Page 22 of Switched

FROM: Hayley Holliway (Port Enchantasia Docks)

TO: Gillian Cobbler (Fairy Tale Reform School)

Gilly,

Tried to swim into the Fairy Tale Reform School lake to get a message to you faster, but the entrance is magically blocked. I had to resort to these Pegasus Posts. I had to pay to send you one! Fishy, if you ask me.

After I returned from FTRS, we took a family swim trip to the North Star Sea. Stiltskin was there on a ship with a whole crew of kids! I was scared he’d spot me, so I hid behind rocks. I watched them cast nets for hours. They came back day after day. They were looking for something, but their nets kept coming up empty.

One night, I swam up to their boat to try to get some intel. I peeked through a porthole and saw Stiltskin in there with his crew. He angrily ripped a map to pieces, saying everyone wasn’t searching hard enough for some book. The kids claimed they’d searched land and sea, but couldn’t find the book or the music that he sought. (Music under the sea? Everyone knows you can’t hear a mermaid sing unless you have Shell Service.) Stiltskin finally said it was time to “go back to base.” Then he threw what looked like beans on the floor. They looked like the ones we found in his office!

I’m not sure what he’s up to, Gilly, but be careful. Whatever he has planned for Enchantasia, it isn’t over yet.

—Hayley

CHAPTER 7

You Don’t Know Jack

“Look what I got!” Jocelyn waves a scroll in the air as she approaches our table in the cafeteria. I can see the sparkling A from here. “Top marks from Prince Sebastian on my ‘Mirror, Mirror’ assignment. What did you get, Gilly?” She sits down and stares at me with glee.

She knows what I got. A big, fat F that glows like a bright-red, flaming letter! It’s impossible to hide the grade when it shoots flames. I hold up the scroll since Jocelyn is waiting expectantly, and Jax, Ollie, and Kayla lean over Maxine to see it.

Around us, elves are clearing plates, spraying down messy tables with ELF cleaning spray, and trying to usher us out the door so the wood sprites can do the rest of the cleanup before dinner. In the kitchen, I can hear the cooks washing dishes. A large pot from a kitchen supply closet behind me floats over my head and into the kitchen area.

“What does it say in that tiny print?” Jocelyn asks innocently. “I can’t read it. Mine says ‘Great sense of self at such a young age. Continue to dig deep! Well done!’”

I sigh and begin to read the flaming note: “‘Failure to follow instructions and resistance to accept oneself leads to poor marks. Try harder.’”

Jocelyn laughs wickedly.

“Jocelyn, stop being so mean,” Maxine tells her, a piece of spinach from the salad she had at lunch still caught between her teeth. She eyes the half of a brownie on Jocelyn’s plate. “Are you going to eat that?” Jocelyn forks it over before an elf takes her plate.

“It’s not fair,” I complain. “This whole class was my idea, and the prince is out to get me. I don’t deserve an F, do I?”

Jax reads over my scroll again and grimaces. “You only wrote two sentences, and one was ‘I have no clue what you want me to write.’ Why would he give you a better grade when you didn’t do any work?”

“Whose side are you on?” I grumble. “I’ve had a lot on my mind, okay? First, I got that Pegasus Post from Mother and then one from Hayley this morning.” I quickly fill them in.

“What would he be looking for in the North Star Sea?” Kayla asks as she spears a forkful of lettuce. “He already has beans.”

“Aye,” Ollie says. “But the sea holds many treasures. Who knows what someone might have buried under the ocean. What’s this book he’s talking about?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “If it’s a book he’s after, you’d think it’d be in our new library. There are thousands. Not that I can get my hands on the ones I want.”

“No one is going to hand you a Stiltskin book,” Jocelyn reminds me. “You have to be stealthy if you want one of those.”

Quack!

Peaches picks her head up from under the table like she’s an alarm.

Quack! Quack!

Jack is wandering around the cafeteria, his lunch tray hovering alongside him as he looks for a seat. No one is waving him over. A troll spreads out across the bench he’s on so there is no room for anyone else to sit. I decide to take pity on him.

“Jack! Come sit with us.” I wave.

Jax groans.