Wing Clipping/3

Opal didn't really know what she was doing.

She had been sent a box, presumably by Luna, but it very well could have also been Julia or one of the uncles that doesn't like her, full of her mother's old things.

A simple opal and amethyst tiara, a tarnished silver framed hand mirror, a nice looking silver and purple hair brush, and an old cracked leather notebook. She was fairly certain that her father had locked up the Wicked Queen's spell book, so she had no idea what this was.

Knowing that it was from her mother, a terrifying woman, should have been enough to make her leave the book in the box and forget about it. However, Opal's curiosity got the better of her and she opened it.

It was kind of a journal, a written document of her mother's time as queen. It was kind of interesting, while at the same time being terrifying.

Some entries were normal. (Normal being a relative term when it came to the wicked queen.)

''Daniel tells me that he can't wait for our wedding day. I know he only tells me that because he can't wait for his story to end happily. He sometimes calls me by his first wife's name when I catch him off guard, Valerie? Ah, it doesn't matter. It's still the same. I think he wants me to be his first wife, but everyone knows without a doubt how this story ends. ''

Other entries were not so normal. (even by the wicked queen standards.)

''I am getting more and more powerful. I can feel it! This may be due to the fact that I can sense another presence with me. (I don't mean the black swan, I have discovered I don't get the Black Swan this time) I mean I am fairly certain I am pregnant. And no, Daniel does not know. What good would that do? This baby is mine, and mine alone. I don't want him to corrupt the baby, turn them from their path of evil. Because if I can't have the Black Swan to help me, then i will at least have my own flesh and blood to help me.''

Opal knew then that this entry must have been near the end of the Wicked Queen's life, given that she had killed herself about four days after she was born. She knew that much, but what was this Black Swan Onyx kept mentioning in her entry?

Another entry proved that the Black Swan was even more important than the last one had implied, this was the very last entry in the book.

''They're coming for me. I can feel it. I know that Eliza saved the day, that pathetic little wench, and I know that means I'll be imprisoned. But that doesn't mean I can't put up a fight! I am much more powerful than any wicked queens have been. Maybe I'll escape, find the Black Swan for this telling of the story, and force them to join me and make me strong.''

What, or who, was the Black Swan?! Opal stood up, and started pacing the floor. If the Black Swan was supposed to help her mother, and was never caught, wouldn't that mean it was dangerous? Opal had to find out more about it.

And she knew just where to go. The library.