Page 1: Flip the Script
Idyllic was just the word.
Small rustic buildings lined the town streets, yet proud trees reached toward the endless blue skies above. Charming little cottage shops beckoned people to come in off the streets and partake of the wonders within, whether it was the new mirrorphones from Mobile Mirrors Inc. Imported pixie dust cosmetics at Fit For a Princess. Even vintage music across all audio mediums in the little building with flaking paint that was The Strange Musician.
If it could've (and there were more than a few people who insisted it did, if you looked up at just the right moment), the sun might've been smiling down on such a pleasant little town as Book End.
Overlooking the town, though, was a majestic tiered building on a high hill. Towers rose over ramparts, tall windows peered down over parapets. It wasn't a castle, but it was still a symbol of prominence for the town below.
For this was Ever After High, where the young people with the greatest of destinies in the kingdom would gain all the skills and knowledge that would allow them to recreate the great stories of their parents.
And stretching up the road to the top of the hill was a colorful ribbon of buses, family cars and horse-drawn carriages for the true traditionalists among the families dropping off their children to start their first semester at the illustrious school.
Once upon a time…
…a new school year was starting, and the stars of the next great generation of stories were coming from all across the land to learn their roles.
Some of the most famous students are already here! There's Briar Beauty, stepping out of that pink limousine her parents just got her for her birthday!
Over there's Ashylnn, Cinderella's little girl. Oh, and her carriage is already turning back into a pumpkin. The queen must've taught her a lot about tradition over the summer.
And there's the Charming siblings, showing up in style. Just watch everyone moving out of the way for them. Everyone's expecting big things of the heirs of the great family of heroes!
Speaking of expecting big things, isn't that Melody Piper wheeling in all that DJ equipment? Her father was the biggest musical savant in the school's history, but that probably won't help her get all that up the stairs!
Anything to add, Brooke?
No, not really. It's just all the kids showing up for the first day of school, you know? Nothing's happening yet.
Brooke, honey, you're here with us because you've been saying you're old enough to narrate too. These are teens your own age, isn't there anything there for you to appreciate?
That's not it, is it, Brooke?
…what do you mean, mom?
Did you read ahead, young lady?
…no.
Brooke Page, what have we told you is rule number one, since—
Uh, hey, look! Isn't that Raven Queen?
Oh, yes! One of the biggest players in the biggest story of them all!
She's going to have more people keeping their eyes on her than almost any other student starting today.
Phew
"Honey, are you sure you want to go in there alone?"
"Yeah, dad. I don't want it to look like I came in with the whole royal entourage because I was afraid of coming in by myself."
"I'm just saying, honey, your new classmates probably already know all about your mom…"
"And what do you think it'll be like if I go in there, hiding behind the footmen while they bring everything up to my room?" she exclaimed, sighed, and took a second to collect herself. "I need to go in there and look calm, confident, and in control."
"Just like your mother."
"Sure, like mom," she admitted, "but in a good way."
"That word and your mother don't go together."
She laughed and kissed his cheek. "Well, then I guess it's up to me to change that. Love you, dad! Promise I'll call you lots!"
With that, she joined the disorganized crowd of students weaving their way through the great front doors of Ever After High.
The entrance hall was huge, doors with elaborate carved wooden frames lining every wall, and a giant staircase running up to the second floor, looking wide enough for half the student body to walk up it at the same time. Hanging above the rows of lockers were even flatscreen TVs, although they were broadcasting a blank blue at the moment with the year just beginning.
It was hard to pay much attention to the decorating with all the other freshmen swarming around the hall, though. Raven held up the paper that, amid all the other jargon, had her room number, and started trying to squeeze through all the other kids to get to the stairs.
Before she knew it, she'd bumped into a boy and knocked him flat on his face.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said, and held out her hand to help him up.
When he looked up and saw who it was, his eyes went wide.
Pale skin. Luxurious black hair streaked with purple, the same colors at the gothic mini-dress she wore. Spiked iron diadem in her hair. Platform heels that made her look even taller. Every inch of her looked regal, there was no denying that, but…
He pointed an accusing finger and screamed, "IT'S RAVEN QUEEN!"
