Once Upon a Time: Ever After High (Book 3)

Ch.42 Healing water

Hunter felt himself being dragged under water by the siren who was still disguised as Ashlynn. When she let go of him, he turned and saw how beautiful she was underwater as she gave him a flirty smile. But when he looked around, he was shocked to see the skeletons and rotting corpses of the last victims beneath him! He tried to swim up, but a seaweed had reached up and wrapped itself around his ankle preventing him from swimming up. He felt himself being pulled down again as he was running out of breath, but when he looked down, he spotted a dagger on the stones as the Ashlynn siren swam up to him and pulled him into a watery kiss. But at that point, Hunter had reached for the dagger and pierced it into the siren's stomach and pushed her away. He watched as her appearance transformed back into her regular form as she floated away with blood gushing out from her wound. Hunter then used the dagger to free himself from the seaweed and swam up to the surface where he gasped heavily for air. He swam back to shore and coughed out water as he forced himself up. Now that the siren was gone, he was able to gather the water and started to head back.

Meanwhile, Cerise made sure the cloth was pressed against Ashlynn's wound absorbing the blood as she looked up and saw a wet Hunter coming towards them.

"You made it" Cerise gasped.

"And I got the water" he held up the water container.

"Great" she said as she lifted up the cloth showing the wound "Now pour it on."

Hunter saw that Ashlynn was barely alive, so he quickly poured the water onto the wound as it magically healed. Ashlynn then started to wake up as Hunter and Cerise gave a small gasped.

"Ashlynn" he said as she was fully awake.

"What happened?" Ashlynn asked as she then turned to Hunter "Hunter why are you wet?"

"Long story" he said "But the main thing is, you're healed."

Ashlynn looked at her stomach and was surprised to see that her wound was gone.

"What?" she gasped.

"Hunter was able to get the healing water" Cerise explained "He saved you."

"Really?" she said as she turned to him.

"I couldn't loose you" he said.

Ashlynn gave a small smile.

"My hero" she smiled as she pulled him into a kiss.

After the kiss, both of them smiled as he helped her up.

"So you're ready to go to the tree?" Hunter asked.

"Yep" Ashlynn said "You still have the map?"

Hunter reached into his pocket, but to his shock the map was gone.

"No" he gasped as he searched through all his pockets "Oh man, I must of lost it when that siren dragged me into the water."

"What?" Ashlynn said.

"I'll explain later."

"Wait where are you guys trying to go?" Cerise asked.

"The Tree of Wisdom" Hunter said as he explained about trying to prevent Ashlynn's mother from her future death.

"Oh I know where that tree it" Cerise said.

"You do?" the couple said.

"I've been around the forest more than you guys, I can take you to the tree."

"Well thanks" Ashlynn smiled "We would appreciate that."

"Well then follow me."

As they followed her, a thought came to Ashlynn's mind.

"What are we gonna do about that thief?" she asked.

"Never mind him" Cerise said "He probably wont bother us anymore."

__________

On the other side of the forest, Simon was sharping his arrows when he suddenly heard a rustle behind him, he turned around but saw nothing. But then he heard it again, he got up and looked around but still saw no one.

"Dad if you're messing it's not working" he said.

But when he turned around, he was surprised to see a cloaked man behind him.

"You got any gold?" he demanded.

"What?" Simon said.

"Empty your pockets" the man ordered as he pulled out a knife.

"Whoa whoa man" Simon held up his hands in defense  as he started to back away "I don't have any gold."

"Empty your pockets!" the man demanded.

But before Simon could, he watched as the man gave a painful winch as he fell face forward on the ground with Gold standing behind him with a bloody knife in his hand.

"Wow" Simon gasped in relief "Thanks dad."

"Well" Gold smirked as he picked up a golden arrow "What do we have here?"

"Uh, why is this arrow gold?" Simon asked.

"It's because it's an Enchanted Arrow, it never misses it's target."

"Whoa can I see?"

"You can have it."

"Thanks" Simon said as he took the arrow "Boy am I gonna have fun with this."

That evening, as Andy was walking down the sidewalk, he spotted Rachel coming out from Tara's bakery with a doughnut in her hand. He decided to talk to her so he walked up to her.

"Hey" he said.

"Oh, hey" she said back.

"Uh, can I, talk to you for a moment?"

"Uh sure what's up?"

"Okay" he said as he looked around making sure no one was listening "I know this is gonna crazy and all, but is there a chance we can hang out together?"

"You mean like, practice our lines?"

"No I mean, just us hanging out."

"Really?"

"I know it's weird to ask you this since last night and all, but I feel like we should get to know each other, you know like since we're the main roles in the play."

"Oh um, but what about Bridget?"

"I'll talk to her about it. So what do you say?"

"Um" she said as she started to think "I guess we can hang tomorrow."

"Great" he smiled.

"Okay" she smiled "You can come over tomorrow evening."

"I'll be there."

"Okay, see you then."

"K, bye" he said as she walked away.

After she left, Andy walked the other way. But as he was walking, he couldn't stop thinking about Rachel, it was like she was always in his head. He tried to remind himself that he was with Bridget, but it would always change to Rachel. He finally knew what was happening, he was falling in love in Rachel.