The light instantly faded from the Brotherhood's eyes. All four of them blinked, looking confused. Four loud clatters resonated around the room as they dropped their weapons. For a second, there was utter silence in the throne room.
Slowly, every pair of eyes turned to the Queen. She looked completely aghast at the fact that she had just lost her guards. She glanced around almost fearfully before a rock sprouted beneath her feet and swept her out of the room.
The initial shock slowly passed, and they chased after her. Adira, Hector, and Edmund followed after a moment.
But Quirin and Varian stayed in the throne room, staring at each other. Varian didn't know what he should be doing. That is, until his father spoke.
"Varian," he said, his voice husky, "how long-"
"Ten years," Varian responded, his voice catching.
"Ten years," he muttered. "Ten years stolen away." He looked back at Varian. "And you've been alone all this time?"
Varian nodded, blinking hard. "But I've been alright."
Quirin remained frozen for a moment more. Then he opened his arms. Without hesitation, and feeling shamelessly like a little kid, Varian ran into them for the first time in a decade.
Jaiden burst through the castle doors in pursuit of the Queen and found her standing in the center of the courtyard, unmoving.
She was about to run forward when her father grabbed her arm to stop her and she heard Rapunzel shout, "Cassandra!"
The Queen whirled around, snarling at the princess, who ran forward to the edge of the balcony.
"Cass, stop this," Rapunzel called down.
The Queen said nothing. She raised her arms and thrust them forward, sprouting black rocks to erupt around them all. While the others ran, Rapunzel simply closed her eyes and spread her hands. Her hair lit up and a soft golden glow surrounded her, shattering the black rocks as they sprouted.
As she called on the power of the sundrop, a sun clasp on her chest began to glow. With a small explosion, its pieces flew outward and away from a shining golden gem on her chest.
The sundrop, Jaiden found herself thinking in awe as Rapunzel stepped forward. She looked down and realized the princess's feet were hovering a foot above the ground.
The balcony rail was blasted away by the shards of a shattered black rock. Rapunzel stepped forward into open air. She grasped her hair and flung it forward in an explosion of light that demolished all the black rocks in the vicinity.
The Queen was thrust to the ground by the force. She got again to her feet as Rapunzel floated slowly to the ground in front of her.
"It's over, Cass."
Unseen to all but the Queen, Zhan Tiri appeared standing behind Rapunzel.
The Queen smiled. "Funny," she said as the gray girl inched forward. "I was thinking the same thing!"
Seeing what was going to happen a second before it did, Jaiden screamed, "Rapunzel, look out!"
Rapunzel turned a split second too late. Zhan Tiri threw herself onto her. The princess struggled to throw the girl off, but before she could, Zhan Tiri reached down and plucked the sundrop from her chest, falling off as she did so.
The gray girl regained her footing and grinned as Rapunzel shuddered and collapsed to the ground as her golden hair changed to brown.
"Rapunzel!" Eugene yelled, trying to run to her. The Queen turned and clenched her fist. A black rock cage sprouted up around him, forcing him to his knees. She turned to the others, raising her arms.
Without a word, they scattered.
The rocks chased them, empty cages sprouting where they had been a second earlier. Jaiden suddenly tripped on a rock shard and fell to the ground. She braced herself to hear the sound of the rocks erupting around her, but she didn't. She scrambled to her feet and frantically scanned the courtyard.
The Queen seemed to have somehow forgotten about her. She was focused on the others. As Jaiden watched, a cage sprung up around the members of the Brotherhood, who were evidently still a little uncomfortable being in control of their own minds for the first time in ten years. Sometime during all the commotion, Varian and his dad had come out from the castle. Jaiden watched as Quirin became trapped as well.
She saw Varian duck into the shadows. Somehow, the rocks weren't chasing after him either. the Queen seemed to be entirely focused on someone else.
Jaiden's dad dodged another rock and ran for Rapunzel. He reached her and kneeled by her, as a rock cage erupted around both of them.
The Queen smirked and tried to turn back to Zhan. She only caught a small glimpse of Jaiden running toward her before the girl plowed into her once again.
The girl was lashing out with her knife, aiming for the moonstone on her chest. The Queen snarled and fought back. She raised her arm to cover the moonstone as the girl brought her dagger down. The blade shattered on impact.
The girl stared at it for a second too long. The Queen saw her chance and thrust her away.
Jaiden tumbled to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tiny glowing thing fall to the ground beside her. Out of curiosity and desperation, she picked it up. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was.
A tiny sliver of the moonstone.
She glanced up at the Queen. She hadn't noticed it fall away. She was scanning the courtyard, most likely looking for the gray girl, who had disappeared.
Jaiden looked down at the sliver in her hand. She had an idea, but she didn't know if it would work with only this much of the moonstone.
But she had no other options. She stood up, clutched the sliver close to her chest, closed her eyes, and began to recite.
"Crescent high above, evolving as you go…"
The Queen turned around at the sound of her voice. When she saw what was happening, her eyes widened. Jaiden's hair had begun to glow blue. The familiar snakelike feeling arose within her.
"Raise what lies beneath, and let the darkness grow."
"No!" The Queen shouted, trying to run towards her, but as soon as she got close, the python inside of Jaiden lashed out, and a black rock erupted, shoving the Queen back to the ground. The black rocks were starting to sprout all around Jaiden's feet.
"Bend it to my will, consume the sunlight's glow…"
The snake coiled and writhed, making a rock appear underneath her feet, raising her upward. A soft blue glow surrounded her.
"Rise into the sky and let the darkness grow."
The pillar rose ever higher, slowly growing and changing.
"Let darkness grow."
The python feeling remained in her, constantly moving and shifting, even after she opened her eyes. The moonstone sliver in her hand had grown warm. She took her hand away, and it remained stuck to her chest, as the Queen's was.
Jaiden swept her still-glowing hair away from her face and looked down from the pillar. She saw them all staring up at her with awe in her eyes. The Queen looked absolutely infuriated.
The Queen began rising up on her own black rock pillar. Jaiden thrust out her hand, and another rock slammed into the Queen's. She tumbled off, but one more rock caught her. Jaiden made rocks sprout all around the Queen's pillar, but the Queen was ready now. Jaiden's heart sank as she realized that the Queen had more of the moonstone's power than Jaiden, and she knew it.