(Evie)

Having grown extremely well-acquainted with the crackling warmth that had made its first appearance three nights before Evie found it particularly difficult to cope with the empty feeling coursing through her when it had suddenly dissipated. She had spent the entire weekend heavily consumed by the relaxing heat, which had given her hope that it would never leave again; it had turned out to be false hope. Though, this time, when it had disappeared there had been zero pain, only an unexpected tug on every inch of her chest that resulted with everything inside her feeling lighter, almost as if none of it was there anymore; gone with her feeling of security. It was taking up the entirety of the front of her mind, and she found that she often couldn't focus on anything else, which she knew was utterly unhealthy – especially during school hours. But she couldn't help it, she wanted the feeling back.

She breathed in deeply, letting her eyelids fall to block the rest of the world out enough to allow herself the opportunity to clear her head. Okay, Evie, she started an internal pep-talk; today, you have to focus on school work. You can't zone out like you did last Friday. Though she felt multiple tugs on her mind urging her in several different ways she managed to push everything unnecessary from her mind by continuing the internal pep-talk.

However, as she continuously repeated that she needed to focus on the lesson once it finally started her mind abruptly failed her as something she wasn't expecting anytime soon crashed into her, something she found she wasn't strong enough to resist; though she wouldn't resist it even if she could. The feeling was returning. Her favorite warmth quickly seeped through her skin, reaching its comforting touch to the depths of her body and warming every centimeter within a split-second. Exhaling in relief, she basked in the feeling of relaxation and security that now controlled her body, delighted that it had returned after such a brief disappearance, it having left only when she exited the dorms to travel to her class.

With the feeling returned she figured she would be able to focus solely on the lesson, but that turned out to be false as well when movement in her left peripheral caught her attention, causing her to turn in that direction, only to find her heart-rate increasing at what she saw. Are you kidding me? Evie thought as she quickly turned to face the front of the classroom and covered her face with her hands, heat coursing through her cheeks due to her embarrassment of her unnatural behavior. Glancing through her fingers she subtly brought her gaze back to the girl that had startled her with her appearance.

She watched Mal look around the room with a mixed expression of confusion and disgust, following her movements as she moved through the various tables lined neatly in rows to the empty table behind the one Evie sat at. Oh my goodness. Evie inhaled sharply, turning her body back to face the front, well aware that if she remained twisted in her seat someone would figure out she was creepily watching the girl. It's alright, Evie. Calm down, she exhaled slowly, trying to comfort herself; why am I even acting like this anyway? She's just a normal girl. The same as everyone else in this room. Gripping her fingers around the magic mirror resting on the corner of her table she carefully adjusted it so that she could view Mal through it without anyone noticing. Except she's really, really attractive. She shook her head as she flipped the hand-held mirror over, disappointed in herself for using it to stare at her new roommate. What is wrong with me?

The answer to that question came easily to her, and she sighed heavily, trying her best to push it from her mind and remind herself that watching someone through a mirror had no justification. It's beyond creepy. Nothing could change that fact no matter how hard she tried to convince herself. Her reasoning for watching the girl closely wasn't an excuse, in fact, if she continued it might even make the reasoning impossible. No one wants to be friends with someone who all but stalks them. However, that made her giggle quietly to herself, just now recalling that Doug had practically done the same exact thing to her, yet she was still close friends with him.

At that moment – as she spent time remembering some of the strangest moments she'd had with Doug – another movement caught her attention, and she glanced up to find her lab partner sitting down beside her. Speak of the devil…

"Hey, Doug," Evie smiled radiantly, sliding her textbook from Doug's side of the table to make room for his supplies.

"Hello, Evie," Doug returned the smile, sitting down on his stool and hoisting his bag onto the surface of the table. "How was your weekend?"

A sharp bullet of jealously quickly shot through Evie, briefly tightening her chest, the emotion highly confusing her as it found a settlement inside her. Though the feeling was dull she could feel it nesting in the middle of her chest, and she found herself glancing down at the table in confusion, her eyebrows drawing together as she struggled to find a causation behind the unexpected feeling. It was then that Evie felt a searing gaze penetrating through the back of her head, the new knowledge sending a shiver down her spine just before she felt the stare tearing away from her; and somehow she knew the person was still watching.

