Malina rocked back and forth on her bed as she sipped her second cup of scalding hot coffee. It was just before midnight on Christmas Eve and Malina was wide awake with excitement for her favorite holiday other than her birthday. Mal, Evie, Serafina, Lonnie, Jane and Audrey had been invited over for the night so they could all spend Christmas with each other at the Pocahontas palace. Little did they know, Malina always stayed up until midnight so they could open presents first thing.
Mal and Evie had taken some random air mattress to sleep on while the other girls took Malina's extra foldout beds. Malina chuckled softly as she glanced at her unsuspecting, sleeping targets; they had no idea what was going to happen in five minutes. Malina gulped down the rest of her coffee before running down to the kitchen to rinse it.
As malina walked back up the stairs to her bedroom, she stopped to look at the grandfather clock in the hall. Four minutes to midnight. Just enough time to have a chat with her parents.
Malina sneaked by her bedroom door before ducking into her parents' room. They were already awake, remembering how bruised they were after the previous year's awakening. "Malina, promise me that you won't use any ice or liquid on them tonight." Pocahontas pleaded as she watched her daughter jump onto the bed.
Malina smiled, "I make no promises, but, then again, you'd expect no less from me, would you?"
Pocahontas rolled her eyes teasingly, "No, I wouldn't. How are they anyway?"
"Good I guess. They're all sleeping... unsuspecting fools." Malina giggled with an evil grin. "Anyway, I think I'm just going to belly flop their beds. No ice or liquid involved this year."
John sat up, messing his daughter's hair. "Awww. But it's not a Malina Wake Up Call without ice or liquid! Remember when we put the bath bomb in the-"
"John!" Pocahontas exclaimed, cutting her husband off, "Don't give her any more ideas than you already have!"
Malina giggled at her parents as her Dad pulled her into his chest. "But, Mo~m! Dad has the best ideas for schemes!"
"That is exactly what I'm talking about." Pocahontas sighed with a knowing look.
The three sat in a comfortable silence for a moment as John pulled Pocahontas into the family hug. "Peanut, you're freezing." Pocahontas mumbled, rubbing her daughter's arms as goosebumps graced her skin. Malina shrugged, snuggling into the warmth of her father's chest and her mother's arms.
"Sera freezes things in her sleep. That's why I've had two full cups of coffee and a bag of popcorn to stay warm and awake."
"You did what?" John and Pocahontas questioned as Pocahontas took off her sweater.
Malina looked away nervously as her Dad draped her Mom's sweater over her shoulders. "Uhhhh, nothing! I did absolutely nothing! What coffee?! What popcorn?!"
"Nice try, kid." John smiled, nudging his daughter playfully.
"Hey, I tried." Malina grinned with a giggle. "At least it wasn't chocolate or ice cream. I'd be too hyper to function!"
Everyone laughed before tunring to the door. The grandfather clock rang midnight. Malina cheered happily before jumping down from the bed and running to the door. "You guys coming? The presents won't open themselves!" Malina ran down the hall and bounded through her open doorway, flopping onto Lonnie and Jane's bed. Lonnie groaned and shoved Malina off the bed by her face. Jane stood up, helping Malina back onto her feet.
"Are you okay, Malina?" Jane asked as Maina shook out her hair.
"Yeah, I'm good, Jane." Malina assured, smiling at her friend, "Are you ready to open presents?"
"Mmmno." Lonnie mumbled, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "It's too early for presents, 'Lina. Go back to bed."
"Never!" Malina shouted, "This is my yearly wake up call and you must wake up for it! Get up off your butt and go downstairs for the unwrapping of random gifts that have been placed in a very messy pile under our gorgeous living room tree!"
"Uhh, what?" Jane questioned.
Malina sighed, "Get up so we can go open presents."
"Ohhhh." Jane and Lonnie nodded as they finally understood the jumble of words Malina had seemed so excited about. Lonnie slid out of bed before walking over and attempting to wake up Audrey and Serafina. Malina smiled as she headed over to Evie and Mal. Although Malina knew better than to wake up Mal before her alarm, she still needed to attempt it in order for them to celebrate Christmas. Malina knew that Evie would be crabby because of the lack of "beauty sleep", but she'd probably forget about it as soon as she saw the presents with her name on them.