Time seemed to come to a halt across the entire entrance hall. Everyone turned around, and when they recognized her, the students closest to Raven took a big step backward. The students behind them stepped away too, and in a matter of seconds, Raven Queen realized the entire room was formed into a circle of students, all staring at her.
"Uh, heh, hi guys," she said, waving, and trying mightily to sound calm. "How's everyone doing to—"
Evidently, Raven had raised her hand a little too suddenly for someone. A scream of terror went up from somewhere. A student tried to run and fell down, judging from the sound that came from one corner. The person next to them fell over, and then complete pandemonium ensued.
Raven clapped her hands over her ears to try without success to block out everyone's cries of panic. In response, black and purple flames of magic surrounded her body, which only made the screams louder and the other students run faster to get away. Within seconds, Raven stood alone in the entrance hall. Benches tipped over, boxes and backpacks laying abandoned all over the floor in the students' hurry to be anywhere else. A piece of notebook paper drifted across the room, blown by an appropriately corny breeze, twirled upside down and drifted out the door.
"Well, that could've gone better…," Raven sighed.
"Double you dee why em?" exclaimed someone behind her. "That was AMAZING!"
She looked at the front doors, where it'd come from, in surprise. Leaning in, her body impossibly parallel to the floor, was another girl. Her head was like an umbrella of curly hair colored with streaks of blue, turquoise and purple, the look tied together by the tiny top hat shaped oddly like a teacup and saucer she wore off-center on top of it all. She was grinning like she'd just seen the funniest thing in the world, and Raven had a hard time imagining that everyone in school running away from her could be that funny to anyone.
"Hi! I'm Maddie! Maddie Hatter!" the girl said, extending her hand but staying parallel to the ground. Not quite sure what was going on, but glad to meet an apparent friend, Raven came over and shook it in greeting. "I can already tell it's gonna be a tea-rrific year!"
"That's one word for it," admitted Raven.
More students were still arriving, some climbing off buses and others in the convoy of personal family transportation. One such vehicle was a faded white carriage pulled by a team of regal black stallions, the family slogan painted on the doors in gold lettering: Seven in One Blow. Before the driver even had a chance to jump down and open the door for the passengers, a passenger opened it himself and slid out.
Once, he had probably been quite the dashing hero. Now, his body was a bit heavier, clad in a tropical print shirt and cargo pants. Glasses framed blue eyes that still shined with the light of a man who saw everything, but the smile behind the light brown beard was of a proud father content with the simple life he'd attained.
Next out was a young man, the image of the dashing hero the other hand once been. Trimmed brown hair, a relaxed smile on his face. Handsome in a generic kind of way that had the people who met him peg him as a protagonist, but not from one of the more famous dynasties.
Unassuming was also the word for his wardrobe, with a plain red jacket over a white t-shirt one would have to look at closely to recognize the logo for the Bremen Town Wailers. Worn jeans and white sneakers. The only thing that really stood out about him were the bandages on the tips of multiple fingers.
"How's it feel, Taylor?" the man asked the boy, smirking him and clapping him between the shoulders. "Miss home yet?"
"This another test, dad?" Taylor said and gave a teasing smile back.
He laughed and reached out to give Taylor a shove on the back of the head, but Taylor ducked and stepped behind his father, getting a soft smile of approval.
"Look, maybe they take it easy on the kids who go to One Thousand and One Nights High, but you're going to the one where all the big stories are taught!" his father declared, smiling openly now. "You've gotta be on your toes to make it around here. You gotta be smart to be hero of your story."
"Isn't it still your story until I sign the book?" Taylor asked while he stepped onto a rung on the side of the carriage to start pulling his luggage off the roof.
"Son, we've been getting you ready to come here a long time. For one reason, and one reason only."
Taylor held up his injured fingers. "I know, dad! I've got all the needle injuries to show for it!" he laughed, then gripped the handle of a suitcase and lowered it to the ground. "I'm as ready to start training here as anybody could be!"
"Aw, Taylor, is that really how you think of it? Training?" his father's face fell. "I know I said this school's gonna ask a lot of you, but you're still a kid! You're supposed to have fun and make friends, too!" He paused, and grinned. "How meeting a cute princess? Bet you've been thinking about that, now that you won't be staying at home."
