An Unglamorous Entrance

Meanwhile, Raven Queen was struggling not to panic. She was worried about Apple, like everyone else, but she was also extremely anxious about her brother's absence. She knew that Rotbart liked solitude and was capable of completely disappearing for days at a time if the mood struck him. But she also knew that he would never, EVER miss out on a pancake breakfast with her. It was a sibling tradition, right up there with pillow fights, cheesy horror movies, and going all out for Halloween. And Rotbart, despite his villainous nature, hardly ever broke promises to anyone, especially to her. No, Raven was convinced that something was very, VERY wrong!

"Come on, come on…PICK UP!" She muttered as she tried calling Rotbart's phone for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. And once again, she got her brother's sinister-sounding voice mail message:

"This Rotbart Von Schwartz. Leave your name and number and I'll get back to you. Or maybe I'll just get you…hehehhehheh…"

"Damn it!" Raven cursed as she hung up. "Rotty, where ARE you?!" She wondered aloud.

"EAH, dead ahead!" Rotbart called to Apple over the wind.

"Already?!" She said in surprise. Rotbart had been right about making the trip as falcons; it had taken hardly any time at all. Only five minutes, tops.

As they approached the school, Apple looked down and she could see tons of teachers and students scouring the school grounds. And thanks to her sharper bird senses, she could just make out what they were yelling:

"Apple! APPLE! APPLE!" They repeated as they searched every inch of the school gardens and courtyards.

"Oh no!" Apple said. It was just as she feared; everyone was frantic over her! And to make matters more chaotic, there was a huge line up of coaches that were waiting to take students home for winter break. Apparently many of the students had refused to leave until she was found.

"Shit." Rotbart said in amazement. He knew that the royals would work themselves into a tizzy over their precious princess going missing, but actually seeing all the bedlam her disappearance caused was another thing altogether. Godmother, they really do love that little pain-in-the-crown. He thought to himself. And then he noticed a very specific face in the rescue party:

"Hey, princess: look who's acting like he cares!" He said. Apple followed his gaze and saw none other than Daring Charming searching for her alongside the other would-be heroes.

"That fake!" She growled as her currently-sharp-falcon-vision caught him shoot a lecherous glance at Lizzie from across the courtyard. "That lying, unchilvarous, DESPICABLE…"

"Cool it." Rotbart said. "Return first, revenge second. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless you have a certain urge to, you know, relieve yourself…" He said innocently.

Apple glared at him. "You do it." She retorted.

Rotbart stared at her. "Huh?"

"You do it." She repeated. "You're the one that's full of crap."

Rotbart gaped at her for a moment and then started laughing. He hadn't expected that kind of response from her.

"What's so funny?!" She demanded.

"YOU!" Rotbart gasped between chuckles.

"I see nothing funny about this." Apple snapped. "Least of all me!"

"You just told me to crap on your prince's…"

"EX-prince's."

"Ex-prince's head. Think about it. The future Snow White told me to take a dump on Prince Charming's head. How is that not funny?"

Apple was spared from answering that question by spotting her room. "Look, my room!" She cried. But then she saw Raven through the window; pacing and looking anxious as she dialed her cell phone over and over again. "Oh no!" Apple half-wailed.

"What? What is it?" Rotbart asked.

"We can't get in!"

"Why not?!"

"RAVEN'S in there!"

"So?"

"SO?! So nobody's supposed to know! You said so yourself!" Apple yelled.

"And YOU said that Raven was the only person who'd believe I'd save your ass!" Rotbart yelled back.

At that point, Professor Yaga whizzed by the two falcons and said into her walkie-talkie: "No sign of her, headmaster. I'm afraid you'll have to call in the police."

"There. You hear that?!" Rotbart shouted as Professor Yaga flew away on her magic mortar. "They're calling the police. And they'll call in your mommy and the whole fucking royal army to boot. You wanna deal with them, or Raven?!"

Apple gulped. Rotbart was right again. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but at least the rock in question was really more of a pebble. It would be a lot easier for Apple to explain what happened to Raven than to her mother.

"Right." She said bravely. "I'm going in!"

"WAIT NO, DON'T DIVE…" Rotbart yelled.

But it was too late. Apple promptly crashed into the closed window.

WHAP! A huge thudding sound made Raven nearly jump out of her skin. She whirled around and saw that a bird had hit the window pane on Apple's side of the room.

"Oh no!" Raven exclaimed as she ran to the window and quickly opened it to inspect the bird. The bird turned out to be an unusual-looking falcon; a small, dainty one with white feathers with tints of gold. And very dazed blue eyes

Never seen a bird that looks like that before. Raven thought as she gingerly lifted it and laid it on her bed. But before she could examine the falcon, another one flew in. A bigger one, with black feathers and strange tufts of red around his head. And very familiar piercing blue eyes.

Nonetheless, Raven was still extremely shocked when the second bird immediately turned into her brother and said:

"I told that dumbass not to dive."