Chapter Sixteen
The Winx
Luella couldn't help but keep the minor shock on her features. Out of the four of them, she probably wasn't the only one. Who would have thought Dinner Lady Dorris would be getting in and out of the school by a secret passage right under her feet?
But there was another, and bigger, concern out of the two thoughts that Luella had. The Burned Ones: that was her major worry. Over time, Luella found it harder and harder to keep panic off herself and found that Bloom was having it easier. Or maybe she'd just always been secretive and Luella couldn't tell; it'd been hard to tell anything over the last week.
Luella rushed passed from Stella and Aisha to Bloom who was leading the group down the damp passageway.
The ice fairy swallowed before talking, trying to process what was happening in her head. "I don't get it," Luella stated to Bloom as she looked over to her but continued to walk quickly. "Why do we have to leave the school?"
"Rosalind told me," Bloom started to explain; she had hesitated on Rosalind's name. The Burned One's footsteps could be heard rattling not far above and behind them, a small echo reaching the passage. "She said that the reason their here is because of me and you."
Luella wanted to halt but knew there wasn't time for it, she also saw it had grabbed the other fairies' attention.
Bloom carried on. "She said that the power in me was too great, or something like that," Bloom rambled. "They're after you because you're rare, you're the only ice fairy. The Burned Ones thought they'd kill you too before the Blood Witches got to you."
Then everyone started asking questions.
"The only ice fairy?" She heard Stella say.
"Blood Witches?" Luella had asked at the same time.
"Aster Dell," Bloom said. "That's where Beatrix had taken me. Where I thought my blood parents were from. The settlers there weren't fairies, they were witches. Blood sacrifices and stuff like that."
Aisha joined in too. "If the settlers were witches, then your parents couldn't have come from there," Aisha worked out.
Bloom nodded, they could see a light. They were nearly at the end. "Rosalind said my parents were gone."
The water fairy was still puzzled about one thing as the light fairy was with another. "So they've been after you, but how did they get past the barrier?" Aisha asked.
Guilt plunged Bloom's face. "Rosalind took the magic from the Stone Circle."
Luella's eyes widened. Her dad had told her before when she first came. The Stone Circle, the vessel. "The Stone Circle, it powers Alfea — and the barrier," Luella announced.
She heard the girl mutter a quiet 'yep' as they made it out the passageway, their eyes adjusting to the little light that now shone. Their paces became even quicker.
The quartet trampled through small fields of grass and across small crosswalks not far from the front of the school, the specialist field. There was a slight mist.
Luella believed Bloom after she apologised. And she would now, if Bloom was brave and knowing enough that she could take on the Burned Ones, she would try her best not to doubt the worst that could come.
"My mums going to be here soon," Stella declared, disquiet. She held the sleeves of her light pink coat tightly. "With an actual army."
"There won't be enough time, Stella. Rosalind told me how to stop them but I have to draw more magic than I ever have before..." Bloom paused in her words as they all stopped at the edge of the field. This was it, the moment of truth.
...and I don't know what's going to happen when I do."
"It's okay," Aisha reassured, breathing heavily. "I'll make sure we're safe, and that you are too. I can surround you with water in case the flames get too big."
"I'll try back you up if you need to," Luella suggested. She'd fought one before, halfway defeating it. Though, she was drunk then.
"You won't see us, but we'll be right here," Stella added right before a loud shriek of a Burned One came closer.
They all looked in the direction of the growl for a moment but wasted as little time as they could. The four grasped each other's hands; Bloom's to Stella's to Luella's to Aisha's, in a loop.
Bloom spoke in a brittle voice, "Rosalind wants me to believe that she's the person I need to get through this. She's not."
A howling clamour came closer to them.
The three of them gave Bloom a final, locked look of wishes. They all hoped for the best for the fire fairy as her hands let loose from her friends.
They watched Bloom walk out to the open field a few steps until they backed away, closer to the edge.
Luella and Stella watched Aisha swirl her hands in the direction of the pond, the water began to spiral upwards creating a rustling noise.
The water surged upon the field leaving an empty fountain, and within seconds all could be seen as water in a similar shape to a tornado with Bloom in the centre.
All they could see was the blue repeatedly going around in circular motions until a neon red started to mix in. It became brighter and brighter until the water had vanished away, clearing away until only the unbelievable was left.
