Chapter 2: Going Undercover

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"So, you're saying you have a spell on you. But you don't know what kind?" Jane, Lonnie and Audrey all lounged in the living room area, drinking large mugs of tea and coco. Jane had begun taking notes, while Lonnie just held Audrey's hand, listening as she told them what had gone on earlier that day.

"That's what the potion said. At first I thought maybe Mal had done it, and even if she's a villain kid, it makes literally no sense."

"That's true. She would have cursed you right out of the gate," Lonnie said bluntly, realizing what she had said and patting Audrey on the shoulder, "no offense, Auds."

"Well you're not wrong," Audrey admitted, "I can be a real bitch sometimes. Anyway, not the point. Jane, is there anyway you can identify the spell?"

"I'm not sure, I'm only just learning about my own magic, and I'd need the specific spell from my mothers spell book to do it,"

"I might know a way to get the spell from FG," Lonnie spoke up, her dark irises alight with mirth and mischief, "if you all are up for a bit of undercover work."

"Anything to get this straightened out," Audrey insisted, "I'd like everything to go back to the way it was before school starts tomorrow."

"Cool. Jane, you stay here and see if you can find anything online. Audrey, come with me."

Nodding, the girls separated. Jane, as agreed, immediately took Audrey's computer and began to research as Lonnie dragged the Princess down the halls. It was fairly late in the evening, and classes had been over for a few hours, so no one got in their way. Audrey didn't even have time to realize where they were before Lonnie was knocking on the FG's door.

"I was expecting something a bit more subtle," Audrey hissed at the girl, turning when the headmistress appeared. She smiled at them.

"Oh, hello girls. Audrey, are you feeling better?"

"Much, headmistress. Thank you."

"That's good. Now, what can I do for you?"

"We need a spell," Lonnie announced outright. Audrey had to hide her bewilderment as the FG frowned and beckoned them inside. Seated in chairs in front of her desk, the woman looked at them.

"A spell for what, exactly? You know magic is forbidden on school grounds. And if you believe another student is in any kind of danger —"

"Oh, no headmistress. I didn't really get to explain." Lonnie insisted, "Audrey and I are writing an essay for our Potion Theory class for extra credit. Audrey said you were doing the Spell-Indicator lab today, so we decided to focus our research on that."

"That's right!" Audrey added, finally catching on to what Lonnie was spinning, "we found a lot of good information in the library and online, but not much on what you use to actually determine the spell found with the Indicator potion."

"We thought you could give us some insight on the matter." Lonnie concluded, "I promise no one is in danger or anything."

"Oh, well," thinking over it, the FG shrugged a bit, "I suppose I could help with that."

Waving a hand, a large leather tome appeared on a nearby podium, "it's true the indicator just reflects if there's magic present in blood. Similarly, there is a revealer spell which is normally used in conjunction with it, so spell type and cure can be determined."

"What's the spell?" Lonnie asked, leaning over the book to look at the page in question, "Araulsi Refinuno, huh? That sounds pretty old."

"Some of our oldest spells are written in forgotten Latin," the FG explained, "you just place a finger on the rim of the beaker, and chant the incantation."

"Fascinating."

Glancing at one another around the woman's back, Audrey motioned for Lonnie to take a picture of the book as she suddenly jerked away from the podium, once again feigning illness.

"Audrey? Are you ok, dear?"

Leading the FG back towards the desk, Lonnie snapped the photo as Audrey breathed deeply.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I'm still not really feeling myself tonight."

"I think you should go back to your room and rest. This essay can surely wait till tomorrow?"

"I think that's probably a good idea," Lonnie said quickly, shoving her phone back into her pocket and taking Audrey's arm, "thanks so much for your help Fairy Godmother! You're the best."

"You're welcome, girls."

Leaving the office, Audrey hung low for a moment before straightening.

"That went better then I thought."

"White lies." Lonnie said, waving a hand, "though I think we should probably write that essay when this is all said and done. Just in case."

Giggling, Audrey and Lonnie began to make their way back to the dorm, spell in hand and curiosity overflowing.

"Ok."

