Chapter 7
Gala the snow fox, my Skulking lesson, and Nevermore the dragon
I woke up and recalled my nightmare bit by bit. I was trying go home, but Grimm caught me before I got to the portal. I lost my hand when the portal closed and he locked me in the attic with rats. I wiggled my fingers to make sure they weren't going to fall off.
"Huh? Oh, hi." Raven sat up on the other bed, still sleepy.
"Hi. Why're you here?" I rubbed my eyes.
"Mr. B. Nimble told me to stay with you if you needed anything, but you went back sleep after a couple lullabies. You called him daddy and he called you sweetie. Why?" She turned to face me.
I breathed shakily,"He's been helping me with, uh... Grimm kidnapped me and locked me up. It was awful." I ran my hand through my hair. She came over and rubbed my back.
"It's ok." I let her sooth me. That was my first bad dream here at school.
"I'm alright now. Let's go eat." I told her. She went back to her and Apple's dorm. My phone buzzed.
Skulking lesson 10. Meet me outside. I'll talk to Raven, k?
I typed back, K. Going to eat. Luv u.
Luv u too.
I put on clothes that I knew were mine and went to eat. Breakfast was porridge and honey. Today wasn't going to the best day. I could tell, but it's not the worst. Chatter dimmed and I nearly got overtaken by a flashback, but Daring smiled and his teeth caught the light. After breakfast, I went outside early and saw students playing with their pets. I wanted something to cuddle. Apple was playing with her snow fox, Gala. Gala yipped and bit at rope her master was dangling above her. I sat and watched them until my eyes got out of focus. Then something bit me. It was Gala. She dropped a stick in my lap. I tossed it and she ran after it. Not bringing the stick to Apple like I thought she would, I bent to take it again. Gala decided she wanted to play tug-o-war before giving me the stick.
"Hey, grr." I told her while tugging at the branch. She growled back and let me have the stick after shaking her head. I tossed it again. She brought it and we played a bit more.
"Hi, Cocoa. Let's give Gala back to Apple now." Daddy appeared next to me.
"Oh, hi. What're you doing with Cocoa?" Apple disguised her sudden frown.
"I thought she'd befit from Skulking lessons." Daddy petted Gala. She licked his hand.
"Why?" Apple nickered for Gala to come back. She patted my leg with her paw and went back to her master.
"She should learn something else while she's here. Earthlings don't know their destinies like most of us do." Daddy told her.
"What?!" Apple clutched Gala like it was the worst thing ever.
"Yeah. We don't. In America, we can like choose what we do and we're pretty ok." I shrugged.
"What's America?" She asked.
"It's the best goddamn country in the world! We're free and even though we have our problems, we are working on them. WE put our flag on the moon! Have you gone to space? No? I thought not." Stephen saluted an American flag the others put up. They did the same. I mimicked them. Then they went to explore, leaving the flag.
"We'll be back soon." Mint waved bye.
"So, are we just leaving it there?" Daddy pointed. It was in the middle of the grass.
"I'll get them to move it later." I promised.
"We better get going." I got led away. He took me to a large training room with lots of padding. While he moved the shields and swords, I played on the rope, using it as a swing.
"Cocoa-bear, get off that." Daddy laughed. I did and went to the open space he made.
"What are we doing?" I asked.
"You're learning how to walk on the balls of your feet. It's hard." Daddy took his shoes off to show me how to walk. His heels were barely above the ground and didn't dip as he moved. I took off my shoes and tried to copy him, but the floor was squishy.
"Good try." Daddy said. I kept trying and near the end, I almost got all the way with my heels off the ground. Then I got cookies for not throwing a tantrum like his last student did. I ate them as we walked around.
"Cocoa, let's go shopping." Raven grabbed my arm.
"Bring her back." Daddy waved bye-bye.
