‘I’ve never done drugs in my life ,but I must be trippin’ on something’ thought Skye as she floated in….actually, she didn’t really know where she was floating.

The best way she could describe where she was was that it was like space. Somehow the place seemed to be so dark and so bright at the same time. She was surrounded by a black void ,but in the distance she could see stars adding all the colors in the visual spectrum to her environment.¹ Skye couldn’t deny that the place was beautiful ,but a few seconds ago she had been in the library.

“Wha- what is this?” said a voice to Skye’s right.

Skye turned to her right. She wobbled a bit when she realized that she was floating and not standing ,but she managed to turn her body.

“Of all the people…..” she murmured to herself as she watched Finn Hayashi look around in wonder.

With how distracted the boy was, he hadn’t even noticed his arch enemy floating a few meters away from him.

Skye was about to say something when she heard a voice.

“Welcome,” said the honeyed voice.

Skye and Finn turned toward the voice in surprise. Before them stood a tall figure gazing upon the two teens. Skye’s jaw dropped. The person before them was magnificent to look at. They had waist-length, silvery white hair pulled into a loose braid that floated behind them. Their skin was as pale as moonlight and their eyes were like amethysts with long lashes above them. Violet robes were bellowing  around the figure and gold necklaces adorned it’s neck. A red gem sat on their forehead.²

As Skye gazed upon the figure, she tried futilely to determine whether it was a man or a woman, but the robes covered any details that would clearly reveal gender. The face was no help either as the person had androgynous features.

“What? No hello? I would think that my new toys would have some manners,” the man or woman said.

Skye frowned,” What do you mean by ‘toys’?”

“Ah, ah, ah. That’s not how you greet someone…..” said the figure, wagging their finger.

Skye pierced her lips.

To her right, Finn spoke. “I apologize for the rudeness. Hello. May I ask you where we are and who you are?”

“That’s much better. I am the Wizard Reese and you are in my domain.”

‘Wow, your name doesn’t tell us what gender you are either’ thought Skye.

“Nice place you have here” said Finn,”but why are we here and how did we get here?”

“That’s a good question Finn. I have been watching you two. You see, I’ve been quite bored lately; it’s not very fun floating here alone, so I’ve decided that you two will be my new toys!” said the Wizard with a clap of his hands.

“Wait a minute, what do you mean by toys?!” questioned Skye

“When I say toys, I mean that you two will entertain me. I’ve been having a terrible craving for a fairy tale lately, so I’ve decided that you two will be my protagonists for five of them.”

“……What?” said Skye skeptically.

“You heard me. Hm, but maybe I should make the stories even more interesting….” the Wizard snapped his fingers. “That’s it! They’ll be deadly! As my protagonists, I challenge you to survive. It wouldn’t be interesting if nothing was at stake for you guys. Why not make what’s at stake be your lives?”³

“Wait a second, hold up!”

“Too late, it’s been decided. Tomorrow, I expect you two to give me your best performance. Goodbye!”

“Wait, no!” shouted Skye before the world around her exploded in white light.

When Skye blinked she was back in the library. She was still standing in the same position as before.

‘Wha-what happened?’ She thought as she looked around. ‘I’m still in the library…..Did that really happen…?I must have spaced out or something….’

She glanced at the book in her hand and looked back up at the where she had pulled it. Through the slot she could see through to the other side.

‘Wasn’t there someone on the other side of this…?’⁴

She slowly took a few steps toward the end of the isle. When she reached its end, she slowly peaked around the bookshelf. She was met with a pair of bespectacled dark brown eyes.

Skye leaped back in surprise. Finn had backed up a bit ,but had quickly recovered from his own surprise. “Did…..you meet Reese as well?” he asked hesitantly.

Skye’s eyes widened for a split second and her body stiffened. ‘No way in hell did all of that really happen! No way!’

“What are you talking about, Hayashi?” replied Skye haughtily. She tried her best to hide her knowledge of what had happened; she just couldn’t accept what had happened.

