The Academy of Never Ever After Book One: Snow White

Chapter Nine

Everything blurred together into a mesh of bright colors. The sound of a child crying being the only noise. Slowly Sabrina's vision was returned to her. Snow was no long in front of her and she was no longer chained up and was sitting upon the floor.

Standing, she followed the sounds of the crying. She walked up the stairs that now seemed like they would go on forever. No doors came into view, and all light faded the further she went up.

"Snow? Blake?" Her voice echoed off the walls of what she was now guessing to be a tower. As she walked, she ran her hand along the cool wall to remind herself that it was real and no longer a part of Snow's imagination. The castle seemed to have fully lost it's beauty.

Time passed as she continued to walk, a small glow of light becoming visible, and then a door. It had been the door from Snow's memory. Reaching out, she felt the cold metal of the door knob on her fingers and closed them around it. Turning the know and opening the door she walked inside.

A small child, Snow, sat with her knees up to her chest and her face hidden within them. Her back was against her mothers casket and she was crying. Blake sat next to her, whispering soft words to the child.

Sabrina stepped cautiously over to them, her eyes never leaving Snow as she did. Her hand was at the ready to pull out any weapon at any sudden moment. Breathing deeply, her breaths came out as small puffs of fog.

"Is it over...?" She whispered.

Blake nodded and looked up at her, "Yes. It's over. We found the problem and we fixed it, or I should say, you fixed it." He looked down at Snow and stroked her hair. "All it was, was a little girl that felt her mother had been terrible wronged and wanted everyone to know so." A gentle smile came to his face, "No wrong done."

Standing up, he walked over to her. "Ready to go?" He asked as he took her hands. Sabrina nodded her head and smiled. She closed her eyes and heard the soft murmur of his voice as he recited the spell to send them back.

Within a few seconds, a strong gust of wind slammed into them both, knocking them down. They never hit solid ground. Instead they kept falling, slipping into nothingness.

After a heart beat, they both felt solid ground under their feet and opened their eyes. Ms. Jade and the Tall Man were smiling at them.

"Welcome back." Ms. Jade said as tears filled her eyes. "You two are one of the lucky groups."

Sabrina gave her a tired smile, "Come now, did you honestly think we wouldn't make it back?" Slightly her head tilted to the side, "I thought you had more faith in us then that."

Ms. Jade opened her mother to respond but was cut off by Blake as he tightly gripped Sabrina's hand and pointed up at the picture. "Sabrina, look." He whispered.

Turning her head, she looked open it and felt the slight burn of tears wanting to come. The picture had changed to something beautiful. It showed a women, her daughter, and seven little men all smiling in a pretty area in the woods. An area that always had the sun shining on it and where the flowers were always in the bloom. The women and the girl both had long dark hair, skin as white as snow, and lips... That were as red as blood.