Page 6 – Descent into Madness

This week's going to be a big one for Ever After High. Now, everyone starts prepping for Legacy Day, when all the students officially sign for their destinies.

That's a really big deal, huh?

It certainly is, Brooke. It certainly is.

That Keeper, the guy who's trying to make everyone do their destinies. He seems really worried. Is he gonna try to do something on Legacy Day?

Don't say "gonna" when you narrate, Brooke. Use complete words.

Sorry, dad. I will.

Good.

Do you think he is, though?

I don't think he'll be able to stay away…

Even though she'd known it was coming, that didn't make the fairymail staring up from her mirrorphone any easier to process.

"Mandatory Legacy Day training session after school TODAY"

Raven had been hoping to have a little more room to figure out how she was going to approach this, but between the start of the year, and everything with Apple and the Dark Mirrors, it just hadn't happened.

Now, here she was, with Legacy Day training in just a few hours. An event the school was not only based around, they had practice sessions for.

"What's wrong, Raven? Your face is as long as the Queen of Hearts' front walk!"

The chaotic swirl of blue and purple suddenly appearing next to Raven was still a surprise, but a surprise that was starting to become familiar to the dark princess. Even the slightly oblivious grin on Madeline Xylophone Hatter's face.

"Is her front walk really long?" Raven asked, obligingly.

"The longenest! She wants everrrrrrrrrrrrybody to think about how important she is, so she has the twi-ih-ih-ih-istiest walk up to the doors of her castle!" Maddie giggled, looked at Raven blankly for a minute before she realized something. "I was noticing you looked upset, I think."

Raven sighed, and nodded. "It's just…Legacy Day. I'm really not looking forward to locking in my mom's life."

Maddie made an exaggerated thoughtful face, sticking out her bottom lip and scratching her chin while she stared into the distance. She even made a continual "hmmmmmmmmm" sound while she did.

"Do you want me to ask what your idea is, Maddie?" Raven supplied after a little while.

"Oh, this isn't an idea, this is a conspiracy! A ding-dang-doodle wonderful conspiracy!" Maddie laughed and jumped up.

"…okay."

"But first I need to talk to the butterflies! I'll be back soon!"

And as suddenly as she'd appeared, Maddie Hatter hurried away in a blur of teal, purple and exotic teabag wrappers left fluttering in the wind.

Someone whose concerns were more severe was also looking down at the same school message on his mirrorphone. Taylor Valiant kept looking at while he carefully navigated the hallway, his mind occupied imagining all the dangerous scenarios that might erupt on Legacy Day, after what he'd already been through.

Would the Keeper attack the entire school at the ceremony? He'd certainly proved more powerful than any villain Taylor had ever hoped to meet, with the army of monsters he'd been able to summon.

That was the weird thing, though: instead of just conquering the kingdom, or cursing his captives, like most villains Taylor had heard about, the Keeper did things different. He said, at least, that he wanted to protect the existing order. Which meant, by some thread of logic, he'd been focusing his targets on princesses who were either uncertain about their destinies, or whose destinies were being undermined by another important person's uncertainty.

Would the Keeper attack the event? Invade the school and take students hostage to make them follow their destinies? Make some kind of threat then?

Worst of all, maybe, would the Keeper do nothing at all, only keep the people who knew about him in suspense? Waiting for when he would do something?

"What's the matter? You look like the giant kids challenged you to a fight already."

Taylor lowered his phone, and saw Anna Weaver standing in front of him, giving him a curious look. "Oh, hi Anna," he said, forcing a smile. "Guess I'm kind of worried about that guy who kidnapped you that one time, the one who's obsessed with preserving Destiny. Since Legacy Day's coming up."

She slipped her arm through his and started leading him down the hall. "If he does show up and try something, I know you'll protect me," Anna whispered. "Right now, how about we go get some drinks?"

