The breakfast table was dreadfully silent. Christina picked at her food watching her cousins do the same from the corner of her eye. Today, everyone else would move and she would be virtually alone in this massive place. Alone with uncontrollable magic. Alone in a new world. She didn't dare accompany them to this new home in the middle of the enchanted forest. What if she set everything on fire again? On fire just like the school. The thought made her tremble. People could be hurt. Homes could be destroyed if she stepped out of the castle.
"It's alright, Christina," Maleficent laid a hand over her trembling one, "It's all going to be okay"
No, not ever again.
Once the meal was finished the others departed for the hollow. Christina waved from the window. She couldn't bring herself to step into this new, large bright world. Not when the last one had turned its back on her so viscously. As soon as her friends were out of sight, she hurried back to 'her' room and shut herself inside. Climbing back onto the bed, she quietly wound her music box. Over and over letting the soft song soothe her racing heart.
"Christina?" Maleficent glided through the door, "Would you like to go on adventure?"
"No, I'm-I'm not an adventure type, I-I would rather stay where I can't hurt anyone"
A sentimental smile spread across Maleficent's face, "You're very much like your mother";
"I miss her"
"So do I," Maleficent replied, walking to the side of the bed, "Here," she handed Christina a delicate necklace with a dragon pendant, "This will keep accidental magic from happening, it was your mothers when she was training"
Christina looked at the necklace in her hand, running her thumb over the cold pendant, the dragon with its wings spread in flight closely resembled the birthmark on the back of her neck. Slowly she put it on, and as soon as it was secured all the nervous jittery magic flowing just under her skin stopped cold.
"Much better"
"Come, let's go"
"Where are we going?"
"To get you enrolled at the Academy, you'll start next week after you've settled here"
"Okay..."
...
In the blink of an eye, Christina found herself in front of a pleasant Tudor-style cottage with latticed windows and a sloped roof. The door opened with a low creak and out stepped a fairy who very closely resembled the fairy godmother from the Cinderella film except her long silvery hair was in a tight bun, she wore a homely dress with a faded apron over it, her hands coated in flour.
"Maleficent, dear, just in time," she smiled sweetly, I was just about to pour some tea, why don't you and Christina join me?"
"We'd love to"
Numbly, Christina followed behind her grandmother. The kitchen was still warm, and the smell of something sweet lingered in the air as their host snapped her fingers trading her homely attire for richly embroidered robes.
"Christina, this is Nanny, Headmistress of the academy"
"Hello," Christina focused on her feet.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you" to Maleficent Nanny remarked as they sat down, "She really is the spitting image of her mother"
"I know"
The tea was quickly served alongside warm, fresh sugar cookies and the discussion turned to the school, her class schedule, what she needed help with the most, and many more related topics that Christina couldn't bring herself to focus on. Too consumed with her worries. A new school filled with pure-blood fae whose training had been consistent. Peers who could control their powers while she struggled, fearing hers. Was this really the only solution? Was it the best one? What if the Monster High incident repeated itself? What then? Round and round these worries crashed in her mind. Blocking everything out. All sense of time and place. She could faintly smell smoke, and hear the screams of her peers as they fled the school...
Maleficent laid a hand over hers, yanking her back to the present.
"You have nothing to fear, Dear"
"Your grandmother is quite right," Nanny slid a piece of parchment across the table, "Here's your schedule, I'll see you next Monday"
...
Instead of going back to the castle, Maleficent took Christina into town. Not Bookend but a charming, quiet seaside town that Alissa had often visited in her teenage years seeking out inspiration for her next art project. Maleficent watched the teen from the corner of her eye. Christina shuffled along, shoulders hunched her gaze on the ground. Like she was trying to hide. Just like always. Even among friends, Christina remained on the edge of the group, observing quietly. So many times the dark fae queen had wanted to burst into Dracula's castle and demand he do something, anything to bring the teen back to the quiet but confident girl she'd once been.
It seemed another lifetime ago that Maleficent watched Christina laughing as she was spun across the room by her father or beaming as she baked cookies with her mother. But after they had been so viciously killed, Christina had shut herself away, retreating deep inside herself with only her books for company. Reading and re-reading her fairy tale book for hours on end. Dracula had tried she supposed, counseling, the hybrid support group, entrusting the magic studies to the best users he knew but Christina continued to build walls.
"What are we doing here?" Christina asked, her voice scantly a whisper, "They're staring..."
Residents and tourists alike had stopped to stare, peeking out of shop windows, hanging out of doorways, and shielding their eyes against the bright sunlight to better see them.
