Not the Villain - The Evil Queen's Retelling of Snow White

Six Months and Four Days Ago

Six months and four days ago:

I was running, running from the evil oozing out into everywhere. It was spreading, that evil, it was taking over everything. I was running out of time... It was closing in around me...

Then I saw her, in the midst of it all, controlling the darkness. She raised one arm, commanding the evil to take me...

The last thing I saw before everything turned black was her. I had thought that she was Evelyn, but I was mistaken.

She was Snow White.

I woke up with my heart beating two hundred beats a minute. It was just a dream. I forced myself to calm down. Just a dream.

I glanced at my desk where I had fallen asleep for the second time, loose papers, notes and books strewn about. My research had been going on for almost half a year now, but to no fruition. Where was I? Oh, yes.

I turned the page of the book in the middle of the mess, and once again, scanned it for the word "demon".

Nothing. Flip. Scan. Nothing. Flip. Scan. Nothing.

I've gone so many nights with minimal sleep in a row that I had to repeatedly blink away the blur in my vision, and so many times I've wondered if I've skipped a line and missed the word I was looking for--

"Demon!"

I went back and read the paragraph.

The Solomar clan, an ancient tribe of witches, believed that with enough pressure, the demon could be squeezed out of a possessed human being.

My face broke out into a grin, only to be replaced by a frown. "Believed", not "believes". I've never heard of "the Solomar clan" before. And squeezing? What kind of witchcraft was that?

But maybe it would work. It was worth a try, however slim the chance may be.

I reread the page, not noting anymore relevant information, walked out of my room and told a servant scurrying by to prepare a pretty bodice lace that was the Princess's size, then I started assembling my disguise.