Even though she tried to hide her surprise at his question, Finn had already seen her eyes widen in recognition.

“You did….” he said quietly. He took a step toward Skye.

Skye took a step back, she wasn’t particularly threatened by Finn, the guy was four inches shorter than her and she was a good deal stronger than him. She could probably beat him up if it suited her, but everything in her wanted what had happened to be a figment of her imagination.

Finn leaned forward and whispered quietly. “You saw it too.”

‘No. Stuff like that doesn’t happen in real life’ she insisted inside of her head. A sneer came upon her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about ,dweeb” she said, her tone full of malice.

She turned on her heels and walked away from the boy. She had to get out of there quickly. Meeting a wizard while floating in space was impossible in real life. Skye would have been fine to brush it off as a daydream ,but the point that Finn saw it too…..

“Wait!” called out Finn behind her.

‘That was not real, that was not real….’ Thought Skye fervently as she the books she had in her bag on a table and sprinted towards the girls’ bathroom.

She made it just in time too, Finn had caught up with her pretty quickly. She had just managed to slip into the restroom before he could grab ahold of her shoulder. 

Skye took a few deep breaths as she looked around the room. Her eyes fell on the open window on the other side of the bathroom that conveniently led to the back of the library.

‘Good. I have a way of escape. No doubt if I leave here through the door he’ll be waiting for me.’

Skye walked over to the sinks and turned on one of the faucets. As she cupped water in her hands glanced up at her reflection in the mirror.

‘Come on ,Skye. It’s time to get a grip back on reality.’

She nodded her head determinedly before splashing the cold water on her face.

She dried off her face and with a confident smile, grabbed her bag and strutted over to the window. She then lifted the mesh and climbed out onto the street. She quickly ran around the side of the library, and untied Diana from the post. Despite her urgency to get out of the area, when she returned to the dog, she noticed that the German shepherd was drinking out of a paper bowl in front of it.

‘Who gave you- Never mind, we’ve got to go!’ thought Skye as she pulled the dog away from the library and out of sight of its main doors.

—————————

Finn looked around the schoolyard anxiously under the shade of a maple tree. His eyes scanned over the crowds of kids awaiting the school bell to ring.

“Where is she…?” he murmured as he tapped his foot impatiently.

She had spoken to the Wizardess⁵ as well, Finn knew it. By the way Skye had reacted to his questioning yesterday, she had seen the Wizard Reese as well. That meant that what had happened was real. He hadn’t been daydreaming, nor was he going insane. The meeting with the Wizardess had been real.

Finn’s heart pounded in excitement. He hadn’t gotten his letter to Hogwarts, he probably wasn’t a demigod⁶, he was far from being the Chosen One ,but perhaps he wasn’t destined to be hopelessly average after all.⁷ He was finally getting the adventure he had always wanted!

There was only one downside to this: He’d have to play deuteragonist with Skye.

His excitement subsided at the thought of Skye.

‘Ugh. Of all people why did it have to be her? If it was anyone else I’d learn to deal with it but having to deal with her……’ he groaned eternally. Working with Skye was going to make things a lot less fun for him.

Finn sighed and stared up at the maple leaves above him.

‘Perhaps I should be more frightened to be forced to be apart of Reese’s game; she did say that we could possibly die during the stories……Nah, I shouldn’t worry. If we’re going to be the protagonists of the stories, we’re probably not going to die. Plot armor after all.’⁸

Finn turned his attention back to the throng of high schoolers. As he scanned the crowd, his eyes finally fell on a head of curly brown hair and a red scarf tied around it. Skye Daniels strode through the school courtyard towards the building with her twin sisters in tow.

‘There she is!’ thought Finn as he picked up his backpack and weaved through groups of kids towards Skye. “Skye!” he shouted as he drew near.

Skye looked up to see who was calling her, but when she saw Finn coming her way she broke into a sprint towards the doors.

