"So, we have to solve two mysteries now?" Faybelle declared. She didn't sign up for this!
"Four, technically," Christina replied pointedly.
"Four?"
"Who killed my Dad. Who killed my Mom. Who this demon really is and, where Spitefire's been and who was mistreating him," she explained, counting them off on her fingers.
"Where to now, Christina?" Duncan inquired.
"You're asking me?"
"Yeah, this is your mystery," Clawdeen nodded.
"Then, we have to go to the Vault of Lost Tales," she decided, "follow me,"
The group wove through the empty halls, the only sound to be heard was Christina's occasional knock on the walls, "The entrance moves," she explained before finally finding the door in the main hall next to her old locker ironically. Stepping through the door the others were taken aback by the sheer size of this place, books lining every single wall, hidden in every nook and cranny.
"How are we supposed to find anything?"
Christina turned to her flabbergasted boyfriend with a small smile of reassurance, "Magic of course. Now, let's split up and get looking."
"For what?" Melinda prompted.
"Anything that has to do with our mysteries,"
"Understood,"
Being surrounded by all these books, Christina couldn't help slipping into her memories.
…...
Christina smiled at the soft golden sunlight that peeked through the window, wrapping her in its warmth. Slowly opening her eyes the seven-year-old stretched, raising her arms above her head, locking her fingers before lowering her arms to her side before sliding out of her bed.
Fluttering out of her room she found her mother already seated at the kitchen table with a large bowl of strawberries.
"Good morning, Butterfly,"
"Morning," Christina cheerily replied, dropping into the seat across from her mother.
"Did you sleep okay?"
"Yes,"
"What did you dream about?"
"Dragons,"
"Dragons?"
Christina nodded vigorously, "They were so pretty! They wanted to play with me,"
"That sounds nice," Alissa smiled, "Do you want to go to the library today?"
"Yes, please!"
…...
Christina was snapped back to reality when a stack of books fell from the nearby table. She glanced over to see Dingbat and Numbskull quickly cleaning up their mess. Shrugging, she returned to the book in front of her.
Mysteries, Monsters and, Myths.
An encyclopedia of sorts. It was large and heavy with yellowing pages, not the greatest book to behold but it wasn't meant to be looked at it was meant to be read. Christina had always been a fast reader but even a book this big was daunting. Rolling her eyes, she resorted to an old trick she used for studying.
"Read it fast at lightning speed, remember everything I need,"
Worked every time.
"Find anything yet, Christy?" Melinda asked, lounging on her broom, book in front of her.
"Not anything to do with the monster I'm afraid,"
"I found something that could explain how someone was able to hold Spitfire captive for so long,"
"Share away,"
"Sphinx hair," Melinda declared turning the book so Christina could see, "It was used by dragon hunters, trainers, and, breeders before it was decided dragons should be left alone. Capturing a dragon is illegal now,"
"Like, then why are there Dragon Games?" Shaggy wondered.
"Let me rephrase, capturing a wild dragon is illegal but if a dragon chooses you you're stuck with it for life. Spitfire belonged to Christina's mom and since she's no longer alive he had the chance at freedom but he chose Christina,"
"So, she's stuck with him?"
"Yep, and if another dragon were to claim her they'd share," Melinda grinned, "But that's a super rare thing,"
"Let's keep looking for clues," Christina redirected.
…...
Several hours later they had scarcely made any progress in the search for information. Christina shut another book and pushed it away.
"Ugh! we're not finding anything!" Faybelle declared, face-planting into the desk.
Christina rolled her eyes and went back to her stack of books. The last book in her pile was titled An Ancient History. It wasn't big or important looking like the other books and the title was vague. History of what? Tiredly, she rose from the table which creaked slightly. Tucking the book into her bag it was decided it was time to leave and so, they left the vault behind.
"Good work, Cousin," Faybelle snidely commented.
"Hey!" Shaggy cried, "It was like, a good decision,"
"Please, don't argue, I'm trying to think!" Christina scolded, "Let's recap,"
"Good idea," Duncan nodded.
They skimmed the interviews hoping for some information to jump out at them but found none.
"Like, we forgot to interview Grimm," Shaggy pointed out.
"Later, I don't feel up to it,"
"You okay, Christina?"
"Fine, just tired," she smiled weakly at him.
Shaggy let the matter drop but would continue to keep an eye on Christina.
"Let's get some fresh air, it should be dry outside now," Christina decided.
"Okay,"
…...
Outside in the sunshine, Christina relaxed. The group sat on the benches in the courtyard. It was nice to have a break.
"Hello, Spitfire," Christina laughed as the dragon landed beside her.
The dragon purred like a kitten. Nuzzling her. Christina turned to the gentle dragon with a small smile. His scales shone in the sunlight almost as brightly as his eyes deep emerald green and full of happiness.
"Like I said, she's stuck with him," Melinda smirked.
"We'd better get him back to the stables so that Grimm won't flip his crown," Raven decided.
Spitfire looked at Raven, the sadnesss was almost comical.
"It'll be okay," Christina cooed standing from the bench, "Come on,"
Spitfire bowed to her, catching everyone by surprise.
"Like, did your Mom teach him that?"
"How would I know?" Christina replied.
Shaggy shrugged as they returned to the stables.
"What I want to know is why Spitfire stays with the dark dragons?" Melinda wondered, "They aren't very uh-"
"Nice?"
"Yeah,"
The group watched as Christina led Spitfire back into the stall, speaking soothingly to him. She pet him as he laid down, promising that she'd visit later
"Good boy," she grinned, kissing his snout before turning to leave.
Only to find herself surrounded by the dark dragons.