Another suitcase came down off the roof and landed on top of the first. "I've been thinking about a lot of things, dad," Taylor replied. "Like how now you have to find somebody else to fix Teagan and Thalia's clothes when they come home from playing in the ravine, all torn up and muddy."
"I'm not headed for the retirement village yet!" his father laughed. "I was sewing patches for a living before I was your age. Trust me, I've handled your sisters too, son."
A small pile of suitcases and bags now lay by the side of the carriage, and Taylor hopped back down. The two of them gathered up the luggage and headed into the entrance hall, which was surprisingly empty, not to mention messy. Benches had been tipped over and books and bags were laying all over the floor, but Taylor shrugged it off as the result of hundreds of teenagers moving in on the same day.
They found his floor, and, after getting lost a couple times and having to weave through a morass of chaotic teens hauling all their worldly goods with them, found a dorm on the side of the building. Inside were two beds, and already sitting on one, playing video games, was another boy Taylor's age. He seemed to realize he wasn't alone after Taylor dumped the luggage on the other bed, and stood up, grinning.
"Hey, roomie!" he said, slapping Taylor on the shoulder with one arm and shaking his hand with the other. He was a thin, wiry specimen, with spiky blond hair and an earring of a black skull dangling on the right side. Not to mention he had on the same Bremen Town Wailers shirt as Taylor himself.
"Hey!" Taylor smiled. "You're Pyotr Lupus. The new Boy Who Cried Wolf, right?"
"Yeah," Pyotr replied, a look of disgust appearing on his face, but only for a second before his smile returned. "And you must be Taylor Valiant, the new Brave Little Tailor! And this handsome guy with you must be the original!"
"Well, not so little anymore," Taylor's dad said, but smiled.
Pyotr nodded, but turned back to Taylor, his grin turning well, a little wolfish. He said, "It's great to meet you! I was afraid they were gonna try to make me room with somebody lame!"
Taylor's dad slapped him between the shoulders. "Looks you already got a fan, sport!"
"Thanks, dad," Taylor said, looking back at his father. Neither said anything for a second, and Taylor's eyes started to glisten.
"Uh, hey, I'm gonna go get some pickled pepper chips, or…something," Pyotr said. "I'll be back in a bit." He stepped around the pair, and into the chaos of students situating themselves in the hall.
As soon as he was out of the doorway, father and son hugged each other tightly. Tears flowed from both of their eyes.
"I'm really gonna miss everything," Taylor said.
"You're gonna make your mark, is what," his father said. "My boy's finally gonna be out on his own, being a brave little man."
"I'll make you proud, dad," Taylor promised.
"I know you will, T."
Raven Queen managed to find her dorm room too.
What she found waiting for her didn't surprise her, but sent a chill up her spine all the same.
A beautiful girl with an avalanche of hair like spun gold was busy decorating the room. She had on a satin dress and lipstick as red as the fruit she was named after, and walked with perfect poise despite her precarious spiked heels. It couldn't be anyone else but Apple White, daughter of the High Queen.
The one who was supposed to be Raven's co-star in the biggest story of them all.
Before Raven could gather the good sense to find somewhere else to be, Apple had spotted her, and the princess's face erupted in the sweetest smile Raven had ever seen in her life. "Hey, there you are!" Apple squealed, then grabbed Raven by the wrist and dragged her inside. "You're even more sinister than in your picture!" Apple giggled.
"Uh…thanks?"
"Come on in! Tell me what you think of how I decorated your half of the room!" Apple continued to grin at her.
"Wait, you did what?" Raven asked, but had already seen the fruits of Apple's labor. The walls on half the room had actually been papered a dark purple, with the pattern showing black apples and skulls. One wall was covered with polished mirrors, bearing black frames depicting angry animals and monsters, looking like they were carved from actual jet. Even the chair—more like a throne—in the corner was a menacing purple, with the shape of a red-eyed crow carved into the top of the frame.
"Wow, everything looks really…evil," Raven observed, starting to feel more than a little overwhelmed by Apple's enthusiasm.