‘Oh no you don’t!’ Thought Finn as he picked up speed to catch up with Skye. Skye was fast ,but this time, he wasn’t going to letter her get away. Finn maneuvered agilely around the high schoolers in the courtyard. Within seconds, he was right behind Skye, who had had a lot more trouble than him getting through the crowd. Just before she could run up the stairs and into the building, Finn grabbed her wrist.

Skye whipped around with Finn’s hand still around her wrist.

“Let go of my wrist ,Hayashi,” she said, her voice dripping with venom.

“Skye, you saw the Wizard too, we have to form a strategy.”

Skye yanked her wrist out of his hand. “I didn’t see a wizard. Maybe if you weren’t always daydreaming about your fantasy lands you wouldn’t be seeing wizards.”

She made an attempt to walk away ,but Finn blocked her way.

“Skye, as much as I don’t like it myself, we both saw an old guy with a long beard talking to us in his magic lab!” said Finn.

Skye gave him a perplexed look. “Old guy….He wasn’t-” murmured to herself before shutting her mouth. But it was too late, Finn had already heard her.

“I knew it! You did meet the Wizard Reese!” he said with satisfaction. “Now we have to come up with a strategy. We have no idea when the stories will star-“

“I already told you! Meeting a wizard does not happen in real life! You need to get your head out of the clouds and leave me the hell alone!” shouted Skye.

Finn glowered at Skye. “Tch, this is why I hate people like you. If something doesn’t fit into what you believe reality allows you reject and say it doesn’t exist. You don’t even think of it as a possibility even when it’s right in front of your face!”⁹

“It’s not “right in front of my face” if it doesn’t exist! A loser like you won’t get anywhere in life if you can’t separate what’s real from your own fantasies!” shouted back Skye.

“You say that but, you saw Reese just like I did yet you’re still denying it!”

“I’m denying it because it’s not-“

Skye felt someone grab the back of her collar and pull her back. A long haired brunette stepped in front of her obscuring her view of Finn. Her step sister Amy had stepped in between the two arguing teens. Skye twisted around her neck to see that it was her other step sister, Addy that was dragging her back.

“Listen Hayashi,” said Amy with her hands on her hips,” I know you and my sister don’t get along very well, and that this is not the first time you guys have caused a scene, but honestly, in the courtyard before school when everyone can witness it?” she said shaking her head in disappointment.

Skye and Finn looked around them and realized that all eyes were on them. Their shouting had drawn a lot of attention to them. Both of them simultaneously blushed in embarrassment.

“Exactly,” continued Amy. “Usually we would eat this stuff up, but since our sister is involved we’ve decided not to stand back and watch the show. I declare this argument, whatever it was about, to be over.”¹⁰

Amy turned on her heel and hooked her arm with Skye. Addy followed her lead and together they dragged the embarrassed Skye into the school building.

Finn watched as Skye was taken away before he pulled up the hood of his jacket and lowered his head, he could still feel the stares of the other students. He started towards the building just as the bell rung.

————————

The rest of the day was very uncomfortable for Skye and Finn. All throughout the day, acquaintances and friends of Skye would ask her for details about the argument. After her stepsisters had dragged her away from Finn, they had asked about it as well, but Skye simply told them that Finn needed to get his head out of a choice area and because of that, they began arguing.

Since Finn didn’t really have friends, he wasn’t confronted about the public argument, but whenever he walked pass anyone in the hallway he could hear them whispering about what had happened. He wasn’t allowed to put his hoodie on ,but he tried his best to ignore them.

It really didn’t help that besides English, Finn and Skye had three classes together. In each class it was like their classmates were just waiting for another fight to break out whenever either of them walked in. Their teachers had noticed the change in atmosphere ,but since their argument hadn’t gone to blows, none of the teachers had caught wind of it quite yet. Skye and Finn tried their best to avoid each other to keep from making another scene.

When school was finally over, it was quite the relief for Finn to finally be out of the building. He took his red hoodie out of his bag and put his arm through its sleeves. After the day he had, he was glad to be going home.

