Chapter 8

A New Alliance

Vanessa and Aria met up for lunch in Adora's room to discuss their plan further.

"Aria, seeking out Sahrissa is not the answer," Adora stated flatly.

Vanessa nodded. "Yeah, if the Evil Queen is what this Snow Queen wants then maybe it's best just to let them fight each other and stay out of it."

"And what about Myrtle?" Aria demanded, slamming her hand on the desk. "If Sahrissa kills the Snow Queen then how are we supposed to figure out a way to save her?"

"You should let the other fairies help Myrtle, Aria," Adora cut in. "I trust they're working on a way to help her."

Aria snorted. "Are they? Because it was not that long ago, Verna was willing to put Myrtle to death! Besides, if fairy's magic was actually able to help her then she'd probably be unfrozen by now."

"So what is you're plan, Aria?" Adora wondered, dreadfully. "Seeking out Sahrissa?"

"She's the only one that knows the Snow Queen," Aria insisted. "If anyone can answer any questions about her magic it would be Queen Sahrissa."

Adora folded her hands and dropped her head in between, letting out a sigh. "Aria, you really concern me sometimes. You're always so eager to dive into trouble. The other world can still be dangerous, even the good parts."

"Yeah, well my story's over in the good parts of that land so if I go to Sahrissa's kingdom then I should be fine," Aria debated.

"Aria, just because your story is over doesn't make you invisible," Adora cautioned. "I think you forget that sometimes."

Aria let out a huff but did not say anything. She knew there was no point in arguing. Adora remained here to take Myrtle's place in being the fairy that watched over the Princess of Galatia. She would never intentionally lead Aria anywhere she believed dangerous.

When lunch break was over, Aria verbally agreed not to venture off to Ventura. The moment they left the room Vanessa, however, asked, "We're still going there, aren't we?"

"We have to do what we can for Myrtle," Aria said, firmly, her eyes straight ahead. "Besides, I remember the conversation Sahrissa had with Myrtle. She didn't exactly seem to hate her. Maybe we can convince her to help us save her."

Vanessa shook her head, doubtful. "I'm not sure she'll be so eager to help."

"I suppose we can make a deal," Aria suggested, sounding apprehensive. "Sahrissa helps us revive Myrtle and then maybe we can help her out against the Snow Queen."

Vanessa was not too keen on the idea of negotiating with the Evil Queen, but she could not think of a way to talk Aria out of it. She recalled when Aria tearing back to the palace in Evalius when Argarion had Myrtle in there alone.

"So how are we going to get downtown?" Vanessa wondered aloud. "Neither of us have a car."

Aria lightly tapped her foot and stated, "That is really starting to be an inconvenience. You know, I tried talking my parents into letting me get a cheap car, but they don't even seem to trust me with one."

"Maybe that's because they're afraid of you driving off to a portal to another world whenever you want," Derek chimed in from behind them.

Aria turned around and huffed, "Well, I am old enough to cross worlds by myself. I mean, in that world sixteen is considered to be an adult and I'm seventeen so…"

As the three walked down the down for their next classes, Vanessa pointed out, "Wait, doesn't Derek have a car? Maybe he can take us?"

Aria turned and gazed at her boyfriend with hopeful eyes.

"Hang on," Derek said, reluctantly. "Why do you need to go there tonight anyway?"

"To try and save Myrtle," Aria said, determined. "I think that's a pretty good reason."

"Okay," Derek agreed with a nod but said, "but how exactly do you plan on saving Myrtle?"

Aria paused for a moment, looking down, and muttered quietly, "By striking a deal with Sahrissa."

"And there's the dangerous part of the plan," Derek grumbled, shooting a glance between the two girls. "You know it is very unlikely the Evil Queen will help us or even let us go when we show up at her palace."

"Well, we'll have to go in with a plan," Aria reasoned, not wanting to admit she had not even thought of one.

Derek raised his brow as though he already knew and pointed out, "You both seem to forget we have a friend who has magic that can help. Why would you go trying to bargain with the enemy when we can just ask Kendal?"

Aria and Vanessa exchanged glances. They both seemed to be thinking the same.

"I don't know, Myrtle did steal Kendal's throne," Vanessa pointed out. "That alone might make her not want to help out."

"She hasn't gone completely evil," Derek reminded them. "I'm sure if you try and reason with her, she'll come around. Anyway, its way safer then visiting a queen who actually is evil."

"I guess that makes sense," Aria agreed, desperately hoping he was right. "So do you think you can take us there after school today?"

