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The Hungry Little Caterpillar

Rose tumbled out of bed to begin the routine he was beginning with the plants. Eat breakfast then water and talk with the vegetables. Eat lunch then water and talk with the flowers. It was simple and Rose enjoyed it greatly.

A couple of days passed with this routine. The plants loved Rose and Rose loved the plants. He was beginning to think he could live here forever with them.

But upon this day, a dove swooped low and as Rose ducked from the bird flew in through the door Rose had left open. Rose hurried into the cottage and apologized to the plants and promised he would be back soon.

Rose hurried into the cottage where the bird was perched on the table. She dropped two envelopes and then took flight again.

Mail? How had the bird even found him? Rose looked at the two envelopes and guessed who they were from. The night before the Snow Ball Rose had finally sent a letter to his parents explaining about the school. How he had to be enrolled in the princess classes. How Raven had asked him out to the Snow Ball. How Rose didn't know how to feel about Raven.

Rose slowly opened the first envelope and as he read through a letter his parents had sent he started to cry. They totally disowned him. He was no longer welcome back at their castle. Rose tossed the letter filled with other tremendous insults onto the table and dared not read the other one. He went back outside to the plants who sullenly went quiet and Rose went back to watering them. Occasionally the more impertinent plant would strike up a conversation with Rose as he watered it and Rose obliged and spoke with it as the other plants tried to hush the rogue.

Rose skipped lunch, to the vegetables' dismay, and went directly to watering the flowers. Most of the flowers were too self-absorbed to notice or care about Rose's mood. They complained about the heat of the sun and requested to be moved closer to the trees as they do every day.

Rose still would not comply.

After watering the flowers Rose headed back to the vegetables for some quiet. The sun was setting and he laid down beside the pumpkin plants and stared up at the sky. As the sky darkened and the stars came out Rose began thinking of the night He and Raven had stayed out late one night and stargazed. An emptiness filled his heart. He missed him.

Rose's stomach rumbled. An apple tree shook itself and an apple dropped from its branches. One of its roots bumped it and urged it towards the vegetables. Aiding the tree, the vegetables passed the apple from one to another until it reached Rose. Rose felt the nudge of the apple and looked over at it and smiled at the plants. The pumpkins urged him to eat it.

Rose took a bit out of it, despite his lack of appetite. He looked back at the bitten apple and frowned. It reminded him of Raven. After all, his ancestor was the famous Snow White. He took the apple inside with him. He sat down and put the apple down on the table and stared at it. Where was Raven?

A small movement snagged his attention. He glanced over at where he had left the envelopes and upon the one he had opened was a little caterpillar. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the caterpillar had been eating at the letter.

"That can't be good for you." Rose broke off a piece of apple and put it beside the note. The caterpillar glanced at the bit of apple and went back to eating bits of the letter.

Rose looked over the letter and frowned. The caterpillar had eaten away at words that Rose could no longer see, but those words were scarred into his mind. The caterpillar had eaten away at words such as disappointment, abomination, and evil.

He squinted at the caterpillar, "Who are you?"

It looked up from the word it was eating at (disgrace) and started making small squeaking noises that wounded like reeeeewreew. Frustrated it stopped. It thought for a moment before crawling over the paper and putting its mouth to it. After a moment I crawled to the edge of the parchment and spit out the letter I. It crawled back over the letters and picked up the letter A pasting a bit off from the I. Then the letter M. Rose stared as the letters formed: I A-M B-E-A-T-R-I-C-E.

Rose fell back into his chair stunned, "Bea-Beatrice? Wha-what happened? You're . . . a bug."

Beatrice's shoulders sighed . . . as best a caterpillar's shoulders could. Rose would have given her a hug but he was afraid he would squish her.

So, Beatrice was here. Raven was somewhere in the Woods. Who else was in here? Rose noticed Beatrice inching towards the other letter. She gnawed at the paper around the wax seal and the lip lifted up just a little.

Rose bit his bottom lip, "You want me to read the other one?" Beatrice looked up at him and nodded. Hesitantly, Rose reached out and gingerly took the letter out.

Rose held his breath as he read through it. But when he finished he let out a sigh of relief. It had been a letter from his great grandmother and Jack:

I am so glad you finally wrote home! We were wondering when it would happen! And goodness, what a mix up. I imagine you're managing in those classes, though. After all, you are a Beauty!

Your friends sound like wonderful people! Be sure to keep them close. Good friends can be hard to come by.

Concerning Raven, I say do whatever your heart tells you too. I would think with you taking princess classes you would have learned that but I suppose you are still a boy and may think muscles and mind is the answer. But I say follow your heart (after all it is a muscle! Ahahahaha). I think he clearly loves you. You need to ask yourself how you feel about him. This is a crucial moment in your life. You will forever cherish or regret this decision.

Now, I am not trying to scare you, but this is incredibly serious. Though I would never say this aloud, I was mildly unhappy with your great-grandfather. And I hardly chose him. I choose Jack now and I am incredibly happy! You need to choose if Raven is who you want your Happily Ever After to be with. My book ended with "Happily Ever After," but it didn't stay that way. I had to find it again. I hope you find yours.

Love, G-mama Beauty

P.S. From Jack: I've put a bean from my story in this envelope and sealed it before your grandma finds out. I hope it serves you well!

Rose looked in the envelope and dumped the bean into the palm of his hand. He would have to be careful with this. He ripped off the hem of his tunic and wrapped the bean up gently. He then placed the bean on the highest shelf in the cupboard. Hopefully events would never drive him to plant the bean and have another gateway into the legendary giant's kingdom.

Rose returned to the table where Beatrice had finally started eating at the apple Rose had left for her. He smiled at her, "Goodnight, Beatrice. It's nice having a friend around." He then blew out the candle and went to bed.


Raven huddled into himself in the dark castle. He had tried to leave, but the doors had locked and the windows were barred. Raven kept near the door afraid of what could be inside of this wretched place, but hunger had gotten the best of him and he quickly found the kitchen. Surprisingly, there was plenty of bread.

The castle creeped Raven out. It was too empty. There were no rats or spiders, let alone another human. The past two weeks his only company had been his nightmares of his Grandmother and her evil step-mother. The nightmares haunted him constantly. They were relentless.

Raven tried so hard to think of Rose, but the nightmares always came back. The shadows on the walls would morph into sickly old women or he would hear an apple drop from the only living tree outside. Always reminding him. Always there.

This night Raven saw a sickly green glow coming from upstairs. He tensed as it seemed to get closer and closer. He watched as a floating mirror came towards him.

It stopped and the green glow within started to swirl until a gaunt face appeared in it, "Hello, Master White."

A scream got caught in Raven's throat.

"A new mistress has finally arrived and Snow's house shall fall."

The mirror laughed and Raven stood up and punched the mirror, his screams finally escaping him.

The mirror cracked and he said, "Seven years bad luck, you know. Though, I doubt the new mistress will let you live that long." The mirror's glass glossed over and the cracks disappeared. The mirror gave Raven a toothless grin as he started chanting, "She is coming. She is coming. She is coming to get you!"