Blinding Light: A Sleeping Beauty and Snow Queen Remix

Chapter 22

A/N: Maldeena Nightblood.^ (There's way more than 2 of these, I just picked the best 2. If you want to see all of them, check Maldeena's entries in the extra book.)

Viviana meant to follow Ilsadora's plan.

She really did.

But the moment they entered the castle, Santiago, Jeanette and Alistaire bolted in front of her, rushing for the staircase.

Viviana soon saw why.

Giant, enchanted, deadly thorns were steadily blocking the entire staircase, and most of the hallway. Maldeena knew they were here, and she was trying to trap them in the entryway before they could infiltrate the castle.

Alistaire managed to pull Santiago and Jeanette out of the way and up the stairs, but Viviana was blocked, the thorns cutting straight in front of her, making her skid to a stop.

She summoned her powers of destruction to cut through one, but the second she sliced it, the thorny vines simply grew back and lashed out at her.

Viviana ducked the blow with a scream, rolling across the floor to pop up and break into a run, the vines and thorns pursuing her. The spiky thorns nipped at her boots, puncturing partial holes in the soles, ripping out fluff. Her coat was snagged, so she threw it off, feeding it to the thorns. But she was still pursued.

The thorns were faster than her. And so was Ilsadora.

The Snow Queen disappeared from view, ducking around a corner at the end of the hallway, blasting any and everything in her way with a substantial amount of ice.

Viviana gulped when she glanced at the ceiling, tracking the vines with her eyes.

If she didn't speed up, she'd be trapped.

She shot a burst of telekinesis from her hands, propelling herself forward.

Come on come on come on!

The vines were still faster.

The hallway in front of her was sealed off, the thorns angling toward her face, daring her to attack them again.

A frustrated scream was building in her lungs, along with her powers, but before she could release either, a fireball shot right above her head. The thorns seemed to shriek in pain, recoiling enough for an opening in the impenetrable wall to appear.

Viviana spun around to see Preisha calmly walking forward, the tips of her ears and tail still on fire.

"You know, if you'd just wait for me, things would be a lot easier."

Viviana blinked, dumbfounded, long enough for Preisha to walk in front of her and swish her tail.

"Well, come on Viv! Are we going to save the Princess or not?!"

Viviana shook herself and dashed after Ilsadora again, making sure to glance down at her familiar every now and then.

"Sorry, Preisha. I didn't mean to leave you behind."

"Oh, I know." Preisha chuckled. "You have notorious tunnel vision, especially when it comes to Isabelle."

Viviana tried to protest, but every thought flew out of her head when she crashed straight into Ilsadora's back, sending both of them to the floor.

The enchantress threw her off and pinned her to the wall with ice, until she saw who had crashed into her.

Viviana was dropped back to the floor as Ilsadora groaned.

"Do not sneak up on me like that, little chaos witch. I could have cursed you."

Viviana dusted her knees off and pushed herself to her feet. "No kidding. Why'd you stop, though?"