Chapter Twenty-Two: Hatch The Dragons
Everyone stared at the Evil Queen in horror - everyone except Izzy, who said dryly, "Called it."
"Stand back, mother," Raven said angrily, moving forward. "I don't know how you escaped your prison but I will not let you hurt my friends."
"Raven...wait," Eve said, taking a step forward and resting her hand on Raven's shoulder. Her reddish-brown braid was tossed over her shoulder as she tilted her head and said, "I think we should hear her out."
"You trust her?" Raven said, surprised.
"Of course not! But we should at least listen to what she has to say. And besides, if it has to come to a duel it's nine against one - and that's not counting the other students who have abilities just as useful as magic," Eve pointed out. Izzy gave her a small smile.
"The daughter of Apollo is right. You judge me too harshly," the Evil Queen said. "I don't wish harm."
"Yeah right. I know your tricks, mom," Raven said.
"No tricks," the Evil Queen said. "It is not so hard to change." She waved her hand and Professor Rumpelstiltskin turned into a frog. "See? He just changed."
Briar wicked up their teacher. "Welcome to Hopper's world," she said with a laugh, grinning at Hopper, who blushed a little. Brushfire snapped at the frog, who fell to the ground and sat next to another frog.
"Snow White, I am reformed," the Evil Queen said.
"Reformed?" Izzy scoffed. "You literally just turned a teacher into a frog! And you tried to get Raven to break the glass last time she visited you! Plus, must I remind you that an innocent person definitely would not dress up as a fake school student."
"One who was afraid of being sent back to the horrible mirror prison as soon as someone realized who she was," the Evil Queen said before turning back to Snow White. "I can't believe you now have dragons! Why, what fun we could have had together."
Raven scoffed from behind her. "No more games, mother."
"You remember, Snow," the Evil Queen said, ignoring her daughter.
"We did have an epic rivalry," Snow White said. "You versus me, it hexcited the whole school."
"Say, I could coach a team," the Evil Queen said. "Oh, if only I wasn't being sent back to the mirror. What do you say, Snow White? Or is the 'fairest of them all' afraid of a little competition?"
"If I recall, the crowds were cheering for me," Snow White said. "Okay, you're on."
Everyone gasped.
"You won't snow what hit you," she declared as though it were an insult.
Amanda sighed. "The White family really needs to figure out that they are horrible at insults," she said softly so that only her friends could hear her.
"I hereby grant the Evil Queen a temporary pardon," Snow White said.
"What?!" Raven yelled as everyone gasped again. "How can you trust my mom not to be evil when - like Izzy said - she just turned a teacher into a frog!" She motioned to where their now froggy teacher sat next to a real frog.
" 'Evil?' Okay, I'm changing him back," the Evil Queen said, turned the real frog into a fake Professor Rumpelstilskin. "There. You happy?"
"Happy? I'll be happy when you do something good that's not part of some bargain! Find me when you do." With those words, Raven left the arena.
Amanda met Darling's eyes, and the daughter of King Charming nodded. She grabbed Izzy's arm and whispered. "C'mon." The two girls walked out after Raven, quickly catching up to her. Darling turned and gave the Evil Queen and "I'm watching you" motion before hurrying after them.
"I'm sure your daughter will come around," Snow said. She took the Evil Queen's hand and raised it in the air. "We two queens will be your coaches. "Tomorrow we will choose our captains and teams. Let us begin a new era of dragongames!"
Everyone cheered wildly.
Apple walked out of the arena. Behind her a white limo came to a stop. She turned around and her mother rolled down the window.
"Come Apple my dear. I'll give you a ride up to school," she said. Soon they were on the path back to the school.
"A pardon?! Why?" Apple exclaimed.
"Don't fret, applesauce!" Snow White said. "I have a secret weapon: behold the Booking Glass!" She held up a mirror. "This has magic that can return the queen to mirror prison forever after! All I have to do is input the sequence code and say the command words. Capture walnuts!" The walnuts in front of them disappeared.
"Walnuts captured," the mirror said.
"Technology is so hexciting these days," Snow White said, taking out her phone.
In the barn, Daring looked into a mirror nearly identical to the Booking Glass. One of the dark dragons ran into him, shattering the mirror.
"Eclipse!" Amanda scolded. "Bad dragon!"
