A/N: Hi everyone. I know it has been a realy, realy, realy long time since I updated this story, almost a year I think? I hope I am not exagerating, let's just say it was too long. I hope you enjoy the next chapter of sleeping with the enemy. Please review if you liked this chapter. Thanx again to my wonderful beta reader, Authores.

Sleeping with the enemy

Chapter 16

written by; waterbendergirl

edited by; authoress

Bloom groaned as she registered a faint buzzing noise, but didn't pay much attention to it. Between Baltor being detained and Sky refusing to let her see him, it had been an absolutely awful day; if the girls hadn't offered their help, she wouldn't have known what to do.

The buzzing turned louder, and some part of her brain vaguely recognized the sound of her cell phone. Bloom's hand shot out from under the blanket and landed on her nightstand, feeling around until she found her phone. Opening one eye, she flipped her phone open and pressed it to her ear, eyes briefly staring at the number on caller ID.

"Tecna?" she mumbled.

"Bloom, yeah it's me. Listen, I have got to tell you something."

Resignedly, Bloom opened both eyes, glancing at her alarm clock, which read three o'clock in the morning. The sleepy feeling was replaced by annoyance. "Well, it better be something important, Tec, because I don't like it when people wake me in the middle of the night."

"Trust me, you'll want to hear this. I have found a way to get Baltor out of prison." At that, Bloom shot up in her bed, instantly alert. "Just get the girls out of bed," Tecna continued excitedly. "I'll be there in five minutes tops." She opened her mouth to say something else, when the dial tone sounded in her ear.

For the remainder of their stay on Eraklyon, as Bloom had stubbornly refused to leave Baltor's side, the six girls had been assigned a suite similar to their dorms at Alfea, with two three-person bedrooms and a small common room. Of course she and Flora had immediately teamed up, and Stella had – after a lot of whining because she couldn't have a single room – agreed to bunk with them. Musa, Tecna, and Layla shared the other room.

Bloom decided she should probably wake Stella first, since it would likely take the blond some time to fully wake up. "Stella. Stella," Bloom whispered, shaking her shoulder. "Time to wake up sweetie." Stella grunted and buried her face deeper in her pillow. "Stella, Tecna just called and she found out something really important, she asked us to meet her in the common room.'"

"Okay," she finally yawned groggily, one arm flopping in the direction of Flora's bed. "Go wake up Flo."

"I'm already up," Flora answered. She had always been a light sleeper, and the minute she heard Bloom's phone ring she had been wide awake. She got out of bed and followed Bloom towards the door.

"Stella!"

"I'm up, I'm up," Stella sighed, dragging herself away from her comfy bed.

Bloom was pacing back and forth in frustration. Where in the realms was Tecna? She had said five minutes; well, those five minutes had turned into an hour.

Glancing at her friends, she saw that she was the only one fully awake, most likely because of her anxiety. Flora was fast asleep with her head on Musa's shoulder, while Musa's head lay on the top of Flora's head. Stella, who had fallen asleep immediately after being called out of her room, was lying on the other sofa, her head lolling to the side and her legs spread in a very unladylike manor. If the situation hadn't been so serious Bloom would have gone to her room and gotten a camera to take a picture. Upon closer inspection, she swore she could hear a soft snoring – definitely a picture moment. The only one who was still slightly lucid was Layla; the fairy of morphix sat at the table, her head resting in her left hand, staring at nothing.

Bloom glanced again at her clock, noting that another fifteen minutes had passed since the phone call. Deciding that it wasn't like Tecna to be so late, she spoke up. "Girls, I think we need to inform the guards."

"What will they do?" Layla asked, getting to her feet, sleep clearly forgotten as an unpleasant feeling settled into her stomach. "I mean, don't forget that the imperial guard is under Sky's control."

"Layla!" Stella exclaimed, any trace of sleep vanished from her face.

"Oh come on Stel, if Tecna found a solution for them to be together, that would mean bye-bye to Sky."