Stopping at the Hocus Latte coffee bar in the castleteria, they armed themselves with fancy coffee before Anna led the way onto the outdoor assembly area. It had been cleared just the other day with tables and chairs for students to have casual meetings, but with the Legacy Day prep, those were gone again already. Instead, rows of chairs facing the stage had already been set up. Anna and Taylor took a seat she picked out by one of the edges where they head a striking view of the village below.

A chilly autumn breeze blew across that platform, prompting Anna to have a long sip of her latte, giving a happy-sounding little shiver while she leaned against Taylor's shoulder. He leaned back against her, and the princess made a purring sound and shut her eyes.

"It's beautiful up here, isn't it?" she sighed happily.

"Yeah. Dangerous, maybe," Taylor replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, before, I just thought about signing for my destiny, then everything would just take care of itself," Taylor replied. "But now there's like…a guy making monsters who wants to enforce it. That's what you said happened, right? What if he tries to do something to enforce Legacy Day?"

Anna shrugged her shoulder, eyes still closed. "What if he does? We just sign for our destinies, like we were going to anyway. Then he's happy, and leaves us alone."

Taylor took a long, long sip of pumpkins spice while he thought over his answer. Things had gotten a lot more confusing since he met Raven Queen, after all. She seemed really nice, not like a bigtime villain at all. If she didn't want to be a villain, did she really have to? Even if she did, what then? Villains always lost in the stories. What kind of life did that leave someone like Raven, after she lost?

Finally, all he could say in reply was, "I really hope you're right, Anna."

Soon, the assembly area was filled the rest of the student body. As if he'd been waiting for everyone else to arrive to make an appropriate entrance, Headmaster Grimm entered through the back doors, a measured scowl on his face. Under his arm was a large red book with a purple spine. Walking down the main aisle, he cast a glance to where he heard students still talking, and they quickly fell silent. He got up to the podium, got a list from inside his coat, and addressed the students.

"Apple White, Raven Queen, Madeline Hatter, Hunter Huntsman, and Cedar Wood, please join me onstage."

The five students stood up and weaved their way through the maze of chairs and came up to the stage from three different aisles. Raven and Apple came up together, but even Apple's usually dazzling smile looked limp to someone right next to her.

Like Raven Queen.

Now, Apple didn't look like the photogenic princess Raven had known about before even starting school. The one who'd been trying to subtly get Raven back on track for their shared destiny.

After the other night, and Apple's first meeting with the Keeper, Raven knew what Apple was mostly managing to hide now.

Snow White's daughter was afraid.

Headmaster Grimm coughed into his hand, and all five students looked over at him. "Now then, this is only a rehearsal," he said to the group. "When you approach the real Storybook of Legends, a key will appear in your hand. You'll use it to unlock the book, which will open itself to your page."

Maddie raised her hand, but Headmaster Grimm held up a finger to silence her. She didn't seem to notice, and exclaimed the first syllable of something, before Headmaster Grimm stomped his foot and glared at her. With his domination asserted, he went on, "After this happens, you will address the students. Spine straight, shoulders back, with dignity. State your name, your legacy, and lastly, how you'll live up to that legacy when the time of your story comes."

Silence descended on the platform, and a few of the students started fidgeting. Apple looked down at her feet for just a second before looking back up, smiling passively, but Raven hadn't missed it.

"Do I have a volunteer to go first?" Headmaster Grimm asked. He didn't, so he scanned the group in search of one. "Cedar, why don't you go first? It should be easy for you."

The wooden girl met his eyes, gulped, and pointed to her own face. "Me?"

"Of course, you," Headmaster Grimm replied. "You're just telling the truth, which is what you always do."

Hesitating for another second, Cedar Wood stepped up to the podium and looked out past it. Where every other kid in school was watching her, waiting for what she'd say.

"I'm…! I'm Cedar Wood, and I pledge to follow my destiny and be the next Pinocchio. Well, I mean, not the next 'Pinocchio'. I mean, actually, I can only tell the truth, while I'm in school. But then, one day, one day, I'm gonna lie!" Cedar's face lit up with pride for a second, but then confusion fell over her face again. "Uh, but does that mean I'm gonna be like my dad, or, not like my dad?"