"Lucky for me, mirrors are cheap and I buy them in bulk," Daring said.
"If you're done admiring yourself, we could use a little help," Poppy said.
"But I-I'm not done," Daring said. Behind them, the dark dragons carried a screaming Sparrow across the room while Amanda chased them, laughing.
"Daring!" Poppy said.
"Okay! I'll see you later," he said to his reflection.
Some girls stood in a line, each waiting their turn to sign the paper for joining the dragon-riding team.
"Raven, are you going to join the team tomorrow?" Ashlynn said.
"Uh, no! My mother is up to something, Ashlynn. I can't believe that this isn't part of some evil plan. I just don't wanna get involved."
Unknown to the girls, Faybelle was hiding behind a wall listening to their conversation.
"I'm so hexcited!" Amanda said, interrupting the conversation. "I just signed, and Amethyst should be arriving soon. I asked Dad to send her over last night."
As if on cue, a dragon roar could be heard from outside the school. Someone yelled, "That isn't Legend!" and everyone hurried out to see who it was. Amanda was the fastest, and when she reached the front she threw her arms around a dark blue dragon with bright green accents and some blue gems on her forehead. A boy who was about twenty-seven with black hair and tan skin climbed off the dragon as she turned into a baby.
"Wow. I never thought I'd see the day my little sister would be more excited to see a dragon than she was to see me," the boy said playfully.
Amanda jumped and turned around. "Danny!" she yelled, hugged her big brother tightly. "I didn't know you were coming! I thought Dad would just send Amethyst over."
"Well, I was at the palace and missed you so I decided to come," Daniel said.
"Hi Daniel," Alex said as the other demigods arrived.
"Hey guys," he said, waving to them.
"Who's this?" Duchess purred, somehow arriving right next to Daniel. She did this with every good-looking guy that arrived at the school, and everyone was sick of it.
"Duchess, back off - this is my big brother," Amanda growled. "And he is married."
Duchess's eyes widened and she immediately hurried away as the crowd left.
"Speaking of which, how are Gianna and Rachel?" Izzy said.
"They're great. Little Gia said her first words just a few weeks ago."
"Awww. What were they?"
"Mama. I wish you guys were there - you've gotta come visit soon."
"We will," Amanda reassured. "But things have been so hexciting lately we didn't really have time."
Daniel checked his watch. "Speaking of which, I've got to get home. Rachel is cooking tonight, and you know I can't miss that."
Amanda nodded, looking disappointed. "I'll see you soon?" she said hopefully.
"Of course Anda," Daniel said, ruffling her hair. He walked over to the shadows and waved before fading into them and disappearing.
Faybelle flew into the Evil Queen's room at the dragon arena. She looked around.
"Faybelle Thorn," the Evil Queen said, causing Faybelle to gasp. "To what do I owe the honor of a visit from the dark fairy's daughter?"
"A girl could learn a lot from someone as intelligent, beautiful, smart, powerful..." Faybelle said, starting to babble.
"What do you want?" the Evil Queen demanded. "The truth."
"I wanna be like you!" Faybelle said. "Make me your dragonriding captain because I was listening to Raven and she said that there's no way she's gonna be on your team."
"My Raven said that?" the Evil Queen said sadly, turning away from Faybelle.
I would do anything, anything to be like you," Faybelle said.
"Anything?" the Evil Queen said, turning and grinning wickedly. "Okay. You may be of use to me. There are many teachers here who do not trust me. Let me share a bit of my dark magic with you." She snapped her fingers and a purse appeared in Faybelle's hands. "Here is what you need to do..."
Poppy, Holly, and Amanda sat in the stable, snoring. The twins were sleeping in Holly's long hair while Amethyst was curled around Amanda.
"A lot of hexcitement around here, huh girl?" Raven said to Nevermore. "It might be pretty strange for a while - you know, with my mom here."
At the window above them, Faybelle sprinkled a bit of pink dust. It curled around Raven and Nevermore, who yawned loudly.
"Maybe I'll just sleep here with you tonight," Raven said sleepily. She rested her head against Nevermore's cool scales and in a moment she was asleep, so she didn't see the Evil Queen walk in and look at them, grinning.
Apple sat in her room, looking into her vanity mirror. She heard the door open and turned around, smiling.