"You have to admit that that theory makes sense," Musa said, standing up as well, much to Flora's discomfort. Deciding that her pillow wouldn't be coming back anytime soon, Flora also stood up with a sigh.

"Yeah, but could you really picture Sky kidnapping someone? That goes against everything they teach at Red Fountain."

"Are you forgetting how a certain someone drugged Bloom so she wouldn't resist him?" Stella chimed in.

"Guys, guys," Bloom tried, "we are making accusations against a crime that possibly doesn't exist. Although I find it very strange that Tecna hasn't shown up yet, I think we should wait till morning before jumping to conclusions." Though she was keeping up a brave face for the girls, in truth she also doubted Sky. She had seen what he was capable of doing to her, someone he loved. What would he do to someone he only considered a friend?

No, no, Bloom told herself, Sky isn't a bad guy. Tecna will probably show up in an hour and clear up this whole misunderstanding. With those false thoughts in her head, she ushered the other girls into their bedrooms and went back to sleep.

"Did you get it?" Sky asked immediately as the door opened. The guard nodded slightly and handed him a book. Sky took it and turned it over to see the title: Keepers of the Planets.

"What did you do to Tecna?" he asked, coming around to sit at his desk, dropping the book on the tabletop.

"The fairy? We put her in the cellar, the same part of the castle where Baltor is being held."

"I thought you would use one of the potions I gave you, to make her lose her memories of the last few hours."

"We tried, but it didn't work. According to your friend the potion-maker, it has to do with her being taken in the middle of her transformation. The energy she used to transform must have been stuck inside, like a pause, and that magic still in her body protects her against any dark spells."

"Well, you handled it well, is all I can say. Of course this will raise questions from the other girls. I will have to find a way to deal with them." Sky turned around in his seat, watching the sunrise through his window. "You may go.

It was only when he heard the door close, he turned around and opened the book. After reading the parts of the book concerning Sparx and the Sparxian dragon, he closed the book and stood up, thanking the heavens he had had cameras installed in the library. He knew they would be of use someday and today they had served their purpose. If Bloom had gotten her hands on this information his whole plan would be ruined.

Sky walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a glass bottle of something gold-colored. Only one thing was standing in his way before he could completely own Bloom; Baltor. But after tonight, Bloom would be his and only his.

He would make sure of that.

Bloom woke to a loud screaming.

"Stella, quiet. You'll wake up the whole castle," she heard Layla say irritably.

Sighing, Bloom threw off the covers and got of bed, grabbing her bathrobe to join her friends in the common room. "Any news?" she asked, joining Musa on the couch.

"Nothing," Musa said next to her.

"I phoned Timmy earlier this morning," Flora began. "He said he hadn't seen her since she left with us to go through the books in the library."

"I say we get dressed and search the palace and the gardens. If we haven't found her, then we can warn the guards," Layla proposed.

"That's not good enough." Stella shook her head furiously. "Tecna is one of our best friends. We can't just leave it in the hands of the guards."

"What do you propose we do? Call the national guard?" Layla snapped back, getting obviously agitated by Stella's behavior.

Bloom shot Stella a dangerous look. She loved Stel and would give her life for her, but even she had to admit that the princess of Solaria could be a typical blonde sometimes.

Looking behind her, she saw that Flora had come to stand before the window, glancing outside. Tears were running over her friend's cheeks, and Bloom felt her own heart break. The six of them had always been such a close group, ever since they started their first year at Alfea; if you hurt one of them, you hurt them all. Now that Tecna was gone, it felt like a piece of them had been ripped out, replace by a hollow feeling of despair.

Bloom was pulled away from her thoughts as she saw Layla throw a morphix ball at Stella. Deciding that it was enough already, she threw them apart, casting a protection shield on both of them so they couldn't harm each other anymore.

"I think the best thing for us to do right now is to search the grounds ourselves. In the meantime, I think I'll call Ms. Faragonda."

