Dragon Games
Page 9
Apple clicked the jewels on the mirror, and it refreshed with magic.
The Evil Queen slowed her dragon and made a U-turn. She flew directly toward Apple.…
“Capture the Evil Q—” Apple started, but then shouted “No!” as the Evil Queen used a bolt of magic to snag the mirror right out of Apple’s hand.
The queen reined her dragon to a stop and spun the mirror in her hand.
Mirrie beeped. “I’m sorry, target unclear.”
Apple gritted her teeth.
The Evil Queen circled around Apple’s dragon. “Now I’m going to let all your friends see what it’s like to spend years in the mirror prison. Starting with you!” The mirror clicked. “Capture Appl—”
She didn’t finish, because a bolt of lightning struck the Evil Queen’s hand! With a scream, she dropped the mirror, and it fell fast.
The bolt was from Raven on Nevermore. Her fingers still glowed.
“Hitting a moving target on dragonback—somebody’s been practicing!” The Evil Queen was impressed.
Apple took a nosedive and caught the falling Booking Glass moments before it hit the ground.
“It’s over, Mom,” Raven announced. “We’re taking back the school.”
The Evil Queen sneered.
Apple said, “I let you out of the mirror prison—and now I’m going to send you back.” She held the mirror, pointing at the queen.
The queen raised an eyebrow. “You might want to think about what you’re doing, Apple. You’re throwing away your destiny.”
“Don’t listen to her, Apple,” Raven warned.
The queen said, “Without me, you’ll never get your Happily Ever After. Raven has made it abundantly clear that she doesn’t intend to follow in my footsteps. You’ll never have an Evil Queen if I’m not around. No Evil Queen—no Happily Ever After.”
With all that said, Apple still didn’t lower the mirror.
“Face it,” the queen told her. “You don’t have a choice.”
Apple looked at Raven, then back at the queen. “Yes, I do. We all have a choice. And I’ll find my Happily Ever After some other way—without you.” She spoke more clearly than ever before. “Capture Evil Queen!”
The mirror finally understood.
CHAPTER 23
Magic from the mirror reached out and grabbed the Evil Queen!
The queen got sucked halfway into the mirror—her legs were trapped, but from the waist up, she was still free. “I’m—not—going—back!” She shot constant magic at the Booking Glass.
The Evil Queen’s magic radiated through the mirror and into Apple!
Raven panicked. “Apple!”
“She’s—she’s weakening the Booking Glass!” Apple shouted back.
As the Evil Queen kept shooting magic, she started to emerge from the mirror.
Raven leaped from Nevermore and onto Apple’s dragon to help her. Raven’s hands lit up when she started shooting her own magic at the Booking Glass to counter her mother’s magic.
The Evil Queen was slowly pulled back into the mirror again. But she fought it. “I told you! I’m—more—powerful than you!” There was a huge burst of magic energy that sent Raven, Apple, and the mirror falling off the dragon. They went into a free fall!
Apple was still clutching the mirror as the Evil Queen tried to escape its magnetic pull. The girls plummeted closer and closer to the ground.
“Raven!” Apple warned. “The mirror isn’t strong enough without you!”
Trying to ignore the fact that she was falling fast, Raven took a deep breath and let out an enormous blast of magic at the mirror. Her magic increased the strength of the mirror’s pull.
“Nooooo!” The Evil Queen was overpowered, and a second later, she disappeared into the reflective glass.
Raven and Apple were just about to hit the ground… when Darling swooped down on dragonback and caught them both!
They rose victoriously into the air.
Below them, the Booking Glass smashed into the ground and shattered into a million pieces.
In the Ever After High headmaster’s office, Snow White and the teachers changed back to their real forms.
At a table in the Castleteria, Professor Pied Piper and Mr. Badwolf also turned back into their former selves.
With the leader gone, the dark dragons stopped fighting and flew away. And Ever After High was returned to its normal state.
Raven and Apple finally relaxed on the back of Darling’s dragon. Darling looked back at them and exclaimed, “That was spelltacular, you two!”
Apple and Raven hugged while all around them other students spun their dragons with celebratory tricks and loops.
Brooke Page said, “You can open your eyes now, Dad. Raven and Apple won.”
The Male Narrator said, “Wha—huh? I wasn’t closing my eyes.” He ended his narration by saying, “The Evil Queen was sent back into the mirror prison. And Raven proved that she—and her friends—indeed had the ability to choose their Happily Ever Afters.”
The Female Narrator said, “With the help of her friends, Apple was able to right the wrong of freeing the Evil Queen.”
Snow White nodded at her daughter with apologetic eyes. Apple nodded back. They embraced.
Brooke Page asked, “And as for Raven and her mother? Let’s just say their relationship is still… complicated.…”
After the spellebration, Raven walked confidently into the school’s tower attic.
The Evil Queen was back inside the mirror. “There’s my little blackbird.…”
“Mom.”
“So… what’s new?” the queen asked.
“How are you holding up in there?” Raven asked with a small smile.
“Oh, it’s not so bad, I suppose. Somebody left a sandwich in here.” She held up the sandwich Faybelle had sent to the mirror prison using the Booking Glass. The queen said, “I’m royally proud of you, Raven.”
Raven nearly choked. “Seriously? After all that?”
The queen grinned wide. “Hex yes, I’m serious! You demonstrated that your powers are even stronger than before. And to orchestrate such a crafty scheme to take down the Evil Queen? The Evil Queen.”
Raven didn’t know how to respond. It was all a little strange.…
“You’re more like me than you realize. Like it or not—you can’t escape your destiny.”
Raven sighed. “We’ll see. I have to go, Mom. I’m late for a match.”
“I’ll be watching.” The queen gave her a royal wave.
The Ever After High teams were twisting and turning on their dragons, hurling balls through hoops, and blasting fire and ice. Riding Nevermore, Raven lowered next to Apple and her dragon.
Apple said, “Hey, what took you so long? We’ve got a match to win here!” Ever After High was going against Fairy Prep School.
Raven simply smiled.
They whipped their reins and took off into the Dragon Games Arena, gracefully gliding around each other.
Game on!
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Mattel, Inc.
All rights reserved. EVER AFTER HIGH and associated trademarks are owned by and used under license from Mattel, Inc.
Cover design by Véronique Lefèvre Sweet
Cover © 2016 Mattel, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
First ebook edition: February 2016
ISBN 978-0-316-30183-1
E3