He was back at his house within ten minutes. When he stepped into the kitchen, he was surprised to see his mother, Christina, was in the kitchen with a frilly apron on.

“Konnichiwa Kaasan,” said Finn as he put his bag on the ground and greeted him mom with a hug.¹¹

“Hello, Finn. How was your day?” she said, hugging him back.

“It was….” Finn stopped himself from finishing his statement. Impulse told him to say it was good ,but knowing what had actually happened that day, she would know how his day really went by tomorrow.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” he said, pulling away from her.

Christina stiffened and took Finn’s face in her hand and examined his face.

“Kaasan, I didn’t get beat up again.”

“Are you sure?’ she asked, rubbing her thumb on his cheek.

It was the truth, there were no bruises or scratches on his face.

His mother sighed and let go of his face. Finn couldn’t really blame her for being worried. It would’ve not been the first time he came home with bruises somewhere on his body. Last time it happened, he could’ve sworn his mom was going to kill someone.

“Anyway, before you settle down can I ask you to run an errand for me?”

“Sure.”

“Good, can you take this basket to your grandmother’s house. She let me borrow some dishes and utensils last time we were there and I need to return them. There’s also some fresh baked bread in it as thanks.”

“Okay,” said Finn, picking up the basket. “I’ll be back before dinner.”

“Zip up. It’s a bit chilly outside.”

“It’s 60 degrees….”

“That doesn’t change my statement,” she replied in a sing-song voice.

“Okay,” he said as he pulled his hood over his head.

He exited his house and made his way down the road. He began to pull up the zipper of his hoodie with the basket hanging on his arm. With the hoodie zipped all the way, he took a moment to appreciate his precious gift from his grandmother.

You know how most people hate clothes that they get from their grandmothers? ¹²Well Finn was the opposite. He cherished every gift his grandmother got him and a lot of the gifts she gave him were homemade, but there was always one gift that he got every few years that he always loved.

Every few years since he was a baby, his grandmother would make him a new red hoodie. Look at just about any picture from his childhood and Finn would usually be wearing a red hoodie. Every time he put on the hoodie, he could feel his grandmother’s love. His mother would make his hoodies by hand. His grandmother may have been a herbalist ,but she could have been a very successful tailor if she had wanted to. He knew it was a sappy sentiment ,but he just friggin loved that hoodie.

He stepped off of the concrete sidewalk and onto the trail that lead into the forest. Finn had spent many days exploring the forest. When he was younger he was often accompanied by his sister ,but when she started going to the college in town, his visits became more solitary. Just a few steps into the forest and he already felt in his element. He breathed in the fresh forest air and looked at the familiar surroundings as he proceeded.

Though many of the townspeople often visited the forest to hike or camp, Finn liked to think that few people knew it as well as his family did. In the years he had wandered the forest he had learned the name of every animal, plant, and fungus that resided in it. The forest was like a second home to him. It was a place of refuge that had been there for him when human beings had failed.

With a content smile, he continued his journey deeper into the forest. However, unbeknownst to him, he was being followed.
————————-

Skye gave a sigh of relief. She was so glad that the day was over. After the day she had, she didn’t feel like doing anything.She had never been so happy that she hadn’t joined any clubs or had any tutoring. She just wanted to go home.

‘Oh, I have to walk Diana first’ thought Skye as she made her way out of the school building. ‘Maybe I’ll make our route shorter today…’

As Skye walked through the school courtyard she just narrowly avoided being knocked to the ground by one of the football players.

“Watch where you’re going” said Skye grumpily as she stepped out of the older boy’s way.

“Sorry,” he said with a football in his hand.

Skye looked at the boys playing football. There were two of them, both seniors. If Skye remembered it correctly their names were Owen and Caleb.

‘Aren’t they Bruce’s friends? Last time I checked, those three were pretty much inseparable,’ thought Skye.

