Madame Marian called me, "Julia! I have something to tell you and your team!"

"Hmm?" I walked over to her, along with Briar, Ashlynn, Apple and Raven.

"You girls have completed all of the challenge as we have asked!" Madame Marian smiled.

"So we get to go to Looking Glass Beach Resort?!" Briar whooped excitedly.

"Well . . . not exactly," Madame Marian said, her smile wilting.

"What do you mean?" asked Apple nervously.

"Well, we told you that if you completed all of the challenge, then you would automatically win," Madame Marian explained, "And, it turns out, the other team of your grade also completed all of their challenge."

"The other team?" I asked as Madame Marian brought out another group of five girls. In it was a girl with red hood that was probably Red Riding Hoodʻs daughter, a wooden girl that was probably Pinocchioʻs daughter, a girl with mint-and-lavender hair and a crazed smile that looked like the next Mad Hatter, the well-known host of the show "Just Right" Blondie Lockes, and a princess with heart themed attire who mightʻve been the next Queen of Hearts.

"Oh, thatʻs right, Julia," Madame Marian seemed to remember, "You arenʻt a second year! I thought you were for a second, considering your height. Well, this is Cerise Hood, Cedar Wood, Maddie Hatter, Blondie Lockes, and Lizzie Hearts."

"Hi," I waved to them. Cerise, Cedar, and Maddie looked a little surprised for a moment, but then waved back. I had heard from rumors that they were no-good Rebels, but they seemed really nice!

"As a tie-breaker to determine who will go to Looking Glass Beach Resort, we will be holding . . ." Madame Marian paused for emphasis, " . . . a sing-off!"

"A . . . what?" Raven asked. I could see a glint of excitement behind her eyes despite her confusion.

"You girls will be doing three challenges involving singing!" Madame Marian exclaimed, "First, you must perform a song together. Then, you must send two people to do a duet. Finally, you send one last person to sing a solo, but the solo has to be a love song. You have two days to prepare starting tomorrow!"

"How random," I thought, "I just went through the Underworld, twisted my ankle in a competition, and now I have to sing. Weird."

"Well girls, I have an idea," Briar said as we went off towards to dorms, "Letʻs go over to my dorm and have a sleep-over! I could invite Melody Piper, or at least ask her to put together an awesome playlist featuring girl artists like Katy Fairy!"

"Ooh, can we also put in a little One Reflection?" asked Apple excitedly.

"Of course! In fact, letʻs make half of the playlist One Reflection!" Briar giggled.

Raven shyly asked, "Can we include some Tailor Quick?"

"Tailor Quick?" the princesses looked at Raven like she grew horns, "Sheʻs a bit . . . worn out for us."

"But sheʻs a girl artist," Raven pointed out.

"But sheʻs not trendy anymore," Apple shot back, "Iʻd pick something like Ariel Grandesque. Sheʻs high-pitched, but so mature."

"That sounds like you," Raven mumbled.

"You know what? You and Julia go find some artists, while Ashlynn, Briar, and I find some other artists," Apple suggested, "Then weʻll put them together and see what weʻve got."

"You wanna go to my dorm?" Raven asked as we entered the dormitory, "Briarʻs dorm might be a little . . . loud for us, and Ashlynn is Briarʻs roommate, so they donʻt have to bother each other if theyʻre doing the same thing. Besides, Apple is my roommate, so weʻll have the dorm to ourselves."

"Sure," I nodded, "But itʻs really weird how you and Apple are in the same dorm. Did she request it or anything?"

"She actually did," Raven laughed, "She wanted to be my roomie at the beginning of the year when she heard I wasnʻt going to sign. She became my roomie because she thought that she could change my opinion. Obviously, it didnʻt work, and now Iʻm stuck with a singer that sings magic and not actual notes."

"So, if weʻre going for a big finish at the end of the sing-off, then we donʻt want to pick Apple," I said. Then, all of a sudden, I started laughing hysterically, "What am I doing? Here I am, picking out artists for what I'm going to sing, and I don't even know how the rest of my life is going to work out!"

