This chapter actually came out on time! I know that isn't something to worry about, but it's always a joy for me to accomplish. I just need to continue this trend and I'm golden.
Either way, I'll see you all at the end of the chapter!
Milton was looking out at the courtyard once again, a contemplative look on his face. Some would call it brooding, but he preferred the word contemplation instead.
The students milled about, some with their parents, some not. So many people to be in charge of, their futures all in his hands, and at the expectations of their parents. The job was a hard one, and it applied a lot of pressure that was only eased bit by bit as a student fulfilled their destiny and received their Happy Ending.
Of course, this year was proving to be such a hassle, but if things went how he predicted in the next coming days, it would probably go as a minor footnote in history. Just a strange little aside in the next retelling of stories.
Milton didn't notice the mirror in the corner of the room flicker with light. If he'd been paying attention, he would've considered that the mirror almost agreed with him, even if he hadn't said a word.
Instead of noticing, though, he kept looking out into the courtyard, drinking from a glass with a sigh.
He made tough choices. But they'd work out soon enough.
That was his final thought before the doors opened up with a bang.
Milton barely had enough time to choke on his drink as Eddy, followed closely behind by the usual suspects, stomped to his desk with a scowl on his face. It was becoming a more common occurrence and he didn't appreciate that in the slightest.
"Mr. Williams! I would've thought by now you and your friends would've learned to knock by now." Milton put the drink aside, forcing the coughing down. He was going to look dignified, even if it killed him. "Unless this is an emergency, I'd suggest scheduling something for later. I'm quite busy with the upcoming Thronecoming celebration."
"Well, make time, Headmaster. Because I think you're going to love hearing about this!" Milton seriously doubted that as Eddy slammed his hand onto his desk. "Ray's been robbed!"
Milton blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Eddy, how about I do this one instead? Thank you," Apple shooed the boy away from the desk, smiling politely as she put- was that the Wish Coin? "We believe somebody tampered with Raven's gift box at Heritage Hall. For some reason, this fake Wish Coin was put in and we think someone might've taken whatever was originally in there."
"And we think it might be a Royal. Who, apparently, really has it out for me enough to do something like this against me." Raven shuddered. She seemed truly disturbed by the experience, something that did tug at Milton's heartstrings. "They pumped it full of Illusion magic and decided to show me a nightmare."
"I… These are some pretty serious accusations. Especially against someone you don't even know." Milton grabbed the coin, looking at it briefly, his mind catching up with the conversation. "Are you sure this wasn't some kind of prank? You've dealt with plenty of those before."
"I'd say almost scarring us for life isn't exactly a prank. Unless you happened to pull some strange ones…" Cleo looked Milton over before shaking her head. "Never mind. This was an intimidation tactic plain and simple."
"Cedar was with us, so she's going to talk with Blondie and Spectra. Since she can't lie, that means that everyone won't have a choice but to believe her." Apple reported. She did stop for a second, taking in the green of the headmaster's face. "Is something wrong? We figured that getting the word out would make sure the person confessed quicker."
"You most likely just set off a panic!" Milton waved his hands around, suddenly angry. The students were actually put off by this, leaning back at it. "One of the Evil Queen's own devices is in some anonymous person's hands? No one will know what to do!"
"Hey, don't yell at us! We were just trying to make sure the idiot was caught! Besides, they already attacked Raven with their little show." Eddy was ready for a fight if he needed to, even if it was with the headmaster. "Seriously, one of your own students gets hit with that and you're concerned about the school's image?"
The argument that came after was particularly predictable. At the very least, it was loud and provided a distraction big enough, so everyone was paying attention to it.
The mirror pulsed again, going unnoticed. Raven shivered, but the magic otherwise went unobserved as a tiny trail of it moved close to the ground. While it did come out strong, the line of magic grew thinner with each passing second, finding its mark.
Despite the situation, however, it found its target.
A crash interrupted the argument before it could get more heated, causing everyone in the room to immediately look towards the direction it came from. Cleo noticed a book had fallen at her feet, which she grabbed after wiping away some glass.
