Odette stumbled and fell on her new webbed feet, then finally managed to stand up.

I just stared at her "No way."

Rothbart laughed "Look at the great hero of the forest!" then he saw me "What are you doing here?" he eyebrows lowered "You're the last person I want involved in this!" his ring started to glow again... which really scared me.

"Hey! Lay off!" Lila ran and rammed into the back of the wizard. Then she took off running, distracting Rothbart "Go!" she called over her shoulder.

Odette flew and I ran around the pond where we met up with Giselle.

The fairy queen placed a tiara on Odette's head that had the crystal connected to it "This crown will protect you."

I stopped to catch my breath "What do we do? You're cousin is insane!"

Giselle stared at me for a second "He didn't get you too?"

"Apparently not." I answered around gasps of air "I've still got fingers."

"Ah, Queen of nothing." Rothbart said as he appeared.

Giselle quickly turned back to Odette "He can do nothing more to you as long as you wear the crystal."

I have to say, they did offer a bit of relief... but just a bit. Because Rothbart started talking again.

"You still think you can interfere with my destiny." he laughed scornfully "This is my forest. Mine! Just as it always should have been. Now why don't you save us a lot of trouble and hand over the crown?"

"And see you destroy the rest of our home?" The fairy queen flew straight into his face "Never."

"Not in a million years." I added, surprising myself by how brave I sounded "You've done enough damage to last a life time."

He glared at me, his eyes turning slightly red "Then enjoy the show, Corinne d'Artagnon. Because you're next!"

His ring started glowing and he shot some magic straight at me. I jumped back and well... landing right in the pond. Let's just say that the water was a blessed relief from that evil magic. My only wish was that I'd been able to get some air first.

From under the water, I saw another ray of magic shoot straight at Odette. It was intercepted by a bright pink light. Then a moment later there was some sort of explosion. Let's just say it pushed me straight to the bottom of the pond.

I struggled to get back to the surface, hoping that Odette was still okay. When I did finally break out of the water I gasped in a whole lungful of air. Odette looked over at me and smiled. She was okay!

The fairy queen told Rothbart to leave "You can do nothing more here."

Rothbart huffed "So you think." he turned into a bird "Come Odile." then he flew off.

"What's going on?" Odile demanded "What about my pillow? Daddy wait!"

I shook my head "Like father like daughter."

"Are you alright?" Odette asked.

I nodded "Just wet. And a little cold." then we both swam for the shore.

Lila neighed in triumph "So you think." she mimicked "Come Odile." then she laughed "Did you see his face? You got him Odette! Ow!"

"I think he got me." Odette responded, raising one of her wings.

That kind of took the wind out of the unicorn's sails "Uh... well, yeah. He did score a few points."

"What now?" I asked "There's no way you can go back to school like this."

Odette nodded in agreement "Can you change me back?" she asked Giselle.

Giselle sighed "I wish I could." She told us, with a little help from the porcupine and the skunk, how some of her elves had escaped from Rothbart. She hadn't been able to break the wizard's spell completely, but only managed to turn them back to themselves from Sunset till dawn.

"And... now?" Odette asked slowly. When our teacher didn't answered she spoke up again "Please try! Please! I don't want to be a swan for the rest of my life!"

Giselle sighed then waved her wand, that I didn't notice before, over Odette's head... and nothing happened.

The sun set and all the animals standing around began to turn human... or elf. Whichever. But Odette remained a swan.

"Come on." Lila muttered "Work!"

Just then, there was a flash of light and Odette became a human again. She spun around, thanking the fairy queen repeatedly.

I was thinking. Really thinking. And coming to no conclusion.

"She's only human till sunrise, right?" I asked.

Giselle nodded "I'm afraid so."

"I can't go home like this!" Odette sighed.

"Or to school." I added "What are we going to tell everyone? You've got the chicken pocks?"

Odette frowned "Really?"

"Okay okay." I held up my hands in defense "It was the only thing close enough to the truth! We can't tell everyone that our English teacher turned you into a swan!"

"There's only one thing to do." Odette answered "Find a way to break this spell!"

"That's the spirit." Lila said smiling.

That's when Ivan ran forward "We are all thanking you from the hearts of our bottoms!" he declaired. I choked on a laugh.

