Chapter Forty Four
A/n: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to either Disney or the Greek Myths!
Hope everyone's doing great out there! Hard to believe we're in the middle of August, it honestly feels like 2021 is just zooming on by! Especially with the Bal wedding coming on Friday! I'm so excited!
JaclynnM: Oh trust me I don't love killing anyone! But I'm glad you liked it—and sometimes I confuse my own stories!
Marcus Emrys: That's entirely possible though one might think that a bathroom would be a must for humans. Or even Estelle for that matter. Oh I do see a line of people wanting to punch Leah after the Family Day scroll.
AmethystDragon14: Yay! *offers box of tissues* yeah, Ben needs a hug for sure! And yeah Chad's got a long road going but at least this is a start.
danifan3000: …eleven girls at the same time? Sweet Gods Chad, was he hoping to get caught?
61394: Oh thank you! The reason why Jane doesn't get the bad Chad treatment is because of how connected Fairy Godmother is to Cinderella's story. So Jane would be like a sibling to Chad.
Anonymous Reader: I think there's a lot of people who would like to slap Leah, I am one of them! She really is a waste of oxygen!
Hufflepuff24: Thank you! So glad you liked it!
LotusQuil: Thank you! And I hope your move goes well too! Yeah, poor Ben…he was three and had no control over the contract at all. But he still feels guilty…
twilightgirl587: Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to worry anyone! But yeah my move took it out of me so that I rarely had the energy to write.
HufflepuffInDaHealingCoven: I'm an only child so hearing people with siblings say the sibling interactions makes them smile makes me smile. Yeah the Fates may need to look into more reinforcements for certain people.
jedblack1997: Oh thank you! Yeah its will be a miracle that both their kingdoms have a peaceful relationship after everything's all said and done.
jessaminego5134: I'm sure they'll find out that it's Leah soon enough…
GreenHybrid: I laughed so hard at your Tumblr post concerning this review that I startled my cat! I loved it! :D
Descendants-fan08: I'm so glad that you're enjoying the story! I'm not sure when I'll update next, it's usually just whenever I'm able to finish a chapter. :D
LOST MUSES: Yep, I'm still alive! And yeah that's a good point, I'm not sure how they survived the Watch and Learn viewings without a bathroom. Maybe the Blue Fairy added one and it just wasn't mentioned? Yep, Leah's already been sentenced! lol, completely understand regarding The Value of a Crew!
AthenaArtemis25: Thank you so much!
a-person-on-the-internet-75: I loved this! It was great and had me chuckling! To anyone else reading this: Check out There's No Such Thing as Heroes. It's an amazing story written by a-person-on-the-internet-75!
TheGirlofManyFloods: I'm glad you enjoyed it! :D
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Robin shook her head as she grabbed and unfurled her scroll. Things were really getting interesting, reading wise at least.
Mal raced back to her dorm room, determined to grab Maleficent's spell book and start working on that antidote.
"Even though it's not needed," Herkie pointed out.
"Yes well scroll-me doesn't know that," Malinda sighed and shook her head.
After that performance, she knew it was only a matter of time before her mom found out if she didn't already know.
"I'm pretty sure Aunt Persephone would have reached out to you if she already knew, Mal," Macaria said.
Gods, I'll be grounded until they find a way to kill a God. So basically forever, Mal thought as she entered her room.
Why?
"Busted," Uma chuckled with a small smirk.
"You don't know that's mom," Mal said. "It could be you, Uma."
"Still busted though Mali," Uma told her.
Mal nearly jumped out of her skin at hearing her brother's voice in her head. Even after sixteen years, she still wasn't used to the mind link.
"…we haven't used it for sixteen years cuz…because we definitely didn't use it as babies…"
Granted she only really started using the mind link when she was about thirteen so really it shouldn't be surprising that she wasn't used to it after only three years.
"Okay that makes more sense," Uma said, nodding her head slightly.
"You are so strange," Mal said, shaking her head. "Also, I meant to note this before but did more scrolls appear?"
"Yep," Ben sighed. "I've lost count of how many total there are at this point."
Hadie? What in dad's name are you doing?
