Jamie came back around, after having lost the guards, dragging Yvette out of her bush. "They're gone." She said, panting. "Where's Carson?"

"I don't know. I left her before I could tell." 

Jamie's jaw dropped. "You left her?! She's- ugh, never mind! Come on!" Jamie grabbed Yvette's wrist and pulled her along the path, Yvette struggling to keep up. They turned the corner to see the bench where I was sitting just a little while ago. Alison was standing over my unconscious body. 

"Carson!" Yvette shouted. 

"Alison!" Jamie ran forward and started to shake her, but Alison, with a wave of her hand, blasted her back in a wave of red light. Jamie fell back with a thud, smacking her head against the ground. 

"Alison, then? I must find a moment to thank her." Alison, no, The Witch looked up at the clock. "Well, after midnight hits, that is." The Witch looked down at me. 

"Don't touch her!" Yvette was about to run forward, but Jamie stopped her. "Yvette, be careful!" 

The Witch laughed at them, before waving her hand above me. My body disappeared for an instant, before reappearing on the bench, still asleep. My hands were neatly folded on my stomach and my feet just barley dangled off the edge of the bench. The Witch looked me over. She nodded in approval. 

"Yes, this is a particularly good one to fall to the spell. She looks the part of the perfect princess, too."

"Carson is not a princess." Jamie said. 

"Really? Well, according to this story, she is. Carson is the princess, Alison and I are the evil witches, and you two are... what, sidekicks?" She chuckled. "Please, go find her prince charming for me so that I can kill him." She snapped her fingers, as if she expected them to just run off. When they didn't, she raised an eyebrow. "Hm." She sounded disappointed. "Pity." She said. Totally ignoring the two of them, she picked a water lily out of the koi pond and placed it in my hands; sculpting me like some sort of toy. 

"Alison's not a witch, either!" Jamie said. "She- she didn't curse Carson out of malevolence!"

"Then, pray tell, why did she?" The witch asked, still partially ignoring them. 

"Carson... she asked for it." Jamie bit her lip at saying that. Maybe it was a bad idea. The Witch laughed hysterically. 

"Oh, how perfect! The princess, literally ASKING the witch to curse her!" She sighed, letting her laughter fade out. "I guess she wanted to be the beautiful princess, no matter what." The Witch stroked my face with the back of her fingers. Had I been awake, I would have screamed. Alison's body, voice, clothes... not her mind. "Well Princess, I applaud you for your bravery. Going after what you want like this; it was truly brave. But you're not getting the happy ending this time."

Jamie bundled her fists. "It wasn't brave. It was a needless, selfish risk, that she shouldn't have taken." She said. "And if she stays asleep forever, then I don't get to say 'I told you so.'" Jamie let go of Yvette, and jumped forward. She grabbed the palms of The Witch's hands, stopping her from casting a spell, and instead, the power just built up between their hands. 

Yvette ran to my side. "How do I wake her up!?" She shouted. 

Jamie, still struggling against The Witch, grunted out a response. "Find... George... He's Prince Charming!" 

"Where is he?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Jamie screamed and dropped down, letting go of her hands, sending an enormous amount of power into the air, disappearing into the sky. Next stop, space. Jamie reached out to grab her again, but The Witch was having none of it. 

"Enough of this." She snapped her fingers, and Jamie froze in place, a thin red aura around her. Like she was encased in red glass. Not even her eyes moved. Yvette started to crawl backwards. 

"So, prince charming's not here? Some prince charming you got." She chuckled. "No one to protect the princess now." 

That's when it hit her. It didn't have to be prince charming. It just had to be someone who fulfilled true love's kiss. Someone who would protect the princess. Someone who would protect me. Like Yvette. Not the prince, but the knight in shining armor. Ducking The Witch's next freeze spell, she slid up to the bench I was laying on.

The Witch reached out to grab Yvette and stop her, but it was too late. Yvette bent over and kissed the sleeping princess. 

To this day, I wish that it had been a little more romantic. But we were also dealing with an evil witch possessing our friend's body, so I understood the hurry. As soon as it begun, Yvette pulled back. It was a little more than a quick peck, but far from the ideal "true love's kiss."

But it was true love's kiss all the same. And I knew that. I knew that because the first thing I saw when my eyes opened was Yvette standing above me.