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Alethea's POV:
I let out a soft sigh as I gazed out of the window of Miss Griselda's office. Drowning out the words of punishment we got from sneaking out and going on a 'field' trip to Cloud Tower and getting stripped of our magic, I was still perplexed that I was actually problematic when with friends. The pitter-patter of droplets of rain that hit the window that was acting like a weathered shield filled my ears like a gentle little wave.
"Uhm Griselda?" Flora hesitantly spoke up, snapping me out of my daze and when I got back to my senses I was met with a feral glaring woman. "We were just wondering when we might get our powers back?"
"Your little field trip to Cloud Tower was unacceptable, not to mention dangerous!" Miss Griselda lectured, her glare never faltering. "You were lucky you weren't turned into something worse and sold to the circus so you won't be getting your powers back anytime soon but that's only the beginning of your punishment."
"What's the rest of it?" Flora queried meekly and I shifted uncomfortably when noticing the glint in Miss Griselda's eyes that probably even will give the Trix a run for their money.
"You will not leave campus for the next two days." Miss Griselda explained and I tilted my head, wondering how this possibly could be a punishment for our deeds of a few days ago.
"We get to veg out all weekend?" Stella beamed happily and gave me an excited glance. "Not exactly a punishment Miss G." My friends burst into fits of laughter while my lips lifted in an amused smile betraying my serious composure of not wanting to anger Miss Griselda any further than she already was.
"There will be no 'vegging' out." She flashed us a smirk as she handed Stella a broom and I let out a sigh, having my suspicions of what words she was going to utter the next time she opened her mouth. "Here you go Miss Stella, your new best friend."
"What a curious-looking remnant of primitive technology." Tecna was quick to pull out her device, I suppressed a snort upon hearing the clattering sound of typing when I noticed she was actually doing research on a broom. "Perhaps there is a manual in my-" She was cut off when Miss Griselda closed the computer.
She glared at Tecna in a disapproving manner. "You won't be needing a manual Miss Tecna."
Tecna gasped in horror as if that was the worst thing she could possibly ever hear which it probably was and I was starting to wonder what was going on in her head. "No.. No manual?!"
"Don't worry Tecna It's not that complicated." I assured her but there was a hint of a mocking tone behind my words and I couldn't help but let out a giggle as soon as Tecna glared at me, half-heartedly.
"The only manual that we'll be using is manual labour." Flora joked and the moment our eyes locked we burst into fits of giggles while Tecna paused and tilted her as a thoughtful look crossed her face.
"Exactly! If we had the manual for the labour we'd be more efficient and-" Tecna mulled but got interrupted by our laughter that seemed to be endless like a loop. "What's so funny? I wasn't joking!"
"That's enough!" Miss Griselda snapped at us. "Leave no paperwork undusted, Now, get to work!" And before we knew it we were cleaning the halls like children whose mother ordered us to and complained about 'not doing enough in the house' and 'I'm the only one who ever does something' and Miss Griselda seemed just like the person to just complain about our wrong doings like that and then judge the way we clean.
"That's only ten more lecture halls to go!" Bloom at least tried to be optimistic while my smile hid the way that I was suffering from the pain in my hands and I was sure to have upcoming blisters.
"..Only ten more?" I whined and deflated. I took a deep breath and took a seat like Stella has done the whole time and tried to compose myself for the upcoming halls I will have to clean with my friends for our punishment and I was starting to wonder how long it would take for us to earn our magic back.
"It's okay, Alethea." Musa sat down next to me and patted my back in mock pity but I knew that deep down she was just using that as an excuse to be able to sit down. "There there."
"It doesn't feel like it." I sighed dramatically before standing up and flashing Stella, who was slacking off the whole time a glare. "Maybe you should help Stel, just maybe." I felt a pang of guilt upon the tone I used and continued in a hesitant meek tone, "..Please?"
"Alethea's right." Bloom nodded in agreement but gave me a funny look at my sudden correction. "Since it's basically your fault."
Knowing Stella, she took immediate offence and shot her a perplexed look. "My fault?"
"If you hadn't opened your mouth-" Musa began but got interrupted by Stella and for a second I thought I could see steam coming out of her ears.