"I knew you'd love it!" the perky princess gushed. "So, like, tell me all about your magic! Do you evil sorceresses turn people who annoy you into frogs?" She giggled. "Or is it lizards? I don't really remember."
"I wouldn't do that to anybody," Raven protested.
"Oh, right!" Apple replied, her smile not flickering at all. "You guys like to make your revenge personal," she went on, as if this were a completely casual topic. "But have you ever thought about it?"
Raven took a step back at that. "No. I've never thought about cursing somebody. Honestly, my mom scares the hex out of me."
Apple pouted when she heard that. "Oh, but that's no good! How are we going to be arch enemies if you don't think about things like that?"
The floor seemed to ripple beneath Raven's shoes. Her attempt to make a friendly entrance at the school had already been a gigantic failure. But now, here was the person she'd be living with for the school year, acting excited about getting her to act like a villain.
"Look," Raven said, sucking in a breath that didn't help to steady her, "I just met you, Apple, and—"
"Theeeeeeere you are!" some laughed from behind, put a pair of powerful hands onto Raven's shoulders and started walking her backwards toward the door. She looked over her shoulder to see who her savior was, and was surprised it was no-one she recognized: a boy with spiky blond hair and a skull earring. "I was starting to think you were gonna ghost me," he said, and led Raven out of the dorm room.
"What are you doing?" Raven whispered to him as they left the speechless Apple White behind.
"Giving a new buddy and his dad some time to say goodbye," he grinned. "Plus, I heard about what happened when you showed up, and I thought maybe you and I had something in common."
After a while, Taylor's dad had left, joining the short column of departing parents attempting to find their way back out of their teen's dorm. Taylor started to unpack, putting his clothes away and hanging up his suit and his jackets in the wardrobe. His dad had told him to check for magic portals in there, but Taylor wasn't surprised to only find a bar for hangers and a shelf for shoes.
He thought about setting up his MirrorBox, but then remembered he hadn't brought a TV. Because when, at his parents' recommendation, he'd called to greet Pyotr over the summer, Pyotr had promised to bring a TV for them. Taylor had been happy to agree, since it meant he could spend his meager savings on…something else.
But, Pyotr had already set up a MirrorStation on their one TV. He'd never set anything about that on their call. Everyone knew that system only had big, bad games. If Pyotr liked the MirrorStation, what would he do if Taylor disconnected it and set up his own there instead…?
Was he making a huge mistake? Could he really share a room with someone like this for a whole year? Was he really ready to start learning to be the hero of his own story?
"Hey, Taylor!" Pyotr called out, suddenly leaning in through the doorway and grinning. "Come on! I ran into somebody you should meet!...Hey, is that a MirrorBox? Cool! You can show me your games when we get back."
"Uh, sure," Taylor said, and put the console down on top of his empty suitcases. He followed Pyotr out, feeling only a little less unsure.
Soon they entered the common room, which divided the boys' and girls' dorms. There were tables and chairs set up all over the room, a big-screen TV with three entire couches formed into a little U in front of it. There was even a fireplace, currently empty, also surrounded by couches. Taylor could imagine what that was for, but at the moment the room was completely empty.
Except for the dark-haired girl sitting at a table, doing something on her mirrorpad.
"Hey, Raven!" Pyotr called out and started making his way over. She turned to look at him, and from the look on her face seemed quietly surprised to see Pyotr coming back with someone so ordinary. "I brought my friend Taylor down to meet you!" As surreptitiously as a teen could he whispered to Taylor, "Be impressed to meet her, okay?"
"What? Why?"
"Because everybody got scared and ran away when they found out she was here," Pyotr whispered back. "She's the Evil Queen's daughter, you know."
"Her?"
"Shut up, man!" Pyotr whispered again. "We're trying to help her feel welcome."
Raven waved her hand. "Hey, if you guys have something else to talk about, I can just go," she said and stood up, realized she'd have Apple White waiting to socialize with her, and sat back down again.
But Pyotr shook his head. "It's nothing," he said, and smiled. "How are you liking the place so far?"
She shrugged. "I mean, it's pretty. The people are kind of…I don't know, yet. What about you guys? How was the trip into town?"
