"AHHHHHH! PLEEEEASSSEEE, MAKE IT STOOOOOPPP!"
Doug had been screaming for five consecutive minutes before any of the others seemed to notice. He was hugging Ben tightly, eyes squeezed shut, barely breathing. He felt the wind whipping past him and the heavy wingbeats of Ben as the king struggled to hold the two of them aloft. Meanwhile, Doug's brain was racing. How had the others turned into dragons? It had to have been when their Dragonfires touched. But he'd done the same, hadn't he? Why hadn't the spell worked on him? Why wasn't he a dragon like the rest of them? Was he not enough of a hero? Was that it? Had the Dragonfire rejected him after all? Maybe it realized that he wasn't good enough after all. Maybe he wasn't some hero that could save Auradon from danger. He certainly hadn't been any help before. Why would anything choose him now? It wouldn't, he thought miserably. I'm not chosen. And that's why I couldn't change like the others. I'm not a hero.
There was a grunt that could only have come from Mal. It sounded like she was snapping at one of them. Doug slowly lifted his head, blinking away the tears of panic and fear and staring across the cloud field towards Mal who gave him a pointed look before growling something to Ben. Even if he couldn't understand what Mal was saying, Doug had a fairly good idea of what she was thinking: Somebody find a way to shut him up before he warns every villain from Charmington to Pirate's Lagoon that we're here.
Evie took the lead, curling her wings up and dropping from the air like a rock. She disappeared behind the poofy clouds in seconds. Near her, Jay sliced through the fog and did a tiny backflip to show off. Carlos narrowed his eyes and focused on keeping up with Mal who was scanning the land below them as they approached.
Doug held his breath and forced himself to look down at the dizzying ground hundreds of feet down. The crystal bridge was hardly more than a spec against the sparkling sea. And he could just make out the dark figures hurrying across the water towards Auradon. They'd never make it in time, he knew. They'd be lucky if they even managed to get to school before Morgana began her invasion. Which is why we have to get there first, he thought.
Can't Ben fly any faster?
Evie reappeared from the clouds and slowed her pace to match the others. She seemed to be smiling, though, what about, Doug couldn't guess. They were hundreds of feet up in the air. The nearest land was too far down to touch. And he was starting to feel a bit dizzy. There was certainly nothing to be happy about.
Even his Uncle Happy could not be happy in this sort of situation.
Mal grunted something else. Doug really wished he could understand what she was saying. He gripped Ben's scales tighter as the five dragons pulled tighter into a formation and Mal advanced to take the lead. Mal suddenly dropped from the air and the others followed. Doug held on tighter and closed his eyes as he experienced the moment of weightlessness. At that moment, he was really glad he hadn't eaten anything for breakfast that morning.
Ben dove straight down.
The land was hurtling towards them at a breakneck speed. Clouds exploded in Doug's eyes as he tried to hide his face behind Ben's head. He couldn't help it. He squeezed his eyes shut and started to scream again.
A minute passed. And then two. A gentle thump.
Doug cautiously opened his eyes. The sky was gone. Green was around him in every direction. Green and brown. Earth. Sweet ground. I'm on the ground. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, thankful to still be alive. He glanced over at Evie and the others as they landed as well. They stood in a loose ring and all eyes fell on him. He understood what they were silently saying: Get off. We're here.
Sheepishly, he dismounted Ben. Every muscle in his body was shaking. He used a tree for a balance, unsure that he would even be able to stand. At least the world had seemed to stop spinning. He stood there for a moment, and, as he did, he was aware of a roar and a flash of purple light. When he turned, Evie was already there. She took his hands in hers. Doug couldn't stop shaking. Evie frowned, obviously noticing this.
"Doug," she whispered to him. "Why didn't you tell anyone you have Acrophobia?" Her gentle gaze. The caring expression on her face. This was totally a different side of Evie than he'd seen only a short time ago on the Isle. Two sides of the same coin, Doug thought unconsciously.
"Hey...what's...Acro--whatever?" Jay questioned.
"It's the fear of heights," Carlos explained. He nodded toward Doug. "Makes sense, actually."
Evie ignored them and kept her gaze fixed on Doug who hesitated before responding. "I'm a dwarf," he finally said. "No one in my family handles altitude well. Well, except for Snow White."
"Snow White?" Mal barked, just now jumping in on the conversation. "But she's not really related to you, is she?"
Doug shook his head. "No, but she's the closest thing to a mother I've ever had. She treats Derek and I like sons."
Evie blinked, confused. "What about your real mom?"