"It was pretty good," Evie answered somewhat honestly before feeling the need to further explain. "I mean, other than the tourney game it was pretty boring at first, but then something interesting happened Saturday night."

She heard the sound of leather moving as if someone wearing it had tensed, and before she could stop herself she glanced over her shoulder. Mal's eyes were focused on the boring design of the desk where her pointer finger pressed into, her back completely straightened as if she had tensed all her muscles. Fighting the urge to ask her new roommate if she was alright Evie turned back to Doug.

"Interesting, huh?" Doug replied, his eyebrows raising over the top of his glasses. "What happened?"

"Uh…" Evie found herself struggling to remember what she had told him. Oh, right! "I got my first roommate!"

"Really?" Doug questioned, clearly surprised by the information. "What's her name?"

Evie's heart-rate accelerated at his question, and she suddenly grew uncomfortable talking about Mal as if she weren't even there when she was directly behind them. Her nerves stiffening her spine more than her great posture did, Evie slowly turned in her stool and allowed her right arm to gesture toward the girl sitting behind her.

"Doug, this is Mal, my new roommate," Evie introduced, letting her gaze fall over the way Mal's gaze snapped up the second her name was spoken. "Mal, this is my friend, Doug."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Doug spoke, extending his hand to the girl.

Mal glanced briefly at the boy's hand before lifting her eyes to meet Doug's, her expression completely neutral and showing her disinterest. She didn't take his hand, instead sliding her gaze back over Evie. Swallowing the thick lump that had formed in her throat, Evie tried – with difficultly – not to stare at the way Mal's vibrant green eyes seemed to be glowing more than she remembered from the limited time they had spent together over the weekend; but to no avail. Within seconds of the girl bringing their gazes together Evie found herself losing herself in the unique green coloring, and she quickly found that every noise and movement occurring around them disappeared.

Reality tore through her conscious when Doug cleared his throat. "Okay, um, so where did you transfer from?"

Evie's stomach sank when Mal removed her gaze from her own to glance over at Doug again. No, why can't you answer while looking at me? Her eyelids fell shut as she internally sighed; because that didn't sound desperate or creepy at all. She was just glad she hadn't said it out loud.

"A better place," Mal deadpanned, her face still lacking any form of expression.

Doug looked over at her, his eyebrows lifting in a silent sarcastic phrase; well, isn't she lovely. Evie only smiled at him in response before turning in her seat to rest her elbows on the table so she could bury her face in her hands for the second time that morning. Why am I so interested in this girl when she's constantly blunt and rude to everyone? She was highly confused about the irresistible pull she felt tugging her closer to the mysterious girl, then her mind changed paths completely, the new thought only causing her more confusion; but she's not rude to everyone. She was only rude to me once. Blowing out a heavy breath through the gap in her fingers she couldn't help but let her mind wander even further. But she was rude to me at first. And she's rude to everyone else, including Ben, which means that it's her personality. She was trying to talk herself into seeing Mal through normal eyes, but it only took another breath for everything to spiral downhill again, the strange lure of the girl winning the battle. She's nice to me, though, which must mean something. And that only left her with a singular overarching question; why am I the one she's nice to? Shutting her eyes and holding her breath, she tried not to think about the reasons why that could be, knowing that every possibility she thought of would only heighten her already pointless hopes of becoming special to the girl.

And that led to a whole new flurry of thoughts. Why do I even want to be special to her? I just met her, and therefore know absolutely nothing about her. She stopped briefly; well, that's not true. I know that she despises high authority. And I also know that she loves leather. Her thoughts strayed to the necklace the girl had been wearing the day before; and she must love dragons. Before she even knew what was happening a smile appeared on her lips, I do know something about her. It wasn't much, but it was still something, and she planned on learning as much as she could, as much as the girl would let her. However, the way in which her roommate spoke to everyone else flooded her mind once again, and in result she pulled her bottom lip into her mouth in worry. How am I going to get to know the girl when she answers every personal question with venom or sass? Everything she wanted to learn about the girl seemed more impossible to find out when she remembered the hard, rude nature of her.