“Where’s Bruce? Isn’t he usually with you guys?” asked Skye. It wasn’t her business nor did she really care where he was ,but something compelled her to ask.

“Oh, are you looking for him?” asked Owen, the one who had nearly knocked her over.

“Not really, I’m just asking,” she replied nonchalantly.

“He went home as soon as the bell rung,” said Caleb.

“Okay, thanks,” she said as she walked away.

Amy and Addy had drama and design club respectively so Skye was walking home alone. As  Skye walked the two blocks to her house, she couldn’t help but feel that someone was watching her. The feeling was not unfamiliar to her, she had felt it the previous day when walking.¹³ She looked around. There were other kids walking home around her, but none of them seemed to be focused on her.

‘Weird…’ she thought.

Skye then brushed off the feeling and continued her walk home. When she got there, grabbed a snack before leaving the house with Diana on a leash and her archery equipment on her back. Though her initial plan had been to take a nap after walking Diana, Skye felt that she should at leave get some practice in before she KO’d.

Instead of taking their usual route, Skye took a route that was closer to the woods on the west side of town. Though she didn’t know the whole forest like the back of her hand, she had her own little section of the woods that she was very familiar with. This area was where she often practiced with her bow and arrows. With its targets hidden cleverly amongst the foliage, it was always a challenge for Skye to find the targets and aim her bow perfectly to shoot them right in their center.¹⁴

As she strolled through the familiar forest, she stopped every once in awhile to shoot an arrow at the hidden targets and to retrieve them from where they were stuck. After a few shots she decided to take a break and sat underneath the trees, gently stroking the fur on Diana’s back.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”

Skye jumped a bit at the sound of the scream. Diana began barking loudly and pulling at her collar.

“What was that?” questioned Skye as she got up from the ground. Diana continued to pull on her leash towards where the scream had presumably come from.

“Is someone in trouble? We should probably head back and get h-“

Just as she readied to head back into town to get help, Diana gave a mighty yank on her leash, ripping it from Skye’s hand. Before the girl could stop the dog, it sprinted off into the forest.

“Diana!” she shouted as she began to run in pursuit of her pet. The dog leaped over the roots of the trees before her and dodged in and out of the underbrush. Skye didn’t know how ,but she was somehow able to keep the dog in sights .

“Diana! Stop! Sit! Heel!” she continued to shout as she tried futilely to get the dog to stop. The two had run several yards away from the training ground the dog broke through the trees and entered a clearing. In the center of the large clearing stood a small cottage. As Skye herself broke through the foliage, all she saw of her dog was its tail as it moved around the side of the building, still barking loudly. Breathing heavily, Skye ran around to the front of the cottage to see that the door had been left ajar.

“Oh no, Diana….” said Skye in exasperation as she stood before the open door. She was surprised however by the loud noises coming from inside the house. There was the sound of growling as well as the sound of objects being knocked over. Such behaviors were out of the ordinary for her.

‘I have a bad feeling about this…..’ though Skye as she strung an arrow onto her bow and slowly creeped closer to the house.

She pushed the door open wider and stepped into the house. The first room she had entered was the kitchen. Had she not been more than a bit scared, she would have called it cozy. Just by looking at it she could tell everything in it had been well used. In addition to that, the room seemed to be well cared for and smelled like cinnamon and vanilla. It reminded Skye a bit about her grandmother’s house.

It had occurred to Skye to be cautious in the house, even in the cozy kitchen, but deeper inside the house, a loud crash was heard, as well as the sound of snarling.

Swallowing the fear welling up inside her, Skye sprinted out of the kitchen towards where she heard the noise. When she flung open the door, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

———————-

For the first time in his life, instead of feeling at ease in the forest, Finn began to feel apprehensive as he walked on the familiar forest path. He had walked the path many times and had never felt in danger walking it alone, but today was different. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up and he could not shake the feeling that he was being watched.

