Enchanted Academy Box Set

by L. C. Mortimer

  Murmurs and whispers spread throughout the auditorium.

  “Come on,” I whispered. “You can do this, Hook.”

  I tried to send her all of the positive invisible energy that I could. No, I wasn’t a witch, but if there was just a chance that I could send her some good vibes, then I would.

  “What some of you may not know is that I lost everything that was important to me,” she continued. A small gasp spread through the audience, but this was good. It was important that Hook was sharing her story, and it was even more important that we were all listening.

  You can’t have beauty without pain.

  Understanding what Hook went through could be the very thing people needed in order to truly appreciate the dance she was about to do.

  “A few years ago, my parents passed away,” she said. “Due to the evil behavior of a nasty dark fairy, they both drowned.” She swallowed hard, and for a second, I thought she might cry. “Tonight, this dance is for them,” she said. “I wasn’t going to come tonight. I wasn’t going to come here and show this dance to anyone, but thanks to a surprise gift of these lovely ballet shoes,” she smiled at Helena Hex, who gave a little wave before covering her mouth in a yawn. “I’m here.”

  The music started, and Helena smiled as Hook began to dance.

  Carefully, Hook started her movements. She began big with bold dance moves. She wasn’t afraid to take up a lot of space on the stage, which I thought looked really wonderful. I’d never really been much of a dancer, but I’d seen other people dance, and it often seemed as though dancers were nervous about taking up too much space or using too much room.

  Not Hook.

  She moved like no one was watching.

  I could tell how much she wanted her parents to be proud of her with this dance.

  Helena Hex stood, riveted by the performance. I’d never seen her focus on anything quite as intently as she was focusing on the dance. I wondered if she had warned the other teachers that there could be trouble tonight during Hook’s performance. I looked around, but I didn’t see Allie anywhere. Good.

  Maybe the dark fairy had decided not to show up, after all.

  Hook moved, gently swaying her arms with each movement, but suddenly, a look of horror crossed her face, and her feet seemed to start moving of their own accord. She danced faster and faster, spinning round and round, and then Hook let out a scream.

  Chapter 11

  The shoes had a mind of their own.

  They were spinning, forcing her to keep dancing even when she didn’t want to.

  And she didn’t want to.

  Hook was growing dizzy and she didn’t know what was happening. Why couldn’t she stop dancing? Why was she still moving even though she’d tried to stop? She tried to calm down, but she couldn’t. Her heart was racing and it threatened to beat right out of her own chest.

  The shoes were alive.

  No, that was stupid.

  They were enchanted.

  But how?

  She tried to focus on her own breathing enough to calm down. The crowd had gasped and they were starting to get loud. She knew they had realized that there was a problem, but nobody seemed to know how to stop it.

  Nobody seemed to know how to rescue her from the pain she was inevitably about to feel.

  She could sense it coming: the pain.

  Her feet were already starting to hurt as she danced on and on.

  She didn’t want to keep dancing.

  She wanted to stop, to escape, and to get out of this room filled with people. She hadn’t even wanted to come, but then the shoes had arrived as a special gift and-

  That was it.

  She caught Helena Hex watching her from the side of the stage.

  The shoes.

  They had been a gift from her.

  It had been such a surprise to receive them that Hook had decided at the spur of the moment to go ahead and attend the ball. She had laced up the shoes and tried them on in the mirror. She hadn’t noticed anything different.

  Not at first.

  Not until the music had started to sweep her away.

  Now she felt like she was going to break, but she realized she had missed something very important. When someone used a twin orb, they became very, very tired. Helena had done nothing but yawn all morning, and now she was watching Hook, not intervening, just staring.

  It’s not Helena.

  The realization slammed into Hook. So Allie had found her way to the ball, just as Jessica had predicted.

  Teen-movie style.

  Hook had to find a way to stop her. To everyone else, Helena Hex was just a worried headmistress who wanted to see her students succeed.

  But Hook knew the truth.

  Hook knew that Allie was using her glamour to trick absolutely everyone and to cast her into this fairytale nightmare. If Hook didn’t stop Allie’s enchantment, she would dance and dance until she finally died.

  Then there would be nothing for her.

  She’d never have a chance to get her powers back because she simply wouldn’t exist anymore, and the thought was sobering. It made her sadder than she thought she should probably be. It hurt, actually. It was painful.

  She hadn’t realized until that moment that there really were things she still wanted to do.

  She still wanted to fall in love.

  She wanted to rediscover her love of dance.

  She wanted to finish school and figure out a way to have adventures.

  She wanted her powers back.

  If she gave in to this monster now, though, she would never get to do any of that. If she gave up, she was going to dance until she died right in front of the entire school.

  Not today.

  Hook closed her eyes and cleared her head. There had to be some sort of mental block when it came to using her powers. Allie grabbing her wrist had hurt, and it had stopped her temporarily, but there was a reason that her powers hadn’t come back.

  She just had to find it.

  Deep breaths.