It was Bloom — of course, it was Bloom — but she had wings. Real wings. They gleamed with fire, erupting the night with bright shades of orange, yellow and red. Even more mesmerising than a bonfire on the Fourth of July. The shape of the wings wasn't as clear but there was no doubt of what had happened. Bloom had transformed.
Bloom had wasted no time to act. She stood strong, aiming her magic at one of the many Burned Ones. Its scream came immediately, whining in everyone's ears. She choked and strangled the monster's core in seconds, repeatedly and repeatedly turning and blasting in every direction.
No fair, Luella thought jokingly in her head. Maybe Lue could have a go with something that wasn't a hologram?
"Whatever you're thinking," Aisha began to speak, her eyes gliding between Bloom and Luella. "I'm in."
Luella's brows went high at the water fairy's words. A rebellious side to Aisha? almost impossible. The ice fairy grinned, "make it rain?"
"With pleasure."
The girls looked up to the grey-clouded sky waiting a minute before speckles of water began to rain down. It wasn't a lot, certainly something new Aisha could do.
With the bubbling emotion and proudness inside her for Bloom, Luella watched the raindrops fall to her skin and turn her eyes a snowy white. Then, the rain was no more. It had paused in the sky and a crystallising rustle played faintly.
She had turned the drops into ice and was going to help Bloom as she said. Together, it was. With a swish of a hand from up to forward, the sharp droplets move in a flash of lighting catching the guard of one of the Burned Ones.
They shot into its back, making it stumble forward and down to the ground, a flame not long after taking its life fully.
Luella swore she saw Bloom smile at her from a distance.
"Nice idea," Stella complimented.
"Brutal."
The girls continued to watch in astonishment as they spotted a tall figure, cloaked in the shadows, approaching from a far distance.
In only minutes the grounds stood silent. The Burned Ones were gone, dead. They weren't even hideous as before— on the grass floor lay dead people. No blood but a few wounds; the Burned Ones were once people.
The figure that approached was Headmistress Dowling. Her shocked features were bigger than the three fairies. She examined Bloom with surprise until the fragile girl began to tumble on her steps.
Luella, Stella and Aisha quickly came, catching Bloom before she fell.
"What's wrong?" Aisha questioned.
"She's okay she's just weak. Maybe you girls want to help her take her back to her room," Miss Dowling asked, watching the girls secure Bloom's arms around her friends.
They slowly walked away, leaving Miss Dowling behind to process the event that had occurred. The headmistress gazed at the bodies wearing army clothes.
"We did it," Bloom spoke softly, trodding with the help of her friends.
And for a moment, she noticed that she didn't feel a touch of cold when Luella grabbed onto her.
"Yeah," Luella replied. "We did."
-
A lamp, embedded with miniature floral designs, was lit in Aisha's and Bloom's shared room as the girls tucked the restless fire fairy into her bed.
"I don't need help," Bloom said sweetly as she shuffled lightly with the many blankets on her.
Luella lay stomach first on Bloom's bed, hands supporting her frame. "Oh hush," she replied in a silly voice.
Everyone had settled back down at Alfea. As calm as it could be, for now. Most of the students had gone back to their suites, others tidying the hall that was left with scattered weapons and bottled medicines. Not to mention the gaping hole on the glass dome on the roof which Luella noticed when they took Bloom back.
She hasn't seen her dad since he had given her the armour but she reassured herself he was okay and that she'd see him tomorrow. Luella was glad to be out of the strangling armour.
Musa and Terra had reunited with the group too, they had been helping Sam. It was lucky to hear that he was okay. Musa sat at the end of the bed with Terra.
Aisha had taken a chair next to the bed and so had Stella but on the opposite side.
"Are you guys sure Sam's okay?" Bloom asked the two girls as she finally got comfortable.
"Yeah, thanks to you and Musa," Terra replied happily.
"Please, You should have seen Terra, she'll be operating on all of us by the end of the week," Musa said as the girls giggled. "Even if we didn't need it."
"I must say, I am disappointed to miss the wings," Terra exclaimed. "Were they like, full-on Tinker Bell style?"
Stella squinted playfully at the earth fairy. "They were much cooler than that," Stella sided.
"Cooler?" Terra asked rhetorically in disbelief. "I love Tinker Bell."
"Of course you do."
