Chapter 13: Museum Rumble and Loan Sharks
If people were confused as to the time that has been going on in the previous chapters, let's quickly catch up. This was all happening on Wednesday. Wednesday morning was when Audrey and co reached Macabretown, late morning was the Auradonian perfume extraction at the spa of scents, afternoon when Audrey pranked the assholes, and currently the evening when she had to be carried back to the Deetz household after she got drunk from her beverage. And what happened in Auradon? Wednesday morning was when Charles Frollo did his demonology knowledge ranting and Mal got the message from Maleficent's loan shark, late morning was when she made an excuse to respond for Maleficent and invite the loan shark to come tomorrow, afternoon was a rampage of rabid stags and does biting people, and currently the evening when everything was suddenly dead quiet and Ben decided to do a 4 guys only trip to the Auradon Cultural History Museum.
"Why do I have to come?" Charles whined when Gill dragged him up the steps.
"You're the one who said he had yet to trash the place," Gill pointed out.
"Yes, I said the demon had yet to trash the museum, but not that I wanted to go in!" Gill gave him a big pout that caused Charles to roll his eyes. "Fine."
Gill gave Charles a friendly ruffle on the hair before the latter brushed it away. They joined Jay and Ben, who went on to unlock the front door of the museum and led the boys inside. The guard was still sleeping at his post. While Jay felt like he was seeing déja vu at the sight of the guard, Charles wrote down a screaming note on a piece of paper telling the guard to drink more coffee.
"So what made you think that the museum would be struck next?" Ben asked.
"The demon's primarily targeting people that offended Audrey and damaging stuff that belongs to them also include," Charles explained. "He already damaged a good portion of her family's kingdom, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to steal something that her family put on display here…"
"Like how she stole stuff here and became evil?" Gill asked.
"Very good, mon ami." Charles and Gill exchanged a high five.
"He can't possibly go for the scepter. It's disabled and out of the museum." Ben shook his head.
"And I doubt he fancies that." Jay pointed at the spinning wheel that was still displayed in the lobby. "Unless he wants to threaten Audrey to sleep…"
Charles shook his head. "No, I read in a brochure that the museum holds on display the old crowns of Queen Leah and King Stephan. Since Queen Leah practically added the most pressure on her, I thought the demon would steal the last royal jewels the queen had from her late king…"
"Not dumb. The crowns are in the Hall of Kings and Queens. Let's go!" Ben led the boys up the stairs to the third floor.
"By the way, have you talked to your dad about what happened lately?" Jay asked Ben.
"Not really." Ben admitted. "I still have a hard time believing that he went on with such things…"
"Tricking the family of the Fallen Angel himself or forcing two societal options that resulted in a massive exodus into the unknown lands of pure anarchy?" Charles asked sarcastically.
"Everything." Ben sighed as they slowed down.
"Eh, you'll get over it. Humanity is the purgatory that comes before the actual purgatory." Before the boys could respond to his dark statement, they reached the doorway leading straight to the semi-circular room where crowns, scepters, robes, coronation uniforms and wedding souvenirs of the royal families of Auradon were displayed. Ben led the boys to the left side of the semi-circle's center; not too far from where Beast's former princely crown was displayed, the golden fleur-de-lys crowns of Audrey's grandparents were displayed in a glass case. While Jay made sure to close the doorway, Ben pulled out the skeleton key to unlock the safety glass, exposing the crowns.
"Wow. Stuffed out of the 11th century!" Gill geeked out. "Gold-plated silver and iron on the king's crown!"
"Heh. King Stephan and Queen Leah must have been cheap back then," Charles chuckled.
"I didn't even know it wasn't real gold." Ben stared at Gill. "How did you know?"
"Shan-Yu's private classes of Conquerors History weren't boring." Gill shrugged and picked up the crown of the deceased king and flipped so they could see the small signs of black scraps inside the crown. "See? The inside is complete iron and silver and very old, but the outside is brand new gold plating. They probably did it every century to keep the gold new…"
"I still don't get why they teach that kind of stuff in… Conquerors History?"
