Not Your Average Fairytale

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

The whole car stared in shock for a few moments. The only person unsurprised was Brent. Finally, Ashleigh put the car in park and turned it off, and they all climbed out to get a better view.

Wynter was the first one out, and she walked up to the house immediately. The rose bushes on the side of the house had grown in an almost vine-like way to cover the entire house.

The roses were already in full bloom everywhere, all matching in a light pink color. Wynter reached out and touched one. It was real. The bushes shielded the entire house so that no one could enter.

Even if they could climb around the branches, they would be scratched up by the large thorns that protruded from the branches. Wynter reached out again to see how sharp it was. She barely touched it and it stuck her.

She pulled her hand back, quickly, and looked down at it to find a little drop of blood on her outstretched finger. She looked up to see where the bush stopped at the top, only to find that they had grown over the roof.

"I didn't realize they meant the full story of Sleeping Beauty," Baylor quietly said.

Brent had not stared at the house for too long, and Baylor turned around to find Brent offering him a sword. Baylor took it, confused, and looked up to ask him a question, but Brent had already turned and offered one to Everett as well.

"We've got to get in somehow, don't we?" Brent said, answering Baylor's question before it had been asked.

"So we just cut the vines?" Baylor asked now instead.

"Cut an entrance," Brent corrected. He finished passing out swords to first the guys and then to Arabella and Clover.

Baylor went to about where the door would normally be, weighing the sword in his hands. He'd never really held one before, and it was surprisingly heavy, although now that he thought of it, it should not have been a surprise because it was solid metal.

He turned to Brent. "How exactly do you use this thing?" he asked sheepishly.

Brent chuckled, making Baylor feel slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, my bad, I once again forgot that you guys weren't raised in Merida. You just kind of swing at it, like this."

He swung at a vine, and his sword dug about halfway through it. He then used a sawing motion to break it. The single vine broken, he now turned to the group, motioning for them to join.

They all set to work. Ashleigh paced nervously beside them, not knowing what to do. She desperately wished that Brent would've handed her a sword in place of someone else.

Once again, the feeling of helplessness overcame her. How were they supposed to accomplish this? They were only teenagers after all. What were they to do?

She walked over to Clover, who appeared to be struggling a little. "I can try to help," she offered, extending one hand. Clover flushed as she handed over the sword.

"I'm sorry I'm so bad at this," she apologized to the girl. "I wish I could help more."

"Don't I know the feeling," Ashleigh sympathized. She didn't do much better at cutting the vines. "See, I'm not any good at this either."

Clover smiled a weak smile at her, and Ashleigh could see for the first time that Rosalyn's fate weighed down as heavily upon this newcomer as it did her. She wondered what Clover's relationship with Rosalyn was like with a strange mix of curiosity and envy.