Later that night, Molly couldn’t sleep. She tiptoed toward the kitchen, hoping not to bump into Gretchen in the midst of one of her eating binges. On the way, she heard quiet sobs coming from the conservatory room on the first floor. Molly had never been in the room, and she realized that it was rarely used by anyone. The glass walls made the room feel as if it were surrounded by night and darkness. There she could see Bea settled into an armchair with her face buried in her hands.
“Bea? Are you all right?”
She stopped crying abruptly and brushed the tears away with the backs of her hands. “I’m fine, dear. Just fine.”
Molly sat on the edge of the couch across from Bea. “You don’t have to put on a show for me. I know you’re crying about Dru leaving and that you’re worried about her.”
Bea shook her head. “This isn’t like sending your child away to summer camp. I will never see her again. We will never see her again. She’s like a daughter to me.”
Molly said nothing as Bea broke down into sobs again. Once she calmed down, she looked to Molly with tear-filled eyes. “I’m doing the right thing, aren’t I?”
Molly shrugged. “What other choice can there be? To keep her here?”
When Bea didn’t respond, Molly knew she had been contemplating it. “You can’t. I know you love them and you want to protect them, but they aren’t your prisoners. They aren’t your children. They don’t belong to you. Every last one of them wants to get out of here, trust me they do. They’re scared out of their minds, but they want to leave eventually. You can’t keep them from freedom because you’re afraid of what might happen to them.”
For a moment Bea looked as if she were about to argue with Molly, but then she nodded. “I know. You’re right. I have no right to make them stay here when they have the opportunity to leave. It’s just . . . something I have to come to terms with.”
It might not have been the best time, but Molly felt the need to bring it up anyway. “Also, I think we need to prepare them for when the time to leave comes. They need to go out and experience what the real world is like.”
“But the coven—”
“I know, but that’s a risk we’re going to have to take. When I go out into the world, I don’t know if I’m ever going to make it home. I could get hit by a car or shot or be abducted by some maniac, but that doesn’t keep me from going out.”
Bea stared through the walls into the dark night. “That is where we differ, Ms. Dillinger. What’s the point of preparing them for a world they will never see because they’re dead? The girls will not leave this place until their curses are broken and I know for sure those witches will never touch them.”
24
The following day everyone clung to Dru as closely as possible. There were so many tears shed that Molly almost couldn’t take it anymore. The girls had decorated the living room with a huge banner that read, “We’ll miss you Dru!” The room was generously decorated with gold and blue streamers and pennants.
The cooks served Dru’s favorite dinner, spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread and salad. There was music—Bea had arranged for the orchestra of self-playing instruments to play Drusilla’s favorite songs. After dessert it was time for Dru to say her last goodbyes so that she and Bea could begin their journey to Denise’s.
The girls gathered around Dru, each holding a gift bag. Tress handed Dru her bag first. Dru reached inside and pulled out a tile. On the tile was a picture of her wearing a white lab coat standing in some type of lab. Her eyes teared up a little. “Thank you, Tress. It’s beautiful.”
Jolie handed her a beautiful bouquet with a variety of colorful flowers. “Ms. Bea charmed them for me. They’ll never die.”
Dru held the flowers to her nose and took a big whiff. “Thanks, Jolie. I’m going to miss your beautiful garden.”
Lily gave Dru a beaded bracelet with a matching necklace. “Allison helped me make it.” Oriana handed her a large piece of paper rolled up in a rubber band. It was a drawing she had done of the Big Dipper. “You were there with me the first time I saw it.” A tear streamed down Dru’s cheek as she rolled the drawing back up.
Gretchen handed her a book bound in purple leather. “This is a cookbook of all my favorite recipes. This will get you through all those late nights of studying. You should try the cookies-and-cream cinnamon roll first.”
“Will do. Thanks, Gretch.”
Scarlett gave Dru her favorite scarf while Marina had given her a black-and-white polka-dot bikini. “I had Anais whip it up for you. Now that you’re getting out of this place, you must hit the beach. I’m telling you, there is no place like the ocean.”
Dru pulled Marina into a tight hug. “I can’t wait to experience it, Marina.”
Even Isleen handed her something. “It’s sad to see you go,” she said. “There are so few real princesses left.” She pressed a string of beautiful pearls into Dru’s hand. “Don’t forget me.”
Dru grinned. “I could never forget you, Izzy. Not even if I wanted to.”
The girls laughed, and even Isleen smiled a little.
The same carriage that had brought Molly to the estate pulled up in front of the house. Randolph loaded Dru’s bags inside, including suitcases filled with her science experiments. Tears streamed down Molly’s own cheeks. If it wasn’t for Dru making the placebo, they would have never gotten the first elixir. She really deserved this. They all stood on the front porch waving as the motor coach moved down the driveway. No one went inside until the vehicle was out of sight.
Somberness settled over the estate like a wet blanket. Each of the girls retired to her own quarters. Molly decided to visit the Great Study so she could delve deeper into the fairy tales. She wanted to get working on the next pen right away, but she had no idea where to start. They had only known to go after the Big Bad Wolf because of Allison. They needed to pinpoint the locations of the other villains immediately.