"Shan-Yu said that many conquerors would cover their artifacts and weapons with mineral plating to either hide their intentions or protect themselves," Gill explained. "Iron and silver are known to injure the non-humans. You know, like how iron injuries fairies, silver injures werewolves and demons."
"Sleeping Beauty's kingdom is rather old and rooted from medieval times," Charles stated. "And many kingdoms are initially started by wars, rulers invading and stealing lands, and civilizations persecuting others. I wouldn't be surprised if Audrey's grandfather had an ancestor who kick-started their kingdom by conquering minor lands and created this crown to defend himself from potential witchcraft." Charles chuckled yet again. "Mon imbécile de père aurait du porté cette couronne." (French for 'My idiot of a father should have worn that crown.)
"And Queen Leah's crown?" Ben asked.
Gill put down King Stephan's crown to have a look at Queen Leah's. He shook his head. "Second-rated gold made pretty with yellow diamonds. Rather harmless."
"Guys! Jay hissed. Footsteps could be heard coming from the other side of the door. Ben quickly locked the crowns back in their safety glass and the boys ran to hide behind the display of wedding uniforms. Rather than being unlocked or forced open, the door burned in flames, creating an arched holed for a cloaked red silhouette to step in. While the door continued to burn and threatened to potentially burn the room, the boys continued to hide silently as the silhouette continued to march towards the crowns. The silhouette pulled out some strange, body long cane from underneath its cloak, but the smoke of the fire made it too hard to distinguish the cane's top. One thing was certain, it was strong enough for the silhouette to use it and break the safety glass.
Seriously, why weren't the sprinklers or alarms ringing?
The silhouette grabbed King Stephan's crown and unceremoniously tossed it at the wall. The manifestation's strength was strong enough for the collision to break the crown into pieces. As the broken pieces met their fate with the flames, the silhouette went to grab Queen Leah's crown. The boys dreaded that the silhouette would break that one too but wound up surprised when the crown was held up and transformed in the silhouette's grip. The golden crown of fleur-de-lys turned into a dark crown of pink and blue diamonds merged into the shape of thorns and the upper jewels as small spinel gemstones carved to look like wings.
"Think you mortals can dupe me?" The silhouette taunted. The boys dreaded the worst, but Ben being Ben, he stepped out of his hiding spot. "Well, well, well, the King of Auradon himself! I'd say it's an honor to meet you, but you've soiled my Queen of Mean's honor." Though the silhouette's face was perfectly shrouded in the shadows of its cloak, Ben could see a glowing sadistic smile that never changed.
"Why are you doing this?" Ben asked as calmly as he could. "Audrey would never deal with someone who'd hurt Auradon…"
"The abused and exploited princess wouldn't. My Queen of Mean would."
"Audrey's too traumatized by what happened to her. She'd never revert to evil."
"Her trauma is a mere leash on a hellhound that doesn't need confinements. Good and evil are a joke whereas chaos is reality. She has completely abandoned Auradon, stripped herself of her connections and royal status, and is now heading to a destiny she'll fashion. Her powers would have been wasted here, but with my services, they'll reach their perfection and my Queen of Mean will be the perfect reincarnation of chaos."
"Body possession?" Jay peaked from behind his hiding spot.
"Ha! No."
"Vices that violate?" Charles shuddered.
"Your ideas repulse and bore me," the silhouette spoke in disgust. "No wonder she left you all behind. I should just transform you all, but knowing that Auradon will be falling into further pieces by tomorrow while my Queen of Mean finally earns her happy ending is good enough of a reward. I wish none of you good night!" The flames circled around the silhouette like a vortex until he and the fire disappeared, leaving the room scorched and reeking of smoke. That's when the fire sprinklers finally went on. Jay was able to use his gloved hands to pick up the broken pieces of King Stephen's crown and brought them to Ben. While the two were busy talking, Charles and Gill had their own chat behind the hiding spot.
"Well the guy's got fire." Gill nodded.
"But not with sinful motives as disgusting as the ones your dad and mine had." Charles pondered.
"And did you hear his voice? Sounded like listening to the radio."
"And that accent through the static? Very Southern. Almost with the same charisma as Dr. Facilier." Charles snapped his fingers. "I might have an idea, Gill. But let's keep it between us."
The next day, on Thursday morning
The press really knew how to come at inconvenient times. While our main characters had assembled in the ballroom currently used as a conference room, the press was trying to bombard them with questions about the break-in at the museum. Meanwhile, Queen Leah was crying over the remains of her late husband's crown.
"My guts' killing me." Mal gulped in her chair.
"You'll do fine, my dear." Flora the Fairy gently patted her shoulder. "Just explain to the loan contractor that your mother is taking an undetermined absence and that you are willing to negotiate the fee by blood…"
The door quietly opened and the room turned dead silent. A trio of people appeared and proceeded to walk their way through the lined chairs. The main figure, a female dressed in a teal-green trench over a purple dress with shattered glass patterns, purple tights and laced boots, and a fancy matching hat with a snake on it made her way towards the platform where the hosts sat at. As the lights got less dim, her lavender skin, her black and teal air tied in a messy bun, her bluish eyes, and rosy lips were revealed. But what really stunned everyone was that the beautiful creature looked like she could be only a few months older than Mal. The crowd screamed as a massive snake slithered towards the figure and rested itself on her shoulders like a fashionable boa. The other two figures, a character we already met and a teenage girls with messy black and pink dyes on her blonde hair and clown street attire, joined behind her.
"Penna De Mort?" The Three Good Fairies and Fairy Godmother could barely choke it out.
"Nice to see you again, ladies," the fancily dressed girl sneered at the fairies before gesturing to her male companion. "Aren't you going to bow to Marius Bogfae, son of the Bog King Lysander and Fairy Queen Marianne, descendant of Fae deities Titania and Oberon, and thus, your superior?" Marius Bogfae showed off his wings, causing the fairies to panic and get off their chairs to bow down.
"Eh. I've seen the Tooth Fairy beg for better mercy." Marius rolled his eyes.
Penna darted her eyes to Beast, Belle, and Audrey's family. "Will you look at that!" She laughed. "The great monarchs who caused everything! Bet you didn't expect to see my face again, did you? Especially with my mist shrouding the perfect lands from Auradon."
"Eh. I loved the current makeover? Are the rabid stags a current trend?" The clown girl smirked through her dark red lips.
"You're the one who put the mist on the other side of the Auradon Wall?" Mal cautiously pointed at Penna.
"As correct as snake-infested waters." Penna grabbed Mal's hand and shook it, sending it shivers through the latter's skin. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle, shortly called Penna De Mort. Daughter of Voldemort and the nature demoness Svjetla." Surprisingly, many members in the audience panicked.
"Voldemort..." Mal pulled her hand away from Penna. "My mom used to tell me stories of how terrible he was. I thought she made it all up!"
"Believe me, he was real." Penna rolled her eyes. "Fortunately, thanks to the powers of my magical contracts, I amplified my magic enough to trap him in eternal limbo. It's still an ongoing struggle."
"Uh, question?" A press member asked. "Are you evil or strangely benevolent?"
"Excellent question!" Penna pointed at the press member. "I like to think of myself as a realistic contractor. People come because they're desperate, I pass a contract with them, and with the terms fully completed, I use the magic to keep my father imprisoned or else the world is doomed. I generally act like a harsh, vile woman, but deep down I connect with everyone. In fact, I connected with so many people, I led a massive exodus 22 years ago before shrouding the mist because some king," she glared at Beast while her snake hissed, "add specific ideas of who should be sent to the Isle, who stays in Auradon, and which pieces of lands do we keep to create a utopia while the other lands are ditched!"
The press stared at Beast.