Derek sighed reluctantly. "I suppose, only because I know you'll find a way there anyway if I don't."

"Excuse me, Miss Rosenberg?"

Aria turned around to see their Chemistry teacher approaching them.

"I was wondering if I could have a quick word with you in my classroom before the next period starts?" He glanced behind her. "You two can come along if you want."

The three of them followed Mr. Conner to his classroom. Aria could not imagine what he could want. Her grade for his class was merely average, nothing a teacher would concern themselves with. Derek managed a low A and she was pretty sure Vanessa was at least passing.

"Yes, Mr. Conner?" Aria asked quietly as the teacher shut the door behind him.

"You seem close with Myr… Ms. Malone," he began, looking down. "I mean, you know her outside of school, correct?"

"Yes," Aria admitted quietly. His worried tone made her dread where this conversation was going.

Mr. Conner made no haste to get to the point. "Do you know where she is now? I mean, one day she was just gone without any notice. I've tried to contact her but have not had any luck. Is she in some sort of trouble? What would make her just disappear? Do any of you know?"

Aria exchanged looks with Derek and Vanessa. None of them seemed to have any idea what to say to him.

Vanessa then let out a gasp. "Oh my god! I think I know what we can do!" When both Derek and Aria looked at her, baffled, she motioned to Aria and said, "Let me talk to you alone for a minute."

As they moved towards the door, Mr. Conner asked Derek, "What are they talking about?"

"God only knows," Derek muttered with an exasperated sigh.

Vanessa opened the door and the girls stepped outside the classroom and whispered face-to-face, as classmates passed by.

"True love's kiss!" Vanessa's whisper almost cracked a squeal. "What if that's the answer?"

Aria glanced into the classroom and wondered, "You think Mr. Conner could be Myrtle's true love?"

"Why not?" Vanessa persisted on. "Clearly, he's really concerned about her and we both know he likes her. Doesn't true love's kiss break curses?"

Aria sighed and nodded, willing to try just about anything at this point.

Vanessa looked up and thought aloud, "We just need to figure out a way to get Myrtle's body here…"

"Or we can take him to her," Aria suggested quietly.

Vanessa appeared apprehensive. "I don't know. Do you really think taking him to the other world is such a good idea? Besides, how will we convince him to go?"

"If he really is concerned about Myrtle, then he'll want to find her," Aria pointed out.

"Yeah, but how do you think he'll take it?" Vanessa debated.

Aria shrugged and pointed out, "We all experienced the shock of seeing a different world and got through it. He'll have to do the same."

Vanessa sighed. "I just hope you're right."

xXx

Unlike Mrs. Lewis, their Chemistry teacher did not faint the moment he entered the fairy tale dimension. Instead, he sat in the carriage dazed, trying to piece everything together.

"So… Ms. Malone was… born here?" he questioned, glancing out the window into the bright green meadows.

"Yes," Aria said, trying to keep her tone as calm and soothing as possible. "She's a… fairy."

His eyes widened. "A… fairy?"

"Yes," Aria answered again with a nod. "This land is different. That's magic so things like fairies and other mythical creatures exist."

Mr. Conner took in a breath trying to absorb this and asked, "Aren't fairies supposed to have wings or something to tip you off?"

Aria glanced across at Vanessa and Derek, who both shrugged.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure why," Aria admitted. "Maybe we can ask Myrtle after you hopefully help her."

"Help her from what?" he asked.

"Um…" Aria again looked across at her boyfriend and best friend, trying to think of how best to explain everything, "well, you see, I'm from here too."

"Aria!" Vanessa nudged her with her foot. "Are you sure it's a good idea to tell him everything?"

"Oh, so now we're going to start worrying about what he should and shouldn't know," Derek muttered with a huff.

Aria merely sighed and said to them, "We may as well tell him everything at this point." She turned back to their teacher and went on, "I was born here too. I'm a princess."

Mr. Conner looked into her eyes as though he was not sure whether or not to believe her. He slowly asked, "So, if you and Ms. Malone were born here what brought you to our land?"

"My parents wanted to hide me from… well, Myrtle. She was trying to kill me at the time." As his eyes widened, she quickly added, "But that was a while ago… or well, last year, but she's changed since then. She's good now."

As Mr. Conner just sat there, shock driven, Derek commented, "Well, this is going great. Maybe next week, the school can take a field trip here."

"Anyway…" Aria glared at him and lightly kicked his foot with hers, "Myrtle did manage to get me under a sleeping curse so I needed true love's kiss to wake up again."