"What do we do?" Shaggy asked nervously
"Wait," Melinda said calmly, "Christy will think of something,"
Spitfire curled around Christina who stood frozen. She shakily pet him wondering what she could do.
He purred again as if telling her it would be okay,
she watched confusedly as the dragons place something at her feet.
An egg, an egg that was ready to hatch.
"You rescued it, didn't you boy?" she asked him.
He licked her
"They want you to take it, Christy," Raven realized.
"Whoever had Spitfire had the egg too," Melinda guessed.
Christina bent down to pick the egg up. It was a dark dragon egg black with blue flames. As she lifted it from the ground it began to crack, Christina watched in wonder. It was hatching in her hands! The small cracks grew larger and larger with every moment until the tiny dragon spread its tiny wings, yawning tiny flames as it rose from the shell. It regarded her with purple eyes as she lifted it from what remained of the shell. It licked her cheek.
"I guess Christina's the exception to the rule," Melinda smiled.
"I'll name you Prince," Christina smiled, "let's get you taken care of,"
…...
"I think we should speak with Red and Bigs again," Clawdeen later declared, "They knew your father, Christy, maybe they can help?"
Christina nodded absently, staring out the window.
"And remember what our Mom said," Dirk added.
"Who would have the most to gain?"
Christina made no move to respond.
She was too lost, overwhelmed in her memories. Prince laid on her lap, sleeping peacefully.
Who would try to steal a dragon? Two for that matter?
"Christy. Maybe you should lay down," Raven decided.
"I think I will. I don't feel too good," Christina nodded, "Go speak to Grimm now, I'll join you later,"
"Okay,"
/
"I think we should wait to interview Grimm," Melinda stated.
The others nodded in agreement.
After leaving Christina to rest the gang went to the common room to discuss a plan of action. There they were joined by Cupid, Dexter, Dalton, Darling and, Arthur who was curious as to how the mystery-solving was going.
"Can we help?" Cupid asked sweetly.
"Yes," Duncan nodded.
"What do we do in the meantime?" Faybelle inquired.
"We look for clues," Duncan declared.
"Right. You guys can 'look for clues' all you want. I'm going to bed. See ya!"
Duncan grinned, making Shaggy's blood run cold. He did not like where this was headed.
"Duncan like, PLEASE don't say..."
"Let's split up, gang", Duncan said, to the nodding agreement of the others.
"that", Shaggy moaned.
"Dirk? You take Darling, Raven, and Arthur to search the dorms."
"Sure, Duncan", Dirk grinned, taking his group toward the main staircase.
"Clawdeen, Dexter, Cupid? you three will come with me to search the upstairs classrooms and faculty offices."
"You got it, Hot-Stuff", Clawdeen smirked, kissing his cheek.
"Shaggy you and Scooby-"
"Like, we'll take the dungeon level and ground floor", Shaggy said hurriedly.
"Um, ok", Duncan replied in surprise. "Melinda? Take Dalton, Dingbat, and Numbskull search to campus grounds."
"Hex-cellent!", the young witch grinned. "Let's go, guys."
Duncan caught Faybelle by the arm.
"Hooooollld it there, Faybelle", Duncan said. "All this has taken its toll on Christina. She needs to rest. We may need you."
"Fine!" Faybelle sighed dramatically.
…...
Christina lay with the covers pulled up to her chin. It was beyond hard being back in Ever After. She was brought here to solve her mother's murder of all things! Which led to solving her father's murder. As if that wasn't enough her mother's long-lost pet had returned and brought an egg with him. Both had been held captive and she needed to find out why!
She would as soon as she felt well again.
Whenever that was. For now, she would rest.
…...
Her house was empty, cold and barren. It was downright unsettling and try as she might Christina couldn't remember how she got there.
"Mom?" she warily called out.
No reply.
She moved from the living room to the kitchen and from the kitchen to her mother's room finding nothing. Lastly, she checked her room which was darker than the rest of the house.
"Mom?"
"I'm afraid your mother can't help you, Princess."
She whirled around finding Drew. Slowly she backed away unable to summon her magic.
Christina stumbled, falling to the ground she came face to face with her mother's corpse.
"See? Poor thing," Drew cackled, "So gullible,"
She scrambled away only to be caught by Drew pinning her in place with one hand, twirling an iron dagger with the other.
"You monster!" Christina screamed as she struggled.
"Shh, he's watching us,"
Out of the corner of her eye, Christina saw a shadow slinking along the wall.
It turned to her, leaping and smothering her in its inky blackness.
"HELP!"
…...
Christina fell out of bed in a tangle of sweaty sheets, gasping for air.
The sheets were pulled off of her by Prince. She burst into tears as the horrible images assaulted her
Prince licked her tears away, rubbing against her trying to bring comfort.
Christina picked Prince up and shakily rose to her feet climbing back into the bed with a shuddering sigh.
"Am I to be plagued by nightmares my whole life?" she whispered, "This is torture!"
Not to mention I feel like I'm going to puke, she through, her eyes burning with hatred.
This had to be the worst day of her life despite meeting a baby dragon.
…...
"Why are we in the kitchen?" Faybelle asked with an eye roll.
"I am making something for Christina," Shaggy curtly replied.
"What exactly?"
"Tomato soup, her favorite,"
"Just my luck, I'm stuck with a lovesick werewolf who's utterly devoted to my goody-two-shoes cousin,"
"Like, excuse me for being concerned with her well-being," Shaggy snapped.
Thunder rumbled outside foretelling another storm, glancing out the window Faybelle watched Melinda and her group scramble for cover. She rolled her eyes. This mystery was boring and she would much rather go to bed. When Shaggy had his back turned she crept over to the kitchen door and pried it open quietly.
Only to come face to face with the demon