ℍ𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕌𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 - ℍ. ℍ𝕠𝕠𝕜

Chapter 4. Bike Rides

The next morning I was cleared by the doctors and I couldn't get out of the hospital wing quick enough. I went to change at home quickly and headed over to Evie's place, where we had planned to get everything ready for Jane's birthday party. When I got there, I found Dizzy, Giana and Celia eating cake in the front yard. They grinned when they saw me coming.

"Hadee! We're so glad you're okay," Dizzy said, giving me a hug before getting back to eating her cake. The other two girls didn't get up to give me a hug, simply nodding instead. I understood that because at their age I wouldn't have hugged people either, I still hardly did to be honest.

I eyed the cake they were eating and raised an eyebrow, "That wouldn't happen to be the cake for Jane's birthday party, now would it?"

Giana licked her sugar-coated fingers before pointing it at me, "Now that you mention it, I do think I saw that name written on top."

"Yeah, it's her birthday cake. Meant only for her birthday."

"So, we weren't supposed to eat it?" Dizzy frowned. I chuckled.

"Don't worry, I won't tell. Enjoy." I winked. The three girls grinned and happily duck in. I shook my head with a laugh and walked into Evie's small castle, heading towards the kitchen where I heard the others.

"Okay, who got into Jane's cake?" I heard Carlos exclaim, clearly annoyed at finding pieces missing. I quickly entered the kitchen, diverting their attention from the cake to me. Evie squealed when she saw me and pulled me in for a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh my God, Dee! I was so worried about you."

"We all were." Jay added, pulling me in for a hug after Evie let go and making my feet lift off the ground. Carlos also gave me a hug despite already having seen me awake.

"Good to see you on your feet again, Dee."

"It's good to be back." I grinned, clapping my hands together. "Now let's get ready for Jane's party."

Evie opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by noise from outside. Some loud cackling that sounded suspiciously alike to evil laughter. The four of us shared a look and ran outside, Celia joining us there. We made it just in time to see who I after a moment recognized to be Audrey holding Maleficent's sceptre disappear into a cloud of smoke. She wore a crown which looked suspiciously like the Queen of Auradon's crown, her usual light make-up was replaced by dark colours, and her pink leather outfit now held many dark accessories.

"The pink princess really outdid herself with that make-over." I mumbled, turning to Evie who I was sure would agree. But Evie had already turned to Mal, only to find that Mal had been turned into some old hag. I scrunched up my nose. Lord, Mal did not age well. I really hoped the spell had something to do with it for her sake.

"You might wanna think of a spell for that." Jay chuckled nervously.

"There's no spell that can reverse the curse of the sceptre."

"Well, that's a shame," Carlos said. I nodded in agreement.

"Dead shame."

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

"What should we do?" Evie asked. I shot her a look.

"Oh, I don't know. I was thinking who could head over to the spa and relax, what about you, E?" Evie glared and I grinned at her, but Mal ignored us and came up with a plan.

"The only thing more powerful than the sceptre is Hades' ember." This turned all eyes on me and I crossed my arms. There was no way we'd get that ember. My father was never seen without it and he was certainly not giving it to me with how rocky our relationship was at the moment. The ember was to my father like what the sceptre was to Maleficent. The only reason Audrey was able to have that was because Maleficent was up to, well, whatever amphibians were up to, since she was still stuck in her reptile form. And if I was being honest, I really did not want to see my father turn into a lizard. That would just be too weird. So really, there was no way to get that ember unless we could figure out how to steal it.