Chapter 9: Teaching Audrey Magic

It rather surprised Audrey that the demon hadn't showed up to give her one of his demented pep talks in one of her nightmares. Heck, the fact that she had a tranquil, dreamless night for once felt like a relief. However, it was sensing a tertiary presence that alarmed Audrey into opening her eyes. She was covered by her cloak as a makeshift blanket while her body was cuddling on the cabin's bunk bed and the Bloody Bambi was sleeping on the floor, which was definetly expected. What wasn't expected was waking up to see Crystal sitting on a chair and eyeing Audrey… in a less weird fashion than she had watched Gothy sleep.

"Wow. Gorgeous wasn't kidding when she said you didn't snore in your sleep, Pink Fingers," Crystal said. "It's creepy."

Audrey narrowed her eyes. "Creepier than you watching people in their sleep?"

Crystal shook her head. "Nah. When Gorgeous sleeps, she looks like an actual Sleeping Beauty in my perspective. You, on the other hand, slept a lot. It's already 10am and when Gorgeous mentioned that you practically look dead in your snore-lacking sleep, I rushed to make sure that you were still alive."

"And you couldn't just have shaken me up?" Audrey forced herself off the bed and stretched.

"Why? Your pet was sleeping easily. I figured that he wouldn't be so relaxed if you had suddenly gotten a stroke." Right on cue, the Bloody Bambi lifted its head up. Its eyes stared at Crystal in a rather grumpy fashion. "Hey, don't look at me!" Crystal raised her hands. "You shouldn't even be sleeping on your job!"

The Bloody Bambi made some sort of grumpy sound and bared its teeth at Crystal, who looked unimpressed.

"She's just jealous because you do a great job." Audrey gave another affectionate caress down the stag's neck. It gave her an affectionate sound.

"As touching as it is, we docked by a secluded grove," Crystal told Audrey. "Gorgeous is out picking berries and herbs for lunch. You and I will get started on your magic training as soon as you dress up."

Minutes later

The moment Audrey tossed the spellbook in the air at Crystal's request, the latter threw a crystal ball at it. The impact created a small fire and Audrey watched the remains sprinkle onto the grass, but instead of ashes, Crystal made it rain glitter.

"Fae Magic 101 is now in session!" Crystal opened her briefcase and threw out the crystal ball that released a chalkboard. Audrey still wasn't sure why Crystal had a chalkboard in her room and decided to bring it along. First thing to know," Crystal kept talking as she wrote and sketched things on the chalkboard, "is that magic is very abstract. Its use is almost the same equivalent as holding a knife. You can either use the knife for something as harmless as cutting cheese or for something lethal by taking the life out of something. Are you catching this?"

"I… think?"

"OK, let's use some examples. What are some examples of evil and good Fae magic that you can think of?"

"My fairy godmothers for the good and Maleficent for the bad." Audrey's easy response led to Crystal scolding her with a knock on the top of Audrey's head.

"It was a trick question, Pink Fingers! There's no such thing as good or bad magic!" Crystal snapped. "This is what happens when oral folklore and movies get to your head! When someone uses magic against moral means, people go on to label it as 'evil magic' and it brainwashes the non-magical into chasing you with pitchforks! What… DID YOU LEARN?" Crystal raised her voice.

"Magic is abstract and people are stupid?" Audrey offered.

"Very good. On to the second thing." Crystal moved back to the chalkboard and showed this doodle she made of a person with a speech bubble making a plant grown. "Contrary to witches and sorcerers who resort to spells indoctrinated by their communities into law books, Fae folk are superior on the magical branches. Short version, you and I can create our own spells for everything." In one swipe, she flipped the chalkboard. As it spun into a small gust of glitter, it progressively shrunk and became a bag of seeds. Crystal gestured Audrey to come over, and when the latter did, she recognized the seeds as those of flowers. The former went on to dunk everything out of the bag and create a rectangular layout of seeds on the grass.

"Every Fae resorts to rhyming incantations, preferably couplets, for their spells. Most beginners start off with verbally enunciating the spells. It takes years of practice to fully recite the spell mentally to catch anyone off guard. And focus. Observe." Crystal knelt down and held out her index finger. A dozen seeds closest to her glowed in purple auras and sank into the earth. As the regal finger moved in a small circle, stems grew out in circular fashions, intertwining with one another. When Crystal finally clenched her fists, beautiful aster and iris flowers bloomed, releasing some small, glittery pollen in the air.

