Alix Slade was a force to be reckon with. She stood in front of the trio with her hand on her rounded hip, her scarlet painted nails, biting into her skinny jeans. Luna vaguely remembered her mother mentioning that she was the most talented psychic of their generation and she was only fifteen! But, standing in front of her, Luna did not see a teenager. Teenagers were supposed to be awkward and insecure, they were supposed to have zits and gangly bodies. They were not supposed to have the body of Kate Moss and the black rimmed eyes of a succubus.

"I have missed you so much," The gorgeous redhead nearly gave Luna a heart attack as she pulled Twyla into a hug. It looked so unnatural to see Twyla giving a human being a sign of affection. She had only seen her act that tenderly to her bike.

They pulled apart, sharing a small but sat smile. "If only we could meeting up again on better terms," said Alix.

Luna managed to catch a wisp of sadness in her aura before she suppressed it deeply within her. The small smile, grew into a large, nearly predatory grin as her eyes jumped over Will's figure, landing on Luna. Heat rushed to Luna's cheeks as the younger girl unabashedly stared at her figure before raising her emerald stare to meet Luna's.

"Visions don't do you justice, Luna Goodwin." If possible, Luna's face became even hotter as Alix encased her hands with hers, and pressed a chaste kiss on her knuckles. Just as Alix's lips brushed against her hand, she felt her body stiffen and the world spin out of focus.

Lying on her bed, clutching her pillow tightly to her chest, Luna Goodwin stared dully out her window as tears slipped from her eyes. She had withdrawn so far into the caverns of her mind, she didn't even notice when her bedroom door opened, nor did she notice the soft, pleading voice. Vaguely, she registered that someone was sitting on her bed and holding her hands, but she didn't care enough to see who. She didn't care about anything.

"Luna, baby," A kiss was planted on her forehead, and then on both her cheeks.

"I-It hurts," A sob erupted from her lips. "Make it stop, Alix."

She whimpered once more as Alix stood up and released her hand. Luna's heart ached, she felt so alone, and so absolutely devastated. She needed Alix more than anything in the world and the loss of contact was like a fresh wound on her tattered heart.

"Shh," Alix pulled the blanket back, and slipped into Luna's bed, holding their bodies close. "I'm here. I will never leave you."

The warmth of the younger girl's arms seeped into Luna's skin, bringing an ounce of comfort to her. Minutes passed by and neither one moved, they were simply content in basking in one another's presence. Once Luna felt a piece of strength return, she shifted and turned around to face Alix. Their eyes locked, and Luna allowed herself to be lost in the emerald forest of Alix's eyes. Her eyes fluttered close, in a drowsy state of mind, and the last thing Luna remembered was the feeling of an angel's lips against hers. She fell into a deep slumber for the first time in a week.

"Wha-" Luna jumped back and cradled her hands close to her chest.

A smirk crawled onto Alix's lips. She didn't seem to have a clue about the vision Luna had just seen, or at least she hoped she hadn't- it was nothing to smirk about. "It's nice to finally meet you," Alix's voice softened upon seeing the frightened look in Luna's doe-like eyes.

"And you," her tone was flat as she glanced at Will.

Will didn't even spare her a glance, he was too busy gaping at his girlfriend. "What is going on?" He asked.

"I don't care," Twyla grabbed Alix by the arm and pulled her away from Luna. "Is there somewhere-" She gestured to the bustling city, "less crowded we can go to talk?"

"I'm insulted that you think I don't have this whole thing planned out already," Alix raised her nose to the sky, like a seal balancing a ball on it's snout. "Follow me."

It did not go unnoticed by Twyla or Will, how she only seemed to be talking to Luna.

----

Alix spoke about trivial things along the way to her very secret destination, she spoke about her classes at Nox Haven, the confusing love-life of her roommate Caddie, and even attempted to talk about the weather- but she refused to divulge where she was taking them. Any time Will tried to ask, she brushed him off like an annoying fly and dove into another strange topic. When they stopped in a dingy alley, in front of rusted steel door, Alix had just finished talking about something called the Elemental Games. It was Nox Haven Academy's version of football apparently except with witches and warlocks who wielded the power of the four elements. Despite her earlier reservations Luna found herself asking questions throughout Alix's story, the girl spoke with a sort of fantastical wonder, it made her impossible not to be intrigued. From what she had learned Nox Haven Academy was a boarding school for magical beings- a sort of sanctuary during their teenage years.

She wouldn't admit it out loud but Luna silently wished she could have gotten the chance to go, and learn more about magic, instead of having it all dumped on her.

"Remind me to introduce you to my friend, Caddie," Alix bounded up the concrete stairs, carefully avoiding the grime covered railing. "She went through something very similar to you, she came to Nox Haven, thinking she was human and now- well- now she's a very respected figure."

There was a way Alix referred to her friend Caddie that made Luna assume that she thought of the girl as more of just a friend. There was a hint of longing in her tone, which she tried to hide under a phony smile. Luna couldn't help but feel for the girl, as intimidating as she was, she seemed to have a good heart. And Twyla adored her. She was perhaps the little sister that Luna never was.