"I think you got a shoddy stand. Didn't even feel a breeze to knock it over." Cleo stopped as she looked at the cover. "And I'd do that fast. You really put the Book of Legends on such a flimsy pedestal?"
"That- Right. How silly of me." Milton's agitation spiked as he saw the teenager handle the tome, starting to move out from behind his desk. "If you'll hand that over to me so I can put it in a safer place-"
"Actually, I've been wanting to take a look at this for a while now." Raven snatched the book up, holding it like a lifeline. The scare from earlier may have… put her off kilter. "Maybe the images changed over time or something. Would be a good idea to check."
"Raven, put that thing down. You can't let some idiots scare you into signing the book. It was barely a good illusion." Cleo huffed. It was more bravado than anything. "And if Eddy was able to disperse it so easily, it's not like they do good work."
"Seriously Queenie? After I help you with the staff?"
"I stand by what I said."
Raven ignored them, flipping the book open and searching through it for her chapter. Except, she pauses, hand freezing before going through the pages, quicker this time. Sections were moved aside, words tumbled through her brain, and Milton just stood there, frozen as she did so.
"Headmaster Grimm," Raven said cautiously, knowing the question was going to set some things off. "Why is the Book of Legends fake?"
A pregnant pause entered the room as everyone thought over the question, taking it in. Apple was the first to break, immediately moving over and grabbing at the book. Raven handed it over numbly before the princess could actually snatch it away
"What are you talking about, this can't be- is this magazine pages?!" Apple flipped to a section of the book, eyes widening significantly. "This is Daring's signature. Is this what I signed at Legacy Day? I thought it was the real one."
"It's-It's a decoy! That's right." Milton actually did snatch the fake Book of Legends, pulling it close to his chest. "You really thought I'd leave a powerful and important magical artifact on rickety stand? Perish the thought!"
"…You have no idea where the real one is, do you?" Eddy searched the man's face, and the panic in his eyes said it all. "You don't. You somehow lost the most important thing in your culture before the school year even started. And you most likely haven't told anyone about it."
Milton gulped, not looking anyone in the eye. "No. That would be foolish."
"Then where's the real one?" Cleo only got silence as Milton desperately tried to come up with something. She eventually leaned back, staring into space before turning around. She pulled out her phone. "I'm calling Cedar. This needs to get on the broadcast now."
"No!" Milton rushed forward, but Cleo was already running down the hallway before he could even catch up. "Where are you even going?!"
"I think she's running because, again, you lost a cornerstone of your religion on destiny and stuff." Eddy was… oddly calm. Or he appeared to be considering this situation had just gotten ten times worse. "You good there, Princess?"
"I signed this. That means I didn't sign the real book." Apple fell to her knees, hugging herself as a deep panic reverberated through her. "I haven't signed up for my destiny. Mom is going to be so… so…"
Apple didn't say much after that, but Eddy did understand.
Cleo would eventually come back to find Raven and Eddy comforting a very scared Apple. And also a firestorm that was the reaction heading their way.
"So," Clawdeen messed around with some of her supplies, having finished giving a tour to her parents. They'd left for now, having decided to hold off for the rest of the day and get some rest. "How mad do you think Ramona was when she saw you being pampered by a cute boy and some pretty girls?"
"I feel like she's going to remember it forever." Cerise was lying face down on the couch, having been flustered up and down for the entire day. Her sister was never going to let her live it down. "Why did you have to do it in front of your parents too?"
"My father has a sense of humor, we wanted to play with Clawdeen's parents' expectations, and seeing you red in the face gets us up in the morning." Maddie sat on the couch next to Cerise, patting her head. "I do have to ask; is your mom into Badwolf? I think those two were giving each other looks the entire time they were around."
Double D choked on his drink, causing everyone to look at him briefly. He waved it off, doing his best to keep his composure.
"That was probably nothing. Badwolf can be awkward when he isn't trying to be scary, so he probably needed to distract himself." Double D figured a change in subject would help, leaning back. "And Cerise, if you really feel it's unfair, how about you suggest who goes next? Then our embarrassment can be made on equal grounds."
"...That isn't a bad idea, actually. I can make that work." Cerise did lift her head up, looking over them with a twinkle in her eye. "But who should go first. Double D did start this, but neither of you have stopped him either..."