Carlita, the skunk rolled her eyes "The bottom of our hearts, Ivan."

"I have to go." I said "My friends are probably panicking. They need to know what happened. As does the rest of the B.S.S."

Odette nodded "When can we meet up?"

"After school." I answered "Somewhere hunters aren't. Maybe at my house."

"Okay." The next thing I knew, Odette hugged me "Thanks." she said "I'll see you."

"Yeah." I looked around "Think I could get an escort out of here? I have no idea where the exit is."

"I'll go!" Lila volunteered.

Giselle nodded "Yes, but hurry back. I need you to help Odette."

"Okay."

Needless to say, I made it out of the enchanted forest without any trouble. My friends weren't at the cafe anymore, so I headed home and crashed on my bed "Things will be better tomorrow." I told myself "I hope."

Well... they weren't. In fact they were worse.

As soon as I stepped in the door, I noticed a new guy. Kind of tall with chocolate brown hair and blue eyes. I was informed that he was a young king from a the kingdom of Dulcenia.

But that wasn't the problem. Aramina gave me the entire download in two seconds flat.

Dominic was betrothed to Anneliese, due to her kingdom's money problems. And Prince Antonio's father, Peter, had arranged for him to marry Luciana! Ariana's daughter! Just like in the plot!

I was staring at Aramina like she was crazy, but she continued to ramble on about how broken hearted Ro and Julian would be.

"Maybe they'll get together." she ended.

"Wait!" I said, shaking my head "Ro and Julian? No. There's a such thing as a perfect match and those two are not it."

"But both of their loves are being whisked away into an arranged marriage of their parents doings!"

Renee rolled her eyes "And we wonder how she's the president of the Drama Club."

"By the way," Viveca said, lowering her voice "What happened with Odette. I haven't seen her today."

I let out a large breath of air "She's..." I glanced around "She's a swan."

"What!?" All three of the others exclaimed in unison, scoring us several curious looks.

"Sh!" I hissed "And believe me, she is. I was there."

"Now what?" Renee asked "How is she going to come to school?"

"She's not." I answered "We're going to have to cover for her... somehow." I pointed across the room to where several seniors were standing "Without word getting back to her sister, Marie."

"Piece of cake." Aramina tittered.

Just then, Elina flew over to us "Guess what!" she said happily "The guardians from Fairytopia are coming!"

I raised an eyebrow "Why?"

"They've chosen apprentices!" Elina answered "Azura chose me! They're going to teach us how to perform the flight of spring!"

"To open the blossom." I finished "That's cool. Looks like you've got your work cut out for you."

She nodded "I know. Especially with her." Elina nodded towards an orangish fairy standing several yards away "You know how she hates me."

Sunburst had been jealous of Elina ever since they had met. My guess it's because Elina managed to save her land twice! One of those times she didn't even have wings!

"I'm sure everything will be fine." I said with a reassuring smile.

"Thanks." she glanced around a bit "Where's Odette?"

"Tell you later." I answered "Can you come over to my house tonight?"

"Yeah. Do you want to to tell the others?"

"Please."

"Okay. Later!" Then she flew off.

I turned to my friends "Y'all are coming too, right?"

"Duh!" Renee answered "Like we'd miss it!"

"Good." then I spotted Ro walking up the school's main staircase.

It was quite wide and a large chandelier hung over top. Drosselmeyer said it had been donated a long time ago "Be back." I said. Then I ran after Ro and caught up with her at the top of the stairs "Hey!"

She looked back at me and smiled slightly "Hey, Corinne."

"You okay?"

"I guess." she hugged the books she was carrying to her chest "Did you hear?"

"Yeah." I answered, following her gaze to where Luciana was talking to the other seniors, including Odette's older sister.

"I don't get it." Ro continued "We heard what Ariana's plotting, right? How does Luciana fall into it. She's too nice to hurt anybody!" she shook her head "She's helped me more than anyone."

"I know." I frowned "It's... strange."

"Do you think Dominic is part of Preminger's plot?" she asked a moment later.

"No. I think he's ruining Preminger's plot."

She nodded slightly "By the way. Where's Odette?"

I sighed "Meet at my house after school, okay? I have a lot to tell you."

