A Fairy Tale With a Twist Book 1: Mirror verse

Chapter 16

Mirabelle's POV: When Shay called out to us, I rushed to her side to find out what she had found. She pointed to animal prints leading outside to a sliding door. The door was cracked and had a bright red carpet.  Viola got closer to the animal paw prints; he focused the mirror he got from the wall and did an astral projection of the animal. Projection of a gray wolf "Are you sure it's a wolf?" I asked. She nodded solemnly.

We exchanged glances before I took a deep breath and gently pushed the door open. As it creaked open, I peered outside, my heart pounding in my chest. The night air was cold and crisp, and the sound of howling filled my ears. It was then that I knew we were not alone. Looking through the mirror and the fog, Jolly mentioned, "This is like the city with the hotel; the weather is interfering with the reality of this place. There might be illusions or hidden ways here." Finn's eyebrows raised up, "which means what exactly?" Viola continued, "It means that we shouldn't be so quick to trust our senses here. Everything might not be what it seems." Finn looked thoughtful for a moment, "Right, so that means the wolf could be something else in disguise."

Shay got her bow and arrow from her bag. Delphine got a sword out, and we followed his lead through the fog, still following the animal prints, leading us to a rainy jungle. The rain made it difficult to see more than a few feet ahead, but we could hear the howling of the creature growing louder. Jack stopped for a second. "Okay, is it logical for us to be out here with a bunch of animals? We could get hurt even with magic." He had a good point, and the fairies weren't helping yet either; they were mad ever since the entire room of mirrors happened. Delphine spoke up. "We can't leave it out there like this. If it is a wolf, it'll only get worse." She paused, thinking. "Maybe we could use magic to calm it down or something?"

Dominic added, "Jack has a point." Delphine shot out, "You said you wanted to know the truth about your great, great, whatever Uncle Solomon." There was a small disagreement with me breaking it up: "Okay, let's calm down. We need to stick together. How about keeping going? If there's any sign of danger, we'll turn back, okay?" They all nodded, albeit reluctantly. We passed through a series of chambers, each more eerie than the last. Flickering torches cast grotesque shadows on the walls, which were adorned with strange symbols and crude drawings of humans hurting animals.

Shay's POV: I landed in a snake lair. How did I lose focus, mom? Always, when it comes to archery, focus is the first thing that's needed. In my daze,

When it transported me to the top of the tower of the dark kingdom's castle, I plummeted over the platform. Why am I perched so high? I didn't want people to think I was terrified, even though my heart was racing. For crying out loud, Merida's daughter, the squad is counting on me. Even though I wasn't blood-related to her, I remember her training me because I wanted to be as fearless as she was.

Back at home, I have a seventeen-year-old older brother named Ruaridh. He enjoys playing tennis. We were in foster care before being adopted. I don't recall much of it, but I recall completing chores and going outdoors to play. This became famous as a result of her making a mess, getting into trouble as a five-year-old, and being adopted by a queen. Mom instilled in me the importance of standing up for what I believed in and working hard. Throughout the years, I worked in the stable with the horses and earned my bow and arrow. I knew I had to attend Adventure Academy after graduating from Royal Prep when I met Delphine.

Del and Mirabelle had a dispute one day about something I didn't want to get involved in. Instead, they said nothing and spent a long time without speaking to each other. I met Lilly at a political debate between Oz and Auradon. We began to hang out and eventually became our closest friends. All of this leads up to what happened months ago, when my entire life changed. I could feel the wind and saw the sky shift outside. Varian's voice said to me, "This is a science experiment. Princess Maria, can you see it?" I'm not sure I could hear him this far up.

In the beginning, time slipped away, but I noticed a shadow behind them. That's the illusion I'm looking for—the illusion kids are creating by laughing and yelling at me for being clumsy. "What's wrong with you?" several students inquired. Did my breathing technique help me picture myself shooting an arrow and snapping myself out of the daze? I was trapped half way turned to stone by these artifacts, so it wasn't a snake after all; it was shaped like one bandage wrapped around it. A girl was in the dark and couldn't see what she looked like. Pushing to get away from the snake for a wolf to come in it untied me "follow me if you want to live kid" it whispered.

I followed the wolf into a forest. The moon was full and bright, the trees were old and wise, and the wind whispered secrets to their leaves. The wolf led me to a clearing where a fire was burning brightly. A group of animals were gathered around it, including the wolf. They looked at me with acceptance and understanding in their eyes. The wolf spoke, I felt the moon's presence over me, and some other animals came out. Though the snake was still chasing us, I got my bow wolf, put my arrow on fire, and hit the artifact. It didn't break, and a spirit came out of it. The spirit told me that the artifact was the key to stop the snake. I had to find a way to wear it and use its power against the snake. I felt a connection with the spirit, and we worked together to find a way.

The other animals told me about this place as I joined with the Animal charm: "While staying here, the magical creatures who were protected by the animal fairies were afraid of outsiders, so they built us our own place and marked us as the protectors of the jungle." His old partner was the snake before he decided his revenge on humans was more important than his loyalty to the animals. His power was canceled out and put into an artifact they used to turn villains into stone when the law was too harsh. It was kept here."

He led her through a maze of hallways, each one more ornate than the last, with murals depicting the history of the kingdom and the various battles that had been fought over the centuries. They eventually arrived at a grand chamber, the walls lined with statues of heroes and villains alike, frozen in time, their stories left to be retold by generations to come. In the center of the room stood a massive pedestal, adorned with gold and jewels, upon which rested the artifact that held the power to turn their enemies into stone.

All of this was interesting after the talking animals were finished. "Could I meet up with my friends, please, and meet my bonded fairy?" Baloo laughed and said, "Sure, hop on my back." As soon as Baloo said that,

Mirabelle's POV: "We should find her." I said.  and we began to search around the jail. We found a statue of a boy around his age, maybe younger, with a similar dark complexion to mine; his label says Mowgli. The name sounded familiar in one of my textbooks. I wondered if he was from the same place as me.

We continued on, carefully avoiding the traps and making sure not to disturb anything. The passageway began to slope downward, and we could hear the sound of rushing water in the distance. Suddenly, the ground gave way beneath us, and we tumbled into a hidden chamber. A pool of crystal-clear water lay before us, surrounded by a circular dais carved from the rock.

At its center, resting on a pedestal, was a gleaming artifact: Snake's Eye Delphine gasped. "It's beautiful... and terrifying." The others nodded in agreement, unable to tear their eyes away from the object. "We should take it," Finn whispered, "before someone else finds it." There was a moment of silence as we weighed the consequences of our actions. Finally, Dominic stepped forward, reaching out to take the eye. But before he could touch it, a blinding light filled the chamber, and a deafening roar shook the very foundations of the cave. Maria was riding a bear when she crashed through the wall. There was no time to ask questions because they were joined by the other creatures. I hopped along with the bear.