While Cedar was making her vow, Raven Queen sidled up to the headmaster. "Um, Headmaster Grimm? I need to ask…what if someone doesn't sign the Storybook of Legends?"

It seemed like he hadn't heard, as he kept watching Cedar stumbling through her declaration without a single twitch to his expression.

"Sir?" she prodded him.

"Nothing," he whispered.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"Nothing, because no-one is going to skip out on signing the Storybook of Legends," he said, a little louder and not a little sternly.

However, the dark princess persisted. "But, what if someone did?"

"Miss Queen, we maintain a delicate balance with this ceremony," Grimm said, frowning very severely. "If any of the students were to disrupt that balance by not living out their legacy, their story would cease to exist. Everything could…poof. Right out of existence."

"Go poof?" Raven asked, looking up Grimm a little incredulously, but she gulped when he turned his glare straight at her.

Turning it away and smiling to the crowd, Grimm said out of the side of his mouth, "Do you find the idea of the entire World of Stories disappearing, because that balance was disrupted by one person, amusing?" Raven shook her head. "Then stick to the script, Miss Queen." Cedar Wood had stepped away from the mic, and Grimm held out his hand to indicate for Raven to step up next.

Raven rested her hands on the podium, looking out over the entire study body for the second time in too soon. "Uh…hi, everyone!" Raven said, smiling very awkwardly. "I'm Raven Queen…most of you probably know that. I, uh, I pledge to live up to my mom's, um, tradition, and curse a lot of people. I guess?"

She looked backwards, to see Apple White chewing her lip nervously, and Headmaster Grimm not even looking at her. Instead, he'd literally facepalmed and sighed miserably. Raven stepped away and Apple walked up to the podium, taking only a second to prepare her best smile.

"Hi, everybody! It's really reassuring to see this is as important to all of you as it is to me," she began, and some cheers went up among the crowd.

It wasn't as if Raven got to focus on it for long. Maddie, bouncing up and down on her feet, leaned over and whispered to Raven, "What were you and Headmaster Grimm whispering about? Can I play too?"

Sighing, and running her hands through her hair to steady herself, Raven just said, "I don't think he wants any new players in his little game."

Eventually, enough of the kids had a chance onstage that Headmaster Grimm said practice was over for the day and sent them back to their rooms. Raven had been called up for a second try, and private Grimm had told her to practice her presentation for when she'd give it again the next day, too.

Raven was about to join the students flowing back inside when she felt someone pulling on the back of her dress. Expecting Apple having something else to say to her, she was surprised when she saw Maddie there instead, grinning and giggling to herself.

"Uh, hi, Maddie."

"I did it, Raven! I did it! He said he'll talk to us!" Maddie said in an excited whisper.

"…who will?"

Maddie looked very sly, as she replied, "The one who's painting the roses red!"

"Oh, him, huh?" Raven said, scratching the back of her head. "What does he need?"

But Maddie shook her head. "He's got what you need! Answers about Destiny! It's the thorns, he's the rose!"

Having a friend who wasn't scared by her reputation was nice, Raven thought, but for Maddie, sometimes it was a little time-consuming. Gradually the implications of Maddie's announcement sank in, and Raven's eyes went wide. "You mean, you know somebody who's got answers about Destiny?"

Maddie vigorously nodded, teal curls bobbing.

"If that's true, can I bring someone else?" Raven asked next.

Maddie vigorously shook her head, tea curls waving.

"Why not?"

"It's a secret."

"Maddie, please, it's really important," Raven implored her friend. "If the…the one who's painting the roses red, knows things about Destiny, this friend has things he has to know too."

The mad girl stepped back, looking unsure. "If the hummingbirds are in flight, it's a sign of bearing blight," she pointed out.

"That's probably because he didn't know, and couldn't help."

