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Rise of the Witches	By : Shaellin Category: +S through Z > Winx Club Views: 5201 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Winx Club, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
By Eltf177, Lunaroki and Tante Carla

Author's Notes:

Eltf177: This is part of an idea Lunaroki and Tante Carla came up with. I was asked to participate and, loving their work, eagerly agreed. I hope my contribution is worthy to stand with theirs.

Icy's real name comes from Lunaroki's fanfic "Three Witches and a Shrink", and is used here with permission.

Obviously this story takes place as our trio of witches join Cloud Tower as freshmen, some three years before the start of Season One.

Lunaroki: This story is the outgrowth of an ongoing correspondence between Tante Carla and myself and our mutual desire to write a story together about our three favorite witches. In the course of planning how to handle things we came to the conclusion that we needed a third writer to divide up the workload evenly, so we approached eltf177 who was kind enough to join us in our endeavor. We are grateful for his contribution and hope that all of our readers will enjoy our story as much as we are enjoying bringing it to life.

Tante Carla: The name Amanda Stormwind (Stormy’s birth name in the story) is an idea from Lunaroki’s ‘Three Witches and a Shrink’ and is used with permission (or so I hope :p)

*=*=*

The tall, white-haired girl stepped off the teleportation platform and stared up at what was to be her home for the next four years. *Finally*, she thought as she gazed at the realm's premiere school for witches, Cloud Tower. The girl started walking up to the main gate, her bags floating behind her.

She had trained relentlessly with her spell craft, until her teachers admitted they could teach her no more. She needed to go to Cloud Tower, for only there could she continue her training to fulfill her destiny. *Your ancestors destroyed the Kingdom of Sparx to obtain the Dragonfire, only to have it slip through their fingers. It is your destiny to obtain it and rule the universe.* She had been told this since she was five years old and was never allowed to forget it.

She reached the main entrance. Without hesitation she kept moving forward, willing the gates to open. They did.

Walking into the huge entrance hall she noticed a desk with a sign saying "New Students". A woman with short, dark hair sat behind it. Icy walked up, saying nothing.

"I am Zarathustra, Assistant Headmistress of Cloud Tower. Your name?" the woman asked.

"Icy," the white-haired girl said proudly as she set her bags on the floor and removed her long coat, revealing her short, light-blue mini-skirt and knee-high boots. She shook her head allowing her long hair, tied in a ponytail which impossibly stood straight up, to fall down to her upper back. A long curl hung on either side of her face, dyed light blue to match her eyes.

"Not your pseudonym, your real name."

The girl sneered and started to form a spell. NO one ever dared to ask her that question. However, she realized now was not the time and fought down the urge to strike. "Bethany Anastasia Darkholme."

There was snickering behind her. Icy turned to see a group of upper-class girls in the corner, pointing and giggling. She quickly memorized their faces. *You'll pay for that, bitches.*

"You'll be in the West Tower, Third Floor, Room 7. Neither of your roommates have arrived yet," the dark-haired woman told her. "Take your bags to your room. You have time to freshen up before orientation from Headmistress Griffin, which will be in the Main Lecture Hall in three hours. Follow the signs."

Icy nodded and mentally picked up her bags. She started to follow the signs towards where her room was. However, something wasn't right. The hallway didn't seem to be taking her anywhere. Then it ended.

Icy heard more snickering behind her. She turned around to see the upper-class girls who had been in the sign-in hall now blocking the passage behind her. "Well, well. What do we have here?" one of the girls (a tall brunette nicknamed Wind) said.

"I think its our new servant," a shorter blonde by the nickname of Boots said.

Icy slowly stepped backwards until her back was against the wall. She mentally set her luggage down, then sneered as she prepared to defend herself.

The upper-class girls laughed at this. "Look, the freshie thinks she can frighten us off," a girl with green hair and a t-shirt with the initials "C.P." on it laughed. They all began to advance on Icy, starting to bunch together as they did.

That's what Icy had been counting on. She laughed as her arms flew forward. "Why don't you ladies chill out?", she said as a flurry of ice and snow flew from her hands, catching the upper-class girls totally by surprise. Icy got them squarely, the girls ending up in a solid block of ice which almost completely blocked the passage. Only one short redhead nicknamed Sandy, who was off to one side, wasn't in the block with them; but her entire lower body was frozen to the wall.

