Pixie Dust and Hydrogen Part 9


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"Where do you want to go, Apple?" Darling questioned softly, patting Herowing's saddle from where they waited outside the hospital. Most gratefully, she did not ask whether Apple was okay-- and if Apple had been asked, she wasn't sure if she could answer truthfully.

"My mom left specific instructions in her will," Apple swallowed, bearing with her a scroll in hand. "The family castle... the basement vault."

"All right," Darling agreed, and Apple slipped in behind her, wrapping arms tightly around her waist.

"I never thanked you," Apple whispered hoarsely, mid-flight. "You didn't have to fly me around all morning."

"Friends don't let friends drive distressed," Darling answered near-automatically.

Apple held on tighter, "Is that what we are...? Friends?"

Darling bit her lip. She hesitated, and gently steered Herowing's reins.

"Friends," she admitted. "And... maybe something else, too, if you want?"

Apple sighed. "Maybe someday, if we survive all this... But, Darling, I just want you to know that there's nobody else I'd rather have with me when the world ends."

" If  the world ends," Darling corrected gently. "I believe in my brothers and Raven and all of our friends at Ever After High. They'll find something. I know it."

"You're right," Apple agreed, inhaling sharply. "We just have to have faith, and wish harder than ever before, and whistle while we work. We have to believe that there's an end to this, somewhere-- some way to make a  new  Happily Ever After."

"You know it," Darling smiled. "And... for what it's worth, there's no one else I'd rather have with me at world's end, either."

With those words she carefully maneuvered her dragon down to the arcing driveway at Snow White's castle--  Apple's castle. A handful of dwarves rushed to take Herowing's reins from her, as if acting valet.

"Gesundheit! Pleasant!" Apple gasped at them. "Didn't I say that all of you could go home to your families in-between patrol shifts?"

"Begging your pardon, Princess," the one called Pleasant nodded. "But as far as we're concerned, the royal family  is  our family."

"And we're not the only dwarves who feel this way," Gesundheit added. He sniffled, "We just want you to know that the dwarven community is behind you in these tough times... besides. We couldn't just let you come home to an empty castle."

"Oh, you guys," Apple's eyes misted, and she bent over at the waist to give them both a hug.

"As lovely as this scene is," drawled a particularly grumpy looking dwarf. "Queen Snow would have wanted you to finish the objectives she left you and get back to school. Time is of the essence, and you're behind schedule."

"Of course, Secretary Katt," Apple gently released the other two dwarves and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "You're always the best at keeping us on-task."

The secretary dwarf harrumphed and glanced towards Darling. She waved awkwardly, uncertain of what to do. Katt tisked and deftly stepped away from Apple.

"You. Charming, is it?" he scowled at her. "Leave the dragon out front; Pleasant and Gesundheit can take care of it. I hope you like peanut-butter-and-apple-slice sandwiches. You'll both need a healthy lunch before returning to school."

The corners of Darling's eyes crinkled with mirth. "Thank you very much, Secretary Katt. I really appreciate it."

"Humph!" he frowned, and set about ordering his coworkers.

Darling hastened inside after Apple, following as she led them down winding staircases and past a most peculiarly dilapidated set of rooms. "Dilapidated" because they were worn, the wooden boards unfinished and rags tossed every which way-- but peculiar in that Darling's eye occasionally spotted a sink with proper plumbing, a tableau for applying make-up, a concealed MirrorNet router.

"Apple," she ventured. "What is this place?"

"The original story is that the Evil Queen makes Snow White work as a servant in her own home," Apple made her way down yet another staircase. "Every Snow White in the last two thousand years has lived in those rooms. I guess mom must have thought I'd be confined here if I was reading her... you know."

"I see," Darling answered, soft. "I guess I thought that the basement vault must have been some sort of royal treasury or something... but it's really a very personal place for the princesses of your storyline, isn't it?"

"It is," Apple gently touched upon the wall nearby-- a wall filled with messages of hope from Snow Whites long past. "Only heiresses of the royal family ever come down here... that is, heiresses, and their beloved princes."

