Fire and Ice - Riven | Fate: The Winx Saga

Chapter Seventeen: The Office

A FEW DAYS LATER

"You haven't found anything?" Bloom asked Aisha.
"I've only been at Callum's desk for two days." The girl replied as I leaned back in my chair.
"She is kind of doing you a favour, Bloom, so maybe be grateful?" I asked.
"Oh, come on. She didn't take Callum's job for my sake." Bloom told me.
"Weird. Because I remember you-" Aisha began.
"Making a helpful suggestion?"
"Begging me to volunteer so I could snoop for info on your past."
"Yeah, that does sound like something I would do." Bloom grinned. "But you also might jump at the chance to get brownie points with Miss Dowling."
"That's true." I smiled. "Dowling does love volunteers."
"Suck up." Bloom coughed.
"Suck up? Really? Suddenly, I've lost the ability to read the files." Aisha said.
"Suck up? Did I say suck up? I actually meant such a..."
"Such a good friend." I finished, smiling.
"Yeah, who's very smart and beautiful and-"
"Isn't sure she can help?" Aisha asked before sighing and pointing to a pile of files on the desk. "These files seem to go back to Miss Dowling's start as headmistress. Everything else must be archived somewhere."
"Or shredded because Miss Dowling loves withholding information." I sighed.
"We're still on about that?" Aisha asked me.
"Yes. She lied to me, okay?" I told them. "Ive known the woman my whole life. I know she was lying. Besides... we know she likes withholding information because she didn't exactly tell Bloom the truth either."

The three of us then started to look through the files in the pile Aisha had made. "Let me see the photo again?" I asked Bloom who nodded and pulled her phone out. She showed me a photo of a woman she had took from a photograph hidden in the east wing. It was the woman from her memory. "It's weird. I feel like I've seen her before but I can't quite put my finger on it." I frowned.
"Even if I can find a little bit of information about Alfea back then, I can maybe piece together why Rosalind left me in the first world in the first place." Bloom said.
"I'll keep looking." Aisha told her. "I promise."
"I'll help too." I added.
"I have to read all the files in this place anyway. Thanks for this by the way." Aisha then smiled as she ate some of the lunch sitting in front of her. "I mean, even though you're both using this as an excuse not to eat in the canteen, it's the least you could do."
"So people are talking about me being a changeling. So what?" Bloom asked. "It's not the weirdest thing about me."
"True." Me and Aisha laughed.
"They don't know how bad you snore." Aisha told her.

Bloom threw a grape at Aisha and then turned to me. "Why are you avoiding the canteen?" She questioned.
"Because she's still avoiding Riven." Aisha smiled.
"That's not... it's not completely true." I claimed.
"Has he still not apologised for the other night?" Bloom asked me. I shook my head.
"Why's it matter anyway? Either he apologises or he doesn't. I get to move on with my life either way. He's probably with Beatrix anyway."
"Wow. You've got it bad." Musa grinned as she entered the room.
"What?" I questioned.
"Your jealous."
"I am not." I claimed.
"You don't need to be a mind fairy to see that, Eira." Aisha told me.
"We has a fight. I'm angry." I said. "But I'm not jealous."
"Sure." Musa smiled.
"Anyway, can we talk about the fact that Bloom is pretending that she's not the school gossip?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Why don't we talk about the fact that Musa is pretending she's not dating her roommate's brother?" Bloom questioned as the door opened and Terra walked in.

"Who's pretending what?" She asked with a smile. "Apart from Stella still pretending that she's not dreading being outshined by her mum all day."
"You could enjoy that a little less." Musa grinned.
"Could I?" Terra laughed. "We'll have to see in the assembly."
"Right, I'm gonna go and finish my poison paper before the assembly so I'll see you later."
"Yeah, I'm gonna go too." I said before grabbing my things and walking out of the door behind Bloom.

"Are you okay?" I asked the girl as I caught up with her.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You don't have to lie to me, Bloom." I told her. "It's okay if you're not." Bloom stopped walking and looked at me.
"It's just... ever since I found out I was a changeling, it just makes me thinks about how my real parents didn't want me." She admitted.
"I'm sure there's a logical explanation for all of this." I told her.
"What about your parents? Any luck?"
"Not one thing." I frowned. "I don't get why Farah's lying to me. First she told me that she went to school with my mum and now their families were friends? It's all strange."
"What if it's all connected?" Bloom asked me.
"That'd be a pretty big coincidence." I told her.

My eyes then locked with Riven's. He was standing down the hall beside Beatrix and he dropped laughing when he saw me. "Fuck." I whispered before turning my head. "Is he still looking?"
"Uh... he's doing more than just looking." Bloom told me. "He's coming over here."
"Shit." I whispered.
"And he's here." Bloom smiled. "I'll leave you two to talk."

I watched as Bloom left us before turning to Riven. Beatrix was waiting a few metres away with a huge mischievous grin on her face. "If you've come to apologise it better be a good one." I told him.
"You do know that she's a changeling, right?" Riven asked me.
"Of course I do." I said.
"Well, then you know she's bad news."
"Bloom's harmless, Riv."
"For fuck sake, Eira. Why won't you ever listen to me?" The boy questioned. "I'm trying to look out for you."
"Oh, is that what you're doing?" I asked him. "Now it makes complete sense. Now I know exactly why you're being a dick."
"If you're angry about what I said the other night, I'm sorry, but it was true. What more do-"
"And there it is." I said, gritting my teeth. "There's your shit apology."
"If you're gonna be like that then just... fuck off."
"My pleasure." I smiled, sarcastically, before turning around and frowning immediately.

***

"Eira! There you are!" Bloom exclaimed as she and Aisha ran up to me. "How's it go with Riv?" She then asked.
"How do you think?"
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"I'll get over it." I said. "What did you want?"
"You'll never guess what I found in Callum's things." Aisha told me.
"What?"
"I'm not exactly sure what it was but it's like an earpiece and it's connected to a bug in Miss Dowling's office." Aisha explained. "I heard Dowling, Silva, Mr Harvey and Queen Luna talking. They said that Callum's dead."
"What? No." I frowned. "Callum used to play draughts with me whenever Farah was working late. He can't be dead."
"He is." Aisha said. "And Dowling said he left for a family emergency, so they're-"
"Lying." Bloom finished.
"Again." I whispered.
"Aisha, are you sure she didn't shred those old records? The Alfea records that predate her. Are you sure she didn't destroy them?"
"Are you kidding? That woman loves paper. I offered to start scanning the files into the computer system, and she looked at me like I had two heads. The records are somewhere."
"Maybe they're in the east wing." Bloom suggested.
"The assembly's mandatory." Aisha told her.
"Which means everyone's distracted." I smiled before looking at Bloom. "I'm coming with you. If Miss Dowling is hiding things in the east wing then maybe I can something about my parents in there."
"Great." Bloom grinned.
"Guys." Aisha warned.
"We're not asking you to come." I told her.
"It's a bad idea."
"A bad idea is going to that assembly where I'll be stared at like I'm a freak. I can't just sit and listen to people make up stuff about me, especially when I don't know the truth myself." Bloom frowned. "I need to find answers."
"Fine." Aisha sighed. "You had a terrible migraine and could barely stand up. Eira, went to check on you. Is that good?"
"Perfect." Bloom grinned. "Come on."