Icy mentally picked up her bags, walked over to the redhead and set them down again. She gave the girl a long, hate-filled stare which gave the upper-class girl chills far beyond the ice covering her.

Icy finally spoke. "The name's Icy. Remember it and tell your friends. Any of you get in my way again and it'll be high summer before you defrost. Now, where in the hell is my room?"

Sandy gulped, then babbled out directions. "Cloud Tower isn't like anyplace else in the Realms. It's actually a living entity, changing shape at will. That's why the hallway disappeared. It will take orders, but will interpret them quite literally." This new girl might have been a freshman, but those piercing blue eyes seemed to rip into her very soul. And a freshman taking out no fewer than five upper-class girls by herself was unprecedented.

Icy just continued to stare, enjoying the redhead's discomfort. Suddenly she reached out and put her hand under Sandy's chin. She pulled the redhead's face forward, then gave her a violent kiss, ending up with Icy biting Sandy's lower lip and drawing blood. Letting Sandy's face go she gave the redhead a sadistic grin, a smear of blood running down her chin and neck.

As she started to walk away Icy licked her lips and said over her shoulder, "Come and see me when you thaw out. There's more where that came from."

*=*=*

Icy dried herself off after exiting the room's shower. She'd had a little trouble getting into her room, but her willpower was such that she got in. Neither of her roommates had shown yet. She debated about what to wear, then decided on an extremely short mini-skirt and halter top (both blue, her favorite color as it complemented her eyes) and white thigh-high boots. She redid her ponytail, then the two curls on either side of her face (tinted a light shade of blue to highlight her face). Then she sat in front of the room's mirror to do her makeup. Unlike fairies who used makeup to accentuate their beauty, witches went overboard with it to both draw attention to themselves as well as terrify their victims. Using her blue mascara Icy painted large diamonds around her eyes as well as heavily paint her eyelids. When she was satisfied she put her makeup away. She looked at the clock and saw she still had some time. She decided to amuse herself by hunting down more upper-class girls.

*=*=*

The dark and brooding edifice known as Cloud Tower loomed over the surrounding landscape like a malevolent spirit left over from ages past. A winding causeway snaked its way up from the plains below to the top of the forbidding precipice upon which Cloud Tower was erected. At various points along the causeway special platforms had been erected just for this day, the first day of the school year. Each one was painted with a special circle. Every so often an eerie green light would flash briefly in one of the circles and a newly arrived student would step down from the platform to make her way up to the castle.

At a platform about midway along the causeway another green light flashed and a pair of lovely ladies turned to stare up at the castle. The elder was a radiant beauty still in her prime with long, lustrous blond hair cascading down her back. She wore an elegant blue and green sleeveless gown and looked as though she should be standing on a pedastal for all to admire. She turned to look at the young lady beside her with entrancing golden eyes.

"You know darling, it's not too late to change your mind. I can still get you into the Odalisk Academy for Enchantresses if you want."

The younger woman with long, luxurious light brown hair and blond bangs turned to regard the older woman with the same gold eyes.

"That's what you want mom. I've already made up my mind. I'm going to Cloud Tower. I can't explain it, but I know there's something more for me out there than being just another courtesan or succubus, and the road to that future starts here."

The older woman made a cute little moue as she pouted at her daughter.

"You make it sound as though you are ashamed of what I do."

The young lady placed a hand on her mother's arm.

"No mom, I'm not. I appreciate all you've taught me, all you've done for me over the years, but I've got my own path to follow. I can't be you."

The older woman heaved a sigh that set her chest moving in a way that would make grown men throw themselves at her feet.

"I did raise you to be an independant woman. I suppose it can't be helped. Just promise me you'll take care of yourself."

The younger woman rolled her eyes dramaticly.

"I will mom, and I promise to write home to you about every poor schmuck's heart I break."

The older woman smiled at her daughter fondly and stroked her cheek.

"That's my girl."

She leaned in and kissed her daughter on the lips. The younger lady scowled at her mother as she drew back again.

"Mother ..."