"Wow." Audrey was amazed.

"We are going to start small." Crystal took one of the spare seeds aside and placed it just by Audrey's feet. The latter took a step back to avoid stepping on it by accident. "You're going to make up your own verbal incantation to grow a flower from that seed."

"What kind of flower?"

"I don't care." Crystal shrugged.

Audrey rolled her eyes. She supposed that she could go for a small, simple pink rose. She took a deep breath. When her eyes got that old pink glow, Crystal kept her stance.

"May a rose grow right now in my meadow." Audrey's hands were above the seed, which took its time in sinking into the ground and immediately stopped growing when only a patch of green the size of a thumb stuck out. Audrey looked back at Crystal, who looked unamused.

"Third thing, Pink Fingers, is to FOCUS!" Crystal gritted her teeth. "Don't just tell it to grow! ENVISION what it would grow into! Imagine the RESULTS!"

"May a rose grow right now in my meadow!" The glow in Audrey's eyes increased. The pathetic green patch rapidly grew, its stem curling in a rather Art Nouveau fashion, its leaves coming out perfectly shaped without a single rough edge, and the green skin brightening under the sunlight. Not one, but at least ten buds grew and blossomed into spinel-colored roses. The roses kept growing to the point of creating a floral pillar that reached the height of the trees.

Then Audrey saw it. The nasty illusion where the rose-pillar morphed into a disgusting one of thorns. At the top of the thorn column was the clash between the Queen of Mean and a dragon made of moving thorns. Audrey was unable to move as she watched the thorn dragon breathe a sharp fire of needles at the Queen of Mean, causing the figure to fall down the pillar. Audrey could feel the raining blood raining on her face…

"PRINCESS!"

Audrey shook her head. Gothy pulled her out of the way just in the nick of time before a mass of withered roses could crash on them. Since Gothy was fast enough, only a tree root was affected by the impact and the pillar broke apart.

Audrey was horrified. The beautiful roses she had tried to grow using magic had turned just like in her nasty vision: withered, dried up, and overrun by thorns. She looked back at Crystal. The latter's face had a pretty understandable expression of shock.

"Princess! What happened?" Gothy helped Audrey sit down.

"Maybe give her a moment," Crystal said quietly.

Gothy and Crystal gave Audrey her space for the next two hours. Too alarmed by what had occurred in only the first lessons of magic class, Audrey wouldn't even eat the salad that Gothy had cooked. She wouldn't even touch the Bloody Bambi, who was pretty much like her therapy pet, and though he gave her space, it was only limited to a foot. Now she primarily spinel balls at the river and watched them skipping away before dissolving like soap.

"Tea." Crystal came carrying a tray with crystal teacups while Gothy held the kettle. They sat by Audrey's side; she didn't react much when Gothy gave her a full cup of peppermint tea.

"So… Gothy and I talked a bit…"

Audrey lifted her eyes. This was the first time Crystal addressed Gothy by her name rather than the nickname of 'Gorgeous', which must mean that things were serious.

"We think that your past trauma is what's keeping you from performing magic properly," Gothy said quietly.

"You think?" Audrey threw them some dry glares while drinking her tea.

"We say this because we care about you." Crystal raised her hand. "At first, you acted like it was due to getting somebody else's magic that affected your lack of performance. In reality, it's your emotions clouding your capacities. I should have brought it up during the lesson, but besides focus and visions, emotions form a major influence on magic…"

"I did try to do my best, but what I did in the past…" Audrey found Gothy blocking her mouth with her hand.

"Is in the past." Gothy silenced her.

"You chose to leave for all of this." Crystal waved her hand around the area. "You are no longer bound by the rules of magic-oppressors. You will now be able to be your own Audrey. Do things the way you'd have never done before, cast spells you never imagined… and finally have the life you never could have."

Audrey looked at them. Deep down, she knew they were right. Her acts as the Queen of Mean were really destabilizing her… and she had already told her demon that he wouldn't give him the satisfaction of making her feel worthless until she'd revert. No. She left Auradon. She wasn't bound to anyone anymore.

"OK!" She got up on her feet. "Let's redo this!"

"Good!" Crystal put the tea set away in a crystal ball. "We got a week of rebooting before we reach Macabretown!"
"And with the most practical approach." Gothy joined in.

