Rotten to the Core // Descendants 3 / Harry Hook

The Queen of Mean Appears

The next morning, Evie, Mal, and I were sitting in the sewing room of Evie's cottage. Mal informed us that her mom's scepter and the crown had been stolen.

Evie sat down and asked, "Who else knows about the crown and the scepter?"

Mal shook her head. "No one. I mean, think about it. People are scared enough as it is. We have to employ these new security measures."

I frowned. "What new security measures?"

Evie glanced at me and nodded. "Will this delay in bringing over more VKs?

Mal seemed slightly off as she answered, "We're talking about closing the barrier for good."

Evie was silent for a moment. "But you said no. I mean, the five of us are living the dream here, and we finally get to share that. I mean, what could be more important than that?"

Mal nodded. "I know." She sat down in the chair behind her. "I mean, maybe security or maybe peace of mind for everyone in Auradon."

I got up from my spot on the table and walked closer to Mal. "Peace of mind would be nice, especially after that stunt by Hades."

Evie frowned. "Is that what they're thinking? And were they seriously thinking that no one will ever go in or out of the Isle again? What, we never get to go back and see our parents? Mia never gets to go back and see the guy she loves? And what about those kids?" She stood up. "We promised they that they could go back and visit whenever they wanted."

Mal looked down sadly. "Yeah, I know."

Evie took Mal's right hand. "M, I am so glad that you are going to be queen. You will be a part of these conversations, you will stand up for the VKs. Thank you for telling me. For telling us." She hugged Mal, as did I. "You're gonna be a great queen."

Evie and I left Mal and made our way into the kitchen. We were packing things for Jane's birthday party. Carlos appeared and tossed a couple towels into a basket. "Morning. Got the beach towels."

Jay was eating something as he said, "These."

"Hey." Evie replied.

Carlos was obviously excited about Jane's birthday. "I really think she's gonna like the cake you guys."

I nodded. "I should think so. We worked hard on that."

Jay grinned. "Oh yeah?"

Carlos walked closer to the cake and his expression dropped. "Oh no. Okay. Who got into Jane's cake?"

While we attempted to solve the mystery of the cake culprit, we heard yelling outside.

We ran out to see what we supposed was Mal hunched over. She was wearing a black robe and had been turned into an old hag. We saw Audrey. She was a lot different than when we'd last seen her. She was wearing black and pink garments, and her hair was a dark pink and purple color. She had the crown on her head and Maleficent's scepter in her right hand.

Audrey glared at Mal. "You'll pay the price for what you did, and so will all of Auradon! So long, suckers!" She disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke.

Jay turned around and gasped. He clearly hadn't noticed Mal when we ran outside. "Whoa! You might wanna think of a spell for that."

Mal shook her head. "There's no spell that can reverse the curse of the scepter."

Carlos frowned. "Well that's a shame."

"Forget about me. Audrey's out for revenge, and all of Auradon's in danger."

"What should we do?" Evie wondered.

Mal looked up at us. "The only thing more powerful than the scepter...is Hades' ember."

Jay scoffed. "Oh. Like he's just gonna hand it over, give them back to the Isle."

"And no one knows where his lair is." Evie added.

"I do." Celia spoke up. "I'm his errand rat. I've got the key at my dad's."

Mal smiled. "You are coming."

Celia backed away as an annoyed expression overtook her face. She let out a sigh. "I just got here."

Dizzy and Ana stepped outside with Smee's twins and screamed. "Mal?"

Evie walked up to them. "Dizzy, stay here to take care of the twins and Ana. We'll be right back and everything will be just fine. Go inside." They went inside and Evie turned back to us. "Guys, go get your stuff."

"Come on, boys. Let's go." Dizzy called.

Mal looked at me and Evie. "How bad is it?"

Evie's eyes flicked to mine before she said, "You age beautifully. Now, let's just get you into something fabulous."

I smiled. "I know just the thing."

Mal nodded and smiled sweetly at us. "Okay."

"Come on." Evie said, walking ahead of us.

I cleared my throat and she looked back. Together, the two of us slowly helped Mal inside.

Evie nodded encouragingly. "Okay. Oh, yeah, there we go."

"Okay." Mal said again.

"Almost there."

We entered the cottage and grabbed what we needed.

[Okay, but Queen of Mean? One of my all time favorite Descendants songs. That song is absolute fire, and Sarah Jeffery's vocals are great!]