By then, a phone on the side table had started to buzz. A picture of two middle age people looking into the camera and smiling. The male had light brown hair which was starting to be overtaken by grey while the woman had blonde.
Luella peered over to read the name 'mom and dad'.
Aisha picked up the phone from the wooden table. "You rest, I'll cover," she said looking at Bloom but making an odd face at the same time. "I'll call it my one allocated lie of the month."
Aisha stood up and pressed the green answer button.
"Mr and Mrs Peters, hey... no Bloom fine. It's been a pretty rough week. Examines are killer..."
-
It was the beginning of the end.
Luella walked along the pathway lane out with modernly built houses, her small bag caught by her hand. She stopped at the sidewalk of a panelled white house that had a small balcony at the front, just out of view from the front door.
She and her friends had come to the First World for the weekend at Bloom's request.
Luella had rarely been to the First World. It didn't look that different from what she was used to, but there were noticeable changes like fewer lands of lush green and not all the buildings seemed to look brand new. And lastly, the most obvious one: no magic.
"Girls!" The group heard Bloom shout.
They took it as a queue to make their way closer to the front porch of the house. The suite saw Bloom smiling and waving, as well as her parents behind her. They didn't look much different than the picture on the phone apart from the father looking a bit taller.
"Lovely to meet you!"
"Hello!"
Bloom turned back to her parents with a smile blistered across her face. "Can my friends crash here this weekend?"
The mother looked at the father with her mouth open but nodded back at Bloom, putting on a smile. "Sure," she responded.
Bloom mirrored her mom's actions. "They're gonna go check out my room," she announced her voice smaller now. "We need to talk."
A moment of silence stood but the suite looked reassuringly and understandingly at her parents. They were normal, humans. Muggles, like how Luella liked to say. They didn't know what their daughter was capable of or what her friends could do either.
"Okay," the mom whispered, letting space in for the girls to enter.
From that moment on, it was the truth and fun. Bloom left her big secret of being a fairy free to her parents, no loud phone calls at two in the morning would be needed anymore because she wasn't actually across the world.
It took Bloom's parents time, Luella could see it on them. But it was better this way. They would heal, and they would be happy for her. Bloom's parents were happy for her.
Later in the evening, the suite laughed at teenage things, in their pyjamas, and ate pizzas. Their laughs all chorused through the house and didn't stop until the night.
It was so-called lucky that Luella didn't get the news of her father being arrested or it would have ruined her day.
It might have been even better to say that she didn't know the story of her dad hurting her best friend's father either.
-
The suite walked down the entrance to Alfea once again smiling after a glee of a weekend.
They all walked with bold and bright colours: Jean jackets, floral dresses, homemade outfits and stylish shirts.
The gates were wide open, welcoming them in like the early morning sun.
Luella eyed the logo on the gates: swords crossed against each other and a golden design behind that looked like a wishbone. The swords reminded her of Riven.
She hadn't seen him since the big fight. The day they kissed. She was so happy it had happened and she couldn't wait for it to happen again if it will. Luella blushed at the thought of telling Sky. What would he think?
But that soon filed down as the suite paused to see what stood fearfully and strong ahead while a black, expensive car went by.
Rosalind. It passed through her mind that killing the Burned Ones didn't mean killing Rosalind. No, no, no. Why couldn't it last?
Queen Luna stood there too. But the battle was over, why was she here? The troops behind her, all dressed in black and held weapons, weren't they too supposed to be called off? Even worse for Stella, hiding from her mother just rinsed away.
And the last person. Luella couldn't put a finger on it. She'd seen that face before, she knew she'd seen it. She'd seen it every day. It made her head itch for an answer.
It was a man. He stood with his arms crossed and in specialist armour. The familiar person also had a mess of brown hair and a beard.
"Welcome back, girls," the same agonising voice she'd heard in Miss Dowling's secret place.
The Winx stared back as Rosalind gave a wicked smile and spoke again,
"There have been a few changes."
❆
AHHHH IT'S ACTUALLY DONE!!
thank you so much to everyone who stuck to the end and conjured through my, sometimes cringe, writing. I love you much, thank you again!
And to address the transformation, Luella will have one next season. And if I can't find a place to fit it in, I'll go back and edit it into this chapter. :)
It was very hard putting off calling them The Winx until the last chapter, but we got there!
Until next season <3