Chapter Twenty-Nine
Crashing Into You / Like Stars in the Sky
"Addison!" A voice called over the thrashing waves and everything froze, the siren going frighteningly still, every muscle tensed as her mind rioted over the sound she thought she had heard.
A tall figure in a maroon suit darkened by rain edged closer as she slid her hands over her ears, his heart clenching tight in his chest at the stricken look on her face.
Everyone watched the figure stagger over, trying not to slip on the waterlogged deck as they all desperately tried to catch their breaths and grips in the momentary lull. In the ensuing quiet they could hear her muttering to herself.
"Go away… Go away, go away, go away. Just a hallucination. Go away."
Carefully a pair of arms slid around her waist and she stiffened, her mutterings coming to a stop.
"Addie," the voice continued, imploring. "It's me. I'm alright. I'm right here."
She inhaled sharply, terrified to turn around. "How–?" She started to ask, the question tremulous, full of longing and pain. "No… No, no, no, no. Not here," she reminded herself, shaking her head, eyes squeezed tight against images she desperately tried to push away. "Not real. Not here. Cannot be here. You can't be here because you're –" She bit her lip, unwilling or unable to finish the thought, the sea water surging with her emotions, the boat pitching dangerously upon a sudden wave, and everyone scrambled to hang onto something.
He stumbled against her as the deck rolled about beneath his feet, a twinge of fear twisting in his belly as she slid forward on the rail. With a sudden burst of strength he grasped her firmly around the waist and hauled her off the railing, knocking them both to the floor.
She landed on top of him and he hissed at the pain as his head and shoulders collided with the wooden deck, but his grip was secure around her and his body solid beneath hers.
The feel of his cool skin, the black-peppery smell of him, all of it was achingly real and familiar.
Breath ragged, she braced shaky fingers on his chest and pushed herself up, eyelashes trembling for a moment before she forced her eyes open just enough to peer down at what—at whom—she had landed on. Her eyes widened in stunned disbelief, her gaze traveling over every inch of his face and seeing him, really seeing him – seeing anything for the first time in a long while.
"…Zed?" There was so much hope and heartbreak in that one whispered question, doubting even now what her eyes could see and her fingers could touch.
Keeping one arm tight around her waist he let his other hand thread through her damp, silvered curls. His familiar grin and warm dark eyes shot clean to her soul. "Hey, beautiful."
Churning waves shattered into infinite water droplets like stars in the sky, suspended over everything as tears gathered in her eyes. "Zed!" She threw her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. He held her tight, murmuring soothingly to her, his hand cupping the back of her head securely.
The suspended water droplets began to sparkle in the moonlight as the storm cleared and the clouds dissipated over the calm ocean waves. Everyone shakily stood, looking about them in awe. It was breathtaking in its beauty, this manifestation of one girl's heart.
"Well, that was rather exciting, wasn't it?"
"Harry, shut up." Uma scowled without any real heat, awed despite herself by this glimmering splendor of the sea.
Keeping a firm grip on her shoulders, Zed helped Addison to her feet. She stood shakily, everything quaking and in constant motion but she was standing. She gave Zed a small tight smile before there was a flash of blinding light across her eyes that split her head open and she screamed.
Zed's heart lurched in his chest as Addison clutched her head in her hands, her scream of pain wrenching at something deep inside. "Addie? Addison!" He gathered her close, letting her use his body as support as all of hers fled. "Addison!"
"Zed!" She shrieked, her eyes vibrant and wild, she grabbed his vest in one small fist, hanging onto him like he was her only lifeline to this world. "Get it off! Get it off!"
"What – Addie?" Zed ran his hands over her back but couldn't see or feel anything that was different.
"It's the band!" Mal's voice shouted over Addison's agonized screams, her eyes locked on the gleaming accessory.
Zed grabbed Addison's wrist and realized with a start that the thing was glowing faintly. He met Mal's stunned gaze with his own. "How do I get it off?"
Mal stumbled over as the boat began to pitch again, the waters reacting to Addison's turmoil and pain – the wild whirl of her magic. She caught hold of Addison's forearm, bracing herself as best she could on the slippery deck. Zed had a firm grip around Addison's waist, holding her protectively in the curve of his body. Addison's entire frame was shaking, her body breaking out into a sweat from the strain of battle against her out of control magic. Letting out a spectacular curse, Mal whipped around. "Eliza!"