Sighing, Evie finally uncovered her face when she heard the final bell ring, signaling that the class was beginning. Resting her chin in her hand she listened closely as the teacher began lecturing about lab rules, that is, until she felt a warm stare heating the back of her head and causing the small hairs on the back of her neck to stand at attention. Trying to be casual about it, she slid her hand to the back of her head as she glanced over her shoulder, her heart stopping in the middle of a beat when she was met by piercing green eyes. Mal seemed to be paying more attention to her than the teacher; though something in her wasn't surprised about the girl paying little attention to the lesson. What baffled her though was that the girl had chosen to focus her attention on her, and that she hadn't even attempted to turn away when Evie had met her gaze.

Not wanting to allow herself to get lost in those uniquely vibrant eyes she turned around in her seat to face the teacher, trying to force every thought about the girl and her enchanting eyes from her mind enough to allow the teacher's words in. It was only when Doug nudged her shoulder that she realized the teacher had already finished.

"Sorry," Evie apologized to Doug, clearing her mind and scanning over the equipment in front of her. "So, we are to…"

"You have no idea what he said, do you?" Doug questioned, not seeming at all disconcerted by her uncharacteristic behavior.

Evie opened her mouth to say that she had heard the directions, but she felt horrible lying even before she had, so she resealed her lips and simply shook her head, feeling incredibly guilty.

"What's been up with you lately?" Doug asked, reaching forward to start the lab.

"What do you mean?" Evie cleared her throat, feeling extremely awkward about not knowing how to help.

"It's nothing," Doug waved his hand dismissively, glancing at Evie briefly as he pushed his glasses up his nose. "It's just that… you've been kind of distant lately."

"Have I?" She had no idea how she was going to get out of this conversation without sounding mental again.

Doug shifted uncomfortably as he continued the lab. "Well, I mean… yeah, you have," he chanced a glance at her, his gaze flickering behind her for a split-second before meeting Evie's again. "You missed the entire assignment last week and had to ask me what our homework was. You never space out in class and need help remembering what the assignment is."

Evie sighed in defeat, well aware that Doug was completely correct, but she still had no idea what she was going to tell him. When she had told Carlos and Jay what was going on they had found her insane, not feeling the heated pulse of the necklace and not understanding how a necklace could react to anything in the first place; though she had never tried to argue that it made any sense, she knew it didn't. What am I going to tell him? What could possibly make me distant from my education and friends? She had no clue what could possibly explain, or excuse, her behavior, after all, there isn't much that should keep someone from their friends or their education. She sighed, and lying to them to protect myself from being thought of as insane isn't what a good friend would do.

However, when she opened her mouth to explain everything that's happened recently to Doug she found herself suddenly unable to speak as an unexpected pain gripped her chest. Her body lurched forward and she shut her eyes in pain, pressing her forehead into the surface of the table. Oh my… what is happening? She inhaled deeply, her fingers curling around the hem of her dress.

A hand gripped her shoulder gently, but it only felt like a rush of air hitting her shoulder, her body unable to register much more than the current pain tearing apart her chest. The second she let more of her body connect with the table a gasp slipped through her lips and she straightened up immediately afterwards, her hand lifting for her fingers to clasp around the glass jewel resting against her chest. Oh my goodness. She couldn't believe it. The pain resonated in the necklace. Each time the necklace pulsed in her grasp it sent electric bolts into her hand and up the length of her arm, and when she let it fall from her fingers the pain only started traveling in through her chest again.

Somehow, she understood what it was doing; it was giving her the biggest warning of her life. She just didn't understand what that warning was. What are you trying to tell me? Evie questioned the necklace in her mind, the pain intensifying greatly in a short amount of time and causing her to shut her eyes another time, her entire face scrunching in pain.

