retrieving the ring
The next day Silva is absent, leading a troupe of the Queen's army to the shed where they keep the burned one locked up so they can relocate it and find out how it came to Alfea.
That morning Musa and Aisha are heading to a class, with Aisha telling the empath about the notes in Bloom's book she saw, which were the words anger and fear written big and underlined, as well as the word reading underneath them with a question mark and the name Garfield written next to it.
"I don't like it. She's being taught by like the two worst people possible." Aisha tells the empath.
"I don't know. Sure Stella is probably only pushing her with the fear angle to be ready when they go get her ring. Garfield however... I don't know why he's helping or pretending to." Musa says, before freezing up, feeling the boy she's searching for ever since yesterday.
"What? Is Mr. Green jacket here?" Aisha asks knowingly.
"Yeah I don't know. It's like I feel him behind me right now, but every time I look for him he's gone." Musa answers.
"Mystery solved. He's an earth fairy who walks through walls." Aisha informs the headphones wearing girl.
"Hey! What's your name?" Aisha asks the boy who just appeared.
"I'm Sam... what's up?" He asks confused while Musa is silently cursing her roommate.
"I'm Aisha and this is Musa. She's been stalking you." Aisha introduces them and turns Musa around, lightly shoving her towards the guy before she leaves.
"Lucky me. Hi Musa." Sam says with a grin.
"You know it's not so much stalking as it's looking for you..." Musa says embarrassedly.
"I see, do you want to go for a walk and tell me why you're looking for me?" He offers.
"Yes." She accepts quickly with a smirk on her face.
In the meantime, Terra is spending some time with Dane, who's helping her make the oil used to counteract the burned one's poison.
She asked him to help because she wanted to spend more time with him, having a crush on the boy.
Dane however blows her off minutes into helping her when he gets a text from Riven, a delinquent specialist who's teasing and threatening him with the knowledge that Dane might be gay. Dane also happens to be Sky's best friend.
Later that afternoon Aisha is sitting on her bed, reading something but her eyes and mind always drifts to the redhead who's sitting at her computer.
"I have to say something. You shouldn't be learning magic from Stella. Her method is unreliable." Aisha says.
"How do you know about her methods?" Bloom asks surprised.
"I saw your notebook this morning." Aisha answers.
"Did you go through my things?" Bloom asks offended.
"It was open on your desk, it doesn't matter. Trust me you shouldn't be learning from her." Aisha replies.
"If you look through my stuff I have no reason to trust you, do I?" Bloom says before Stella crashes the party.
"Sky just called. They're moving the burned one to the capital. We have to move now." Stella tells Bloom.
"Sorry, but your idea is still incredibly stupid." Aisha tells them before following the two anyways.
"Wait. We need one more person." Bloom says after they took a few steps out of their apartment. The redhead goes to Garfield's door an knocks.
"Hey. What's up?" He asks, opening the door, a book in his other hand.
"Do you want to go on an adventure?" Bloom asks flirtingly.
"Sure." He agrees readily and grabs a hoodie before stepping out in the hall and sees her roommates waiting.
"That was a dirty move." He whispers to Bloom, grabbing her wrist lightly and pulls her with him, pushing past the two annoyed fairies and lets Bloom lead the way from there.
Meanwhile Musa was walking around with Sam until she gets a text asking for her help because Silva is moving the burned one right then.
About 10 minutes later everyone meets up at the barrier leading to the forest between them and the shed.
"Aisha one more time you don't have to be here." Stella tells the water fairy.
"I'm sorry, but what are you going to do? Blind it while Bloom struggles to light a fire?" Aisha challenges the princess.
"I'm right here." Bloom says.
"And I'd like to know what we're doing here?" Garfield grumbles.
"Oh good everyone is calm and collected." Musa says, arriving with Terra.
"Finally, let's go." Stella says, cutting off Terra who wanted to explain something and the group goes through the barrier.
"Do we know where the barn is?" Stella asks.
"Yes. North." Terra answers.
"What barn? What is it you're doing?" Garfield asks them grumpy at being left in the dark.
"Oh for god's sake just tell him." Stella says annoyed.
"Fine. We're going to get Stella's portal ring back from the burned one you and Mrs. Dowling captured." Bloom tells Garfield.
"Uff. And here I thought you were going to do something normal. Guys listen. It's great and all that you bond together to get Mrs. Princess's ring back, but this is a very, bad idea." He warns them, trying to stop them.
"How bad can it be, you took one of them out yourself. We're five." Aisha says challengingly, not wanting to have to listen to him.
"Don't make the mistake to think we're the same. There are only a handful of people alive who can deal with cursed ones safely." He says.