Gothy: Magic, it's a force of nature.

Audrey: A force of nature.

Are you sure?

Crystal: Obviously.

Gothy: As natural as fish swimming down the stream.

Audrey: You make it sound like a dream.

"Stop questioning and start accepting." Crystal patted Audrey on the cheeks.

Gothy: Like nature, magic acts like a storm or a breeze!

Crystal: So complex, yet with such ease!

"Really?" Audrey asked.

Gothy: Oh, the things you will find

Crystal: When you finally open up your mind.

Gothy: Just forget how it was

Crystal: The past is so rotten

Both: It's better when the past is forgotten.

"OK, let's do this!" Minutes later, they were recasting the flower spells again. While Gothy helped Audrey loosen up her position a bit, Crystal showed off some breezes of glitter that moved around in small circles at ankle levels.

Crystal: Try to flow, don't make your magic stiffen.

Gothy: More movement, this isn't the Olympics for statues!

Audrey: I feel a bit relaxed. Why do I see many pink hues?

Crystal: Magic progressing like a colorful ribbon.

Gothy: It sounds cliché, but now you let it go!

Audrey: So that it all grows?

A massive shower of pink magic spread over the grove. There wasn't a single tree surrounding the girls that wasn't covered in vines and spinel-colored roses. Even the Bloody Bambi had to shake off some roses that appeared on its antlers. Audrey looked amazed at her handiwork.

Audrey: Hey, I did it!

Crystal and Gothy: It was about time you stepped out your pit!

Crystal: Magic is nothing new, it's a part of you.

Gothy: Suddenly the world is a new view

Both: We're a helpful crew!

You're about to be someone new!

Magic is nothing new, it's a part of you!

A couple days passed. It was raining a lot on the evening when they continued sailing the yacht up northeast. With the yacht agitating but keeping itself in position, they had Audrey work on playing around with the raindrops, transforming it into snowflakes, hail, or even some pearls.

Crystal: Stay calm and collected

Gothy: Feel as if your superior to the stormy rain.

Audrey: Feeling superior was part of the train…

Crystal: Don't go that far, you just got up the drain!

Gothy: Altering elements is sophistication

Crystal: Feeling the elements is a passion!

Audrey: I feel a bit frustrated. Can we take five?

Crystal and Gothy: You're learning this to stay alive!

It was around Saturday when they reached the end of the river. While Crystal got rid of the crystal yacht, Audrey actually succeeded in using one of her spinel balls to create an open-roof convertible. Crystal and Gothy gave her a big thumbs up and they went on to drive through the first valleys filled with diverse greenery, wildflowers, wild horses running by, and the occasional locals drinking beer who probably thought that the spinel car was part of the intoxication.

Crystal: Magic is nothing new

Gothy: Magic is nothing new

Crystal: It's a part of you

Gothy: It's a part of you.

Crystal: Suddenly the world

Both: Is a new view!

We're a helpful crew!

You're about to be someone new!

Magic is nothing new, it's a part of you!

They took turns driving the vehicle, and it was probably around Sunday afternoon that Gothy accidentally crashed the car onto a lamppost. Wondering why they let someone without a driver's license on the wheel, Audrey and Crystal glared at Gothy, who gave a nervous chuckle. The Bloody Bambi tilted its head at a nearby sleigh shop. Considering the next valleys had terrains softer than snow even though it wasn't even fall yet, Crystal went on to buy a sleigh for the Bloody Bambi to pull. As the stag ran rapidly despite dragging the weight of three girls and their luggage, it proved to be faster than the spinel convertible.

Crystal: This was nice, but now it's important that you know the important figures of Fae history!

Audrey: I already know of fairy godmothers and Maleficent's insanity.

Crystal: You're funny, but I'm talking about reality.

Like how Titania and Oberon are the Fae deities.

Marius Bogfae is their descendant, born from Fae and goblin royalties!

Audrey: Wow.

Crystal: The Sugar Plum Fairy is his godmother.

Her love potions were quite the bother.

Gothy: Ow!

Crystal: The Tooth Fairy.

Audrey: Seriously?

Crystal: Changelings who feed on love or steal babies.

Seriously, they told this stuff in a kids' show with ponies!

Gothy: Pixies from Neverland, for certain.

