Uma sighed as she watched the Isle disappear into the horizon as the limo they were in drove toward Boreadon. Er...Auradon. She should probably start referring to it by its proper name now that she would be living there. Not that Uma was complaining about finally being free of the Isle, but she would miss some aspects of it.
Her crew for one; while Harry and Hadie were joining her on her voyage to Boreadon all the other members of her crew were still confined to the Isle. Well, and Gil but he wasn't exactly part of the crew. He had been under the crew's protection just as DeVil had been before he left the Isle.
She wasn't going to lie, she'd been surprised to have the king of Auradon present to accompany the new kids from the Isle. Though Uma suspected that they hadn't been the only reason King Beastie Jr. had been there. You'd have to have been as blind as Grandmama Odie to have missed the two squadrons of guards making their way to the Dragon's castle.
Well I guess now that she's a lizard, they'd want to make sure anything magic she had was locked up tight, Uma thought with another sigh as her thoughts turned to another magical girl with an affinity for dragons.
It may have only been a month since the coronation but Uma had noticed a change in her cousin. It started small, Mal brushing her off in the mind link saying she had to focus on classwork but then Mal started muting the mind link! She had never done that before, at least not for long periods of time—and her mind link had been muted ever since.
Despite the muted nature of the link, Uma could still get bits of what Mal was feeling even if Uma didn't know why her cousin was feeling the way she was. Waves of stress, panic and annoyance would enter Uma's head every day and she knew it was from Mal.
Oh sure, the annoyance could have been her Uncle Hades dealing with Pain and Panic but Uma knew better. After all, she had checked with Hadie and her younger cousin had picked up on the same wave of emotions. Uncle Hades usually did his best to keep his annoyance in check so Hadie didn't pick up on it.
At least when I get to Boreadon, I'll be able to talk to Mal face to face. She can't put me on mute then, she thought with a small smile. Her thoughts, though, were interrupted by a whimper by the lone non human member of their group. Uncle Hades had insisted on having Estelle come with them and Ben had agreed. Actually, according to Hadie, Ben's face had lit up upon seeing Estelle and he had been hard pressed to leave the dog's side to actually drive the limo back.
Why Ben was in the Underworld in the first place was still a mystery to Uma but she was prepared to let it go if it meant Mal got her dog and her brother.
"What's wrong boy?" Gil asked, causing yet another eye roll from Harry. Harry'd been doing that whenever Gil opened his mouth though it was better than the first mate hooking the son of Gaston like he'd almost done before they'd got into the limo. Gil was only removing a bit of rope from her hair, it must have gotten caught during her morning sparing session. How she missed it would be another mystery considering the tan coloring would have stood out against her teal braids.
"It's probably the sun," Hadie said softly. "Mom said it's always an adjustment for her whenever she goes back to Auradon and she lives on Olympus when she's not on the Isle. Estelle's lived on the Isle his whole life..."
"I should have thought of that," Ben sighed from the driver's seat. He had thought to bring some neat glasses with dark lenses that helped block out the brightness. He'd given them each a pair when they had gotten into the limo. Uma wasn't going to lie, they certainly had helped—she hadn't expected the sun to be that bright when they first crossed the barrier.
"You didn't expect to be bringing along a Cerberus, your highness," Hadie said softly and Uma could see the teenaged king give her cousin a kind smile from the rearview window.
"Hadie, you don't have to call me that," Ben said gently. "None of you do. Unless you want to that is but it's not required."
"But...you're the king," Gil said, looking as if the statement confused him. Though, Uma realized, it probably did. Most things that weren't related to hunting or eggs usually did confuse the youngest LeGume. Oh and crafting. Uma didn't know how but Gil had been able to repair her mother's necklace when they were younger. It was one of the reasons why he was still under the crew's protection.
"Yeah," Ben nodded. "I'm the king. Doesn't mean I want to force the use of my title on you."
"You are one odd duck, Benny," Uma stated and Ben chuckled.
