Blamed

Chapter 17 - Auradon Prep

In the end, it wasn't much we took from Fairy Godmother's quarters: just a single item - one of the many spellbooks on the shelf in her private office.
At first, it had taken me completely off guard when she'd pressed it into my hands; the Fairy Godmother giving me one of her prized spellbooks?
It didn't matter to me that she had an entire shelf of them and, by the looks ot it, several duplicates, yet that didn't change the fact that she gifted me something so special.

My mother had only ever had one spellbook; a book of yellowing pages, protected by a sheath of worn leather, that she had kept in the safe in our dining room.
In stark contrast, this one was encased in a soft blue fabric, adjourned with the detailed crest of the Saunders family - Jane's family.
I briefly wondered if Fairy Godmother had given Jane a spellbook like this one.
I tucked it safely into my dragonheart charm, not missing the eyes of a certain woman following my actions.
If she didn't know, or had forgotten about them then, she definitely remembers them now.

When the boys finally reappeared by my side, I was pretty much ready to leave. I noticed that they had both grabbed a backpack. It was a good idea, despite them both being relatively empty.
"Ready to go?" I asked them.
Jay nodded, but Carlos hesitated, before turning on his heel and practically running back into the rooms of the apartment.
When he reappeared, he had a wooden frame clutched against his chest, over his heart.
I expected Fairy Godmother to be at least a little bit angry at my friend's jacking a photo of her daughter, but instead she just smiled softly, eyes twinkling. Eventually, Carlos too was ready to go.
Originally, that was to be the end of our little 'trip' around the school to collect belongings, but I decided that it wasn't yet time to leave. It wasn't that I was trying to delay our leaving - well, maybe I was - but the main reason was to make a detour.
A detour to the west wing.

The boys were seemingly fine with my wanting to visit the private quarters of Ben's family, so that's what we did.
There wasn't anything in particular that I wanted to take from there; I just wanted to be in there one last time, at least for now, despite the fact that he was most likely in his office. Which is on the other end of the school, adjacent to Fairy Godmother's.
Perhaps I'd grab a photo, like Carlos did.

I didn't take a photo. Sure, I intended to, but the room was perfect as it was. I wanted to keep the memory of what his room looked like in my head, his belongings undisturbed, stowed away in the safe that was my mind.
Instead, after digging through his wardrobe, I pulled out a beanie, striped with Ben's signature colours - blue and yellow.
Pulling it over my plum hair, I closed the wardrobe, swallowing the lump in my throat.

That was all. It was time to leave.

<><><>

It was relatively obvious that Triton didn't trust us, despite our returning his 'stolen' trident. I don't blame him though; 3 children of villains, one of which is a thief, returning something that was stolen mere hours ago.
Thankfully, though, he didn't question our methods.

Instead, he stood at the edge of the cliff, glaring down at us. He was currently in human form, on the legs that Fairy Godmother had granted him and the rest of the residents of Atlantic after the unity of the states of Auradon.

He held his trident in his left hand. It was still dripping water, the sunlight shining off it glared down at us, as if it knew we were responsible for its removal in the first place.
The King of the ocean frowned down at us, suspicion swirling in his grey irises. The silence was awkward, the three of us staring up at him expectantly.
Eventually, he let out a great sigh, before turning his back to us, looking over his domain, eyes resting on the black spot in the distance that was the Isle of Fate.

"You will regret this," he said, still not looking at us. "Those who cross these waters and dock on that Island rarely come back." His voice was gruff.
"I hope for your sake that you have a plan."
He snapped his fingers, the sound rumbling like it had been filtered through a megaphone.
It rolled down the cliffs, splashing into the water like a solid object before a boat pulled itself from the crashing waves below us.

"I wish you luck, Child of Maleficent, Child of Cruella Deville, Child of Jafar. I do hope this is not the end of your story."

.. The end!
Congratulations. You've just read a story with no true climax!
Yay.
I really wanted to cover more of Jane's past, and go into Ben's as well, but there wasn't time, as the characters are supposedly rushing to get this sorted out, and get their friend back.

You'll also notice that there were no two-part chapters in this story. That is because - dun-dun-dunnn! The whole thing is a 'part one', so to say. How fun!

Anyway, the sequel will be put into action after the summer break, and the first three chapters will be published at the same time, somewhere between the beginning of September and the end of October.

Until then, here's some things to think about:

How is Evie gonna get away?
Is she even on the Isle of Fate, or is the gang's assumption incorrect?
Who is the shadowed figure?
Why didn't Fairy Godmother take Mal's charms when she was first arrested?
Why were Ben and the AKs so eager to rescue the others?
What happened to Cruella and Jafar?
When is Cloud actually gonna be bothered to update?

See you in the conclusion to the Framed Trilogy
- Cloud 🍎