"Oh," Darling flushed, the heat spreading to her ears. "I'm sorry-- here I've been following you without even  asking ..."

"I don't mind, Darling," Apple's gaze turned upon her, and seemed to radiate warmth. The corners of her red, red lips turned upwards. "I'm glad it's you."

Darling's heart ached for her, then, and she reached out to take Apple's hand, to squeeze it softly. "You honor me, then."

Apple set her opposite hand upon a door nearby, visually no different than any of the half-dozen doors they'd passed before this one. Magic glowed forth from its edges, unlocking itself at Apple's touch, and with a gentle nudge, she pushed it open.

The room within was a quiet sort of room, one with but a handful of creature comforts. An enormous quilt, framed against the wall, bearing nearly a hundred patches from every Snow White there ever had been. A severely worn armchair, one that had undoubtedly been upholstered and reupholstered several times. A tiny fireplace, and a large stack of wood for emergencies-- or, perhaps, merely particularly cruel Evil Queens. A lantern. A dusty book.

"It's the book we're looking for," Apple whispered, and certainly enough, a key appeared, sparkling midair, as they approached it.

"Will you open it?" Darling asked, hushed with reverence.

Apple's hand stilled merely an inch from the metal. She tightened her grip around Darling's fingers with her other hand.

"I have to," Apple answered, and took the key. She pressed it into the lock over the book, and turned.

It opened.

Apple swallowed.

"Do you..." Darling hesitated. "Do you know what story it holds?"

"No," Apple replied, glancing towards it reluctantly. There had been a time, she remembered, where she would have reveled in this proof of her destiny. Instead, unable to bear reading it alone, "Will you read it with me?"

"Of course," Darling nodded once, resolute. And thus, with joined hands, they opened that book, and there fell forth a story.

And so it was upon that note that Apple shut the book, careful, reverent.

"So this is what it means," she breathed. "I've been preparing for my whole life to be the next Snow White... but this is what it means to be  queen ."

"Apple," Darling ventured, uncertain what comfort she could offer.

"I know why my mom wanted me to read this, now," Apple swallowed the lump that rose in her throat. "You can't... you can't rule as queen without learning that there are  consequences  for the things you do. All the ruin and danger and even  death  outside..."

"It's not your fault," Darling insisted. "You didn't have any  choice  in being born in your storyline!"

"It doesn't matter if it's my fault or not," Apple shook her head. "The world is in danger, and it's because of  my  ancestor... and I chose to be a royal. I've chosen to honor the spirit of royal tradition, and that means more than inheriting kingdoms or crowns or legends... it means inheriting  responsibility ."

The pieces clicked in Darling's mind. "Apple, no, whatever you're thinking..."

"I'm not sure what I'm thinking," Apple sighed, and tucked the book into her bag. "The world itself is tearing at the seams, and I might be able to do something to save it... to save everyone I care about. To save... you."

Solemnity hung in the air between them.

"Raven." Darling's expression became determined. "She'll know what to do. If something can be done, or should be done... we're supposed to trust our sorceress, right?"

"Of course," Apple's fingers joined with hers once more, and squeezed. "I hope Herowing's ready to make another flight."

"We always are," Darling replied, and together, they raced back up the stairs.

-

"Meeshell!" Cupid called, worry tinging her voice. "Meeshell!"

Maddie checked beneath a desk, "Meeshell?"

"I don't think she'd be hiding under a desk, Maddie," Cupid shook her head, but hexted Raven that they'd searched there anyways. "We've looked everywhere. I just... I don't know where she could  be, except..."

"My hat?" Maddie suggested, beginning to rummage through it. "Let's see... oh! This might be her!"

She yoinked a swordfish from her hat. It insisted, "I say! Leave a fellow to his fencing!" and Maddie released it, re-situating the hat on her head.

"Or, um, maybe not," the Wonderlandian shrugged. "We just have to think extra, extra super-dee-duper hard about where she'd want to go if the world was ending and her dorm room was being swallowed up by the super-dangerous, incredibly terrifying void of existential DOOM. Oh! How about the castleteria? It's taco day for lunch!"