"Really pretty," Taylor supplied, smiling a little bit. "We came up the coast on our way in. Supposed to be really good surfing out that way."
For a second, she looked confused, but then chuckled and put down her mirrorpad. "Wow, that's not something I expected to hear," Raven admitted. "Too bad it's the end of summer."
"Well, I haven't ever actually surfed," Taylor laughed. "Lately I've kinda wanted to, though. Didn't get the chance since we live too far away from the beach, plus I spent a lot of the summer watching my kid sisters."
Pyotr laced his fingers in front of his face and smirked. "You can call it babysitting."
"You dragged me down here just so you could have somebody to make fun of?" Taylor retorted, but he was smiling.
Raven rested her chin in her hand. "That sounds kind of nice, actually. Having sisters," she said, and looked out the window with a slightly longing expression on her face.
"Oh?" Pytor gently prodded. "Just you, huh?"
"Well, you know," Raven shrugged. "My mom's evil, right? She wanted one heir to focus all her training on, or something like that." She sighed, and looked out the window even harder.
Taylor tapped his fingertips together, not sure what to say next. The princess sighed and reached out for her mirrorpad, but it slid off her fingertips, bumped the edge of the table and clattered onto the floor.
"I'll get it," Taylor offered, even though Raven was already reaching for it too. When he bent down, something fell out of his jacket and slid across the floor, stopping next to Raven's mirrorpad. Seemingly out of instinct, she picked it up.
And Taylor froze.
She turned the little case over in her pale fingers, regarding the row of needles of differing lengths, with little spools of differently-colored thread.
"You can sew?" she asked flatly, not seeming quite to know what to make of it.
He shut his eyes and shrugged, a resigned look on his face. "I didn't really want it to spread around, but yeah. It's about how my story gets started, you know. Being a tailor."
To his surprise, they exchanged a look, then both started chuckling. "You're worried about people making fun of you because you can sew?" Pyotr asked. "How do you think I feel? People already treat me like I couldn't say an honest word if I wanted to."
"You think you have it bad?" Raven giggled. "Everybody thinks I'll curse them if I get mad at them for something! The whole school saw me and ran away!"
Taylor was taken aback at how ordinary Raven seemed, but he shrugged. "Everybody's got their role."
Pyotr's smile faded, and he looked over at Raven. "I've thought about that a lot," he muttered.
She nodded, just as somberly. "Me too, lately."
"What other choice is there, though?" Taylor asked the others. "Everybody's tied to their story. If they don't play out their story, they disappear."
"Do they?" Raven asked. "Do I have to grow up to be the worst villain of them all?"
"Not tonight," Taylor replied, which made Raven look up at him in surprise. "Pyotr dragged me down here to meet his new friend, it's only fair I drag him back up to the room to make him show me the video games he brought. Then we play some so I can prove mine are better than his. You ever play, Raven?"
The princess looked taken by surprise by Taylor's invitations, but Pyotr's grin had already returned. After a moment she smiled too, and stood to follow them upstairs. "I better warn you guys, my mom taught me to show no mercy."
Pyotr laughed, and Taylor couldn't help laughing too.
Outside, dark shapes at the edge of the forest line watched through the windows as they left.
In the morning, the greasy box from Little John's Pizza was still on the floor of the bedroom. Pyotr and Taylor were snoring in their beds, still wearing their t-shirts and jeans from the day before; they'd stayed up playing until they dropped, and the screen still showed the game waiting for them to make a move.
It had indeed turned out to be quite a night. Turned out Pyotr's father had gotten him Charm Bros. Party 9 as a present for going all summer without any making any false alarms. Taylor had gotten stuck playing as Daring, which annoyed him and amused Pyotr and Raven. After the first hour, he'd seized the lead and held onto it until every had started yawning.
Raven had left to go back to the girls' dorm before it was late enough they'd have gotten in trouble for having a girl in their room, but she was pretty tired by the time she left. Once she'd gotten back to her own room, she was relieved to find Apple already in bed with her hair up in curlers. Raven imagined she was going to be grateful for princess beauty sleep requirements a lot.