"Cerise, getting revenge is a fun and wholesome activity the whole family can enjoy, but we don't have to do that." Maddie started playing Cerise's hair absentmindedly. "Besides, won't that just put us in a cycle of flirting we won't be able to go back from?"
"...Maddie's next."
"Darn it, I knew you were going to say that."
Clawdeen rolled her eyes, laughing at the exchange. It was always nice to get back to basics and it looked like the two were making the most of it.
"What's wrong, Maddie? You can dish it out pretty well, but you can't take it?" Clawdeen was able to get behind Maddie before she could react, using a claw to lift up her chin. "That's a shame. I was wondering how much you could take before folding."
That observation turned out to be fairly accurate, as Maddie almost squeaked in response.
"Oh, am I sensing some weakness here? Oh, Maddie." Double D chuckled as she squirmed. She was honestly reacting more embarrassed than Cerise, which said a lot. "Maybe you've been talking too much game for too long. Switching off would show it off more."
"Yeah, and... uh, give me a second here." Cerise moved, accidentally moving her head onto Maddie's lap. She eventually groaned, putting her hands onto her face. "I can't think of anything. God, I can't do either of those things. Maybe I should've kept being the target."
"No, you're doing okay. Comes with a little practice sometimes." Maddie really wasn't sure how long her cheeks were going to stay red, but she didn't want to find out. She decided to change the subject. "So, as fun as it was to mess with our parents, we need to figure out who to mess with next. Our friends?"
"That might be a good idea. Draculaura's starting to pester me about getting into dating again and I really don't want her to set up something." Clawdeen shivered. The last time that happened was with Frankie, and she nearly sent Heath to the hospital after accidentally shocking him. "If she wants to see me act all lovey dovey, I'll give her lovey dovey."
"I was thinking more we just casually mess with everyone by doing some really suspicious stuff and see how long until one of them cracks." Maddie steepled her fingers. If it weren't for the fact Cerise would probably bite her, she'd stroke her head like villain's do with their cats. "I'd bank on Eddy cracking first out of jealousy."
"Yeah, he'd probably get angry first. Or Ed." Double D paused, frowning as he shook his head. "Actually, that might not be a good idea after all."
"What, you think they might murder you if you get a 'date' first?" Cerise frowned as Double D didn't answer. "Okay, you've been getting into some moods the entire day and I'm starting to get a little curious."
"...We had a fight earlier. It's nothing big, but we happened to disagree about the importance of some certain decisions." Double D didn't know how to get across what those decisions would be, but he'd talk about it with her later. "It's just one thing after another, quite honestly. I highly doubt they'll try and do anything about it, but…"
Double D shook his head. He didn't want to think about if any further.
"Let's just drop for now. I don't think we'll need to worry about anything in the near future." Double D noted the look on Maddie's face, sighing. "I just jinxed us, didn't I?"
He turned out to be correct as they received notifications on their phone all at once. Collectively grabbing and opening them up, they were greeted by the sight of Spectra and Blondie's news cast.
"Good morning everyone! Blondie and I are deviating from our regularly scheduled programming to report on some breaking news." Spectra was sitting at a desk, the green screen behind her changing to show a title card. "A break-in has reportedly occurred at Heritage Hall which resulted in Raven Queen being attacked. Blondie is currently at the scene."
The scene changed, showing Blondie standing near the entrance to the forest with a nervous Cedar. Everyone gave Cerise a questioning look as to why her roommate was involved in this, but she could only shrug as she kept watching.
"Thank you, Spectra! I'm here with probably the most trustworthy source in all of Ever After, Cedar Wood, who claims to have witnessed the event." Blondie held the microphone towards the girl, who leaned back at the amount of energy. "Mind explaining what you saw out there?"
"Well, Raven wanted to test out this Wishing Coin that her mother supposedly gave her and, well," Cedar rubbed the back of her neck, shrugging with a crooked smile. "Turns out somebody was trying to scare her into signing the book with a fake one."
