Descendants 3 Chapter 28
Episode 20A
A huge storm cloud hovered over Hyperion Heights. The weather changed from sunny to cloudy and windy in less than a minute.
Lucy ran around the corner to find her grandma. She blurted that the kiss didn't work between her parents. Regina worried about Henry's cursed heart but Lucy said, "No, no. He was cured."
"What? How?" Regina asked.
"My teacher. She offered to help."
Regina paused for a moment. "Your teacher-Saraphina? She's with the coven. Why would she help?"
"I don't know. But I trust her. She's not evil like Gothel." Lucy said.
"It doesn't matter now. I don't like the look of that storm. It's another curse on it's way." Regina said.
Lucy looked up at her, worried. "But we're already cursed. What more could happen?"
Eloise/Gothel appeared to Lyra and Lena when they rushed out of the apartment building to investigate the storm.
"Hello," Gothel said.
"What are you doing?" Lena asked. "What is this storm!?"
"It's going to wipe the slate clean, once again." Gothel said.
Lyra's eyes widened. She remembered what she just saw in the compass. "She means to destroy humanity."
"Just the ones who are not like us." Gothel said.
"With magic?" Lena asked.
"Witches." Gothel answered.
"How's that civilization supposed to last?" Lyra asked.
"With the power of the coven, we would be immortal." Gothel said. "It's not too late. You've seen how powerful we are. Join us. Our coven can be legion-"
"No!" Lyra said.
"Your families would be spared. Think about it. Your own daughter, your husband-"
"If you spare my family that would be practically an entire town." Lyra said. "You'd really share the new world with a bunch of non-magical folk?"
Gothel lowered her eyes. "The offer extends to your daughter and Roland only."
Lyra shook her head. "So my-my brother would die? My niece, Lucy. And what about Leia?"
Gothel considered her for a moment. "So Leia's been found. She has magic too, doesn't she?"
Lyra scoffed and shook her head. "That's your criteria?"
"Leia may be spared too." Gothel said. She nodded as if she was doing Lyra a favor.
"But not my parents? Not my aunt?" Lyra put her hand on Lena's shoulder."
"For Thumbelina," Gothel turned to her, "Alice would live. She's already joined the coven."
"What?" Lena's heart sank to her stomach. "She-she's in your coven. She agreed-"
"As Tilly." Lyra reminded her.
"The curse will enact tonight. But you only have right now to decide." Gothel said.
"You manipulated Tilly to get to join you." Lena said in a serious tone. "There's no way she would join you otherwise. We will stop with storm. And we will never join you."
Lena grabbed Lyra's arm and pulled her down the street, away from Gothel, who watched them walk away.
"Doesn't Tilly's help guarantee you'll live?" Lyra asked after turning the corner.
"Gothel will manipulate her to turn her against me. Make Tilly forget me. Gothel doesn't want me in the way, especially if I have magic. Gothel doesn't want anyone to survive with magic that's against her."
"She wouldn't have the advantage." Lyra realized.
"We have to find Tilly. No-" she stopped in her tracks. "I'll find her. You need to find Henry. Make him believe."
"Lena-"
"If he can believe, this curse and be broken and-"
"The storm is still coming." Lyra argued.
"If he believes, maybe it will all stop. The witches with get their memories. None of them were originally in the coven, except Saraphina. They won't stick with the coven, hopefully." Lena said.
Lyra nodded and the two separated. Lyra made her way to Roni's while Lena headed to the sheriff's station to look for Rogers.
Underneath the movie theater, the witches were all linked around the coven's symbol in the ground. A liquid moved from the center of the symbol over to one of the witches.
Rogers watched, helpless to stop them. Helpless to stop Tilly.
Brittney lied on the ground several feet away from Rogers. She reached her arm out slowly. Her breathing was getting heavy.
The liquid went over towards Morgana. Her eyes went white. Morgana's body started shaking and a bright light came out of her body. When the light went away, she was gone. Or her body had changed. She was a tree!
"What the devil?" Rogers asked.
The other witches in the coven were so focused on the ritual that Rogers was able to escape the basement.
He ran out of the theater and down the street. He stumbled into the police station where he found Lena/Elizabeth waiting for him.
"Rogers! I was looking for you." Lena said.
Rumple was standing right by her. "What happened to you?"
"I was just kidnapped by a bunch of women doing-And I swear to you-magic." Rogers said.
"We believe you," Lena said stepping forward. "Where are they?"
"Under the theater-" Rogers said.
Lena started to run out the door but Rogers stopped her.
"No, wait." He said. "They're doing some dark spell. They're in a complete trance."
"Well we have to stop them." Lena said.
"How? We don't have magic. I'm still not sure what just happened." Rogers said.
Rumple gave him a little smirk. "Don't worry. It's will all make sense soon, Captain."
Lena smiled a little then got serious. "There's no time to waste. That spell is making storm that will kill a lot of people. There has to be some way to stop them. We need to find magic."
Rumple squinted his eyes. "Perhaps there is a way to stop them without magic."
Lena looked at her dad, surprised. "Dad?"
"Dad?" Rogers asked. He looked at Lena and back to Weaver/Rumple.
"Keep up," Lena said. She stepped closer to Rogers. "Lucy was right about everything. Lucy is Henry's daughter. And Tilly is yours. Magic is real Rogers. Your memories were altered. Don't you think it's weird how you can't remember how long you've been here, in this town?"
"For as long as I can remember-" Rogers said. He looked at her, alarmed.
"Do you remember your family? You parents? Your childhood?" Lena asked.
Rogers thought about for a minute. "I know I had parents but they're not around anymore. But I can't think of their faces... This is freaky."