Malina quietly shook Evie awake, helping the blue haired girl adjust her hair as she sat up. Evie, in turn, shook Mal as hard as she could before shrugging to Malina. "Well, I've done all I can do. Good luck." Evie smiled before grabbing her blanket and running down to the living room with the other girls. Malina scoffed in astonishment before growling lightly and cautiously walking over to Mal's side of the bed and sitting on Mal's back.
"Mal, it's time to get up." Malina claimed simply, tugging the girl's arm.
Mal pulled her arm out of Malina's grasp with an angry noise. "It's too early for anyone to be awake."
"No, it's not!" Malina argued, "Mal, it's Christmas. Get your lazy butt out of your cocoon of blankets and downstairs for presents, hot chocolate and family time."
"Malina, it's 12:15 in the morning." Mal grumbled, giving Malina a dirty look.
"So?! It's 12:15 on Christmas morning!" Malina exclaimed, "If you won't get up, I'll make you get up!"
"And how are you planning to do that?" Mal asked as she attempted to adjust her position under Malina.
Oh... Malina hadn't thought about that... Usually, people didn't respond to that; they'd just get up and go. It was more of an empty threat than anything. "I... I-I... I'll use magic!"
Mal opened one eye to glance up at her friend. "And what spell are you going to use, exactly?"
"I... I don't know." Malina looked away briefly before her eyes fell on Mal's spell book by her side of the bed. "But, when I do, you'll be scared!"
"Sure thing, Pretty Princess. Go ahead, try me." Mal claimed sassily, "I'm shaking already!"
Malina scoffed, having enough of Mal's jokes. Malina grabbed the book and flipped through the pages, scanning each one with careful scrutiny. As her eyes fell on a transportation spell, Malina's eyes glittered with excitement.
"This one is kind of long, do you mind?" Malina asked, calmly looking down at Mal.
"Nope." Mal smiled, "More sleep for me."
Malina nodded even though Mal couldn't see her. "Habeas corpus, luminous focus, tempus tempore, nunc transportious." Malina quoted slowly, "From there to here, from here to there, transport us with a breath of fresh air!" Malina snapped the book shut before moving her hands in a circle. Slowly, Malina's magic started growing, spiraling purple sparkles around herself and Mal. Malina gasped as her bedroom started shifting, replacing the rosy walls with a couple palm trees and her silver carpet changing into a pile of golden sand.
Mick was thrilled. Butchy was celebrating Christmas with her, her Mom and Dad in Cali. At first, Butchy wanted to bring them to his world, however, he was out voted by Mack and Mick. Of course, Brady had sided with Butchy at first, claiming that a Christmas in another world would be amazing. However, he was outnumbered very quickly when the two women recited their traditions to him.
Mick was already ready to head to California, sitting on the edge of her and Butchy's shared bed. She was waiting for the biker to get out of the bathroom so they could get ready to leave. Lela and Tanner would be joining them for a day or two so they also had to stop by and get Tanner before leaving. Lela had insisted on going as she needed to return something to Mack. That, in turn, made Tanner want to join as well because he had presents for Lela.
To Mick, it was awesome, but to Butchy, it was agrivating. He wanted to spend time alone with Mick on their first Christmas as a married couple. Sure, he didn't mind his sister going, but it was Tanner he didn't really want to be around. Mick thought nothing of it; throwing the tension out the window as she adjusted her sweater again.
As Butchy came out, Mick tossed him the bag of presents and ran out the door. "Lela! We're leaving!"
"Coming!" Lela shouted as she slammed her door shut and ran down the stairs. "I'll go get Tanner."
Mick nodded. "We'll meet you in the garage when you get back."
Lela smiled before running out the front door toward her boyfriend's house. Mick grinned as she followed Butchy into the garage. Butchy set the bag down inside the machine before taking Mick by the hand and twirling her. "You excited?"
"Absolutely!" Mick confirmed, reaching up to kiss Butchy. "Are you?:
"Yeah, but... Mick, there's something we need to talk about before we leave." Butchy claimed, pulling the teen to his chest.
"What is it?" Mick questioned, awaiting Butchy's answer. "What's wrong?"
"Nothin' per say." Butchy replied rubbing the back of his neck, "I just want you to keep an open mind."
Mick smiled, "Of course. What's up?"
