The Other Fairy

Ch. 8

Stella and I walked away from the adults. She led the way back to the suite before ordering me to sit down so she could look at my leg.

"Does it hurt?" She asked as I shrugged.

"No honestly the magical binds hurt more," I said bluntly while her green eyes inspected the cut on the back of my leg.

"You are right, it looks like the simulated creature barely reached you," Stella said as she put a bandage on it gently. When she grew quiet I knew she was stuck in her head.

"Stell, are you okay? I know your mother wasn't overly gracious with her complement today," I said as Stella froze. Her green eyes drifted up to meet my blue ones. I wondered how many people got to see the real Stella beyond the Solarian Princess facade she puts on for the world.

"Look, I'm used to my mother. At this point her criticism doesn't affect me anymore," she said firmly. "Last time she came I still cared what she thought but this time I only was avoiding an issue though if there was a problem I wouldn't have cared what she had to say about it."

"I'm sorry," I told her. It was sad her relationship had gotten so bad with her mother. It was Luna's fault but that didn't change how horrible it was for Stella. Stella and I sat in silence before she shoved her feelings aside giving me a serious look.

"We should ask Bloom if she still has the device to remove the cuffs," Stella said as I nodded.

"It's weird not feeling my magic," I muttered softly. "I miss it."

"I may not have ever had my magic cut off but I get what you mean. I couldn't imagine not being able to use magic," Stella said getting up. "Bloom should be in the cafeteria by now."

"I hope she has the device," I said getting up as well walking arm in arm with Stella to the cafeteria. We headed over to Bloom who was giggling at Sky.

"When you two are done flirting I need to borrow Bloom," Stella said sharply as Bloom frowned looking up at us.

"What's up Stella?" She asked seriously as I sighed. I slid my jacket sleeve up and Bloom's eyes widened.

"Do you still have that thing we used on Beatrix?" Stella asked.

"No, she took it," Bloom said as she ghosted her hand above the bracelets. "That looks painful."

"A bit but not nearly as bad as the empty feeling I'm having not hearing or feeling emotions around me," I stated bitterly. "Andreas put them on and both he and Rosalind refuse to take them off. They want me to figure it out."

"Well we will," Bloom said simply. "Soon because you not having access to your magic is a problem." Bloom's word sent a wave of panic through me and I needed to do something. I couldn't just wait around for someone to give me the solution.

"I'm going to the library to see if I can find anything to take them off you are welcome to join me," I said before I spun stalking out of the cafeteria. I walked straight to the library searching through each shelf. I read the titles of the books on the first shelf but all of the titles made the books seem basic.

"Did you find it?" Bloom asked coming over to me. I shook my head.

"Nope but I just started looking," I told her moving on to the next shelf. "Do they have anything that isn't a fairy 101 book?" I sighed finding another set of books similar to the first shelf.

"Maybe," Bloom moved to the back shelf her eyes looking at each of the books. She grabbed five books off the shelf sitting at a table. I took a seat across from her taking a book off the pile. We read for hours but each of the books just said what the cuffs were not how to remove them. "You would think Rosalind would have books with more information seeing as she claimed Dowling was hiding the knowledge from us."