"No! Why would you tear away these valleys?" The clown girl faked crying.
"Hush!" Marius mockingly imitated Beast. "I'm the new King! This is Auradon! The rest is trash!"
"Oh, why would you force me to divorce my husband? I know he's evil, BUT I LOVE HIM!"
"Silence, you meaningless peasant! Either you divorce and become a proper Auradonian, or you go with him to the Isle of the Lost and your family will shun you!"
"Hey, what the heck? I was having the time of my life in Hell, but now I'm revived just to be sent to another prison? INCARCERATION IS TOO MUCH DAMNATION!"
"I don't care! I'm the King of Auradon!"
"Wait! I have an idea! Let's run away to the other side of the wall before Penna De Mort unleashes her mist and we can finally have a safe life from the so-called goody-two-shoes loonies!" The clown girl grinned. "And there goes our 10 minutes portrayal of what happened 22 years ago. You like?"
To the shock of the hosts, some press members actually applauded. The snake on Penna's shoulders tilted its head as if to suggest that it had seen better comedy.
"Besides Jessie and Marius' tutorial… Where's Maleficent?" Penna turned to face Mal. "I'm a bit surprised you aren't as horny as she was the last time I saw her."
"Thanks." Mal took a breath. "My mother is currently taking an undetermined absence. She didn't say where she went or when she'd come back."
"Maleficent doesn't do vacations." Penna frowned.
"It's more of a hiatus. We're not really communicating very well due to our differences in opinion."
That's when Penna noticed the engagement ring on Mal's finger. After rotating her eyes between Mal and Ben, Penna laughed her head off. Even her snake joined in the laughter that terrified the audience. "Oh, this is rich!" She laughed at Beast and Belle. "It took you people 22 years to be this progressive? I'm guessing the family tree will be getting hornier if the grandchildren become beast-dragon hybrids!"
"Very funny…" Beast muttered.
Penna continued laughing for the next minutes before finally returning to Mal. "So you're speaking for your mother?"
"Yes. Hopefully we can sort out the fee of blood…"
"Ooh, that won't work!" Penna stopped laughing and got serious. "I specifically need Maleficent for that! Marius, read them the contract out loud." Penna tapped her snake on the head and the creature choked and spat out a rolled scroll like a regular snake coughing out the remains of an egg it had swallowed. Marius shook the scroll to get rid of the snake saliva, unrolled and read it out loud.
"This document confirms the magical contract between her Lady Penna De Mort of the British Wizarding Community and Mistress Maleficent of France. After serving years to her Lady with loyalty, her Lady has granted the Mistress with a magical scepter to become an evil Fae and use the scepter as she chooses. While the magic of the contract further enables her Lady to imprison the Dark Lord in his prison, the scepter is defended from failing its owner three times. Should the scepter fail the owner on the third time, the owner must present herself to her Lady and join her to the Forbidden Fortress up in the mountains before the sun sets on December 21st. Before that date, the scepter's owner must pay the fee by blood: a Fae sacrifice done out of pure will. With the sacrifice to which the owner is willingly killed, the magic of her body and soul will increase the magic of the limbo and permanently ban anyone from ever escaping it. Should the owner fail to be sacrificed, the Dark Lord will escape his prison, and by the time the sun sets on December 21st, he will be permanently freed to do as he pleases to destroy the world."
"WHAT?" Mal exclaimed.
"You can't be serious!" Fairy Godmother joined in. "Maleficent would never perform such a deal that would cost her life!"
"Her signature is at the bottom of the document." Marius rolled the document so that they could see the massive signature of Maleficent, probably written in a time when she was overconfident and thought that she wouldn't fail. "It's legitimate."
"But…" Mal gasped.
"Believe me, I'd personally wish there was an other way, but a consenting Fae's sacrifice is the only way Voldemort can be permanently sealed in limbo, I swear it on the River Styx." Penna patted Mal on the shoulder. "If he escapes, the non-magical won't survive his desires full of purges, destruction, and separation."
