Chapter 77: Sunset on the First Day

Wendy rolled over Jim. She blinked. She lifted her head.

"Peter –!"

"Wen LOOK OUT!"

BANGBADDABANGBADDABANGBADDABANGBADDABANGBANGBANG!

Chunks of ice exploded as gunfire chewed through the Headmaster's door. Covering her head, Wendy raced for Peter – closest to the threshold – as Jim, Mulan, and Flynn seized furniture to use as a barricade.

"Duck!" Robin yelled, notching an arrow. Without waiting he pulled back and released.

Wendy ducked as the arrow zipped through a bullet hole and hissed into someone with a hacking scream. Wendy lifted and ducked again as Merida's arrow followed Robin's, ending the scream.

"AVAST YE SCROGS!" Silver's voice roared over the gunfire. "BREAK DOWN THE BLOODY DOOR!"

"Not if I can help it!" Jim growled pushing his shoulder into the headmaster's desk. The desk tipped. Jim pushed harder, ignoring the shatter of glass as the vase holding Belle's magical rose smashed to the ground. "Flynn! Mulan! Push! Wen move! Leave Pan there!"

Wendy looked over her shoulder. Then, ignoring Jim she scampered for Peter. Balancing on one knee, she braced and pulled him from the doorway. The huge desk cracked against the doorframe as she fell back, Peter flopped between her legs.

The pirates heaved hoed, whipped by Silver's command. The door bumped against the desk. But the barricade held.

"Take that!" Flynn yelled, punching the air. "Try to break through n – WHOA!"

BOOM!

A dent the size of a cannon ball bulged into the door.

Then, Facilier's shadow slithered under the threshold.

Flynn swerved, swinging his frying pan as Facilier's shadow burst into his face.

"Shiiiiiiit!" Flynn batted the frying pan uselessly at the shadow. "Oh shit this hurts! AH!"

"Flynn!" Rapunzel leapt forward, swinging her hair. Skirting around Facilier's shadow, she lassoed Flynn an jerked him away.

Hissing, the shadow rebounded from Rapunzel's magical hair, using it's momentum to attack the nearest victim. Clawing like a rabid animal, it jumped from Merida, to Robin, to Mulan, to Ariel, to Jim, sucking memories and igniting nightmares.

"Wen!" Jim yelled, crashing into the closet. Three surprised faces – John, Tigerlily, and Wart – squealed as their hiding place was uncovered.

Facilier's shadow grinned, extending it's malice to the three younger students. Jim threw a fist, but his hand melted into the shadow's icy heart. Jim heard Wart scream as Sinbad's face reflected in his future. "Wen!"

"Think of something happy!" Wendy's voice exclaimed dimly, as if she were shouting underwater. "That's the only way!…to get rid of!…the shadow!...Jim!... John!... Tigerlily!... Wart!... Jim!... LET GO!"

Jim writhe as Wendy amputated Facilier's shadow from his mind. It felt like she was peeling a scab off his entire body.

Gasping, Jim jolted up. He could smell Ariel as she propped him over her shoulder. Struggling to open his eyes, Jim searched for Wendy.

Wendy stood in the center of the room, Facilier's shadow in hand. Her thin, tiny muscles were taught and shaking with effort. Again her arm was marked with black veins as the shadow pulsed through her blood. The needled glinted in and out of the black current churning between her fingers.

Wendy's blue eyes were on fire. Forced out of her shell in the exigency, she was hardly recognizable to Jim. Thunderstruck, he watched as Wendy clenched her fingers. And in one motion, she threw the shadow under the threshold.

Outside, the pirates roared. Sounds of scattering bodies and disjointed gunfire barraged the hallway.

"GET BACK HERE!" Silver yelled. The students stared at the door, flinching at his every word. "DON'T LET A BLASTED LITTLE SHADOW WORKER MAKE YE RUN LIKE A COUPLE OF YELLOW BELLIED CODS! GET BACK HERE! AVAST! AVAST! I WANT THAT MAP!"

"Map?"

Mulan, Merida, and Robin exchanged confused glances. They glanced uneasily at the door as Wendy collapsed beside Peter. Ice chips rattled off the hinges as the pirates once again advanced. Wart, John, and Tigerlily peeked from the closet as Rapunzel, Flynn, and Ariel knelt at Jim's side. "What map?"

"His map. Jim's map."

Simultaneously the group turned. Shivering, they watched as Megara eased from behind the long window curtain, her violet eyes turned down in shame. "The map to the Wishing Star."

Ariel frowned at Meg. She clenched Jim's arm, palpating for an explanation. "Wishing Star? Jim?"

Jim lifted to one knee. Morph wavered nervously by his ear. "My orb. It's a map. Leads to the Wishing Star."

Grunting, he caught Wendy's eye. "Billy Bones' was a guardian. It was his map. Sorry. Would've told you…but…"

Jim suddenly scowled as Meg inched toward the barricaded door. "How the Hell do you know about the map? No one knew about it except Headmaster Mickey and Silv…wait. Are you – "

"—her hand."

Voice deepened, Merida stepped forward. Robin followed, grimly drawing an arrow. "Look at her hand."