"Somehow, I don't think tacos were the first thing on her mind," Cupid managed a smile. "I mean... you're one of maybe five students who've exchanged more than a few words with her. What do you know about her?"

"I'm not really sure if this can help, buuuut," Maddie took a deep breath. "So she's the daughter of the Little Mermaid, and she really likes to sing though of course she doesn't do it much where people can hear, and even though whenever you see her in class or in town or really basically anywhere that isn't the school pool, she has legs, whenever after she touches water, they turn back into fins! Oh, and of course, you remember the talent show last Chapter Day, and how her fins go right back into legs whenever she's not in tea-- I mean,  water, but tea works too though once I think she mentioned swimming in tea is--"

"Water!" Cupid exclaimed.

"No, silly, I'm talking about  tea ," Maddie bopped her on the nose. "There's a very, very big difference between those. Why, I was just saying that Meeshell doesn't like to swim in tea, and furthermore, water is way less tasty, and that's all I know about Meeshell Mermaid! Maybe she went for afternoon tea?"

"Or maybe she went somewhere there's a lot of water," Cupid suggested, hurrying out of the classroom. "Aside from Mirror Lake, only a couple of places at school have enough water to really  swim . And I think the school pool is at the top of that list."

"It sounds a little far fetched, but maybe-- just maybe-- it'll work," Maddie hastened to follow her. "It's not hopeless yet!"

Sure enough, the next text Raven received on her phone: 'School pool. We found her. -CA'

Maddie lifted herself out of the water, soaking from head to toe, having dived down to check for Meeshell beneath the surface, where she could have been hiding for  hours. She shook herself like a dog emerging from a bath, coming out of that perfectly dry.

Cupid shivered, drenched by the resultant splash.

"Did you decide to go for a swim, too?" Maddie turned her head to the side, curious. "The water's nice today, but we really shouldn't tarry-- Raven's probably worked herself into a worry-flurry already!"

"I think that's her text, now," Cupid fumbled for her phone, grateful that she'd splurged for the water-resistant model. "She's glad that Meeshell's okay, and she says Professor Grimm found something. We're supposed to go back to the classroom... you can go on ahead, I need to change clothes super-quick."

"Why, we'll have that done in a jiffy," Maddie grinned, and pulled her hat over Cupid entirely.

The inside of Maddie's hat was utterly indescribable-- even to Cupid, who had only been inside less than three seconds and had only seen the teeny-tiniest portion of what was held therein. But all that mattered was that when the hat was lifted back over where she stood, and they were both wholly in the eaves of the school pool once more, Cupid was wearing clothes that were completely dry-- and, if she had to be honest, actually not all that different from an outfit she might have picked out herself.

Truthfully shocked, Cupid's first instinct was to blurt something out: "I didn't know you owned anything like this..."

Maddie grinned. "Why, it looks like we have something in common-- I didn't know I owned anything like that, either!"

Something warm bloomed in Cupid's chest, something that made itself known as a laugh spilled from her lips. "I appreciate the sentiment, at least, even if I don't  completely  get the gesture."

"Why, thank you very much!" Maddie beamed back. "Now let's hurry-scurry back to the classroom. Giles-- I mean,  Professor  Giles-- always has something smart to say!"

"Wait up!" Cupid exclaimed as Maddie bounded away, rollicking through the halls. "Maddie! We can walk!"

Maddie ran juxtaposed to her on the ceiling, "But why walk... when you can fly?"

Cupid gave that a second's thought, "You stumped me, I don't get that riddle."

"Ohoho! It's not a riddle, silly," Maddie giggled, landing back upon the floor behind her. She spread her fingers over Cupid's wings, "I mean, you can fly!"

"I mean..." Cupid began, hesitant. "I have wings."

"All creatures winged whose voices sing can soar across the sky," Maddie riddled. "But if they walk and merely talk, their reasoning is why?"

