I awoke suddenly, my head swinging round frantically as I checked to see if they were still here.
I was met instead with a small group of three people (and a cat) crowding around my face.
"I-" fear and weariness shook my bones as I fought my exhaustion.
"Where.. Where are they?"
Ben's brows furrowed. "What?"
I looked at Jay and Lonnie, my gaze switching between them as I searched for something - anything, that might give me a clue as to where my best friend is.
Of course, by all logic, both are still in the helicopter, but when it comes to Auradon, you can never be too sure.
Both boys jumped back when I suddenly pushed myself up, but Lonnie jumped forward, her hand gripping my own as she helped me settle.
I edged backwards so my back rested against the wall I had been using as a headboard, ignoring the wince that escaped from my dry lips.
My tongue ran over them as I craned my neck to look around the three torsos surrounding me, still desperately searching for the girl who's safety I feared for.
It registered with my tired brain that our friends would be in much worse a state than they are now if either of them were missing as the three caught on, and moved themselves out of the way.
Sure enough, a flash of blue was visible from the other side of the copter.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
She was safe.
As far as I could see.
For it quickly became evident that something was wrong.
The vibrant blue I had quickly grown to love, the colour of fresh blueberries, had faded, leaving her hair a dead mess, hanging limp against her face, as if the ocean, previously so full of life, was now deeply polluted waters, the beauty viciously sucked out as she couldn't do anything about it.
Evie sat beside Katelyn, who looked equally worse for wear, both hunched over with their arms concealing their stomachs from view.
Both had a far-off look in their eyes, and I could only wonder what they had been subjected to from the moment when they were left alone with the man.
Evie's hand was clasped tightly in Katelyn's, both girls' knuckles a bone white with tension.
You could easily notice the slight tremble in their forms.
I had never seen Evie like this - in such a state of fragility.
She always seemed so strong: all four of us knew that she was going to go far in life, being the brave, smart, ambitious woman she was, so to see her in shreds was heartbreaking.
My own pain could wait.
Experimentally, I rolled my shoulders, stretching the kinks out of my back until I was able to get into something resembling a kneeling position.
Tentatively, I shuffled over to the girls, and knelt before Evie, looking deep into her chocolate browns.
Taking her other hand in my own, wrapping my warm palms around her freezing cold one, I looked her dead in the eyes.
"Evie, what happened?"
Her eyes widened in fear, and her tremble became more prominent, as if she were to shake out of her own body.
I clasped her hand tightly, maintaining unblinking eye contact: applying subtle pressure.
I hated to do this to her: to make my best friend uncomfortable enough to talk to me - but it is vital that we find out what happened in that cave.
I feared the worst.
But her mouth stayed closed.
Evie refused to say a thing to me, just staring deep into my eyes, and I could see the fear and pain swirling in her own.
Eventually, Carlos stepped forward, laying a tentative hand on my shoulder.
"Mal, I don't think..."
He slowed as I refused to look at him, keeping my hard gaze locked on my best friend, who returned it fearfully.
He tried again.
"Mal, just leave it. She's fine, we're all fine." He tried to pull me away from her, which would've been laughable if I wasn't so tense in this moment.
It was when Ben began to help that I finally relented.
As I leant back, ignoring the stab of pain that rushed through the muscles in my back, I watched as the two blue-haired girls exchanged a glance filled with both hidden meaning and understanding; I frowned.
Evidently, they were hiding something.
But what?
Ben sighed loudly, and sat down carefully beside me, being wary of the injuries he himself sported.
Gently, he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into him; I winced at the contact with my ribs, which had apparently decided they were broken, or at least bruised.
I layed my head on his shoulder, letting out a deep breath at the spot of comfort.
".. I'm worried. Something seems.. Off.."
The boy I loved glanced down at me.
"
Why are you so on edge?" He asked softly.
Unconsciously, I leaned further into his embrace.
"I.. Had a dream last night. A bad one."
He raised an eyebrow. "About...?"
I shifted uncomfortably.
