𝓕𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪 𝓓𝓪𝔂 • 𝓕𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓦𝓲𝓷𝔁 𝓼𝓪𝓰𝓪

Chapter 10 - Untold secrets

Stella's POV
I woke up to the ear piercing sound of the bell that I had not yet gotten used to, followed by the sound of multiple people in the suite falling out of bed. I already didn't like mornings, but this was a living hell.
"Fuck this." I said, rubbing my eyes as I attempted to rise out of bed. I was in that stage of the morning where you physically couldn't open your eyes yet so going to the bathroom was difficult. When I began to brush my teeth, a very tired looking Helia and Flora entered... My first thought was, where did he sleep last night? I mean him and Flora seemed to be getting on pretty well...
"Morning sleepy head..." Flora said, then coughed realizing the deepness of her 6am voice.
"Morning..." My voice was the same as Floras, one of the many reasons I WAS NOT a fan of mornings. I then turned my head exaduratingly to Helia, as you do when one of your friends is walking around with a boy.
"Sooooo" Flora could already tell that I was going to say something interesting and began to chuckle.
"Where did you sleep last night Helia?" He looked at me half awake, then began to process the question I asked, myself still smiling.
"Oh I... Flora had a blow up bed, I slept in her dorm on it." Cute, but not as saucy as I thought the answer would be.
"How boring... Joking." Flora playfully hit my arm and we both got on with our usual morning routine while Helia hugged Flora goodbye to go off to Training... Even though they've only just met, I'm already manifesting their relationship.
We were all alot more tense today, knowing that hiding Sam was not going to be easy.
"I just realized... Stella where was Brandon last night? I thought he was going to help us with Sam?" Shit. How could I have forgotten the one person that I was thinking about practically every day?
"I... I don't know actually..." I brought my phone out of my pocket to check my messages with him, and my heart began to race. He must have been joking... Or was he? My eyes stared at the screen and Flora stopped what she was doing to look at it to.
"What the hells that meant to mean?"
The text read: 'So sorry to inform you I will no longer be your bodyguard... Hope you understand.'
Strange. That was not the way Brandon texted at ALL... I wasent sad, I was worried. Something deep down knew he wasent the one who sent this text.
"Stel... I'm so sorry h-"
"He didn't send this." I interrupted.
"What? Stella... It clearly says it's from him." I tried to think of reasons it couldn't be him.
"First off... Brandon has never used proper English in his life, he doesn't do full-stops or any of that."
"Stel, you've known him for 3 days."
"And we've been stuck together like glue for all of them!" Flora considered my point and decided to agree with me.
"I must admit it is odd."
Bloom and Aisha then walked in, both fully dressed but still looked like they had just woken up.
"Sky went with Helia to training... They said they'd see us at lunch." Bloom quietly coughed up, eyes still half open.
"You and Helia hey!" She said towards Flora, perking up a little, making us all smile, Floras face going a Rosy red colour.
"I went to check on Sam... Musa and Terra are gonna stay with him, hopefully the good ol' sick excuse will work." Aisha also looked as if she was still half asleep, lately she had been getting out of her 'Twice a day every day' routine... Which clearly told us that we were all a little off-put... She never missed her swims.
"Me and Flora were just talking... Brandon texted saying he's not going to be my bodyguard anymore..." They all looked in confusion, not knowing whether that was a good or bad thing for me.
"It was suspicious though... It didn't sound like him- if that makes sense." None of them knew how to react, so instead just started to comb their hair and get ready, soon enough Flora and Bloom were done.
"I guess I'm off... Bloom? We have the same class right?" She took a look at her phone and they both said their goodbyes, walking off to the dreaded lessons. I was definitely not looking forward to mine. God, who knew a private tutor could be so bad.
"I better go too... Rosalind has given me ALOT more paper work to do than expected... Honestly you wouldn't believe how many new rules she's installed, that woman loves paper-work more that Miss Dowling did." My mind instantly glowed with an idea, finally, even one day without the boring ass tutor would be enough.