"I've never... really tried to fly before?" Cupid winced sheepishly, unsure how she could explain that for all her life prior to this moment, she had worn wings of bone... which were definitively not conducive to flight for obvious reasons.

"No time like the present," Maddie advised. "Besides... don't you want to know if you can? Even just once?"

Unspoken was the hanging threat of the end that was nigh. The thought that she might not be able to try this ever again, because everything would come to a close.

"All right," Cupid took a deep breath, and perhaps infected by the madness of the hour, threw herself off the nearest banister with a running start, squeezing her eyes shut.

Panic set in, and she thought,  this is how baby birds learn to fly, isn't it? Instinct, instinct. She flapped her wings, willing them to beat in the air. She felt herself begin to lift a little, to wobble and sway midair, and she flapped harder, as hard as she could.

But it was no use, she was falling, and just as she was about to hit the ground--

Soft.

Cupid creaked open an eye. She was lying on top of an enormous marshmallow.

"Great galloping gumdrops, Cupid!" Maddie seemed out of breath, having rushed to the bottom of the staircase herself. "You really scared me there!"

"You were the one who told me to jump," Cupid creaked out, rolling off the (really, spectacularly bouncy) marshmallow.

"I would never ever  ever  ask a friend to do something that might get them hurt," Maddie carefully shoved the giant marshmallow back into her hat from whence it came. "I told you to fly... not jump off a staircase. In Wonderland, the bubbles usually catch you, but you have to remember-- and this is hextremely important-- Ever After isn't the same. It's spellbinding in it's own way, but sometimes... it's  dangerously  normal."

"Right. I'm-- maybe I'm just not thinking straight. I didn't sleep all night, and I guess I'm just... tired. Or going mad," Cupid dusted herself off, confectioner's sugar flying everywhere.

"Well, when we get back to the classroom, I know just what can set you right back to your usual self... a big mug of hot cocoa!" Maddie helpfully patted off her skirts. She winked, "Besides... I have it from an excellent source that there is more than enough marshmallow in my hat for one."

Cupid ventured a chuckle and turned down the next hallway, met with Raven almost instantaneously.

"I heard a loud noise... is everything okay here?"

Maddie exchanged a look with Cupid. They tried to suppress it for as long as they could before bursting into laughter.

"I jumped off the staircase," Cupid confessed, nearly crying with mirth.

"What?" Raven seemed alarmed. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"Of course she isn't hurt, silly," Maddie elbowed her, giggling wildly. "Not when there are still marshmallows to be had!"

"Both of you sound pretty stressed from the situation," Raven gestured to the classroom. "Maybe you should take a break. Maybe, um, get started on afternoon tea a little early?"

"That sounds perfect," Cupid agreed, and fluffed out her wings. Sugar once more flew everywhere, and Maddie couldn't conceal just one giggle more.

"All right," Raven announced, "Cupid and Maddie are back. Now, the only person who's still missing is West."

"I can catch you guys up on Professor Grimm's new theory," Farrah smiled back at them, ushering them over to a pile of books. "How confident are you in your writing?"

"I... well, I can't say I'm particularly  good  at writing," Cupid thought, briefly, on the dozens of tomes of romance tales she'd written, shoved shamefully underneath her bed. "I guess I  do  write a lot, though."

"I'm good at writing riddles," Maddie began distributing hot cocoa.

"Great! Start writing stories, as many as you can, about all of our friends and families," Farrah pushed notebooks into their hands. "Run the ideas by Blondie, first... she can tell which ones are just right. They'll be true stories, or stories that will become true once they're acted out. We need as many writers as we can find... Professor Grimm is already working on translating some of Holly's friend-fiction stories into Runes. Then, afterwards, we'll act out our new stories, and collect the magical energy from them."

"There's just one thing that bothers me," Raven bit her lip, scrolling through a list of texts for a brief moment. "Even though I hexted everyone to come back, West still hasn't responded... and now that I'm looking at it, I don't think he ever hexted me about finding Meeshell, either. Maybe something happened to him?"

