FAYE HAS ALWAYS loved fairy tales. She dreamt of being a princess when she was a kid. She loved wearing dresses and putting fake make-up and practicing kissing the wall in her bedroom so that if her prince comes she knows what to do. However, this isn't how she viewed her fairy tale.
A bone man lathered up in suit, fetching her and boarding a ship hovering thousands of feet in the air with a group of duwende acting like waiters in a fancy restaurant. All the souls on the deck look just as confused as her so she can't ask anyone about what's happening. She's way past the in denial stage and has long accepted that this ridiculous event may even be real. But even so, she's still waiting for some kind of instructions or something to tell her about anything at all.
The ship has been flying for about an hour now and has been stopping for about every 15 minutes to board new souls, like a bus stopping at bus stops. Every one of them, Faye realized, were wearing pajamas except for one person, Amara. And that's how she knows that they are wearing what they were wearing before going to sleep, and all of them must've left their bodies during that time. So, it's either some of them are asleep just like her or passed out, possibly unconscious. Since no one can tell her about what's going on, all she can do is to observe.
The ship is not anything fancy, it's like one of those marine transportations used for battles in ancient times. It's also plainly decorated, if she must say. It's purely made of wood and… bones? She can't tell, but if the scrawny and fragile-looking railings are what she thinks they are then she's right, they are made of bones. Eww. She cringes internally. She'd rather not think where they got that from.
A cold shiver went up her spines. What if… She shakes her head to shake off the unwanted thought. They can't, cause they are, as to what these creatures call them, souls. And souls don't have bodies and flesh. Except if…
The echo of footsteps stopped her train of thought. She looks up, subconsciously. There, situated on the higher deck, was the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. Probably the most beautiful woman to ever grace on earth. The woman's pale skin shines under the light of the moon, giving her a glowing illusion. Her hair glimmers gold, falling like water on her back. Her lips are the reddest shade of red, maybe even redder than red and they are small and plump. They look like she bathed them with blood. And her eyes are big and round and so full of life, her nose is pointed and well-defined. The shape of her face accentuated her jaw and high cheekbones. She has the features every girl on earth is dying for.
Faye swears that she has never seen a more beautiful creature than this one. Scratch that, there is probably no one who can even amount with her beauty or even compete with her. She scans the faces of the others and sure enough they all look enthralled just like her. It's almost a funny sight to look at except she knows how they feel. If she's a boy, she's probably in love already.
The woman who is dressed in what seems like a white nightgown, flashed her smile. Every one, including the duwendes, sighs dreamily and when she speaks, all of them look at her as if she's the sun and they are just the planets orbiting her. "Good evening, dearest ladies and the gentlest of men. We are here to welcome all of you as the new students of our school." Her voice sounds sweeter than honey.
"I know that you are all in a state of confusion right now but don't worry cause we do not mean any harm. You are here because you were picked by our dear prince charming because of your rather outstanding… uniqueness that made you catch the eye of his highness. All of you are expected to stay here for at least 10 months to finish your studies and then we will escort you back to your respective bodies."
"10 months?!" Faye blurted out without thinking. All eyes turn on her including the woman's. For a moment, they locked eyes and something passed in the woman's eyes, like a glint of anger, but it was gone before Faye could read more of it. "I-i-i-i mean. Isn't that too long? Our families might get the wrong idea that we're dead and bury us even before we get the chance to go back. And what about those studies? What are we going to study about? And why?"
"No worries, young lady." A weird undertone sips through her sugar coated voice but she composed herself right away. "Well, the time here is different from yours. Your clock runs slower than ours, 10 months could pass in a blink of an eye and before you know it, you are all flesh and bones again. As for the other thing, y'all would study how to be perfect." A murmur moves across her audience.
"This is the difference between our school and yours. Yours study such nonsense, while ours will teach you the world of perfection," she continues. "And us, we will be your guides. Together, we will build a world where mistakes and deformities don't grow and foster but rather a world where everyone is perfect and accepted."