"It.. Was like when I contacted you through your dreams two years ago."
I heard his breath catch, and took his silence as a cue to continue.
"I.. Was in a cave. And there was a man.
Ben looked at me.
"A man." He didn't sound very impressed.
"-Yes, a man I didn't know: I hadn't seen before. But somehow, he was familiar."
The honey-haired boy's eyebrows knitted together cutely in a concerned and confused frown.
"And then what?"
"... I couldn't move. My limbs were heavy, all I could do was watch, and listen."
My heart clenched.
It was weakness.
I didn't even have control inside of my own head.
How could I be expected to face this ever-growing threat?
Ben looked closely into my eyes, and I felt myself fidget under his gaze.
"What happened?"
My breath wavered. Might as well get it over with.
"He tried to get me to join him, then turned to them when I refused."
Jabbing a lightly shaking thumb at the two blue-haired girls still huddling in the corner, I explained shortly, refusing to meet anyone else's eyes.
It was unavoidable. Looking up, my emerald gaze met Carlos' cholocate one. His eyes softened: I wondered briefly if he had been listening to all of that.
I watched the worry and stress swirl in those irises as he lowered himself down to sit beside me, drawing his knees in and wrapping his arms around them. He turned then to look at my boyfriend.
Ben seemed to get the message: with a final nod in our direction, he lifted himself up to join Lonnie, Jane and Jay on one of the benches, all of which were staring worriedly at the blueberry pair.
It left us alone for a moment.
I looked down into my lap, fumbling with my fingers in an attempt to avoid the conversation I knew we had to have - to the white-haired boy's credit, he seemed to understand what I was doing - but he had enough understanding of where our situation left us to not give me any such luxury.
".. Mal, I don't see the problem."
Here we go.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I raised my head sharply to look at him, but said nothing.
"You said no, yes? When he asked you to join him?"
Hesitantly, I nodded my head.
He seemed satisfied.
"So what makes you so sure they didn't do the same?"
I could hear the steadily rising confidence in the boy's voice as he reasoned with me, and my heart swelled.
He had come so far.
And he had a point.
But that didn't lessen the sick feeling in my stomach.
I couldn't tell him, however, that I 'just knew', so I went with the easy option. The coward's way out.
I nodded my head slowly, seemingly reassured.
"You're right." The words left a sour taste in my mouth.
"I can trust her. And if she trusts Katelyn, then.. Who am I to judge?"
Carlos' face brightened, his eyes lighting up, and my guilt almost broke me.
But I held true.
"That's the spirit." He punched my arm lightly, "I may not have known you all for very long, but I'd trust all of my friends with my life without second thought."
He sounded so sure, so certain.
I wished I could have that kind of certainty in my life.
But that's just Carlos - he would always focus on the positive.
I punched him back. Less lightly.
And laughed when he winced, pressing a palm into his bicep.
But the smile on his face, beneath the grimace, told me that he knew I was just being me.
"We're on our way back to Auradon now." He told me, turning away.
His form was more relaxed than it had been.
I sighed. "Good."
The two of us sat in silence for what was probably a few minutes, but felt like a few hours.
I was grateful for it.
The helicopter was silent, we all sat still, listening to the steady hum of the blades spinning and the occasional crackle of Fairy Godmother's radio.
Until the son of Cruella Deville broke the silence once more, turning back to me.
"Hey-- what did he want?"
I looked at him. "For me - us? - to join him."
Carlos stared. He blinked, then shook his head, as if shaking the thought out of his head.
"No: what did he want? Why did he want you to join him? What's his motivation?"
An uncomfortable silence seeped into the vehicle as everyone registered this question.
And as we all realised that we didn't know.
"... I don't know."
End of chapter.
There ya go.
I have no excuse for why this took so long.
Coronavirus.
Here's some things to think about:
What does the man want?
Why Mal, of all the villain kids?
If it was Mal's dream, how did Evie and Katelyn get there?
If he was Katelyn's father, why not ask her first?