Chapter 11: Once Upon a Dream
As Cindy's thoughts drifted to the upcoming Ball, Rose was in her bedroom crying. Her aunts occasionally knocked on the door, but each time she told them to go away. This was not how she hoped her sixteenth birthday would turn out, and soon she was thinking back to when she got a call from her Aunt Flora on her way home from school.
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"I'm sorry for asking this at the last minute, but could you stop by the grocery store and pick up some berries?" Flora asked on the other end.
She seemed excited, which made Rose suspicious. "Uh, yeah, sure, but I think we still have a ton of berries left in the fridge."
"We need more." There was a pause, and then Flora said, "Now make sure to get home before the sun goes down, and don't speak to strangers."
"All right, I will," Rose replied, and hung up.
It didn't take long for her to get to the store, and soon she was preoccupied with thoughts on what kind of cake her aunts were clearly making, which would ultimately decide what kind of berries she would get. While a mixed berry cake seemed like a logical choice, Rose reminded herself that her favorite was cheesecake with blueberries and strawberries on top. So she made her way to the stack where those two berries were kept, and it was there that she ran into Philip.
"Hey, I know you!" he said immediately after seeing her. She tried to walk away from him, but he grabbed the shopping cart and said, "Why are you avoiding me?"
"I'm not avoiding you," Rose sighed. "It's just that I'm busy."
"Doing what?" Philip asked.
"Shopping berries for my aunts, even though we have plenty at home."
"Well, that's strange."
"But that's not the only thing that's strange about them." Rose immediately regretted saying that, considering that she didn't really know Philip that well, so she decided to focus on choosing the berries.
However, Philip didn't leave her. "You can tell me if you want to. But if you don't, that's fine. The only thing I ask is that you don't treat me like a stranger. Sure, we've only met a couple of times, but there's no point in ignoring each other, especially when we go to the same school."
"Yes, I suppose you're right," Rose said after a long pause. "Do you think it's odd for people who use magic to hide it?"
Philip scratched his head for a moment, and then replied, "It depends on who you're talking about. While some fairies, sorcerers, and witches may be comfortable using their magic openly, others may not out of fear that they'll be ostracized, or discovered if they're planning to do something bad."
"Would it make sense to not use magic in order to protect someone?"
"I suppose, depending on whether the threat is magically-related or not."
"What do you mean?"
"If the threat is magical, then it makes sense that the magic-user doesn't openly use their magic because if they did, the magical threat will recognize it, and possibly go after the person the magic-user is trying to protect. But if the threat is non-magical, then the magic-user is simply worried about how others view him or her."
"I see." After Rose picked out the containers with the best blueberries and strawberries in them, she put them into the cart and looked at Philip straight in the face. "The reason I asked this is because…do you know Fauna, the Choir teacher?"
"I've heard the name," Philip responded.
"She's one of my aunts, and last week, she used her conductor's baton to magically open the door for Maleficent when she used a spell to interfere with my singing. I think the baton was actually a wand, but the thing is…I've never seen her use magic before, and now I'm starting to wonder if my other aunts are also magic-users."
"Who are your other aunts?"
"Flora, the Etiquette teacher, and Mary, the School Nurse."
"So your aunts all work at Disney Academy? That must be embarrassing."
Rose shrugged. "Sometimes it is, but they don't make a big deal about it."
"That's good." Then Philip suddenly snapped his finger. "You know, I recall hearing about a student who got zapped by a teacher recently, and so he went to the Nurse's office, then when he came out, he was fine, which is unusual because magical wounds can only be healed by magic."
"Then I guess that confirms my suspicions," Rose said and looked down. Then out of a desire to change the subject, she said, "So, um, what are you doing here?"
"I'm shopping groceries with my dad," Philip said, pointing to a fat man wearing a bright colorful shirt who was looking at different kinds of wine. "He's really excited because a friend of his is going to be seeing his daughter tonight, whom he hasn't seen in years."
"Oh, what's her name?"
"Aurora, I think." Then Philip's eyebrow raised as he looked back at Rose. "And speaking of names, you still haven't told me yours."