"Now where is this damn thing," Alix splayed her hands against the metal, and began to feel around.

"There!" Luna watched in wonder as the metal began to glow and morph into a glass door. FLUTTERBEE's: FLAKES AND SHAKES, read the pink lettering on the glass pane. Alix pushed opened the door revealing a 1950's pop styled diner, with a pink and white checkerboard floor, a soda bar with neon lights illuminating the space, and three jukeboxes lining the back wall with records hanging above.

"Where did this come from?" Alix wiggled her sparkling fingers in front of Will's gobsmacked face.

"Magic. Now, you," she gestured to Will, "Keep your head down. I'm sure Twyla's already explained this to you, but Luna is breaking a lot of rules by stringing you- I mean, bringing you along."

Will made an unintelligible noise under his breath but dropped his head nontheless. Luna gave his hand a quick squeeze before following Alix and Twyla into the diner, her eyes rounded as a quick flash of pink sparkles stopped in front of them. Rubbing her eyes, Luna looked again and saw the the flash of sparkles belonged to a petite blond with violet eyes- the sparkles were a pair of fluttering wings. She wore a white apron cinched around her waist and bellow the collar of her polo there was plastic name-tag that read- Doreen.

"Welcome to FlutterBee's," She gave them a smile that oozed false sweetness, like a lipgloss from Claire's. "My name is Doreen and if you follow me, I'll get you all settled."

"We'll takes four FlutterBee signature shakes, put it under Jaxon Slade's tab," Alix didn't even offer the girl a glance as they slid into the booth.

Despite the callousness in Alix's tone, the girl refused to be deterred. "And would you like anything else?"

A look of annoyance was shared between Alix and Twyla and Luna thought she had heard Twyla mutter- I would like some privacy- but she couldn't hear much over the girls wings. Doreen scribbled their order down on a pad of paper and then, her legs lifted off of the ground, as she flew to the kitchen. Luna didn't realize both she and Will were staring after the girl with their mouthes wide open until Alix and Twyla began to snicker.

"Faeries," Will said, utterly dumbstruck.

"They're not as cool as you might think," Alix waved him off. "The fae are known for being deadly as they are beautiful, like vampires except unlike vampires they have no true telling sign of their sinister nature. That is, until you find yourself naked and being ripped to pieces."

At that admittance, Luna found herself sinking further into the cushion, barely letting her eyes linger on any of the servers. She wondered why it was that everyone and everything that seemed so beautiful in the magical world also had an ugly side. She supposed that if she were to walk through an enchanted forest, and try to sniff the flowers, they  would be poisonous and kill her. Why anyone would want to live with such horrors was beyond her. Sure, there were plenty of ugly things in the human world but most of the time, things were as they appeared to be.

"It's not as bad as you may think," Alix said, her eyes on Luna. "Magic and everything that comes with, might seem a little daunting at first. But you'll get the hang of it."

"Easy for you to say, you were raised around this stuff."

"Touchè." Alix shrugged, "But I could help you with her visions, if you'd like. I'm not bragging when I say I'm the best psychic in the world ."

"Why would you want to help me? We're not friends," Luna couldn't fathom why any friend of Twyla's would be a friend of hers. The vision of the two of them lying in bed together, as Luna cried resurfaced and Luna couldn't help but feel curious as to how that would ever happen. She was straight. She didn't like girls and Alix was no exception. And yet- there was something about the witch that called to her.

"Yet. We're not friends yet. But eventually..." Alix twirled a strand of her auburn hair.

"I hate to break this up," The crooked smile hung from Twyla's lips, "But this wasn't really a social call, Alix, we need your help."

Alix nodded. "Right. You're trying to break into the Delphi."

"We're not trying to break into the Delphi, at the moment," Will interjected, "We have to get the Book of Moons first."

"Well- that's ironic since the Delphi already has the Book of Moons." The trio balked at her response. "Yeah they're quite proud of it- the crazy cooks. They tell everyone how they were able to steal it from the Moon Goddesses nearly a hundred years ago but of course no one believes them. We all thought the legend about the Moon Goddesses was just a legend- I guess being mythical creatures ourselves, we should have known better."

A silence fell upon the table. No one, especially Twyla and Luna knew what to do now.

"If the Delphi," Twyla began, "already have the book- then they couldn't possibly want it. That means there's someone else, another dark force that wants it. First, we need to get the book, we can worry about who the hell these psychos are later."

"Unfortunately, I don't know who else could want the book but I can get you into the next Delphi meeting." There was a mischievous glint in Alix's eyes as Doreen flew over with their drinks. "I hope you guys are in the mood to party..."

**I am on vacation, again. I don't know if any of you have been to the 1000 islands but it is like my home away from home. Anyway, this chapter is really just our introduction into Alix who will be a very important character from now on. For those of you who don't know Alix I promise there will be more explaining of her backstory later, along with Xavier but for those who have read The Dark Witch know all about her. And now that we've learned that the Delphi have the book, I wonder who could be them. Thank you for reading I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!

XOXO,
Ro.**