24. Midnight Mysteries

Ann? ANN? Member of AHG!? My heart is pounding fast. Long term damage? What is that supposed to mean? Villains? Heroes? Anna, a villain? I was sure she wanted to be good! I was sure! What does this scroll even mean!?

I feel tears of frustration brimming my eyes, but I hold them back. Anna can't be evil after everything she's done to change her ways. I have to go alert my friends.

I turn off the lights and run out of the bathroom. All of my friends are asleep. I slip into my sandals, grab the scroll, and make my way out.

Down the hall. Turn right, turn left. Down the staircase. Up another hall, out the door.

I run straight through the dark courtyard and into Rapunzel's castle.

Fairy be, I forgot there was an indoor hallway from the main castle to this one. It doesn't matter, I have to get word to Jax.

Wait. Oh for the love of fairies, I forgot to go get the rest of my friends!

Whatever. I'll tell them later.

☆𖣔︎᯽-𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓼𝓴𝓲𝓹-᯽𖣔︎☆

Weaving through the halls, I make it past the hair care salon and Raz's room. I finally reach Jax's room.

I knock hard three times, and wait as I fiddle with my hands.

What could this scroll possibly mean?

Jax opens the door, and quickly steps back in surprise. "Gilly? Why are you here at this time of night?"

"It's-it's really important, can I just come in?" I ask hastily.

"Uh, yeah, of course. Come on in." Jax runs a hand through his hair.

I quickly enter the dark room and shut the door behind me.

"Okay, listen. I got this weird scroll from my sister-I..." I stutter.

"Gillian. You can tell me. Here, come on over here." Jax pulls me through the dark and we both sit on his bed. "I'm guessing by 'sister', you mean Anna? What'd she say?"

I pull the scroll out of my deep pocket and hand it to him. "Here, just read it."

A beam of light comes from Jax's pocketwatch.

"I didn't know it had that feature," I say, "Handy I guess."

"Mhm. Helps in dark situations."

☆𖣔︎᯽-𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓼𝓴𝓲𝓹-᯽𖣔︎☆

"What the heck!?" Jax whisper-yells after he's done reading. The pocketwatch light goes out. "What does she even mean by this?"

"I don't know. I don't. I just don't want my sister to turn evil again! Jax, she doesn't mean any of this, does she?" I ask, for my own unexisting reassurance.

"Gilly, I hate to say this, but she's evil."

We turn silent.

"It can't be true-I, I guess it is though." My eyes are watering. I swear someone's cutting onions.

"Hey," Jax says in a calming voice, "We'll get through this together. Whatever the heck AHG is, we'll stop them."

I fall back from my sitting position onto the king sized bed and wipe my eyes. "I think that stands for Anna, Hansel, and Gretel."

Jax pauses for a moment and lays down too. "I think you're right. And whatever her 'Ann' phase is, she'll come out of it."

"I hope so. No one has ever called her Ann."

"Wait a second, the scroll said-they're, coming, two days after the main event... what is the main event?"

"The main event?"

We pause, and then come to realization.

"The ball." We say at the same time.

"They're gonna try to attack?" I ask. "Two days after the ball?"

"That's what it seems like, but we have security. How would three fourteen-year-olds be able to break into Royal manor on a Friday?"

"They can't. Right? I know they can't." I exhort, hoping it's true.

"They shouldn't be able to. The doors are always locked, and they never unlock unless we have an expected guest arriving." Jax answers. "And there aren't any expected guests coming this week other than you guys."

"So... we'll be fine?" I ask.

"I think so. Tomorrow I'll tell the guards to pay extra close attention for anything out of the ordinary." Jax confirms.

"Alright. Thanks." I say. "I better go back to my room and try to sleep."

"Want me to walk you back?" Jax asks.

"Uh, sure."

☆𖣔︎᯽-𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓼𝓴𝓲𝓹-᯽𖣔︎☆

We arrive back in the hallway where my guest room is located. "Alright, thank you. See you tomorrow." I start to open the door.

"And Gilly-" Jax says quickly, "I'm always here for you if you need anything."

"Thank you."