“Red isn’t an outlaw,” I say, sputtering.

“She’s as good as an outlaw!” Raina insists. “She was in the same RA class as my sister until she left! We are not talking to an outlaw, and we are not taking directions from a dragon!”

“Bearded dragon.” Logan looks up from the berries he’s collecting. “There’s a difference. Lily is a lizard, so she’s not a threat like a regular dragon. Devin trusts her instincts, which means so do I. If we need to wait for Lily to find help, we will.”

I smile gratefully at him while Raina glares at the two of us. Behind us, I can hear Sasha still angrily tapping at her magical scroll (“Why won’t you work?” she mumbles. “Don’t we have magic out here in the woods? What’s with the bad reception?”)

“I don’t seem to be allergic to Lily either, which is an improvement, but…” Logan sniffs the air, and his nose wrinkles slightly. “I do feel a bit stuffy and light-headed.” He touches his head and sits down on a nearby rock. “Maybe a real dragon is nearby. Lily?” he yells into the mist and low-lying fog. “Find Little Red Riding Hood fast! She’s our only hope at getting out of these woods alive!” He claps a hand over his mouth. “Great. Now the dragon’s heard us too. Why didn’t I pay more attention in my seminar, A Prince’s Guide to Surviving the Forest? Why?”

“It’s Red. Not Little Red Riding Hood, and stop yelling!” Sasha drops her scroll on the ground in disgust.

She’s woven her long blond hair into a makeshift bun with the use of a stick. Leave it to Sasha to pull herself together even in the most feared forest of Enchantasia.

“She hasn’t been called ‘Little’ since the wolf tried to eat her,” Sasha adds. “Doesn’t anyone besides me read Happily Ever After Scrolls? She runs ads for Red’s Ready-for-Anything Shoppe almost weekly. She’s not an outlaw,” she chastises Raina. “She just didn’t want to rule her village! I even heard she’s starting a store franchise. Sasha looks at me and Logan. That means she isn’t hanging out in a forest helping kids who’ve been banished for finding out their headmistress is a villain!”

Raina gets in her personal space. “Don’t say such things! We don’t know for certain Headmistress Olivina is evil, do we?”

Dear Raina. Always thinking the best of people, as a princess should. Logan and I are a bit more disenchanted at this point.

“We kind of do,” I hear Logan say under his breath.

“Raina,” Sasha says exasperatedly, hiking up the hem of her maroon dress. “Yes, we do know she’s evil! Olivina knew we were on to her brainwashing ways, and she had us taken care of—and it’s kind of your fault.”

Raina’s mouth forms a big, round O. “My fault?”

“Yes, your fault! You had to go and tattle on us for trying to figure out what she was up to!” Sasha’s voice is rising in pitch. Logan is right. We definitely could wake a sleeping dragon.