Raven scooted right next to me and patted my shoulder, "Don't worry. We've still got out entire lives ahead of us. The best we can do is get an education and make something good of our lives. Now, let's just pick out a couple artists and have some fun for a while, okay?"

I took a deep breath, "Okay, I'm good now."

"Good," Raven smiled, "Now what do you think of . . ." And as we listened to different artists and tried singing to different songs, I felt happy for a few moments, as I forgot about the monstrous problem resting on my shoulders. To be completely honest, it felt good. And as I went back to my dorm because it was getting late, I laid down and finally got a good night's sleep for once.

OoOoOoOoO

Apple, Briar, and Ashlynn were chittering with excitement. "Oh my godmother, I can't believe it's almost time!" Briar whispered, trying to restrain her excitement.

"Let's go over the schedule one more time," Apple said, taking out a piece of paper, "I'll go first, then Briar and Ashlynn, then Raven, and Julia for last. Any questions, princesses?"

"Yeah," I raised my hand, "What will we be singing?"

"We will be singing from our hearts!" Apple said sweetly.

". . ." I wanted to point out that 'singing from our hearts' could lead to a major fairy fail, but then Ashlynn cut me off.

"Whatever we do, we'll do it with grace and princess power!" Ashlynn encouraged us.

"Yeah! PRINCESS POWER!" Briar put her hand in the center of us, "C'mon! One last cheer before we go on stage?"

Apple, Ashlynn, Raven, and I put our hands in the middle. "One, two, three . . . PRINCESS POWER!"

"And up next . . . the beautiful, red-lipped, sunshine-blonde, rosy-cheeked, sweet-as-sugar, legendary princess of Ever After High, we are pleased to present Apple White!" the announcer bellowed dreamily to the audience.

"Oh! That's me," Apple flashed us her signature smile, "Wish me luck!"

The rest of us crowded at the edge of the curtain, peeking out as Apple sashayed out onto the center of the stage. Grasping the microphone, she took a deep breath and started to sing, "Aaaah Ahh Ahh Aaah Aaah Ahhhh, Ahh Ah Ah Aaaaaaaaah, Aaaah Ahh Aaaah Aha Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Aaah Ah Ah Ah Aaaaaah Ahhh Ah Aaaaah Ah Ah Ahhh Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

And with that, she stopped singing and the crowd started cheering wildly. I looked at Raven, "That didn't even have any words to it. Why are they clapping?"

"Because it's Apple, and everyone loves her," Raven said deflatedly, and we both started giggling.

"That's true, isn't it?" I couldn't help but grin.

"Up next, the beautious Briar Beauty and Ashlynn Ella!"

"We're next!" Ashlynn said excitedly, "I think we'll do well!"

"Well?" Briar scoffed, "We'll do AWESOME! I had a guy I know set up the stage for our performance, so when we start, there'll be a wicked light show!"

"Sounds fun!" I smiled and waved to them as they entered the stage.

Meanwhile, Apple came back to behind the curtain, "Oh my godmother, I did amazing! Did you see the crowd? They adored me! Oh, I feel like such a queen up there on the stage, which the giant spotlight gleaming down on me, and the hundreds of thousands of fans from all across the kingdoms! Oh, it was so hexilerating!"

"Apple, we're trying to watch Ashlynn and Briar," Raven shushed her, and went back to peeking through the curtain.

As Ashlynn and Briar made their way up, the floor underneath Briar gave away. "Whoa!" she shouted as she plummeted down, "Eeew! Somebody really needs to clean down there!"

Behind me, I heard someone say, "But I don't understand! We cleaned it right before the princesses got here."

I turned around and saw none other than Headmaster Grimm arguing with some of the staff members, "Well, I don't care. Obviously, you didn't do your job correctly. I'm holding you completely responsible! Now get her out of there at once!"