The Zombie girl's head popped up from where she'd been clutching the railing of the boat. Reading the situation in an instant Eliza pulled out her laptop from the bag cradled protectively against her chest and tried to open it but was almost sent tumbling over the deck as it slanted sharply. She let out a gasp of surprise when she fell into something warm and solid.
"I've got you," Wyatt reassured her, wrapping one arm around her waist and hooking his other arm around one of the cold metal rails. "You work on that."
Throwing him a grateful half-smile and fighting down the sudden chase of heat that stole over her cheeks, Eliza flung open her laptop, trying to hold it steady with one hand and type as fast as she could across the keyboard with the other. She clicked keys and dragged her thumb across the mouse pad as she opened and closed windows in a flurry, flecks of water droplets spitting across her screen. She growled inwardly at the thought of her precious computer becoming waterlogged but an agonized moan from Addison kept her focused.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard until she froze, her mind wrapped in confusion. Feeling her stiffen, Wyatt shifted her closer in a defensive gesture. "What? What is it?"
"It's not the program," Eliza muttered, bewildered, her fingers clacking across the plastic keys. "I mean, it sort of is, but it doesn't explain what's going on." She looked across the expanse of the wooden deck, water sloshing over everyone. "Mal! It's – there's something else! The program, the coding – it's been warped somehow."
"Warped?" Carlos called out, his grip around Jane firm as he held them to the rail. "What do you mean warped?"
"I don't know!" Eliza responded, genuine worry filtering through her voice and making the hairs on the back of Wyatt's neck stand up. If Eliza was worried then something was very wrong.
Mal cursed as she slipped on the deck and fell to her knees in the several inches of water bathing the deck. With a muffled curse of his own Zed eased himself and Addie to the wooden floor, gathering her close as she tried to stifle her cries in his chest. An instant later Ben was sliding into place beside them and hanging onto Mal before she tumbled across the deck. He grasped ahold of Mal around her sodden dress, gripping her firmly as she reached out again to catch Addison's arm. She caught part of the band in her grip and let out a yelp of pain.
Snatching her hand back, Mal waved it wildly to shake off the jolt of energy that had zapped her.
"Mal?" Ben's voice was in her ear, his tone full of concern.
"It's magicked," she told them, trying for Addison's arm again and making sure to grab her forearm this time.
"It's a Magic-band," Bucky shouted from his prone position near the stairs. "Of course it's magicked."
Mal sent him an unamused glare and he snapped his mouth shut, his grip tight on the wooden railing. "It's not suppressing her magic," she explained. "It's amplifying it – pushing it out so that it's controlling her."
"What do we do?" Ben asked, grasping a fistful of damp tulle and satin and hauling her closer against his chest.
"We need to break the spell."
"How?" Zed's eyes were nearly as wild as Addison's, his grip on her tight as he cradled her close, his shirt as damp from her tears as the ocean water.
"Magic," Mal told them. "We need to use magic to break the spell on her band – it's the only way to release her."
"Do it."
"I can't." Mal felt her heart contract as Addison cringed into Zed's chest. The former cheerleader was biting her lip so hard to keep from crying out in pain Mal was afraid she'd bite right through it. "I can barely do anything with my own on, let alone work a spell that powerful."
"Then you need to get it released," Ben said. He turned to Eliza without hesitation. "Hack Mal's band," he told her. "I hereby give you permission as heir to the throne of Auradon to turn Mal's band off."
Eliza's jaw dropped open. "You want me to do what?"
Addison's shaking grew worse until she was starting to fight Zed's grip. The sky grew darker, heavier as fat drops of rain began to fall from the sky as well as splash up from the sea.
"Eliza!" Mal yelled. "Do it! We're running out of time."
Eliza eyed Ben for one long second before she gave a sharp nod and let her fingers fly across the keys, searching for the database that housed all the M-bands and locating one in particular. "Got it," she called back, her fingers never ceasing in their flight.
"Zed," Addison moaned. "Let…go. I don't want…to hurt you." She tried to will herself to push him away with her one arm though she was gripping onto his shirt so tight it was starting to strain the seams.
Mal caught Zed's eye as he fought to hold her close. "Hang on to her. Don't let her go." She knew Addison didn't want to hurt any of them, that she'd fight to resist it, but it was Zed she was ultimately terrified of hurting, and she'd refuse with everything in her to keep from doing so.