Doug shrugged. "No clue. She died when I was four. But Dad said she wasn't a dwarf."
"Makes sense," Ben commented. "Honestly, I'd always wondered how you were so..." He couldn't find the words so he made an exaggerated motion above his head for tall. And it was true. Doug stood at 5'9'', nearly a foot taller than his parents...and his brother. He was definitely the odd one out. And it made family get-togethers rather difficult. Particularly when he lived in a cottage where he had to duck to get into every room.
"Yeah," Doug chuckled nervously.
"Well, while we're having Doug spill his entire life story," Mal interrupted. She turned to Doug and addressed him now. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"
Doug knew what she was implying. Anything you can tell us that might explain why you didn't turn into a dragon like the rest of us. He could practically feel her digging around in his brain for the elusive answer. He wished he knew and could sift it out of his filing cabinet of a brain and hand it to her. But, he had to tell them something. "Er...I'm claustrophobic also..." he confessed.
Evie's eyes widened. Doug guessed what she was thinking. A dwarf? Claustrophobic? How did that happen? It was so rare. And it made him pretty useless in the mines, too. He couldn't get more than five steps into the caves without having a severe panic attack. Another reason Derek was so much stronger than him. Derek did all the manual labor and Doug read books and studied all day.
"Claustro what now?" Jay groaned. "Seriously! Does anybody around here speak English?"
"Claustrophobic means he's afraid of tight spaces," Carlos translated again.
"I know what it means!" Jay protested.
Carlos just rolled his eyes.
"Well, um, that's...good to know," Mal said. "But I actually meant anything useful for stopping Morgana."
Doug shrugged. He didn't know anything more about the sorceress than any of them. And probably less even. He'd never been very fond of History class anyway. He scarcely even remembered discussing Morgana. Probably because very little was known about her. The only thing he really remembered was something about someone called the Prime Merlinian who could defeat her once and for all. But that had already happened, hadn't it? So, without the Prime Merlinian, how are we supposed to be able to stop Morgana from destroying the world?
"Is there anything in your spellbook?" Evie suggested.
Mal shrugged and pulled out the large book, scanning the table of contents. "Just the spell to raise the dead," she answered. "And for some reason, I get the sense that that is one spell that we do not want to try." She closed the book and slipped it back into her backpack. "So I guess that means we'd better start by finding the villains before they start wreaking havoc."
At her words, Ben's phone began to ring. Hastily, he pulled it from his pocket and read the message, frowning as he did. "That was Jane," he explained to the others. "Someone has put the barrier up around Auradon. They're stuck outside."
There was a rumble like thunder and, suddenly, behind him, a huge wall of yellow light shot from behind the trees and quickly encompassed the entire area. The teens stared in disbelief. Carlos was the first to regain his voice. "And now we're locked inside. Guys?" He looked at the others a bit fearfully. "You do know what this means, don't you? We're on our own."
On our own? Doug felt weak. The villains were loose in Auradon and half of their friends were trapped on the bridge. Was this part of Morgana's plan? Did she want the six of them to find her? What did she want from them? The Dragonfires, he guessed. And, tallying up all that we know for sure, there are six of us. And if Maleficent is nearby, there's four of them. That means there's two more of us. We've got this. Yeah. Totally.
He gulped, glancing around at the others and noticing their concerned expressions. Clearly, they were thinking the same thing. We're all gonna die, aren't we?
Mal was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. "I think we need a game plan," she decided. "So, let's find out who's still left, and then we'll all meet at Evie's. From there we can decide how best to attack."
The others nodded. Mal turned on her heel and led the way back through the woods. The others hastily followed, falling into a protective formation. Mal in the front. Evie and Ben were right behind her, texting everybody they knew. Doug shuffled after them and Jay and Carlos brought up the rear, both staying alert, keeping watch for an ambush.
Doug kept his head down as he walked. With a sigh, he fingered the Dragonfire, watching as it pulsed in his hand. He wished he knew why it had refused to work for him now. And he thought of the visions. Were those actually going to come true? His family...Evie...was Morgana about to take away everything he'd ever cared about?
But his mind kept reverting back to the first few moments when Morgana had first arrived at the Evil Queen's castle and their eyes had met. It had seemed like she'd been genuinely surprised to see him. Or was it just the overall shock of seeing all of them standing there, ready to fight?
Then why did it seem like she recognized him? It hadn't been a look to all of them. It had been a look to him. It was as if she knew him. But that was impossible, right? Surely they hadn't met before. He'd remember if they'd had.
Wouldn't he?