The older woman smiled and shrugged back at her daughter. Just then a red light flashed around the two of them. The younger woman quickly snatched up the large bag sitting at her feet.

"We'd better move. Other people are trying to use this teleport circle and getting bounced back."

The older woman waved goodbye as her daughter vacated the platform.

"Do your best Darcy. I'll see you next summer."

Darcy waved back.

"See ya then mom."

Darcy's mother threw her head back, raised both arms high over her head and disappeared in a flash of green light. Darcy blew out her breath in relief.

"Finally! I thought she'd never leave."

Turning away, she started up the winding causeway to the castle, carrying her rather large bag by one hand as if it weighed nothing. The bag was three feet high by four feet long by two feet deep, made of carpet material, and appeared to be stuffed full, yet she carried it effortlessly. It gave the impression that she must be incredibly strong, but the truth was that the bag was magically enchanted to reduce it's weight dramaticly when handled by its owner. Anyone else who tried to carry it would find themselves struggling with the full weight of the bag.

At the top of the causeway she stopped to stare at the edifice before her. The twisting spires of Cloud Tower had been impressive from a distance. Up close it was even more imposing. The front entryway looked like a set of giant jaws waiting to devour her. Darcy gave a lop-sided smirk at the idea that some mere building was supposed to frighten her and walked right in through the open doors.

She looked about the large entrance hall as she entered. The place had a lovely gloomy ambience that she found pleasing. All the windows were red stained glass with framework in the shape of spiderwebs. The high vaulted ceiling gave the impression that you were an insignificant mouse in the home of giants. Thick heavy drapes and ancient tapestries lent the room a sense of antiquated elegance. It was a room meant to awe the casual visitor with a sense of the castle's dark history. To Darcy it felt like home.

She walked up to a desk which had been set up in the middle of the hall for the day and spoke to the dark-haired witch seated behind it.

"Love what you've done with the place, but it could use a few more creepy sound effects to complete the mood."

The woman looked up at her with a look that clearly said 'Quit wasting my time'.

"Name?"

Darcy put a hand on her hip and shifted her body a quarter-turn to the right.

"Darcy A. Romanov."

Clearly unimpressed, the woman glanced down at the papers in her hands.

"There you are. You're in the West Tower, third floor, room 7. One of your roommates has already arrived. We're still waiting on the other one. Orientation will be in the Main Lecture Hall in an hour, followed by lunch at noon. You have time to take your bags up to your room and freshen up a bit before then. Follow the signs and watch your step please. The castle likes to play pranks on new arrivals."

Darcy raised an eyebrow at that last bit.

"Oookay."

She turned and headed down the indicated hallway, following the signs to the West Tower. Along the way she passed another teacher handing out thick blankets and cups of hot cocoa to a group of students with chattering teeth. There were five of them altogether and one was nursing a bloody lip. There were signs of melting ice about the area which left Darcy wondering just what had happened there. She shrugged, chalking it up to a high school prank gone awry, and kept on walking.

She found the stairwell at the end of the corridor and began to climb. As she mounted the stairs one by one she saw other witches simply floating up or down the center of the stairwell at will. She realized they must be upperclassmen who had passed their levitation exams. She envied them such freedom of mobility and vowed that she too would master the art of levitation as quickly as possible. She had her own little trick for getting around quickly, but it wasn't of much use to her in an unfamiliar environment like this one. She needed to set a few permanent landmarks in her memory before she could use it.

Once she reached the third floor she set off down the hall, counting the unnumbered doors until she reached room 7. When she reached for the doorknob it disappeared, leaving her with no way of opening the door. Darcy blinked at the knobless door in surprise.

"What the hell? I coulda sworn there was a doorknob there just a second ago."

She looked around suspiciously, expecting to see a group of upperclass girls standing around giggling at the prank they had just pulled on the freshman, but the hallway was almost deserted except for a couple of girls passing by chatting with each other. Darcy stepped directly in their path and gestured at the contrary door.

"Hey! What happened to the doorknob? I need to get into my room!"

The two girls looked at the door, then at each other, then back at Darcy. The girl on the left with the dreadlocks and nose piercing answered for them.

"Oh, that's just the castle. It loves to play pranks on newbies like you."

