Ashlynn's Misfortune

Chapter Seven

As promised, Rupert answers the call of the conk shell, landing gracefully next to Ashlynn.

"Might I ask where your friend is?" Rupert asks, immediately upon arrival.

Embarrassed to speak, knowing that she'll sound like a donkey, Ashlynn merely points in the direction of where she'd left an injured Raven.

"You left her in the woods?"

Ashlynn nods.

Fluffing his giant eagle wings, Rupert launches into the air, circles once, twice, and retrieves Raven safely. Ashlynn hugs her friend tightly when the griffin returns.

"Rupert," Raven says, "we need help finding a seven-leaf clover in the Green Hills."

"Of course, my liege," Rupert bows, " I will call my griffin friends to come and help. The more eyes the better."

Raising his head high, he lets out an ear-piercing, guttural screech.

They only had to wait a moment before the fluttering of huge wings and screeching fills the air. Griffins in all sizes and colors soar over their heads. The griffins spread out, finding room to land. A white griffin doubles the size of Rupert, with a golden crown perched on his round head, and lands directly in front of Raven and Ashlynn.

"Lady Ashlynn, Lady Raven, we heard your call and have come to help you in whatever way we can," the white griffin says.

"Thank you," Raven replies, curtsying slightly. "Your highness, we need help finding a seven-leaf clover in the Green Hills. Do you think everyone can spread out and help?'

"Certainly," King Flyfeathers replies.

After King Flyfeathers made several squawking noises and wing gestures, the Green Hills was covered in a vast array of griffins.

"Raven," Ashlynn hee haws quietly.

Raven turns to see her friend morphing back into a donkey, the potion wearing off.

"Don't worry, Ash, we've almost gotten everything we need for the potion. You'll be back to a normal human before the sun sets," Raven assures her, and then proceeds to continue looking.

They searched for another hour more before taking a break and resting in the trees, for shade against the hot sun.

"Ashlynn," Raven says, as Madame Baba Yaga hands her a cup of water. The old witch lady had decided to check on the two girls, worried about the safety of her students, and had arrived just as the team had decided to take a break. "I just recalled a spell that I'd seen in a book in the Ever After High library. It may help us."

Standing up, Raven walks over and climbs up one of the hills. Reaching the top, the straightens her arms out, a purple glow in her hands, and says:

                         "Wing of spell

                          Here to dwell

                          Find me luck

             And show me where to tell."

Out of the purple shimmer that shoots from Raven's fingers, a magical purple butterfly forms. Fluttering its wings, as Raven follows, it travels over the Green Hills until it stops. The butterfly hovers over a spot and shoots a purple beam of light at something in the ground.

"It can't be this easy," Raven whispers to herself. She thinks back on everything that she and Ashlynn had been through. Something has to be missing.

Raven hurries over to the purple butterfly and crouches on all floors to peer at what the beam of lighting was being directed at. There, amongst grass and clovers, rests a perfect seven-leaf clover. Raven's heart swells at the realization. They'd done it, right?! She'd helped Ashlynn, and in no time, her friend would be back to normal! This would prove to everyone once and for all that she wasn't evil.

Raven pulls the clover from the earth and the purple butterfly disappears in a poof. All of a sudden, a bright flash of purple light travels all over the enchanted land, knocking Raven over, causing her to roll backward down the hill.

Ashlynn and Raven sit in Madame Baba Yaga's hut, with the griffins crowding around it. The old witch-teacher tends to Raven's injuries first before turning to making the potion, adding the items to the cauldron. The seven-leaf clover's design changes in the swirling mixture to the color of bright green, the seashell turns auburn, and the Yamenelle flower turns a creamy white. Each representing the colors of Ashlynn's eyes, hair, and skin. 

Madame Baba Yaga places the concoction into a cup and helps donkey Ashlynn drink it. This time, the potion would turn donkey Ashlynn back into her real, true self. It would be permanent. In seconds, the donkey disappears and there stood the daughter of Cinderella. The real, human Ashlynn hugs Raven, tears in her eyes.

"Thank you so much for all your help, Raven," Ashlynn says, "I don't know what I would've done without you."

"There is still one more thing that we need to do," Raven says, pulling away and looking Ashlynn firmly in the eyes. "We need to get Kitty Cheshire and Faybelle Thorn to confess everything."