Stella took a deep breath to calm herself and shrugged casually. "You all laughed."
"Stel.. please just grab a scrub brush." I sighed and gestured to the brush lying next to her, trying to ignore the sudden guilty look she wore on her face upon seeing how fed up I was getting when it got quickly replaced by a mask. "It's not that hard."
"Blisters are my enemy!" Stella whined and I frowned when a sudden irritation bubbled but I drew a quick breath as if I was failing miserably at smoking a cigarette and tried to calm myself down, not wanting to suddenly snap at her when it was nothing but tempting.
"Wear gloves!" I rebutted as my hands rested on my hips, making me look even more shorter than I already was.
"Ew! Gloves with a tank top?" Stella complained and winced in disgust at the thought of having to wear rubber gloves. "Gross."
"You know you're right! I haven't thought of that." Bloom's voice dripped with sarcasm while squeezing the sponge in the bucket. Water streamed out and hit the water-filled bucket in a splash and if I had my magic I would've used it to make a ball of magic and splash Stella but knowing deep down I would never have the guts to do that and my train of thought was just making me look confident when in reality, I'm obviously not.
Stella sighed in relief and didn't notice the underlying sarcasm that Bloom used. "Thank you, Bloom! Look getting dirty is simply not in my nature." Bloom picked the bucket of water up and slowly approached Stella and I couldn't help but smile upon noticing what she was up to, with a newfound confidence I picked up my own bucket and followed Bloom's lead.
"On Solaria we don't really-" We cut her off by throwing a bucket of water on her, soaking her. Her clothes were obviously wet with how see-through her clothing was starting to get as she glared at us and for a second I thought I could see her normally golden amber eyes glowing red.
"What were you saying?" I jabbed as my lips lifted in a smile. My eyes twinkled with excitement as I started to explore the new confidence of commitment.
Bloom flashed me a smirk as she lifted her bucket to throw water at me and my eyes widened but my smile betrayed the amusement I actually felt. "Oh, I got some for you too Alethea."
Then a whole water fight broke out. The atmosphere was filled with our laughter as we continued throwing water at each other and I had to admit that it was way more fun than using my magic. I couldn't help but have mixed feelings about not having my magic since I at first thought magic was the bane of my existence but I was starting to take those thoughts back.
It was obvious that I was starting to formulate a new opinion on non-magic users.
Tecna gasped as she entered the hall along with Flora. They looked awfully horrified upon seeing us laying on the ground drenched in water and what was supposed to be a clean floor was now a floor covered with small puddles of water. "What happened here?"
Flora's eyebrows were drawn together as she flashed us a concerned look. "Are you guys okay?"
Stella just giggled and waved her off. "Bloom taught us a great sport called 'water fight' and I won."
A competitive grin found its way onto my face that was so foreign to me but I paid no mind. "No way, I did!"
"This isn't funny you guys." Flora scolded, her hands on her hips in a scolding manner and I tilted my head but my smile never seemed to falter despite how we were getting scolded. Bloom and I exchanged glances and as I suppressed a laugh, she flashed me a close-eyed smile that seemed to rival the sun.
And I was relieved to see her happy when noticing how hard it was for her to fit in the magic world.
"What if Griselda sees this?" Tecna panicked and speak of the devil and she shall arrive.
"Indeed, speak of the devil 'what if'." A stern voice spoke up that seemed to lack any amusement that we felt.
"Busted.." Musa muttered as her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"I wanted to let you know that Charm Life is playing at Magix stadium tomorrow night and all of Alfea will be attending. Do you know this group?" Griselda questioned and I tilted my head when hearing about the famous group but seeing the look on Miss Griselda's face I knew that we weren't going after our antics today.
Stella's eyes glimmered with excitement. "I have all of their cd's!"
"Good for you." Miss Griselda retorted and began to walk off. "Since you have so much cleaning left to do you won't be attending! Maybe your classmates can get you a T-shirt."
***
We watched as the bus filled with students and professors left Alfea to go to that concert and at this point even if we didn't want to go to a concert in particular anything is better than having to clean without our magic here stuck at our school.