(Mal)

The second Evie had hunched over in pain Mal had felt an overwhelmingly strong power radiating from the girl, and on top of the confusion created from the strange power she found a dull discomfort settling inside her chest as a sample of what Evie was currently experiencing. Sliding her gaze over the girl in front of her she willed herself not to care about the pain she was in, but it only took three seconds of chewing on the inside of her lip for her to give into the seemingly irresistible urge dancing directly in her vision.

And so she abruptly stood from her seat and moved around the table until she was standing behind Evie where she harshly batted Doug's hand from the girl's shoulder and replaced it with her own, the force of the unknown power surprising her and nearly making her draw back. However, before the power could overwhelm her she felt the girl relaxing into her touch.

"Hey, are you doing okay?"

She didn't know why she cared so much, but she liked to pretend it was because of the connection and ignore the possibility of it being because of the girl's unnatural beauty and excessive kind-hearted nature. Though – with only two days of being with the girl – she had already found instances where she got irritated by how sweet the girl was. Despite this, though, she regretted to admit to even herself that she already found herself enjoying the girl's overly-kind gestures, mostly when they were directed toward her; okay, only when they were directed toward her.

"Yeah, I'm just… it's getting better, now, I'll be fine in a moment," Evie answered, reaching up to cover Mal's fingers with her own.

Mal tried to ignore the pleasant feeling that shot up her arm when the girl's fingers slid over hers, and doing so proved to be extremely easy when a black figure moved swiftly passed the classroom window that led outdoors, effectively snatching her attention. She didn't need to question what was happening anymore; the power radiating from the girl, the lightning traveling through her arms from where she held her, and now the dark figure moving around just outside the window. Everything slid together in her mind.

Sliding her hand from under Evie's and releasing the girl's shoulder, Mal moved around the table and head directly for the doorway, ignoring every protest the teacher shouted after her. Not the time, asshole, she thought after the man had threatened her with what she assumed shut every other student up quickly. I hate to break it to you, but some things are more important than chemistry. Hurrying through the hallway she searched for a way to the area outside the classroom she had just been in, which ended up being extremely easy to find.

The blaring sun stared down at her the moment she exited the building, and she found herself having to raise her hand over her eyes to shield them from the harsh rays. Stepping to the right she glanced through the glass to find Evie still hunched over, appearing as though she were in more pain than before Mal had left. Hang in there, Princess. I've got you covered. Tearing her gaze away from the girl through the window she moved further down the side of the building, in the direction she had seen the figure move. However, the second she passed the entirety of the chemistry class she knew something was flawed in the way she was going about this, and before she could take a step back to mull over her possibilities she found out that they had been waiting for her.

Searing pain shot through her skull and the vision in her left-eye caught hold of billions of tiny black dots as the force of something connecting with the side of her head sent her spiraling to the ground. Knowing that if she tried to catch herself she would break her arm she let herself fall, wincing at the pain created from her shoulder colliding with the concrete. Rolling onto her back she used her good eye to locate the burly men standing above her, one of them holding what looked to be a broken tourney stick – more than likely broken from the blow to her head – but neither of them were making a move to attack her again; they thought she was done for. Well, they were about to be surprised.

"Who do you work for?"

Mal blinked up at the men, trying to figure out which one had spoken. Does it matter which one spoke? You'll be answering the same way no matter what. She struggled to clear her mind from the wave of haze coating it, praying that her vision would return to her soon, not that she really needed it to defeat these buffoons.

"That's a great question, isn't it?" Mal replied, pushing herself into a sitting position and watching as the man with the broken stick held it up, ready to strike if necessary. "Maybe you should answer it first."

"Store the bullshit, little girl," the one without the tourney stick spat, eyes narrowed down at her. "Who sent you?"

"My mom, maybe, it is a school, after all," Mal refused to listen to his unofficial order, knowing there was zero chance she'd be capable of answering properly; she just wasn't that type of person.

