A Wild Swan Chase

Rotbart and Raven headed downstairs to look for clues of Apple's whereabouts outside the tower where Rotbart and Sparrow lived. As they half walked, half ran down the winding stairs, Raven asked: "Do you know where she is now?"

Rotbart turned to give his sister a puzzled look. "What?" He said.

"Do you know where Apple is now?" Raven repeated.

He snorted. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"But, don't you know how to track swans?" Raven pressed.

Rotbart gave his little sister a look. "No." He said dryly. "Who do you think I am? The big bad wolf?"

"Well, your dad always boasted that he knew exactly where his victims were at all times..."

"I'd hardly call Apple a victim." Rotbart said as he scowled at the thought of the annoying, stuck-up princess that had caused so much trouble today.

"...So I thought he'd have taught you how." Raven finished.

"Dad had waaaaaay too much time on his hands." Rotbart said shortly. He didn't elucidate further, but Raven got the message: the previous Swan Lake Sorcerer always knew the last Odette's precise movements because he enjoyed spying on her, not because he was gifted with some sort of freaky Swan Sense that he could have passed on to his son. That would have helped though! Raven thought ruefully.

"Don't worry. We'll find her." Rotbart said. "There's lot's of ways to skin a cat. Or swan." He added wickedly.

"ROTBART!"

"Fine." Rotbart sighed. "I'll kill her later."

Once they reached clearing outside the tower, the two siblings searched the area for clues.

"Hey! I found something!" Rotbart shouted. He held up a large white-as-snow-feather.

"Hexcellent! Are there any more?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, look!" Rotbart separated the bushes to reveal a trail of swan feathers heading towards the main courtyard. Raven couldn't help but feel immensely relieved. Tracking down Apple was going to be a lot easier than she thought!

When Raven and Rotbart got to the main courtyard, they found it was in disarray. Students were picking up dropped school supplies, cleaning up the remnants of ruined picnic lunches, and pulling feathers out of their various belongings.

But the biggest mess in the courtyard was Holly O'Hair. She was crying and shaking and her normally perfect auburn hair was covered in tangles and feathers. Her sister Poppy was trying to comfort her and do damage control.

"It's OK, Big Sis." She was saying as she tried to comb out the tangles. "It's not that bad..."

"But...it hurt SO MUCH!" Holly blubbered. "And I just know it gave me split ends!"

"Holly! Poppy! What happened?!" Raven asked.

"A BIRD HAPPENED!" Holly wailed. And then she started weeping like a true damsel in distress.

"Yeah, some crazy swan flew in here and started attacking everyone." Poppy explained. "It got caught in Holly's hair for a moment and I had to beat it off with a hairbrush."

"Which way did it go?!" Rotbart asked.

"It went THAT way." Poppy said as she pointed towards the main hall.

"Thanks Poppy!" Raven said, and she and Rotbart dashed off.

"So much for Apple not hurting anyone." Rotbart muttered. But he secretly wished he had been there to see Apple get whacked with a hairbrush.

The main hall was in an even worse state than the main courtyard. Once again people were trying to pick up their assorted messes and they all had the sort of dazed expressions that could be expected after encountering an insane swan.

Rotbart immediately strode towards Hopper. "Hey! Frog-Boy! Where did the swan go?!" Rotbart demanded.

The future frog prince looked extremely startled and awkward. "Erm...uh...well..." He stuttered.

"Spit it out!" Rotbart barked.

"Rotty! There's no need for that!" Raven chastised.

POOF! Hopper lost his human form and regained his composure:

"Sorry about that, my villainous sir." The now-debonair frog apologized. "One tends to be at loss for words when confronted by very angry and powerful sorcerer of ill repute. I mean that in only the most complimentary fashion."

"Thanks." Rotbart said shortly. "Now can you tell us which way the swan went?!"

"That way." Hopper pointed. And it was now fully apparent to the young sorcerers that Apple had left a very distinctive trail of chaos.

"Wow. That's some mess." Raven observed.

"It had terrible manners." The Frog Prince sniffed.

But that mess was nothing. The trail of destruction led them to the castleteria and it hadn't looked so bad since the great food fight following Legacy Day.

"Whoa..." Raven breathed.

"If she makes this much of a mess as a swan, imagine what she'll do as a politician." Rotbart said.

"Uh, excuse me," Raven said to the three billy goats. "Did you see which way the swan went?"

The three goats all pointed in different directions.

"OK, how about you guys?" Raven asked the three little pigs.

But they all pointed in different directions too.

"That lot couldn't find their way out of a barnyard." Rotbart said in disgust.

Raven turned to a spaghetti-splattered Lizzie Hearts. "Did YOU see the swan?" She asked.

"Yes. AND OFF WITH IT'S HEAD!" She shouted.

"YES!" Rotbart shouted in agreement.

"ROTBART!" Raven yelled. "Which way did she go?" She asked Lizzie.

Lizzie angrily pointed towards the field where Hero Training class was currently being held. And much to Raven's horror, a dragon was sitting in the middle of the field.

"Hurry!" She told Rotbart. And she desperately prayed that they wouldn't find a baked Apple there.

What they did find was a very frightened dragon and several shaken would-be heroes. And one very pissed Prince Charming.

"AAAARRRG! Just look what that thing did to my beautiful, beautiful hair!" Daring howled.

Raven stared at the mess on Daring's head while Rotbart laughed his head off. "Is that..." She began.

"Uh-Huh." Rotbart managed to get out in between his booming, hysterical, somewhat sinister laughter. He knew what that stuff was alright. This. Is. PRICELESS. He thought. Seeing the big prince on campus like that was almost worth the possibility of getting expelled!

Raven rolled her eyes. "Grow up." She told her brother. "Anybody see where she went?" Raven asked.

"The forest!" Someone offered.

"Come on!" Raven shouted at Rotbart. "Stop laughing. This is serious!"

"Seriously funny!" Rotbart howled as he followed her.

"HAR-UMPH." Daring said.

But the trail wasn't quite so obvious in the forest. In fact, there wasn't a trail at all! And after searching for what felt like hours, even Rotbart began to feel seriously scared.

Aw, Grimm...what I've really lost that royal bitch? He thought.