Surprise! Two chapters in one day!
For this chapter, there will be tidbits of the quest. In this first part, I added it so Celia could be mentioned prior to the third movie. In the second part, kind of wanted to summarize what has happened in this story since we are currently twenty-four chapters deep. In the third part, it's the section I referred to two chapters ago regarding a 'true love'.
Now the next chapter will not be posted tomorrow. I have an idea that will take me an extra day to do.
Enjoy!
After leaving Hell Hall, the four children headed to Dragon Hall to find some sort of map for the Isle of the Doomed.
The school was as dead as a ghost town that Saturday afternoon; only a goblin crew had arrived to clean the halls and mow the grass around the tombstones. The four villains kids walked in and descended into the gloom of campus. The hallways were lined with overgrown ivy that seemed to be multiplying by the second, snaking around old portraits of evil villains that seem to follow them as they traveled down the halls.
They found Dr. Facilier at his desk, staring into an empty crystal ball. "Ahh, if it isn't my least-favorite student," he commented when he saw Mal. "How can I help you?"
"We need to get into the forbidden library," Mal informed, getting right down to business. "The Athenaeum of Secrets."
"Ah, but there's a reason it's called the forbidden library—because students are expressly forbidden to enter," he reminded sternly.
Mal's companions thought she would give up, but instead she hopped on Dr. Facilier's desk, cool as Lucifier. "Yeah, about that." She plopped down a pack of tarot cards. "I heard little Celia's been harassing you for the past few weeks for a set of cards. You can have these as an entrance fee."
Dr. Facilier picked a few up and held them under the dim reading light beside him. "The Major Arcana. Impressive. Celia will definitely be pleased with these." He pocketed the tarot set and studied the four students in front of him. "What exactly are you looking for in the library?"
"A map of the island," Mal answered quickly. "I need to find something for my mother. Would you mind making it quick? I'm sure you want to give Celia the cards you got her as a surprise."
After retrieving a map of the island, the quest officially began. The path away from the village and toward the shore was smooth at first, but soon became rocky. Mal took the lead, following the directions on the map as she ignored the pain in her feet. Behind her, she could hear Evie's light steps, Jay's stomping ones, and Carlos's tentative ones.
"Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go," Carlos sang under his breath.
Evie shuddered at hearing the tune. "Don't."
"What do you have against dwar—." Realization hit him a moment later, making him fluster in embarrassment. "Right, sorry."
"It's okay." However, Evie still decided to change the subject. "So that was your mom, huh?"
"Yup, the one and only Cruella de Vil," Carlos agreed, bypassing some poison ivy and pointing it out to the rest of the group to avoid. "That was the first time she's ever complimented me. I still can't believe that actually happened. It seems like a dream."
"She didn't seem so bad," Evie insisted, who ducked below a low-hanging branch of a creepy oak tree. "At least she doesn't do this thing that my mom does, where she pretends to be a Magic Mirror telling me I'm far from the fairest of the land."
Carlos stopped in his tracks. He and Jay looked at her in shock. Even Mal turned around to stare at her in surprise.
"Really? But you're gorgeous," Jay complimented. "I mean, you're not my type, sweetheart, but you've got to know you're good-looking."
"Do you really think so?" She wondered.
"Nah, your mom's right—you're ugly," Jay teased.
"That sucks that she does that," Carlos commented quietly.
"Whatever," Evie commented nonchalantly. "It's not like I care. Being forced to stay in our castle for nearly ten years made her slightly paranoid. I'm just glad we can finally roam free on the Isle again."
"My mother didn't want to banish you," Mal suddenly blurted. "But you were kind of in the cross-fire with their feud, kind of like I was when your mother didn't invite me to that dumb birthday party. My mother, a couple years later when I was older, claimed she would have taken you in to live with us, but she and my father could barely handle raising me and helping Cruella raise Carlos at the time."
"Do you mind me asking how your parents became a couple?"
With a small smile, Mal shook her head happily. "I don't mind. Let's find a clearing first. I'll tell you while we rest."
A few minutes later, the four came to a wide opening. They sat in a circle like they were about to have to have an important meeting.
