The Swan and The Pirate

Moments Before

I laid, resting calmly under the huge willow, enchanted in a deep sleep as the boys approached. "That's her," Hort ghasped as they both studied my resting face. They both bent down to get a closer look. "Kiss her," Tedros said. "What-" Hort replied. "It'll fix everything, True Love always does." "No! I'm not kissing someone in their sleep!" Hort refused. "What kind of perverted things are they teaching you at Good? How to assault you maiden within your first encounter?" "Ok, then. You carry her out, and I'll defend you in case something happens," Tedros compromized. "You can kiss her when we're out," he muttered. "What the fuuuck," Hort whispered to himself as he gently picked me up, bridal style.

On their way out of the forest, Tedros began thinking to himself. What are they really teaching at the School for Good? Kissing someone without their consent, on top of them being unconsious? He began thinking hard about what was really Good or Evil. What if Good weren't as good as it was told to b-

His train of thought was lost as Hort broke the silence. "She's beginning to move!" he happily announced as I groaned, trying to open my eyes. "Hort? Is that you?" I tried to mumble and lift my hand to touch him. "We're amost out of the forest, Beth. Don't worry," he comforted. "I'm here too Beth. Defending us all. Like the prince I am," Tedros announced his presence. "Tedros?" I chuckled softly as I started to faintly gained my conciousness back.

Hort put me down once we were outside of the forest. "What is going on?" I asked, feeling a bit disorientated. "I think he's in the middle of creating Nevermore since he's all-mighty now," Tedros explained. "Oh no, the kiss," I mumbled as my fingertips met my lips. "But that wasn't True Love! At least not from both parts," I thought out loud. "Then, how is he doing that?" Tedros asked.

A loud noise made all three of us turn our heads towards the Schools. We were met with both schools crumbling apart and leaving nothing but ruins. Thick red blood flooded out of the Schools' big entrance doors and windows. "We need to get there, quick!" I commanded as I felt my finger glow. I displayed it to the boys, and they understood my mental assignment.

I concentrated and thought about what I wanted to become. I felt white feathers grow out of the top of my hand and my back. I took a deep breath before golden glimmers appeared around me, and I turned into a swan. Hort transformed himself into the black spider he had been previously and Tedros transformed himself into the navy blue lizard he'd been before. "Hop on," I quacked a command as they both got on my soft back, like two swanlings.

I began flapping my wings and soon, I ascended from the ground and into the air. What a wonderful feeling! The cold wind under my wings and against my beaked face. I had always been afraid of becoming a swan, because of my mother's fairtytale, but I now realized how freeing it was to soar in the air.

All of this aside, we looked below us. The School for Good shattered along with the School for Evil. What had happened to the students? What about them? I felt anger and fear approach as we got closer to the Tower. I dreaded what would happen within this hour, and with a heavy heart, I landed on Rafal's front door.