Bea came back about twelve hours later. She went straight to her bedroom without a word to anyone. Molly figured she probably wanted to be alone, but she had to know how everything had gone with getting Dru settled in.
She knocked lightly on the door. “Bea? It’s Molly. May I come in?”
“Yes,” Bea called from the other side.
Molly slipped inside, closing the door behind her. She had never been in Bea’s room before. The walls were painted a beautiful shade of lavender. The furniture was sterling silver, and a starch-white comforter covered her bed. The ceilings were covered in Tress’s tiles. Bea sat in a chair facing her window.
“How did it go?” Molly asked.
Bea sighed. “Everything went fine. Denise seems lovely. Dru was a little hesitant at first, but the two of them clicked right away and that set Dru’s mind at ease. She’ll be fine.”
Molly’s shoulders relaxed. She had been tense ever since Bea had left with Dru. Since Denise had been her idea, she wanted to be sure that everything went smoothly and that they’d made the right decision. “Bea, I know you’ll miss her, but maybe she could send letters or even call you and the girls. I’m sure we could all use that.”
Bea shook her head slowly. “Ms. Dillinger, you don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?”
“I couldn’t risk anyone finding out about Everly or where we’re located. Witches are masters of disguise. Dru could be speaking to one of them and not even know it, inadvertently leading the coven to our location.”
Molly prepared herself to hear something she wasn’t going to like. “What are you saying?”
“I had to wipe Dru’s memory clean of Everly Academy. Right now she doesn’t remember you, me, or any of the girls, and she never will. I had to do it for our safety.”
Molly didn’t know what to say, but she thought it was extremely unfair. Dru had spent over two hundred years of her life at Everly that she would never even remember, nor would she remember the people she considered her family. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Moll
y thought about the promises Dru had made to never forget them. She remembered the gifts she had received from the girls. Now she would have no idea where they had come from.
Bea finally stood and faced Molly. “I didn’t want to make the morale lower than it already was. You mustn’t tell them. Is there any point of the girls knowing this now?”
Molly let the question linger. She figured there wasn’t. “Okay. I won’t tell them.” Just as Molly turned to leave, there was a knock on the door. She looked to Bea, who nodded.
Molly opened the door to find Tress on the other side. She smiled brightly. “Hello, Ms. Dillinger. I’ve created another tile. Whenever I do that, I have to show it to Ms. Bea right away.”
Molly opened the door wider so Tress could enter. Bea moved toward the door, her brow furrowed. She took the tile from Tress. Molly looked over her shoulder. The tile was covered with thick, twisting vines in different shades of green.
Isleen walked by the open door. When she saw the group standing in Bea’s room, she frowned. “There you are, Tress. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“I was working on another tile,” Tress said. “Take a look.”
Isleen hung in the doorway for a few seconds as if she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to enter Bea’s bedroom or not. After a moment she came in and took the tile from Tress. She scoffed after taking a look. “Is this some kind of tribute to your boyfriend, Jack?”
Tress tilted her head to the right. “I don’t know. You know the pictures just come to me. I don’t know what it means.”
As if offering an answer, the ground beneath them began to vibrate. Molly had to grab on to a bedpost to keep herself upright. Tress and Isleen clung to each other as Bea hurried to the window. “Oh no.”
Molly looked over to see what was wrong. The walls shook as if there were an earthquake. She froze in terror as giant vines grew over the windows, eventually cloaking the room in darkness.
“What’s happening?” Tress screamed.
Bea swallowed hard, trying to maintain her composure. “Your tile, Tress. Those vines have completely covered the house.”
Moments later the other girls spilled into the room, filling the place with excited chatter.
“Ms. Bea,” Scarlett shouted. “The entire school is covered. The windows. The doors. We’re trapped in here?”
“What’s causing this?” Gretchen asked.
Bea had no answers for them. “Girls, please remain calm. Nothing will come from panicking.”
Ms. Halifax stumbled into the room with a harried look on her face. She wiped it away as soon as she realized the girls were present. She held her hands up. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for this.”
By the look on everyone’s faces, no one believed her. There was nothing reasonable about giant vines growing over an entire home in less than a minute. Molly took deep breaths, trying to hold her composure. She felt more trapped and closed-in than she had before.
“I knew it,” Lily said. “I knew something bad was coming. The forest warned me.”
Isleen groaned. “OMG. Can we not?”
Molly remembered that day she, Scarlett, and Lily were in the woods when Lily had received the ominous message. “No, she really did. I was there.”
Isleen folded her arms over her chest. “The forest told her something bad was going to happen? That was a big help, wasn’t it? Unless the forest is going to be a lot more specific about things, it can keep its stupid messages to itself.”
Lily moved past Isleen, purposefully bumping her shoulder. “Shut up, Izzy.” She turned to Bea. “What are we going to do about this?”
Bea sat on her bed, clutching her moon charm. Molly had given it back to her once she’d returned from the Dead Forest. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Molly stared through the window into the darkness. They had accomplished their first mission and freed a girl from the curse. Although that was a huge accomplishment, clearly, they still had a long way to go.