In embarrassment, Rose blushed. "You're not going to drop it, are you?"
"I don't plan to," Philip smirked.
After a brief sigh, Rose reached into her school-bag, tore a small piece of notebook paper off, and used a pen from an outside pocket to write her address on it. Then she presented the written note to Philip and said, "If you want to know my name, then come to my house for dinner tonight. It's my birthday, and I wouldn't mind having extra company."
"Okay, I'll be there," Philip said, and looked at the note. "But, if I get lost, how will I be able to reach you?"
By the time he looked up, Rose was already on her way to the check-out lanes. She quickly checked out and took a bus that stopped at the edge of the woods, and walked the rest of the way. When she stepped in, she was surprised to see a tall white cake with blue icing on the table and a matching blue dress laid out a chair nearby. Then from out of nowhere, her three aunts popped out and said, "Happy Birthday!"
Overjoyed and genuinely surprised, Rose said, "Oh, thank you. I certainly wasn't expecting this, and I have a surprise of my own. You remember that boy that I met when I went on a walk with Cindy? I invited him to come over here!"
Upon hearing that, the three aunts looked concerned, which made Rose worry.
"I'm sorry I didn't plan this in advance," Rose apologized. "I ran into him at the grocery store, and he seems like a nice guy, but it's not like I love him or anything."
"Do you happen to know his name?" asked Aunt Flora.
Rose folded her arms in response. "Why is that important? There's something that you're not telling me."
"We are not…really your aunts. We're fairies, and we assigned ourselves to raise you in isolation from your father."
"I started to have suspicions that you three were magic-users, but I didn't think you were kidnappers!"
"No, dear, we didn't kidnap you!" Fauna said reassuringly. "We told your father about our plan in advance, and he agreed to it."
"But why go through all the trouble? Why didn't you use magic around me?"
"Your father is Kingpin Stephen, one of the richest landowners in the country, and on the day you were born, he held a celebration. He invited a friend of his who had a young boy that you would marry as soon as you were old enough, and the three of us to give our blessings," Mary chimed in. "But there was an evil fairy who showed up even though she was uninvited, and cursed you to die when you turned sixteen. So I changed my blessing, which I had not given yet at the time, into a counter-spell that would make you fall asleep instead of die. But to make sure that the curse didn't come true, we took you to this town and changed your name from Aurora Stephen to Rose Briar."
"Wait, so my name is actually…Aurora?" Rose couldn't believe what she heard. "Then that means Philip—
"Philip? Is that the boy you were talking about?" Flora asked, now interested.
Rose nodded reluctantly, which made Fauna clap her hands in delight. "That's wonderful news! Philip is the boy you were engaged to at birth!"
"Me…engaged to Philip?" Rose said with bitterness. "But I only met him in person a few days ago, and my father wants me to marry him? What kind of a father does that?!"
"Well, it just so happens that we're going to be taking you to your father tonight," Flora said, trying to sound happy. "But we're planning to leave in secret to avoid any spies the evil fairy might've sent to find you, so you will have to cancel your plans with Philip."
"I didn't leave him my cellphone number, so I can't tell him even if I wanted to," Rose said, and ran into her bedroom.
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In the present, Aunt Flora forced the locked door open with her magic wand, which was shaped like the baton Fauna used and she was holding it very shakily.
"I had hoped to not use any magic until you were safely with your father, but circumstances such as this have forced me to break my promise," Flora said steadily. "Now put on the dress that I made for you, and let's get moving before the sun goes down."
"I'm sure you made that dress with magic, and my cake," Rose said through her tear-stained pillow. "You three were never good at cooking or sewing, let alone cleaning."
"Rose, I don't have time to argue with you! Your life is in danger, and your father is waiting!" Then with that, Flora tossed the blue dress on the bed next to Rose's face and slammed the door.
For a brief moment, Rose sighed and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. Then she reluctantly got off her bed and changed into the blue dress. By the time she managed to get into it, the sun was lower than before. When Rose looked at herself in the mirror, she snorted, "Blue was never really my favorite color."
End of Chapter 11
