This will make much more sense if you've read Framed before starting this. If you haven't, go check it out!
My fingers brushed the rough bark of the thick trunk below me.
I was up a tree, making the most of the time I have alone while concealed in its canopy. I had a feeling that someone was on the search for me, but I didn't care; I needed room to breathe.
I watched the Isle sadly - the place that was my home for 16 years. You could almost hear the shouting of angry parents, the clatter of feet on roofs and the smell of food that is way past the gone. Sometimes I miss it, the freedom of living life the way you want to, but I don't think I'll ever be returning there again. Not by choice.
I don't actually know when Dizzy's due for collection, but I know it's soon. Ben asked for mine and Evie's opinion on when to bring another set of Villain's kids to Auradon. Evie said 'before Christmas' (this celebration where you put a tree in your house and this white stuff gets everywhere that makes your toes freeze off). I said after Family day, so it is happening sometime between these two dates.
I smiled softly, remembering the 'good old days' : Me, Evie, Jay and Carlos leaping across roof after roof, fleeing from whatever angry shopkeeper we stole from - laughing like insane, well, villains. You could almost hear the buzzing of the streets.
However, I was quickly snapped from my thoughts by a soft "Mew" below me.
Dropping my gaze, I saw a small ball of what looked like Candy floss at the foot of the trunk. After dropping down, I scooped up the not-so-little animal and held her close to my face so that my pale green bet her vibrant emerald.
"Hello Chelsea," I cooed softly, and a smile spread across my face when her eyes crinkled, like she was smiling.
"What is it?"
My cat had become sort-of like a feline messenger for the residents of Auradon Prep, if anyone needed a message ferried to me or one of the other VK, considering we still didn't really use our phones.
She began to paw at the air, like there was some sort of invisible fly that she was attacking - a typical sign that she wanted to talk.
I grasped her little purple paw and I felt a connection establish between our minds.
"Hello Mistress," she won't stop calling me that. Reminds me a bit of Danny, except he's rightfully a bird, not a cat.
"Chelsea, please just call me Mal. Or Holly."
"Okie. King Benny says that he is to see Mal. In the offiss."
I frowned. After the incident with Uma, at Cotillion when I joined the court, Fairy Godmother created an emotional link between me and Ben, so we know what emotions each other are feeling, which apparently all Kings and Queens share : Belle and Adam, Cinderella and Charming. Aurora and Phillip, and now, me and Ben.
I don't know why I haven't picked up on any changes in emotion, but the only way for it to be taken down is if Fairy Godmother does it.
So something's probably wrong.
I put Chelsea back onto the floor, then made my way towards Ben's office.
<><><><><>
The spruce door slowly opened to reveal a concentrated Ben, staring intently at something on his desk.
When he heard the door, his eyes darted up and a smile slowly stretched across his face upon seeing my Purple Locks (Which are now, by the way, dark, once more. I got bored of the lighter purple).
"Hey Mal."
"Hi Benny Boo," I teased. "Chelsea says you need something?"
"Yeah," he frowned, "the link didn't seem to be working."
"I'll ask Fairy Godmother about it later. So... what is it?"
"Oh, right."
He stood from his leather chair, and grabbed a sheet; the same one he was just staring at.
"I'm not sure which other kids to bring over."
My eyes skimmed down the list, and a few names caught my eye.
"Mmm, try... Drew Facilier, and Gary Strongarm, Gaston's son."
Neither of them were that bad - but they weren't nice either.
Drew, Facilier's daughter, was a bit slimy, but a good laugh if you got to know her and Gary, well, he is much like his father. He got the strength, Gil got the (nonexistent) brains.
"...Okay?" Said Ben hesitantly, and I can't blame him. Another of Gaston's sons did assist in holding him captive only a short while ago.
"Aw, it's okay Ben, Gary's not his dad. Or his brother," I said softly, while locking my arms around his neck, hoisting myself onto his back.
He chuckled, and turned his head slightly, and I obliged to what I knew he wanted, and pressed my lips to his cheek - or was about to, until an ear-shatttering rumble took the castle by surprise.
BOOM.
Ben visibly jumped, and I fell off his back and onto the (very conveniently-placed) sofa behind his desk.
"Ow," I grumbled, sitting up as Ben sat beside me, wrapping a protective arm around my waist.
"What was that?" He whispered.
"I don't know."
"What do we do?"
I looked at him, and the amount of worry in his eyes was quite terrifying, I had a feeling I looked the same way.
"You tell me, Mr. King of Auradon."
He rolled his eyes, and I stood up, much to his protest.
"Mal! What are you doing?"
"Investigating." If this is going to ruin my home, it's going through me first.
BOOM. It happened again.
That's it. I gave Ben's hand a reassuring squeeze, then left the office, looking for the General of the Auradon Royal Guards - General Hercules. He would be in his office, on the same floor as Fairy Godmother's where I had appeared as Holly Hook to Auradon for the first time.
I speeded, with the added help of my charm, through hallways, trying to ignore the 'BOOM's as they became more and more frequent.
Eventually, I met the door that stood between me and Hercules. Not bothering to knock, I burst in, to my dismay, finding the room empty.
My heart dropped into my stomach, at the same time another BOOM sounded, and I quickly turned to come face to face with my best friend, Evie Queen.
"M!" She yelled in surprise. "Oh thank the gods, do you know what those noises were?"
"No, E. Do you know where Hercules is?" She shook her head vigorously.
"No. Sorry. Do you know where Doug is? I can't find him," she was almost breaking down, obviously this was affecting her more than me, but I knew where my boyfriend is.
"Herk!" I heard speech behind me, a familiar voice, in the office, and I froze.
"Hercules, are you there? Over."
A radio transmitter.
I dashed towards it, grabbing the small box in my now-sweaty hand.
"General Hercules? Are you there? Over. Officer Michael reporting, from the border."
Michael? As in Michael Gothel? I knew he had dropped education, and gotten a job, from Hearts, but I didn't know it was in the border force.
"General. The explosions are strikes of acid green lightening, repeatedly hitting the barrier."
I dropped the radio in shock. Acid green. Barrier. This sounds hell of a lot like my mother's doing. But no. She's gone. On the Isle of Fate, in the middle of the Pacific.
I ran from the room, Evie was no longer here, and towards the nearest balcony in the Library.
I barrelled through the double doors, and almost ended up throwing myself off the edge of the balcony, before just about managing to pull myself back.
I released a breath I was holding, and my vision centered on the Isle of the Lost, which was indeed getting pelted with Vivid Green bolts of lightening, except this wasn't natural.
"Extraordinary, isn't it," whispered a voice beside me and for the first time, I realised I was not alone.
"Queen Belle," I nodded my head in respect, but she just gave a small laugh, waving me off.
"Don't, dear, please. Now is not the time for formalities." I nodded in agreement and turned back to the storm.
"This isn't natural, is it?" I asked, my gaze still fixed on the dome, being illuminated a menacing emerald with every strike.
"I'm afraid not, Mal. It's the work of something dark - very dark."
"What?" I looked towards her.
"I do not know-" she cut herself off with a gasp, and I turned back around to find the barrier flickering in and out of existence, before a well-placed bolt, aimed for the area where Carlos and Evie punctured the barrier, and where I later pried it open once more, leaving enough magic for my mother to become human once more.
The bolt made impact.
And the barrier was gone.
End of Chapter.
Hey Descenders! So, I'm back with a sequel to 'Framed', and I wrote this once already, before deleting it and writing this (slightly longer - you're welcome) version.
I would just like to say that my chapters carry an average of 1500 words - sometimes more. Never less.
So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the first of 'Blamed.'
See you in the next one!
Stay wicked. 🍎😈
Question :
What were the green bolts?