"Isn't there any kind of loophole?" Ben asked.
"Well Bossy did write one loophole with Dragon Lady!" The clown girl snatched the scroll from Marius and forced it onto the table. She even jumped to kneel on it as she searched and pointed at the paragraph that followed what Marius had just read. "It says right here that like any other magical artifact, the scepter can switch owners and transfer its magical energy to the new owner before permanently shutting down its circuits! In other words, to save your future mommy-in-law, the Stick of Wonder should have been used by another girl and thus transferred its energy to her, making her a human with Fae powers like Maleficent!"
"Yes, I did put that loophole there in case Maleficent would possibly chicken out, Jessie," Penna snapped as she took the scroll and forced it back into her snake's mouth, "but I know Maleficent! She'd never share her own scepter! And I was really bummed when I heard the scepter failed her the first time with Sleeping Beauty. So, how did it fail her the last two times?"
One could imagine the dread that overwhelmed a lot of people. The second time the scepter failed its owner was when Mal defeated Maleficent during Ben's coronation, and the third time… was when it came to the temporary possession of Audrey. As if it wasn't bad enough that a demon was rampaging Auradon because he had yet to properly create a contract with Audrey, it turned out that the scepter's magical energy had transferred to Audrey. The latter might end up butchered just to keep the world from being invaded by a wizard far more psychotic than Maleficent. While many feared giving the answer, many had the look of temptation to rat out the princess they didn't like.
"I used the staff." Everyone stared at Mal. "I used it the third time."
"Mal?" Ben choked.
But Mal went on with her lie. "The scepter failed on my mother the second time when I kept her from conquering Auradon. And the third time…" Mal bit her lip. "I got into an argument with Audrey, things got wild, and I don't know what happened to make me use my mom's scepter on her."
"You tried to curse some girl… after redemption." Penna looked skeptical.
"My ex-girlfriend, actually," Ben admitted.
"Ooh! Juicy!" Jessie tapped her fingers.
"What, so you girls had a catfight because her ex wanted to get hitched with you?" Penna frowned.
"Yes… I tried to hit a sleeping curse on her, but it didn't work. The scepter stopped functioning and she got really upset. She ran away…"
"Uh… uh…" Penna still had a hard time believing her story.
"Probably some meaningless cheerleader." Marius rolled his eyes. "Let me guess. Spoiled rich with brown hair walking around her blue and yellow uniform?"
"Yes." Not exactly a lie in Mal's perspective. Audrey used to be a brunette and a cheerleader.
"Eh." Jessie shrugged. "If she crossed the mist, she's already dead. Every single local's ready to shed some blood if they find royal arteries strolling around their neighborhood!"
Leah and Hubert hesitantly stared at one another.
"Relax, the only ones who cross the mist are the folks who are actually sane enough to know Auradon is messed up," Marius told Jessie dismissively. "Seriously, the refugees I've seen lately. Huns, mailmen, belief-shattered folk, naïve girls with demon escorts…"
This caused Mal to widen her eyes in panic. Fortunately, nobody noticed it. "Naïve girls with demon escorts?" Penna frowned. "When was that?"
"Eh. Earlier in the month, that excuse of Fae princess dominating goblins Crystals pulled off one of her tricks to have my guards arrest Jareth…"
"Again?"
"I know, right? Long story short, I chased them to the end of a cliff with the Living Tar. Apparently she had enough time to make friends with two refugees from Auradon. One of them might as well be the future Mrs. Crystal Maze and some blonde thrill seeker whose completely clueless that her bodyguard stag is a demon."
"Did you try drowning them in the Underground by rising the Bog of Eternal Stench?" Penna's eyes gleamed in a dreamy state.
"No. I had them fall down a landslide and they left upstream following my kill threat if they made a U-turn. I have the twins spying on them right now in Macabretown but it looks like the blonde thrill seeker is too busy drowning in blood orange sodas with the Deetz brat while the fake Goblin Princess… has her weird stuff going on with the future Mrs. Crystal Maze."
