Wicked Ones ♛ MAL [✓]

➣ twenty-five.

025. | FAMILY FEUDS

When we arrived back at the Isle, we parked our bikes in an alleyway and removed our helmets. Much to my surprise, I saw that Mal was back to her younger self, and all signs of the curse was gone.

"Hey!" Mal said, lifting her hands to examine them before touching her cheeks. "I'm me again!"

"Duh," Celia said to her, rolling her eyes as if it were common knowledge. "Evil magic doesn't work here. Kind of the point."

As she walked off, and the rest of us followed, Evie slung her arm around Mal's shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief before saying, "Welcome back."

"Thank you," Mal replied.

We followed Celia down the alleyway and up to a heavy iron door. Celia banged her fist on the door in a rhythmic beat, and the door responded back with a similar beat. She danced to it, then banged on the door again, and seconds later it swung open. Giving us a wide grin, Celia beckoned for us to follow.

We walked down the dimly lit tunnel and into Dr. Facilier's Voodoo Arcade. As soon as Dr. Facilier noticed Celia, he pointed to her and shouted a greeting.

"Daddy!" Celia cried, running down the stairs to greet her father.

"Here she is!" Dr. Facilier said. We watched as he picked her up and spun her around before the two did a little dance. Then, he tapped his cheek for Celia to kiss, but instead she flicked his hat and tried to run past him. However, Dr. Facilier caught her before she could escape, tickling her sides as he said, "C'mere, little rascal."

As the two walked away to speak, I turned to Mal, who was watching them with an amused and warm expression.

"My cousins and I used to be that close," I said softly, referring to the relationship between Celia and her father. "But then my mom and my aunts kind of turned them on me, and ever since then they practically hated me."

"Did you guys ever make up?" Mal asked.

I shook my head. "No. But I found you guys a few months later. And trust me, you, Evie, Carlos, Jay, and Harley are much better than Savvy and Margo."

"Uh, guys," Carlos suddenly spoke up, pointing to the beat-up, old-fashioned television in the corner. "Come look at this."

We all gathered around the television, watching the Auradon reporter as he stood in front of Ben's castle.

"Alerts of the sleeping spell keep coming in as it spreads throughout Auradon," the reporter was saying. "There are rumors that Sleeping Beauty's daughter, Audrey, is behind the spell. We're trying to discover who is responsible for these vicious lies, and which villain has perpetrated this evil."

I bit my lip, exchanging looks with Mal and my friends. This was a lot worse than we had thought.

"Wait, we have an update," the reporter said, placing his finger on his ear. "It's what? It's moving this way?" Looking at the camera, he said fearfully, "It is moving this way!"

I glanced at my friends, my lips set in a tight line. "We need to get moving. Now."

We left the main part of the arcade, walking down the tunnel towards the exit. But when we got outside, we saw none other than Harry Hook and his pirates on our bikes, wearing our helmets as they prepared to drive off.

"Wow," Carlos said to Jay, gesturing to the pirates in exasperation. "Rookie mistake?"

"Long time nay see," Harry sneered, a wicked grin on his face.