"This was one of your mother's favorite places to visit when she was your age"
"I think she showed me pictures a long time ago, I have the albums somewhere"
"I thought you might like to see it; you've been shut in Dracula's castle for so long"
"I didn't-I didn't"
"I know"
"He-he-he came out of nowhere and-and I was alone"
Now here were details Maleficent hadn't heard, details she doubted anyone else knew but rather than press she wrapped a supporting arm around her granddaughter and handed her a tissue while hurrying them to a quiet bench.
When I find out who is responsible they WILL pay!
...
"We're neighbors now!" Draculaura excitedly squealed.
"Vhat fun you ghouls vill have," Vana smiled weakly.
Three respectable cabins all in a neat row surrounded by towering pines, redwoods, and ceders awaited them when they finally arrived in Hood Hollow. The Dracula family cabin was at the end with a blue door, the Wolf family's in the center with a green door and Duncan's was beside it with a red door. Inside the cabins shared the same setup, a modest living room, a small kitchen with a table; three bedrooms, exactly the same size with one window in each, and a bathroom. It had been decided after further discussion that Clawson was to stay in the monster realm with their younger children to oversee the pack and help Dracula if he so needed it so it was only Harriet, Clawd, and Clawdeen that moved into the cabin. There was only one other cabin in the hollow that was occupied, the cabin belonging to Red who appeared within the hour, bringing extra quilts and a basket of homemade pies to welcome them.
"My family lives in the centermost cabin there" Red pointed as she presented the gifts, "If you ever need anything"
"Thank you, Red," Harriet smiled.
"You're most welcome"
...
He's not here. He's not here. He's not here! Christina was curled into a ball under her sitting room window. A shaky mess. Pieces of what led to the fire continued to come back, to haunt her. First in her sleep and now in broad daylight. She had just barely managed to pull herself together earlier; trying desperately to enjoy the town her mother loved so much. Now, that the excursion was blessedly over she was having trouble keeping herself together, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, if not she would fall to pieces on the floor. Closing her eyes so tightly she saw colors as if that could stop her mind from spinning.
He's not here. He's not here. He's not here.
How was she expected to start school like this? Wouldn't it just happen all over again? And again? And again? A cycle that would never stop? Everything around her sounded underwater but she was aware of the door opening by the time she managed to look up the door had shut again. A book had been left on the little table by the door. Curious but numb she rose to investigate only to stop short in horror.
That spell book.
The book that had led to the incident. Oh, she remembered that book with the gold dragon on the cover. Duncan had found it in the deep recesses of the library where hundreds of years of books were long forgotten. So forgotten that he had no trouble bringing it to her.
What is it doing here? What is it doing here?
With a cry she smacked it away, running from the sitting room to the bedroom; into her closet behind her clothes. Dark and cold. Alone she shivered, weeping.
...
Next Monday came way too quickly. Far too soon she found herself on the wide marble steps of a crystalline building in the middle of immaculate grounds so flooded with magic that it was visible to the naked eye. Cloying, thick. Fairies of all ages flew ahead without paying her any mind.
All except one:
"Christina?"
Christina was startled, realizing she had been frozen on the steps.
"My apologies, I didn't mean to scare you," a beautiful fae girl with shimmering white hair descended from the continuous flow of students to land beside her, "My name is Elowyn, my mother mentioned you'd be starting today, I thought you could use a friend"
"Hello," Christina whispered.
"It's okay to be scared," Elowyn smiled comfortingly, "I was scared when I started here but I grew to love it, I'm sure you will too, come on, we have the same first period, you can be my desk partner"
"Okay"
The rest of the student body looked on, loudly whispering as the two girls entered school.
"Don't pay them any mind"
"I don't like being stared at"
"Want to know a secret?"
"What?"
"I don't either but it comes with the nature of being a princess"
"Princess?"
"Yes, I am princess of the light fae, well, one of them, certainly the only one young enough to still live at home"
"How many..."
"Far too many for me to name right now, oh, here we are," Elowyn led Christina through a tall doorway into a classroom full of bubbling cauldrons and fragrant plants.
"Cutting it close aren't you dear sister?"
"Hush, Cadfael!" Elowyn brushed off the snide comment of the red-haired fae boy at the desk behind them, "I am perfectly on time, besides, I didn't see you stopping to help Christina find her way," she turned back to the front of the room, pencil at the ready, "That's my younger brother, pay him no mind he's rather full of himself"
"Says you," Cadfael huffed indignantly.
A smile ghosted Christina's face.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
...
I wonder how the others are doing in their new school? we'll see next chapter. In the meantime, review and predict.