Elicia's Ice-A Descendants Novel BOOK 1

We're Not the Rotten Ones

"Okay, so after we get the wand, you four," Mal points at Carlos, Evie, Jay, and I. "Will go and get a limo as fast as you can. Evie, you still got the spray?"

Evie gives a small nod. 

"Okay, so I'll be up front, and once I have it we'll all go for the door. Shouldn't be too hard, once we have the wand there's not going to be much they can do." Mal chokes for a minute then goes on. "So we'll go to the Isle and bring the barrier down. Then, y'know." 

"Auradon will be the villain's." I finish softly. Every time I have doubts about this plan, I remember the look on my mother's----my mother's----face. No matter what I've tried, I can't get myself to go back to who I was. I even tried dyeing my hair, but it just slipped off. 

"Okay." Mal repeats. "Let's go. If we stay in here much longer, they'll think we're hiding. We can't hide. Because we're rotten." She sighs. "To the core."

"To the core." We chorus halfheartedly back. I quickly learned this was something they say. A lot.

Mal grabs her bag and shoves her book in. We're all still wearing our garden party outfits, but Evie gave me a dark blue leather jacket that she had made after I had asked her. She apologized for taking so long, but I told her it didn't matter. 

Mal leaves first and we all follow her. We find an empty picnic table and sit down. Mal takes out her book and rifles through it with glazed eyes. Not a moment after we sit down, Ben appears. 

"Hey, guys." he says cheerily. "How is everyone? Yeah?" 

None of us look up. I don't want to see how he looks at me if I do glance up.

"Hey, listen. Forget about it.All right? It was nothing. Forget about it. Let it go. Tomorrow, after the coronation, I promise everything will be okay."

None of us are listening. Evie glances up once but doesn't say anything. Mal just stares ahead. Ben leans down next to her. "I have to go." He whispers. He sighs with his hands on her shoulders. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." He lets go of Mal and walks off.

Doug comes up right after. "Listen, Evie, I wanna talk about earlier today. I just---"

"Doug!" Chad yells from the table next to ours. Doug jerks around to look at him. 

"It's my fault, Doug, I'm sorry." Evie whispers.

"No, it's mine---"

"Doug!" Chad yells again, more insistent. 

Doug turns around again. "What?"

Chad glares at him. I get it before Evie does. But she does soon after. 

"Doug..." She whispers, barely breathing. 

Doug starts to back away. "I'm sorry, I can't." He walks to Chad, slumping down on the table without actually looking at them. "Okay."

Evie looks ready to cry as she slams her notebook shut. I put my hand on her shoulder before snatching it back, remembering I don't have gloves anymore. But she smiles at me anyways. 

And then, just when none of us could feel any worse, Jane and Audrey come over. 

"How long does she think that's going to last?" Audrey whispers loudly. "Mal is just the bad girl infatuation. And Ellie? I mean, seriously? We never took the Ice Queen seriously, but she's really filled her shoes in."

Jane laughs. "Yeah. Mal," She leans down next to Mal's ear. "He's never going to make a villain a Queen." She glances sidelong at me. "Not that you need it, Ice Queen." She smiles sweetly as I finally look up with everybody else at the table. To my surprise, none of the VK's look angry. Just... hurt. And scared.