Disney's Descendants Diaries

Chapter 20 - Seeking Answers

{~} Mal {~}

I hadn't truly realized that I spent the night by the lake until the next day came around. The sound of roaring thunder startled me awake and I found myself lying on a cold, partially dry stone floor. Obviously, the gazebo's roof sheltered me from the rain that had been falling down for who knows how long.

Despite that fact, I still wasn't going to stay there. Taking a deep breath, I exhaled and stepped out into the rain. I then hurried through the wooded area and made my way to the school building, my clothes feeling heavier with each step I took.

Thankfully, this day hadn't been a weekday. However, the trip to me and Evie's room felt entirely awkward due to the many types of stares I'd been receiving from anyone who took notice of my presence.

Once I'd arrived, I opened the door to find Evie, Jay, and Carlos all staring back at me. They appeared to be rather shocked, and it felt as though I was the general topic of a halted conversation.

"Well, it's clear that I've just interrupted something." I glanced back and forth between the three of them with narrowed eyes.

Evie, who'd been leaning against her bedpost, was the first to cautiously approach me. "Actually, we were pretty worried that you wouldn't show up at all after what happened yesterday."

"Not to mention the fact that we still don't know the full story of it all," Carlos added.

Sensing their equal expressions of concern, I let out a sigh of guilt. Why wouldn't they – my friends – want at least some type of explanation? They were probably longing to hear one and yet I hadn't given it to them.

"I'll gladly tell you if I weren't drenched in water and nearly freezing to death," I hinted as I glanced at both Jay and Carlos. Evie also turned to glance at them with a smirk already taking over.

"Alright, alright. We get it," Jay said with a laugh as he and Carlos both stepped out of the room.

--

{~} Carlos {~}

Mal told us everything. And by everything, I mean all the things neither of us had knowledge of. It probably took about an hour and a half for her to explain it all in the quickest way possible, that estimated time even including a large amount of questions that were asked.

One thing in particular led me to personally conduct a minor investigation and I soon found myself racing through the building in search of someone. I was going so fast that I almost missed them: one person, out of the only two people in Auradon, who had red eyes.

Coming to a halt, I turned around and exchanged awkward glances with Diana Hearts. She appeared a bit surprised, maybe even startled.

"Well, thanks for almost giving me a heart attack," she muttered as she swooped down, picked up a notebook that she'd dropped, and shoved it in her locker.

"Uh, sorry." I nervously scratched the back of my neck.

She slammed her locker shut and sighed as if she were calming herself down. "Why were you in such a hurry anyway?"

"Mal actually lost one of her notebooks yesterday and I just wanted to know if maybe you've seen it somewhere?"

"No, I haven't. But maybe someone else has?"

"Maybe so, maybe not." I shrugged as I turned and began to walk away.

"Hey, Carlos?" Diana called out before I got too far away.

Stopping yet again, I turned back around. "Yeah?"

With crossed arms and narrowed eyes, she observed me for a brief moment before speaking. "Mal found her notebook already, didn't she?"

"Uh. . . no?"

In complete silence, she raised a brow at me. It was a clear indication that she was unconvinced. I sighed, knowing that I had to tell the truth.

"Fine. Yes, she has her notebook already."

"You know, it's cute how you tried to pull that one off," she began as she stepped closer, "but I implore you to avoid trying to sneak anything past someone who has been living a lie their whole life."

"In that case, can you be completely honest with me about something, Diana?"

"Sure."

"Did your brother really pass the notebook to you?"

"Of course not," she answered without much thought. "In fact, Donovan totally lied to Mal if that's what he really told her."

"So what's the truth?" I asked.

"How do I know you won't run back to your friends and snitch if I tell you?"

"What if I promised you that I won't say a single word to any of them?" It seemed like one risky promise, but I was willing to keep it.

Diana shook her head. "I can't burden you with keeping something from them when it's not worth it, Carlos."

"Diana, if we're really friends and we're not just deceiving ourselves, then at least give me the privilege of knowing the truth."

She sighed. "Fine. The truth is, Donovan honestly was going to return Mal's notebook until I came up with some miraculous lie to make him believe I'd return it for him when I knew that I had no intentions on doing so."

"Wow, that hurts." Donovan's voice caught us both by surprise and we looked in his direction.

"Sorry?" Diana sarcastically replied with a shrug and a devious smile.

Donovan simply glared at his sister while her expression refused to fade. It created a more tense silence, thus making it slightly uncomfortable.

"You are heartless," he finally said. "Absolutely heartless."

"And you're just downright annoying, so that makes us even. Doesn't it?" Diana responded.

"I beg to differ."

She took one step closer toward him, still smiling. "Would you rather for me to be more than absolutely heartless?"

"On second thought, we're definitely even." Donovan took a step back while letting out a nervous and somewhat frightened chuckle.

"I thought so," Diana said, this time going straight around him and walking away as if nothing happened.

🌼💮🌼💮🌼💮🌼💮🌼💮🌼💮

✨ Author's Note ✨

Well, it's clearly official that a Descendants sequel is coming in summer of 2017 (which I'm so incredibly hyped for) and now Wicked World is apparently running again. With that being said, I'm gonna try to end this book by the beginning of next year. Hopefully I'll be finished sometime in January, but February is the deadline for me!

(Creativity is failing me with the chapter titles, isn't it?)