Part 1 (1/2)
Ever After High.
The Unfairest of Them All.
Shannon Hale.
For Dinah and Wren, our little Royal and Rebel.
(or is it the other way around?).
IF THE EVIL QUEEN HAD ONE WORD TO describe her living conditions, it would be cramped. If she had more than one word, she would add intolerable, wretched, and several others that well-trained Narrators choose to leave out of their tales.
Her cramped black gla.s.s cell was the inside of a magical mirror designed to hold only the greatest of terrors. Her eyes burned with violet flames at the memory of Milton Grimm and his petty magician pals ganging up to remove her from power.
To be fair, she was the Greatest Evil Ever After Has Ever Known. And not just for the poisoning-Snow-White bit, but also for the general rampaging that culminated in her invasion of Wonderland. But that Grimm couldnat be bothered to muster enough magical strength to form a cage worthy of her royal station still rankled. She swiped at the webs that grew from the cellas corners faster than she could destroy them, though she had never seen any spiders.
For what felt like the seventy-two thousandth time, she pressed her hand against the dirty-gray wall.
aExpand,a she whispered.
aEnlarge,a she spoke.
aAdvance!a she shouted, and was immediately knocked onto her back by a wave of pain. She stood up shakily, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. The headache would last a few hours, and then she would try again. The cell still wasnat any larger than before, but eventually she would find a weakness in the spell repellenta”enough to expand her living s.p.a.ce, if not to escape entirely.
Suddenly a burst of purple lightning ripped through the cell. She lifted her hands to cast an attack spell, but the lightning was already gone. She sniffed. Something had changed. She wiggled her fingers in the air, feeling slightly less of a buzz than normal.
The Evil Queen held her hands in front of her, fingers forming a rectangle. She chanted:.
A view, a sight, a clear creva.s.se.
A pa.s.s through gla.s.s of distance vast.
Become to find.
Form to show.
Whence did s.h.i.+ne.
That lightning blow!.
Sweat beaded up on the Evil Queenas brow as pain lanced first through her head, her stomach, and then her left big toe. A rectangle of light traced itself into the wall in front of her. The light dimmed, leaving a two-foot-square wooden frame hanging on the wall.
aHa-ha!a she shouted.
The spell repellent, though not gone, had lessened, enough to allow a little magic.
She began to hum. Silky fog snaked along the dark floor, up the wall. With a cracking sound that could only be described as the opposite of the noise a breaking window makes, the frame filled with silver gla.s.s. A real mirror at last! She inspected her face, noticing some of her black hairs had turned gray. She frowned and remembered that even her frown was beautiful.
With a few words and a flick of her hands (and a stabbing headache), the mirroras view deepened, and now she was spying through it onto the terrace courtyard of Ever After High. This was where the purple surge had come from?
A crowd on the terrace was in a panic. Children and teachers, mouths open in shock and terror. The queen couldnat help but smile. This was the sort of scene she found insanely funny. She spotted her daughter, Raven, standing high on the pedestal. The Evil Queen touched the gla.s.s.
aRewind, design, reverse,a she chanted. The view froze, and then events began to go backward, until she whispered, aStop, stay, play.a Now the mirror replayed the events of moments before. Raven was approaching a large book posted on the podium.
aAh,a the queen said. aIt must be Legacy Day.a She rolled her eyes. It was a rite of pa.s.sage for all the children of famous fairytales to sign the Storybook of Legends and bind themselves to repeating their parentsa stories. Of course she wanted her daughter to become evil and follow in her own glorious footsteps. But true evil was doing what you wanted, for your own benefit, and this charade of Grimmas only served to reinforce his control.
But then, instead of signing her name, Raven tore her page out of the Storybook of Legends. The queenas clever eyes picked up a faint trace of purple magical energy blasting from the book. That answered one question. The magic that had been expelled when Raven tore her page rippled out, sending a shock wave even as far away as the mirror prison.
The queen paused the image and leaned in. Everyone in the crowd seemed afraid. Apple White, that daughter of her enemy, was about to burst into tears. But Raven stood tall on the pedestal, looking unrepentant. Powerful. So like her mother.
The queenas arms ached to hold the baby who had once fit there and the teenage daughter who was growing capable of shaking Ever After as much as her notorious mother did.
She smiled slowly, and then she began to laugh.
MORNING ONCE-UPONED ALL OVER EVER After. Bluebirds sang, roosters crowed, and pixies buzzed in the Enchanted Forest.
Against the walls of the great Ever After High, sunrise glared red. All was still but for the Track and s.h.i.+eld students out for a morning runa”pursued by a horde of screaming imps, Coach Gingerbreadmanas latest tactic to get his team in shape.
In her dorm room, Apple White stood and stretched. Songbirds gathered on her windowsill and chirped a morning song. She smiled at them but couldnat muster a song of her own to whistle back.
She put on her most somber red skirt and white blouse and the very least s.h.i.+ny of her gold belts. She looked at her roommate from the corner of her eye. Raven Queen was sitting on her bed, head down, her long black-and-purple hair falling over her face as she tied the laces on her knee-high boots. She looked sad. Instinctively, Apple searched for something cheery to say, but the words caught in her throat.
Yesterday Raven Queen had managed to do the most evil thing ever. No, scratch that, worse than evil. She was supposed to be evil. What Raven had done was just straight-up selfish. When she didnat sign the Storybook of Legendsa”and worse, tore out her pagea”she royally messed up not only Appleas Happily Ever After but everyone elseas, too. She and Raven were supposed to grow up and become the next Snow White and Evil Queen, just as their mothers had been. But if Raven refused to be evil, then Apple would never flee the dark and scary Queen Castle, meet the dwarves, eat a poisoned apple, and wake up to a princeas kiss.
Apple stared at her reflection in the mirror. She could almost see her mother in that face, telling her, Apple, you will fill the world with suns.h.i.+ne! But how could she if her destiny was broken?
Suddenly, with a crash, something really did break.
Apple whirled to find her lounge thronea”her favorite shead had s.h.i.+pped from homea”was in pieces. Draped over the pieces was Madeline Hatter. Her lavender-streaked teal hair exploded around her in messy curls. The polka-dotted, striped, and lacy layers of her skirt were bunched and fluffed. Her teacup hat tilted low over one ear.
aWhoops,a Maddie said.
aMaddie!a Raven called out.
aAre you okay?a Apple asked as Raven helped their friend to her feet.
aIam fine.a Maddie picked up a chair leg. aBut your poor chair. I smintered it all to pieces.a aYes,a Apple said, a little wistfully. aItas okaya but howa”a aItas okay?a Maddie examined another sc.r.a.p of wood. aIt doesnat look very okay. Is it supposed to come apart like this?a aApple means she isnat upset that you broke it, or at least she forgives you,a Raven said.
Raven glanced uneasily at Apple.
aOh, Raven,a said Maddie. aI can hear an ache crouching behind your tongue. The kind of ache an empty cup has for honey and tea, or a white rabbit has for a proper waistcoata”a aMaddieaa Raven looked down.
aAnd like I ache for breakfast!a said Maddie. aBreakfast cures most everythinga”except chairs. Iam sorry, Apple.a Maddie gave Apple a hug. She was shorter than Applea”one of the shortest girls in the school, and she stood on her toes to reach around her friend.
aIall try to fix it later,a said Maddie. aFor now, we need to fix your empty stomachs. Letas all have breakfast together.a aUmaa said Apple, looking sideways at Raven.