Darcy raised a eyebrow skeptically.

"Are you telling me this castle is alive?"

The girl on the right with the white face-paint and fright-wig hairdo nodded.

"Yeah. Cloud Tower's got a mind of its own. It can do shit like making doorknobs or entire doors disappear, making dead-ends appear in the middle of a hallway, even turn entire passageways around just to send you back the way you came from. Just address the door in a firm voice and tell it to give the doorknob back and let you in. Be careful how you word it though. The castle has to obey direct commands but it's pretty creative about how it interprets them."

Darcy narrowed her eyes and turned back to face the stubborn door. She wasn't sure whether these girls were telling her the truth or making up a wild story, but she figured the only way to find out was to give it a try. She stared at the place where the doornob should be and spoke to the door sternly.

"Alright door, give back that doorknob and open up! I need in there."

Before her very eyes the doorknob reappeared right where it was supposed to be. Darcy grasped the doorknob firmly, gave a twist and stepped on through.

The next moment her eyes went wide as she clutched at the doorknob and made a grab for the doorframe. There before her where a room ought to be she saw nothing but the cloudy skies and dreary landscape surrounding Cloud Tower. Her foot searched desperately for a floor but found nothing but empty air. When she looked down she felt dizzy as she saw nothing below her but the sheer side of the tower descending straight down to the valley floor far below.

"Whoa!!"

With a desperate effort she managed to yank herself back inside and close the door behind her. She leaned against the wall of the hallway gasping in fear.

"What the hell?!? Who builds a doorway that opens out onto a thousand-foot drop?"

The other two girls laughed at her plight and walked off.

"We warned you to watch what you said!"

"Good luck getting into your room!"

Darcy pushed away from the wall and flung out a hand as she called out after them.

"Hey!"

The two girls just continued laughing and kept walking. Darcy clenched her fist in frustration and turned back to the troublesome door.

"Alright look you. I'm through playing around. You let me into my room right now or I'll make you wish you had!"

Darcy wasn’t really sure what she could do to make an entire castle sorry for messing with her. Apparently the castle could think of a thing or two she might do though because in the next instant the door swung open all on its own revealing the room beyond. Darcy smirked triumphantly and walked into the room, pausing a moment at the threshhold to make sure the floor wasn’t about to disappear beneath her. She plopped her bag down on one of the beds, then spent the next several minutes freshening up her make-up in the bathroom mirror. With half an hour remaining before the assembly, Darcy decided to go prowl the hallways for a bit to begin familiarizing herself with the layout of Cloud Tower.

*=*=*

*10.30 in the morning… Has that girl left yet?* the woman, around her mid thirties, with straight blue hair that barely touched her shoulders, pondered. *What if she overslept? Better check her room…*

And of course the woman found her daughter in bed, pillows and blanket tossed across the room. Only a sheet remained and it completely entangled the sleeping form, except for an arm, a leg and a head that stuck out. The woman snickered at the silly sight and pondered her options: a gentle or rough awakening?

She chose the latter but moved to a safer distance first. No one wanted to be close to her little girl when she was cranky or grumpy…

“AMANDA!”

The girl shot up and looked around bewildered. Growling she readied herself to hurl a thunderbolt at whoever had disturbed her from her slumber.

“It’s 10.30. You don’t want to be late for your first day,” her mother quickly said in her own defence.

The thunderbolt that was forming in the girls palm slowly dissipated when her expression altered from cranky to confused.

*Late for what? First day of..?*

“Of school, silly,” her mother answered as if reading her mind.

The girls green eyes flew open in panic and she jumped out of bed, struggling to be freed from her sheets.

“Shit, mom, why didn’t you wake me earlier? The teleportation platforms only stay open until 11!”

Hurriedly she brushed her wild purple curls and pulled them into a very messy ponytail, while she kicked down her pyjama pants.

“And I haven’t packed yet! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll pack for you. Just get ready.”

“Ok!” Amanda yelled, running towards the bathroom.

Amanda’s mother opened her daughter’s wardrobe and sighed. It was such a mess, clothes having been tossed in carelessly and all… When she eyed the contents of the closet she thought of the time when she was a kid herself… Back then she was keen set on having a daughter one day, if only to dress her up in the cutest outfits… This closet shattered her childhood dreams whenever she opened it.