"Hey roomie, you're out late..." she trailed off as she saw that it wasn't Raven who appeared - but the Evil Queen. "Oh. it's you," she said.
"Hello, Apple," the Evil Queen said, walking over to Apple.
"What...d-do...you want?" Apple said.
"Why, to see you!" The Evil Queen said, taking Apple's comb and starting to brush her hair.
"I...I mean what do you want for Raven?" Apple said. "Your plan to get her on your side - it's not working. How will I get my-"
"Your happily ever after. Yes, my dear, I've not forgotten you," the Evil Queen said.
"Also, my mom has the Booking Glass," Apple added, "and she's just looking for an excuse to use it."
The Evil Queen paused before speaking. "Well, we'll just have to do something about that, won't we? And those demigods," she added.
"What?!" Apple exclaimed, jumping up. "You can't hurt them! They're my friends!"
"Don't worry, I won't," the Evil Queen said, even though she was planning to have Faybelle deal with them the same way she was going to deal with the teachers. Apple, who didn't know this, sat back down slowly.
"And the thing we must focus on right now is not that. Raven must become a dragonrider," the Evil Queen continued.
"But the dragons are too young to ride."
"Not for long, my dear," the Evil Queen said. "It will give her a thirst for competition. The joy of defeating others in a key step on the path of evil." As the Evil Queen spoke, Apple looked down at the picture on her vanity. It was of her and Raven. They were smiling and hugging each other.
"Haven't I done enough?" Apple asked.
"Hardly! You have just begun to serve me. If anyone learned that it was Apple White who freed me, why you can kiss your Prince Charming and the rest of your tale good-bye!" with those words, the Evil Queen left the room, leaving Apple crying behind her.
A little aqua, golden-brown, and dark green dragon with bright green eyes ran up to Raven and licked her awake.
"Good morning!" Raven exclaimed, sitting up. "Wait, Willow? You're not Nevermore. Nevermore?" she called, standing up.
"Nevermore?" she called making her way through the school. When she was in the library, she gasped. "I bet she has you!" she whispered, hurrying out.
At one of the tables, Faybelle put down the book she was pretending to read and picked up the purse the Evil Queen had given her. She flew over to the evil step-librarians and took out a jar with two snails in it. She took a pinch of the red dust in the purse and blew it onto the step-librarians. When the dust reached them, their spirits flew out of their bodies and into the snails.
"Cool! And I thought you guys were slimy before," Faybelle said, crouching to look into the jar.
About ten minutes before the teams were going to be chosen Faybelle crept up on the demigods talking. Izzy and Amanda were already in their dragonriding clothes and the others were wishing them luck.
"Say good-night!" Faybelle said, taking some dusk out and trying to blow it on the demigods. But the dusk was stopped in mid-air by Alex.
"Faybelle, if I were you I would get out of here right now," he threatened. "Before one of us throws you off the balcony."
Faybelle yelped and flew away as fast as she could.
"First will be the choosing of the two teams and captains," Headmaster Grimm said, looking at the girls in front of him. For some reason, the dragons hadn't liked any of the boys and were constantly chasing after them and blowing fire when they went near.
"Following that, since your dragons are not fledged, today you will merely walk your young dragons through their paces," the headmaster continued. Everyone groaned.
"But no fear," Giles added. "The Evil Queen will today offer a masterclass demonstration of dragonriding." This time, everyone cheered.
Giles took out a coin and flipped it. As the coin spun, the Evil Queen's eyes glowed purple.
"Dark wins," Giles said. "You may choose first."
"I choose...Apple White." Now, everyone gasped.
"But no, I should be on my mom's team," Apple argued.
"Let me tell you a little story," the Evil Queen said. "When I was released from my mirror prison-"
"No!" Apple interrupted. "I mean, yes! I'll be on your team. It's just a game, right?" she laughed nervously. "Your turn, mom."
"I choose Darling Charming as captain of Light!" she declared.
"Captains, choose your teams," Headmaster Grimm said.
Ten minutes later, Maddie, Melody, Ashlynn, Izzy, and Apple were on Dark while Lizzie, Poppy, Holly, Amanda, and Darling were on light.
"Well done captains!" Giles said. "Now that you've chosen you teams, it's time to-"
He was interrupted by Raven marching up the stairs.