"It started on the twenty-third day of them being on the Isle," Mal began to explain as her smile temporarily became permanent. "My mother was the first to be transported to the island and had locked herself in her home because of an injury she sustained a few months prior. Some villains were worried about her since the only person to see her had only on the first day he arrived, which was a day after her, but all were too afraid of her to check on her. My father boasted about being an all-powerful god and that there was nothing a 'puny' fairy like her could do to him. When my father first saw my mother, he was completely speechless, not expecting he would fall in love with her so quickly.
"My mother told him the story of how her injuries came to be. He offered to help her walk around the Isle since she couldn't do so without his scepter. My father joked about how he would try to not make her fall in love with him. My mother merely rolled her eyes, claiming he would try something before she would."
Mal's smile grew even larger. "After being friends for nearly a year, my father claimed they needed to celebrate their 'friendiversary' by getting each other a gift. My mother had the perfect gift in the matter of minutes while it took my father nearly a week to finish his gift for her."
Evie tilted her head curiously, completely transfixed by the story. "What was Maleficent's perfect gift?"
"A kiss," Mal revealed as she became giddy at the idea, "and a confession that she loved him. Their 'friendiversary' turned into the anniversary of them being a couple. The next day, my father kissed her in the marketplace to show that they were together. They dated for one year and six months before my father proposed to my mother in the center of town for everyone to see."
Mal sighed happily at remembering the picture of the moment. "My mother told me that was the moment she realized my father was her true love and soulmate. Six month later they married each other, making their dating and friend anniversary their wedding anniversary as well. Then, exactly one year later, I was born, making that day even more special than it already was."
Although Evie absolutely adored the story, there was something that confused her. "So why do our parents not get along?"
"I'll tell you at another time," Mal promised as she reluctantly stood. "Right now, we have a scepter to find."
Some time later, the four arrived just out of reach of the Forbidden Fortress. All they had to do was cross the bridge to enter the massive building. However, as soon as they simply touched the bridge, these gargoyles came to life and challenged Carlos to three riddles. If he or his companions answered all three correctly, they could safely pass by.
After answering the first two riddles correctly, Carlos admittedly had trouble with the last:
Dark is her heart
Black like the sky above
Tell us, young travelers—
What is her one true love?
Carlos had to get it right, not just to cross the bridge, but to keep them all alive. "'Dark is her heart'—they must mean Maleficent, right?" He turned to Mal. "But it could mean any of our mothers."
"My mother once said her true love is my father and me," Mal answered, though she had a doubtful look on her face. "However, it could also be Aurora. My mother woke the princess from the spell when she kissed her forehead, which was a kiss of a mother's true love. My mother's heart isn't dark like most people assume."
At first it looked as if the gargoyles were shaking their heads in denial, but Carlos realized it was because the bridge was rumbling so much. Everything was quaking, and the gargoyles were nearly upon them. His teeth began to clatter. Evie lost her balance and slipped, almost falling over the side if Carlos hadn't caught her in time. Jay held on to a crumbling post and held out his hand so that Carlos could hold on to him, keeping Evie steady.
"Wait!" Jay shouted. "They're not talking about Maleficent! They're still talking about Cruella! Quick—Carlos—what is her one true love?"
Afraid that it would be wrong, Carlos exclaimed, "Her furs! Fur is her one true love!"
The bridge continued to crumble away at the response, almost collapsing in on all of them.
"Carlos, she told you this morning!" Mal chided or scolded, he wasn't really to sure because of the dangerous situation. "How could you forget?"
Despite nearly tumbling off the bridge, Carlos's jaw dropped in surprise. "Me?" He guessed softly, almost like he truly didn't believe it. "I'm . . . her one true love?"
It was the truth, and like any truth, it was powerful.
In the blink of an eye, the four of them were standing on the other side of the gargoyle bridge, and everything was set to rights once more. There was no more swaying or rumbling, no one was falling over the side, and the gargoyles had all turned back to stone.
They were safe, for now.
"About time you accepted it," Mal teased through heavy breathing. "Now, where to?"
As Carlos shakily looked at the beeping box in his hands, a single happy tear dripped onto the device. Wiping it away stubbornly, he directed in surprisingly strong voice, "This way."