Her daughter never wanted to wear ‘cute outfits’, instead she only wore training suits, or other stuff in that range… She’d NEVER wear a skirt if her life depended on it and even jeans were too tight and out of the question…

But… times change, don’t they?

She glanced over her shoulder to the doorway and caught a glimpse of her daughter in the bathroom, trying to pull a shirt over her head while she had a toothbrush in her mouth. She seemed to be having a lot of trouble with that…

The elder woman closed the closet and with a snap of her fingers conjured two fully packed bags out of thin air. She smiled, content, and wished to be there to see the results, but that would be life threatening.

At that moment Amanda ran into the room and grabbed the bags. “Gotta go,” she gasped and turned on her heel to run off.

“Hold on a second,” her mother said and stepped in front of Amanda. She grasped both her daughter’s shoulders and looked her in the eye sternly. “Remember your promise?”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “I’ll TRY not to break any noses or dislocate any arms. Happy?” she said dully.

“Good,” her mother answered, satisfied, and gave her girl a kiss on the forehead, which the girl wiped instantly. “Cause I don’t want you back before summer. Now go.”

She didn’t have to tell Amanda twice as the young witch ran off, faster than the wind.

*=*=*

For the special occasion of the first day of school, three portals were opened at the town square: one for ‘Red Fountain’ a school for boys, where they teach non-magical heroism. That school always made Amanda gag. One portal for ‘Alfea’ where the prissy princesses learned to become prissy faeries and learned all the good magic there was. That school made Amanda gag even more. And last but not least: one portal to Cloud Tower, the school for witches who specialised in the dark arts and negative magic…

The officials who ran the portals were just about to pack it in when Amanda came running. She was so set on the portals that she ran into a man, who spilled his coffee all over her. Growling she yelled, “Watch where you’re going, asshole! You’d better go into hiding when summer begins!” She really wanted to beat him up but had no time. She turned back on her heel and continued her run.

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!” she yelled. She stopped at the small table that had been set up. “I… have to go… Cloud Tower,” she gasped painfully.

“You’re just in time girly. Middle platform.”

Amanda nodded and quickly stepped onto it. As she readied herself she pondered, *Did he just call me girly?* But before she could give it further thought a bright green light completely engulfed her and when she next blinked her eyes she was there.

The dark clouds were looming above her head and it was raining softly. She liked it. She’d always been fond of the rain. Somehow it always managed to soothe her. She then took notice of the gigantic castle that loomed over her head and she leaned all the way back to take a very good look. She size and posture of the building really left her in awe. But she suddenly shook her head. No time for sightseeing or playing in the rain. The opening speech of the headmistress should start soon.

Amanda ran towards the entrance and signed herself up at the reception desk.

“West Tower, Third Floor, Room 7. Your roommates are already here,” the woman informed her.

Amanda grunted. “Should I care?”

That resulted in a dark look from the witch at the reception desk. “You have 30 minutes before the orientation,” she said while eying the young witch. “You better get changed.”

Amanda looked at her jacket and remembered the guy she had to hurt for ruining it. She quickly nodded and headed towards the west tower.

*=*=*

After 10 minutes she got tired of it. Hadn’t she been here before? “What the hell?” she said out loud while scratching her head. She took another turn and… Yup, it was that same painting… Either they bought that one in bulk or she was walking in circles. Amanda clenched her teeth and balled her fists. “I really don’t have time for this.”

“Well then, you better tell the castle clearly what you’re looking for then,” she heard a voice say from behind her. Amanda turned to looked at her. “What do you mean?” she said, clearly losing her patience. The other student, clearly a few years older than her, said, “The castle lives.” Amanda raised her eyebrow, not believing what she was hearing. “You have to tell it exactly what you want or else you’ll never find your room.”

“Ok,” Amanda nodded. “I’ll play along… I WANT my room NOW!” Suddenly a door appeared to her left and she blinked confused as she turned the handle. It looked real enough, she thought when she entered.

“Thank you,” the elder witch said mockingly.

“Yeahyeah, whatever.” Amanda waved her hand in dismissal.