"And we're supposed to believe you when you say you're one of them?" Stella asks, dismissively.
"Ugh, fine. If you won't believe me at least promise not to wander off. I can't protect any of you if you split up." He says groaning angrily, Musa feeling immense worry and frustration from him.
"Just come on everyone. We don't have time for this. The guards will be there soon." Stella says, walking ahead with her roommates, leaving Garfield behind.
"Argh." He huffs, his face turning into that of a wolfs for a second before returning.
"Why does she have to be here." He sighs, balling his fist to control his anger for the princess or rather, her mother.
A few minutes later the group of six arrive at the barn and both Musa and Garfield stiffen, Musa's eyes lighting up while Garfield sniffs the air.
The empath and the shapeshifter then head to a spot behind the barn with Terra following them while the other three enter the barn, only to find it empty.
"Guys, we've got a problem." Terra yells, when the three come across a field with dead soldiers, only Silva having survived, sitting against a tree heavily wounded. Garfield walks over to him while Musa is hunching over, feeling his pain.
"Terra, the Zanbaq." Garfield shouts, holding out his hand and the earth fairy hurries over to him with the flask while Aisha and Stella walk over to Musa, Bloom still being in the barn to their knowledge. In reality however the redhead feels something calling her from deeper in the woods and heads towards it like in a trance.
"OK, Saul, this will hurt. A lot." Garfield says, feeding him half the antidote in his mouth before turning his hand in the claws of a leopard, slashing over the wound covering his left side, making blood splash out and he pours the rest of the vial in the wound, taking another vial from inside his socks and pours that in the wound as well, before taking off his hoodie and pressing it against the wound, taking off his shirt as well, folding it together with one hand and puts it underneath the hoodie, using its sleeves and a stick to make a makeshift turning kit with Terra's help.
"Where are the others?" He asks, getting up from his kneeling position, Terra seeing his scarred torso, but doesn't say anything.
"They went after Bloom." Musa says holding her head in pain.
"Get him to the academy." He tells them, going over to Musa, looking her deep in the eyes.
"Focus on anything else. Terra, whatever you need to get yourself together alright?" He tells her supportively, getting a nod in response.
"Good." He says with a smile, nodding back to her, before Musa joins Terra in helping up the teacher.
"What about the burned one?" Terra asks as they walk past Garfield, who is looking around the area.
"Don't worry. I will know if you're in danger. Just head to the academy." He tells them confidentially.
The two girls continue to head back, looking back at Garfield who gradually turns into a large wolf, walking through the dead, sniffing them before turning its head and taking off in a run into the woods.
"Come on Stella, use your magic. It's getting dark." Aisha tells the blonde girl while they are looking for Bloom.
"It's not working. Give me a second." Stella says, attempting to use her powers, but nothing happens.
"We don't have time for this. Just go back to school and get help." Aisha tells her, continuing without her.
Deeper in the woods Bloom finds the burned one and sees it waiting for her. When she sees it, it starts to rush towards her, jumping from side to side over a dried-out river which she is standing in a few dozen meters away.
Bloom tries to summon her magic, her fear getting in her way, before she hears Garfield's voice in her head, whispering, 'let the fear go. Remember this feeling!'
Bloom closes her eyes for half a second before opening them, her eyes shining orange red while a path of fire heads towards the burned one, setting it on fire, but it continues to rush towards her through the flames. When it's within arms reach something pushes her down, tackling the burned one through the flames into the forest. When she gets back up she sees an oversized wolf ripping out the burned one's throat with its teeth while basically caving in its chest with its sharp claws.
This continues for a few seconds, before the wolf stops and limps towards her, one of its back paws hurt by the fire and a bony piece of the burned one sticking in it.
The wolf opens its maw, covered in black blood in front of her, letting a golden ring fall out, before hurrying away deeper into the woods when it notices Aisha who arrived when he tackled the burned one.
"Bloom. Are you OK?" She asks, going over to the redhead, who picks up the ring, looking after the wolf.
"Was that Garfield?" Aisha asks.
"I think so." Bloom replies.
"Well, I have to hand it to you. You have better control than I gave you credit for." Aisha remarks.
"I know right." Bloom says, trying to push her worry for her savior out od her mind while Aisha extinguishing the flames.
The two then head back to the academy in silence, before Aisha breaks it.
"I told you he's dangerous. You saw what he did to the burned one." Aisha tells Bloom.
"I know you want to help. But we don't know anything about Garfield. And the fact is he just saved my life." Bloom defends him.
"But his first bite killed it. The rest of it was not necessary." Aisha counters.
