The Fairies' Path

by Ava Corrigan

  Dowling asked, “What do you want the light to do?”

  Stella gathered all her determination and her magic. Then that single beam separated into seven identical strands of white light.

  “Remember your intent,” Dowling said. “You have control of the light. It does not control you.”

  Stella moved her hand, bending the seven strands. The result was the same as putting the light through a prism. The beams formed a perfectly colored rainbow.

  “Beautifully done,” said Dowling in her grave voice.

  Stella felt like she was glowing, even as the light disappeared.

  Until her mother said, “Please tell me that was a joke.” Queen Luna regarded Dowling coolly. “You instructed her to make a rainbow. To display her power.”

  This was her mother’s private voice and face, very different from the display she’d been putting on all day. Stella wanted to shrink in on herself and disappear.

  Dowling said steadily, “We discussed this at the end of last term. Rehabilitating magic is a process.”

  The queen snapped, “I didn’t send my daughter back to Alfea for a process. I sent her back because you promised to fix her after the incident with Ricki.”

  The mention of Ricki’s name. The way her mother was talking about Stella like she was a broken toy. Both were body blows to Stella, but she tried hard not to act as though she felt the pain.

  Dowling said, a thread of steel in her voice, “An incident that occurred because her previous training focused solely on results.”

  Stella’s mother regarded Dowling with icy royal hauteur.

  Dowling glanced at Stella, and her tone shifted back to entirely neutral. “When she’s ready, we’ll move on to stronger magic. It will take time.”

  “Shall I recite the list of threats we’re facing while you take time?” Queen Luna demanded.

  “Mom …” Stella whispered.

  Queen Luna’s eyes darted to Stella. Her voice didn’t rise as she said to Stella, “Do not speak while I am speaking.” She shifted her attention back to Dowling. “Solaria is the strongest realm in the Otherworld. She is its heir, an extension of that strength.”

  Stella didn’t want to argue, but she was fighting for her life. “But what she’s doing is working. My power’s increased so much—”

  Queen Luna said, in harsher tones, “Do not speak while I am speaking!”

  Stella remembered what she’d done in the clearing, to protect Bloom. She was proud of that. She could take courage from that.

  “I blinded a Burned One,” she announced.

  Dowling said, “And did it with precision and skill, I might add.”

  Stella’s mother asked, “And you think that is power?”

  The queen’s eyes flared a sudden scorching yellow. The light seemed to capture the room, and her mother vanished away. Stella turned to see Dowling had vanished as well.

  Stella’s breath tightened. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was no longer in the office, she was now in the dark. All alone. Feeling as small and scared as she had as a child. She knew it wasn’t real, but she was still terrified.

  She spoke, very quietly. Begging. “Please stop.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut. Suddenly, thankfully, she was back in the headmistress’s office where she felt safe.

  Her mother stepped directly in front of Stella. She wasn’t a creature made of sunshine any longer. She was a being of ice and fire, dazzling and terribly cold.

  “When you control light,” said Queen Luna, “you control what people see. And despite what anyone says matters in this life, appearances are everything.”

  Stella couldn’t stop trembling. Her mother whipped around and switched her focus to Dowling.

  “You know that better than anyone, Farah. Especially given my efforts to help you maintain appearances.”

  “Yes, we’ve both done a great deal to preserve Solaria’s reputation,” Dowling admitted.

  Stella had no idea what that meant, but she could tell there was more between her mother and the headmistress than she had ever realized. Maybe Dowling wasn’t on her side. Maybe they were both against her.

  “Stella,” Dowling said crisply, “you did excellent work. You’re dismissed.”

  Stella stumbled past Aisha as she went out. Aisha was fumbling in her desk for something. Stella could only hope Aisha wouldn’t notice how shaken Stella was.

  Earth

  Terra caught her dad swearing at the glass cylinder full of Vessel Stones in the greenhouse.

  “Did something go wrong with your project? I can help,” she offered instantly. “Just—”

  “This is not a good time,” her father snapped.