"No, what's freaky is that curse coming our way. We can talk more on the way." Lena said, gesturing them out the door.
Lucy, Regina, and Lyra met up at the bar awaiting Henry.
"Do you think this book is enough?" Lyra asked.
"It has to be," Lucy said. "It's all we have left."
Lyra pursed her lips. It's true. She showed him all the Storybrooke and Enchanted Forest items that came through the curse. He still didn't believe. She remembered the Golden Compass but that wouldn't prove anything. Henry never saw the compass in the Enchanted Forest and that compass only works for her.
Henry entered the bar, receiving Roni's message to meet him there. Regina and Lucy seemed so optimistic about this meeting. Regina showed him the second book and asked him to believe and hold the book.
Henry took a deep breath and grabbed the book. Nothing happened. Nothing changed. He was still cursed Henry Mills. The book didn't work either. If it wasn't a kiss with Cinderella and it wasn't the book… then what could break this curse?
Lucy was devastated, leaving the bar in tears.
"Lucy," Henry called after her.
"Ugh, you are so gonna hate yourself when you do wake up," Lyra said aloud.
"Candace-" Henry said.
"It's Lyra." She said firmly. "How can you not believe after everything you've seen? Lucy was already in the hospital. That didn't work." Lyra's voice raised as she continued to speak. "I don't know what more we can do? What more can we show you? What more do you need to see!?"
"Calm down-" Regina tried.
Lyra backed away. "No. This isn't over. He has to believe or we're all gonna die. Then what will all those sacrifices have been for? Melody and Neal Jr. Neal Sr.-your father Henry! Belle. Gideon. Robin the first time around. Live to die another day?"
Regina looked down at the ground of her bar. This place created from a curse. All the customers who are still cursed. Still separated from their families. Having no idea that they even have families. Her son still not knowing just how much he means to her.
"You're always saying how you're this Lyra from the book. Well Lyra has magic." Henry said. "And you-"
"It doesn't work here because we're in a land without magic-well very limited magic. I only had my magic back when I was a part of the coven. That's how I woke up Lena." Lyra said.
"I'm sorry," Henry said. "That's not good enough. I can't just take your word for it." He put the book back on the counter.
"That's exactly what belief is!" Lyra shouted. "I shouldn't have to show you magic for you to believe in it."
He wasn't convinced. He shrugged his shoulders and left the bar.
Lena, Rogers, and Rumple made their way towards the movie theater. They walked down the street side by side in unison. Once inside the building, Rogers led them to the basement deep underneath the theater.
A bright light emulated from the coven's symbol in the center of the room. The orange liquid made it's way over to Meredith. She looked at the other witches, worried.
"It's okay," she told them. "This isn't death."
"You'll be a tree. That's hardly living." Camryn said.
"No," Saraphina said. "Don't you see? You'll be a nymph. You'll stuck in tree from at first but you'll get your body back. You'll be more evolved."
"You don't know that for certain," Alex said.
Lena, Rogers, and Rumple watched helplessly as Meredith met the same fate as Morgana. She never even got her memories back as Madam Mim.
"Oh my God," Lena said aloud.
"Tilly!" Rogers ran over to her. She was still in a deep trance.
"Why is she mute but they others are clearly conscious?" Lena asked.
"Gothel probably did something." Rumple said.
"Please help us!" Alex screamed from the coven's circle.
Rogers looked over at them, confused. "You agreed to this madness."
"Our stepfather was going to kill us," Alex said. "We needed protection."
"I didn't agree to this." Marnie blurted. "She won't let me leave. I have a family back in Oregon. I only wanted to meet other witches, not join them permanently."
"Gothel was desperate to complete her coven." Rumple said aloud.
"Please, I don't want to die." Alex said.
"You won't die. You'll be reborn-" Saraphina tried.
"Shut up!" Camryn said to her.
Rumple saw Brittney on the ground across the room and walked over to her. Is she dead? Did the witches kill her? Did Gothel sacrifice her for the spell? Who is this girl?
Rumple kneeled down beside Brittney, turning her over from the side. He checked her pulse, even though he already knew.
"How is she?" Marnie asked, calling out across the room.
Rumple shook his head.
Marnie's muscles tensed. Her whole body ached from head to toe. She felt like she was on fire.
"We have to get out of here." Alex begged.
Lena looked at her, understanding how scared she was. Gothel did this. She manipulated these young girls. Coerced them into the coven.
"Can't you just let go?" Rogers asked. "Stop all this?"
"We're stuck. Bound to this spell." Camryn said.
"We can't fight it." Alex said.
"Magic is very simple" Marnie muttered to herself.
"What?" Alex asked her.
"All you've got to do it want something and then let yourself have it." Marnie said. Now she seemed like she was in a trance. She yanked her arms away, and was able to leave the circle.
"How did she do that?" Camryn asked. Her eyes widened in surprise. She looked over to her sister.
"Marnie, how did you break free?" Lena asked.
The spell was still brewing. It wasn't over. Alex tugged her arms but couldn't leave the circle. Tilly was still in a daze, unable to communicate with them.
Marnie walked over to Brittney's body. Her feet were exposed out of the cape with each step. She took the hood off of the cape and untied the cape's rope. She put her arms back letting the cape drape off of her. Marnie fell to her knees and held Brittney in her lap. She rocked her back and forth quietly.
Rumple slowly reached out his hand to her shoulder, but she did something before he could follow through. She screamed, but it wasn't an ordinary scream. It was more than a scream of pain or sorrow. It was a spell.
A powerful wave came out of Marnie, spreading across the whole room. It blew the hoods off of the witches. It moved the orange liquid away from Alex. A second wave came out from Marnie and flew everyone back, falling on the dirt floor.