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Ella kept looking at the clock.
She tried to focus on Professor Merlin’s assigned reading on Magicalnomics, but found it difficult. She’d read a sentence or two, only to not retain a word, glancing at the numbered face slowly ticking away the minutes instead. It wasn’t like Bridget to not show up for a planned meeting. Sure, she wasn’t the most punctual Princess in the world, but she always showed up eventually, usually with something sweet as an apology.
But then…her best friend had been acting strangely the past few days, and Ella wasn’t sure why.
She knew Bridget was recovering from some sort of flu; one that had her out of class for a few days. Ella had agreed to give her space and had only spoken to her through the door of her room (Bridget was afraid of being contagious). Still, the Princess of Hearts promised she’d come down to study today, as she was feeling a bit stronger and said she’d be able to manage. So far, that hadn’t been true. It had been nearly twenty minutes with no Bridget, and Ella was starting to get worried. She wasn’t mad that her best friend didn’t show, because that wasn’t like her. She was concerned that this sickness, whatever it was, was far worse than Bridget claimed.
Huffing in frustration, Ella slammed her textbook shut. She wasn’t getting any work done until she got to the bottom of this. Swiping her things into her bookbag, she was just getting up to find Bridget herself when rapid footsteps approached the classroom. Expecting a head of pink hair to come flying in, breathless with apologies or explanations, Fay nearly falling over as she skidded into the doorway wasn’t what Ella was expecting. “Fay?” Tilting her head, Ella arched a brow. Her fairy friend was red in the cheeks from exertion, gray eyes uncommonly massive in surprise. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“You…need…to come…now,” Fay gasped, throwing out an arm to point down the hall. “Uliana…she—she…”
“Ugh! What did that witch do now?” Ella understood now why Bridget was probably delayed. No doubt the villains had managed to corner her somewhere. Uliana and her miscreants seemingly had nothing better to do than pick on people.
“No! No, Ella. You…you need to save…Uliana,” Fay puffed, hurrying into the room and taking Ella’s arm, giving it an urgent tug. Confused, she scrunched up her face and dug her heels in.
“No way! I don’t like Uliana. Why would I do anything to help her?”
“Bridget’s going to kill her!” Fay barked, her voice cracking. “You need to come right now!”
That got Ella’s attention. Leaving her bag by the classroom door, she ran after Fay, who was surprisingly light on her feet when she wanted to be. Crashing through a door and into the quad, a crowd had gathered, whispering and muttering amongst themselves, looking a mix of terrified, shocked, and jeering. Ella could hear Uliana screaming from somewhere in the mess—not a frustrated screaming either, but a terrified one. Having never heard such a sound from the sea witch’s throat, Fay guided her through the throng of students.
What she saw stopped her dead.
Uliana was on the ground, her tentacles wrapped around Bridget who straddled her chest. The Princess of Hearts was almost unrecognizable, her usually sweet colored hair now a viciously dark, bloody red. Her skin was a horrible rashy pink under her clothes. On the cobble was a fallen cake of some kind, perhaps an apology for being late. But it was ruined, splattered across the stones in globby, sugary piles. Bridget herself had the cake server clasped between her fists, eyes manic and dark, her face pulled into an expression Ella had never seen on her friend.
Hate. Pure hate.
Bridget was going straight for the neck, the serrated edge of her utensil only a hair’s length away from cutting into flesh. Uliana shrieked for someone to do something, seemingly unable to throw Bridget off, but not a soul moved. No one stepped in as Bridget growled–actually growled–through her teeth, jerking her body to try and slice the bully’s neck open, only to be barely stopped by tentacles.
“Let me kill you!” She hissed, her tone unsettled, causing Ella to shiver. “I want your insides painting this courtyard. I want your head in my hand before the day is up.”
“Y—you’re crazy!” Uliana screamed, wincing as she struggled to hold Bridget’s arms back. “Get off me!”
“Stop struggling! Off with your head!”
“Ella,” Fay begged, tugging at her sleeve, breaking her shock. “Do something!”
Ella didn’t know what she could do. Bridget had always been kind; soft spoken and sweet as sugar. Sure, Uliana was a bully, but the worst thing to ever come of it was tears or humiliation. Going from that to murder was extreme and so unlike her best friend. Still, despite what Uliana had done, Ella knew letting Bridget kill her wasn’t an option. Swallowing hard, she darted across the quad. Bravely, Ella grabbed onto Bridget from behind, giving her a solid yank backwards and catching her off balance.
“Bridget! B, enough!”
“Get off me, useless peasant!” Bridget snapped in response, causing hurt to flash in Ella’s chest. She’d never been called that before. “Let me kill this creature.”
“No!” Lugging her best friend off Uliana, the bully scrambled in a tangle of limbs into the crowd, practically crawling away in fear of what nearly happened. “Bridget, this isn’t you! Snap out of it!”