Behind him, Finn heard something moving in the underbrush. He whipped around………..only to see a squirrel eating an acorn. The squirrel looked up at him and he looked back the squirrel. The squirrel stuffed the nut in its mouth before running away.

“Oh,” he said, with a sigh. “Maybe I’m just being paranoid….”

He shouldered the basket and continued onto the path to his grandmother’s house. Unbeknownst to him, a figure observed him from a distance before running through the underbrush ahead of him.

Gradually, the trees on either side of the path began to thin until he entered a large clearing. He was greeted by a small cottage with two sakura trees standing in front of it further into the clearing stood a greenhouse for the plants that his grandmother used for her remedies and her workshop right next to it.

Finn walked up to one of the sakura trees and looked up at its leaves. Currently, it’s leaves were losing their green color and had begun to fall off. Finn couldn’t wait till the spring when the blossoms would bloom and summer when his grandmother would invite his family over to pick the cherries. The trees were pretty old, his grandma said that she had planted them herself many years ago when she had come to the town from Japan with Finn’s grandfather and dad. She always had the family over to have their own little Hanami festival.

Finn stepped away from the tree and walked towards the door of the house. He was about to knock on the door when he noticed that it was already open. Finn looked the clearing, nothing was out of the ordinary, but that ominous feeling he had on the path was back again.

‘Something isn’t right…..’ thought Finn as he pushed the door open.

“Soba?”¹⁵ he called out as he stepped into the kitchen. The familiar scent of vanilla and cinnamon filled his nose. Though the light was off, sunlight streamed through the windows making the room bright enough for him to see. He cautiously opened the door to the living room and dining room only to find it empty. From there, Finn entered the hallway. The house had two bedrooms and one bathroom. He heard shuffling coming from his grandmother’s room.

“Soba?” he called, running towards her bedroom door. He pushed it open and stepped inside the room.

He looked at the double bed that his grandmother formerly shared with his grandfather. The light was off and the shades were down, preventing light from coming into the room. Sitting up in the bed was a figure in a night cap, bathrobe, and glasses.

“So….ba?” said Finn cautiously.

“Hello, Finn,” said the figure. “Why don’t you give your grandma a hug?”

The figure opened its arms wide, but stayed where he was at the foot of the bed. Finn grasped the bottom of his hoodie and glanced down at it.

‘Jesus Christ….’ He thought to himself. Even though he felt the dread welling up inside of him, he decided to play along.

He gave the figure a nervous smile. “My, what big arms you have Soba-san…”

“The better to hug you my dear.”

Finn took a step back.

“My, what big legs you have, Soba-san….”

“The better to run with my dear.”

Finn swallowed hard and took another step back.

“My, what big eyes you have, Soba-san….”

“The better to see you my dear.”

Finn reached into the basket and took a third step back. He had read the story, he knew exactly what was going to come next. What he would do next would determine which version of it would play out. He had already thought about running as soon as he saw the figure, but he knew better. If he had tried to avoid confronting it, the situation would have just ended up worse.¹⁶

He felt the handle of the thing he was looking for and grasped it tightly; his next actions would determine whether he lived or died.

“My, what big teeth you have!”

“The better to eat you with my dear!”

And with that, the wolf leaped out of the bed in the direction of Finn. Just as the wolf was over him, he whipped out the frying pan in his basket and slammed it into the wolf’s face with all his might.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” he screamed as the pan met the wolf’s face and Finn’s panic rose to the surface.

The wolf howled in pain and fell to the ground. Finn dropped the now dented frying pan and ran out of the room.

‘Okay, not as badass as I thought it would be in my head, but hey, I’m still alive’ thought Finn as he ran. He barely made it out of the room when he heard the wolf coming in pursuit of him. He ran down the hallway and into the living room. He entered the room and slammed the door shut. He heard the wolf slam into the door, but he knew that with another blow like that the door would be broken down. Finn quickly looked around the room for something he could fight with. He was fast, but he knew he couldn’t outrun the wolf. He looked at the empty fireplace and was glad to see its poker leaned against its bricks. Finn hurried to pick it up and turned to face the door just as the wolf broke it down.

