Bloom had always thought of Gardenia as the kind of place where nothing extraordinary ever happened. A sleepy suburb with neatly trimmed hedges and tree-lined sidewalks, it was the sort of town where summers melted by like scoops of ice cream, and the most exciting event was the occasional garage sale. But that was before the fire, before the girl with wings, and before the spark awakened—not in just her, but in her sister as well.
Bloom and Iris had grown up side by side, twin sisters born on a quiet October evening. They had matching freckles and mirrored smiles, though their colors clashed beautifully: Bloom with her fiery red hair and amber eyes, Iris with her midnight-blue hair and eyes the color of deep water. They shared everything—bedroom walls lined with fantasy posters, a tangle of half-finished sketchbooks, late-night whispers of dreams far too big for Gardenia. Their bond ran deeper than words, like the still current beneath a placid lake. And until the day everything changed, neither of them had ever imagined that magic could be more than make-believe.
That morning had started like any other.
The sun hung low in the sky as Bloom pedaled her brand-new bike through the winding streets of Gardenia, the morning breeze catching the ends of her hair and tugging them into the wind. Kiko, their excitable white bunny with one flopped ear, was perched in the basket, ears twitching with each bump in the road. Behind her, Iris jogged to keep up, earbuds nestled in her ears, her pace light and practiced from years of track meets and spontaneous races.
"Slow down!" Iris called, pulling out one earbud. "You're not racing to Narnia."
"Just want to get the good spot by the pond!" Bloom shouted back with a grin.
They veered off the paved path and onto the dirt trail that cut through the trees. The woods near the park were a patch of forgotten wilderness, dense with wildflowers and buzzing with cicadas. They'd been coming here since they were kids, using the clearing by the water as their creative retreat.
But just as Bloom turned the final bend, Kiko stiffened in the basket. His nose twitched violently, and with a sudden squeak, he leapt out and darted into the trees.
"Kiko!" Bloom shouted, dropping her bike and giving chase.
Iris arrived seconds later, panting. "What the heck?"
"He ran that way! Something's wrong."
The sisters followed the sound of rustling bushes and thumping paws until they broke into a clearing—and stopped dead.
A monstrous roar shook the air. The ground trembled. There, towering above the trees, was an ogre.
Not just any ogre. This one was straight out of their darkest imaginings: gnarled skin like tree bark, tusks the size of baseball bats, and eyes that gleamed with malevolent hunger. And facing off against it, radiant and fierce, was a girl who looked like she had fallen out of a star.
She was stunning—golden hair flowing like liquid light, her outfit shimmering like it had been stitched from sunlight. Wings fluttered weakly behind her as she hurled blasts of magic from her hands. Light crackled in the air. She was holding her own, barely.
Until the ogre struck her full force.
She flew backward, skidding through the dirt, groaning as she tried to rise again.
"We have to do something," Bloom said, heart racing. She stepped forward.
Iris grabbed her arm. "Are you insane? That thing will eat us!"
But then Bloom raised her hand—and fire erupted from her palm.
Not just fire. It was brilliant, pulsing, alive. It surged outward in a protective arc, licking across the ground toward the ogre like a living creature. The beast recoiled, howling in pain.
"Bloom... your hand," Iris whispered.
But then something ignited within her too—a cooler burn, deep and electric. Iris's hands flared with blue fire, as cold and sharp as winter lightning. It wasn't hot, but it seared the earth beneath her feet, balancing Bloom's inferno with a mirrored strength.
The twin flames swirled together—red and blue, a perfect dance of heat and ice, of fury and focus. The ogre, confused and wounded, stumbled backward into the trees and vanished in a crack of fleeing footsteps.
The clearing fell silent.
The golden-haired girl slowly stood, clutching her ribs, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You... both of you... you're fairies."
Bloom blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"
The girl managed a shaky smile. "I'm Stella. I go to Alfea—it's a school for fairies, in the realm of Magix. And you two just lit up like magic fireworks. I think we need to talk."
Stella explained everything in breathless, half-panicked bursts. About magic. About other realms. About Alfea and dark creatures like the ogre that had followed her to Earth.
Bloom and Iris listened, trying not to stare too hard at the glowing ring she conjured from thin air or the way her broken bracelet reassembled itself with a wave of her hand.
When she was done, the twins sat in stunned silence.
"You're serious?" Iris finally asked. "We're magic? Like, born with it?"
"Very serious. And I think you're both more powerful than you realize. Twins awakening magic at the same time? That's... incredibly rare."
"Rare? Like how rare?" Bloom asked, her heart thudding.
Stella grinned. "Come with me. To Alfea. You'll find answers there. And training. And people who understand what you're going through. Believe me, the questions only multiply from here."
That night, Bloom and Iris sat on their bedroom floor in the soft glow of fairy lights, their bags half-packed beside them. Kiko nibbled at a corner of Bloom's notebook, utterly unfazed by the day's events.
"Are we really doing this?" Iris asked, hugging a sweater to her chest.
"We kinda have to, don't we?" Bloom said. "I mean... what are we going to do, just ignore this? Go back to algebra homework and pretending we don't burst into flames?"
Iris smiled faintly. "You burst into flames. I burst into... frozen flames?"
"You're like a magical snowstorm. It's cool."
They fell into silence. Outside the window, the stars shimmered brighter than usual.
Finally, Bloom reached out and took her sister's hand. "Whatever's out there, we face it together. Deal?"
Iris squeezed her hand. "Deal."
The portal shimmered in the backyard like a pool of liquid glass, casting strange shadows across the lawn. Stella stood beside it, now fully recovered, her wings gently fluttering as she nodded.
"Ready?"
Bloom nodded. Kiko hopped into her backpack, ears twitching.
Iris took a deep breath. "As we'll ever be."
And with one last glance back at the house they'd always known, the sisters stepped through the veil of light, into the unknown.
The world of Magix swallowed them in color and sensation. The sky was painted in hues they'd never seen before, a swirling tapestry of lavender clouds and glowing constellations. Floating islands drifted lazily through the air, and in the distance, a palace rose like a dream made solid.
Alfea.
It was massive, beautiful, and utterly surreal.
Magic hummed in the air like music, and Bloom and Iris stood at the edge of everything they had ever hoped was real.
They didn't know what lay ahead. But they knew this:
Nothing would ever be ordinary again.