A week has passed and everyone was enjoying their time as they all were excited for the party taking place held by Briar tonight.

But not everyone had the same enthusiasm.

For the past week, Raven has been trying to get Apple's attention. And when she does get to talk to the princess, she would just make an excuse and leave in a hurry. It made the witch sad that she was being ignored, especially if it's the girl she loves.

"You know, I can probably help out a bit. Just let me do the talking with the sweet princess and who knows, maybe we could get something more out of it."

Raven ignored the voice in her head, knowing full well not to listen as she went back to her own thoughts.

'Something has definitely been wrong here ever since I asked her that question.' Raven ponders as she was getting stuff from her locker. 'If she can't tell me anything, I know someone who will.'

"Okay, do we have everything we need?" the girl asked.

Her hood was gone and it revealed her shoulder length platinum blonde hair that had pink in the tips of them. She was also wearing a white sleeveless leather jacket showing a line of tattoos on her right arm, a red t-shirt that had a white dragon symbol on the front. She also wore jean shorts while also wearing blue sneakers.

"Tranquilizers, check. Food, check. Invisibility amulets, check. Map, check. Stone of teleportation, check. Magic cuffs for good measures, check. Daggers, check. I think that everything else is there as well." the brother says while looking in his bag.

He also has platinum blonde hair and wears a black shirt and a gold and red jacket that has sword, shield, and apple patches stitched onto it. And he also wore blue jeans and gold sneakers.

"Alright then. Let's go do the most nerve racking thing in our lives right now." the blonde says.

"C'mon, don't be like that. Where's the big sis I grew up with since birth?" he mocks. "You are chickening out like a toddler and you're like, 4 minutes older than me."

"Hey! I have a reason to be scared. And don't act heroic, you're scared too." she protested.

"I am but I'm brave enough to face little Apple Seed," he says.

"Let's just get it over with." she suggested as they used their teleportation stone and disappeared out of thin air.

If you ask if Briar Beauty was doing okay, she'll say yes with as much vigor and relief you've ever seen.

Not only did the unsettling feeling of her secret that she's been hiding since throwing the Storybook of Legends has been revealed to everyone else, she no longer had to go through with her terrible destiny! She didn't have to say goodbye to her friends! She didn't think anything (other than the incident with Apple) could ruin her good mood!

Oh how wrong she was…

Briar was setting up the decorations for tonight's party. She worked hard and was putting up the streamers as much as she could and there were only a few more hours before it got started.

No particular reason to host it. She just wants to have fun with her friends.

She noticed Raven approaching her and climbed down from the ladder she was on.

"Hey Raven! Do you like the banner?" She asked.

"Yeah! You did a really great job." the witch says while giving a smile.

"Glad you like it. The food is all set, the balloons in place, and the party streamers are set up along with the DJ and the speakers." Briar answers while giving a thumbs up to Melody who was looking through the different music to try on. "This party is going to be epic!"

"Can't wait." the witch said. Then her expression falters as she decides to pop the question that's been on her mind. "And while you're at it, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Briar notices her distress and already knew what it was about. "Does this have to do with Apple constantly ignoring you?"

Raven nodded. "I kept trying to ask what was wrong. Ever since that conversation we had a week ago, she kept making these to stay away." she says while her eyes drifted down on the ground with sadness.

"What did you even say to her to cause this much panic?" Briar asked.

Raven then looked at her. "We were just talking about me switching classes and then I brought up my siblings."

"You have siblings?" Briar asked, raising a brow.

"Why does that surprise people? But yeah, I do. Apple asked what they were like and so I told her. Then I asked about her family and she just decided to change the subject and then that's it!" Raven answered.

"Oh! Ohh..." Briar knew the reason why the blonde neglected the witch. But made a promise not to tell anyone or even mention it.

Raven caught on to this and asked. "You know something, do you? Please, I can tell this is a touchy subject coming from how she reacted but something is definitely wrong and I'm worried. All I want is to help her without her running away from me." she begs.

"Look, I do know. But I made a promise to her to keep it a secret." Briar answers her. "I'll try to convince her at the party, okay? Only she can give you the reason."

Raven was hesitant at the response, but decided that was probably for the best. She agreed and went to leave.

"C'mon. You need me." said the voice as it appeared walking next to her in the empty halls as a figment of her imagination. It looked like Raven but her eyes were growing fires of purple magic.

"What do you even want with me?" Raven talked as she knew no one would be around to listen. "You've been pestering me the day after what happened in Wonderland, getting me to turn into you from time to time. What do you want from being evil?"

"The same thing you want."

"What?" Raven asked, taken a bit back by that response. "Why would I want to hurt people?" she said with hate velveted in her tone.

"Not that." the other girl said, flatly. "What I want is something we both have wanted since coming to this wretched school."

Raven thought for a moment at that, only to have a face of horror and hatred at the realization. "Don't you dare get her involved in this! I won't let you hurt her!"

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt her. Just spell her."

"You shouldn't do that either!"

"I want her just as badly as you do. I mean, she's so cute it's hard to ignore." the other her said so maliciously it made Raven's spine shiver. "Just wanted to tell you my reason before leaving. And," she looked at Raven with evil in her eyes as she smirked.

"To let you know I don't plan on giving up on your, or should I say our, princess."

And with that, she disappeared, leaving a stunned witch in the halls.

Apple was in her dorm and sat at her bed while crying. She was looking at a photo taken years ago.

"I can't believe it's already been a decade since it happened." she said and then sat up. She wiped her tears and checked the time. It was almost time for the party. She puts down the photo onto her vanity.

Apple went to the door. She opened it and looked back at the photograph before leaving.

The picture shows Apple, 5 years old smiling brightly with two older kids who looked to be fraternal twins around the age of 8 smiling just as brightly as her. Their smiles nearly identical.