"It's just us." Bloom sighed and I frowned upon seeing how saddened my friends were.
"I wish we could go." Musa sulked and I patted her back to console her as she continued to drown in disappointment. "Anything beats cleaning duty."
"I've got an idea!" A mischievous grin made its way on Stella's face and I was quick to back away, not wanting to involve myself in her ideas that seemed to always be no good. "Let's call up the boys.."
"Yeah right!" Flora scoffed, showing how frustrated she was and I was taken aback by her sudden change of demeanor. "They would just flip at the prospect of helping us clean."
"Well, we'll just need some heroics and bravery." Bloom hinted and flashed us a mischievous grin.
"Wouldn't Griselda be angry?" Tecna reminded with a raise of her eyebrow. There would be a big chance that Miss Griselda would find out and then our path to getting our magic back would take way more steps.
"..No, at least she shouldn't be." I hesitantly admitted despite knowing where this was going. "She said no magic but she never said we couldn't get assistance."
"Yeah!" Stella nodded and happily threw away the cleaning supplies. "And we know that they can't resist a call from a damsel in distress."
"It will be awesome!"
When we called the boys they told us that they would be on their way and we scurried to the courtyard to await their arrival, I could only feel a pang of guilt at how worried they sounded yet I also felt some excitement but could you blame me? Silas is all I think about these days.
I paused,
Am.. Am I a fangirl?
"Well you didn't waste any time did you?" Stella grinned and ran toward Sky the moment he and his friends arrived. I took a deep breath as the night wind hit me, placing airy kisses on my skin as I glanced at Silas, wondering if I should head over but before I could mull over it my legs moved on their own and before I knew it I trotted over to him.
He perked when noticing me approaching him and I gulped as he looked down at me the moment I arrived, chills ran down my spine as he looked at me with what I would like to call 'bedroom eyes'. His golden eyes that were like antique jewellery connected with mine and I almost seemed to drown in them until I felt a fluttery feeling in my stomach.
He smirked. He was serious during a mission but playful with his friends and I almost admired how he balanced his behaviour like that, he was serious when he needed to be but was able to loosen up when he didn't need to be.
He raised an eyebrow at me and that seemed to snap me out of whatever daze I was. "Like what you see?"
My face lit up and you know when you're embarrassed and your face just grows hot and you suddenly start to feel claustrophobic, well that was exactly how I was feeling. "..No."
I lied and that was obvious, even he saw through my awful lie besides; he was attractive and I knew he knew and I don't know if that made him even more attractive or just narcissistic.
Maybe both.
"So what kind of bravery and heroics do you girls need?"
***
"Here are the steps; soap, scrub and rinse. See it's not too hard." Musa explained and while most of the boys were confused, Silas and Riven seemed to have the mutual feeling of being unimpressed with our antics.
"We skipped a concert for this?" Riven growled out in anger and his eyes seemed to glow because of anger as Silas huffed but didn't comment on it and I fidgeted in my spot as regret washed over.
Bloom found amusement in their predicament and tossed them the mops. "Take your weapons."
Silas and I exchanged glances and watched aghast as our friends started dancing with their supposed 'weapons' and I could only cringe. The moment his eyes locked with mine there was mutual understanding that we were definitely not going to join.
I clutched my mop tightly as I copied my friend's 'dance' moves. Apparently Musa doesn't take well when someone stands on the sidelines during a dance 'party' so she was quick to drag me to my dismay and now here I was. When we were done cleaning I let out a sigh of relief and made my way back over to Silas who seemed to have watched my every move.
I obviously had my clothes on yet why did I feel naked under his gaze?
"Looked like you enjoyed it." Silas teased and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him and I was starting to wonder when I got so comfortable that I was quick to throw my shy demeanour away,
"Very much." I flashed him a sarcastic smile only amusing him further. "You should've joined."
He took a step forward. "I only dance with one person."
"..Oh really?" I breathed out as I took a step forward. "She must be very special."
"She is." He took another step forward and this time we were nose to nose. His eyes were trained on me as his hot breath fanned my face and all I could think about were his lips on mine.
Yet.. there was a tugging at my heart.