"How would you know? Have you killed a burned one before?" Bloom asks.
"No, but..." Aisha says.
"We should've listened and turned around." Bloom says feeling guilty since she's pretty sure Garfield got hurt because of her.
In the meantime, Terra and Musa arrive with the injured Silva and carry him to the greenhouse with Terra telling Sam to fetch their father, revealing that Musa is having a crush on her roommates brother.
Beatrix, a new student who tried to worm her way in the headmistress's trust uses the distraction to get the headmistress. Once she's gone she tries to open the secret passage way in the headmistress's office, but it's protected by a magic trap.
The headmistress hurries to the greenhouse, finding Terra's father treating Silva already while Terra, Musa and Sky stand in the room watching this concerned.
"Can you give us some room please." The earth fairy medic tells the students, who leave.
"It's just us now. What happened?" Farah asks Saul.
"The soldiers are all dead. It was already out of the barn. And there was someone else there." Saul says.
"You mean someone set it loose on purpose?" Farah asks.
"I fear so." He grunts back, Terra's father starting to treat his wound.
That night Bloom and Aisha get back on friendly terms, other than their difference in opinion on their neighbor. At the end of the conversation Bloom has a vision of a woman telling her to find her.
When Musa has gotten ready for bed she lies down and waits for everyone to turn in, the emotions in the apartment being too much on the empath, who's still shaken up by the feelings she experienced from Silva.
Once everyone is asleep she heads over to Garfield's room, knocking before inviting herself in. When she sees it empty, she worries that he might have gotten killed by the burned one but quickly dismisses this when she remembers how strong and confident he is.
"Well, if he's not using it, then I'm sure he won't mind me sleeping in his bed." Musa says to herself, getting under the covers of his bed.
Half an hour later she gets woken from her sleep by someone knocking on the door and entering the room, she quickly hides herself under the blanket, until she hears her roommate's voice.
"Hey, Gar. I wanted to check if you're OK." Bloom says, touching the lump underneath the blanket, only for Musa to awkwardly reveal herself from under the blanket.
"What are you doing here? Where is Garfield?" Bloom asks shocked.
"I don't know. When I came over here he was nowhere in sight." Musa replies.
"Which doesn't explain why you are in his bed." Bloom says.
"Over there I am feeling five different emotions. Here it's just me. I can relax here." Musa explains tiredly.
"And what if he comes back?" Bloom asks.
"He slept on the floor last time." Musa replies with a shrug, before lying back down in the bed.
"You slept here before?" Bloom asks surprised.
"Anyways, if he's not here, where is he? Should we alert the headmistress?" Bloom asks.
"No, you know of strong he is. I'm sure he's fine." Musa replies.
"But he's hurt. At least I think it was him." Bloom says.
"What was?" Musa questions, feeling her worry.
"The wolf. A wolf saved me and hurt itself in the process." Bloom answers.
"Then we should go look for Mrs. Dowling. Terra and I saw him turn into a wolf." Musa says.
The two girls then throw over a robe each and sneak through the academy, searching for the headmistress.
When they walk by the greenhouse they hear four voices, one of which is Garfield himself.
"Man you look shitty. Which means we have a bigger problem than usual." Garfield says, looking at Silva, who is lying on a stretcher with him sitting on a chair, the botanist teacher wrapping a bandage around his left foot and shin.
"Why?" Mrs. Dowling asks.
"Bloom, Musa what are you doing sneaking around? Don't tell me one of you crazies went back out there." Garfield says, looking at the glass door, in front of which the two girls are standing. The headmistress opens the door and looks at them expectantly.
"We were worried that you didn't return to your room and wanted to alert the teacher." Bloom says.
"Thanks, but I'm OK you should get some sleep now. I know for a fact that you'll need it for tomorrow." He says, glancing at Farah, who looks at them disapprovingly while limping over to the door.
"Good night you two." He says waving when they silently wave and head back.
"You seem to have found friends fast." Farah says.
"Hmpf. We'll see. I'm just helping them." He says.
"Anyways, what problem are you talking about?" Farah asks.
"The burned ones. This is the second time that there are more than one. Which is something I have seen only twice before out of my 300 kills." He tells them.
"So they are looking for something?" Farah asks.
"Or someone." Garfield replies.
After talking with the teachers a bit longer Garfield heads up to his room, only to see Musa sleeping in his bed peacefully, a content smile on her lips as she mumbles "Sam" in her sleep.
He shuts his door and peeks into the girls apartment instead. Seeing no one awake he makes his way over to the couch in the communal space and lies down in it, falling asleep soon after.