"True love's kiss," Mr. Conner repeated in a daze and then glanced at Derek. "Does that mean you're from here too?"

Derek shook his head. "No, it's just because Aria grew up with us, it changed things a little bit."

"I see…" Mr. Conner mumbled leaning back. "Anyone else at Sheerwood from this… place?"

"Well, Ms. Fleming, the substitute now, is also a fairy. She's the good fairy that gave me the gift that kept me alive from Myrtle's curse," Aria pointed out, trying to think of others. "Former Principal Sherman is the Evil Queen from Snow White."

"Evil Queen?" he repeated in utter shock.

"Yes, but we don't really need to worry about her at the moment," Aria said as the carriage entered Evalius. "Oh, and Mr. Evans was the ruler here when he was evil."

"Mr. Evans is from here too?" Mr. Conner questioned and then muttered, "That explains why he doesn't know anything about History… Wait, did you say he was evil too?"

"He's good now too… I think," Aria said. "He's at least not doing anything evil now."

Mr. Conner briefly scratched his forehead. "So when fairy tale villains decide they don't want to be evil anymore, they get teaching jobs at Sheerwood?"

"Apparently," Derek muttered. "Maybe soon the Evil Queen will be our full time principal."

Once they entered the castle, Aria instructed that they all hold hands to keep them all from getting separated and lost in the maze. Fortunately, since Aria herself had been in the castle several times, she finally seemed to know the fastest way to the throne room. By the time they reached that room, Mr. Conner appeared as though he may vomit.

"So this thing about true loves kiss…" Mr. Conner started, "Is she… under a sleeping curse?"

"Well, it's a little different in her case," Aria said, trying to remain calm. "She's sort of… frozen."

The moment Mr. Conner's eyes fell upon Myrtle, his jaw dropped and his flesh lightened. She was right as Aria remembered her, still sitting on the throne with a pale blue tint. Aria was not sure if anyone tried to move her but if they did, clearly it did not work. Myrtle's right hand clutched the arm of the chair just as Aria remembered.

"So… what…" Mr. Conner fumbled his words.

"Kiss her," Aria said quietly. "Just kiss her and hopefully it will work."

Although he appeared hesitant, their teacher slowly stepped up to the throne and gently kissed the frozen fairy on her pale lips. He, however quickly jumped back.

"So cold," Mr. Conner gasped, touching his own lips.

Aria, however, did not pay him any attention as she gazed at Myrtle, desperately hoping to see her eyes flutter open or at least her skin return to its natural tones. Nothing happened.

"This is unreal…" their teacher croaked. "She's…"

The three of them never caught what Mr. Conner was going to say for at that moment his body lost consciousness.

As he fell to the ground Vanessa sighed and commented, "Well, he lasted longer than Mrs. Lewis."

"Now what?" Derek grumbled.

"We just need to…" Aria started, but before she could finish another voice interrupted her.

"Aria, what were you thinking?"

The three turned their heads to see Adora had appeared by the entrance to the throne room, wearing a scorn on her face.

"You may as well put a sign in front of that building that says, 'This place has a portal that leads to another world,' while you're at it!" Adora raged, storming over to where Mr. Conner had fallen. "You can't just bring anyone here! Do you understand that?"

Aria huffed and stated flatly, "I was just trying to help Myrtle. Someone has to do it!"

Adora met her eyes and sighed. "Aria, you have to understand. Us fairies are doing everything that we can to help Myrtle. It's just that this magic is too strong. And now, things are more complicated since Bellaire officially made their alliance with this Ice Queen…"

"What?" Both Derek and Vanessa gasped simultaneously.

Aria shook her head in disbelief. "No… Kendal wouldn't do that…"

"She did," Adora confirmed, sadly, "and she declared war on Ventura."

Aria looked at her friends to see they appeared just as horrified as she felt. A war was actually going to occur in these fairy tale lands. She had to act fast. Aria went with the first thing that came to mind.

As Adora knelt down besides Mr. Conner Aria slowly stepped back. When Vanessa and Derek looked at her, she tilted her head towards the exit and put her finger over her lips. Though her friends appeared hesitant, they still followed quietly. Once they entered the maze, the held hands and ran. Aria led them through the fasted way she remembered out.

"Adora is going to be so mad once she she's we're gone," Vanessa panted, clasping her right hand on her chest, "if she hasn't already…"

"We don't have time," Aria said, motioning towards the carriage. "We have to go now!"

"Where are we going?" Derek asked as he climbed in the carriage.

"To Ventura," Aria answered simply.