The Girl Cried Wolf 12 Her Version Of Delirium

[The following is Ash's interpretation of what happened on the night of her first transformation]

Tonight, I was in the woods with the Prince of the Forest. The fairies were playing a song when he asked me to dance with him, but the music wasn't right so I asked him to wait until it changed. The palace was cold and the deer that drew my carriage ran away because his stomach hurt.

The Prince gave me his tunic to wear because he had chosen me as his betrothed. I was very happy. I had never been chosen before. Then he asked me if I knew my way home so we could tell my parents of our engagement. But I couldn't tell the Prince that my parents were gone. It would have made him very sad, and I did not want to see him sad.

I picked up my garters from where I dropped them: if human things are left in the palace of the Forest Kingdom, the human who leaves them cannot return.

The Prince walked me to the edge of his kingdom. We had to climb over the wall to get to my home, which was on top of a tower. But as soon as we climbed over the wall, he was no longer a Prince, because his Kingdom was beyond the wall. In my Kingdom, he was just a pizza delivery guy, but that's okay, because he was still my friend.

The Pizza Prince walked me back to my tower, but I couldn't take him with me because my parents were dead. So I had to say goodbye to my friend. But I know that when I go back over the wall to the Forest Kingdom, the Prince of the Forest will be there waiting for me. For now, I have to hide his tunic under my bed to preserve the pizza magic until I return.

***

Celia and Isabelle had waited at the cafeteria for 2 hours before they decided to go looking for Ash.

They walked all around the Academy and looked for her at her 3 favorite vending machines: the one that sold "the best instant iced coffee," the one that sold instant spicy seafood noodles, and especially the one that sold international flavors of potato chips.

Ash's phone was in her book bag as Celia earlier found out, so they had no idea where Ash had gone off to.

By the time they got back to their dorm building, Ash had just let herself in and crashed into her bed.

Celia opened the door wearily and turned the lights on.

She nearly fell over when she saw Ash asleep in the bottom bunk.

"Excuse me?!"

They had waited for her for 2 hours and searched the entire school for her for another hour, and she was in the room all this time?!

Celia was livid. She walked up to Ash's bed and got ready to cuss her out. But when she got closer, she heard Ash snoring softly.

"Ugh!" Celia whined, throwing her hands in the air and rolling her eyes up to the ceiling.

She would have to yell at Ash in the morning when she was awake to hear it. In the meantime, she took her phone from her pocket and called Isabelle.

"Hey," Izzy answered with a tired voice.

"Guess what the cat dragged in," fumed Celia.

"What?"

"She's here. In bed. Asleep."

"Excuse me?!"

"Exactly! That's what I said!"

"Well, excuse her, actually!"

"Exactly!"

Both girls sighed into their phones at the same time.

" . . . Oh well, at least she's fine."

" . . . Yeah, she's fine."

"Well, good night, darling."

"Good night, Lady."

***

Alone in his room, Hunter lay awake on his bed. He had his arms above his head while he stared into the ceiling of his dark room. He thought about Boots smiling as she waved goodbye to him. "Goodbye, friend!" she had said.

[Friend, huh?] Hunter thought, weighing the word in his mind.

[Friend . . . ]

He closed his eyes and sighed.

***

A Note On Madness:

"Away with the fairies" is an idiomatic expression which is used to describe someone who is not in touch with reality, whether they're mad (as in crazy), distracted, or in a dreamworld.