Once Upon a Time: Ever After High (Book 13)

Ch.18 Late night vanishing

(AN) For those of you who don't know who Nathan Nutcracker is, he's not someone I made up, he's actually a minor book character in the Shannon Hale books. I'm just saying, and you should really read her Ever After High books, they're really good :)

(Flashback) Since the weekend was coming up, Justine Dancer knew she had to finish packing for her trip back home to see her family. After making sure she had everything, she zipped up her suitcase just as her roommate Ramona Badwolf, daughter of the Big Bad Wolf suddenly spoke from her bed.

"You're seriously bringing all of that?" she remarked "You're only gonna be gone for weekend."

"Yeah but my family is hosting this ball that I have to go to" Justine put in "And because of that I have to bring a ton of crap to get ready for it."

"Girls and their dances" Ramona snickered "What a waste of time just to look pretty, every girl looks the same to me."

"Just be happy you're not coming with me" Justine smirked, knowing that her roommate was a total tomboy who hated dressing up.

"So when are you leaving again?"

"Tomorrow after school, I'm leaving right after dance practice."

"How's that going for you? You need new shoes yet?"

"I just got a new pair last week."

"Yeah but in your story you wear your shoes out in one night" Ramona stated in a smirk.

"That's because back then shoes were poorly made, now a day our shoes last longer."

"Yeah, but blisters don't."

"Shut up" Justine snickered.

After packing, Justine left her dorm to head down to the Castleteria, but on her way down the hallway, she was met up by Melody Piper, daughter of the Pied Piper, and right beside her was Nathan Nutcracker, son of the Nutcracker.

"Hey Justine" Melody greeted.

"Oh hey guys" Justine greeted back in a smile.

"We need your help with something."

"Well can it be quick? Because I really need something to eat right now."

"I'll be quick I promise" Melody assured in a smile "We just want to know which song we should use for practice today. We can't decide between the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy or Swan Lake."

"Oo, let's do the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, we haven't used that one in a while."

"In that case-" Melody smiled while turning to Nathan "You know where to get your music."

He nodded before heading off.

"You wanna join me for lunch?" Justine asked her as they made their way into the Castleteria.

"So tell me" Melody spoke after they sat down with their foods "What do you think of Nathan joining us?"

"He's great actually" Justine smiled "He's a really amazing dancer, and considering that most guys don't like to dance, he doesn't seem to mind doing it."

"Well it is in his story to dance, especially when it's with a pretty girl, who we still have no idea is the next Clara."

"Yeah" she sighed "I feel kinda bad for him, not knowing who his future love is going to be."

"Though to be honest, I don't think he cares about finding love right now, he seems to be focused on his school work and other things."

"True" Justine nodded when a thought came to her "Although, you wanna hear something strange?"

"I'm all ears" Melody held her head up and listened.

"You know how sometimes I sleep dance? Well these past few weeks whenever I would wake up to find myself in the dance room and as I try to head back to my dorm, I would always see Nathan sneaking down the hallway and into the Student Lounge."

"Huh?"

"But what makes this more strange is whenever I peek into the lounge, he's not there."

"Whoa" Melody's eyes widen "That's crazy."

"Tell me about it" she agreed.

"How come you mentioned this before?"

"I didn't think it was important, but after a while I'm starting to wonder if we should be worried."

"Have you told Nathan yet?"

"I don't want to, I don't think he wanted to be seen."

"You think he does this every night?"

"Perhaps" she shrugged "I mean he is a pretty secretive person, well, wooden figure I mean. He only has a few close friends, and whenever he's not with us or his other friends, he's like no where to be seen."

"Yeah I've noticed that" Melody remarked "I wonder why he's like this."

"Well, I don't think we should interfere with his life. Although I can't stop wondering what happens to him when he goes into the Student Lounge, he can't just disappear like that unless he has magic."

"Yeah I'm curious too."

After a moment of thinking, an idea popped into Justine's head.

"You know what?" she announced "I'm gonna find out."

"What?"

"I know I said we shouldn't interfere with his life, but I just have to know where he goes off at night. So I'm thinking that maybe one night I'll quietly follow him into the lounge, and just watches where he goes."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that when you're always getting caught trying to sneak out?"

"Well that's the thing, I can't get caught if someone sees me, so I just have to use something to make sure I wont be seen?"

"How?"

"I'm gonna talk to Raven and see if she has something I can borrow, something that will make me invisible."

"Like an invisible cloak?"

"Exactly."

"Well, good luck with that, although if Nathan catches you, he's not gonna be very happy with you stalking him."

"I'm not stalking him" she declared "I just wanna see where he goes, and when I do, I'll stop thinking about it."

"Alright then" Melody rolled her eyes "But if you're going to do this, you better not fall asleep."

"I know."

"Hey what time exactly do you see him sneaking into the lounge?"

"It's usually around midnight."

"On school night?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah" Justine sighed.

"Okay he's definitely up to something if he's up at night on a school night."

"Well to be fair, he can't exactly sleep, he's made of wood."

"Oh" Melody replied remember "Why do I always forget that?"

"Sometimes I wonder what he and Cedar do when they're laying in their beds and not being able to sleep."

"That must suck."

"Well pretty soon they're gonna be humans, and then they'll know. But until then, I just wanna see where Nathan disappears at night."