Disclaimer: I do not own Descendants.
"You make a sound and it's game over."
Those were not comforting words to hear when one was being pulled into an alley. She supposed, though, that there probably were not really any words that were particularly comforting when one was being pulled into an alley.
Her friends had told her that this was a very bad idea, and she had not attempted to argue that point with them. She had agreed that it was a very bad idea; she had just insisted that it was also a necessary one. Chad had wanted to come with her (sheepdog that he was) in spite of his insistence (or maybe because of his insistence) that it was a very bad idea, but she had been unsure enough over whether or not it would work the way she envisioned that she had pled that she did not want to take chances on stranding anyone else until she knew for sure that she could, in fact, bring them back and forth.
She was not really worried about her ability to get back through the barrier herself. She had no reason to believe that her apparent invisibility to the wards would work in only one direction, but she had been nothing short of honest with Chad when she had told him that she really did not know whether she would be able to similarly conceal another human being. Further, she did not want either or both of them to come with her on her first trip. She had needed to see everything for herself at least once without the boys' commentary being interjected and influencing her view.
Chad had not appreciated the announcement that she would be leaving them behind (although she really could not fault him for that). Ben had actually attempted to forbid her from proceeding at that point - which was so very not Ben that it only reinforced further that she was doing something that was a very bad idea.
Chad had laughed at the sight of Ben trying to sound like he was issuing a royal decree, and she cherished the sound as the last lighthearted moment any of them had had. She had worn them down - not to the level of approval (she had never expected that) but to the point that they had agreed not to run and tattle on her.
Chad had informed her that he would be throwing her under the bus the instant they got caught, and Ben had, for once, dropped his chivalrous nature and informed her that he was with Chad - she deserved whatever the punishment their parents would decide to dole out for this might be. She, again, did not disagree. This was dangerous. This was a very bad idea.
She still needed to do it.
Their parents were floundering. They wanted to help but were finding their hands tied at every avenue. Also, none of them were entirely certain what the right thing to do actually was. Jane understood that part better than anyone. It was simple to Ben - you did not put children in a prison. It was simple for Chad in the other direction - you did not run around breaking up families because it made you feel better (although Chad had made her hurts personal a long time ago and instinctively distrusted anyone raised on the Isle for that reason). Jane understood the complexities. There were children who were with parents who had miserably failed at the most basic tasks of parenting and should be removed with all possible haste and there were children who had loving, kind parents who built their worlds around them. But why should being blessed with a good parent sentence you to spending your life in what was essentially an over large jail cell?
Easy answers didn't exist, but the complete inaction could not continue either. So, here she was being pulled into an alley by an unknown assailant within the first half hour of her entrance to the Isle.
The truth is that she should have checked her exit strategy a little better before she went wandering off - she had gotten a little caught up in the surreal quality of it all. She was actually on the Isle - all of their positing and theory throwing and talk over the previous couple of years had just culminated in a tangible action. Shouldn't she be allowed a few minutes to be a little overwhelmed?
She was not running around shouting out her presence to anyone, but she was maybe not quite as good at sneaking around undetected as she had hoped. She had not exactly done this sort of thing before (this thing being skulking around a prison Isle without being noticed).
She ran through her available options in her head and quickly decided that there weren't many (and what there were were not particularly high on her list of desirable choices). Hiding was something at which she had clearly already failed. Running was a little difficult given her current state of a solid grip on her arm and a hand over her mouth.
Fighting, well, that was almost laughable as a consideration. She had gotten basic self-defense training at Ella's insistence, but those lessons had been about attracting attention and getting away long enough to get to help. She was reasonably certain that any attention she drew here wasn't likely to be of the helpful variety and what she knew of the Isle told her that whoever it was that had grabbed her wasn't likely to be on his own.
She had approximately forty minutes left of the hour Chad and Ben had promised to give her before they called in reinforcements of the reigning monarch variety, and she had to manage to extricate herself from this situation somehow before that time limit was up.
She was going to have to give it a go on trying to talk her way out of this - which was not her strength. She would do it anyway because she needed more time. She fully intended to let their parents in on what she was up to eventually, but needing to be rescued was not the opening that she was looking for in breaking it to them. Avoiding that was currently priority number one.
If talking did not work, well, then it would be time to test that other theory she had about the wards on the Isle.