Worse Than Wicked

10| Hex Em' And Weap

Eli

My hands traced along the many spines of the books I passed. I was standing in the magic section of the school library, looking for something that might help Mal and I out with our whole magic thing.

Just as I went to grab a book titled: The Spells And Curses of Dark Magic, a voice called out behind me.

At the sound of an all too familiar cackle, I dropped my book in shock, swinging my head around to see where my mother's voice was coming from.

"Eli!" I heard my mother call. Was I going crazy? Was all this sugar and spice of Auradon finally getting to me?

"Eli!" I jumped slightly as mom yelled again, I quickly glanced down at the bracelet on my wrist to the gem glowing a bright green.

My brown eyes widened, mom was trying to call me!

"Mom?" I asked cautiously, lowering my voice so no-one else in the library could hear.

My mother called out again, "In here!"

I quickly tucked the book under my arm, fumbling with the small latch on the bracelet until the gem popped open to reveal a close-up screen of my mother's green eye.

"Oh, Eli! It's me!" My mother called, her voice higher than usual thanks to the bad connection.

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help but smirk at my mom's antics, "Yeah, I know."

The screen blurred for a second, and I
was now able to see the top half of my mother, suggesting she had stepped back from her witch's glass back home.

"How are things in the land of Happily Ever After, kiddo?" My mom chuckled, raising her voice to be obnoxiously high
as she asked about Auradon.

I shrugged, slightly leaning my back against the shelf behind me, "Pretty lame. Oh, get this, my roommate, daughter of Glinda."

My mom rolled her green eyes at the mention of her former friend turned enemy, "Oh, royals. That sucks kid, hey, if she gets extra annoying, try the frog curse. She'll be coughing up amphibians for a week!" We both cackled at that before a serious look appeared across her face, "Gotten the wand yet?"

I ran a hand through my hair, shaking my head, "Nope. We found out where it is though, and we're working on a plan to get it now."

Mom nodded, her red hair which I did not inherit tucked in a braid, "Clocks ticking, kid, you know how Maleficent gets." I nodded, the sorceress was known to be pretty impatient.

As mom opened her mouth to say something else, my ears perked up at the sound of footsteps coming my way.

I widened my eyes, "Gotta go, mom. Bye!" I whispered before quickly slamming the bracelet closed, cutting the connection.

"Wouldn't really take you as one to be a reader." I whirled around to come face to face with Ben, a bright smile spread across his face.

I rolled my eyes, flipping through the pages of the book in my hands as I tried to act as normal as possible, "I thought you were the one who never judged a book by it's cover?"

He laughed lightly, not a menacing or mocking laugh, but one that seemed genuine.

"Fair enough, fair enough." I felt him lean against the shelf next to me, "How you liking classes so far?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, looking up from the book only briefly, "You want a real answer?"

He only shrugged and I closed the book, turning my attention on him fully as I spoke, "It's a little...okay a lot different from where I come from. There's literally a Pretty Handwriting class, do you not find that weird?"

The Prince chuckled, playing with a golden ring on his finger, "Yeah, that one's a little excessive, I dropped out of it last year." He looked over at me, standing up slightly straighter, "I can change your schedule if you want?"

I whistled lowly, smirking at him, "And take Smiling For Beginners instead? No thanks."

I then turned on my heel, walking over to the next aisle, suspecting the conversation to be over. I was surprised (and slightly annoyed) to see that Ben was following me.

"Don't you have a girlfriend to be with?" I asked the boy as he watched as I skimmed through a stack of books.

Ben took the book I was looking through out of my hands, putting it on the shelf and ignoring my growl, "What if I want to hang out with you?"

The question caught me off guard. No one had ever really wanted to hang out with me before besides the gang (unless being forced to counted).

I studied the Prince for a minute, his light green eyes looking down into my own.

"Bennyboo!" At the sound of the annoying Audrey calling out for her boyfriend I jumped slightly.

Ben quickly whipped his head around, looking for the brunette. I took this time to quickly slip away, making my way to the other side of the library.

I glanced over my shoulder momentarily causing me to run directly into something, my book tumbling out of my hands.

"Watch where you're going!"

"I'm so sorry!" An all too familiar high pitched voice called out. I looked down to see Gwen, blonde curls and all standing right in front of me.

I rolled my eyes, not in the mood to deal with here. I bent down to pick up my book, stopping when I realized what other book was on the floor.

Wicked, the book that was written by the Wizard of Oz, my grandfather. It was the story of my mom's life. The real story.

My eyes trailed up to Gwen to see that she was already looking at me, a sheepish grin on her face.

"I heard that it was good." She picked up the book, twirling it in her hands, "And it has mom in it so why not read it?"

I only nodded, before grabbing the book I had dropped and standing up from the ground. I glanced down at Gwen as she dusted her self off. I rolled my eyes before holding the book she had dropped out to her.

She eyed the book warily, and I resisted the urge to throw the book back on the ground, just before she reached out and gently pulled the book into her own hands. She then tossed her blonde curls back behind her shoulders and gave me a small nod.

And with that, she walked towards the end of the aisle and I made my way out of the library.