A gray light was starting to flow in through the windows, signaling an overcast day, when someone loudly knocked on the door.
"Hey, get the door," Pyotr groaned.
There was no answer, but the knock came again, louder. Pyotr still didn't feel like getting up, so he still ignored it. Then a sound that filled him with dread: the hinges squeaking as the door opened.
Raven hadn't shut it all the way when she left.
Which meant the intruder could just come in.
Which they did.
"Goooooooooooood morning, fellow students!" boomed the boy standing in the hallway, literally flashing the most blinding smile in the kingdom at them. Pyotr and Taylor screamed and rolled out of bed, spots swirling in the air in front of their eyes from the glare.
"You wanted me to let him in?!" demanded Taylor.
"I didn't know who it was!" Pyotr protested.
They definitely knew who it was now, even though neither could see straight yet. Chiseled features, perfectly coifed blond hair, crown and letterman's jacket even though school hadn't even started yet. Most of all, the smile as bright as the sun.
Standing in their doorway was none other than Daring Charming, scion of the Charming family. Expected by everyone to be the latest great hero and heartthrob now that he was enrolled at Ever After High. It was impossible not to see his face on social media, or honestly any media they could think of.
He didn't seem aware at all of the looks of annoyance on their faces when the two managed to struggle to their feet. "Ready and raring to go, I see!" Daring said, still grinning.
"What do you want, Daring?" Pyotr growled. "You were kicking my butt all last night, and I'm liable to hold a grudge."
"I mean, I don't remember that, but I am pretty awesome, so I'll believe you," Daring replied, steamrolling on. "Anyway! I had the best idea for starting the school year off on the right foot: a big basketball game with all the new students!"
"…what?" Taylor grunted.
"Yeah! I'm getting everyone to meet out by the Enchanted Forest after breakfast! It'll be spelltacular!" Daring said, still grinning. "Anyway, I need to go make sure the rest of the guys know! See you there!" Then he whisked out the door, slamming it behind him. The boys just stood and stared at it, still not quite coherent enough to process everything that had just happened.
Taylor combed his hair and put on clean clothes, but Pyotr only did the second. They found their shoes and followed a group of boys to the castleteria. Technically the schoolyear hadn't begun yet, but the kitchens were already open, and students were collecting servings of thronecakes and flapjack sprats from the serving line. Once Pyotr and Taylor had gotten their breakfasts, they looked around for a place to sit, but only found one open table in the room.
Empty, it would seem, because that was where Raven Queen was sitting.
"Hi, Ray," Taylor said with a wave. "Mind if we sit here?"
"Ray? Hmmm, I kind of like that," she said, but her face quickly lit up with a mischievous smile. "Does that mean I get to call you Tay?"
"Please don't. My little sisters call me that," Taylor sighed while he sat down.
"Sounds like you've got enough of those already," Raven smirked, but let it go at that. "Did you guys hear about Daring Charming's game, or whatever?"
Pyotr scowled. "Personally," he replied. "I can still see some of the dots…"
Taylor, though, polished off half a flapjack before he spoke up, looking thoughtful. "Honestly it sounds pretty fun, but does he have the equipment? Where are the wolves going to come from?" he asked his new friends.
That got a laugh from Pyotr. "You know, I almost want to go see just to find that out! Did his family buy him basketball wolves and bring them all the way to school?"
Raven, for her part, was pushing her goose egg omelet around with her fork. "Seeing that would probably be more fun than hanging around in my room," she said, and shivered.
"Sounds like three votes," Pyotr noted. "Wonder how crazy this prince is."
For a few seconds, a cold chill ran up Raven's back, and she looked over her shoulder. To her relief, Apple White was still nowhere in sight. Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Like something very unfriendly was nearby, and it wasn't happy with her.
It looked like Daring Charming really had been going around talking to everyone in the boys' dorm, because two dozen boys were gathered on the field behind the school where it butted up against the Enchanted Forest. Not far away was a big metal kennel with the crest of the Charming family painted on the side, and there was indeed a pack of gray wolves circling inside.
"Wow, he seriously brought his own wolves for this," Raven said in amazement.
