How One Princess Broke A Spell, Rebuilt A Kingdom and Reunited Several Families

Chapter One:

Caitriona stared out of her window at the foggy, steely grey ocean below her. On the other side of that ocean was the Isle of The Lost, and more importantly, her only real friend. She'd been throwing bottles with messages in them out to sea since as far back as she could remember, hoping to contact a mermaid or a selkie or something and one day, when she was around nine, a message came back. It was a freaking miracle, she thought. She'd started to think her mother was just kidding about mermaids and stuff, but this was really here! Or so she'd thought at the time.

As it turned out, it was a kid from the Isle. She didn't know his name, because he never told her. But he made it clear that he was a boy, he was the son of a prominent villain and he was living on the Isle. Within only a month or so, they knew everything about each other. She knew his deepest, darkest secrets (such as the fact that he really wanted to see a rainbow or the fact that he actually never met his father and wasn't sure he wanted to) and he knew all her hopes and dreams (such as the fact that she wanted to encounter a Wisp and how she secretly hoped Mor'du was out there as a ghost so she could ask him some stuff).

It was weird, though, because three weeks in she knew how he'd grown up alone and terrified and had to become a terrible person to survive and it took two years before he just out of the blue mentioned that he worked on a boat. Sort of, he said. Whatever that meant. How do you sort of work on a boat? She asked. I work on a boat but it's not exactly legal, was the reply. Caitriona didn't mind that her friend was probably a criminal. He was her friend, that was what mattered. Besides, with her accent the only way she'd be able to fit in was if she never talked. So she stuck to writing.

At first, Seanmhair had disapproved. "He's a villain, probably the child of murderers," she had emphasized. "He lives far away and you'll never actually see him, this is a futile and self-destructive activity." But Caitriona had dug her heels in, and Mom didn't disapprove (or care one way or the other- as long as Caitriona was happy, she was happy) so she kept her pen pal. It was going to be eight years this coming Friday, which was also the day Caitriona left for Auradon Prep, or as she called it, the festering, gaping wound on the ass of the education system's failure.

"I'm going out!" she announced suddenly, getting up and throwing on her coat. Usually she preferred to wear a cloak but the triplets' kids destroyed it just a little while ago.

"Just be back before dinner! Maggie's making something extra good tonight!" Mom called after her. Caitriona nodded before turning and snatching up her throwing knives, her bow and arrows and her good boots. The stables, where her horse Siobhan waited, was a short walk, and she wanted to make it to the big circle of stones before noon.

"Siobhan, you up for a little adventure?" Caitriona asked, and Siobhan responded with an enthusiastic snort. They rode like the wind, and Caitriona made sure to hit every target that her mother had set up for her along the way. At this point she was running out of room on the bullseyes, which meant she'd have to regather the damn things on her way back.

When they made a left turn, Caitriona noticed something odd. There was a glowing blue thing just off the trail.

"Siobhan, you think you can stay here a moment?" she asked the horse. Her horse was well-trained and very loyal, so she knew Siobhan would still be there when she got back, but it still seemed risky so she tied the reins to a tree. The second she reached the blue thing, it disappeared.

A wisp... she thought. Good. Just what I was looking for. But I thought magic died when the Fairy Godmother retired! If Great-Grandma was less secretive this wouldn't be a problem. She ran to the next one, and the next, and the next, until she was standing in the stone circle. How... but I thought it wasn't for another three forks! How is it here when- She was still walking through the line of wisps when she came face to-well, door- with a cottage. Okay, there's definitely not supposed to be a- wait...