Thank you for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows I received last chapter. I am blown away by your support! To respond to a few reviews:
Flameheart2013- As far as the four Descendants kids know, there are no children sentenced to death right now.
SoundAlarm (Guest) - That is a great idea that I am carefully considering.
Mal:
The Auradon guards lead us by our arms up the grand staircase of Auradon Prep, the walls already being stripped of pennants, and the blue and yellow banners. If we hadn't been going to this school yesterday, one might not even recognize the place. The whiteboards that use to hang on the dormitory doors are cleared of the artistic work symbolizing whose room is, and is replaced with just a name or two written in black marker.
As we pass through the hall of locked doors, the four of us observe what is written on the doors, there is Lonnie on the first door, and Penny, daughter of Pinocchio on the second. We are farther down the hall when I see Ben's name scribbled on the board, right above Doug's. They are okay. At the very end of the hall, far away from Ben and Doug, the guards unlock the door, before pushing us inside the bare room.
The TV is gone, the four poster beds, the tables, lamps, anything of value- is all gone, just as mother wanted it. In the corner by the curtain-less windows is a mattress from one of the beds. Nothing more, nothing less. "Thanks a lot," the guards spit, before turning off down the hallway to pick up their next victims.
Slowly, almost sleep-like, I walk to the mattress, before plopping down, my head falling into my hands. "What have I done?" I ask myself again.
Evie, after staring at the closed door as if it were going to open, sits down ext. to me, taking my hand, "What have we done? It wasn't just you, M."
"Evie's right. We all helped. We all came to Auradon. We all agreed to get the wand for our parents. Carlos joins us on the bed, and Jay sits on the floor in front of us, with Dude laying next to him.
"But I couldn't stop my mom."
Evie shrugs her shoulders, "Nobody could've. You should know that better than anyone."
We don't speak for a moment, all of us thinking about what just happened. It's strange, this was our goal all along, wasn't it? Long live evil! Right? But now, as we sit on the other side of the enemy line, with, well, the 'enemies', we don't want this. Why would we wish it upon someone else? How could we be so cruel, so rotten, so… evil?
Our Parents.
If it's anybody's fault beside mine, it's theirs.
Evie:
The silence we are in is almost unbearable, after having been in such chaos. Which is why, when there is a pounding fist on the door, we all leap five feet in the air. Mal and I wipe our identical, mascara stained faces as Carlos pushes himself off the feather mattress and goes to answer the door, Dude on his heels.
The door swings open, revealing two more guards, cardboard boxes in their hands. "Any personal belonging worth value is to be put in here. This includes necklaces, jewelry, belts, any sort of gold, silver, or bronze. Magical devices, beauty products, anything of the sort," one tall, muscular guy with a goatee says in monotone. Carlos uses his foot to push Dude behind the door, an attempt of hiding him.
Mal and I start taking off our earrings, and our necklaces- mine that my mother gave to me when I was two, and hers that was given to her by her father before he died. I place my tiara in the box, along with Mal's Jay and Carlos give him their belts and the hooks on their jackets. And, finally, I give them my purse, containing the magic mirror and the sleeping perfume that was supposed to be for our getaway. "There will be no leaving the room, unless you are summoned by her Majesty. The first round of executions will be in Sunday at 10a.m, attendance is mandatory. There will be no dinner tonight so you mine as well get some sleep." In the same monotonous tone, the guard recites his spiel, before closing and locking the door again.
"Well he was pleasant," I say quietly, trying to lighten the mood. My best friend looks as if she just wants to break into a thousand pieces and float away with the wind. I have to say, I agree with her. We brought this upon the people of Auradon. Maybe we did have a different perspective a few weeks ago, but still, it is our fault Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and all of those other innocent people are going to die.
Jay steals Carlos' spot on the bed, "Very. And no dinner? The people of Auradon are going to starve before our parents get a chance to kill them."
He earns a glare from me and Carlos, not Mal though. She is still sitting on the bed staring far off into space. "Too soon?"
"You think?" Carlos whispers to him. But Jay is right, the people of Auradon have no clue what it feels like to go to bed with a rumbling stomach, with the hunger pains. But believe me, if our parents are going to treat them – us - , the same way they have been planning to all these years- they ain't seen nothing yet.
Flashback {General POV}:
Mal sits in the small folding chair at her and her mother's dinner table- if you could even call it that. Mostly it was cluttered with books and different Knick knacks found on the surface. Open in front of her is one of her mother's first spell books she has been instructed to study since breakfast this morning, which really wasn't that much- just a rotting apple. In the back room, her mother is talking loudly with one of her closest friends, The Evil Queen, about what will happen when they 'take over the world.'
Trying to concentrate, the young villain covers her ears with her hands, pressing down so hard she almost missed the light tapping on the glass window beside her. Removing her hands, she goes over to the window to see Carlos on top of Jay's shoulders, and Evie standing next to them on the fire escape.
Mal unlocks the window, using the minimal upper body strength she possesses, to life the rusted window. "What are you guys doing here?" she whisper angrily.
"We want to go down to the market- you know, steal some stuff, and terrorize civilians."
She looks back at her mother's study, then to her friends, "Are you guys insane? E, your mom is here, talking to my mom. Jay, I'm sure your dad has some 'errands' that you are supposed to be running, and Carlos, what is your mom going to do without you to pamper her? Plus, I have to study."
"Come on, Mal. They won't ever find out!" the clicking of heels behind Mal causes her to jump, the long nails wrapping around her arms and digging into her skin confirming her fears.
"Where are you guys heading?" Maleficent's malicious voice fills the children's' ears.
Mal listens as her friends scurry back down the fire escape, not wanting to face the wrath of her mother. "N-Nowhere. They were just asking me from some help on homework," she stutters.
"Well I hope you weren't planning on helping them… you're evil. You're cruel, vicious. No need to be helping your little buddies with homework. You have zero time for that."
Mal dips her head, "Yes, mother."
"Now, now," Maleficent removes her grip on her daughter's arm, and uses a single finger to lift Mal's head so they are looking directly at each other. "You won't be sad when you and I are the Queens of the whole world, now will you? We will kick everyone out of their castles, and steal all of their stuff. We will rule through fear- they will fear us, Mal. And we will finally be able to have our revenge on Sleeping Beauty. Isn't that what you want?"
"Of course, mother," she repeats, although at the back of her mind, she really is think, "Is that really what I want?"
Thank you so much for reading! Don't forget to review your thoughts, comments, suggestions, ext. And I will post a new chapter (hopefully) tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed!