"I can't get a hold of anyone," Evie groaned, flopping down in one of her chairs and scanning frantically through her contacts list. "Everyone must be out of range. Maybe the barrier is blocking the signal?"
Mal watched her friends' reactions as they all piled into Evie's living room. Ben and Doug were first through the door, Ben looking stressed and Doug panicked. Jay and Carlos followed, Jay keeping watch while Carlos hastily did something with his phone...probably trying to send another message to Jane. He'd attempted about twenty times in the past five minutes. To Mal's knowledge, none had gotten through the barrier. She spotted Dizzy, Celia, and the twins stick their heads into the room curiously before Evie noticed them and gently ushered them back to their rooms and told them to stay there.
"We need a plan," Mal decided as Jay cautiously closed the door and the six of them gathered around the room, some moving to take a seat on the couches or chairs, others electing to lean near the windows. "For now at least, we have to assume that we are the only ones here and that the others are not close enough to help."
"Well, what can we do?" Carlos questioned, finally giving up on his phone and stuffing it back into his pocket. "We don't have Maleficent's scepter or any idea where Morgana is going, or how we're supposed to be able to stop her."
"So, then maybe we should think about what we do have," Ben suggested. "We have the Dragonfires. We have friends. And we're all still here, right?" Everyone nodded. "Well, let's start with that. Mal?" He opened the floor to her as he took a seat next to Jay.
Mal took the moment. "Thank you," she said. "Okay, guys," she went on. "I know this is all a bit overwhelming for everyone. But we've been through worse, haven't we? We saved Auradon from my mother, we convinced Uma to help us. We can stop Morgana too. We just have to be smart and think this through. Evie? Any ideas?"
The bluenette looked up in surprise. "Me?"
Mal nodded and stepped back, gesturing for her to come up. Evie hesitated for a moment. "Erm...well...this isn't really my...kind of thing...but...what if we could somehow find where Morgana is planning to strike? Maybe we could then attack from...two fronts?" She glanced back at Mal for help.
The violette nodded in agreement.
"All right, so how are we going to find Morgana?" Doug questioned quietly.
Mal shrugged, already skimming her spell book once more. "It says the chosen one will have the ability to sense danger," she read. "So that should make it easy enough. Evie can do that, right Evie? You can use your magic to find Morgana, can't you?"
Evie frowned, glancing up from her dazed stupor. "Chosen what now? I'm confused. Would someone please explain what Mal's talking about? No, I can't use my powers like that. Mal, what's this all about?"
Mal hesitated. The others looked at her expectantly. You have to tell her, their frowns said. Tell her or one of us will. And it won't be any easier coming from us. She took a deep breath. "Here," she said, standing up from the window sill and handing the spellbook to Evie who stared at her in surprise. "I think you'd better read this."
Evie took it from her, frowning, obviously confused. She read it, and, as she did, Doug inched closer to rest a hand on her shoulder. Evie tensed noticeably as she reached the part about the prophecy. There was silence for a moment. And then she looked up at them with a blank expression, closing the book with a snap. "It's not me."
Mal blinked. Not her? But it had to be her! The prophecy...her parents...everything fit! "But...Evie..."
She fixed her with a steely glare that instantly sent chills running up and down Mal's spine. "Mal. It's. Not. Me."
Mal didn't know what to say. Ben seemed to sense this and stepped in. "But, if it isn't you," he tried to reason. "Then who else could it be? All of us here know who our parents are. We're heroes and we're villains. But none of the rest of us are mixed. Evie..." He sat down on her other side. "It has to be you."
Evie shook her head. "No! I've seen this legend before. I did a report on it for Remedial Goodness. Ben, I'm telling you...I'm not the one you're looking for." With that, she handed Mal her book back and settled into the corner, eyeing the knitting needles lying temptingly beside Doug. He seemed to notice this and cautiously slid them away, possibly fearing someone nearby (namely him) would get stabbed.
"Okay," Carlos frowned deeply. "So...if Evie's not the chosen one...then how are we supposed to stop Morgana?"
Mal was already skimming back through her book for any knowledge about the sorceress. "Well, it says here that the Prime Merlinian can--"
"Ah ah ah!" Jay cut her off before she could continue. "Been there. Done that. Does it say anything else? We don't have the Prime Merlinian here and, with the barrier up, we can't travel to a faraway land to find him either."