"Is that so? If that's true, then somebody on the Royals side seems to have gotten a little too heated. Hopefully, this doesn't spark anything." Blondie faltered as the thought truly did cross her mind. "What exactly did the fake coin show you?"
"Well, it all started after-" A ring from a phone cut the living puppet off, causing them both to jump. She scrambled to turn her phone off, looking extremely embarrassed. "Sorry, I thought I didn't have anyone calling me today. Hello?"
Cedar listened to the voice on the other side, frowning as she recognized who it was. "Cleo? How did you get my number? …O-okay, just calm down. Let me do this quick."
Cedar put her phone on speaker, facing it toward the microphone with some trepidation. There was rustling before Cleo's voice rang out.
"Hello? I better be on the newscast right about now."
"Y-You are. I'm guessing you have something to say?" Cleo grunted, causing Blondie to lighten up. Two scoops in one day were a rare find. "Great! Or, not so great. What do you have for us?"
"We're live then? Fangtastic." Cleo cleared her throat, getting official. "Greetings, everyone. I'm sorry to say, but I'm bringing some bad news from Headmaster Grimm's office that I feel needs to be said."
Something about that made everyone freeze up.
"Headmaster Grimm has official lost the Book of Legends and hasn't reported it for an entire year. And he doesn't seem to know where it is."
The news was received quietly, Cedar and Blondie staring at the phone with shocked looks. Blondie pulled the microphone close to her, hugging it as she stared into the camera.
"What?"
The screen abruptly changed, focusing on Spectra again. She seemed to be furiously writing something down, though doing her best to put on a professional face.
"Sorry about that folks, but we're going to have to come back to this later when we have more information!" Spectra motioned for someone behind the camera to move, still looking into it. "We'll be back after our regularly scheduled programming."
The broadcast ended and everyone just stared at their screens, trying to process what they just saw. Double D broke out of it first, slumping into the couch with a groan.
"Dammit, Eddy." The boy said softly, but with feeling. "What did you do now?"
Ed was hanging out at the dragon incubation area because he thought it was neat. Not for any other reason, no sir. He just wanted to see what the eggs were like.
"Ed, you've been staring at the eggs for ten minutes. I'm actually starting to get concerned." Rosabella poked him in the side, causing him to stop zoning out. "I'd ask you to leave, but you don't look like you want to eat them like the last guy that tried coming in here."
"I'm fine- wait, somebody tried to eat the eggs?" Ed looked over them, counting them all out in his head again. He didn't notice any missing, but still. "He's not coming back, right?"
"He's not coming back unless he wants to be put in the hospital." The fact that Rosabella said that would've been funny if Ed wasn't liable to agree with her. "I figured you were okay, but I asked since Ghoulia is probably going to be here soon for some testing. If you're trying to avoid people, this isn't going to be a good place to do it."
Ed winced, feeling embarrassed about being called out so easily. He didn't exactly have enough time to think about where he could slip off to next before he heard movement from the incubation area's doors.
"Sorry for coming in late, Rosa. Had some trouble getting the right equipment on short notice." Ghoulia was having some trouble moving in some of the equipment in, irritated as some of it attempted to elude her grasp. "Not to mention some of the people who were supposed to help me didn't show either..."
Ed, against his better judgement, immediately went over to help her move the stuff in. Ghoulia was surprised to see him there but didn't comment on it since Rosa was here. She didn't exactly plan on airing anything out while she was around.
"What exactly does all of this stuff do?" Ed figured the light conversation would help avoid certain topics he didn't want to talk about. "Some of this looks like stuff from the nurse's office."
"It's mostly stuff that could help map out what's happening inside the eggs. It'd be a good idea to keep track of their development in the near future, just in case specialists need to be brought in." Ghoulia frowned before facing Rosa. "You wouldn't happen to have any more literature on the subject, right? I think it would help with the notes."
"I think I've got a few that could work. I'll get them really quick." Rosa was already at the door, excited at the prospect of getting more in-depth knowledge about an animal. "Feel free to set everything up until I get back!"
Ed almost started saying something that would hopefully keep the princess there, but she was gone before he could so much as blink. He got to work setting up the ultrasounds, mentally preparing for what was going to be a very taxing conversation.