It wasn't until the sun started to set that Bloom finally got back to her room. After calling Faragonda, she'd decided to join her friends in their search. Unfortunately for her, they had been too far away for her to catch up so she decided to organize her own search party. She glanced down at her phone to see if she had any missed calls; Ms. F had promised her she would discuss with Griselda what to do, and that Bloom would be the first to know what they decided to do.

Tossing her phone on the bed, Bloom grabbed her towel and toiletries and headed for the bathroom. They had all left in such a rush that morning, leaving no time to shower. Her muscles were aching and her hair was full of leaves and smelled funky, likely from running around in the forest.

Bloom tipped her head back, letting the warm water cascade down her body, and washed her hair with her cinnamon-scented shampoo. It took a whole twenty minutes before she decided she was clean enough. Wrapping a fluffy towel around her body, she headed back to the bedroom to check her phone again.

There was something waiting for her on her bed: a lavender-colored box. Instinctively, Bloom swiveled her head to look for the messenger, tightening her towel around her body, but there was no one else there. Still on guard, she quickly pulled her clothes on before opening the box.

Carefully lifting up the top, she saw an absolutely gorgeous dress lying in a bed of tissue paper. As the lid fell casually to the floor, Bloom picked up the dress. Her lips formed an O shape as a note fell to the floor from from between the folds of the dress.

My dearest Bloom, please accept this dress as a token of my love. I would very much appreciate it if you were to wear this to a special dinner I have organized just for the two of us, tonight at eight o'clock. Love, Sky.

The note slipped from between her fingers as she stared dumbfounded into space. Only the sound of the door opening yanked her from her shock, as she could clearly distinguish the voices of her friends, temporarily forgetting the dress she rushed to meet them.

"Did you find her?" she asked expectantly.

"No, we didn't find anything."

"What could have happened to that girl?" Layla took a seat on the couch.

"Bloom, sweetie, is everything alright? You look kind of pale," Flora asked, while putting a comforting arm around Bloom's shoulders.

"I don't know. I got a message from Sky saying he wanted to meet with me tonight."

"Where is it?" Layla inquired.

"In my bedroom, with the dress."

"A dress?" Stella piped in, her love of fashion momentarily overpowering everything else.

"He wants me to wear it tonight."

"I don't think you should go Bloom," Musa said. "The last time you two saw each other he drugged you so you wouldn't go off searching for Baltor."

"I think you should go," Layla put in.

"No you shouldn't." Stella was twirling around in front of the mirror, holding the dress against her body to see how it would look on her. "That sleazebag knows you are in love with Baltor, and now he goes and invites you to dinner? That's so against the boy code. I would keep the dress though," the blond added as an afterthought. "After all, a gift is still a gift."

"I hardly think the boy code applies here, Stel," Musa sighed, patting Stella on the head.

"Why do you think I should go, Layla?"

"I think Sky just gave us the perfect opportunity."

"The perfect opportunity for what?"

"To look for Tecna. I'll bet you anything Sky's keeping her hidden somewhere in this castle, somewhere we just can't get to."

"Ooh, I'm liking this idea," Musa said. "You keep the little prince busy, while we snoop around. Brilliant!"

"It actually sounds really good Layla," Bloom reasoned.

"When does he want you to meet him?" Stella asked, finally tearing her eyes away from the mirror and her own reflection.

"At eight…" Bloom started, only to be interrupted by a screeching Stella.

"That means I have only two hours to make you look presentable! Hurry up, get that butt into the shower," she yelled, while pushing Bloom towards the bathroom.

"But… I just had a shower." The redhead sighed.

At 7:55, Bloom was standing outside the doors that led to the grand dining room, checking her reflection in the window glass again. Stella had done an exceptional job, as always – her hair was done in soft curls with the top section pulled up and the rest left down, and her makeup was impeccable, understated and tasteful. The only thing she had her doubts about was the dress. From the front it was lovely, showing just enough cleavage, but the back was much too low, barely ending a few inches above her butt.

Immediately after she opened the door, she was welcomed by a smiling Sky. "I'm so glad you could make it," he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Thank you for inviting me," she answered, putting on a fake smile. Let the show begin she thought to herself.