"So Mal tells me," he said, a smile growing on his face at the thought of Mal. "She should be meeting us at the school, which should be in a few more minutes. She wanted to come along but she had a meeting she couldn't get out of."
At the mention of Mal's name, Estelle perked up and began pacing around the confines of the limo. Uma shook her head as she noticed Harry's smirk every time Estelle accidentally trod on Gil's foot.
"It's okay Estelle, you'll see Mal in a few minutes," Hadie promised and Estelle whined in response.
Ben shook his head. "Should have brought Carlos," he muttered in amusement. After all, the younger boy could talk to dogs—something Ben, Mal, and Jay had discovered after Mal had turned them all into dogs accidentally when she'd gone out for the spirit squad with Evie for spirit day. After the...fiasco that'd been the coronation, Mal had tried her best to make sure Evie always had a friendly face with her—even if that meant stepping outside her comfort zone.
In Mal's defense re: spirit day, none of them were expecting the spirit cheer to sound just like a spell Maleficent used to say during the years Mal lived with her. Nor did they expect Mal to remember the words to the spell. As Mal had explained to Ben afterwards, Maleficent had only done the spell during Mal's toddler years, to try to quell the very rare tantrums Mal used to throw. Maleficent, however, was unsuccessful in her spell casting because of the barrier.
"B. I. T. E. What's that spell? Bite, bite, bite. Speak no words, you'll cause a fright, what's a bark without a bite?"
A flash of green light appeared and when it faded, Ben could only speak in barks. True he found it amusing that Jay was down on his hands and knees but honestly Ben needed whatever caused it to be reversed. He had a council meeting in about twenty minutes after all.
"Woof, woof!"
Ben could hear Mal bark and his heart froze. If Mal was barking too, that would mean that she couldn't reverse whatever caused Jay and him to act like dogs.
"Of course I can speak dog! I'm Cruella DeVil's son," Carlos said and Ben smiled. They had a way to reverse it! The smile faded however when he heard Carlos tell Mal that instances like this needed to be recorded and the smaller boy ran up to take a photo of Jay. While Ben was happy that Carlos was coming out of his shell, he'd have liked it if Carlos would translate the spell for Mal!
Apparently Mal felt the same as she came up to Carlos and began barking at him.
"Down girl," Carlos said and Mal just growled sightly. Carlos sighed but took the spell book from Mal. Ben couldn't help but be grateful that Mal hadn't donated Maleficent's spell book to the museum yet. She had meant to after their date to the Enchanted Lake but she'd been understandably distracted what with their impromptu trip to the Isle and then Family Day and his coronation.
Thankfully Carlos was able to translate the spell for Mal as she barked it out and Ben felt himself acting normally again. Carlos must have noticed the change as he laughed nervously.
"Hi guys," he said. Ben just shook his head in amusement as Jay chased Carlos around the quad, demanding the younger boy delete the photos he took.
"Um...that wouldn't be a good idea," Uma said slowly, bringing Ben back to the present. The entire Isle knew about DeVil's fear of dogs; Ben didn't seem like the cruel type so maybe he didn't know. After all, Auradon Prep was a boarding school according to Mal. How many boarding schools had dogs, even if there were dogs in Auradon?
However, the amused smirk on Ben's face was not one she had expected. A small yip from Estelle prevented her from commenting on it though as Ben had pulled up to Auradon Prep.
"Alright, we're here," the teenaged king said with a smile as he stopped the limo and cut off the ignition. Hadie grinned and went to grab Estelle's leash but was stopped by Harry.
"Maybe it would be a better idea for the captain or me to handle Estelle right now Hadie," he said. "With how much energy he has right now, you'd get dragged out of the limo the second the door opens."
"Yeah Hadie, let me take that," Uma said, grabbing the leash. It was a good thing too as the moment the door opened, Estelle took off; dragging her out of the limo and face first into the ground.
"Uma, it might be a good idea for you to let go," Hadie said. "Estelle'll drag you all over the place until he finds Mal."