Crystal: I never understood why they make everything a mountain.

Audrey: What about trolls, dwarves, and elves?

Crystal: I never really liked elves.

And dwarves primarily worry about themselves.

Trolls are fun, but they don't like being held on shelves.

Audrey: Why would you want trolls on shelves?

The valleys were getting closer to the marshes by the time it was Monday. The Bloody Bambi was still not getting tired from all the pulling, but the girls still took a break from the traveling. The practices of spell casting were getting better for Audrey.

Audrey: It's a part of me, magic is nothing new.

Crystal: Your world now has a brand new view.

Audrey: You've been a helpful crew!

I'm finally becoming someone new!

Crystal and Gothy: Hallelujah! No homework due!

Crystal and Gothy: Magic is nothing new

Audrey: Magic is nothing new

Crystal and Gothy: It's a part of you

Audrey: It's a part of you.

All three: Suddenly the world is a new view!

We're a helpful crew!

Magic is nothing new

It's a part of you!

It was Wednesday.

Meanwhile, back in Auradon

It had been two weeks now since Audrey and Gothy left Auradon. And the demon was really taking advantage of his client's absence: reports have been going around about servants being haunted into sleepless nights for being indifferent to their princess, the Auradon Prep cheerleading team screaming as their uniforms shredded themselves, Chad Charming running around to avoid the army of dirty water buckets chasing him, and roses mutating to kick florists out of their shops. Now the kingdom was in a panic.

"And you understand why Mal highly recommended you." Beast revealed the footage on a screen to the new VK involved with the mess. After a talk with Hades, Mal had convinced everyone to bring forth the only VK who knew better about demons ruled the fallen angel. The son of the guy who practically enforced his internal sins when he was alive and was punished massively when he was in Hell.

"Vous vous foutez de moi." Charles Frollo cussed in French the equivalent of 'You're fucking kidding.' He then spoke in English. "You think I didn't notice the situation or did you think that these were a new fashion trend I started?" He gestured to the silver cross charms hanging on the blue chains attached to his pants' belt. The same jewelry was also hanging from his neck and decorating his grey fedora. "Oh, we're all going to die… We're all going to die!"

"We're NOT going to die, pal." Ben patted Charles on the shoulder when the latter curled into a ball. "Look, you know more about demons than we do…"

"Know more about demons, l'imbécile!" Charles muttered. "I only know the theoretical aspects! Not the slaying aspect! You think I learned to avoid demons at all costs from the one hypocritical fanatic in the history of the Isle's villains! Surtout pas!" (French for 'absolutely not'.)

"We're not asking you to confront it but if you know how we can stop it…"

"We can't stop it…" Charles shook his head.

"Charles, come on!" Mal insisted.

"Uh, I was saying this literally. Not out of my understandable paranoia." When more screaming came from outside, Charles curiously looked outside the window. The royal gardener was getting harassed by stag-shaped rose bushes shooting thorns at her. He whistled. "Wow. The demon must be on the verge of impatience."

"Impatience?" Audrey's family were still present and Hubert had asked that. "Why would the blasted demon be impatient?"

Out of nowhere, Charles pulled out a blue book as big as his torso. Seeing as he had some trouble carrying it, Beast helped him lift it on a coffee table. Charles nodded in gratitude and flipped through the pages, and based on those who managed to have a peak at the pages, the book might as well carry the entire history of demonology, complete with diverse languages and fancy illustrations. Finally, Charles landed on the page he was looking for. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you say that Audrey might have accidentally summoned a demon somewhere in August."

"A month before Carlos' funeral," Mal nodded. A look of mourning appeared on Charles' face; as the sons of rather abusive parents, he and Carlos had been very good friends.

He sighed. "No wonder the demon's impatient."

"After only a month?" Belle asked quietly.

"For humans, it's not that much, but time in Hell is a lot different. Any villain who got resurrected to be shipped off to the Isle would tell you that a day on the mortal surface is a month in Hell. 12 days here, a year there. A month here, two years and a half there. A year here… 30 years in Hell… at worst."

Everyone gasped in horror. The idea of any soul spending the equivalent of 30 years in purgatory while humans went to live their random lives in a single year… that brought a whole new level of 'fate worse than death'.