"M... maybe," Dexter hesitated. "I, um. I didn't mention it before, because I thought I was just assuming things, but he was acting kind of... off. Right before you all left to look for Meeshell."

"One of my history books seems to be missing as well," Giles Grimm, rummaged through a pile of them.

"Excuse me, pardon me," Lizzie huffed, bustling into the room. "Well! You all certainly seem to have a lot of books, don't you? Perhaps one of  you  can tell me where my map-book went?"

"Wait... what's missing, exactly?" Raven tried to garner at least some sense of what was going on.

"The book that my mother gave me, so I could find the Well of Wonder whenever I wish," Lizzie explained. "If the world is ending, then I want to be at home with my mother when it happens."

"How peculiar," Giles Grimm muttered. "Because the book  I'm  missing is about the Evil Queen's curse on Wonderland..."

"You don't think..." Cupid hesitated.

"I don't know if I  want  to think," Raven shuddered. "I mean... nobody would want to bring about the end of the world intentionally, right?"

"He did know an awful lot about the theory," Farrah ventured. "More than maybe even my aunt. Maybe he knows something he doesn't want to  share ."

"But that means any amount of the information we've gathered so far could be wrong!" Humphrey Dumpty looked horrified. "Things he said, books he contributed..."

"Let's not jump to any hasty conclusions," Raven intervened. "Maybe he just got stressed and went to get lunch. And... he's a new student, right? It's not that hard to get lost in the halls."

"And the books?" Dexter furrowed his brow. "The hexts?"

"Books go missing all the time," Raven shrugged. "And maybe his MirrorPhone's out of battery?"

"All at the same time?" Lizzie questioned pointedly.

"Whether there has been or will be a villain in our midst matters not," Giles Grimm stood from his desk. "We must carry on in our labors, and hope that they are not lost. Come, Lizzie Hearts-- we had a portal to Wonderland arranged in the Headmaster's office over the summer. You shall be by your mother's side in no time."

"Thank you, Professor," Lizzie sniffed. "I shall be glad to warn my mother of these events posthaste-- if our traitor is in Wonderland still, then our army shall not rest until he is brought to kneel!"

"Mind if I tag along?" a disembodied smile graced the air beside Lizzie for a moment, the rest of Kitty Cheshire appearing a mere second later. "You're not the only one who wants to see her mom."

"Of course I'll offer you the same, Miss Cheshire," Giles agrees, and opened the door to lead them away.

A moment passed, only the sounds of quills scratching paper filling the room.

"You're sure of what you saw?" Raven sighed, sliding into her seat beside Dexter.

"He was hesitating... kind of lingering," Dexter fiddled with a wire. "I don't know if it means anything, though."

"Let's hope it doesn't mean anything," Raven answered grimly, beginning to turn back to her own story.

But, just before she set the pen to paper-- "Raven!" Apple cried, bursting into the room with her own book in hand. "I know how we can fix this!"

" Maybe ," Darling corrected. "We  maybe  found a way to fix this, but you have to tell us..."

"Raven," Apple repeated, swallowing. She held out the book, the story which had been kept secret within the bowels of Snow White's castle for generations. "Raven... I have something you need to read."

"I'll talk to both of you outside the classroom," Raven nodded solemnly and stood. "Everyone here-- keep writing! Don't stop now, when we're so close to finding the solution!"

She nudged her way out and stood in the hall.

"What were you saying about a solution?" Darling furrowed her brow, ever seeking the alternative.

"We're trying to write as many stories as we can... as many different stories as there can be," Raven explained. "It's... well, it's slow. But if we want to have any hope of recreating that storybook-linchpin thing..."

"I might have... a  quicker  solution," Apple sucked in her breath. "I just need you to hear me out."

"I'm listening," Raven answered, slow and cautious.

Wise sorceress, remembered Apple. And so she loosened her grip on the book she clutched in her hands, and began to read aloud those words which spoke the truth of all matters.

"Once upon a time, in the middle of winter..."


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