"I'll help! I mean- please Aisha... I am begging. Besides, you'll get it done quicker!" She heard the desperation in my voice and nodded her head. Even though I'd probably get punishment to the maximum, I didn't care. To be honest, I have no idea why she still does this job anyway, surely Rosalind would have kicked her out for someone she could trust more. It gave all us girls a mole for information though, just Incase.
"Let's go then..." I zipped up my makeup bag and tooth brush to put back into my room, we gave a quick wave into Musas dorm where Sam and Terra were still asleep, Musa watching over them.
We made our way down the hallway, my eyes moving from person to person to see if Brandon would still be here, and after a while of walking we came to Miss Dowlings office... Or rather Rosalinds new office. It felt weird, the atmosphere of the room had changed, it no longer felt like a normal office. You could tell it had dark secrets within it. We entered to see about 3 piles of paper stacked to the brim, wow, when Aisha said she loved paper, she was not exaggerating.
"Damn... You really wernt joking were you."
"Nope... Still don't get how there's enough trees in the world for all this!" She sat down and began looking through each of the sheets, placing them into folders and copying out Rosalinds signature on to each. As she was doing so, I walked around the room, laid my hands across the books and let my finger tips brush on them when I walked past. I came to Rosalinds desk, it wasent like she gave us privacy so why should we give it to her. I peaked through some of the books she had laying open, books of spells and transformation, probably used for what she was teaching Bloom.
"Where is she... Rosalind?" I was curious.
"She said she was going out with Luna for a meeting... Something like that." I nodded and bowed my head back to the desk, where my eyes flickered to the phone which lay in the half open drawer beside me. Big mistake, never, EVER, leave draws open.
I picked it up to examine it, ready to read all the juicy texts she'd been sending everyone, but it wasn't her phone, it seemed familiar...
Brandons.
It was Brandons phone.
She was the one who sent the message.
"Aisha... This is Brandons phone!" I rushed over to give Aisha the phone, and we both shared a look of discomfort. Then, a sudden screech came from the bookcase... But not just a bookcase. THE bookcase, the one with a creepy-ass hallway leading to rows and rows of cells.
"Was it just me or-"
"No I definitely heard that too..." I quickly forgot the phone and we were both drawn to the bookcase, which Aisha opened within a second of using her magic.
"Who do you think..." My mind went to a place of uncertainty, a place I didn't want it to be... My instant though was one person.
Why would Rosalind keep Brandons phone in her desk?
Brandon.
"I have a feeling I think you know..." Aisha looked at me as if reading my mind and we both stepped into the bookcase, the wooden frame closing again behind us. She had obviously been in here recently, otherwise the usual spell placed on the door would be there. A voice then came.
"Don't you dare... Ever go near my daughter again... If you even think-"
"Calm down Luna. Brandon here will be sorted with in no time." Our faces turned to eachother.
Brandon. It was him. The voices were quickly followed by footsteps, which began to get closer and closer towards us. Fuck.
"Aisha! Grab my arm!" I attempted to whisper. I then shielded us from view. This was definitely my favorite trick I had learned so far, even if I learnt it by hours of torture by my tutor. We hid ourselves in the corner of the small landing behind the bookcase which led to the stairs, and watched as Luna and Rosalind passed.
"That little... I should have known her and that- imbecile of a child... I need to go and talk to my daughter." They talked while they walked up the long stairway.
"Easy, Luna. Brandon as I said before will be delt with, and I assure you Stella will receive punishment." Owch. My mother then began to breathe, trying to control herself into a good mood.
"Right. Yes... Make sure she gets it. I have to go... I have lunch with the army officers in an hour." Without saying goodbye, she snapped her fingers and instantly faded away into flickers if light. Why did my mother have to be such a show off.
Rosalind then rolled her eyes and continued walking straight past us, to then place the spell back onto the hidden door. One of the things which was handy about cloaking magic is that it also hid away emotions and thoughts aswell as appearance, so Rosalind being a mind fairy wouldn't be able to sense us at all. I then realised that she had trapped us. Oh dear, now we were stuck. Great.
"Something for our future selves to worry about..." Aisha insisted and then we both quietly began to walk down the stairs. This place brought back to many memories, and not good ones either.