The three staff members bowed their heads and nodded, "Yes, Headmaster Grimm." And promptly, they rushed over to where Briar used to be and looked down, "Are you alright, Miss Beauty?"

"I"m alright, just a bit—Eeeew! Ow! Ow! Oh, what keeps biting me?"

"Dirty AND dangerous creatures?" Headmaster Grimm bellowed, "This is absurd!"

"Okay, maybe it's dirty but there are definitely NOT dangerous monsters down there!" a voice shouted from behind us. I turned around to see a tall, definted woman dress in business attire, "As the manager of the theatre, I can attest to that!"

Ashlynn kneeled next to the hole and shouted, "Briar?! How deep are you?"

"Umm," Briar seemed to comtemplate for a while, "I can barely see you, so not too deep."

"We'll get you o—!" Ashlynn started to say, then the floor gave away under her too. "Oof!"

"Ashlynn! Are you okay?" I couldn't help but rush over to where the giant gaping hole in the stage was. Around me, the crowd started to murmur as they watched the entire thing.

"Yes, I'm fine. But it's really slimy down here!"

"Slime?" I thought, then I heard a faint cackling. I looked up and saw nothing. Then, for one brief moment, I could see her.

Faybelle Thorne.

As if I needed her to completely ruin this. I looked back down and ran off the stage, behind the curtain. I found Raven and tugged on her shoulder, "Raven! Faybelle is up to something! We need to . . .!" But I couldn't finish my sentence because Faybelle must've heard that she was caught, so hundreds of purple and dark mint lights started raining through the curtains.

At first, I thought tiny lights weren't so bad. That's when I realized that they started poking us. "Ow!" I winced, trying to grab as many of them as I can, "Raven, do you know what these are?"

"Dark pixies!" the dark-haired girl shouted as she swatted at them, "They're super fast and come in thousands at a time. You can get rid of them eliminating most of them."

"Eliminating?"

"Rounding them up and putting them in a small cage where they're too squished to do anything."

"Why didn't you say that the first time?" I asked.

"Because we need to start rounding them up now before there's too many to capture!" Raven said as she grabbed a bag and started stuffing it with pixies. "Ow! Oh, I better find some gloves!"

Then, I had the weirdest urge. "Hatchett!" I shouted, "Hatchett! I need your help!"

Raven looked at me weirdly, "Of all people, you choose the one who kidnaped you?"

"He didn't kidnap me!" I cleared my throat, "Right now, we have pixies to capture, and if anybody knows about dark magic, it's him."

Raven cast me a sly look, "I see. But how do you expect that calling him will bring him here?"

"You've got any other ideas?" Then it hit me, "Of course! You're Raven Queen! There must be a spell that you can do that will connect you to the Underworld!"

"If there is, I don't know it," Raven said dejectedly.

"Man," I groaned, "Connecting . . ." My eyes widened and I dove for my pockets, "Dang it, I left my phone in my dorm! Raven, can I use your phone?"

"It's over there in my purse," Raven gestured to the room at the end of the hallway, "Hurry!"

"Okay," I nodded, and I dashed for the room, hundreds of pixies on my tail. I grasped the door handle and jerked it. "Arg! The door is jammed!" I could feel my face turn red as the pixies kept poking me. I swatted my hand a bit too hard and smashed some pixies against the wall. "All right! You know what? I'm sick of you! You better tell me where Faybelle Thorne is otherwise you are all gonna PAY!"

The pixies stopped pinching me and seemed to look at each other, weighing the options. I crossed my arms, "Well?"

A larger pixie seemed to come to the front of the rest. She had a distinct air. She held our her hand, as if demanding something.

I tapped my chin, "Considering the fact that you actually considered my offer, I take it that you don't like Faybelle very much, do you?"

The leader shook her head. I continued, "How about this? If she treats you wrong, come to me. I've got a direct hotline to the King of the Underworld whose job is to judge what's fair and what's not. And I'll help him think of some punishments. Anything else?"