  Hook decided that it was time to let go.

  She had to let go of the pain she’d been clinging to. She had to let go of the terror in her soul. She had to let go of the constant fear that everything was going to hurt her. She had to consciously relax and let go of absolutely everything that had been digging at her.

  It wasn’t really Allison’s fault that Hook’s parents had died.

  They had sacrificed themselves for her, she knew. They would have done anything to save her, just as she would have done anything to save them. Allison may not have been their real daughter, but she had been in trouble, and they had done everything that they could to rescue her.

  They had given everything.

  And she knew that if they had another chance to save someone, that they would have done it.

  Hook couldn’t keep clinging to her pain like a blanket wrapped tightly around her. It was time to shed that anger and to move forward. She could do this. She could let go.

  She could be free.

  She opened her eyes and held out her hand.

  The shoes were still spinning. Allison, still in Helena’s form, was watching her. She was whispering something. Obviously, it was the enchantment. Something had to get the shoes to move the way that they were.

  Well, Hook could feel the magic working in her veins once more.

  “Stop!” She screamed, and she focused all of her energy on creating the biggest energy ball she ever had. Generally, the little orbs she created were small. She used them for juggling or picking minor locks. She’d never done anything like this before, but it was time.

  It was time for her to reclaim her power.

  It was time for her to stand up to Allison.

  It was time for her to stop being a victim.

  The next time her shoes spun her around, Hook thrust her hand forward and shot the energy ball out of her palm. It hit Allison-as-Helena square in the belly, and the dark fairy fell over. Instantly, her glamour faded an
d the shoes stopped working. Hook fell to the floor in pain, but she was safe.

  She was safe.

  Chaos erupted immediately as the students realized that “Helena” was actually Allison.

  “Where’s the real headmistress?” Someone yelled.

  “Let’s check her office!”

  “Someone capture the dark fairy!”

  “Don’t let her get away!”

  Everyone was running around wild and crazy, but Hook felt a gentle hand on hers. She looked up to see Jessica, Beast, Tinkerbell, and Peter Pan standing over her.

  “Hey,” Jessica said. “What the hell was that all about?”

  Hook just shrugged.

  “You did it,” Jessica grinned. “You totally kicked her ass.”

  “Yeah, and it looked really cool!” Tinkerbell squeaked. “You should have seen the way she went flying! She switched back to her true form mid-air. It was insane.”

  “How’d you know it was her?” Beast asked.

  “The yawning,” Hook said. “Someone has been spying on me and the entire school using a magical twin orb. We all knew there was an orb in the painting, but we didn’t know who held its twin.”

  “The user would naturally become very tired,” Jessica said. “Because using that sort of power is totally exhausting, no matter what kind of physical creature you are.”

  “Exactly,” Hook whispered, and she closed her eyes for just a second.

  She had done it.

  She had saved herself and everyone had seen it.

  She wasn’t weak or scared anymore: she was brave and strong.

  She was incredibly powerful and she had reclaimed her magic for herself. She hadn’t waited for some fairytale prince to come rescue her. She’d managed to take care of everything on her own without any assistance at all, and that had been a wonderful, wonderful feeling.

  “What happens now?” Jessica asked. “Are your feet okay?”

  “Let’s get those shoes off,” Peter Pan said.

  “Yeah, you don’t want those on your feet a second longer,” Tinkerbell agreed.

  Together, Hook’s friends helped her yank the shoes off.

  “I’m going to get rid of these,” Beast said.

  “How?” Jessica wanted to know.

  He chuckled and snatched the shoes from Tinkerbell’s hands.

  “I’m going to shift into my dragon form, fly out to an ocean, and chuck them in.” He looked at Hook and winked. “You won’t ever have to worry about these nasty things again.”

  Then he took off running.

  She breathed a sigh of relief. It really was over. Everything had come to a halt, and now she was safe. Her friends were safe. Everything was going to be okay.

  A couple of teachers were hauling Allison out of the room when they moved past the stage. Jillian Hook got to her feet and walked barefoot over to Allison.

  “I have a question for her,” she said.

  The teachers exchanged wary looks, but finally nodded.

  “We’re turning her over to the Darling Witches, so this is the only chance you’re going to get. Might as well ask what you want.”

  “Why?” Hook whispered. “Why do you hate me so much?”

  Allison turned her head and sneered. Then she spit at Hook and started laughing. She shook her head.

  “You really don’t get it, do you? You had everything, Hook. You didn’t even appreciate it. You had two parents and it’s not like you’re a fairy like me. You don’t have slim pickings when it comes to mates of your own species. You had it all.”

  “So you wanted to steal that away from me?” Hook whispered.

  “Your parents dying was unfortunate, but an accident,” Allison said. “The rest, though...well, you left me when they died, Hook.”

  “I was in foster care! I didn’t have a place to go!”

  “You shouldn’t have left. We were friends before and after, I didn’t see you again. I was lucky to finally track you down at this school and come here to see you. Pity. I would have thought you’d be happier to see me.”