"I'm not going anywhere," he told both girls, adjusting his grip so that she was cradled in his lap, his body hunched over her protectively like Addison's own personal control band.
"What's taking so long?" Mal growled over the crash of waves on the hull.
"One last firewall," Eliza promised, stumbling across a few keystrokes as the boat pitched.
"I've got you," Wyatt murmured in her ear and Eliza fought to stay focused, scanning her coding with an expert eye and trying to ignore the woodsy smell mixed with seawater that surrounded her.
"Carlos," she called out. "What's this last bit here?" She waited, muscles tensed as Carlos slipped and slid his way over, Jay catching him before he face-planted with the deck and making sure he had a firm grip again before letting the younger teen continue forward.
"Let me see," Carlos gasped as he hooked one arm through the railing beside Eliza and Wyatt, swiping his sodden white bangs out of his face. "There," he pointed out on the screen. "That's what you need."
"Got it," Eliza acknowledged, her fingers tapping quickly across the keystrokes with a last flourish before hitting the return key. "Got it!" She called over to Mal, Ben and Zed.
Mal and Ben looked at Mal's wrist as it gave a cheery little beep, flashed 'OFFLINE' across the screen, and Mal gasped from the power surge that filled every vein and tracery in her body. With the slightest push she felt the metal and plastic around her wrist flare with heat before it hissed and fizzled angrily, a sharp metallic smell filling the air before Mal was able to yank the hated thing off and throw it aside.
Rising up on her knees Mal grasped Addison's forearm more securely in both hands, Ben holding her firmly by the bunched up layers of material at her hips for balance. Mal met Zed's anguished eyes. "Ready?" He nodded once, firmly, readjusting his own grip before Mal's hands slid down to Addison's band. She hissed as the spell around the band fought back, the magic both cloying and menacing in its creation. Nice try, she told it silently. But you're nothing compared to what I can do.
"Spell of control and intentions cold, shatter all and release your hold," Mal chanted, shoving her magic behind her words and funneling it into the band.
There was a great cracking sound like an ice shelf breaking off into the sea and then the spell around Addison's band flashed brilliantly before dissipating into the damp air. Not a moment later the band itself fell from Addison's wrist, having cracked clean down the center to flop into the water sloshing about their knees.
Addison gave a great gasp as if coming up for air after drowning for so long, her back arching as the control over her snapped and vanished. With a short release of breath she collapsed boneless in Zed's hold.
"Addison?" Zed asked, alarmed. "Addison!"
"O...kay," she panted, her head lolling about her neck, Zed's arms the only thing keeping her semi-upright. Her tired gaze sought out Mal's fiercely burning green eyes. She gave her an exhausted half-smile. "Than…k you," she breathed as the waters stilled and the sky cleared, the moon and stars peeking out once more.
Cautiously, the gathered students, faculty and royal family rose shakily to their feet. More than one guest looked a little green in the face but everyone seemed largely alright aside from some minor bruising, ruined makeup and dress clothes.
Zed breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, gathering Addison close to squeeze her tight, his heart beating wildly in his chest. "Addie," he whispered, her name both gratitude and benediction. "I've got you," he promised as she panted for breath. "I've got you."
Hot, leather-clad fingers settled against his skin, almost burning to the touch.
"Hey."
Zed looked up to see Mal's face tight with concern, her eyes still an unsettled, brilliant green. Zed relaxed his grip a bit so that Mal could see her long-lost half-sibling. Mal inhaled sharply and Ben rose up onto his knees to peer over her shoulder. His eyes widened a bit as they took in the dark circles under Addison's eyes and noticed how thin she'd become at the constant magic burn.
Mal's hand clenched on Zed's arm, her eyes narrowing as she realized the spell on Addison had also kept up a mild glamor to hide the extent of the damage it was doing to its puppet. "When I find out who did this," Mal whispered, her intent clear. Ben squeezed her shoulders in a gesture of comfort.
"Let me through," Fairy Godmother's voice sounded from behind them as she sloshed her way over across the flooded deck. Ben shifted Mal enough that Fairy Godmother could inspect Addison but not so far that Mal would stiffen in his arms. She was on a hair-trigger enough as it was and while he trusted her to keep her magic under control he didn't want to push her.
"She'll be alright," Fairy Godmother assured them after a long moment, her voice kind and full of knowing authority. "It's like she's been running a non-stop marathon until now; she's just exhausted and needs rest." She reached for the petite, drained girl. "Here."
