloom shook her head, blinking. She felt as if the images inside the glass were watching her.
Or maybe she hoped for it. Hoped for someone watching over her, protecting her.
"I'm afraid." She whispered out loud. Somehow, saying it made the dark hallway and unsettling mural feel less creepy. Made her feel less alone.
She blinked away the tears that threatened to spill over. When was the last time Bloom truly felt something? She'd stumbled into this well of nothingness, and she wasn't sure she would be able to claw herself out.
Bloom shook her head and turned, away from the mural, away from the beautiful colors, and walked down the stairway, her heels softly clicking against the stone steps. Her fingers trailed down the cool banister as she did so. She got to the bottom step and paused, turning to look at the mural one final time.
The images still stood out despite the darkness. Those fierce warriors. It would have been nice, she realized. She had let herself hope that she could be like them. To be fierce and heroic and brave. It would have been really, really nice.
But she wasn't like them. She was nothing.
"Stella wouldn't be stupid enough to leave it unattended." Bloom's head whorled towards the corridor to her right. Whoever was down there was out of her line of sight. The voice continued, "it's her favorite accessory."
"Are you doubting my visions?" Another voice snapped back.
The words were mumbled to the point where Bloom couldn't really make them out. But she recognized them. Those hateful voices, the lithe and timbre of their words. Bloom threw her hand over her mouth to stop herself from gasping. She looked around frantically, and took a small leap from the step onto the rug that led to the hallway to muffle her footsteps. Bloom crouched down as she slid over to the wall and pressed herself between a large curtain and the stone, holding her breath to keep still.
The voices that could only belong to the witches that had attacked her last week. But what were they doing here? And, assuming Bloom's weak mortal ears hadn't betrayed her, they had mentioned Stella. Bloom had to warn the girls. Three sets of footsteps echoed throughout the hall as the witches slunk up the stairs Bloom had just been standing on. She rubbed her broken arm and winced, waiting until they were out of sight.
Darcy hated carrying people through the folds between spaces. It was bulky and strenuous, but she was thankful in this moment to be able to appear beside the hiding faerie and transport her instantly to the grass outside. Darcy threw her down, Bloom skidding on the grass as she tumbled. The Earthling turned so the impact would be on her left side instead of her broken arm, causing her shoulder to absorb a majority of the impact.
Darcy's sisters instantly appeared beside her.
"You'd have thought she would learn not to mess with us by now." Stormy said to the witches, rolling her eyes.
"Spying on witches? Seriously? How dense are you, little faerie?" Icy said with a smirk on her face.
Bloom just glared. As she looked around she beheld where she was- outside of Alfea's gates at the edge of the surrounding forest.
"I believe you owe us a favor." Darcy said sweetly as she wrapped her shadows around the girl and lifted her to her feet. Bloom was unsteady and her head spun as she stood on the uneven ground.
She kept her blurry eyes on the witches and scoffed. "For what?"
"For sparing your life, of course." Icy finished for her.
The red-haired girl grimaced.
"You're going to retrieve Stella's scepter. I'm getting impatient, little faerie. I want it. Now." Icy crossed her arms over her chest, a cold look on her face.
Bloom silently tried to prod that pressure in her chest. she felt it move and she tried to stretch it as she had done earlier, trying to summon that flame again. It snapped back out of her grasp, causing a cringe to make its way onto Bloom's face.
"Well? I'm waiting, faerie." Icy said, tapping her foot. Bloom tried again, trying to fight against the tension of the magic, and tried to imagine a flame- the way it looked, how it felt..
Bloom gasped as a small flame appeared in her hand. She tried to make it grow, and it did, slightly, but not much.
Icy's eyes went wide as she beheld the flame. Her sisters went rigid behind her. "You're not a faerie at all..." Icy said softly, looking into Bloom's eyes. "You're a witch..."
Bloom shook her head and laughed bitterly. "That's what everyone keeps telling me."
"You need a teacher." Icy said, her cold mask morphing into something softer. Almost kind, even. "Come with us." It wasn't a suggestion, but a demand.
The flame growing from Bloom's palm crackled softly in the night, illuminating the features of their faces.
Bloom shook her head. "You guys literally tried to kill me only days ago."
Darcy's mouth was gaping and she shook her head. "We didn't know.. We protect our own." Darcy stepped forward, "Your name is Bloom, right? We'll take you to Cloud Tower, we'll protect you."
She shook her head again. "Just leave Alfea." Bloom said. The flame she held was as wide as her hand now. She kept feeding it, trying to get it to grow larger. "Leave Stella's scepter alone. Leave me alone."