"Mom!" she yelled angrily.
"Raven!" Amanda exclaimed happily. "You did decide to join!"
"Uh, no. Mom, did you take Nevermore?"
"She is fine."
"Mom, where is Nevermore?"
"Mummy has taken care of everything," the Evil Queen said. She motioned to the balcony of where she was staying, where Nevermore was tied up with chains!
"Do you know how cruel that is?!" Amanda demanded furiously. "Keeping a dragon locked up is like putting a human in a three foot long room, or trapping you in a mirror prison!" She raised her hands and Amethyst soared over the fence, now a full-grown dragon.
"The dark dragon is here to kill us!" someone screamed.
Amanda ignored them and motioned to where Nevermore was tied up. Amethyst immediately understood and dived over. She chewed on the chains and they snapped easily under her sharp and hard teeth.
Amanda smiled at her dragon and nodded to her. Amethyst gave a little happy roar and soared back over the fence.
Raven gave Amanda a grateful look as Nevermore jumped off the balcony and flew into the sky.
But, in front of everyone, the Evil Queen waved her hand and Nevermore's eyes turned a hypnotized purple. The dragon became rigid and flew up to the Evil Queen, who waved her hand, changing her outfit into something she could ride in.
"This is all a distraction," the Evil Queen whispered to Faybelle. "Find me Snow's magic mirror. I need that Booking Glass."
Amanda looked like she was a second away from summoning zombies to attack the Evil Queen when the villain yelled, "Hya!" and Nevermore flew into the air. She did tricks and flew around.
"Perhaps the students would benefit from a more in-depth demonstration," the Evil Queen shouted to Snow White. "Care to join me, Snow?"
"Oh I couldn't. It's been ages," Snow White said. She turned to the crowd, who cheered. "Well, if you insist. Got to give the people what they want!" She pulled off her skirt, revealing dragon riding clothes.
Izzy made a face and hissed, "Hera," to Amanda, making the daughter of Hades bite her lip to keep from laughing.
Snow White whistled and jumped off the balcony, only to come up a moment later on Legend.
The two queens flew around the valley on their dragons. Practically everyone in Book End was watching as Coach Gingerbread blew his whistle and the ball flew up.
"See those floating jewels around the stadium? They determine the number of points a goal is worth once a rider flies through them," Blondie explained.
While everyone was distracted with watching the show, Faybelle flew behind Snow White's guard dwarf. In the bag behind him was the Booking Glass. She smiled and was about to grab it, only for Daring, who had a bag of mirrors like the Booking Glass, to sit down next to her.
She carefully and sneakily took one of his mirrors and used it to replace the Booking Glass, which she took.
Excuse me Daring, gotta go," she said. "The uh, glare from your smile is blinding my view."
As she started to get up, one of the dragons roared from above her, causing her to jump and trip over Daring's bag of mirrors. When she got up, she realized the Booking Glass was gone.
"Oh, you dropped this," Daring said, handing her a mirror. "Nice taste in mirrors by the way."
Faybelle sighed in relief and hugged the mirror close. She flew up into the air.
"Or was this her mirror?" Daring said, picking up one of his many mirrors that had fallen when Faybelle tripped over the bag. "Hmmm. Oh well, I have plenty," he said, picking up two more mirrors and not knowing that the real booking glass was in his hands.
Above them, the Evil Queen spun around Snow White, scored a goal, and rode Nevermore down, where the purple dragon plopped down. She raised the ball over her head and everyone cheered, but Raven didn't care.
The daughter of the Evil Queen raced over to Nevermore, whose eyes turned back to their normal blue.
"Nevermore!" Raven exclaimed, resting a hand on the dragon's head. Nevermore turned into a baby. She looked over at Amanda, who raced forward. "Will she be okay?"
Amanda checked the dragon's pulse and body temperature.
She sighed in relief. "She'll be fine. Her pulse has sped up from being under a spell, and her body temperature is normal. Her scales are a bit warmer from the sun, but that's normal."
Raven hugged Nevermore. "Come on. Let's get you out of here," she said, lifting up the baby dragon.
A moment later, Snow White came down on Legend.
"And that's how it's done!" Blondie said. "What a great demonstration from the old guard. And now it's time for the next generation. The teams will now take the field!"
