Ellie's Flames BOOK 2

16: Liar, Liar, Rock's No Longer On Fire

Jay shakes his head. "What do you mean?"

"The... program has shut down." Mal says, swallowing. My stomach shrivels in my gut, and Icy's face is full of horror. Our shock is reflected all around us, at least half of our jaws dropped.

"And... the barrier will be closed for good." Mal finishes, nodding to herself.

All around us, the joking air freezes to a stony silence. I swear Icy is making the temperature drop on purpose. Harry, behind us, makes a growling/groaning noise that I very much want to replicate.

"For Auradon's safety." Ben says softly. My brain catapults around my head, sprinting in a circle. Hold on, hold on. Ben and Mal planned on CLOSING the barrier and not TELLING ANYONE!?!?!? NOT EVEN THEIR CLOSEST FRIENDS!??!?!?!? WHAT THE FREAKING HECK!!!!!

"Hold up." Uma steps forward, her walk returning to its swaggering sway. "So we're saving your precious people. And your behinds... for a lie?" She demands, her voice dangerously soft.

Mal doesn't answer.

"I knew it was a mistake to trust you." Uma says, sucking on her teeth the way I do when I'm trying not to scream or cry. "You're always out for yourself."

Harry moves forward as well. "And you." He gestures to Ben. "King Ben." He walks up to Beasty b... Ben. And stops inches from his face. No malice in his expression, just disappointment, when he says, "you're probably just gonna throw us all back inside. Eh?"

Nobody says anything for a moment. From the corner of my eye, I can see a single tear making its way down Icy's face. And it's from her blue eye, so for some reason it's glowing. Which makes it hard to miss.

Celia, with her arms crossed over her chest, moves to Uma's side. "You know what? I actually thought you were brave." She tells Mal. "But you're nothing but a chicken." Her voice quivers. "Too scared to tell me I was never gonna see my dad again!"

"Celia..." Mal whispers. In one fluent movement, Celia darts forward, grabs the ember, and tosses it into a birdbath. "Celia, no! NO!" Mal screams, but it's too late. On impact, the blue stone explodes like a firecracker and flickers out.

Mal quickly fishes it out from the fountain while Celia storms away. She shakes a few droplets off of it, then waves her hand over it. "Regain your might and ignite!" She shouts.

Nothing happens.

"No..." Mal chokes out, turning to face all of us again. "Regain your might and ignite!" She chants once again, but it just sadly fizzes at her. In desperation, Mal holds out the ember to Uma.

Uma glances down at her seashell necklace. It's not glowing, so Uma locks eyes with Mal and shrugs. "Bummer."

Mal, her mouth open wide in panic, doesn't say a word until Uma nods to Harry and says, "Let's go find Gil and leave 'em all to rot."

"No----" Mal gasps out, turning with them as they stalk away. "UMA!" She turns hopelessly to Icy. "Ellie! The ember---maybe---"

Icy slowly shakes her head, backing away until she's standing next to Carlos. "You were going to close the barrier?" She demands. "And you didn't say anything?"

"I was just---"

"Mal, I'm not even from there." Ellie says, her voice catching. "But I... I can't imagine not... Never going back... I..." her voice dies, and she backs even further away, breaking eye contact and burying her face in her hands. Carlos puts an arm around her shoulders.

Evie slowly moves forward, focused on nothing but Mal. It's like she's literally wearing her heart on her sleeve, and it's torn in half.

"Evie... I'm so sorry." Mal whispers to her friend. "I'm sorry, I just... I thought that---I was afraid to tell you! I thought I was gonna lose my best friend! But I-I had to do something, I had to protect Auradon!"

It falls on deaf ears.

"Closing the barrier was your idea?" Evie asks quietly, pointing in the general direction of the Isle of the Lost.

"I did it for us!" Mal protests. All of us slowly exchange glances with one another, disbelieving. Ellie is clutching her stomach like she's in pain, and I honestly can't say I blame her.

"I did it for... our life! That we have here now." Mal continues desperately.

"For our life?" Evie demands. "What about the kids that we left behind on that island?" Her voice breaks, going quiet and scratchy like mine does when I try to sing. "The kids that we promised! We were their only hope. I thought you were going to stand up for the VK's." She points to Mal accusingly. "But instead you lied to them. And you lied to Jay." She points behind herself. "And you lied to Carlos." Points. "And you lied to Ellie. And Sera." Point. Point.

Her voice cracks even more, so I only hear it because of my hyped-up god-ish hearing. "And you lied to me."

Mal opens her mouth, a little gasp escaping.

"We're your family." Evie practically sobs, shaking her head and backing away.

"Evie." Mal whispers. But Evie turns her back on her friend, and we all follow her lead. I move over to Icy, reaching a hand out to her. Carlos is in the middle of kneeling down to Dude, one hand still clasped in Ellie's while she's staring down at Dude with a sad expression on her face.

But all of the sudden, I can't move. A clap of thunder followed by a blinding flash of white light blinds me, and then...

I can't move.

I can't see.

I can't even hear this time. Can't find out what's happening around me. But I'm fearful of one thing:

This feels like my coma.

This can't be happening. I scream inside my head, staring at black nothing. THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! I CAN'T BE BACK UNDER!

But just like in my coma, there's not a thing I can do.

I'm trapped. And that makes me more terrified than I've ever felt, even when I saw Arson. There, I had a chance to do something.

Here... I'm all alone. 

__________________________

Emotionnnnnsssssssss

Sorry no update for a wide gap, guys. I've been super busy with the play. It's going to be SO GOOD. We perform the rest of this week, and I honestly can't wait. I love my costume so so so much. The makeups a bit much. But whatever.