“Hey! You’d better show some respect to your superiors!” the red head witch shouted at Amanda. Amanda, in her turn, turned around and gave the elder witch a look that said ‘should-I-care?’

Then out of the corner of her eye she saw three more seniors approaching, ready for the attack.

“Look,” Amanda said, peeved. “I don’t have time to play with you now, ok? Find yourselves some new friends to make.”

“Let’s teach her some respect,” a brunette witch said as she hurled a big ball of water, hitting Amanda full frontal, leaving her soaking wet. This really pissed her off. Small sparks started to form around her body, but since she was all wet herself she decided against it. Instead, at the end of the corridor a window flew open and carried in such a strong gust the senior witches had trouble remaining standing. They were blown off their feet and got carried away by it. Strangely Amanda remained unaffected by it.

“We’ll get back at you!” she heard one of them yell as she closed the door. She looked for an empty bed and glanced at the two other ones. One bed was surrounded by bags. Some clothes laid spread on the bed and the vanity table was filled with vials of make up. The other one held one single but huge suitcase made out of carpet material. Amanda thought it was hideous. She wouldn’t want to be found dead carrying it. She rolled her eyes: her two roommates must be real fashion puppets, the kind she hated…

She set her bags down on the empty bed, then slipped completely out of her wet clothes and pulled her hair loose. She then created a warm gust of wind to blow herself dry. A shower would feel much better but she really had no time for that. She unzipped her bag for some new clothes… Her jaw fell open. She couldn’t help but scream. That…THAT… BITCH! Instead of her favourite training suits, the bag was full of skirts and tops… Definitely something her mother would pull off… Damn! She should have packed yesterday.

Amanda paced around for a short while. What to do? What to do? She saw she had no choice and pulled on a red skirt and top. She winced when she looked in the mirror. Man. She hadn’t worn a skirt since kindergarten.

Suddenly her reflection started to check herself out, clearly liking what she saw, and posed for her real version. Amanda blinked at the sight. Clearly a ‘prank’ from the castle again. She felt herself fuming and grabbed a chair. “Raaaaaarh!” Angrily, she flung it at the mirror and shattered it to shards.

Fuming, she stomped out. She really had to get going now, and was ready to blast anyone who dared to look at her.

*=*=*

Icy had to admit to herself that life at Cloud Tower would never be boring. She ran into two other groups of upper-class girls looking to haze unsuspecting freshmen; like the first group they took her as an easy mark and paid the price. Unfortunately for Icy both groups ended up completely frozen, meaning no fun for her. However, she was accosted by two individual upper-class girls. For these Icy did something special, using ice knives to pin their clothing and limbs to the wall behind them. The first girl, a very beautiful short-haired blonde who (after some persuasion) gave her nickname as Bender, also ended up with a bloody lip and an invitation before Icy left

The second was a tall girl with long, pink hair in ponytails wearing a tube top which barely held in her impressive chest and very short hot pants. However, this one was a fighter. "Let me go, you stupid cunt!" she yelled at Icy.

Icy decided to have some real fun with this one. "And why would I do that?" she asked.

"I'm Twister. You'll be sorry for this, bitch!"

Icy just crossed her arms. "My my. Such a foul mouth. And particularly from someone who's in no position to give orders," she said with a chuckle.

Twister struggled, ripping her clothes but not enough to get free.

Icy watched in amusement. She wouldn't mind too much if the pink-haired girl got free as she'd be naked by that point. On the other hand Icy didn't want her free too soon, she wanted to make an example of this one. She laughed again.

Twister spat at Icy. "Up yours, cunt!"

Icy almost lost it at that point. She glared at Twister, then got right up into her face. "Such a filthy mouth. Ladies shouldn't use such language." Icy moved in closer to Twister, then deeply kissed the pink-haired girl.

Twister struggled at first, but soon relaxed and let herself go. They held the kiss for a bit, then Icy stopped and pulled back, a thin trail of saliva still joining their mouths.

Twister said, "Release me. We'll go back to my room."

Icy looked at her watch. "Sorry, got orientation now. See you around!" She started walking away.

"Wait, let me go!" Twister begged.

