Wicked Dawn | 'Till The Night Falls Book 1 (Disney Descendants)

Chapter 3: Heigh-Ho Oh-No

Where was he? How had he gotten here? The last thing he remembered was chasing Mal and Evie towards FG's office. No one had been there. Jay...Jay had shown up, hadn't he? But after that, everything was foggy.

"Hello?" He called, hearing the ringing grow louder. "Is anybody here?"

He tried to take a step forward. His foot hit a crevice and he stumbled, throwing out a hand to try and steady himself, feeling something cold, damp, and solid against his fingertips. A cave, he realized. He was in his family's mining cave. "Evie? Hello?" he shouted again, hearing his voice bounce around the stillness and come back to him. "Mal? Jay? Anyone?"

Silence. He was all alone.

He took a deep breath. What would Evie do? Instantly, he pictured her whipping out her magic mirror and saying some rhyming sentence to activate its powers. That obviously wasn't going to work for him. He certainly didn't have a special magic mirror to solve all of his problems. All he had was his intelligence--and a merit badge in s'mores.

Instinctively he reached once more for his glasses.

He sighed.

Starting with small steps, he began inching forward, using the invisible wall to guide him. He felt the cavern closing in on him, threatening to suffocate him. He had to get out of there. The darkness...it was coming after him.

He walked faster, feeling eyes staring at him from the shadows. His heart started throbbing, his lungs froze and he struggled to breathe. What he wouldn't give to be back in his dorm, messing around with his trumpet and driving Chad insane.

"Look out! She's found us!"

"Everybody get down!"

Voices rang out from the shadows. Panicked. Frightened.

Doug moved faster. He was almost running. Though from the fear or the shouting, he didn't know. Hold on! he yelled to whoever was screaming. I'm coming! What he was planning on doing, he wasn't quite sure. But he knew someone was in trouble and they needed help.

An explosion rocked the cave and the next thing he knew, he was face-planting the rock. The earth shook violently and parts of the roof crumbled down on his head. He lay there, eyes squeezed tightly shut until the quaking stopped and then a minute longer.

Getting back to his feet, he moved quickly away from the fallen debris, shuddering. There was a reason he didn't like mines. He forced the images and memories from his brain. Where is everyone?

He emerged from the dark cavern into a room flooded with light. He blinked, bringing up a hand to shield his eyes as he took it all in. He was standing in a large cave. Jewels and diamonds littered the walls. Doug's eyes widened. He'd found it. The cave his family had spent decades looking for.

I don't believe it.

"Move!"

"Look out! "

A second tremor. Doug backed up against a wall as boulders crashed from their perches to the cave floor. What was going on? Caves weren't supposed to shake like this! Was there an earthquake? Where were the voices coming from?

"FOOLS!"

The scream seemed to come from everywhere at once. He searched the room frantically, seeing no one.

"Doug."

He turned, hearing a familiar voice. "Evie," he breathed, a smile creeping onto his lips as he spotted the bluenette standing a few feet away. "What are you doing here? Where are we? Where are Jay and Mal?" She didn't return the grin. His smile faded as he saw the ruby red dagger clutched tightly in her fist. " Evie? Wait...what are you doing?"