Icy snarled, a hateful expression. "Coven code says you must be presented to the supreme witch of the region. She will decide what you may do." Icy said, sizing up the girl.
Bloom started walking backwards slowly as another flame grew in her other hand. "Nobody is taking me anywhere." Bloom tried to mold her flame into a ball- which was extremely difficult, mind you. It fought and fought with every prod she made inward, defying her, truly having a mind of its own.
Stormy hissed, taking a step forward. "You would seriously turn your back on your own people?"
Her own people. She used to have people. Her parents, Seth, her friends. But they were human, and whatever Bloom was... she wasn't human. Not anymore.
Bloom squared her shoulders, narrowed her eyes, and said, "I don't have a people."
And then she broke loose.
Flame seared out of her. That magic that had been clawing at her insides all night brushed along the earth, gleeful to have finally been released. As quickly as it had escaped, it had stopped, a rash release of fire and ember that had threatened to swallow her and the world, but had then quieted. For now.
Bloom fell backwards, panting, desperately clawing back against the doused grass as she scrambled to her feet and took off into a run. She left the witches behind, sprinting back through the school gates. They opened, just barely, for her and she squeezed through them. The witches flew through the air, their cloaks billowing behind them and landed in front of her, blocking her path. The witches put their hoods down, exposing their livid faces.
"I'll admit, Bloom. You could be a powerful witch." Icy said, narrowing her eyes. Bloom had never noticed, but Icy's pupils were such a cold blue that they were nearly white, complimenting her pale complexion and pure white hair.
The three girls stalked towards Bloom. Icy was flanked by her second, Darcy, on the right and her third, Stormy, on the left. They looked at Bloom like wolves sizing up their prey.
Bloom cowered, backing up, as Icy thrust a jab of ice towards Bloom. She dodged it, barely, but it sliced through the edge of her arm, leaving a trail of hot wet blood behind.
A dark force threw Bloom to the ground, where she landed on her broken arm, hearing it snap again as it re-broke. Bloom cried out from the blinding hot pain, a sob wracking her body.
She couldn't breathe as she looked at her unnaturally bent arm, where the brace had splintered and fallen off. She couldn't think.
Bloom let out a scream as the pain radiated up her arm.
Stormy put up a wall of wind around the witches and the girl, blocking her screams from being heard.
"Why are you doing this to me?!" Bloom screamed, her voice raw. Tears streamed down her face, and she tasted the saltiness of her tears as they fell around her mouth. Smelled the magic circling around the witches, the earthy smell of the grass she knelt on.
"You made your choice when you turned your magic on your sisters." Icy's eyes narrowed. "That's a big no-no, and violates one of the primary coven codes: obedience." Icy took a step forward. "The other is punishment." Another step. "You either come with us or you prepare to meet your fate." Icy said, thrusting a stream of ice towards the girl. It darted up from the earth, pressing against Bloom and making it impossible to move.
Bloom would not survive this. Nobody would come to save her this time.
Bloom's body shook as she clenched her eyes shut. The adrenaline pumping through her veins honed and sharpened her senses. She clawed inside herself, trying to grasp anything that would allow her to fight, to stay alive.
She would not go down quietly. Even if unleashing something, anything, that existed inside her destroyed her in the process.
She felt her power brush up against something- a small thread. It glimmered with warmth and strength- and a warning that Bloom didn't even let herself consider.
She didn't think about anything as she lashed out for that thread and tugged.
What happened next was excruciating. Fire clawed at her skin as her body became completely engulfed in flames.
They threatened to swallow her, and the world.
The ice melted in seconds and Bloom staggered forward. She fell to her knees as the witches around her chuckled as the flames wrapped around the girl's body.
Bloom was a living flame, every inch of her, her fingers clawing at the dirt and grass below her. Bloom felt her clothes, that stunning blue dress, melt as she burned and burned.
It was excruciating- the flames. Feeling as if her skin was going to char and melt away from the heat.
Icy crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot, an amused smile tugging at her features. "The witchling doesn't know how to control her powers. Shocker."
The flames were pulsing out of her now, wrapping her body in a cocoon of ember and ash. She couldn't even feel embarrassed that she was completely naked and defenseless against these three witches. Not when her magic snapped its jaws at every fiery breath she took, trying to force air into her lungs.
Darcy passed through the fold between spaces and appeared instantly beside Icy. "I'd really hate to kick a girl while she's down, but the opportunity is too good to pass up."
Icy nodded. "Do your worst, then."
Darcy began to reach down, down, down, into her well of power and slowly started bringing it up towards the surface.