Zed shook his head, his grip on Addison tightening. "I've got her." He slid an arm under her legs, the other supporting her back, making sure his grip was firm before attempting to stand. He slipped a little but more than one set of hands braced him until he found his footing again and was standing with Addison cradled to his chest, her once shimmering ball gown dripping seawater.
"Follow me, dear," Fairy Godmother instructed, a warm smile on her face. "We'll have her in bippity-boppity-perfect shape in no time."
Zed gave her a strained, crooked smile as he trailed after her, Ben and Mal hovering behind them.
Everyone on deck shuffled out of the way as Fairy Godmother led the way toward the gangplank and to dry land. A few people stayed behind to make a game out of splashing each other with the collected water on deck but most were eager to get off the boat and to solid ground again.
It was quite the procession to the hospital with Enchanteds, Zombies and Humans trudging soggily along the road, murmured conversations and strained laughter springing up at random in the parade of people, the only one oblivious to it all the unconscious girl with the silvery-white hair they would talk about for a long time to come.
With a grimace, her Zombie shifted her closer in his arms as if he would protect her from all that lay ahead.
"Wait." Mal grabbed Ben's arm right before they made to step off the boat. "Uma." The two spun on the spot but Evie was right there behind them shaking her head, her long blue tresses plastered to her neck and back.
"She and Harry leapt off the side when we were all distracted by Addie's band." Evie laid a cold hand on her friend's warm shoulder. "They're long gone."
"We'll be sure to re-instate their bands, don't you worry," King Adam's deep baritone sounded from behind them. They turned to see his hard grimace, slightly marred by being soaked through to the skin. "They won't get away with this."
Evie's forehead creased in misgiving. "I don't believe Uma and her crew were entirely behind Addie's involvement, Your Majesty. That is, they may have been egging her on, perhaps directing her powers a bit, but they didn't have the capability to perform spells at the time Addie went missing." She exchanged a look with Carlos, Jay and Mal who all nodded. "Most of them are Human and wouldn't even know where to begin. Uma's the only one with magic, and her band was inactivated only very recently."
"I'll agree there seems to be more to this than meets the eyes," King Adam conceded. "But my statement still stands. Uma bespelled my son and was likely behind most of what has been happening here as of late. If not, then she's still directly responsible for tonight's debacle. Her and her gang's bands will be reinstated immediately. They won't get out of the Other Side again."
Mal felt something twist inside at the king's words.
"Dad –" Ben began, his brows furrowed, aggravation pulling at his mouth.
"As for you, Mal," King Adam continued.
"Please take all the time you need to look after your sister," Queen Belle cut in smoothly. She brushed a straggled violet-pink curl out of Mal's face. "She needs you right now." Belle gave Mal a warm smile and nodded for her son to go with her even as she slid a hand up her husband's arm and squeezed gently in warning.
"Right," King Adam acquiesced with a quiet sigh of defeat. "You continue to the hospital. We'll stay here and clean up this mess, see if we can't get to the bottom of all," he waved his hand around the general air, "this."
"Thanks, Dad. Mom." Ben gave his parents a tight smile before quickly leading Mal away, wondering despairingly if his dream would soon come crashing down around his ears. Mal squeezed his hand in sympathy and understanding. He looked at her and blushed, remembering her confession and subsequent kiss upon the deck and felt his heart swell in his chest, unable to fight the grin spreading across his face. Catching his look, Mal could only flush in response.
Everything was dark.
And it smelled…off. Too sterile.
She knew that smell. Didn't like it. Reminded her of something she wanted to forget. Someone screaming…
She pulled away from the memory, from the despairing vortex of it. Pulled herself back to the immediate.
She knew she was laying on something softer than the floor but nothing really that comfortable and the blankets were thin. She shivered as something pushed at her mind, something she wanted to shy away from, and something else she was almost desperate to hope but terrified to believe.
A rustling sound came from beside her, some shifting of material and she smelled seawater. Hadn't she been dreaming about the sea? The water and the moon and a pair of arms that felt like home…
She saw a flash of a face in her mind's eye and pushed harder for the surface, feeling like she was swimming through that very ocean even as it tried to weigh her down.
Her eyelids fluttered before closing tight at the brilliant fluorescent lights. "Zed?" She asked though it sounded more like a croak. Her throat hurt like she'd swallowed a gallon of seawater. Or had been screaming.
