Lanterns: The School For Good And Evil

Chapter Three:The Great Mistake

When Elena woke up she was surrounded by a group of beautiful young women, in an array of ballgowns staring down at her. She looked around her at saw she had landed on a soft flower bush with fairies fluttering all around it.

She glanced down at herself, covered in bruises and cuts. A dirtied skirt and an even dirtier shirt. Even her boots looked like a total mess, covered in mud and it looked like the sole of the right one was falling apart. She was underdressed and a complete mess. Reaching up to feel her hair she found that it was completely knotted and had a few leaves in. Then she regained her senses got up and walked away from the group of staring girls who followed her over to Agatha. Who was in shock and swiping at the fairies.

"They popped up from the ground, Elena." Agatha said stunned. "The girls."

"They're princesses Agatha. Now come on we need to find Sophie and leave."

But Agatha didn't move because her gaze was on the lake as more girls began to bloom. The girls grew right from the earth. First heads poked through soft dirt, then necks, then chests, then up and up until they stretched their arms into fluffy blue sky and planted delicate slippers upon the ground. Agatha was in awe of each of them. Their faces, some fair, some dark, were flawless and glowed with health. They had shiny waterfalls of hair, ironed and curled like dolls', and they wore downy dresses of peach, yellow, and white, like a fresh batch of Easter eggs. Some fell on the shorter side, others were willowy and tall, but all flaunted tiny waists, slim legs, and slight shoulders. As the field flourished with new students, a team of three glitter-winged fairies awaited each one. Chiming and chinkling, they dusted the girls of dirt, poured them cups of honeybush tea, and tended to their trunks, which had sprung from the ground with their owners.

The other girls didn't bat and eye and neither did Elena, but Agatha was lost in a trance and would not move at all. Elena tried to pull her along, towards the bridge she could sort of see through the pink cloudy mist. Elena grabbed at Agatha again and then a fairy bit the black-haired girl.

"What the-" Agatha tried to shake the jingling thing off her hand, but it flew and bit her neck, then her bottom. Other fairies tried to subdue the rogue as she yowled, but it bit them too and attacked Agatha again. Incensed, she tried to catch the fairy, but it moved lightning quick, so she hopped around uselessly while it bit her over and over until the fairy mistakenly flew into her mouth and she swallowed it. Agatha sighed in relief and looked up.

58 beautiful girls gaped at her and Elena covered her mouth in attempt not to laugh. Then Agatha coughed up the fairy and put a second hand on her mouth, finding it even harder not to laugh.

In the distance, sweet bells rang out from the spectacular pink and blue glass castle across the lake. The teams of fairies all grabbed their girls by the shoulders, hoisted them into the air, and flew them across the lake towards the towers. Seeing her chance to escape, Elena began to make a run for it. Until three little fairies picked her up and she herself flew towards the tower. But something was wrong. A terrible mistake had been made, because only two children were meant to be taken. Which meant somehow someone knew who she was, and she needed to find that person.

When the fairies brought the girls down in front of the glass castle, they let go of their shoulders and let them proceed freely. But the fairies that were carrying Elena stayed close to her. They let her go but they didn't fly away, they stayed close to her as if they could sense her magic. But Agatha's two fairies held on and dragged her forward like a prisoner.

Elena looked back across the lake. Where's Sophie? The crystal water turned to slimy moat halfway across the lake; gray fog obscured whatever lay on the opposite banks. Elena needed to create an escape plan that somehow involved getting across the moat to Sophie. Then she could grab Agatha and then they would be free. The only issue was working out how to do all of that without being caught.