Meg stepped back, hiding the guilty hand. But everyone saw the long red scar: the villain's signature of alliance.

"Villain!" Mushu shouted, pointing over Mulan's shoulder. "Traitor! Snake in the gr –"

"Shut up, Mushu!" Mulan snarled, heading unsympathetically for Meg. "Let us handle this."

Meg backed against the window. "Wait! Stop! You don't understa – "

"Really Tootes?" said Flynn, gripping his frying pan. "What don't we understand? Castle's under siege, pirates are gutting kids like fish, and half of our class has the freakin' dark mark on their hands…"

Flynn raised the pan. Robin and Merida tightened their arrows. Ariel aimed her trident. Jim rose as Flynn finished his verdict. "…so I guess we're just confused…what aren't we understanding, Megara?"

"Wait! Meg!"

Wendy set down Peter's hand. Peter winced. He'd been awake the entire time, but too weak to move. Expressionless, he watched Wendy as she beseeched Meg.

"I overheard Gaston, Facilier, and Kay in the boys locker room! They tricked you to join? Didn't they? Oh, didn't they Meg?"

"Wen…" Jim began, sympathetic to Wendy's mercy but unwilling to accede. "Wen, we can't take any cha – "

"They forced you to join!" Wendy urged, watching Robin's arrow vibrate. Desperately, she searched Meg's face. "Gaston said –"

"Wendy!" Jim said sharply. "That's enough."

"—But—"

"—You almost got killed once. I'm not letting that happen again."

"—Bu –"

"We're all in danger! Trapped like rats!" Jim glared at Meg. "And I'm not risking any more lives!"

Wendy shook her head. "Jim! Pl –"

"I'm NOT – " Jim pointed at the door. "—letting that CYBORG fool me again! GOT IT?!"

Silence.

Then, Peter hacked. "Herc."

The group turned.

"What?" asked Mulan, as Merida tightened her bow. "Herc? Hercules? What about?"

Painfully, Peter sat up. His face was disgustingly white against his red hair. Slowly, he nodded at Megara. "Gaston, Kay, and Facilier. They were going to hurt Hercules if Meg didn't…"

Peter cleared his throat. Weakly, he made air quotes."….'play.'"

Flynn's eyebrows raised. Guiltily, he looked at Meg. "We…we overheard Kay at the orphanage, but…I…I thought they meant…well…you know…"

Meg glared. Wrathfully, she crossed both arms over her chest. "They meant that too, Rider."

"But…Meg…" Rapunzel's eyes were shinny. "Meg. You didn't have to…sleep…" embarrassed, she pulled a golden lock. "Hercules is so strong. He could have protected you. How could they have hurt him?"

Wendy stared at Meg. "His shadow." she whispered. "Facilier's shadow."

Meg nodded. Miserably, she lowered onto the window sill, head in her hands.

"After…they took me to Petrified Forest. All I had was a towel…" she gulped, wincing at the memory. "Monsters were everywhere. Everywhere. They shoved me at…at…the lord of the dead. Hades."

Meg clenched her hair. Her eyelids trembled with the force to keep them shut. "They cut my hand. Then…they made me listen to the Black Cauldron. Listen to the dead. I heard them. Whispering. Whispering about the Chosen One."

"Who was it?" Jim asked, still too angry for sympathy. "The Chosen One?"

Meg shook her head. "Just like Headmaster Mickey said. At the assembly."

Jim leaned forward, ignoring Wendy's disapproving stare. "What?"

"Today. At the assembly. The twinkle, twinkle little star poem…" Meg's eyes opened. She looked at the ground. "…the dead…the souls of Fantasia repeated the whole thing over, and over. It's…it's the Prophesy."

To the confused faces, Meg continued. "The Prophesy of Fantasia. …it's the story of Fantasia's history…and future...the villains made me translate it from the dead over and over…"

"Why?" breathed Jim.

Meg took a deep breath. "…because…it's a riddle. A riddle of the past. A riddle of the future. And somewhere inside the riddle…" Meg closed her eyes. "…the Prophesy…reveals the Chosen One."

"How do you know this?" demanded Jim. He tried to glare as Megara raised her soft violet eyes. "How do we know you're not making this up?"

Meg lowered her eyes. "You don't." she said. A tear slid over her cheek. "You don't."

No one spoke.

Then, Wart crossed the room. Without a word, he place an arm around Meg in silent forgiveness.

"So…" Rapunzel held a piece of shimmering gold hair. "…why did Headmaster Mickey surrender?"

Jim frowned, shaking his head.

Then he stopped.

Belle's enchanted rose lay forgotten.

Picking his way through the glass shards, Jim picked up the wilting rose. The petals gleamed pink as a winter sunset.

Then, as the Wishing Star appeared over the evening sky, one petal fell.

BOOM!

Jim scowled at the door. Silver's voice echoed the eruptions as pirates and villains fought the barricade. Trying to break through. Trying to get to them. Trying to take them all.

"Who cares. He did what he did. Who the Hell cares." Jim breathed. "But we've got to get out of here."

Resolutely, Jim squeezed the rose stem until his fingers were full of thorns. He glared at Silver's imaginary leer on the other side of the door.

"I've got a plan."

And the sun set…on the first day.