An upbeat song started playing as the big doors opened and six girls with dragons came out -
Darling with Hero Wing, Lizzie with Croquet, Ashlynn with Pumpkin, Apple with Braebryn, Melody with Deejay, and Poppy with Brushfire. The others were staying back until one of the players would get out, and then they would take their spots.
As the girls tried to get their dragons to jump through the gems, the crowd watched. When Ashlynn got Pumpkin to jump through a gem and the little dragon landed on her face on the other side of it, everyone awwed.
Coach Gingerbread blew the whistle, and the ball came up, just like it did with the Evil Queen and Snow White. Braebyrn immediately went after it.
Lizzie tried to pull Croquet, but the little dragon had a grumpy expression and stayed firmly in place until Lizzie pulled so hard that her leash snapped and the daughter of the Queen of Hearts fell down. As Coach Gingerbread blew the whistle again, Croquet walked on top of Lizzie with a nervous expression. When Lizzie smiled at the little red dragon, croquet licked her face.
As Lizzie and Croquet walked off, Amanda and Amethyst went in.
Meanwhile, Melody put some headphones on Deejay, who immediately bobbed her head to the music. The little dragon jumped through one of the gems and everyone cheered again.
The first dragongame had begun!
Raven and Nevermore walked into the barn. Raven flipped the switch that made the bins fill up with dragon food and groaned.
"I don't get you, Raven Queen," Faybelle said, walking out of one of the stalls. "If my mom was as wicked cool as yours, I would do anything to be ruling by her side."
"Oh gag," Raven said, turning away and walking down the room. Faybelle took a little bottle of pink glitter out of her purse and sprinkled the glitter in the food. Nevermore gave the food a distrusting look and turned away from it.
"That's how we're different, Faybelle," Raven continued. "I won't do anything to please her. Especially not if it means my friends could get hurt." She turned around just as Faybelle put the bottle back in her purse. "Wait a minute...why were you in the dark dragons' stall?"
"Oh, I was just checking if they were healthy, you know - getting enough exercise, eating well," Faybella made up. In reality, she was checking if the dragons could be made evil. But Amanda had done her work well, and only magic would ever make those dragons evil.
"You really think Amanda would starve dragons?" Raven said sceptically.
"Er, no of course not. But they're dark dragons - they're different," Faybelle said, trying to come up with something believable.
"Amanda literally raised a dark dragon," Raven pointed out.
"Well, why won't she let them play the games?" Faybelle countered.
"She said that even though they're pretty tame with the girls that come every day and their siblings, we can't be one hundred percent sure one of them won't go crazy and light the place on fire. So they're not playing yet, just to be safe," Raven explained.
Lucky for Faybelle, Raven seemed to have forgotten about questioning the dark fairy. And before she could remember, Faybelle said, "Anyways, I gotta go. See you around!" and flew out as fast as she could.
A buzzer sounded in the arena.
"That's it for the first half!" Blondie announced. "Dragonriders, please take your steeds to the stables for refreshment."
The girls picked up their dragons and walked to the stable. When they walked inside, all the dragons bounded for the food. Except Amethyst. Age-changing dragons like her and Nevermore (and her sister and brother) also had a better sense of smell, and Amethyst could tell the food wasn't normal. When Amanda opened the dark dragons stall door, Jinx, Moonheart, Nightshade, Eclipse, and Midnight all raced into the food with the rest of their siblings.
The girls stood around talking for a few minutes, but soon realized something was wrong. The dragons had wandered away from the food and all the girls could do was watch as they grew in size much, much faster than should be possible.
"Are you ready for more dragongames?!" Snow White called. A cheer answered her. "Let's begin round...-"
But she stopped speaking suddenly when the gates were thrown open and the girls and dragons stepped out. But now, the dragons were full grown and the girls were riding them.
"Two?!" Snow said in shock. She turned and gave the Evil Queen a distrusting look as she walked next to her.
"What? Don't look at me. I was right here the whole time," she said.
The buzzer sounded and the dragons lifted up a few feet, waiting for the ball.
"Coming to you live from the grandstands," Blondie said. "Not too hot, not too cold..."
"Yay dragongames!" Justine said, appearing on screen.
"My wish has come true!" Farah exclaimed.
"And there you have it!" Blondie said. "This day has turned out to be just right!"