"So sorry, no time don't you know. Don't worry, you'll thaw out in a few hours."

"Damn it, you can't leave me here like this! Let me go! I'll do anything!"

"I'll keep that in mind. I have to go. Sorry to leave you hanging around." With that Icy turned on her heels and left.

*=*=*

Cloud Tower was a fairly large castle and despite her best efforts Darcy found herself getting turned around more than once in her wanderings. After her experience with the door to her room she was inclined to suspect that the castle was still toying with her, but given her lack of familiarity she couldn't be certain. As she wandered through the castle, Darcy kept seeing signs of students either frozen in ice or just having been thawed out by the teachers. The rising number of freezing incidents she kept running across was beginning to put her increasingly on edge. At first she had marked it down to some kind of hazing ritual, but as she stumbled across or heard about more and more new incidents it began to become apparent that somebody was making their mark on this school.

Eventually she noticed that all the students were starting to head in a single direction. Realizing the time of the orientaion assembly was at hand, Darcy followed the crowd to the Main Assembly Hall. She wound up sitting on the left side of the hall, about halfway up. From there she had a pretty good view of the procedings. As she took a seat she couldn't help noticing the short-haired blond seated beside her. What really drew her attention was the pair of red stripes in the girls hair, running from her bangs straight up over the top of her head and down the back. It made her look almost like a technicolor skunk. She smirked at the girl as she sat down.

"Hey Stripey. Nice dye job."

The girl looked at her and grinned back.

"Hey Bangs. Nice bleach job."

Darcy grinned. She was already starting to like this girl. She could take a left-handed compliment without getting offended and give as good as she got. Darcy offered her hand.

"I'm Darcy. Nice to meet you."

The girl accepted her handshake gladly.

"Blazer. Same here."

Darcy looked her seatmate up and down, taking special note of the red blazer with the white piping the girl was wearing.

"They call you that because of your jacket?"

Blazer grinned and shook her head.

"Nope. I wear this jacket because of my name. They call me Blazer because of my powers. I'm a fire elementalist."

Darcy nodded. She knew that many witches, and fairies as well, tended to specialize in a specific element that best suited their unique personality and background. Such specialized fairies and witches were known as elementalists.

"That makes sense. I'm an enchantress."

Blazer smirked as she looked Darcy up and down.

"You know, I never would have guessed that. The drop-dead gorgeous looks, the way you walk, the sultry voice... Nope. Never had a clue."

Darcy's face screwed up in an amused smirk. This girl had a smart mouth that Darcy found delightful.

"Am I that obvious or are you just that good at guessing?"

Blazer looked thoughtful.

"Oh, you're pretty obvious alright, but I'm pretty good at guessing too. Point out any girl in the room and I'll bet I can guess her power."

Darcy turned around and picked out a girl three rows behind them.

"How about her?"

Blazer turned and waved at the girl in question.

"Hi Sabrina!"

The girl waved back. Blazer turned to look at Darcy.

"Junior. Name: Sabrina. Power: Transmutation."

Darcy scowled at her.

"That's no fair. You already know her. You didn't have to guess."

Blazer shrugged.

"Hey, I didn't pick her. If you want me to guess somebody I don't know try pointing out a freshman."

Darcy folded her arms and leaned back in her seat.

"I'm a freshman myself. I don't know anybody here yet. How am I supposed to know who the freshmen are?"

Blazer put her fingertip on her chin and looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh yeah. Good point. Okay then, I'll pick 'em."

She glanced around and pointed to a girl two rows down and four seats to the left.

"That one there. Bet you any money she's a psychic of some kind, probably a telekinetic."

Darcy stared at the girl Blazer was pointing to. From what she could see Darcy really couldn't tell if the girl was psychic or not, but a moment later the girl turned and stared directly at her. Darcy looked startled and averted her gaze.

"Okay, don't know about telekinetic, but I'd say that girl is definitely psychic."

Blazer shrugged.

"Subtle powers like that are a lot harder to pin down."

She pointed to another girl down front.

"Okay, see the girl front-row center? The white-haired one? To me, everything about her just seems to scream 'Ice Ice Baby!'"

Darcy stared at the indicated girl with great interest.