Maddie walked away, nodding cryptically.

Which was, for her, fairly normal.

Surreptitiously turning up the music on his video game, Pyotr Lupus locked the door once Raven and Cerise Hood were inside his room. "Should we call this meeting of the secret society to order, or something?" he asked.

"This is serious, Pyotr," Raven retorted.

Cerise Hood didn't seem to quite agree: "Why not? If we're gonna have a secret conspiracy about all this Dark Mirror stuff, might as well do something cool."

"We'll see, Cerise," Taylor interrupted.

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise we can talk about rules and rituals sometime soon when there's no attacking monster or big lead Raven found out about to deal with instead."

Red's heir smirked inside of her hood.

Taylor continued, "What did you hear that's really important, Raven?"

The dark princess explained, "Maddie Hatter was talking to me today—"

"No offense, Ray, but do you not see a problem right there?" Pyotr interrupted.

Raven sighed and looked down. "I know Maddie's a little…"

"…crazy," Pyotr supplied.

She sighed again and looked him in the eye. "Okay, I'll put it another way: do you have a better idea? Do you know where Taylor's sword comes from? Or where the Keeper and the Dark Mirrors come from?"

"Look, Ray?" Pyotr countered. "In spite of my reputation, I think listening's even more important than talking. But even I don't have the energy to listen to Maddie Hatter long enough to try to make sense of what she says."

"Are you—"

Taylor held up his hand. "And with all due respect, buddy, my dad wouldn't have gotten where he was if he didn't seize a good opportunity when one came his way. Maybe Maddie doesn't talk straight, but it's a place to start. We didn't have one of those before this, did we?"

Pyotr shrugged and turned back to the TV. "If you think it'll help, go for it. I got enough things to worry about to have energy to waste on Maddie Hatter."

The other three exchanged a look, just before Raven's mirrorphone buzzed. She looked down at the screen, then over at Taylor. "She says she'll meet with us both…I'm pretty sure."

Still focusing on the TV, Pyotr laughed a satisfied little laugh.

I've made up my mind: I don't like Pyotr Lupus anymore.

Because he doesn't like listening to Maddie Hatter?

Kind of, yeah! I thought heroes were supposed to be nice.

Heroes are people like the people they help, pumpkin. They have things that bother them, too. That's not really why you're upset, though, is it?

What do you mean, dad?

It bothered you when he talked that way about Maddie Hatter, because you're a fan of hers, aren't you?

What? No.

Brooke, what did we say about lying? Narrators have to tell the true story.

…Is it that obvious?

Believe it or not, your old dad was your age once, too, and I had a few characters I liked in particular. There's nothing wrong with that.

That's kind of the opposite of what mom said.

There are rules we need to stick to, Brooke, but there's rules that just get in the way.

As usual, Maddie Hatter was literally bouncing down the steps of the school library, clutching Raven's hand. Taylor had to take the stairs two at a time not to be left behind.

Maybe Pyotr had been onto something, he thought, with how Maddie hadn't had any reaction to another person coming along to meeting her secret source of information. Or at least, nothing coherent. The hatter's daughter said something really fast about croquet and cottage cheese, flapped her fingers like wings, grabbed Raven and ran down the stairs, grinning like an absolute loon.

Maddie ran into the library's basement, full of dingy old books that probably even their parents had never known were down there. In the middle of the shelves was a plain wooden door with an empty sign-holder on the front. Ignoring the fact that it was unmarked, Maddie went right up to it and knocked "shave and a haircut".

At that, a weird blue fog flowed out of the sign emplacement and engulfed the three of them, then sucked back inside, leaving no trace that anyone had been there.

When they could see again, they were in a tunnel that looked like it'd been chipped out of the rock. Piles of old books were everywhere, on the floor and in alcoves carved into the walls. A candelabra sat on top of a trunk at the end of the hall, where they could see a bent shadow cast on the wall.

Maddie informed the other teens, "If anyone knows anything about Destiny and the maaaaaagic book, it'll be him!"

