Chapter Five: His Choice
Ben tried not to squirm. Hades and Maleficent stood across from him and Mal in a dark parlor of the royal castle, their eyes full of fire. He really was unsure why he was even there, despite the new ring on his finger. One day of being engaged to the queen hardly qualified him for leadership.
"You know why you're here," Maleficent started. She glanced at the diadem on her daughter's head, the purple gems glittering against her forehead. The evil fairy seemed to regret placing it there for a moment. "The people are unruly, demanding answers about the Enchantress and her near escape. There are whispers, wonderings if you are unfit to lead, Mal."
Maleficent turned away in anger, pacing by her large hearth. Mal simply stared into space, nails tapping against her thighs, lost in thought.
Ben glanced up to see Hades staring at him. The lump in his throat made it hard to speak but he managed.
"I'm sorry, sir," he whispered, afraid the wicked fairy would hear. "I know I'm supposed to protect Auradon, protect Mal.
But Hades simply smiled. "You did. Without you, that Enchantress would've gotten out and done Olympus knows what."
Just then Mal's phone rang. All eyes turned to her as she answered the call. She said nothing, simply hung up after the caller had said their piece, then looked dead at her father.
"King Adam's crown has been stolen."
Maleficent glared, her scepter flaring green. "Right out from under you."
Ben thought the room could not get any tenser, then his own phone rang. Mal nodded at him to answer it.
"Hello?"
"It's gone!" Jane shrieked. "That flying gnat! If I ever see Maxwell again, I'm going to pluck the wings right off his back and throw him into-"
"Jane, slow down," Ben interrupted. "What's gone?"
"My wand!"
Ben heard nothing else, though she continued to rant threats about what she would do to Merryweather's son. He ended the call and turned, seeking Mal's eyes.
"Jane's wand has been stolen."
Green fire erupted from Maleficent's staff, scorching the ceiling. It ended quickly but Ben still jumped back.
"Maxwell?" Hades asked.
"Must be," Mal replied. Her green eyes were narrowed, staring into nothing as she schemed. "There's no other heroes loose in Auradon."
"For now!" Maleficent shouted. "Every time we open that barrier, we give the heroes a chance to escape. We put it up for a reason, never intending for it to be opened!"
"Mother-"
"No, enough!" No one breathed. "You are the queen, Mal, and I cannot change that. But you are my daughter and I intend for you to act like it. Our people, your people, are not going to like this."
With her speech finished, Maleficent swept out of the room in a flurry of black silks and fury. Hades just looked grimly at his daughter before following her.
The minute the door clicked shut, Mal huffed a sigh and fell into an overstuffed black leather couch.
"You'd think, after nearly a year of being queen, Mother would finally realize that I'm actually good at it," she ranted. "She's never been supportive of bringing Isle kids over and even if the heroes start getting stirred up, so what? Only one has broken through and I know how to handle riots and-"
"Close it."
Mal's rapid-fire speech came to a screeching halt. Ben was surprised the words had even slipped out.
"What?"
Ben sat next to her, sinking into the cushion, his fingers absent-mindedly fiddling with his new ring. "You heard your mother. If more heroes escape, people will riot. Both here and on the Isle. And I don't want to take away your dream. That dream, your drive and vision, it's one of the reasons I fell in love with you. It's why I'm here. But, as queen and king, what's our responsibility?
"I don't believe you." Mal was up and pacing, just like her mother.
"Our duty is to Auradon, to protect it!" Ben insisted. "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you. If you got hurt…"
Mal closed her eyes and sucked in a breath. She paused before saying, "You know what this means? All those kids? Are you prepared for that?"
"I know what it means," he whispered. She did not open her eyes. "And no, I'm not prepared for it. But what other choice do we have?
"Mal." He slowly stood and took her hands. She finally looked at him. "I…I could never forgive myself if we kept opening the barrier and something happened. If something terrible happened to you."
"So we're closing the barrier. Forever?" Her grip on his hands was stopping blood flow.
"Or until we can open it safely again." A time he doubted would ever come to pass. The look in Mal's eyes told him she thought the same.
She heaved a heavy sigh but nodded. "Alright. We can announce it at the party Dad is planning. But you know certain people aren't going to like this."
"Queens have to make hard choices," he replied with a sly smile, but his heart was heavy.
Future kings had to make hard choices too.
Ben drank his coffee black as he sat across from Audrey in her new castle's sunroom. It had been converted to a sewing room and was filled with bolts of fabric, sketches pinned to the walls, and enough sequins to blind a man.
Audrey was biting her stiletto nails, a sure sign she was stressed. "Who else knows about the crown and Jane's wand?"
"No one," Ben replied. He could feel caffeine hitting his bloodstream as he set his mug on Audrey's sewing table, dominated by the huge machine, that his stool was next to. "Think about it, there's already been talk and stirrings. We're employing all these new security measures just to keep the peace."
"Will this delay us bringing over more HK's?" She put her hands in her lap, pressing palms against her pink leather skirt.