“You lost me my chance! How dare you!” Bridget flung herself out of Ella’s arms, pivoting to her feet so they were face to face. The crazed look in her friend’s eyes was obvious, the normally sweet depths tinted a cruel red, the irises dilated down into pinpricks. There was obviously something very wrong, and Ella couldn’t help but wonder if it had to do with the mysterious sickness Bridget caught. It must’ve been some sort of potion of spell making her act this way. This wasn’t her best friend.
“Bridget! Listen to me. Something’s wrong…”
“What do you know about me, you weak little nobody!” Bridget snarled, huffing and puffing as she wielded her weapon like a dagger. She lunged without hesitation, forcing Ella to jerk backwards to avoid getting cut. Bridget was attacking her. Actually attacking her. “What do you know about anything!”
“Bridget, stop it! It’s me!”
“I go through life every day trying to be good, sweet, and kind. But there’s so much I want to do to others, so much I could do.” Bridget took another swipe, causing Ella to stumble as she landed on the ground. Her heart raced and her eyes burned as Bridget kicked her down with a foot, forcing her back first onto the cobblestone with a pained grunt. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair!” Bridget screeched, her red hair falling into her face like a curtain. She sat on top of Ella’s chest with a huff, pinning her down with both knees and raising her weapon to end it all. Not knowing what else to do or how to stop this madness, Ella lunged up off the ground in one final effort. She could’ve struck Bridget back; used her hands to force her backwards; to catch her off balance. She could’ve done any number of things, but found it easiest to wrap her arms around her best friend in a very awkward hug. Desperate and clueless, Ella clung to Bridget as tight as she could manage, clawing at the pink fabric of her dress, squeezing her eyes shut in preparation to be attacked.
But nothing came.
Bridget’s breaths came in hiccupping gasps, her entire body stiff and feverish against Ella’s palms. There was a metallic clatter as the cake serving tool fell from her hand. Cracking one eye open to see what had happened, Bridget’s face had lost its crazed expression, staring ahead at nothing in particular instead. She looked dangerously pale all of a sudden. Her form trembled; hands still outstretched as though frozen in place. Swallowing hard, Ella gave her a squeeze.
“Bridget?”
Bridget tilted her head slightly to look down at her, shimmering wetness gathered at the corners of her eyes. The red tint to her eyes was gone, back to its usually sweet chocolate brown. Her mouth opened and closed, but no words came. The silence was deafening, both girls completely paralyzed with fear. From the crowd there was a bright flash as something golden struck Bridget’s back from behind. She gasped suddenly and slumped over, collapsing to the ground in a limp heap as her eyes rolled back fluttered shut.
“Bridget!” Pulling herself out from under her friend's legs, Ella grabbed the girl's face, furrowing her brow at how hot she was to the touch. The rash up the back of her neck was in the pattern of a million tiny hearts, the welts scratched by nails and painful looking. A few had split and were bleeding, while others had exploded into patches of discomfort. Something was clearly very wrong with her best friend.
“Ella! Child, are you hurt?” Glancing up to look at Professor Merlin, the man seemed uncommonly lucid. His eyes shined under his half-moon glasses as he took them both in, a frown pulling at the corners of his beard. “Speak, girl.”
“N–no, professor. But Bridget’s been…she’s been spelled or–or has some sort of magical illness. There’s something wrong. She’s been acting weird for days.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of this, child, don’t you worry,” the man urged, turning and waving his hands. “Everyone else disperse, or it’s detention for all of you!”
The crowd murmured but began to shuffle back inside, two nurses from the infirmary appearing from a side door with a cloth stretcher. Feeling tears in her eyes, Ella hiccupped as she held Bridget’s cheeks, caressing them with her thumbs. It surprised her when her lashes parted slightly, hazy and confused.
“...El…” her lips barely made the sound, through her brows furrowed as she inhaled with a pained gasp. “I…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“You’re sick, B,” Ella whispered back, leaning in close so Bridget didn’t have to work as hard to speak. “Something’s wrong. Why didn’t you come to me? I could’ve helped you.”
“C–couldn’t. I–I…didn’t want to…hurt you. I didn’t mean–mean any of it.” Tears escaped from Bridget’s eyes, catching the edges of Ella’s thumbs. They stung her skin like acid, the liquid faintly pink as she pursed her lips to keep from pulling away. “El…there’s something…inside me. It’s madness. Like–like the hatred…of the whole world.” Bridget hissed as her body trembled, bony fingers curling against her chest, digging into her rashy skin. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”
“Shh, it’s ok. You don’t have to explain to me,” Ella insisted, though a million questions floated in her mind. “I’ll be there when you wake up, ok? Just close your eyes.”
Bridget shuddered a breath; one that barely seemed to come as her lashes closed and her head went limp on Ella’s hand. Her own tears burned in her chest as the girl was placed onto the stretcher and carried off, vanishing from sight. Staring after her, Ella glanced up from her place on the ground as Merlin touched her shoulder.
“Come child, I have warm tea and mints in my office,” he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his crooked nose. “I have some questions about this incident which I need to ask you.”