Taylor asked, "Who?"

"Him!" Maddie gushed, thrusting her arms forward dramatically as they entered the room. "Giles Grimm!"

Standing before them was a thin man with a grey beard and wild grey hair, but twinkling green eyes peered out from behind two pairs of eyeglasses. He had on a dark red peacoat with patches here and there, a ragged waistcoat and khaki pants, mismatched socks and high-top sneakers that Taylor wasn't sure if they'd originally been grey, or if that was just because of how long he'd been down there.

Even noticing their names, it was hard to believe this gentle-looking man and the school's stern headmaster might have had anything in common. Giles smiled genially, and bowed. "Feathers and friends, together, hello!"

"…huh?" Raven muttered.

Maddie explained, "He's speaking Riddlish! He was cursed with a babble spell, and that makes him sound, you know, blblblblblbl!" Gigging to herself, she added, "He says, it's nice to meet you in person."

Raven nodded and waved to Giles, then leaned over and whispered to Maddie, "Ask him about the book. If everything would really disappear if someone didn't sign it."

"Okay," Maddie said, then faced Giles, and asked him, "Can a musical chair change its tone, when the table of granite's inscribed with a bone?"

He tapped his chin through his beard thoughtfully. "Hmm…the king who sings with pages of sky, fears too much the dawn that rises with lies!"

"He says, there's something wrong with the book. If you don't sign it your story will continue."

Raven slumped against the wall and sighed. "What a relief."

"Potentially," Maddie added.

"What?"

She shrugged. "Riddlish is not an exact language."

Taylor put a hand on Raven's shoulder. "Hey, we learned at least one thing. We had a place to start, now we've got a place to go next."

Raven groaned. "And where's that?"

"Something's wrong with the Storybook of Legends, that's what he said."

"The security on the Storybook of Legends is tighter than all the drums in Robin Hood's band of merry men put together," Raven replied. "We're just kids, Taylor."

He gave her a knowing look. "We're kids at school learning how to go on epic quests. An unlikely hero recovering a magic treasure happens all the time. We'll figure something out."

Raven sighed again, but came out of it smiling a little this time, before realizing something. "Oh, since we're talking about magic relics, what about yours?"

Together, they turned back to Maddie and Giles, and stopped when they saw that the pair were sitting at a table that definitely hadn't been there a second ago. Laid out across it was a velvet purple table cloth and ornate tea set, which Maddie was using to pour Giles a cup.

Ignoring the absurdity of it, Taylor held his hand over his heart, and in a flash the sword Mendyr was in his hand, and the belt around his waist. Taylor sank to one knee and offered the sword for Giles to inspect. "Sir, if there's anything you can tell me about this, anything at all, I would be grateful. It just appeared one day, when a friend was in trouble, and I wanted the strength to help them."

The strange-looking man picked up the sword, looking at the inscribed name in the blade for a minute. He gasped when it suddenly disappeared, and Taylor felt a sudden warmth in his heart that he took to mean the sword had returned to him. For a while, Giles sipped his tea and looked distantly at the wall.

Suddenly Maddie slurped her tea loudly, and Giles almost fell out of his chair. "Sorry," she said, sounding apologetic but giggly at the same time. "But you were taking forever after to say anything."

Setting down the teacup and composing himself, Giles thoughtfully said, "The sword is a cord to the fate on your plate." He placed his hand over his heart. "A thing that grand in the palm of your hand, lets you cross the line in the sand, and make a stand."

All of them, even Maddie, blinked at him in unison.

Giles tried to go on, "It's a blade that's made to be played, when hope fades."

Both of them looked over at Maddie for some hope of clarification.

"He says it's a symbol of heroic won't," she said.

"What?" Taylor sputtered, and Giles shook his head.

