"Yeah, that's pretty stupid."

••••••••••••••••••🦋••••••••••••••••••

"WELL,UM—." CHLOE STARTED to stammer, before being cut off by Red. "Not here."

"Meet us after curfew and we'll tell you everything." She said, brown eyes darting around cautiously. "Midnight at our dorm, don't be late."

"This better be good." I muttered to the two before leaving to meet up with the other fairies and Bridget.

•••••••••••••🦋••••••••••••

••••••••🦋••••••••

I WAITED FOR FEY TO FALL asleep, before sneaking out of the dorm.

I carefully avoided any faculty that was on watch and quietly made my way to Red and Chloe's dorm.

After looking around to make sure I was alone, I knocked lightly on the door. A beat passed, before the door swung open, revealing Red.

"Get in." She whispered as to not alert any faculty or snitch-like students. Soundlessly, I slipped into the dorm and greeted Chloe with a smile.

"So? Why are you guys covered in chronomancy residue?" I asked, just as the red haired girl shut the door. "And please leave out any names or specifics for the sake of protecting the timeline."

"We're from the future." Chloe rushed out, making Red give her an incredulous look.

"In the future my mom stages a coup, and her mom resisted." Red explains with a sigh. "My mom is psycho, so she had me pick the punishment for her mom."

"Which of course, she chose execution." Chloe snarked, sending the scarlet haired girl a glare.

"Which I realize that was awful." Red countered, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, she was about to get herself killed, because she was going to try to stab my mom, who was surrounded by guards."

"Yeah, that's pretty stupid." I agree, giving an apologetic shrug to Chloe. "Everyone knows it's smarted to bend the knee and then stab the tyrant later, metaphorically or otherwise."

"And when I tried to stop her dying, I also kickstarted a time machine that my tutor gave me. I thought it would take me back a couple of minutes, not thirty years." Red finished, before asking. "How did you know that we time traveled?"

"All magic has a distinct aura." I explained, with a shrug. "Most fairies can see them, if they're trained enough for it. Time magic has an aura that looks kind of like sand in an hourglass."

"Then why didn't Fey or maleficent recognize the aura?" Chloe asked curiously.

"Fey was raised in this realm by humans, she didn't learn she was a fairy until she was eleven." I explained simply. "Maleficent was raised by goblins in a more isolated part of the fae realm. She was an orphaned fairy child that was left in some ruins outside of the enchanted forest."

"And you know all this how?" Red asked skeptically.

"Fey is my roommate and Maleficent and I used to be friends when we were little." I stated simply, before continuing. "After she met Uliana and her gang, she started getting spiteful and pulling really cruel pranks."

"Definitely didn't see that friendship coming." Chloe said in a partially confused tone.

"She mostly just ignores me now, unless Uliana wants to try my patience." I chuckled sadly, thinking back on when my childhood friend started to change for the worse.

"Do you think you can help us stop whatever prank is going to be pulled on my mom that turns her into... well, my mom." Red asked, almost hopefully.

"Sure, but again no specifics." I reminded them. "Now let's form a plan."

•••••••••••••••🦋•••••••••••••••

AFTER FORMULATING A SEMI-decent plan, I bid the time travelers goodnight and left the dorm. As I turned a corner, I literally bumped into a very familiar pirate.

"Well, look what pretty little fairy decided to break curfew!" Hook stated with a smirk.

"You're out here too, Hook. If I'm going down you're going down with me." I snapped in an aggravated whisper.

"Oh I would happily go down for you, Tinkerbell." He chuckled suggestively.

I rolled my eyes and pushed past the pirate, making my way back to my dorm.

"I have a question for you, beautiful."

I sighed in frustration knowing full well that Hook was following me. "And what would that be, Hook?"

"Will you go to Castlecoming with me?" His words brought me to a halt, surprise and suspicion filling my bones.

"I don't know what kind of joke you're pulling, but I want no part of it." I groaned not believing his act for a second.

"No joke, Tinkerbell. I want to take you to Castlecoming." He insisted, no trace of deceit in his voice.

Knowing that this was probably a trick, I decided to use this to my advantage. Dating Hook meant that I could keep an eye on his posse and figure out what they had planned for Bridget.

"Pick me up at seven." I smirked, before quickly turning around and entering my dorm.

Let's hope this doesn't backfire on me.