We walked into the gigantic room filled with cells, one immensely larger one stood in the middle, which once held captive Rosalind. Oh the good days.
"Stella!! Stella I'm here!" My head turned to see Brandon, both hands rapped around the bars of the cell. Thank god he wasn't hurt.
"You...your not hurt- " I ran over and clasped my hands over his, letting our foreheads touch.
"How on earth..." Aisha began to question.
"Luna... She saw me training yesterday and brought me over... Stella I swear I didn't say a thing she just took me here and said she had people watching Incase anything happened and-"
"It's ok I... I should have been more careful... My mum finds a way to know everything. I'm just- glad your safe." Brandon gave a sigh of relief and so did I, while Aisha stood behind us looking into each cell.
"Well... At least we know she's not keeping anyone else down here."
"Oh I didn't ask before... How did it go? With Sam and all?" Me and Aisha both tried to decide whether it was good or bad that we found him... But in not to great a state.
"It was... Eventful. He's resting with Musa and Terra." He nodded and sat down in his cell, I then let my eyes turn a light blonde shade of yellow to melt the gates, at least being a light fairy came with a few handy tricks. The moment all the metal was in pools on the floor Brandon crawled over to me and pulled me into a hug, he seemed pretty shaken. My mother may not have messed with him physically... But god knows what she did to him mentally.
That first day back... When she turned on me she made me see things which- well were very questionable, and Im her daughter. I can't imagine what she'd do to someone she cared nothing for.
"Guys... What's this?" We both broke out of the hug and turned to Aisha, who was looking towards an outline in the wall opposite us. It looked weird, as if there was something there that it wasn't revealing to us. I walked over to examine it with Aisha, Brandon following after me. Feeling my fingers across the pealing paint wall, I felt my mothers magic written all over it.
"This... It's light magic." My memory went back to how Bloom destroyed the Spell on the door to the hospice and I tried to re-enact what it looked as if she was doing.
"Won't lose anything by trying..." I closed my eyes and focused on the wall, letting the groves melt with my fingers. Come on Stella. I slowly opened my eyes and gradually a large, oak door appeared Infront of us. I shouldn't have been happy, it was probably a door leading to our deaths... But I did just do magic I'd never done in my life before. Aisha and Brandon saw me trying to hold back my excitement and Aisha clapped me on the back, both of them smiling and shaking their head.
"Shall we..." Aisha ushered her hands to the handle of the door, and my eyes locked with Brandon.
"Fine, but if I die, it's y'all's fault." Aisha and me laughed as he lead the way though the door, which then went down to another set of steps.
So many flipping stairs in this school. As we got down to the base, another door stood before us and all 3 of us gulped.
"You guys wanna go in or..."
"No harm in trying-" Aisha nervously said, moving forward to open the handle. The room was dark, to dark. This is where my magic came in handy. I clicked my fingers to create a small ball of light in my hands, we entered the room which was incredibly damp, paintings ran all across the four walls of the place.
"This isn't creepy." Brandon said sarcastically.
I examined the walls, the paintings on them. There was a dragon, and an army... Sam said he read in the book about that.
"Guys... That's in the book-"
"Sam told us about." Aisha finished my sentence rushing over.
"I have a bad feeling about this place... We don't have anything to protect ourselves here guys..." Both me and Aisha realised what Brandon said was probably true, but then instead of listening continued to look at the paintings before us.
"He- hello? Is anyone there?"
"What the hell was that-" Instantly we all bounced back against the wall. But there was something in the corner of the room...
A- a cage? I stepped closer, letting the dazzle of light in my hand guide me.
"Stella are you crazy!!!" Aisha whisper-shouted.
"Stella? Stella is that you?" In confusion I stepped closer and closer, trying to work out who was speaking. I finally got in view of who was there.
No.
No it couldn't be.
But...
Splayed across the floor of the cage before myself, Aisha and Brandon, locked in steal chains and magic preventing bracelets...
"Miss... Miss Dowling?!"

Let's leave that one on a little cliff hanger for y'all to enjoy... 😜 NEXT CHAPTER COMING SOON!