Maddie looked confused, which looked even weirder on her, then spoke, "Oh wait, sorry! He said heroic will!" Giles nodded, smiling faintly behind his beard. Maddie bopped the side of her head, and made her eyes roll in their sockets. "That makes a lot more sense, because heroic will's what gets people to go do crazy/fun/crazy/amazing things!" Maddie actually sang. "It's how Hansel and Gretel outsmarted the Candy Witch! It's how Beauty faced the Beast! It's how Prince what's-his-name climbed the tower of briars for Sleeping Beauty!"

"Sounds pretty powerful," Raven casually observed.

"It is!" Maddie agreed, and Giles nodded. "Heroic will's the thing that lets heroes do the biggest, wiiiiiiiildest feats! It's what lets them live up to the biggest destinies!"

"Or maybe, fight against Destiny?" Taylor whispered to Raven. To Maddie, he said, "Has Giles ever seen it work this way, before? With a sword and a belt?"

She turned around to the elderly man, and asked, "Do dragons stride, with needles at side, when hedgehogs hide?"

"Rays may cascade, but shades have displayed, I'm dismayed," Giles said, sadly shaking his head.

"He says no."

Taylor sighed. "That's what I was expecting."

After a round of tea and biscuits, and a few more impenetrable observations by Maddie, the kids packed up and headed for the stairs. Taylor went first, and disappeared into the fog emitted by the door.

Raven was about to follow, but Maddie held the dark princess back, a surprisingly concerned look on her face.

"Your friend Pyotr…does he not like me?" Maddie asked.

"What?" replied a very surprised Raven. "Where'd you hear that?"

"I hear the narrators talking about it before."

"The…narrators."

Maddie nodded sadly. "I want them to have a happy story to tell! But it's hard, because it sounds like they're having family troubles right now!"

Raven bit her lip, then clapped her hands over Maddie's shoulders. "Well, we're working on a happy story for them. That's why we wanted to get information from Giles. So, you are helping the, uh…narrators have a happy story to tell."

Again, Maddie's face lit up, and she threw her arms around Raven. "You're the best friend a little Wonderland girl could ask for!" she gushed.

"Of course, Maddie. Anything for a friend. Just, make sure not to tell anybody else what Taylor said today, okay?" Raven asked.

Maddie mimed locking her lips with a key and throwing it away. Without opening her lips, she mumbled something Raven couldn't understand.

"Sorry, I didn't get that?"

It took a little while of melodramatically straining her mouth, then gasping as the imaginary lock popped open. Once she'd caught her breath from his herculean feat, Maddie explained, "I said, I'd never call down the Spoilers on a friend! Now, you can go ahead," Maddie said, then sank to her knees and started feeling on the ground with her fingers. "I'll be down here a little while."

"Why?" Raven asked, and immediately regretting.

"I have to find the key, so I can lock my lips again," Maddie giggled. "Ah-duh!"

"…Okay. Let me know if you any…Spoilers," Raven replied, then went upstairs after Taylor.

Wait, what just happened?

Surprised somebody down in the story can hear you, sweetie?

Well, I mean, I just didn't think…!

It's okay! You just ran into your first big surprise as a narrator. There'll be others.

That means, I can—

No, Brooke, it doesn't. Be ready to be surprised, and don't be ashamed of having a favorite character. But never forget, we tell the story they act out. We don't decide it for them.

No, of course, not dad. I won't. I promise…

The time had come to strike at the real source of all the trouble.

The queen's daughter had started to pry into the consequences of her decisions, and that needed to be stopped, immediately. Before the cracks of Raven Queen's disobedience had a chance to spread any farther.

He picked up the completed Ride Book from his desk, the title Tyrannic Queen now inscribed into the front. Standing beside the desk, awaiting his commands, was the Witch. The Dark Mirror he had created in the Evil Queen's image, to test another princess's commitment.

Shaking with power waiting to be unleashed, the Ride Book flew from his hand into her body. She didn't even flinch, but a change came over her from the infusion of new information. Her body swelled higher, her arms and fingers lengthening.

Glowing with violet fire.

Ready to show Raven Queen exactly what she could be.