What is happening…
Three knocks on the railings and everyone's attention is on the people on the higher deck again. Right now, a different lady has stepped up while the former one stood silently in line with the others, still keeping her sweet smile. The old lady cleared her throat. "Good evening, my name's Merida and I am the vice principal of the school you'll be attending. Let me introduce everyone first," her voice is gruff and in complete contrast to the former woman's voice. "Professor Shakespeare will be your teacher in education for emotional purposes, E.E.P. He will teach you how to control your anger and other emotions. As well as other things."
Faye doesn't know how to describe the Professor. Or whether to call it a he or she cause how could she possibly know. The professor standing before her is half-human and half…horse. His head is that of a horse, while his toro and what supposed to be his arms were human but he has the feet of a horse. HHH, horse-human-horse. Mr. Shakespeare was also wearing a suit and is standing with dignity like a soldier who just came from war.
Surprisingly, when he speaks his voice is nothing like a horse at all. "A great night to everyone. I hope you'll enjoy your stay and learn everything you need to learn." His voice is deep, cold and smoother than silk. Whoever hears it will fall in love at first hear, until they see his face.
"Next." Professor Shakespeare steps down. "Professor Hatter. He will be your MAPE teacher. Music, Arts and PE. He will teach you how to be talented and artistic and all that."
Tall is an understatement to describe Professor Hatter. He is not just tall, he is gigantic and enormously vertical. Faye is starting to wonder how he could even fit in this ship. He is at least 10 feet tall by Faye's deduction. And the way he looks down at them with his eyes twinkling madly like the stars made her feel even smaller. She can't see his face clearly as some clouds are getting in the way–yep that's how tall he is–but he can make out what he's wearing. He is wearing the same suit as Professor Shakespeare except that his is not as neat as the other person's was. It wasn't tucked in and his suit is loose on him, almost making him look like a hanger. And his pants were over his ankles, almost touching the floor.
When he opened his mouth, Faye didn't know what to expect. "'Night to everyone. I'm your teacher, aye!"
Faye blinks. That wasn't the voice she was anticipating. Although she really wasn't looking forward to anything but still… Professor Hatter's voice was deep, deeper than Professor Shakespeare, you can even compare it to the depths of the ocean. And it echoes through the night. But that wasn't what's surprising about it, it was how there was even a slight cheerfulness in his voice that opposes his dark outlook.
"Okay, thank you very much Professor Hatter. Second to the last was the person who spoke earlier. Her name is Gothel and she will be your teacher in–"
"Philosophies and beauty!" Professor Gothel cut cheerfully, peeking from where she was. "I will teach you all the laws and guidelines of being flawless," she says dramatically.
There is something about her aura that scares Faye more than everything she's seen. But she can't point it out.
"Yes, yes. Now, if you may, please go back to your position." Gothel huffs but obeys though not before shooting a stinky eye on the back of Professor Merida's head.
"Listen now, every soul," she continues. "I know that all of you are in a state of confusion and can't still believe if this is real. But trust my words, every bit of these is real. Professor Gothel has explained everything briefly earlier but let me elaborate."
Her eyes scan the faces of the new students, searching for something, trying to reach the deepest depth of their soul. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… So many souls have great potential this year but they are not ripped yet, no, they need to be showered with proper sunlight and fertilizers in order to grow to the most beautiful fruits she'll ever present to the prince. Or maybe, they'll present themselves.
"You all will be given your silver tickets." Silver tickets magically appear in the air, hovering over their designated student. "Take them as your token to get out of here. When the time comes, you will have to present that to the prince in order to be granted the permission to go back to your world." She smirked as the clueless students seemed to rejoice. "However, those tickets can vanish at any given time." Confused whispers rose from the crowd. "You see, we did tell you that you will be able to escape this place once the academic year has ended but that depends on how well you did in our school. Because once your silvers vanish, then you can also kiss your real world goodbye."