HOOKED ↝ DESCENDANTS

[14]

"Regain your might and ignite!" Uma shouted the incantation, holding up her shell in Mal's direction as Harry and Rosalie returned to her side. The closer it moved to Mal, the shell began to glow brighter and brighter, casting a golden yellow light around them. "We're stronger together, I'm right here, girl, I'm right here! Regain your might and ignite!"

Rosalie watched with bated breath as slowly, the light returned to where Hades's Ember sat clutched in the dragon's talons, now emitting a brilliant blue glow. Rosalie, Harry, and Uma shouted in victory as together, Uma and Mal had managed to fix the Ember, once again giving them the advantage over Audrey in their fight.

Uma began to laugh with excitement as Mal rose up to meet Audrey at the top of the tower once again, though this time armed and ready for their confrontation. Audrey began to cackle as she faced off against Mal, emitting another bright pink light from the scepter, which collided with the power coming from the Ember, illuminating the night sky and bathing the courtyard in a blinding flash of purple light.

"Let's go, Mal!" Harry shouted as the two powers fought against one another, the three on the ground cheering on the future queen as her dragon form began to roar.

"Come on, Mal!" Rosalie exclaimed, praying to everything magical that they'd finally see an end to this reign of terror before the night was over.

"You've got this!" Uma yelled. "You've got this, girl!"

Rosalie watched in astonishment as the blue light pushed forward, reaching Audrey and the scepter as the light faded away, leaving them in darkness once more as Audrey stopped fighting. She jumped up in victory, yelling alongside Harry and Uma, the former of which pulled her into a tight hug in excitement, spinning her around before releasing her. And, much to Rosalie's surprise, she was soon pulled into another hug by Uma, before the two Pirates hugged each other.

Did this mean it was finally over?

"Hey," Harry began to ask Rosalie as their excitement started to calm down, the three of them waiting for Mal to retrieve Audrey and Celia from the tower. "About earlier, how did you manage to-?"

"Krissy!" Rosalie exclaimed as the courtyard was bathed in a sudden flash of pink light, the spell hanging over the kingdom breaking, and suddenly her cousin was back to normal, though appearing extremely confused. Rosalie ran to close the distance between the two, wrapping her arms tightly around Krissy.

"What happened?" Krissy asked, a slightly dazed look in her eyes. "One moment Mal and Audrey were fighting, and now..." she trailed off, at a loss for words as she saw the expression on Rosalie's face.

"The spell's been broken." Rosalie said, unable to keep the grin from spreading across her face. "I think it's over. Cmon."

Rosalie and Krissy walked back over to Uma and Harry as Mal slowly began to fly down, Celia clutched in one hand while an unconscious Audrey lay slumped in the other. Mal gently let them down before turning back into her human form, Celia instantly running to Uma, who enveloped her in a relieved hug, holding the young girl close. Krissy leaned down next to the unconscious form of her friend, her eyebrows furrowing together in a concerned expression.

"What's wrong with her?" Krissy asked. "Why won't she wake up?"

"It's the curse of the scepter." Mal said gravely. "I tried to use the Ember to help her, but it doesn't do everything for me that it does for Hades. It didn't work."

"Let's get her back to the dorms and go from there." Rosalie suggested, her eyes glued to where Audrey lay in the grass. "We can keep trying. Maybe there's something else that will work."

Harry stepped forward, kneeling down to pick up Audrey bridal style and following behind the group as Mal led them back to the Auradon Prep dormitories. When they finally reached her room, Harry lay Audrey down on top of her bed, where Krissy quickly covered her with a blanket in an attempt to warm her up.

"Where are Ben and the others?" Rosalie asked, looking over at where Mal had slumped into a chair next to Audrey's bed.

"They turned to stone." Mal said softly. "Outside Fairy Cottage. I'm not sure where they are now."

Rosalie reached into her pocket, pulling out her cellphone. Much to her relief, now that the spell was broken, her signal had returned, and she quickly composed a text to Ben.

In Audrey's dorm. Rosalie's text read. Spell's broken, come quick.

"How do we get her to wake up?" Uma asked. "If the only thing that can break the curse of the scepter is the Ember, and the Ember won't work, then what happens?"

"I have something I can try." Rosalie spoke up, everyone but Krissy and Harry watching her with confused expressions.

Rosalie sat down in the other chair on the opposite side of Audrey's bed, leaning over the princess of Auroria as she willed herself to cry. She and Audrey had never been particularly close, except the times they'd hung out with Krissy, or in groups of royals, but she willed the tears to work, for them to make her okay again. She'd known Audrey all her life, and she knew that had to count for something.

She held her breath as the first of the tears began to fall, landing on Audrey's dress as they soaked through the fabric and into her skin. However, instead of the faint golden glow they'd emitted when they healed Harry, no light passed through this time, and Audrey remained unconscious. Rosalie began to cry harder, out of both frustration and desperation, though she knew it was no use.

The essence of the flower that had been passed down from her mother was no match against the curse of Maleficent's scepter.

"I'm sorry," Rosalie said, rising from her chair defeatedly and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, turning to face the group and seeing that Ben, Evie, Jay, and Carlos now stood in the doorway, watching the scene in front of them. "I-I can't do it. I'm so sorry."