"We're talking about closing the barrier for good."
"But you said no?" Ben blinked. "I mean, the four of us are living the dream here, and we finally get to share that with all those kids. What could be more important than that?"
"Yeah, I know." Ben forced a smile, looking up at the ribbons dangling from the ceiling. "Maybe security or peace of mind or even just so everything stays, uh, simpatico?"
Audrey's dark eyes were suddenly angry. "Is that what they're thinking?"
Ben looked at his oldest friend as she stood up, her deep pink and blue hair falling over her shoulder. A dozen memories flashed over through his mind, baking cookies in their run-down Isle kitchens, bandaging her scraped knee, little kid kisses shared in the dark when they were seven, and crying into her shoulder when his dad had lost his temper for the fifth time that week. He had never lied to her before.
"Are they seriously thinking no one will ever go in or out of the Isle ever again?" She gestured to the door that was locked tight. "I mean, we told these kids they could go back and visit whenever they liked. That coming here wasn't going to be another box, another prison."
"Yeah, I know." That coffee had been a bad idea, it was churning in his gut now.
Audrey sighed, pressing her fingers to her browbone as she came to terms with it all. But when she looked at Ben, she smiled, taking his hand. "I'm really glad that you are going to be king. I mean, besides the obvious benefits, you'll be in these conversations, you'll stand up for the HKs."
The coffee was burning up his esophagus. He smiled.
"Though I will be very much looking forward to the queen only wearing my designs to formal events," Audrey laughed, turning back to her sketches. "I've already had orders from people attending your engagement party next week. With all this business, I'll have this castle finished in no time."
Ben couldn't reply as she danced around her shelves, picking samples. His mind and heart had suddenly gone to war inside himself.
The next morning, the group was up early at Audrey's castle as they packed their beach bags for Uma's birthday party. Jane was very aggressively folding towels, still upset over the loss of her wand, while Audrey kept fixing her beach hat in the mirror backsplash of her newly finished kitchen. Chad was late, running in as the girls zipped up the bags. He was clutching more than a dozen pamphlets and letters while his blond curls were flying in every direction.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Jane exclaimed as he tripped over her.
"Five college acceptances, two offers to join sports teams, and three flyers from travel agencies," Chad muttered, flinging them all down onto the big island that dominated the kitchen. "What am I going to do?"
"Just pick one you like," Jane shot back, pulling her dark hair up in a ponytail, showing off her bare shoulders in her strappy purple beach dress. "It's not like it has to be your whole life."
"But everyone has got their life figured out," Chad moaned, putting his head in his hands. "You're going to study advanced magic, Audrey's got her castle and her business, now Ben is going to be king! What's left for little old Chad?"
"Maybe whatever little old Chad wants," Audrey laughed, coming over to join them having perfected her hat's angle.
"I just wish I knew what was right. On the Isle I only had one path. Here, it's like I have too many."
Audrey suddenly glanced around. "Have any of you guys seen the kids?"
Outside, in the overgrown garden at the base of one of the castle's tall stone towers, sat Winter and Elise. They scraped dregs of syrupy pancakes off their plate and into their sticky mouths, watching Roger and Ryder play a game of tag in the hedges that stretched all the way to the dark woods.
"Delicious," Winter sighed, grinning as she swallowed her last bite. Her breezy yellow dress hung off her body by thin straps, painted with blue flowers at the hem, accented with her usual red belt and glasses.
Elise, by contrast, had not taken her mother's gloves off since the Isle and was wearing another pressed plaid skirt and pale blouse. Her white hair was up in a bun once more, so tight it was pulling her skin back slightly. "Well, it's certainly no Isle breakfast."
Winter laughed. "I know, I keep marveling over the lack of dirt."
"And the lack of flies," Elise muttered, smiling slightly when Winter laughed harder.
"I'm so excited for today. And tomorrow. And every day, really!"
"I'm sure they'll be…memorable." Elise stood and took Winter's empty plate. "I'm going to get a head start on chores."
Winter's laughter guttered to a stop, eyes wide. "You think we'll still have chores here?"
Elise shrugged. "They wouldn't put up with us for no reason, right?"
Ben passed the young girl in the hall as he walked out to the front of the castle, arms full of supplies for the day and gifts for Uma. He hadn't slept much the night before and was hoping the beach day would help.
Though he knew he'd be looking at the Isle on the horizon of the sea and that probably wouldn't be beneficial to his empty stomach.
Just then, an explosion of red smoke and glitter erupted to his left. Ben ducked, dropping everything he was holding, his fingernails sharpening from his fighting instinct.
Out of the smoke stepped Harry, though he looked so different, Ben hardly recognized him. Red prince coat and shiny boots, not a touch of eyeliner, and his dark hair perfectly styled underneath a golden pointed crown. His father's old crown.
Before Ben launched into a flying tackle, he noticed Jane's wand held aloft in his hand. Harry grinned when he saw him looking at it.
"Like my new toy, Benny boy?" he laughed. "I think it looks quite nice with my new crown."
