“Evie! Sophie!”
Celia’s excited voice struck like a bolt of lightning as the two older girls brushed the rancid hay off their clothes and hair.
“Don’t say another word, Celia Faciller!” The blue-clad princess pounced instantly.
“I-I-I’m sorry,” Celia stammered, shrinking away from the icy expression, “I didn’t mean— I thought you guys might be at Pleasure Island. Then I saw you here. Yen Sid said—”
“Yen Sid!” Sophie squealed with delight before clamping her mouth shut like a blowfish, “Oh, sorry—”
“Back in the hay,” Evie ordered, shoving Celia behind the wagon then following Sophie back into hiding. As soon as they were completely covered again, she turned to the younger girl.
“Talk.”
“Well, alright…” Celia began warily, noting that the older girl’s hand trembled as she steadied herself against the wagon.
“Dad couldn’t get Yen Sid to leave tonight,” she explained, unconsciously rubbing the new bruises on her arms, “but he has a date with Madam Medusa so he made me stay to watch him.” She pouted for a second, “I wanted to go to Pleasure Island with everyone else so when Yen Sid caught me I decided to help him find you guys and the antiheroes to get back at dad.”
“We’re going to get the antiheroes now,” Sophie assured her, “Evie knows where they are. Thanks for checking on us though.”
“Go back and tell him that everything is fine,” Evie added tensely, “Tell him that Mal is having everyone over for a slumber party and we’ll send Claudine first thing in the morning. But make sure you tell him that everything is fine right now.”
“Hm, what’s going on?” the younger girl asked hesitantly, looking puzzled.
“Be quick,” Evie ignored the question and shoved her out of the hay, “Don’t talk to anyone about this. Don’t let anyone stop you—”
“Stay in the shadows; I know, I know.” Celia rolled her eyes, slowly backing away then running into the night, “I wasn’t born yesterday.”
“Do you think I was too hard on her?” The blue-clad girl frowned as she and Sophie turned the other way a few minutes later.
“Yeah,” Sophie sighed, “But I get it. It’s been a crazy day.”
“Mine was just fine until those idiots from Auradon showed up.” Evie muttered.
*o*o*0*o*o*
Celia headed towards Dragon Hall like a jackrabbit doing parkour, but one voice brought her to a screeching halt.
“Hey, Celia,” the impeccably manicured Anthony Tremaine slouched against a grimy brick wall, “Whatcha in such a hurry for?”
Giving him the evil eye, she watched as he lazily chewed an old cigar. “Where’d you get that?”
He shrugged, “I won it at Pleasure Island. Opening night, you know.”
“I know.” she growled.
“So whatcha doing here?”
“Dad left something at school,” she gave him a bored shrug, “A gift for Madam Medusa. He asked her out again the other day. He asked me to go get it so he wouldn’t be late. You know how she is.”
“She’s whako.” he flicked the unlit used cigar with a finger, inwardly disgusted by the image of the two old villains together, “Why does your dad keep on her?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, turning to leave, “See ya around.”
“What’d he leave at school?” his voice stopped her again, “Maybe I could save you a trip.”
“The Devil’s Eye Diamond.” she joked, her tone sassy.
A wry smile crept over his mouth as he shrugged off her tease, “Good one, kid. But the ole Devi’s Eye is in Auradon’s Museum, or so I hear.”
“Oh well.” she shrugged again, taking a skip to be on her way.
“Wait!” the edge in his tone stopped her again, “What are you really doing out here?”
“That’s none of your business!” she retorted.
“Oh really?” he growled, taking a slow step towards her before pouncing like a cat, “Everyone is at Pleasure Island tonight. Why aren’t you?”
“What do you care?” she snapped, wincing as his long bony fingers dug into her bruised arm, “Let me go!”
“I don’t think so,” he shook his head slowly, his eyes gleaming with excitement, “Something big is happening tonight. I can feel it! And you’re gonna tell me what it is.”
“How do you figure I know anything?” she retorted, pulling with growing desperation.
“You’re Dr. F’s daughter; he knows everything that goes on around here.”
“What’s that got to do with me? He used to tell Freddie stuff, but never me.”
“Freddie’s gone.”
“That doesn’t change anything.”
“You can snoop, can’t ya?” he snarled, his impatience growing; he dug his nails deeper into her arm.
“Come on, Anthoney, you know how my dad gets when he doesn’t get what he wants!” she pleaded, “I can’t be late!”
“All our parents are like that.” he snorted, “And Dr. F. doesn’t forget things when he goes on a date.”