The girls sat together around the center table in the living area, the door tightly locked so no one could walk in unexpectedly. Audrey had made a new batch of the potion using her personal supply of ingredients (normally reserved for anti-wrinkle creams and dark circle remover), and pricked her finger a second time. As they watched, the concoction turned a brilliant shade of emerald, just like before, "so, I've never done this spell, so it may take me a few tries."

"Just do you best," Audrey said. Lonnie just gave double thumbs up as the fairy-in-training picked up her phone with the spell on it. Setting a finger on the beaker, Jane cleared her throat.

"Ok. Araulsi Refinuno."

There was nothing. Frowning, Jane put the phone down. Staring intently at the beaker, she tried again, "Araulsi Refinuno."

Still nothing came of the spell as Jane sat back, rubbing her neck in thought.

"Don't get to discouraged. That was only twice." Lonnie announced. Jane just smiled at her.

"Thanks Lon, it's not that. Sometimes spells are dependent on how it's said. Stuff like extended vowels or accentuation. Since this is written in forgotten Latin, the vowels are different then our English today."

"So, you need to say the spell differently?" Audrey questioned, intrigued and trying not to get inpatient.

"I think so. I'm not very good at forgotten Latin," looking at the beaker again, Jane squared her shoulders, "Ara-ulsi Refin-uno'

To Audrey, the spell sounded the same as before. But all of them jumped as there was a grand puff of smoke. Waving it away, the potion had been replaced with a small slip of paper.

"This is it!" Jane said excitedly, grabbing the paper and blowing a small flame off its corner, "this is our answer."

Unrolling the paper on the table, all three Princesses read it.

"Extinguno?" Lonnie asked curiously,"what kind of spell is that?"

"It's a very old magic," Jane explained, her brows knitted in deep concentration, "there's a pretty big gap between the magic we know, and the magic that came before. Extinguno is a type of extinguishing spell,"

"Extinguishing spell?" Audrey sat back slightly, more confused now then when she had figured out she had been spelled earlier, "does it do something...you know, dangerous?"

"Mm, not that I've read. In Magical History, Professor Potts told us that old magic is very strong, but rarely lethal. This is a type of long term spell, like you thought Audrey. It's used to extinguish or block out a piece of your...I dunno, yourself? More like your inner self, really."

"So what, Audrey has some sort of secret part of herself being kept back by this thing?" Lonnie's eyes glistened again as she bumped the brunette's shoulder with her own, "is there a deep, dark side we don't know about, Auds?"

Lonnie spoke in a deep, husky tone as Audrey blushed a furious crimson. She had spent enough nights with Ben, as well as more then a few alone, to know the implications of that statement.

"Absolutely not."

"You're blushing."

"It's a reflex," Audrey complained, folding her arms as she looked to Jane, "do you think there's a way to unspell me?"

"Oh sure, I just need to get ahold of moms book. Shouldn't be to hard, I'll just slip a sleeping draught into her tea."

"Ooohhh, someone's been hanging around the VK's to much," Lonnie pointed out, "when did little Janey get so bad?"

"I-its not bad. Just convenient." Jane said with a shrug, "if you can wait till tomorrow, Audrey, I should have an answer for you."

"That's just fine. As long as thing thing isn't slowly eating me from the inside."

Leaning her head back, Audrey pinched the bridge of her knows, "it just means I'll have to get through tomorrow with more then one thing on my mind."

"Something special about tomorrow?" Lonnie asked curiously, "just another Tuesday, isn't it?"

"Not necessarily. I need to talk to Ben about the Cotillion."

"Oh."

Lonnie didn't need any more explanation as Audrey rubbed her face in a very unladylike way. She wished she could be this loose more often at school, but it was important to keep up appearances. She didn't want other students poking around in places their noses didn't belong. But Jane and Lonnie were her friends, and no matter how bitchy she got, they always stuck around.

"Do you want to just sleep over, Lonnie? It's already so late you might as well,"

"It's not like I'm far." The dark haired girl chuckled, "I'll get up early and make sure no one notices I was gone."

"Arabella wouldn't know either way," Jane said, "she'd be too distracted with the ceiling fan."

Laughing slightly at that, Audrey mindlessly brushed thorough her hair with her fingers. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, and an even longer wait to get this mystery spell off her. Before something bad actually happened.