  Allison shrugged and one of the male teachers frowned.

  “I think that’s enough,” he said, and he started pushing her toward the door.

  “This won’t be the end!” Allison shouted over her shoulder. It sent a shiver through Hook’s body, but she shook her head.

  “Yes, it will,” she whispered. “It’s over.”

  Jessica came up beside Hook and slipped her arm around her shoulder.

  “It’s over,” Jessica agreed. “And no matter what happens, Hook, we’re all going to be here for you.”

  Hook looked over at Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Jessica, Belle, Wolf, and even a few other students. A couple of mermaids had come over, as well as Snow White. They all nodded. They might not get along all of the time, or ever, but they had something in common.

  They had a shared love for Enchanted Academy and a shared passion for magic and no matter what obstacles they faced next, they were going to face them together.

  Forever.

  Epilogue

  Winter break came and went, and with it flew my expectations of what my school was supposed to be like. Snow fell, fires were lit, snowmen were built, and we all shared endless amounts of time together. I stayed on campus for the holiday break along with most of my friends. Many of us didn’t have parents and those of us who did found that we weren’t really close with our parents anymore.

  That was okay because we’d managed to come together to form some sort of wonderful familial bond with one another.

  Wolf and Red made plans to start working on writing a story together: their story. They had experienced some wonderful things during their time as a couple and they wanted to write it all down for generations to come. I fully believed that their story would be one for the ages. They had, after all, managed to save his grandmother from an evil foe we didn’t even know we had.

  Belle decided to continue studying art and potions. She wanted to be a sort of magical archeologist, so she knew she’d need to have those drawing skills totally honed before she began. She still had some time left at Enchanted Academy, but it was at the end of the semester when she really decided what she wanted to do with her future, and I had a feeling it was going to be an incredible one.

  Tinkerbell and Peter Pan decided to pursue theater together. They made plans to audition for the next play as a couple; however, they also knew that they wanted to direct their own plays someday. With Wolf’s gentle guidance, they started practicing writing their own plays. They hoped that one day, they’d be able to write, direct, and even star in their own plays whether it be on a magical stage or somewhere else entirely.

  Hook was the person I was most worried about when it came to moving on with our lives. She’d been through so very much, but she’d been brave every step of the way. As it turned out, I didn’t need to worry about her at all. Hook was incredible. She did get her powers back and once she had them, the entire world was at her fingertips. With her powers came her confidence and with that, her love of dance returned. Hook continued to dance at Enchanted Academy and she decided that after graduation, she’d join a dance troupe where she could share her love of the arts with the entire world.

  Then there was me.

  I still didn’t have the magical abilities I needed to survive at Enchanted Academy, but somehow, my persistence seemed to pay off in my favor. The teachers were willing to work with me to give me a magical education even if I couldn’t personally pull off the spells and enchantments we were working with. That was okay. I knew that over time, I’d learn more and more, and maybe I’d even discover how to use my ability to see peoples’ energy and their emotions for good. It wasn’t exactly a magical power, but I figured that if I focused on honing it and developing it that somewhere along the line I’d be able to figure things out.

  Somehow, I’d be able to make things work for me.

  A lot had happened since I’d started my journey at Enchanted Academy. I’d
met some mean girls and some brave girls and some wonderful people all around, but the most wonderful person I’d managed to meet was Beast.

  He was my someone.

  At the end of winter break, we went on a walk together. It was the day before school started for the next term, and we were both excited to get back into the swing of school. It wasn’t that we minded being out of the loop, but there was something to be said for having a regular routine and spending time with your friends and just relaxing.

  He took my hand and we wandered down a little path. Enchanted Academy really did have so many beautiful places you could go to spend time. The most wonderful thing, I thought, was that you didn’t have to go far to experience beauty in nature.

  You didn’t have to do too much in order to find places where you could just relax and be yourself.

  When we reached a clearing, Beast turned to me, pulled me close, and kissed me deeply. I sunk into his arms, reveling in his touch. I loved everything that was happening.

  Including him.

  I loved him.

  We’d said those words during the holiday break: those three little words that could send you to the stars. It had felt good and right and perfect, and I was so happy that out of all of the people in the world, he was the one I got to say them to for the very first time.

  He pulled back and smiled. Then he slipped out of his clothing, tossed it all aside, and shifted into his dragon form.

  And damn.

  It really was incredible. Dating a shifter wasn’t how I saw my time at Enchanted Academy turning out, but that’s what had happened. I’d fallen for a guy who could change into a magnificent creature at the drop of a hat.

  I’d fallen for a guy who could turn into something amazing.

  “I’ll never get tired of this,” I said, and I walked over to him. The thing about changing into a dragon was that once he had shifted, Beast couldn’t talk. I didn’t mind. I was more than happy to talk enough for both of us. Instead of worrying or stressing, I just walked over to him and started touching him. I ran my hands over his snout and down his neck. I touched his back and his wings and just looked at how beautiful he was.