Penna blinked as if this was the weirdest story she ever saw on a sitcom before shrugging it off. "Well I don't blame the blonde one for being too drunk to notice details. Auradon's full of shit and the blood orange beverages of Macabretown are to die for." She shook her head and turned back to Mal. "Well this is tricky… I intended for Maleficent to be the sacrifice, but if you used the scepter when it failed the third time… And since these are progressive times, I will let you guys decided which one goes for the kill."
"Charming decision," Mal groaned.
"I'll expect a response by the first week of December. If I come back to see that Maleficent has decided to betray our contract or that you refuse to sacrifice yourself, I will not hesitate to choose any of you to decapitate. All I care is that Voldemort does not escape."
"I understand." Mal nodded.
"Look on the bright side. For once, Auradon is actually doing something decent! What's the worst that could happen?"
Cue the doors bursting open and Charles Frollo marching his way through. Whatever inch of exposed skin he had was stained by bleeding fresh wounds. He gripped tightly on the briefcase he carried with his left hand.
"Charles! What happened to you?" Evie gasped.
"I'm sick of the messes you Auradonian caused!" He shouted. "First I have to deal with the chaos one of yours causes and now I nearly get the whipping of a lifetime! My life on the Isle is a blasphemy and your so-called perfect land is undergoing damnation! I'm saving my hide and going wherever the others went across the wall!"
The hosts and press gasped. The visitors, on the other hand, had the face of lottery winners.
"Finally! Somebody who makes rational decisions!" Penna got down from the platform and casually shook hands with Charles. "What's your name?"
"Charles Frollo, ma'am."
Penna leaned a bit. "And the son of a bigot! You think I didn't notice those hidden Roma curls of yours?"
"There usually hidden to the main eyes. I got most of my appearance from Frollo."
The sorceress kept smirking. "We can gladly give you a ride across the wall. My main turf is in the east where the most urbanized cities are located. I can drop you off at one of the urbanized cities there."
Later
"I can't believe that Charles just abandoned us!"
The visitors had departed from the conference, taking an ecstatic Charles with them. The sun was setting now and Mal was angrily pacing as the group went out of the castle. The press was gone.
"Mal, I can't believe that you just lied to the most dangerous witch in existence!" Fairy Godmother said. "Your mother lost all her magical powers when you turned her into a lizard and you lied about Audrey! If Penna kills any of you, she'll be furious to discover that you lied!"
"I know! But what really scares me is that the prince guy met Audrey and Gothy! Why he hasn't told Penna about her until now, I don't know, but if Penna finds out Audrey has the magical energy, he can easily have his minions locate and capture her!"
"No need to worry." The group paused and saw that Gill was sitting on the front steps of the castle. "It's why Charles came up with his plan."
"Charles… had a plan?" Ben asked.
"After the attack at the museum last night, Charles came up with the genius idea of pretending to want to leave Auradon. With a faster way to travel, he figured that he'd be able to track down Gothy and Audrey."
"Charles had a plan to find them and you didn't tell us?" Jay exclaimed.
"Charles thought that it would be more believable if it looked like he betrayed Auradon to save his own hides… and they believed him," Gill finished his explanation. "You got to admit. For a small dude, Charles is a lot smarter than his dad."
"Did he also purposely provoke Frollo into whipping him?"
"Well Frollo's already applied the whips on him since he could walk and Charles knew I could never whip him."
"Charles Frollo is a genius alright," Mal admitted. "But how can he be so sure that he can find Audrey and Gothy?"
Gill hesitated but sighed. "There's something that Charles made me swear to never tell. It's not a coincidence if his Roma genes are hidden because his ancestors are all but extinct. Until now, only one woman had Roma genes thought to have disappeared for centuries. And because of these genes, he can track his sister."
"You don't mean…."
Gill nodded. "You're the kid of the most powerful villains. Charles is the kid of the most mentally abusive villains. Frollo… and Mother Gothel."