Ghoulia didn't seem willing to start it for a few moments, but she eventually cracked as she sighed. Running her fingers through her hair, she started with a simple question.
"I'm guessing you talked with Double D and Eddy."
Ed paused, but sighed as he went back to work. "Yeah."
"It didn't go well at all?"
"Yeah."
"...And that's why you've been avoiding everyone, including me?"
"...Yeah."
Ghoulia sighed, cursing the fact that she'd been right about it. Of course that was what it was.
"I don't really blame you if you don't want to say anything. I don't get why, but it's not like we've known each other as long as we think we have." Ghoulia was doing her best not to guilt trip him, even if she was extremely disappointed. "But I do want to know what's been happening someday, okay? If only because I'm your friend first."
"It's not that I don't want to say anything. It's just all very... messy. Ugly too." Ed gestured vaguely, not sure how else to phrase it. "There's a ton of different things, and not all of it's related to just me."
"I should've figured that. I'm not going to push it too much, okay?" Ghoulia was at least happy he seemed to hold something for her too, but that didn't mean he owed her any secrets. "Just tell me someday. If any of us can earn that trust."
…Ed hated everything about this. He knew lying was a part of the scam, but the fact it was turning against him like this shouldn't be happening. Everything was going great until this part.
They were fitting in, having more friends, and actually contributing to something bigger. Seriously, they made history not too long ago! Nothing was complicated and they could leave everything behind, with nothing to bother them.
And now feelings were involved.
This sucked.
The silence, along with Ed's brooding, was interrupted soon enough by the dinging of their phones. It didn't take long to note the urgent part of the message, causing them both to sigh.
"And the adventure continues, I suppose." Ghoulia got finished setting up the software while Ed got the hardware put up. "Any idea what it'll be about?"
"I don't know. Usually we swing from a Legend problem to a Monster problem, and then back again." Ed counted on his fingers before shrugging. "Legend problem. I'd bet money on it, but I don't have any."
As they left to get ready for whatever was coming next, a mirror that was left behind pulsed. Magic spread throughout the room before moving across the heaters placed below the dragon eggs.
And with a turn, the fires burned at an intensity only dark magic could create.
Briar stared at the neck pillow with a certain amount of annoyance. The damn thing felt like such a joke, and Briar wondered if this was her mother's way of telling her not to go through with it. Sleeping for one-hundred years can be a pain in the neck after all.
"Of course I'm getting cold feet," Briar laughed, trying to frame it as a joke. It only came out as bitter. "Didn't think about it for years, but the closer the big moment comes, it's all I can think about."
Except... that wasn't really true.
Briar had always known about the one-hundred years thing. As a little girl, her mother talked about it at length to people when she thought she wasn't close by. She didn't seem bothered on the outside too much, deeming it a necessary sacrifice for the stories, but it never got rid of the feeling that her mother was sometimes... out of touch with the rest of reality.
She'd say things and talk about people that didn't exist anymore. Places she'd been were just a memory that had been paved over. Briar's mom didn't have any idea what to say when it involved politics of any nature since it was such a different landscape to the one she'd left. Not to mention the very off-putting opinions she'd sometimes say that didn't fly much today.
Briar didn't realize it, but she must've figured out how horrible that was and wanted to force as many experiences into what could be a short childhood at once. She didn't think about the implications before, but they stuck around in her mind long enough for them to affect her behavior.
And then Eddy had a mental breakdown and brought up a lot of good, horrifying points.
"Well, from the mouth of babes. Or whatever that saying means." Briar didn't want to do anything she was thinking about doing, but it was for her own good. And maybe everyone else's too if it's done right. "Looks like I've got some work to do."
Briar wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. The only thing stopping her was that she didn't want to be considered a rebel.
Huh. She was right. She did have a lot of work to do.
So far, I think I've got this arc down pat. I actually can't wait to get to the end, but in a "it's going to be fun storytelling" kind of way. I'm writing out the last chapter for this over time and I project that it's going to be about 10,000 to 12,000 words, so you're all in for a treat! Maybe. It's going to be a dark one, just FYI. I'll make sure to put up warnings when the time comes.
Either way, I'll see you all next chapter!