  Terra recoiled. Her father never spoke to her like that, and she saw the regret on his face at once.

  “I’m sorry, love,” her dad said, using his you’re-my-little-girl voice. “But I’m okay. Thank you, though.”

  She didn’t feel reassured at all.

  “If there was something going on, you’d tell me, right?” Terra asked desperately.

  “Of course I would,” her father told her.

  She stared at him, trying to hide her heartbreak. Then she ran back as fast as she could to the Winx suite, where she found Aisha and Musa.

  She told them, “He lied to my face. Why are they all lying to us?”

  “Maybe they had to. Queen Luna’s …” Aisha looked troubled, as if she knew something they didn’t know. “She seems kinda big on secrets.”

  Musa gave Aisha a particularly sharp glance.

  Aisha continued, “Whatever’s going on, I’m sure they think what they’re doing is right.”

  Musa said grimly, “They always do.”

  “Then say ‘I can’t tell you, Terra.’ Don’t lie to me!”

  Terra was on the point of wringing her hands. Musa looked away, as though feeling bad for some reason. Aisha, as usual, tried to problem solve.

  “He made Ms. Dowling a concoction with Vessel Stones, right? And the point of Vessel Stones is to read magic, which is what they were doing at the assembly.”

  They all looked at one another. Doing the math.

  Aisha continued, “So, dead body. Worried adults …”

  “What if they think a fairy killed Callum?” Musa asked.

  Aisha said, “A fairy in that assembly.”

  The teachers were searching the student body for a murder suspect.

  “They were still on edge after,” said Musa, and Terra nodded, thinking of her dad fiddling with the cylinder in the greenhouse. “So they clearly didn’t find them.”

  The door banged open and Sky blew into the room, totally interrupting their detective work.

  “Is Bloom here?”

  Aisha ignored his question and lobbed one of her own. “Did Silva tell you? What was happening today? He must have.”

  Sky frowned. “Is this the suite drama Bloom was talking about?”

  “Uh,” said Musa. “There’s no suite drama.”

  Sky frowned. “Okay, I’m so lost right now.”

  Terra knew how it felt to be lost. Besides, she was done with secrets, and she trusted Sky. He was good to Riven.He’d be good to anyone.

  So she spoke up. “Dowling’s assistant died, and the faculty thinks a fairy did it, and they were using the assembly to find that fairy, but they didn’t because he or she clearly wasn’t there, and now we don’t believe in or trust literally anyone—”

  Sky swore. “Beatrix.”

  For a moment Terra was simply puzzled. Sky had come here looking for Bloom. What did Riven’s cool-nerd girlfriend have to do with Bloom?

  Fire

  Inside the no-longer-locked room, there were maps strewn all around. Military relics rested in corners. There were boxes of files. And settled over everything was the dust of a room that hadn’t been opened in years.

  In the center on the floor was a circle covered with sand, which was just weird.

  “I knew Alfea had a military past, b
ut it’s still a school. This place? It’s like a … war room,” I said, disturbed.

  Beatrix did something, I wasn’t sure what. Suddenly, the texture of the sand seemed to change, flowing into lines and circles. I looked down to see a map of the Otherworld forming in the center of the room.

  “It’s not like a war room. It is a war room. A place where powerful, shady people decide who lives and who dies.”

  I didn’t know what to do with that, so I headed for the files. What I needed was solid evidence.

  Beatrix just watched as I sifted through boxes. Soon enough I had papers laid out on top of the cabinets. I was putting together a timeline.

  “It looks like Rosalind was barely at the school in 2004.”

  “No duh,” said Beatrix. “She was leading the crusade against the Burned Ones.”

  “I need to find out where she was in December. That’s when I was born.”

  That seemed to interest Beatrix, though I had no idea why the date of my birth was of any concern to her. I was more occupied by a discovery I’d just made among the boxes.

  “I think this might be Rosalind’s diary from that year.”

  My phone buzzed again. Then again. And again.

