Once Upon a Time: Ever After High (Book 12)

Ch.27 Witch's assistance

(Flashback) Now up in her mother's old tower, Holly took a seat at the desk as she stared at Poppy's accepted letter from the academy, still not knowing whether or not to tell her. She felt like her mind was going crazy and filling up with this stress, she really needed help. But at that moment she suddenly heard her phone rang, and when she saw who was calling, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Poppy.

She's gonna wanna ask if her letter came, and Holly still didn't know what to do as she tried to stay calm while answering her phone.

"Uh, hey sis" she answered sounding casually.

"Holly did my letter came?" Poppy asked just as she expected.

"Oh uh..." Holly nervously replied while staring at the letter "Uh... no."

And with that she could already feel her guilt rise.

"Seriously?" Poppy questioned surprised "I really thought it came today."

"Yeah uh, sorry" Holly mumbled while biting her lip.

"Well, alright then, I'll just keep waiting. I just hope it comes here before the deadline when I would have to go."

"Yeah" Holly replied with a fake smile "Me too."

After hanging up, Holly gave a groan while dropping her head onto the desk. She couldn't believe herself, she's never lied to her sister, she's never done anything like this before.

"You appear to be in some kind of distress" a voice suddenly spoke as she jumped and turned around to see the witch known as Gothel.

"Lying to your sister and keeping the letter from her" she stated in a smirk "And I thought Poppy was the evil twin."

"What are you doing here Gothel?" Holly grunted at the witch who once imprisoned her and Poppy's mother in the tower.

"I'm just checking in on one of Rapunzel's daughter, and by the looks of it you're becoming a bit of a rebel. Now isn't that something?"

"Just leave me alone" Holly ordered as she turned her back towards the witch.

"Not when you and I have so much to discuss" Gothel replied as she made her way to the desk.

"What's there to discuss with you?" Holly doubted.

"Perhaps I can help you with this letter dilemma. I can make Poppy forget all about it and you wont have to worry about a thing."

The sound of that caught her attention, but Holly knew better than to trust a witch.

"No thanks" she responded with a frown "My mother said I should never trust a witch, especially the one who once imprisoned her."

"Well when you think about it I was doing her a favor" Gothel remarked "Because if it wasn't for me, your mother wouldn't of met your father, and you and your sister wouldn't be here. And who's fault is that, because I don't think it's anyone's fault."

Holly couldn't help but agree, but she still didn't have the guts to trust her.

"Listen Holly-" Gothel continued "I know how much you want your sister to stay, and I know how much you wanna be the next Rapunzel when Poppy is suppose to do it with her being the secret older twin. So if you wanna maintain your relationship with your sister, then meet up at my garden."

Even though she felt she couldn't trust her, Holly couldn't help but wonder if Gothel's idea would actually work.

"What's the catch?" she suddenly asked in a frown.

"There is no catch."

"There's always catch, otherwise you wouldn't of bothered to assist me."

At that point Gothel gave a small smirk "If you really wanna know, then meet me at my garden, in fact, let's go now shall we?"

And with that she used her powers to teleport them out of the tower and in front of a garden with a cottage.

"I don't think you've ever been to my garden before" Gothel remarked "The very same one your grandfather tried to steal my rampion."

Holly noticed that there were still some rampion and other vegetables growing, along with some purple rampion flowers where her mother got her name from.

"Now about my assistance" Gothel put in while plucking a rampion flower from the ground as she took out a clear vessel, crushed the flower, and dumped the contents into the vessel.

She then waved her hand over it as the crushed flowers grew a faint purple before fading back to normal.

"This flower can make Poppy forget about the letter" she explained "All you gotta do is dump the contents into her drink and once she takes a sip, she'll forget all about it."

"But what about the catch?" Holly put in with a frown "You know I'm not as stupid as I look."

"Oh I know that" Gothel sneered "Which is why this is your choice. You see, if Poppy does drink this flower, she will forget about the letter. But, that also means she may become the next Rapunzel."

"What?" Holly questioned a bit confused "How is that a catch?"

"You've always wanted to become the next Rapunzel, being the damsel in distress and then being saved by your prince charming. But since it's been bunked that you're really the younger twin and it's Poppy's destiny to become the next Rapunzel, if she stays, Milton Grimm can find out and make her become the next Rapunzel, not you. But if you let her go to the academy, there's a less chance of the two of you getting caught."

"But what makes you think Headmaster Grimm will find out?" Holly questioned hiding her nervousness "You're not like gonna tell him or anything are you?"

"Of course not, unless I have to."

"And why would you do that?"

"Who knows" she shrugged with a small smirk "But what I'm saying is, it's your choice whether to let Poppy free and follow her own destiny without having to worry about being caught by Grimm. Or you make her forget about her dream and risk being discovered."

She handed the vessel to Holly who just frozen while staring at it.

"Like I said-" Gothel smirked "Your choice."

Holly continued to stare at the vessel, the one thing that can save her relationship with Poppy held out in front of her. But even without fully knowing whether to do it or not, she accepted the offering.

"Let's see how far you'll go to protect your relationship with your sister" Gothel sneered before disappearing.