"Okay." then she turned and left.

I just stood there and looked around. I honestly do believe that us sixteen blonds and my three friends are the only ones who know anything underhanded is going on.

Tori and Kiera were talking nearby, but I hardly gave them a thought.

I watched as Rothbart walking through the front doors. He didn't look happy. The second he spotted me his eyes glowed red, then he continued to his class.

I blew out a huff of air "Any chance I had of passing English is now gone."

Just then, someone ran straight up to me and nearly crushed me in a bear hug. It was Blair.

"Guess what!" She laughed "Mistress Privot is going to tutor me so I can have a chance at that position that I want so I can take care of my family!" Her words poured out so fast, I had to switch on the Aramina side of my brain to catch it all.

"That's great." I answered, then I gasped "Air!"

"Oh, sorry." She released me then spun in a little circle "Mistress Privot said that she was going to tutor me because of what happened yesterday when you stood up for me!" she calmed down and smiled "She said you're a good judge of character."

"Where'd she get that idea?" I mumbled. Just then, my attention was brought to the ground below. Philippe's Assistant, Bertrahm was standing in an unused hallway beside a rope with a knife in his hand. Then he started sawing it.

I quickly looked to see where the rope led... to that massive chandelier above the stairs! And right beneath it was Louis and Philippe!

Without saying a word to Blair, I took off running. As soon as I hit the top step, the rope snapped and the huge brass and crystal object came falling down.

I sideswiped Tori, who was slowly walking down the stairs, causing her to stumble.

When I was about five steps away, I jumped and knocked Louis right in the middle of the back, and we both went tumbling down the stairs, the chandelier crashing down just a few inches behind.

All that happened in like a second and a half, but it seemed like everything had gone into slow motion!

As soon as we hit the floor I bounced off of him and slid across the tile floor several feet away.

Pieces of the Chandelier scattered everywhere! And the poor mangled thing was laying in a heap on the stairs.

I pushed myself back to my feet and noticed that Tori had fallen too. Only she'd had an easier landing. It looked like Prince Liam had tried to catch her but got knocked over instead.

Tori scrambled to her feet and pulled the prince up with her, that's when I noticed that there was something strange about her. Her eyes were sparkling to beat the band... at the prince! Tori never had liked him, and besides he and Kiera were the couple.

Kiera came walking calmly down the stairs, stepping around the chandelier wreckage.

"Tori!" A voice shouted from somewhere in the crowd that had gathered.

Tori glanced at Kiera "Who?" she muttered right before the man ran up.

"Are you hurt?"

"Um..." Tori stared at the man like she'd never seen him before in her life "I'm fine... really." she said, her eyes widening as he hugged her "Mr... uh..."

That's when Kiera leaned over and whispered "Father."

"Mr. Father!" Tori laughed nervously while Kiera tried to subdue her giggles.

"Thank Goodness," Tori's father said "You had me worried." then he turned to Liam and led the boy away.

I decided to try something. I walked over to them "Kiera?"

They both looked at me "Yes?"

I shook my head "You didn't."

"Isn't it great?" Kiera, who was actually Tori, laughed "No one can tell! Except for you."

"Are you sure it's wise." I asked "And you know why, Tori."

She shrugged "We're just trying to have a little fun. You're starting to sound like Aunty-A."

Kiera sighed "I always wanted to be a princess."

"And I always wanted to be a popstar!"

"I know." I chuckled slightly "Just... remember that Kiera has a boyfriend." I said pointing at the Popstar who was disguised as a princess "And Tori doesn't."

They glanced at each other "Oh..."

I turned to walk away and 'bout ran headlong into Julian. His face was strained and worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He looked around and lowered his voice "Anneliese is missing."

"What!?"

"She disappeared sometime last night." he ran his hand through his light brown hair "I don't know what to do. You're the only person I could think of to ask for help." he glanced around again "She told me that y'all had been talking." he looked back at me "I think she's been kidnapped to..."

"Cancel the royal wedding." I finished. Then I groaned "This is way to much Drama for High School!"

(Wow. I think my brain is blowing a fuse! Thanks for all your continued support! I may have to swap from Point-of-view mode to keep the story flowing. What do you think? Let me know! Laterz!)