"But Mal's right there," Gil said, pointing to the statue of the former king. Sure enough Mal was there, standing in front of the statue. Before Uma knew it, the leash had slipped out of her hands and Estelle was making a beeline for Mal.
"You okay cap'n?" Harry asked, helping Uma stand up.
"Nothing bruised but my pride Harry," Uma told him, giving him a small smile. "Looks like Estelle missed Mal just as much as we did."
Hadie chuckled and shook his head in amusement as he watched Mal bend down to pet Estelle. "Oh sure, I see who the favorite is!"
"Well of course," Mal chuckled as she walked over to them. "Estelle doesn't threaten to tell mom and dad when I've done something that might get me grounded, little brother."
"...yeah I deserved that."
"You sure did. Now come here," Mal said, pulling Hadie into a hug. "I'm surprised dad let you go, considering mom's on the Isle."
"He was distracted by the arrival of lizard Maleficent," Hadie told her. "Dad spends his mornings taunting her about her spectacular failure and the fact that now she'll never escape the Isle."
"...dad does know it's dangerous to taunt Maleficent right?" Mal asked.
"It's dad," Hadie shrugged as they broke the hug. "Hard to say what goes through his head."
Uma chuckled. "Now if we're done looking into Uncle Hades' mind, I believe someone owes their captain a greeting."
"Okay, okay Uma," Mal chuckled as she gave her best friend and cousin a hug. "Gods, I missed you," she whispered.
"I missed you too Mali," Uma whispered back. "The Rotten Four are back together again."
"All of Auradon just felt a shiver run down their spines at that," Mal chuckled as she broke the hug and went to hug Harry and Gil.
Ben gave a small pout. "No hug for me?"
"Come here," Mal chuckled, giving her boyfriend a hug as well. Uma couldn't help but smile at the sight, especially as Ben leaned over to whisper into Mal's ear. Whatever he said caused her to perk up though how that was possible, Uma didn't know. Mal was certainly perkier than Uma remembered but that might have just been the sunlight.
"Ally!" Mal called and waved over a blonde girl wearing a bright blue dress.
"Oh hello Mal! Are these the new VKs?"
"Yes Ally, they are," Mal chuckled. "But I didn't call you over for a meet and greet. Can you tell Evie to meet me over at Ben's office? Lonnie, Jane and Jordan too."
"Right," Ally nodded before turning to Ben. "Remember Ben, Jordan's the girl you've known since you were four."
Ben shook his head. "I don't know why I get the two of them confused, I just do."
"Wait, so you've been confusing Jay with a girl?" Harry burst out laughing.
"What's so funny about that?" Uma and Mal asked, Mal crossing her arms.
"Nothing."
Ben chuckled and Mal shook her head. "Jay's sorry he couldn't be here, he had R.O.A.R practice," she said.
"Ah yes, a captain can't skip out on practice," Ben nodded before clapping his hands together. "Should we begin?"
"No I just thought we'd stand here all morning Benny."
"Sarcasm's not appreciated Mal."
"Really? I appreciate it." Uma chuckled as they made their way to the school, Ben grabbing Mal's free hand; the other one holding Estelle's leash.
"Where will we be lodging?" Harry asked.
Mal smiled as she looked over her shoulder. "Harry, you, Hadie and Jay'll be rooming together. Gil, you'll be rooming with Carlos, and Uma of course, you'll be rooming with me."
"She was quite adamant about that," Ben nodded and Uma chuckled.
"I'll look after the little lord, Mali," Harry promised.
"I know you will Harry," Mal nodded. "However, same rules as on the Lost Revenge. No talking about flings around crew members under fifteen!"
"I'm a first mate! I know the rules Mal. Who do you think I am, Freddy boy?"
"Speaking of that little thorn, how's he been?" Mal asked, turning to Uma as her shoulder twinged a bit at the reminder.
"His usual self," Uma sighed. "Thankfully we haven't lost any more crew to him."
"Brooke and Locklyn were the last two to leave, right?"