A row of picnic baskets were lined up in front of the forest line, and in front of them was, of course, Daring Charming, grinning the grin everyone was used to seeing him with before they'd ever met him. He waved the boys showing up to play to one side of the field or the other, dividing them up into impromptu teams.
"Thanks for showing up, everybody!" Daring addressed the two teams. "The goals have been set up in a clearing north of here—"
Taylor started tuning out, already knowing the rules of basketball well enough, he thought. More than that, he noticed Raven was standing with another group of girls who'd showed up to watch, but she seemed to be looking around for something. He looked around too, and wondered what she was looking for. Their eyes met, and Raven looked back at him with an uneasy expression.
"Hey, what are you looking at?" Pyotr asked, suddenly shoving him on the shoulder. "Daring asked you to come up to for the coin toss."
"I wasn't really paying attention to what he said," Taylor replied, trying to wave it off.
"Heh. I get that."
He still wasn't paying attention when he got up to where Daring and the boy from the other team were waiting. A quick glance over his shoulder showed him Raven was still looking nervous about something. It couldn't just be worrying if her roommate came around, could it?
"Heads!" Daring Charming declared, snapping Taylor back to the situation at hand. "Team A starts with possession." He passed the ball to the other boy. "Return to your starting lines please, gentlemen."
Pyotr intercepted him when Taylor got back to his team's side of the field. "Dude, what's wrong with you? I get being bored with Daring Charming, but you're supposed to be paying attention to the game."
"I saw Raven over there," Taylor replied. "She keeps looking around for something."
"Wow. School hasn't even started, and you're already obsessed with a girl?"
"It isn't that," Taylor whispered back. "Look at her. She seems really nervous about something." Obliging his roommate, Pyotr looked, and Raven noticed both of the boys looking her way. The dark princess's expression softened a little when she saw both of them looking her way, and clearly realized both of her knew friends most have noticed how she was feeling.
Again, there wasn't long to focus on it. Daring Charming blew a whistle and the game began. The members of both teams ran across the starting line and grabbed baskets before charging into the forest to start the game. Next the kennel's door fell open with a crash and wolves ran into the trees after them.
When all the players had vanished, Daring Charming started leading the spectators inside so they'd be high enough to see some of what was going on in the forest. Raven didn't follow, though. The feeling she'd been having since breakfast had gotten even worse, and she didn't want to be around anyone else in case she got jumpy and lashed out with her black magic by accident.
She saw a path leading into the forest and decided that seemed the safest way to go. Part of her wondered if she should try to find Taylor and Pyotr, since they had obviously been able to tell something was bothering her.
What could she tell them, though? When she hadn't seen anything that justified the way she was feeling. Maybe she was just feeling on edge because she was away from home for the first time, and everyone there had already thought she was evil incarnate…
While she walked, though, Raven felt something weird about her hands. She held them up in front of her face, and gasped in shocked when she saw them glowing with the black fire of her magic powers.
Then she heard the sound.
It was a little like singing, but coming from nothing resembling a human throat. Some kind of hideous gargling. Coming down the trail toward her.
The thought came to run, but as if in direct response, that was when Raven saw them. A procession of dwarves: bearded little men, wearing stocking caps and tunics, picks and shovels resting on their shoulders as they walked. Singing that awful sound.
Weirdest of all was how their bodies were completely colorless, everything about them a shiny black.
And then they saw her, and it turned into a squeal that pierced her ears. Sounding like maniacal joy. Raven raised her hands, a small ball of black fire jumping from her fingers without her entirely meaning to.
It slapped into the chest of the first dwarf.
He wasn't even knocked off-balance. He stopped where he was, squealing with monstrous laughter even louder and shaking his pick around in joy.
As one, all of the black dwarves charged down the path at Raven Queen.
Brooke, is this what you saw before?
…maybe
I certainly don't remember any of those from Snow White and the Evil Queen's time at the school!
Looks like we're in uncharted territory here.That's all we need.
Dear, "innovation" isn't a dirty word.
I hope Raven's okay…
Looks like we'll all find out soon, won't we, Brooke?
You don't have to rub it in, mom.
One way or another, looks like this is going to be a year no-one will forget!