I was always hesitant about trust how ironic that sounds when Alethea's my name and literally means trust. I never trusted someone except for Stella and her family and despite knowing Silas for a good two months why was it so easy to trust him? I just wanted to give in and I couldn't deny how handsome he was, how muscular and lean his tall body was that towered over mine or what effect he had on me.
He was the first guy to ever look at me like that so was it really wrong to trust someone that easily? Does that make me easy? We were still minors, he was seventeen and I was sixteen so as much as I wanted to, I knew that we were too young and that I had to get to know him better before committing so I hesitantly pulled away and I just hoped I wouldn't lay awake in the middle of the night for this and drown in regret after this.
Bloom burst in but as soon as she noticed our close proximity she paused and blinked in confusion at the obvious sexual tension hanging in the air until her lips lifted in a knowing smile. She happily skipped her way to me and grabbed my hand before dragging me away and I did not dare look back, too embarrassed to. "Come on Alethea! We have to get changed."
I let Bloom drag me as I continued thinking about Silas and the situation we almost had and I felt that fluttery feeling return and my face grow hot and I lifted my hand to fan my face in hopes of pushing the 'heat' away.
"Sooo.." Bloom spoke up and flashed me a sly look as her eyes glimmered with an emotion I couldn't decipher and I didn't dare find out, knowing I would get even more embarrassed. "What was that all about? Could it be.. a crush?"
"No!" I protested immediately and my face immediately lit up and I started waving my hand vigorously in hopes I could fan it away as I tried to regain my composure. "..No."
Bloom nudged my side as her lips curled up in a knowing smile. "If you say so."
***
"The cleaning is finito." Musa grinned when we were done changing and currently waiting for the party to start, as soon as Musa turned on some music., loud music boomed through our dorm without a care but why would we when we were the only ones in the school while the rest is off to some concert. "It's time to get the party started and DJ Musa is at the table, tunes for the east wing, west wing, north wing and south wing!"
I looked around the room in hopes of finding- I shook my head and tried to snap myself out of it when realizing how I started to sound like someone who was extremely love-sick when I barely even knew him but the moment I locked eyes with him all of those thoughts flew out of the window and I casually strode over to him as if I wasn't questioning myself just now.
Silas paused as he eyed my form and for a split second I thought I could see red hues on his face but brushed it off as the lighting here but then again Bloom forced me to wear this skirt and crop top with long sleeves and even though this looked like my usual outfit, the skirt was shorter and my belly button piercing was on full display.
"Did you miss me?" He cocked his head to the side, mirroring a nonchalant expression.
Yes.
"Barely." I smiled wryly but the lie left a bad taste in my mouth and before I could say anything else we were interrupted by a sudden earthquake, I would've fallen if it wasn't for Silas his sudden arm around my waist but what made me flustered even more is how his hand was slightly under my shirt.
His touch brought shivers down my spine as his hand brushed against my skin and even when he let go I still couldn't forget the feeling of him touching me, intimate or not until I processed what happened and what was the reason for him catching me.
"What was that?" I breathed out as my eyebrows furrowed. I felt a tugging at my heart at the thought of someone breaking into the school when our Headmistress and Professors weren't around.
"Maybe a Dragon got loose." Flora joked and we all shot her look and she smiled sheepishly in return.
"I'll check outside" Stella ran outside to the balcony and looked outside. "I don't see anything, it must've been a mini quake, no biggie." I winced when I heard a loud crash followed by the sound of shattering and now I was starting to think that it wasn't a simple 'mini quake' as Stella called it.
"No biggie indeed." I shrugged casually despite the obvious fear I felt while Stella glared half-heartedly at me when realizing that I was repeating her words just to tease her.
"Over there." Sky pointed to where the sudden crash came from as Riven whistled and the bikes flew up at his command, they climbed onto their bikes and and wasted no time to ride to the commotion. I exchanged glances with my friends and without taking a second breath we ran downstairs after them, only to be met with a massive hole in the wall as pieces of rocks lay scattered on the ground.
Silas traced his hand over the wall as he let out a noise from the back of his throat that sounded like a hum. His eyebrows furrowed and I frowned at the look of puzzlement on his face, not used to that when he mostly looked like he always had everything figured out and even his friends looked nervous at the prospect.