Dru’s Story
200 Years Ago
Marseille, France
I had been in the stables for hours watching Dr. James mend Thunderbolt’s broken leg. The caramel-colored horse was my favorite, and I feared I would never ride him again. One could only guess how the horse had managed to break his cannon bone, but it probably had something to do with the fact that he was as wild and unruly as I was.
Dr. James was a wonderful animal physician. With his thick, dark hair and bright thoughtful eyes, he worked gently and meticulously on the leg. The two of us crouched over Thunderbolt, who lay on the hay-covered floor of the stable. I admired how Dr. James knew just what to do, just how much of the ointments to use, and the perfect tools to fix the leg.
I watched in silence as the doctor set the bone and then used a needle and thread to sew up the skin. Blood and gore had never bothered me. His hands moved quickly and effortlessly as he worked.
The doctor chuckled. “I will never understand why a princess would be interested in such things.” Dr. James was used to me watching him when he came to care for the animals.
I gently stroked Thunderbolt’s soft fur. A burst of air came from his nostrils, but he was still asleep from the shot Dr. James had given him “I don’t know. I just find it so interesting. I’d like to be able to do it too.”
“But you’re a princess, soon to be a queen. You will have doctors at your beck and call.”
“I know but—”
“Drusilla!”
I jumped at the sound of my name being shouted across the stables. Hastily I stood, brushing the hay from my dress as if that would make a difference. Queen Adele Laurent stood at the entrance of the stables with her hands planted firmly on her slim hips. She wore a bright-yellow gown which she held up so that the bottom wouldn’t graze the dirty stable floor. My mother was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, even when she was angry. I prayed to have at least half her beauty one day. Her hair was pinned up in an intricate twist, and her deep-mahogany skin was flawless as usual.
She glared at me with her dark-brown eyes. “Everyone has been searching the palace for you. All morning I thought you were soaking in your bath. It never dawned on me that you would be here, in these filthy stables on such an important day. What are you doing?”
“I was watching Dr. James. Thunderbolt broke his leg.”
She glanced over the doctor and horse and then set her gaze on me again. “Avoiding Prince Alexander is what you were doing.”
I touched my forehead. I had honestly forgotten about that stupid prince. Prince Alexander had been introduced to me a month ago when he and his father paid a visit to our palace. He was an arrogant ass then, and I was sure he was still an arrogant ass.
“Mother, I’m sorry. I forgot.”
She stormed over, wrapping her hand around my left elbow and pulling me toward the door. I looked over my shoulder at Dr. James, who watched us over the rim of his glasses. “Wait, mother, please. He’s almost done.”
“Hush! I can’t believe you, Dru. You know that a handsome, sought-after prince is coming to visit you—most probably to propose marriage, seeing as though it’s his second visit—and you’re wasting time in the filthy stables. Any other princess would have spent all day in preparation. What is wrong with you?”
I didn’t know how to answer that question because I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me.
Mother quickened her pace so that I practically had to run to keep up. “You know how many girls would love to be in your position? If you don’t seal the deal, someone else will.”
“They can have Alexander. I don’t like him, Mother.” I’d really tried to give him a chance, but so many things about him rubbed me the wrong way. I hated the way he looked down on everyone—myself and my parents included. He asked me questions and then cut me off before I could finish my answers. Whenever I spoke, his eyes wandered all over the place, and then every ten seconds or so he would smile and nod as if he
were really listening. He spoke to the servants like they were dogs and demanded that when we had children that I should only give him boys.
“So what, Dru? How many times have I told you that none of that matters. You’ll get used to him. Do you think I loved your father the first time I met him?”
I scoffed. “That’s not a fair comparison at all. Father is kind and charming. Prince Alexander is the exact opposite.”
Mother dug her fingers into my arm, but I didn’t flinch or pull away. All I wanted to do was make her not be mad at me anymore. “I’m sorry, Mother. I’ll go get changed now.”
She groaned and finally let go of me. “Have you seen yourself?”
I looked down. I wore a simple pink dress that ended at my shins and flat, black shoes. My outfit was suitable for roaming the castle grounds, but not for company. My hair was probably a mess, and I smelled like horses and hay. I’d most definitely need a bath.
“It will take hours to get you looking presentable, and the prince has already been waiting forever. He has to get back. He’s already preparing to leave as we speak, and he certainly can’t see you like this.”
“Aww, well that’s a shame,” I said, trying my best to appear disappointed.
Mother could see right through me in the way most mothers can see through their daughters. She stopped abruptly and grabbed my arm again, tighter this time. “Dru, don’t you understand? You are seventeen. You should be married already. People talk about young women, especially princesses, who take too long to marry. They start to wonder what’s wrong with them.”
Mother was right in the respect that I was overdue when it came to marriage, but that wasn’t my fault. The second I turned fourteen, my parents paraded suitor after suitor into the palace. Each one was more awful than the one before until I met Phillip. Phillip was perfect. He was the kind of prince I thought was too good to exist. He was handsome, kind, fair, intelligent, and there wasn’t a time we were together that he didn’t keep me laughing. My parents were relieved when he proposed and I accepted.
Everly Academy Page 24