The guy talking motioned to the other, and before Mal could comprehend what he was ordering the tourney stick connected with the shoulder she had landed painfully on, the shattered wood ripping through the leather of her jacket and finding a new home inside her skin. She bit down on her lip to suppress a sound of pain, not wanting to show any sign of weakness; though, as blood trickled down the side of her head she figured that wish had passed unmade.

"You know, which I doubt you actually do considering it's happening, it's a really terrible idea to be torturing someone just outside a high school classroom," Mal pointed out, nodding at the see-through glass behind her.

An animalistic growl sounded through the air just before the guy who seemed to be in charge knelt down in front of her and closed his hand around her throat, bringing his face inches from hers.

"Know what?" Mal gasped out, her voice quieter than usual due to the grip on her throat cutting off her air supply. "No one ever looks out these windows anyway. Please proceed. You were going to tell me who you work for."

His hand closed around her throat more tightly. Well, it was worth a shot. Mal reached up and grabbed hold of the guy's wrist, her magic already rising from inside her and preparing for whatever she wanted it to do, which happened to be burning. The guy yelped and pulled back, his eyes widening as he met her gaze in panic, his good arm now cradling his injured one. Now I see why Head chose me so easily, Mal internally smirked; because everyone else after the necklace doesn't have any form of magic. It was the most brilliant plan Head had ever had. There's almost no competition.

To terrorize the burly men, Mal let her magic swirl around her in green smoky wisps as she forced herself to her feet, the action causing her vision to blur and her head to swim with excruciating pain. Still, she didn't show any sign of weakness as the two men in front of her stood as if they had been frozen to the concrete beneath their feet. She could tell that they knew running wouldn't help their situation.

"So… you two want to tell me who you work for, now?" Mal questioned, finding herself highly amused by the frantic way they searched for an escape route. Neither of them spoke, so Mal broke the growing silence. "No? Shame."

"We betray no one," one of the men hissed.

"Aw, that's cute, you're loyal," Mal stuck her lower lip out in a pout. "Loyalty is something I never learned."

The more talkative agent launched himself at her, but with a flick of her wrist he went up in flames, his body turned to ash by the time it hit the ground by her feet. Sudden heat scorched through her side before she could shift her attention to the other man, and she could feel the wood shards slicing through her skin and settling in. A sharp cry of pain escaped her lips as she twisted her body so that the guy's momentum sent him hurling into the side of the building instead of her, the pain shooting through her side sending her to her knees. Directing her palm at the guy she released another flash of fire, and within another split-second his body had become ash as well, the well-ground flakes being lifted in the wind to scatter over Auradon.

Fuck, Mal exhaled sharply as she allowed her body to collapse. Using her uninjured arm, she fought through the pain to pull herself over to the wall so she could lean her body against it as she healed herself. The distant sound of a dog barking could be distinguished through the blood pumping forcibly in her ears, but she ignored it as she rested her back against the stone wall and inhaled deeply. I need to stop messing around with these guys and just kill them the second I see them. Cursing herself again she reached to her right shoulder, peeling the shredded material from the wound and surveying – as best she could with her vision at the quality it currently was – the damage done.

By the time she registered the increasing volume of the bark there was a small dog beside her, the pestering sound causing her head to throb even worse with how close the animal was to her now. Reaching over with her good arm she pressed her knuckles against the dog's chest to push him backward, not wanting to deal with him but also not wanting to hurt him.

"Would you get out of here?" Mal hissed, pushing the dog away another time. "Or at least shut up."

The dog continued barking.

"Great," Mal breathed out heavily before turning her attention back to herself.

However, before she could get a good look at her side the sound of quick footsteps caught her attention, and she shifted her attention to the direction they were coming from before she glanced down and narrowed her eyes at the dog. You brought someone, didn't you? Mal searched frantically for the quickest way to get to cover, but due to the state she was in she knew she'd never be able to make it in time, especially not if the dog chose to follow her. Stupid mutt, Mal grumbled, bringing her hand to shove the dog away from her one last time.

The footsteps came to a halt.

"Oh my god, are you… what happened?"