"Have fun and play safe," Snow White encouraged her team, who smiled at each other. "Remember, this is just a game."
On the other side of the arena, the Evil Queen was telling the opposite thing to her dragonriders.
"This isn't just a game!" she shouted. "You're here to win by any means necessary! Victory is all that matters! Take your positions!"
The five girls flew to the middle of the field to join the others.
Coach Gingerbread blew the whistle and the ball flew up. Melody grabbed it and started to head to the goal. Darling circle in front of her, blocking the hoop. Melody looked down at the ball for a second, then smiled. She let go of it and it flew back...right into Apple's hands.
"Great catch! Go for the ruby!" Melody shouted.
Apple flew through the ruby and the ball turned red.
"That's worth fifty points if I can get it in the goal!" she said. She flew to the hoop and scored a goal, changing the score to zero-fifty. The Evil Queen clapped and looked down into the crowd, where Raven sat down with Nevermore.
"All the pieces are coming together," the Evil Queen said to herself.
In the game, Holly had the ball. She threw it back to Amanda, who was cornered by Izzy, Maddie, and Ashlynn. Amanda didn't stop flying, though, and dropped the ball. It fell into Darling's hands and the daughter of King Charming flew out of Apple's way.
Darling threw the ball to Poppy, who flew through three blue gems and threw it back to Darling. Darling was flying to the goal with Apple chasing after her.
"Remember! Any means necessary!" the Evil Queen shouted to Apple.
With a determined look, Apple changed course and instead of flying by Darling, she turned and flew right into her.
With a scream, the two dragons collided. Braebyrn kept flying straight down and righted herself quickly, but Hero Wing tumbled through the sky before flying down to the ground. The dragon was fine, but her rider fell to the ground.
"Darling!" Izzy shouted. She quickly rode Willow down, along with Darling's team, to check on Darling.
"Time out!" Coach Gingerbread shouted, blowing his whistle.
Apple gasped and flew over to where the Evil Queen was watching.
"I hope you know what you're doing, because my friends are getting hurt!" she said.
"A necessary evil," the Evil Queen said. "Remember, we must get Raven to take the field for the plan to work."
"You mean I get my happily Ever After. You promised!" Apple said.
"What? Oh, yes, yes. Certainly," the Evil Queen lied.
Meanwhile, Darling was trying to get the coach to let her back in.
"I'm good coach. Put me back in," Darling said, flashing a thumbs up.
"Darling, stop being stubborn," Izzy said, looking worried. "You are not fine and you know it."
"Izzy's right. We must forfeit," Snow White said.
"Wait, I didn't mean that," Izzy argued. "There has to be something you can do."
Snow White shook her head. "We're one player down. The game won't work."
Izzy tried to argue, but Snow White walked away sadly.
"She always wins!" Raven said to Dexter. "Someone has got to be able to stop her!"
"You're right. You," Dexter said.
Raven blinked. "What? That's not what I meant!"
"But you know you can do it," Dexter said. "Join the team."
"Since we do not have enough players to take the field," Snow White announced. "We surrender."
"Not so fast!" a new voice said.
Everyone looked up and saw Raven riding Nevermore with a determined expression.
"Light will just have to play with a new rider!"
Amanda smiled happily at Raven and flashed her a thumbs up. She and the others glanced back at Darling, who assured them she would be okay.
Everyone hopped on their dragons and took to the skies as the crowd cheered.
"All according to plan," the Evil Queen said to herself.
Behind her - in the crowd - Daring looked into his mirror. "These faux gems look so real," he said, polishing the shiny stones. "They could use a polish, though." He looked down at his food. "Rapture! A delicious meal!"
"Delicious meal captured," the mirror said.
"Oh come on! Who took my cotton candy?!" Daring said, looking around.
Faybelle snuck up on Baba Yaga, Headmaster Grimm, and Giles.
"Hey! Esteemed faculty!" she said, taking out some of the pink dust and blowing it on them. "Say cheese!"
Apple and Raven faced off in the middle of the field, waiting for the ball.
"Apple. It's just us," Raven said.
"It's our destiny!" Apple said confidently. "You against me - doesn't it feel right?"
The whistle blew and the ball shot up. The two girls chased after it immediately. Raven caught it and flew past Apple.
