Scattered Pages

Starting a New Chapter

Sabrina rested her cheek against the palm of her hand as she stared at the very nervous looking Raven from her side of their table for two, a small, confident smile on her face. Despite the unknown and usual situation, she was calm and collected. Raven however, was a human disaster.

'Oh my spells, how did I end up on a date with such a cool girl?!', he screamed in his head.

He really did have no idea how he ended up on a romantic date with a girl he had just met. One minute he was trying to get to school to settle into his dorm, trying to find Maddock as he roamed the streets of Bookend, the next he was trying to help a very distraught looking young woman, only to get dragged to a nice restaurant by said young woman for an impromptu date. Which he wasn't imagining, by the way, because she had explicitly stated it was a date.

'I'm either very lucky or very cursed.', he thought. Then his mental breakdown was interrupted when their waiter came to take their drink orders.

"Welcome to the Painted Vine. What will the young miss and young sir be having today?", the older gentleman asked. Raven didn't even get the chance to respond, because Sabrina did that for him.

"Two witch's brews and a plate of toil and trouble calamari to start us off.", she answered the man serenely, like she was a regular ordering her usual and not someone who just found out about the restaurant not even half an hour ago. The waiter nodded with a smile and took their appetizer menus. Sabrina didn't break eye contact with Raven the entire time.

"So, Raven, I have to ask... where are we?", the girl asked, a crack appearing in her seemingly infallible confidence. Raven was shocked out of his nervous stupor and blinked in confusion.

"What do you mean?", he asked. Sabrina looked from side-to-side shiftily, as if worried someone would listen in on their conversation. With one hand, she flippantly gestured to the area around them.

"I mean, what do you call this world? This country? Hell, even the name of the city we're in would be useful. I need to know where 'here' is.", she explained. Raven gaped at her in shock. How did she have no idea where she was?

"I... You're in Ever After.", he answered after his brief total loss of words. Sabrina nodded, but didn't look like she understood.

"Okay... what is Ever After? Is it a country?", she asked. Raven shook his head.

"Yes and no. The world we live in is called Ever After, but the country we are currently in is also called Ever After.", he elaborated. Sabrina blinked.

"That must get confusing.", she commented. Raven nodded.

"Yeah, but you just have to use the right context and no one will get confused.", he assured. Sabrina nodded mindlessly, contemplating the information she had just been given.

'So, the world I'm in is called Ever After, and I'm in a country called Ever After... I think it's safe to say I'm not in Kansas anymore.', she sorted out mentally, staring up at the high ceiling of the restaurant that was covered in green vines. The roof was dome-shaped and rung with windows, giving it a sort of halo effect that made it look like it was floating. Raven took her silence as a sign to continue talking.

"The town we're in is called Bookend. It's nothing special; just some shops and restaurants. The only thing that makes it really noteworthy is the school.", Raven continued, twirling a long strand of purple hair around his finger. Sabrina took her attention away from the ceiling and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"School? What school?", she asked. Now he really had her attention. The book that had brought her here was titled 'Ever After High'. If that was the school he was talking about, then maybe it could lead her to her ticket back home. Subconsciously, Sabrina slid the purple book, which she had sat on the floor beside her chair, underneath her chair with her foot. Raven didn't notice, and was instead left wide-eyed in confusion for what must have been the thousandth time that day.