"Ice, huh? You know, there was a rash of students getting frozen all over the school this morning. Think it could be her?"

Blazer nodded.

"Sounds like a pretty good suspect to me. And I sure wouldn't wanna be her right about now. Whoever it was who went around freezing all those upperclassmen is numero uno on Miss Griffon's shit list right now. The teachers were scrambling all over the place this morning thawing kids out. They almost had to postpone orientation because of all the students recovering from hypothermia and frostbite."

Darcy gave a whistle.

"Sucks to be her then."

About that time Darcy noticed a mounting sensation like her hair was trying to stand on end. She glanced over at Blazer and noticed that the blond's much shorter hair was already sticking out in all directions.

"Whoa. Is it just me or is there a charge building up in this room?"

Several other students seemed to be noticing it too. Blazer nudged Darcy with her elbow and pointed across the room to the far end of the ranks of seating. There sat a lone girl whose closest neighbors seemed to be trying to move as far away from her as possible. It was difficult to see well at that distance but she appeared to be gritting her teeth and occassional electrical discharges could be seen jumping from one point on her body to another. Her red outfit and dark nimbus of hair made her resemble a storm cloud from hell. Blazer nodded in her direction.

"I wouldn't even take money on this one. She's definitely got electrical powers. I'd say storm elementalist."

Darcy just shook her head.

"Looks to me like she's got major anger management issues. I sure hope she doesn't go off in here. She could fry the whole student body in one go."

Blazer nodded in agreement.

"I hear that!"

*=*=*

Sitting in the center front of the hall waiting for Headmistress Griffin, Icy took a look at her classmates. Overall she wasn't too impressed, although many of them were very beautiful.

However, two seemed to stand out. One was an absolutely gorgeous brunette with long flowing hair about halfway up to her left. Icy couldn't help but stare at the vision of loveliness before her. The girl had golden eyes that seemed to reflect what little light was in the room. She was dressed in a purple pant-suit that form-fitted her and exposed her bare shoulders. Icy could imagine herself planting kisses all over those shoulders. *Has to be an enchantress,* she thought.

Enchantresses were among the most powerful of witches, but not for the reasons one would expect. Enchantresses' spells tended to concentrate on beauty enhancement, light/darkness and mind-control. They were all extremely beautiful and used their beauty and magic to extract money and information from their victims. The information would then either be sold to the highest bidder or, in the case of very powerful persons, used for blackmail. Icy found it ironic that men who had secrets in the hands of an enchantress were forced to defend her to the death in order to keep those secrets from becoming public. It was an open secret that almost every kingdom had at least one enchantress whom they paid as spies and to keep an eye on their more powerful citizens.

However, being an enchantress meant spending a lot of time with men, although most had no problem being with women as well. Icy thought men were an absolute waste of time and space. She had always preferred women, although up until now she had been too closely watched to have more than a few brief sexual flings. She planned on changing all that now that she was at Cloud Tower. Getting involved with an enchantress was a dangerous thing at best, but Icy promised herself she would have a taste of this one as soon as possible.

The other girl was sitting back in the upper right corner. She was tall and thin, with her blue hair arranged in a frizzy yet attractive pattern and two long, light blue curls framing her face. She wore a red mini-skirt which set off her expressive green eyes. And she crackled with nervous energy. Icy could easily feel it halfway across the room. Icy could also feel the girl's anger. *Power and anger, a dangerous combination,* she thought. *This one definitely needs to be closely watched.*

There was a motion at the side of the stage and a tall woman with her hair in a bun walked up to the podium. All voices stopped and all eyes turned towards the podium.

*=*=*

When Stormy finally reached the orientation hall, still in time, she had already blasted two juniors and a senior, lighting them up like a Christmas tree. She took a seat at the far end of the row and locked eyes with the girl sitting next to her.

Still fuming with anger, and giving off sparks, she gave her neighbour the death glare, which made the girl shuffle away from her in fear. She then looked around the hall to pass time and locked eyes with a beautiful, white haired witch. ‘What?’ she mouthed to the white head, ready to jump up and give her hell, but the witch turned her head when a woman walked up the stage in front of them.

*=*=*

TO BE CONTINUED
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Rise of the Witches