Choosing Family

Chapter Twenty Two

Time passed, as time often does. Another birthday had come and gone for Mal, this time with a small party where Uma, Jay and Harry spent the day with her, her dad and Virgil. It had been nice, being able to spend the day with her cousin and friends-plus they had finally confirmed that Virgil was in fact Hades' nephew through Vanessa. Persephone had done a little digging since she was over across the bridge. Poor kid had almost passed out when Hades told him but Virgil always seemed close to passing out so there was really nothing new there.

Honestly, Panic probably was more nervous than Virgil was though to be fair Virgil wasn't the one married to Lord Hades' niece. Mal didn't truly understand it but she knew Virgil was her cousin. That was easy enough to understand.

It hadn't taken much in the way of persuading the boys to put Virgil under the crew's protection. Sure they were a little iffy at first considering Virgil was a year older than Jay but, as Mal reminded them, Virgil was jumpier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. That, plus the fact that he was a minion's kid, made him a prime target for gangs like Freddy boy's.

Uma had easily backed Mal up-the daughter of the Sea Witch stood by their motto of Ruthless yet Loyal. If there was anyone Uma was going to be loyal to, it was her crew and her family. Besides, any extra reason to go after Freddy boy was a positive in both their eyes.

School continued on but Mal paid it no mind. The only purpose of Dragon Hall was to teach kids how to be evil.

Mal though enjoyed her private lessons with her father, where she learned to harness her magic and made sure she at least had some control over it. They couldn't do any advanced lessons—mainly because of the barrier but also because Hades didn't want to risk Mal getting hurt.

With no proper doctors on the Isle, it wasn't worth the risk.

The private lessons, though, meant Hades soon learned about the 'lessons' Maleficent had taught Mal. To say the Lord of the Underworld was furious would be an understatement. Mal still remembered the rant her dad had gone on when he saw the mark Maleficent had made when she'd slapped Mal.

"Mal? What's that?"

"My face?" Mal told him, aware that it wasn't what he had meant.

"Don't be cute Mali." Hades told her, picking her up and sitting her on the sofa. "How'd you get that mark on your face?"

Mal shrugged, knowing that anything she said would just mean a worse 'lesson' from the dragon when she eventually found out. Because she always did.

"Mal, did Maleficent do that to you?" Hades asked gently, trying to keep his temper under control. Mal didn't need him ranting about smiting his ex wife. At least not right now. That didn't mean that when Mal wasn't in the room Hades wasn't going to let it rip.

Mal sighed. "She's the only one who could do it," she muttered. "Everyone else is terrified about potentially upsetting her to ever lay a hand on me. Freddy boy being the obvious exception but he's just a few bricks shy of a full load to borrow a saying from Steph."

Hades sighed and bit back the tidal wave of curses dying to come out of his mouth. Those were things Mal definitely didn't need to hear-though he was sure she already had. Most adults on the Isle didn't care if there were kids around when they let loose with their curses and swears. "Let me get you some ice, it'll help ease the pain," he told her.

"I've had this for a day," Mal shrugged. "Besides dad, I'm a VK. Pain is what we're used to."

"My daughter doesn't have to be," Hades said gently before walking into the kitchen to get the ice. Satisfied he was out of Mal's earshot, he growled as he opened the fridge to try to get a bit of a barrier.