I hesitantly walked closer to him and nervously eyed the hole in the now-damaged wall. "See anything?"
"The damage was caused by some kind of creature." Silas mumbled and that made the pit filled with dread grow even larger, after all, we did not have our magic so how could we possibly defend ourselves? Now we are damsels in distress and have to wait for the Specialists to get rid of the danger.
"A very big creature." Tecna inspected the wall closely as she entered the big hole before walking out with her eyebrows drawn together.
"Oh, really? Tell us something we don't know." Riven retorted with a huff and Tecna shot him a look filled with irritation.
"It's three meters tall and weighs close to a ton, it's brisk, not soft, it walks upright, has horns in addition to multiple quad limbs and it gives off a foul musky odour." Tecna listed in a matter-of-fact tone and I suppressed a smile at the lost look on Riven's face.
Stella however wasn't scared to show how amused she was and let out a few giggles. "She told you o- AH."
The ground started shaking again and I leaned on the wall this time and as soon as the shaking stopped I pointed toward the hole. "That way."
"Blades ready." Silas ordered as his expression dropped to one void of emotion and I watched in admiration as they listened to his full command, even Riven wasted no time to reach out for his blade at his order.
Bloom stepped forward as her expression contorted in a determined one. "We're coming too."
"No way." Riven scowled, immediately disagreeing to show how discontent he was at the thought of us going with him. "You girls just go find a place to hide, you'll get in the way."
Musa huffed and turned in the opposite direction and we followed behind to search for the supposed culprit despite my fear I felt a little more comfort that I at least was with my friends. "Whatever, let's go."
"It sure did get quiet all of a sudden." Flora broke the tense silence as we walked through the dark and empty corridors.
"Maybe it went away." Bloom suggested as she pointed forward to the line of our path.
I felt my heart hammer against my ribcage as I shook my head at Bloom's assumption. "I don't think so." I felt my eyes sting at the earie silence as I tried my best not to look around like a mad woman but everything around me felt unsettling despite my lack of magic as of now.
"Alethea's right." Flora was quick to agree and voice out her mutual feelings. "Even I feel something unsettling."
"Could be all the sandwiches you scarfed down." Stella joked, trying to dispose of the obvious tension hanging around in the air.
"Shh! Hear that?" Musa spoke in a hushed tone and we all grew silent, I furrowed my eyebrows yet I felt a sense of relief when I didn't hear anything.
"I don't hear a thing." Stella whined and glared at Musa for giving us the creeps for nothing before clutching my hand and I flashed her a small smile as I held onto her hand for dear life in return.
"If you had sonar ears like Musa you would." Tecna pointed out and we all came to an agreement to let Musa take the lead.
"Exactly, I don't." Stella blunted and the way she was gripping my hand even tighter showed how fed up she was with our predicament.
Musa suddenly halted and winced and it was now that I noticed a huge shadow loom over us making me feel smaller. "I think I just bumped in the ass of our party crasher." A beast emerged from the shadows and looked exactly like a minotaur with blue fur and said creature roared at us, and I pushed down the bile that rose in my throat as its saliva hit me.
"Ew! How rude!" Stella snapped as she wiped the saliva away. "You are so gonna get it."
"Uh, Stel.. we don't have our powers." I reminded meekly and Stella paled when my words reached her and she quickly turned around and moved her legs, dragging me with her.
"Run."
We wasted no time and spun on our heels and ran for our lives, the moment we made it to the stairs Flora managed to trip halfway and my eyes widened as my heart sank.
"Flora!" I pulled her back on her feet and ran down the hall as I felt fear settle, my breathing became ragged and I wanted nothing more than to stop running and take a break and as if someone gave me evil eyes the monster broke the wall behind us making us gasp at the shortcut it created to get to us and even the roof began collapsing making me raise my arms on instinct but no magic was there to protect me.
"Incoming!" Musa warned when everything started collapsing around us, the room was filled with dust making us unable to see anything and I flinched when I noticed the beast catching up to Tecna and attacking her.