Ben bit back a chuckle. He'd been so worried about the two thefts, about Maxwell coming for them all, when it had been Harry all along. "Is this a joke? What do you possibly think you can do with Jane's wand and that crown?"
"I'm working on a little plan, something that will save Auradon," Harry remarked. He kept twirling Jane's wand around. Ben had never seen the pirate's back so straight. "You, of all people, should understand that Ben."
"That doesn't mean it will work." He had a sinking realization that Harry hadn't taken these items just to be a nuisance. "That wand, it has power you can't even imagine."
"Exactly!" Harry exclaimed. He pointed the white tip at Ben's heart. "Power, that is what I want, what I need, if I am to defeat you."
"Defeat?" Ben repeated. "Harry, Mal made her choice."
"She made the wrong one!" His hand was shaking, making the wand tremble. "And I am going to prove to her, to all of Auradon, that I'm better. That I am so much good-er than you ever were."
"What do you-?"
But before he could finish, Harry finally unleashed the magic building up in the wand. Red lightning blasted out, hitting Ben square in the chest. He fell to the ground as Harry laughed. Something was happening, his limbs felt loose and unsteady. Dread and a lack of breakfast was tightening in his stomach, and he felt…fragile.
Finally, his vision cleared and Ben, still crouched on the stone path, looked at his hands. They were wrinkly and warty, the bones crooked. He reached up to feel his face, now sagging and spotted with age, his hair brittle as a broom. He was…a bent over old man. Even his clothes had been transformed into a sagging brown sack robe.
"You think Mal will love you now, you old grouch?" Harry called.
Just then, the old wooden castle door was pushed open. Out rushed his friends, followed by Elise who hovered in the doorway.
"Harry," Chad growled. His hands went to his waist, but he had no sword.
"My wand!" Jane shrieked. She lunged for Harry, but he rose into the air, just out of her grasp, flying with nothing but the golden pixie dust sprinkled across his arms.
"So long, losers," he taunted, disappearing into the woods where the darkness seemed to swallow him.
Ben watched him go, sneering as Audrey helped him stand.
This was not happening. This was not happening. Ben refused to let himself lose to Harry, the pirate who had stumbled through the halls and hadn't even graduated with the rest of them.
Chad and Jane turned back to look at Ben. Chad jumped about a mile when he saw him.
"Jane, you got a spell for that?" Chad asked, nudging the smaller girl.
But Jane shook her head. "There's no spell that can reverse the wand's magic."
"Well, that's a shame," Chad muttered, looking anywhere but Ben's sagging face.
"Forget about me," Ben forced out. He was choosing the bigger issue, though everything in him was itching to chase down the pirate. "Harry is clearly out for revenge. He may be inept, but Auradon is still in danger as long as he has that wand."
"What do we do?" Audrey asked, fingers curling into fists. Her beach hat was askew again.
Jane was tapping her finger to her chin, thinking. "The only thing more powerful than the Fairy Godmother's wand is…the Enchantress's wand."
"What?" Ben's heart dropped into his stomach.
Jane seemed to realize Ben's tense face and looked at him apologetically. "Fairy magic is strong but the Enchantress, she's as old as the gods. She's the most ancient magic user in the world and no wand is more powerful than hers."
Chad huffed out a laugh. "Oh, like she's just going to hand it over, given what happened back at the Isle."
"And no one knows where she's holed up," Audrey sighed, glancing at the others.
Just then, Elise stepped out of the doorway. "I do."
Chad jumped again, not noticing that she'd been just behind him. "You do?"
She glared at him before nodding. "I was her…student. She taught me about magic, the kind of stuff they don't teach on the Isle. I hid the keys to her place at the school library on the Isle."
"You're coming," Ben said, pointing at her. Elise nodded once, her hand going up to her snowy hair unconsciously.
"Ben?"
The group turned to see Winter creeping out of the castle, Roger and Ryder behind her. When Ben turned, revealing his aged face, she screamed and fainted, falling into the tiny arms of the twins. They struggled to keep her aloft.
Audrey dashed back, lightly flicking Winter's face.
Her dark eyes flickered open. "Apples," she breathed, flinching back from Audrey. "What's going on?"
"I need you to watch the twins." Audrey helped her to her feet. "We're going to the Isle really quick and then we'll be back. Everything will be fine."
Winter nodded quickly, dragging the boys back into the halls of the castle. She needed the illusion of safety at the moment.
Audrey turned to Chad and Jane. "Go get your stuff, we'll take our bikes."
Elise led the way, walking with her back pin straight. Chad ducked around her, barreling forward, while angry magic sparked at Jane's fingertips. She was the most excited to smack Harry across the face.
Ben gave Audrey a sarcastic grin, showing off missing teeth. "How bad is it?"
Audrey just laughed. "You age beautifully."
Ben put his hands over his heart, miming being wounded from her jab. But he let her lead her back to the castle to get ready. She stayed with him, even though he could only walk at a snail's pace, while anger burned in his heart.
He was going to make Harry regret this. He was sure of it.