The leader looked around at the rest of the pixies and pointed at my head.

I looked up and remembered I had a quaint little tiara, "Oh this?"

She nodded. I took it off my head and handed it to her, "Here. It's yours."

The leader looked at me and grinned. At least, I think it did, but it was hard to tell since she was surrounded by light. She then signalled to the rest of the pixies and they promptly vanished in a mass of black mist.

"Julia?" Raven called, then she started coughing, "Oh, godmother, what happened?"

"I made a deal with the pixies," I said simply.

"Really? It was that easy?" Raven asked, bewildered.

"No, it's not!" a voice from above startled us, and we both looked up to see Faybelle balancing on a couple of ropes, "You might've gotten ride of my pixies, but you still need to get rid of me!"

"Can't we just, like, negotiate something, and then we can go home?" I asked.

"It doesn't work like that, I'm afraid, " Faybelle cackled, "I don't really want anything. I'm just doing this for enjoyment!"

"Then go find enjoyment somewhere else!" I shouted.

"Mmm," Faybelle crossed her arms, "Naah!"

I looked around, "Raven, do you know where any suits of armor are?"

"I think I saw one down the hall next to Apple's dressing room," Raven whispered to me.

"What are you two yammering about?" Faybelle shouted at us.

"Keep her busy," I whispered, then I sprinted back down the hallway and took a turn. I went to the end of that hallway and stopped. I saw two different hallways, one to the right and one to the left. "Oh, what should I do?" I asked.

Then, out of some random corner of my brain, I heard my mother's, or rather, my adopted mother's voice telling me when I was younger, "If you ever wonder what to do, choose the right path."

I took a deep breath, and bolted down the right hallway. Soon, I found Apple's dressing room with a suit of armor right next to it. Behind me, I could hear Raven and Faybelle's conversation.

"Psh, you call that real dark magic? Your dark pixies don't even like you!"

"They're not SUPPOSED to like me! I'm E-V-I-L!"

"Oh, yeah? Considering the fact that your 'minions' left you so quickly, maybe you should try harder!"

"Try harder?! I'll show you harder!"

Panicking, I grabbed the sword and ran off to where Raven and Faybelle were. Faybelle was chanting a spell and pointing her wand at Raven,

"Toadstools and shrooms, beetles and bats,

Creeping around like a gnarled, mangly rat!

Seize her neck, to give and to gain,

And bring her sorrow, and bring her pain!"

Raven then cried out and sank to her knees. I cast her a worried glance, and she pointed at Faybelle with one hand while grasping her neck with the other. I nodded and returned my attention to the fairy. "Hey, Faybelle!"

"You again?" she sighed, obviously bored.

"Come down here and fight me!" I shouted, then added, "You coward!"

"Coward? Me?" Faybelle's face lit up with rage, "I'll show you who's a coward, you prissy little . . .!"

She blasted some sort of spell at me, but I dodged in time. Then, she started shooting more and more spells at me. I kept dodging, but what I didn't know was that as I kept scooting farther and farther back, the closer I was to the curtain.

"Oh, you!" Faybelle clenched her available fist, "This one'll hit you for sure!" She blasted fire at me, and as I stumbled back, I fell through the curtain. I looked behind me and saw the staff were still trying to get Ashlynn and Briar out. Faybelle lept out from behind the curtain, "Ha, ha! I've got you now!"

Then we both froze as we turned around and saw the audience staring at us slackjawed. I looked down and saw that this must've looked awkward. My dress was torn. My hair was in a mess. My tiara was missing. I'd lost a shoe somewhere. And, worst of all, I was clutching a sword. I stood there and wondered, "Whatever could I do now?"

Hello, again! I know what you're thinking right now probably. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! YOU HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOREVER!" And for that, I'm sorry. But my goal is to try to finish the story before Christmas. And believe me, we're almost to the end! (To the story. I will definitely make several sequels!) And until then, thanks for reading and please review!