"Get out of there Tecna!"
"Watch it!"
"Look out."
"No!"
"Come on Tecna! Dodge out of the way, do something!" I pleaded as my eyes started to sting with panicked tears. It was like everything was happening in slow motion as the beast got closer to her but Tecna was determined, so she put her hands on the minotaur-looking creature and jumped over it before the beast could hurt her and my shoulders slumped in relief.
"It's stuck." I observed when I noticed how the beast was stuck in the wall, head-first.
"This thing really stinks!" Stella commented walking over to the beast casually as if it was defeated. "Here little beast this should help." She sprayed some perfume on the monster but screamed when the beast got free, turning its head to Stella.
"Time to run!" Bloom shouted and we spun around and ran but seeing as my reaction was the slowest the beast was quick to gain up to me and my eyes widened in panic.
"Alethea, jump!" Flora alerted and as if my body was on autopilot I spun backwards in the air in a perfect backflip before landing skillfully on the ground and my lips parted in shock at what I just did.
"Now this is my kind of party." Riven smirked and spared me a glance and for a split second I thought he looked worried but that was probably the trick of the nonexistent light.
Silas approached me and laid a hand on my head and I looked up at him with parted lips as the moon illuminated him perfectly as if he was carrying an empire so strong that he looked like one of the gods. "Nice one."
..What? I spluttered in surprise and my face lit up, for a reason I didn't know.
"This puppy is all mine!" Riven ran toward the beast with his sword and slashed at him.
"Need some help, Riven?" Brandon asked but obviously knew the answer.
Riven scoffed, proving him right. "You just worry about your prince, squire boy."
"Don't think you're getting all the fun." Sky ran forward with Timmy, charging at the beast and wanting to aid his friend.
"I can handle th-UGH." He groaned when he got punched and was sent flying through the window and I got a sudden sense of Deja vu. The boys were getting beaten right in front of us and only Silas seemed up to par with his amazing swordsmanship but one person can only hold on for some time.
Bloom stepped forward as she looked horrified at the scene in front of us. "We have to do something!"
"B-but.." Flora tried to say something but stood there frozen with a doubtful look on her face.
I reached my hand toward the fight but I didn't feel the familiar warmth of my magic. "We can't, we don't have our magic."
Tecna sighed in defeat. "We are useless like this."
"Yoo-hoo!" A familiar chirpy voice called out from behind us and we turned to see Stella with a bunch of cleaning supplies "Housekeeping! Look what I found."
My eyes locked with her amber-golden ones and I immediately realized what she was getting at. "..Maybe not."
"Hey, bull snot!" Bloom called out, gaining the attention of the minotaur. We started using the cleaning supplies as instruments.
"Wanna dance, handsome?" I beamed happily and held my hand out as if I were inviting the beast to a slow dance.
He roared and charged at us and we threw the supplies away and ran,
"Ready?" I asked Musa with matching smirks on our faces.
"Damn, didn't know you had it in you, Alethea." Musa whistled and nodded. "Serve it up!"
"Slippery when wet!" Bloom grinned and opened up the bottle of soap, spilling it all over the floor causing the beast to slip on the ground and breaking the floor in the process.
The minotaur was out cold.
I jumped in excitement and wrapped my arm around Musa's shoulders which seemed to match my excitement, I lifted my hand and so did she before giving each other a high five.
"Where could this beast have come from?" Flora muttered to herself but we heard.
"The creature preserve?" Bloom suggested but I shook my head at that.
"The creature preserve doesn't have any minotaurs." I remembered as I recalled what we studied during Professor Palladium's class about creatures in the preserve. I walked up closer to the beast we defeated, trying to look for any clues when a duck strutted out from underneath the minotaur.
"Hey look!" I gasped and pointed to the purple duck. "A duck."
"We all know who's being stalked by a duck." Bloom frowned as her fists clenched. "Icy."
"That must mean that the senior witches are here." Tecna pointed out and we frowned at that.
"They must be here for the ring of Solaria." Bloom concluded as I trailed off in thought, trying to find a solution to this mess when my eyes lit up.
