I'm pleased to at last be releasing this new chapter in this story! Enjoy!
Chapter 4:
"Mal!" Lonnie shouted and jumped out of the chair. Her friend screamed and twisted in the sheets as Lonnie tried desperately to calm her. She grabbed the cloth and pressed it quickly, but gently, to Mal's head and felt her slowly relax beneath the touch. She continued shaking feverishly, but her screams soon faded to whimpers and she laid back completely still. "There you go," said Lonnie softly. "All better."
Evie ran through the door sending it slamming against the wall. "What happened?" She asked frantically.
"It's ok," said Lonnie, "she was having a nightmare, but I took care of it."
"A nightmare that bad?" asked Evie.
"Yep, and that's the third one today."
"She's getting worse." They stood there together for a short time, Lonnie cooling her with the cloth and Evie stroking her hair. "I don't understand," Evie said at last.
"Don't understand what?" asked Lonnie.
"How did an 'over usage' of magic cause all of this?"
"You think Doc was wrong?"
"I think he didn't have all the facts. It just seems like it happened a little too quickly to be just some random illness."
"So what do you think happened?"
"I don't know."
"Ben?" Mal mumbled. Evie took hold of her hand and squeezed it, continuing to brush through her hair.
"Shhh, Ben will be back soon," she whispered.
"Ok, Evie."
Jane was freaked. Her first date where it would be just her and Carlos. No one to run off with if things started going downhill, no parents carefully watching their every move, just them. The whole ordeal had been her idea, in order to try and distract Carlos from everything with Mal. She felt horrible about the whole situation and wanted to do something nice to cheer him up. This was her worst idea yet. At least that what she was thinking ten minutes before he supposed to come pick her up.
What if he doesn't like my outfit? Does my hair look ok? This was a mistake, he should be with Mal. And then Jane started wishing Mal were there herself. Mal, who had told her she was beautiful inside and out. Mal, who told her not worry what everyone else thought. But Mal wasn't there. Instead she was sick in bed with no end in sight.
A knock on the door interrupted Jane from her thoughts. "Just a sec," she called and hurried to grab her things. When she opened the door, her heart skipped a beat. Carlos was in his usual red leather jacket and fingerless glove. Underneath that was a white t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. He had one hand in his pocket and the other clutched a bouquet of roses.
"Um, hey," he said a bit flustered.
"Hi," Jane replied blushing.
"I, uh, got these for you." He handed her the flowers and she graciously accepting.
"Thank you."
"Shall we?" He asked, giving her his arm. She smile and took it, closing the door to her dorm room.
"So, where are we going?"
"Well I've heard there's wonderful spot out by the enchanted lake."
"Sounds lovely."
"I'm glad you think so." Carlos lead her outside to the limo and opened the door. "After you," he said with a bow.
"Why thank you," Jane giggled with a curtsy, and soon they were both laughing together as they slide into the car.
The driver took them to end of a street where an old path lead into the woods. Jane gasped as they approached taking in the scene before her. The path was lit up with sparkling lights that dangled from the trees, an act that clearly took a lot of time to complete, and blue ribbon had been wrapped around the two trees at the entrance.
"Oh, Carlos, it's beautiful," Jane sighed.
"That's not all," he told her. He opened the door and climbed out then reached in to help her.
"I'll be here whenever you're ready sir," the driver informed him.
"Thank you," he said and guided Jane down the path. They came up to the gazebo and Jane let out out another gasp.
"Carlos this is amazing!"
"I'm glad you like it," he told her with a smile.
In the center of the gazebo was a little round table. The center of the table contained an empty vase, which Jane put her roses in, and two white candles. The gazebo itself was decorated with tiny lights and flowers.
"I hope you don't mind pizza. I'm not a very good cook," Carlos admitted. Jane laughed.
"It's perfect."
A low rumble sounded in the distance, and Carlos grumbled.
"Seriously?" He shouted to no one. Jane just laughed again and took his hand.
"Guess we're going to have to hurry this up."
The storm hit hard and fast. The boat rocked quickly on the waves as they tried to make their way to shore, but they just keep getting pushed back until they could no longer see the land. All Ben could think about was getting back to Mal. Things couldn't end now, not this way. Eventually it was decided they would drop anchor, and hope they hadn't gone off too far. Ben prayed they hadn't. As soon as the storm cleared he wanted to go home. They'd spent days searching all over Auradon and The Isle, but turned up nothing. Uma was gone, and that was that. The search could continue after Mal recovered.
He headed down to the bottom of the ship where he'd been sleeping the past few days and laid down on his bed. A picture of him and Mal sat on the bedside table, and he quickly grabbed it as the boat lurched and it slid off. Then he carefully pressed the frame to his chest and fell asleep.
The storm blazed outside, rattling the window. Evie sat beside Mal, a glass of water in her hands. She had been trying to get Mal to take some for awhile now, and had succeeded in getting her to swallow a few sips, but now she jerked away from it like it hurt her to touch it.
"Come on Mal, take some more water."
"No more water," she muttered.
Evie sighed. It was no use. She'd try to give her more in the morning, for now she would just let her be. Evie grabbed a blanket off the bed and curled up in the chair.
"Goodnight, Mal," she whispered, and drifted off to sleep.
Carlos woke up smiling. Last night had been perfect, even as the storm rolled in and cut their picnic short, and as he'd dropped Jane off at her room she had given him a small kiss on the cheek. It was the first time he'd been happy in days, and he wished it would last. Unfortunately, that just wasn't meant to be. He climbed out of bed and took a quick shower before throwing on his clothes and heading to Mal and Evie's room, leaving Jay to keep sleeping. He gave a light tap on the door before opening it and peered inside.
"Evie," he said and walked inside. Evie was curled up in the chair, beside Mal, fast asleep. Mal looked just about the same, muttering and picking at the covers. "Evie," he said again, giving her a gentle shake.
She groaned and woke up with a yawn. "Is it morning already?"
"Yep, time to get up." Evie stumbled as she got out of the chair and Carlos caught her before she fell. "Hey, easy," he said, holding her steady. "You alright?"
"Yeah, just didn't sleep much. Between the storm and Mal, I was up a lot."
"Come on, I'll take you to my room." Carlos started leading Evie towards to door as Lonnie came into the room. "Oh, good," said Carlos. "I have to get Evie to bed, can you take care of Mal for a minute?" He asked her.
"Guys, Ben's gone," said Lonnie sadly. Carlos and Evie looked at each other.
"What do you mean gone?" Carlos asked.
"His boat disappeared in the storm last night. They aren't sure where it went yet."
Evie's legs gave out beneath her as she fell into Carlos's arms.
"Evie," he cried and lifted her into his arms. "I'll be back, watch Mal!" he yelled back to Lonnie as he hurried down the hall.
He threw the door open to his room and deposited Evie on his bed. "Jay, get up," he said shaking his friend harshly. "Come on, we got to go."
"What's going on?" He grumbled.
"Just get up now," Carlos told him, his tone dead serious.
Jay eyes shot open as he scrambled out of bed and followed Carlos quickly down the hall. They were almost back to Mal's room when they heard her screaming and started running, panic seizing Carlos like never before. They ran in on Lonnie sitting on Mal's bed, holding her in a tight hug. Mal screamed and sobbed as Lonnie spoke to her gently.
"What's going on?" Jay shouted.
"Ben's missing," Carlos answered. "But I have no clue what happened here."
"I don't know how to explain it. It's like she sensed something's wrong. She called out for Ben then started screaming and crying," Lonnie answered.
"What do we do?" asked Jay.
"What we can. Get her calm and try to think positive."