  “That’s mildly annoying,” remarked Beatrix.

  I pulled out my phone, half glancing at the messages. Not really seeing them.

  “The endless suite group text. I’ll deal with it later.”

  I put my phone on the table and brought the diary to one of the shelves. Trying to piece things together.

  Beatrix’s gaze didn’t leave my phone as it buzzed again. It must be annoying her.

  I tried to get her to focus on the important stuff. “It looks like Rosalind was in a place called Aster Dell.”

  Beatrix sidled closer to my phone. Just then, it stopped buzzing entirely. That was great.

  I continued, excited, “What if my birth parents weren’t students? What if they’re from this Aster Dell place?”

  Beatrix looked at me, her tone pleasant. “Did you say Aster Dell?”

  “Yeah. Can you make that map thing work again? Maybe I can find it.”

  A smile crept over Beatrix’s face. “No need. I actually know where that is. Wanna go?”

  I’d wanted answers, but suddenly being offered them made me feel dizzy. “What? Now?”

  “It’s a few hours from here,” tempted Beatrix.

  I hesitated, not sure how to respond.

  Beatrix pursued, “You ditched the assembly, lied to Sky, and broke into a secret war room. Now you’re gonna give up?”

  She had a point. But I couldn’t help but imagine how appalled Aisha would be if she knew what I was doing. So maybe I shouldn’t do it.

  “I’m saying it’s getting late, and maybe I don’t want to ditch school with somebody I barely know.”

  “You know that I helped you get further than anyone else has. And that I’m also ditching school with somebody I barely know.”

  Another fine point well made. But still, I trusted Aisha more than Beatrix, and Aisha’s voice in my head said no.

  Beatrix’s voice, out loud, went soft and insinuating. “But maybe Ms. Dowling will spill her guts now that you found the room she keeps under lock and key. To keep people from knowing things.”

  I knew Ms. Dowling too well by now. She would keep her secrets. She’d never tell me anything.

  I took a deep breath and a leap of faith. “How do we get there?”

  Specialist

  Riven was lying on his bed, scrolling through his phone, when Sky barged in demanding to know where Beatrix was. Riven couldn’t believe Sky’s attitude. What, Sky needed three women now?

  “Beatrix is not surgically attached to me. So the answer is, I don’t know. Why do you need her?”

  “I’m looking for Bloom!” Sky said. Much too loudly.

  Oh my God. C’mon, Sky, Riven wanted to live.

  Riven tried to signal Sky to shut up with his eyebrows and also all the force of his mind, but Sky missed it completely and continued his suicidal ranting.

  “No one’s heard from her, and Beatrix was the last person I know who was with her—”

  The bathroom door opened, and Stella stepped out. Riven had tried to signal Sky she was listening!

  Stella was a tower of blonde fury. “Seriously? I’ve sent you, like, twenty texts, and you’re running around looking for Bloom?”

  Looked like it was blinding o’clock!

  “Yeah, have fun with this,” Riven announced.

  Riven tossed Sky an I-told-you-so look as he scrambled up and walked out of the room, closing the door on their drama. He had his own girlfriend to find.

  Earth

  Terra marched with Aisha and Musa to the headmistress’s office, where they faced down Dowling. And Terra’s father.

  Aisha, the levelheaded one, explained their suspicions of Beatrix, and how she’d been alone with Bloom in the East Wing.

  Terra couldn’t believe Dowling was actually trying to maintain her high ground. “And why was Bloom down there?”

  “That’s what’s important to you?” Musa demanded.

  “What matters is that Beatrix wasn’t at the assembly,” Aisha said with quiet force.

  Dowling and Harvey shared a look, still keeping tight-lipped. Terra couldn’t control herself for a moment longer. Everybody had to stop with the secrets, or someone was going to get hurt.

  “Oh my God. We know! That somebody killed Callum. That it was a fairy. And we know you were using the assembly to find out who. So can you just drop this crap?”

  Her dad began, “Terra—”

  “No! You don’t get to shush me. And if something happens to Bloom because you kept this from us …”

  Musa put her hand out and laid it gently on Terra’s arm. Aw, that was so nice. Right, they were the Winx Club, and they were going to stick together and solve this. Terra nodded at her sweet roommate and reined it in.

  “We haven’t heard from Bloom in hours. And nobody’s seen Beatrix,” Aisha said urgently.

  They were interrupted by Mr. Silva bursting through the door, almost vibrating with what was obviously vital news. He checked himself, giving the Winx Club a doubtful look. Terra felt ready to explode with indignation again. No more keeping stuff from them!

  But Dowling nodded. “They know.”

  Silva said crisply, “One of the Queen’s guards was knocked out. His SUV is gone.”

  Terra exchanged glances with the others, suddenly terrified. Beatrix was knocking out guards and stealing SUVs? Where was she going? Where was she taking Bloom?

  Suddenly, Terra didn’t feel so sure she and her suitemates could handle this. She felt like a scared kid, wanting to be told everything would be all right.

  But not if it was a lie.

  “We’ll find her,” Dowling said, and Terra clung to the authoritative sound of her voice. “I promise.”

  Light

  Stella moved across the room toward Sky. “I need you.”

  For the first time, the words didn’t seem to have any effect on Sky. He looked at her as if he didn’t know her and her problems were no concern of his.

  “Bloom is missing,” he said, as if that was the most important thing in his world. “I don’t know if she’s in danger or just hiding, but whichever it is, it can probably be traced back to everyone knowing she’s a changeling. Thanks to you.”

  Guilt slashed through her, and Stella was struck speechless. She had no idea what to say, because there was no good excuse for what she’d done, and Sky clearly wouldn’t accept a bad one.

  He was always the protector, but now he wasn’t protecting her. He saw her as someone others needed to be defended from. If everyone thought about her that way, even Sky, maybe they were right.

  Finally, Stella faltered. “I didn’t mean to hurt her—”

  Sky cut her off. “You tell me you don’t want to be like your mother. But all I see is someone who treats other people exactly the way Luna treats you.
”

  It was like a slap in the face. But Sky wasn’t finished.

  “I’m done with this, Stel,” he announced. “Full done. Goodbye.”

  Sky moved to the door. She kept thinking he would turn around, see how upset she was, relent and put his arms around her, as he always had before. But he walked out, leaving Stella utterly alone.

  Fire

  As we pulled up on the bluff, I was still wondering where Beatrix had gotten the SUV. Maybe she’d sweet-talked someone into letting her borrow it.

  My wondering was interrupted as I got out of the car and stared around at the wide-open space.

  “Aster Dell is a town, right? Are you sure this is the right place?”

  Beatrix said, “I’m positive.”

  We walked a few steps, which was when the entire landscape came into view. We were on top of a steep mountain, with gorse yellow on the granite and the fields so far below they looked fuzzy, like green mist. I was momentarily stunned, but I knew I had to keep investigating. I needed to get a sense of where I was. Had I been born here?

  Beatrix headed up the peak, taking a position above me.

  “How could a town be marked on a map on the side of a mountain?” I asked.

  As I continued my wandering, I stepped on something and it cracked. I looked down at it. Then I knelt to get a better look at what.

  It was part of a skull. My stomach hollowed out, sick, as I suddenly realized something else was happening here.

  “What the hell is this place?”

  Above me, Beatrix’s eyes glowed gray. And Beatrix tightened her hands into fists at her sides. Calling on her magic.

  I saw the electricity crackling around Beatrix’s hands. Beatrix’s eyes were glowing ever brighter. And slowly, Beatrix lifted her hands from her sides. Calling up a storm.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You’re not the only powerful fairy at Alfea.”

  Alarmed, I summoned wisps of flame from my hands. But it was too late. Beatrix raised both hands, and from the clouds, lightning struck.

  Directly at me.

  The world went brilliant white. I thought that white would be the last thing I ever saw, but then the brilliance dissipated like mist.