"And I know the perfect place to trap them." I smiled with a tilted head while my friends exchanged glances before nodding at me with matching determined expressions on their very faces.
***
"If they can't find the ring they are bound to go to Miss Faragonda's office." I concluded as we made our way to her office. "And they might use the all-seeing crystal ball of Alfea."
"If they haven't already." Flora added as we stepped inside the dark office.
Silas looked around and crossed his arms over his muscular chest. "Doesn't look like they have."
"They will and when they do we'll ambush them." Bloom grinned and stuck her fist up in the air.
"I think they're coming." Riven alerted when the sound of footsteps was heard.
"Everyone hide!" I was quick to jump over Miss Faragonda's desk along with Bloom to hide as the rest found other places to hide and Riven quickly turned on the lights to catch the culprits.
I pushed myself up and pointed toward the Witches. "You're surrounded!"
"What are you doing here?" Icy snapped and glared back at me but I didn't dare falter, not when I suddenly had the courage not to.
"No, what are you doing here?" Bloom retorted and joined my side.
"What are you all doing here?" We froze upon hearing the Headmistress her voice and Bloom and I quickly tried to hide behind her desk but she already spotted us. "Don't bother hiding, I saw everything."
I felt myself flush and pushed myself back up to reveal myself when it was no use to stay hidden. Bloom laughed nervously as sweat rolled down her face. "We weren't hiding, just looking for something."
***
Everyone was gathered in the school's courtyard,
I hesitantly made my way to Silas as I fidgeted in my spot. "Sorry for wasting your time."
It was true. Sure they were here for heroics and bravery or whatever excuse we made up to make them come here, we didn't mean to bring them into our mess yet here they were and I felt guilt claw at every fibre in my body.
He flicked my forehead and I whined in response. "Why did you do that?"
"To get to hear that adorable sound you just made." He teased until he leaned closer and for a second I thought his pink lips were going to press against mine I desperately wanted to feel but to my disappointment, he kissed the side of my face instead yet I felt that fluttery feeling return. "..I still had fun with you."
I beamed happily, feeling giddy at his response. "Great!"
"Griselda, we must remember to send headmaster Saladin a glowing letter of gratitude for the help his student heroes gave, it was good of them to come when the girls told them that there was a beast loose on campus." Miss Faragonda pointed out and then turned to the Witches with a cold glare that I'd never seen on her face before. "As for you three Witches, you took things too far this evening. I don't know what's going on between you and my girls but it ends tonight! Do you hear me?" She sighed, tiredly but her glare never faltered. "I'm sending you straight to Miss Griffin's office with an official letter of complaint, I will trust that she will discipline you three accordingly. When she has, I will be sure to send your powers back. Have a nice trip."
She snapped her fingers and the Witches disappeared.
"You girls have to report to Miss Faragonda's office first thing in the morning." Miss Griselda ordered, her face lacing with seriousness and I groaned, knowing we wouldn't get our magic anytime soon and headed back to our dorm to hopefully get some good night's sleep after what happened today, we obviously needed it.
***
The next morning we stood in front of Miss Faragonda's desk in her office and I rubbed my head to try and get rid of the throbbing pain I felt. After what happened yesterday I could barely sleep and the whole night was filled with nightmares about that minotaur that attacked.
"I watched what happened in the crystal ball and I must say I was most impressed, your actions were brave and resourceful, but in the future, you might want to party first and then do the cleaning. At least that's how we did it in in my time, and I don't think things have changed all that much." She joked a little while our eyes widened in surprise when she uttered those words. "Well, I believe you made amends. I'm returning your powers, your punishment is over."
Miss Faragonda snapped her fingers and I felt relief and warmth wash over me as my core was filled with my magic again yet I didn't feel desperate at the thought of my magic as I did yesterday, not when I was capable of defending myself despite not having my magic back then and that brought me a great sense of realization where my strength really lies.
"We totally kicked ass girls!" Bloom pumped her fist up in the air and I nodded happily as I closed my eyes in contentment but my smile dropped as I recalled why the Witches were here in the first place, after all, that minotaur was just a distraction for what they really wanted, the Dragons and if they truly were willing to do so much effort than that must mean they exist right?
So where are they?