Finn attempted to catch the wolf by surprise by charging it with the pointy end of the poker aimed at its eye ,but the wolf dodged to the side and it was only by pure luck that Finn was able to use the poker to push the wolf away from him.

Finn was on the ground now and the only thing that keeping the wolf from killing him was the poker that Finn held sideways inside the beast’s mouth.¹⁷

Slowly, before Finn’s eyes the wolf began to morph into a more humanoid shape. It still retained its fur and dog-like face.

‘Oh, it’s a werewolf……THAT REALLY DOESN’T MAKE THIS SITUATION ANY BETTER!’ he shouted inside of his head as he tried desperately to keep the werewolf’s jaws away from his face. He watched as the monster lifted its muscular arms and ready itself to penetrate his chest with its claws.

‘Just great ,Finn. You finally get the thrill that you always wanted in life and you die. Just great.’

He closed his eyes, ready to feel the pain and then the cold grip of death.

‘Well, looks like Little Red Riding Hood really is going to be eaten by the wolf.’

Finn felt the werewolf’s hot breath come closer to his face and felt its claws tearing through his hoodie when suddenly he heard the wolf yelp and the pressure on his body shifted and he heard the sound of loud barking. Finn opened his eyes to see the wolf kneeling next to him, engaged in a fierce battle with a German Shepherd. Finn stared at the fight stunned for a moment, before scrambling backward on the ground.

“Diana? Diana!” 

Finn looked up to see Skye standing at the door with her bow in her hand. The girl stared in shock at what was going on before her. She watched as Diana continued to role around on the ground with the wolf man’s flesh clenched in her teeth.

“Skye! Use your bow, if you don’t that thing’s going to kill us!” shouted Finn.

Skye gave him a terrified look,  but she still had enough sense to knock an arrow from her quiver and fired at the Werewolf. Though she had aimed for its head, the beast manage to move out of the way, but it’s thigh got pierced instead. It howled in pain.

“Diana, get away from that thing!” she shouted as she set the bow down and from behind the door  picked up a one sided ax. Gathering all her courage and wielding the ax with both hands, she charged toward werewolf determination set on her face.

Finn was left to watch in awe as he finally remembered that there was one more character in the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

The Woodsman.

1. I can definitely describe the setting a lot better now than I did back then.

2. The look I had in mind for the Wizard was a cross between the Wizard from Dandelion- Wishes Brought to You and Ferid from Seraph of the End.

3. Maybe this scene was a bit too quick.

4. I was wrong in the last chapter, they weren’t in the same aisle. I think they removed a book on opposite sides at the same time before being transported.

5. The plan here was that Skye and Finn perceive Reese as a different gender than each other.

6. Harry Potter and Percy Jackson references.

7. Common theme in my high school writings: Characters hating being “average” and wanting to be special in some way.

8. Leaning on the 4th wall.

9. Something I probably would add to Finn’s character is a fanatic belief in the supernatural and otherworldly. Aliens, ghosts, fairies, the works. If I made him more of the “weird kid”, it would add more depth to his dynamic with Skye, who’s supposed to be accepted one.

10. When Skye and Finne start living through the fairy tales. Amy and Addy were going to be warped into Cinderella’s evil stepsisters. While Skye isn’t particulary close to them in the beginning, she would be closer to them once they’re freed from the role.

11. “Tadaima” and “Okaeri” would have been better here.

12. There was no need to address the reader here.

13. The more I read this chapter, the more I see things that were missing from the previous chapter. This feeling of eyes on her was supposed to forshadow Reese’s presence before he pulls them into his world.

14. Once again, definitely stole this from my friend. I’m sorry T.

15. I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be “Sobo”, meaning grandmother. Soba is a kind of noodle.

16. I may have made Finn way too coolheaded in this scene. Encountering a fairy tale like this should have caught him off guard.

17. This action scene could have been articulated better.