Her mind catapulting between being awake and asleep it took her a moment to realize he hadn't responded to her inquiry and she felt a jolt of alarm race through her and suddenly it was rushing back to her in a kaleidoscope of events that didn't entirely make sense but surely she hadn't been dreaming –
"Whoa, hey, Addie. Relax." Suddenly Mal's face was swimming into focus above her, green and gold eyes pinched at the corners in concern. There was a wild beeping sound in the background that she couldn't quite place.
"Zed," Addison croaked. "He's –"
"Just fine, I promise." Mal used her firm, there-can-never-be-any-doubt tone as she eased Addison back onto her pillows, pulling the blanket up higher and smoothing it out. "He just stepped out to make a few phone calls with Ben's phone."
Addison concentrated on getting her breathing back to a decent rhythm and felt her heart respond. The annoying beeping sound echoed in time. She looked around her in confusion, not recognizing the room. "Where…?"
"You're in the hospital." Mal grimaced. "Excessive magic usage and resulting power burnout are not good for the complexion, let me tell you." She studied Addison a touch apprehensively. "You may be here a little while."
Addison stared at the pink-violet-haired girl before her, taking in the new haircut and the gorgeous, though sodden, purple and black dress she wore, blinking slowly and allowing it to all come back. "It wasn't a dream," she murmured.
"Not even close." Mal gave her a half-smile in response, waiting until Addison relaxed further back into her pillows and for the heart monitor to retain its steady intonation before asking the questions burning through her mind. "Addie…what happened? How…how much do you remember?"
Addison's brows furrowed as she tried to trace things back through her memories. There was a long silence before she answered. "Everything's so jumbled…" She bit her lip, cringing at the stark memories that leapt out at her. "I went to the Center to get banded after you tried to stop me… Sweet Auradon, I was such a mess." She shook her head, feeling like that had been a different person from a different time but knowing all too well that it was herself. "Zed arrived as they were putting it on." She tensed and Mal rubbed her arm in comfort. "Everything went bright. I felt – it was like I was burning up inside but I was freezing too. Like a cold so intense it burned."
Mal gave her a studying glance, knowing the feeling of that blue flame all too well. It was yet another link in the tale she had been told.
"There was…too much." Addison's voice began to quaver, her heart monitor answering to the building panic. "And the screaming – there was so much screaming and the pain and, oh gods, Zed!"
"Okay, okay, that's enough." Suddenly Mal was above her again, warm hands gripping her shoulders firmly as she held Addison still. "Addison, look at me. He's fine. You're safe. Everyone's okay." Mal looked to where Addison was clutching the wrist where her M-band had lain. Her lips lifted in a weary smile. "I did try to tell you that you wouldn't be up to wearing one of those. Hate to say I told you so, but…" She laid a hand over Addison's. "I seriously doubt you'll ever be able to wear one again after this fiasco."
Addison bit her lip, her tears welling. "But, Mal – I couldn't – I can't control it and I –"
"Hey." Mal increased the pressure she exerted on Addison's shoulder, letting her magic push forward enough that it lit her eyes and warmed her hands. Her bright green eyes met and engaged brilliant blue, the two locked in a tense stalemate until Addison conceded, relaxing back against her hospital bed. Mal didn't bother holding back her smirk. "Told ya I could take you."
"Mal…" Addison gave her a weary, chastising look in return.
Mal gave Addison's shoulder a last comforting squeeze before settling herself on the edge of Addison's bed, careful to keep her frills out of the way. "We'll figure it out," Mal promised, her tone no less firm for its softness. "Ben's already got his parents' permission to keep my band off so I can help Fairy Godmother train you. And – bonus! Calls of help are pouring in from all over Auradon. Everyone from Rapunzel to Queen Anna's sister, Elsa, are ready to help, Addie. We've got this." She rested a warm hand on Addison's cool one. "You're going to be fine. We'll be with you the entire time, every step of the way."
The expression on Addison's face read that it all sounded too good to be true. "My…f-family."
As she tripped over the words Mal felt herself grimace. Tightening her grip on Addison's with just the slightest hint of hesitancy, her heart beating just a little bit faster at the hours' old truth that even she wasn't used to yet, Mal found herself searching for the right words to say, her voice gentle, easing Addison into it in a way she hadn't been.