Mal frowned. "No," she replied. " Hold on. I'll see if there's anything about Morgana." While the others waited, she leafed through the pages. After a minute, she glanced back up. "There's not much about her," she explained. "But this might be useful. She has only three known weaknesses: The Dragon Ring--"
"Of course," Ben nodded.
"Electricity--"
"She wouldn't fall for that a second time," Jay pointed out.
"And the Dragonstone."
"Hold up," Carlos interrupted, perking up now. "What's a Dragonstone?" He glanced from Mal to Ben and back again. "Can we...can we use that?"
Mal read the page over again. "It doesn't say," she answered. "In fact, I can't find any other mention to it. I don't what it is or where we could find it."
"I do."
There was a shuffle of movement from the doorway and all eyes turned to see Celia standing there, hands on her hips. Seeing they weren't going to say anything, she groaned and rolled her eyes, stalking into the room and plopping down between Evie and Doug, forcing them to move apart to make room. "Dad told me about it all the time, hoping he'd get a glimpse of it one day, no doubt. The Dragonstone is a weapon of immense power. Part of it lies in Maleficent's staff."
She fanned out her deck of cards and offered them to Evie who politely declined with a shake of her head, having already done it once before. Celia shrugged it off and twisted towards Doug hopefully. The boy picked one cautiously and frowned. "Those stones you all are carrying?" Celia went on. "Yeah, those are also part of it." She held out her hand as Doug fished around in his pocket for some sort of payment. He finally managed to find a couple of dollars and handed them to her. "For now, keep the card," she told him unexpectedly. "I think you might need it. Anyway," she turned back to the others. "It's just a rumor, but, if you can get all the pieces of the stone together, it should somehow...fuse...and form the Dragonstone." She stood up and started to head back to her room.
"Oh!" She paused and spun back on her heels. "I should probably mention this. An AK can't use it once it's formed. You get it, right? So, no getting greedy," she warned, pointing at Ben and Doug. "Let Mal and the others handle the dangerous and powerful magical object, all right?"
The two AKs promised and Celia headed off.
Mal watched her friends' reactions. Jay and Carlos sat against the wall, frowning. Ben seemed pensive. Evie was currently leaning over Doug's shoulder, trying to read his card, while Doug paled tremendously. "What does it say?" Mal heard Evie whisper. "Can you read it?"
"I read about these symbols in a book once," Doug hissed, eyes wide. "It says danger, darkness, and secrets..." He looked like he wanted to say more but the terror evident in his expression seemed to petrify him and shut down his vocal cords.
"Morgana," Evie assured him. "It's because of her. Don't worry about it," she added, putting a hand on his shoulder. "When this is all over, you can go back to Celia and try again. It'll be different then. Promise." He didn't seem completely convinced and only watched quietly as Evie stood up and walked over to Mal. "Hey," she whispered. "We really need to come up with a plan. The longer Morgana and my mother are in Auradon, the harder it will be to get them back out again."
Ben overheard them. "So, we know Maleficent's staff is part of this...Dragonstone...right? And we know where the scepter is. Why don't we go there, get the Dragonstone, and then worry about how to find Morgana afterwards?"
"That...sounds...logical," Carlos agreed. Both he and Jay stood up. "But...maybe we should stop...discussing it and go." His eyes darted around the room anxiously. "Before anyone realizes we're here," he added, in case it wasn't obvious.
Mal nodded in agreement. "So why don't we all head for the museum first and try to figure out this whole "Evie's-not-the-chosen-one" on the way? Yeah?" She waited for the others to agree.
Jay nodded. "Yeah."
Ben and Doug nodded.
Evie moved towards her sewing room. "I'll let Dizzy and the others know. I...don't...really want to leave them here, after what happened last time. But I think it'd be a lot safer for them here than out there." She disappeared around the corner, calling the kids' names.
They all waited until she returned a few moments later. And then, silently, as if they'd done it all their life, they headed towards the door. Evie first, Doug right behind her. Jay, Carlos, and Ben hastily came after. Mal brought up the rear.
As she passed the window sill, she noticed Celia's card, the one she'd given to Doug, lying in the fading light. Curiosity overwhelmed her. Glancing around once to make sure the others weren't watching, she hurried over and turned it face-up.
The four pictures shone silver and blue. A toxic sign, shadows, and a locked box. It was just as Doug had said. Danger, darkness, and secrets. But it was the fourth symbol that caught her eye. The one that Doug hadn't mentioned. The one that had terrified him.
The skull and crossbones.
The symbol of death.
And it was in the dwarf's future.
So, the only question was...who was going to die?