"Uh, right?" she said. "My mom is free and Darling is hurt, Apple."
"I know! It wasn't supposed to happen. For real," Apple said, chasing after Raven. Her friend rolled her eyes and flew under Apple.
"Don't you want vengeance?" Apple said, still chasing Raven. "Doesn't your heart desire victory over me? Aren't you angry?"
"Am I angry?" Raven said, flying around Apple. "Yeah, I'm angry, Apple!"
"Good. Follow your destiny!" Apple said.
"I am angry that you don't listen!" Raven continued. "I 'm angry that you say you're my friend, but you're so...so selfish! It's all about what you want! What kind of friend refuses to listen?!"
"I just want our happily ever after," Apple said meekly.
"Have it," Raven said, tossing Apple the ball. "I'm not playing any games anymore."
"At least my mom will be proud of me!" Apple shouted after Raven as the purple-haired girl flew away.
"Raven! Where are you going?" Poppy shouted.
But Raven didn't answer. She just kept flying.
Apple turned and flew, going through one blue and one red gem, dodging everyone who came near her. She threw the ball through the goalpost, changing her team's score to over one-hundred.
The crowd stood up and cheered, and her teammates were all celebrating, but Apple just wiped her eyes and flew to the Evil Queen.
"It won't work," she said. "Raven won't turn evil."
"She doesn't have to," the Evil Queen said. "It's enough for others to think she has. Now head back in. I've got this."
Apple did as she was told. This time, Amanda was first to get the ball. She flew through a red gem and a blue one, then threw the ball in the goal. One hundred one-ninety.
They kept playing the game, but the Evil Queen wasn't watching. Her attention was on Raven and she and Nevermore flew away.
"A smoldering pyre, to a dragon flyer," she chanted. "I summon forth, uncontrollable fire!"
As Raven flew Nevermore, the dragon screeched and purple flames burst through her mouth, lighting a house in Book End on fire. Unable to stop, the dragon kept going, setting fire to the school.
"Look! It's Raven! Burning down the school!" Faybelle shouted.
Nevermore reared and flew to the dragon arena, also setting it on fire. The students flew into a panic, running and screaming. Kyle tried to douse the fire, but started to panic.
"My powers aren't working!" he shouted. Amanda looked terrified and tried to summon some skeletons to get rid of the fire, but also started to panic.
"Neither are mine!" she yelled.
"Run!" Eve screamed.
Above them, the spell on Nevermore faded away.
"Oh, you poor thing," Raven said to her dragon. "Come on - we need to get you out of here. Let's go!"
The two of them flew away.
"You!" Snow White said, marching over to the Evil Queen. "Up to your wicked ways again!"
"Me?! She's on your team!" the Evil Queen said.
"This ends now!" Snow White said, taking out the mirror that Faybelle had replaced the Booking Glass with out. "Capture the Evil Queen!" she said, pointing it at the villain. When nothing happened, she gasped.
"Looking for this?" the Evil Queen said, taking out the mirror Faybelle had given her. She dropped it and stepped on it, shattering the glass. Unknown to her, this also wasn't the Booking Glass.
"Hey! I have one of those mirrors too!" Daring said. He seemed to be the only one not terrified of the fire - he was still sitting on the bench and was now toasting a marshmallow in the flames next to him. He tossed the marshmallow to the side and picked up the real Booking Glass. "If it's good enough for the Queen, then it's certainly good enough to capture Daring Charming!"
A moment later, he screamed as the mirror literally captured him.
"Daring Charming captured," it said.
"Cool!" he said, looking around the mirror prison. "A world of mirrors!"
He looked into one of them. "Wait, what's happening? Why can't I see myself? I'm on the flipside of the mirrors! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"The games, at last, are over," the Evil Queen said. "Take her."
The zombified versions of Giles and Headmaster Grimm walked towards Snow. Her dwarfs tried to protect her, but the brothers just tossed them aside.
The Evil Queen turned and looked around at the wreckage. She smiled to herself.
Up on top of the mountain EVer After High was on, Raven held a baby Nevermore.
"She did it," she said to the little dragon. "She took control of the entire school! What's next?"
So, a bit more demigods in this. I'm sorry these last two chapters have each come out a day late, but I've been doing my best.
-Creator of Magic