"Yep. Amazingly we still have nineteen crew members to his six Angels. Well seven if you count him."
Mal chuckled. "Fifteen crew members you mean."
"Mal, you may live in Boreadon now but you will always be co-captain," Uma stated. "You and Jay are crew."
Mal smiled and even Ben found himself feeling touched by Uma's words. So much so that he didn't want to interrupt to do the tour.
"Mal, you want to show them around?" Ben whispered. "I'll meet you at my office so we can tell Evie the news."
"You really trust five VKs to be alone with no supervision?" Mal whispered back, teasing him gently.
"No, I trust my girlfriend to be alone with her cousin, her brother, her surrogate brother and the youngest son of Gaston," Ben teased back.
Mal chuckled softly. "Okay. I'll probably just show them their dorms then and then dart over to your office. Gods, I can't believe we got him. Evie's going to be thrilled."
"I just hope she's not disappointed," Ben sighed. "Seven years of being captured by Maleficent..."
"She knows Ben," Mal said gently. "I think at this point, Evie just wants her dad back."
Mal knew it had been weird at first, growing closer to Evie but at the beginning, it'd been a necessity. After all, Evie was still her roommate and she was the only other VK girl there. But after Evie had stolen the wand and basically released Maleficent from the Isle, Mal had basically declared Evie was under her protection.
Sure, some of the other girls like Lonnie and Jane still talked to Evie and were friendly. Plus Ben got some of his female friends to join in, which was how Mal got to know Ally and Jordan. But most of the other girls in Auradon Prep, the same girls who loved Evie because of the makeovers she'd given them, shunned the blue haired girl.
Shunning though was better than what some of the other girls had done...the number of times Mal had seen 'traitor' sprayed on Evie's locker in bright pink spray paint. Honestly, Audrey could have been more subtle if she had just thrown a brick at Evie's head.
So Mal did what she did best. She brought Evie into her crew. Even though she had longed for Uma's arrival so that she'd be free of Evie, Mal didn't feel comfortable assigning a new roommate to Evie. Not with people's memories still fresh from coronation.
"Mal?" Uma asked, breaking into Mal's thoughts.
"Hmmm?"
"You gonna show us our rooms?" Uma asked and Mal chuckled. Ben gave a gentle kiss on Mal's cheek before walking off and Mal began showing everyone to their rooms.
"Gil, you don't have an issue with dogs right?" Mal asked.
"Of course not!" Gil grinned.
"Good because I think Carlos would kill someone if they made him be apart from Dude," Mal chuckled.
"Uh...Dude?"
"The campus mutt," Mal explained, looking over at Harry. "Though he's pretty much Carlos' dog."
"We're talking about the same DeVil?" Harry asked, looking at Uma. "Small, black and white hair, jumps at his shadow, terrified of dogs?"
Mal nodded. "Auradon's been good for him," she said as she stopped by the room. "He's with Jay at R.O.A.R. practice so he'll catch up with you soon Gil."
"Sounds good," Gil nodded, dropping his stuff on the open bed. Mal smiled and quickly showed Harry and Hadie their room before heading back to her room with Uma.
"Is it always so...pink?" Uma asked, looking around the room in slight disgust.
"Yeah," Mal chuckled. "It was worse when Evie and I first arrived. I managed to talk Ben into giving us some wood paneling like in the boys' rooms."
Uma nodded and paused as she counted out the beds. "Mali...why are there three beds in here?"
"Because we're rooming with Evie," Mal said softly and Uma whirled around to look at her cousin.
"No. No way. You've got to be out of your mind because there is no way I'm rooming with Blueberry!"
As the words left Uma's lips, the door opened and Evie walked into their shared room.
"Oh...hello," she said softly. "Ally said you wanted to talk to me Mal?"
Mal shook her head. "Come on Evie. Ben's got some news, we're to meet him in his office. Uma, I'll be back. Settle in, enjoy yourself."
With that, the two girls left the room leaving Uma standing there in shock.
"...what the hell just happened?" Uma asked the empty room, receiving no response.