Butchy took a deep breath, "Yer Mom and Dad gave me this the last time they visited." Butchy claimed, pulling a paper out of his back pocket. "The house next to 'em is fer sale and they want us t' consider movin' there."
Mick stared at the sheet of paper in surprise before unfolding it and reading off the information her Dad had written under the picture. "Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, great surf, amazing closeness to family, enough room for our family and visitors... Butchy, are you sure about this? I mean what about us living here? And Lela! What about Lela?!"
"What about me?" Lela asked as she and Tanner entered the garage. Mick quickly closed the paper and handed it back to Butchy before turning around.
"I was just talking about how great you singing was last night!" Mick lied, not wanting to make the raven haired girl upset before Christmas.
Lela beamed, "Aw! Thank you, Mick! I tried my best!"
Lela and Tanner stepped into the machine as Butchy leaned down and whispered into Mick's ear, "Think about it, please."
Mick nodded before climbing into the machine with Butchy and closing the door. "California, here we come!"
Mal screeched in frustration as she and Malina walked down the beach. Malina followed Mal from a safe distance, keeping herself quiet and safe from Mal's wrath. Mal had yelled and screamed at Malina when she realized that they weren't in Auradon. During the rant, Malina just sat on the air mattress, attempting to keep her mouth shut. Malina knew it was her fault, but she couldn't help but get mad at Mal too. She knew that yelling was unlady like, but, at that moment, Malina just wanted to throw her head in the sand like an ostrich and scream her lungs out.
Malina sighed as she tried to pick up her pace a little. "I said I was sorry, Mal! Why are you so upset?!"
Mal turned to Malina with a dark glare, her eyes glowing a bright green. "Do you really wanna know why I'm so angry?" Malina shrunk back, "You sent us to who knows where, you brought me with you, you woke me up at an insane hour just to bring me here! We have no idea where we are or how we get back to Auradon and, to top it all off, it's Christmas! I'm not just angry, Malina, I'm furious."
Malina swallowed thickly as she felt her throat burn. She took a deep breath before speaking, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen, Mal. You know that my magic isn't stable yet and you still decided to let me try it anyway! If anything, it's your fault!"
Mal growled, "No, it isn't!"
Malina scoffed before sighing. "Fighting is going to get us nowhere. Let's just go find somebody to talk to and ask they for directions back to Auradon." Malina heard Mal groan behind her as she continued walking down the beach. "There's a staircase not too far down the beach. Let's go."
Malina and Mal walked toward the stairs in silence before Mal took Malina by the arm and stopped her. "Malina, I didn't mean that... I just... I don't know. I'm so used to knowing my mom's magic and how to use it. I sometimes forget that you weren't raised with magic... I'm... I'm sorry."
Malina looked Mal in the eyes, her purple eyes finding nothing but honesty in her sister's green orbs. "I accept your apology, Mal, but I'm equally to blame. Please forgive me?"
"Yeah. I forgive you." Mal grinned. "Now, let's go find a house."
Malina smiled, nodding in agreement before walking with Mal down the sand. The two green eyed friends talked as they reached the starcase. "We should try to find a house with people awake inside. They're more likely to help us than people who are sleeping." Malina stated, pointing down the long street.
Mal nodded and, with that, they followed street lights down the road. It took the a few minutes before Malina started smacking Mal's arm excitedly. "Ow! H-Hey! Malina!"
"Sorry, but look!" Malina exclaimed as she pointed down the street to a big house with lights shining from the front portion of it. "Those people must be awake! Let's go ask them for help!" Malina snatched Mal's hand excitedly before running down the street, dragging Mal behind her.
As they neared the house, Malina slowed down to catch her breath. "This is a beautiful castle, don't you think, Mal?"
Mal rolled her eyes at the Princess. "I think, for them, it's just a regular house. I mean, if this place is anything like where I come from, there aren't many 'castles' for regular people."
Malina nodded, "Yeah, I guess. Either way, this place is beautiful." Malina and Mal looked at each ither before nodding. "Let's ring the bell."
"Yeah." Mal agreed, following Malina up the steps to the white and brown house. Malina pressed the small button before stepping back a bit. The girls heard some talking before the door opened. A woman in her late thirties or early fourties stood in the doorway with a smile.
"Hello. Can I help you?" the woman asked through the screen door.
Mal and Malina shared a look before turning back to the woman. "We're lost."