"You know, Jay's like an older brother to me, and Evie's always been like a sister. Carlos is practically a younger brother to the three of us, and Dizzy has all but been adopted as Evie's little sister, and, well," she gave Addison a fleeting smile, "you get the picture." She paused, treading carefully. "You're one of us now, Addie. An Enchanted kid – an EK, part of the family. Our family."
There was a quiet tension in the air as the two girls watched each other carefully, searching the other's face for a long moment before Addison finally spoke to ask in a voice no louder than a whisper, "Are you really my sister, Mal?"
Mal swallowed hard against the lump that had arisen in her throat, her thoughts and feelings still reeling. "Yeah. I think I really am. Though I'm just as new to the idea as you."
"A-and our f-father is…"
Mal let out a sharp laugh. "An annoying, forever-clinging-to-his-former-glory, deposed god of the underworld? So I've been told. Sorry 'bout that. You get used to him." She grinned as a sudden thought occurred to her. "Hey, now he'll finally have someone else to annoy instead of just me." Letting herself drift off into that fabulous thought it took a moment for her to realize Addison had said her name. "Hmm?" She blinked at the serious look of trepidation on the younger girl's face.
"What…what am I?"
"You," Mal began, gathering both of Addison's hands in hers and squeezing them tight between her own, "are a blue-eyed, white-haired cheerleader who is breathtakingly peppy and positive, hopelessly head over heels for her Zombie boyfriend, has squeaky friends with glasses, one ever-expanding family, and crazy dreams of uniting all of Auradon through," she gave a not-quite-exaggerated shudder," cheer who just happens to be part-siren, and has the misfortune of sharing a towering, sulking father with her older and wiser part-dark faerie half-sister. Oh," Mal added as an afterthought. "Plus Zoey. That kid adores you, you know."
In response all Addison could do for a long moment was stare, then she was blinking rapidly to clear her eyes as a small smile began to stretch its way across her face. "And are Bucky and Audrey really still my cousins?"
Mal gave a deep sigh of disappointment. "Unfortunately, it appears so, yes. You're stuck with them I'm afraid."
Addison felt herself flushing in happiness, some of Mal's warmth finally reaching her when the other girl gave a sudden loud gasp, her hands flying upwards to clutch at her damp curls in horror. "Skies above!"
"What?" Addison asked, adrenaline shooting through her in alarm. "What is it?"
"I'm related to that pompous, vain, peacock-ass of a cheerleader now, too?" The look of absolute revulsion on Mal's face had Addison bursting into laughter even as Mal groaned and gave several lamenting, "Whys" and a "Can we divorce them? Is that a thing?"
From the doorway, Zed watched the scene inside with a relieved smile on his face, Addison's laughter filling his soul. For a moment he'd been afraid it might be gone for a good long while. The relief he felt was as staggering as the love that was overflowing inside.
Hearing a snort of amusement behind him he turned to see Eliza catch his eye. "Congrats. You've got yourself a now unfettered mini dragon with actual fire watching over her little sister – your girlfriend." She smirked, patting his shoulder as she moved past him to waltz into the room. "Good luck."
Her entrance was greeted with Addison's happy cry of "Eliza!" before the hugs began.
"Stop trying to be a Zombie, Cheerleader," Eliza scolded with good humor. "Gray really isn't your color."
Footsteps announced Ben's arrival as he paused in place beside Zed at the door. The crown prince studied the tableau inside of the unlikely trio of girls laughing together on the hospital bed. "She'll be okay."
"Yeah." Zed smiled softly.
"You ready for this?" At Zed's inquiring look Ben shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded toward the room. "It's a lot of change."
Zed's smile grew. "Change is good."
Ben grinned back before turning to watch Mal, love in his eyes. "Yeah, it is. Though there's plenty more to come. This isn't the end of the story."
"Far from it," Zed agreed with a nod.
Addison and Mal looked over toward the door at Eliza's nudge and the girls' eyes began to glow, with happiness and magic. Eliza rolled her eyes at them but couldn't quite hide the smile on her face. "You all are so much trouble. Why do I put up with you?"
"Because you love us," Zed and Addison responded at the same time, making everyone laugh. Eliza shook her head in faux disgust.
"How did she break my spell?" A sharp voice asked as figures moved blurrily through electric green glass.
"I-I don't know." A cowering voice answered.
There was a beat of silence before pale pink lips twisted in an unamused smile. "Things are about to get…ugly."