Mr. B. Nimble's POV
I had work to do, but I wanted a drink. Going back to my dorm, I felt like this was a bad idea, but I couldn't tell why. Maybe I got drunk before, I don't remember. Opening the cabin, I looked for something that sounded good. I'm out of whiskey so I'll need to get more. Uh... let's see. Ah, hard lemonade. Cracking the bottle open, I drank it. Didn't I have a flask? I dug through my drawers and found what I wanted. It was a silver-gray. Taking the bottle to the recycling, I tucked the flask in my pocket. BW caught up with me.
"Where'd that come from?" He pointed to the bottle.
"I found it. I'm going to recycle it." I told him. It wasn't a lie.
"Oh." BW stayed quiet. It'd look bad if the kids started drinking so we ignored the small stuff like this.
"Cocoa went shopping with Raven. Her first Skulking lesson went well. Cocoa's." I babbled.
"That's great." I tossed the bottle in the glass bin and we left. I hoped he couldn't tell that I drank.
"I... heard Grimm is coming back on the 19th. I thought you should know." BW looked ready to tackle me.
"No." I shook my head.
"Sorry." He apologized.
Mr. B. Nimble's POV End
I got a doughnut and my characters found me when we went to the perfume shop. Sophie wanted something that smelled good. We looked for a while and Sophie found one she liked. Raven paid for it since I didn't have Ever After money. I'd have to get a job if I didn't get back home soon. When we got back to school, it was lunch and we ate. Raven showed me Nevermore. She was a green scaled, red-eyed dragon. She grew when Raven asked if we could go on a ride. It was amazing. We flew over the Enchanted Forest.
"Thanks. That was fun." I hugged her when Nevermore landed.
"No problem. Nevermore likes you." And to prove her point, the dragon licked me.
"Ew. Dragon spit." I dangled my wet arm at Raven.
"Hey! Don't touch me." She ran out of my reach. I chased her then Dex and Hunter found us and we chased him. I got Dex after he tripped.
"He's got dragon spit on him. Run!" I squealed, running.
"I'm gonna get you." He panted. Nevermore wanted to join and chased us too. She licked Raven after Dex got me again.
"Aw. Hunter, you're next." She yelled as Dex ran away from us.
The game went on until dinner. We washed up and went to the Castletria. It was steak and potatoes. I felt better than I did this morning. We told the others about the game we made. Cerise said it sounded fun. Daddy came up to us and asked for Raven.
Mr. B. Nimble's POV
"Promise you won't tell anyone about Cocoa and me. I can't keep telling people what happened to her." I kept my voice low.
"I promise on my life." She crossed her heart and because of it, she accidently casted an Oathbinder spell.
"Well, at least, I know you mean it now." I chuckled darkly.
"Yep." She gulped, the glowing X on her chest faded. Oathbinder was a serious spell. Only the ones who the oath was being made to could break the spell and usually, they don't want that. I don't want to break it, not yet.
"Go back to your friends and finish dinner. Tell Cocoa that you cast Oathbinder and I don't want it broken yet. We'll tell you when it will be." I texted Cocoa that Raven had something to tell her and gave Raven my number.
Mr. B. Nimble's POV End
Raven came back and ate her dessert. My phone buzzed.
I promised B. Nimble that I wouldn't tell any1 about you guys & accidentally cast a spell that binded me to it. Oathbinder.It was Raven.
What else? I typed without looking.
He said he'd talk to you about when you should break the spell.She texted back.
K. I sent it. After dinner, I found Daddy in his classroom.
"What's Oathbinder do?" I asked.
"It makes so you can't break your promise by using anything you say against you. She said "on my life" so she'll die if she does." Daddy explained.
"Fix it." I demanded.
"NO!" He shouted.
"Why?" I whined.
"She'll be more careful if she knows it'll kill her." He calmly told me.
"I don't like it." I crossed my arms.
"I know, that's why we're going to think of situations that we should break it." Daddy said and we thought. We decided if Grimm toutures her and/or if Apple makes her tell, we would break it. Apple was smart. Then I texted Raven what we came up with and she said it was fair. I showered and bed after I talked with Daddy.
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