"Father also said that some demons barely managed to survive since the dawn of time. Imagine if you were someone who died in like 1900. By now, you'd probably have lived 3570 years in Hell…"

"I think we've heard enough." Aurora looked grossed out.

Charles scoffed. "You think it was that bad? The only thing that Father was right about was humanity's own corruption. Nearly every hour of every day, some sinner gets killed and sent to Hell. Think of it. On a daily basis, it's raining sinners for Hell. Father said that back when he was in Hell, they used to organize genocides on a yearly basis where angelic exterminators would come in to 'shorten the population'." Charles air-quoted. "You'll laugh. Way before this guy was born, the Fallen Angel's offspring had a similar idea!" Charles pointed at Ben. "Nobody took her seriously about the idea of redeeming demons, and when Beast gave her a call, he tricked her into getting a good amount of sinners half-way rehabilitated!"

Beast looked like he had just been punched in the face. The others, especially Belle and Audrey's family, looked shocked.

"She thought she was giving sinners a chance to start fresh on Earth so that way they can finally go to Heaven. He just shoved the villains onto the Isle. As for the villains, heroes, and antiheroes who disagreed? They ran to the other side of the Auradon Wall. Thanks to your dad, Ben, Lucifer's offspring will be seeing more sinners as time goes on. Father's quite certain that anyone who exiled themselves from Auradon are living in complete anarchy and indulging in their sins!" Charles frown eventually dropped to a sarcastic smile. "Audrey must be having fun!"

"We'll deal with that later," Phillip said while glaring at Beast. "So back at the matter at hand. Hades said that the demon wants Audrey's best interests in his own weird way. Why would he be in such a rush?"

"My best guess is because they haven't performed an actual contract." Charles showed him the page bearing an illustration of a horned demonic silhouette and an outlined human signing a piece of paper on an altar with a pentagram hanging above them. "The whole point behind summoning is that you're prepared to create a contract between the summoned demon. You summon it depending on the particular demon's summoning phone call- say his name three times, mention a demon during a musical number, square-dance in the middle of a public execution… Basically do any stupid action out of purpose or sheer idiocy. But once summoned, the demon expects to create a contract with the mortal clients. The demon gives something the mortal wants and the mortal gives what the demon wants. They sign the paper, they follow the terms, and death is the only thing that can break it. Well, except if it's one of those contracts where the mortal trades his soul… He ends up being the demon's slave in Hell."

"And with what's happening right now?" Hubert noticed that the gardener was shooting weed-killer at the mutant roses.

"Well, since Audrey summoned the demon by accident in a time when she wanted revenge and given the rampage… I guess he's assembling the list of things he can provide her… and if he's continuing like this with things worsening, it also means that Audrey is resisting the urge of dealing with him. I guess she's a bit aware that she has a guardian devil, but he's not telling her of the rampage."

Audrey's family sighed in relief.

"It ain't going to last." Charles bluntly shattered their brief moment of satisfaction.

"But you just said Audrey was resisting!" Queen Leah said.

"And I said previously that a contract mandatorily follows the summoning!" Charles snapped in defense. "The demon's going on a rampage to assemble whatever he can for his side of the bargain to convince Audrey to provide her side! This whole mess won't stop until he provides his terms, Audrey provides hers, they sign a contract, and I'll quote Mal's old man, we dance, we kiss, we schmooze AND EVERYONE LIVES A HAPPY LIFE AND THE CONTRACT GETS NUKED WHEN AUDREY DIES!" Charles took a multitude of deep breaths from his blowout. "Besides, if she dies without creating a contract, the demon will be pissed at the idea of wasted rampage."

Queen Leah groaned.

"Let's not worry too much about it," Hubert tried to sound optimistic. "Audrey is the kind to learn from her mistakes. We know she's probably self-discovering herself at the moment and she knows better than to immediately jump into a demonic deal…"

Just then, a messenger broke the door open. His hand carried a scroll with a strange snake-stamp on it. "Miss Mal! An owl just delivered this!"

"Who is it from?" Mal asked.

"I don't know. There's no name referring to the sender… but it's meant for Maleficent."

"Read it, please."

The messenger unrolled the scroll and cleared his throat. "'Maleficent. Your time with your staff has now expired. Reply to this owl message so that we may set up a conference to discuss your fee in blood.'"

Mal's eyes widened. Fee in blood.

"Well, I'm out!" Charles grabbed his book and stormed out the room.