“Get lost!” she snapped, hauling back with all her strength. She finally broke free.
*o*o*0*o*o*
The castle door closed behind Mal with a soft click and she stood motionless on the street for a long minute, taking in the wild nightlife with glowing green eyes. No longer concerned about siegers, she watched with a cold calculating gaze and considered her options carefully.
Now that there was magic under the barrier, she wondered if she should tap into it to change form and fly to Dragon Hall. That would certainly be the fastest route. On the other hand, seeing her transformed might shake these tired old villains out of their twenty-plus years of lethargy and nothing good would come of that, especially if they found out that the children of their old enemies were within their reach.
Stepping purposely into the street, she dismissed the idea of flying and set a course for Dragon Hall on foot, continually shaking her paint can to ward off trouble. As she stalked grimly through the streets, she couldn’t help but to feel a surge of power as villain and VK alike skirted her path and slammed their doors when they saw her coming.
It felt good to be in charge again! But, still… She sighed with relief when she slid between the huge double doors of Dragon Hall and quietly tiptoed to Yen Sid’s room.
His back was to her as she stepped over the threshold.
“Sophie…” he murmured softly without turning around, the relief evident in his voice, “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Guess again.” she answered, folding her arms over her chest.
*o*o*0*o*o*
Enough of this! Gather in!” Uma stomped her foot in frustration, grinding an old candy wrapper to shreds with her heel as her crew circled up, “We’ll never find them in this crowd!”
“What do you want to do?” Harry asked.
“We’re going to Mal’s.” she answered instantly, “I’ll find out for myself what’s going on!”.
“What about all the people we saw?” a wharf rat asked, “They could—”
That’s why we’re going!” She glared at him.
“Traitors!” Harry called loudly, as they all turned up the street, “That’s what they are!”
Uma couldn’t help but smile as she led her thug parade up the street, reveling every time anyone ducked out of sight or slammed their door. She remembered that Mal had always received this kind of respect and she gloried to realize that it was her time.
Walking right up to the castle door, she stared up at the forebodingly grotusque structure with a deep scowl on her face. There were no lights, no sound, no nothing coming from anywhere. It seemed as if the inhabitants had all gone to bed.
“Something’s wrong,” she muttered, knowing the girl inside couldn’t possibly be in bed, “She can’t be asleep now. Not when her gang is back.”
“Maybe they’re hiding.” Gil suggested, “Maybe Evie’s party is a surprise.”
“Evie told us about it!” Harry rolled his eyes.
“Can I break the door down?” Gil excitedly pumped his muscles.
“No.” his captain answered flatly, glaring at him, “Go find your brothers. I need them.”
“Aww,” he whined, “But they always—”
“Now!” she snapped.
“You find Maddie and Ginny,” she turned to Harry next, “Get Zevon and your sisters too.”
He bowed, “Of course, m’lady.”
“The rest of you fan out,” she ordered, “Surround this place. See if you can see anyone in the windows. Figure out where they are. Find out what they’re doing.”
*o*o*0*o*o*
“Oh no, oh no,” Sophie whispered anxiously, peering out from behind a barrel of rotten fruit as they watched Uma’s crew swarming like bees around the castle, “This is bad. This is bad. This is really bad!”
“Why, thank you, Jane,” Evie hissed, scowling at the enemy army from behind a barrel of moldy bread, “for that very useless information.” The blue-clad girl sighed, “She must have sent Harry and Gil for reinforcements. I don’t see them.”
“Let’s join them,” she announced, after a moment’s thought, “With any luck, they won’t even notice two extra bodies and we can slip inside before anything happens. I know where there’s a trapdoor around back. It leads down to the dungeon and then we can just get someone to let us out of there.”
Sophie looked at her as if she was crazy. “That sounds like an awful plan!”
“We’ve got a good chance,” Evie answered evenly, patting her friend’s back, “I know that castle as well as Mal does. After Maleficent let us come back to town, I spent nearly every night here, just to get away from my mom. But, we need to go now, before Harry and Gil come back.”
“I bet everyone is okay,” she continued, seeing her friend’s courage start to blossom, “It looks like Mal has the place on lockdown.”
“She’s a good leader,” Sophie nodded, “I wish that she’d come back to Auradon. She’d be such a great queen!”
“I wish that too,” Evie muttered, feeling a painful stab deep in the pit of her stomach, “But, right now we can’t worry about that, alright? Are you ready?
“Yes…” Sophie gave her a guarded look.
“On three then?”
“Okay…” The Sorcerer’s Apprentice swallowed hard.
“One, two, three.”