Apparently finding out something that can get you grounded. I didn't know that was even possible.
"Hadie told me he thought that because I was in Auradon, mom and dad couldn't punish me," Malinda explained as she saw the questioning looks.
"Mom's still in Boreadon though," Hadie said. "…future me's an idiot."
So…why would mom and dad ground you until they found a way to kill a God?
…you're not going to let this drop are you?
Nope!
"Spoken like a true younger sibling!" Harriet said with a small chuckle.
"I feel like that's directed toward me somehow," Harry said as he looked over at her.
I hate you so much right now Hadie!
Love you too, sis. Now you gonna quit stalling and tell me or should I just tell mom that there's something she needs to talk to you about while she's in Boreadon?
"Ah blackmail, I've trained you well little Lord," Harry said with a smirk.
"Oh really?" Persephone asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I mean…bad Hadie? Never blackmail your sibling?"
Harriet snorted in amusement. "Oh yeah you sold that Harry."
Mal sighed and shook her head. Fine. But you need to swear to me that you won't tell mom or dad. Pirate's honor Hadie.
"Not that they have much of that," Audrey muttered.
"Some of the most honorable people I know happen to be pirates," Audie shot back, having heard the mutter. "You do know you don't have to be what Leah morphed you to be right?"
There was silence on her brother's end and Mal couldn't help but think that she'd gotten out of actually telling her brother what had happened.
"You wouldn't be so lucky," Jay said, shaking his head with a small smirk on his lips.
Alas, her luck couldn't have been that good as Hadie came on the line soon after.
…mom wants to know why Prince Ben was singing to you?
"How'd mom find out so quickly?!" Mal exclaimed.
"Gee, you don't think it was because Benny there did it in front of the school?" Jay asked with a small chuckle.
How does mom know about that?!
She said it was on Auratube, whatever that is? All the Gods are talking about it—it's quickly gaining views. Does this have something to do with why you'd be grounded?
"Wait…you don't know what Auratube is?" Alexandria asked, looking over at Hadie.
"We don't have internet on the Isle," Hadie told her, shrugging his shoulders slightly.
…yes Hadie, it does.
"How long were we grounded?" Mal asked Malinda.
"Two weeks starting after Ben's coronation," Malinda told her.
"Only two weeks for spelling—?"
"Oh it started out with just one week but then dad tacked on another week for another stunt," Malinda said with a small smirk as she looked at Leah.
I don't blame you for not wanting mom or dad to know. They still treat me like I'm an infant sometimes with their safety rules.
"I mean…what teen would really want their parents to know something like that?" Rowyn asked.
Demeter sighed and shook her head. "I know it's probably hard for you kids to grasp but for the Gods, where time doesn't matter, you are still quite young."
"Babying doesn't exactly work on the Isle," Celia spoke up.
I get they're centuries old Gods but they do have to accept that we're growing up right?
Mal had never wanted to hug her brother more in her life. Of course the innocent mind of her ten year old little brother would go more toward the slightly overly protective nature of their parents rather than something more cynical.
Hadie grinned and got up, walking over to Mal and wrapped his arms around his sister. "There's that hug for you."
"I mean, I wasn't the Mal who was thinking it but I'll take a hug from my little brother," Mal chuckled as she hugged him back.
Like the fact that Mal had spelled Ben.
"See Ben? She even admits it but you're still saying that you can't be spelled!" Audrey exclaimed.
"Because I can't be spelled Audrey!" Ben told her.
Hadie, can I get back to you? Mal asked as she grabbed Maleficent's spell book.
Sure thing. I'll just be here watching dad yell at Pain. It's amusing seeing how orange he can get.
"Do I want to know?" Persephone asked with a small sigh.
"According to Hadie, Pain dropped some papers and mixed them up which left dad to have to go back and dig through the logs to double check the sentencings for that day," Malinda said.
Hades sighed. "Memo to me, memo to me. Maim Pain after the reading."
You are so weird little bro.
Takes one to know one big sis.
"If I'm weird it's because I get it from your side of the family," Mal told Hadie.
"That's not how that works!" Hadie exclaimed with a small chuckle.
Mal snorted in amusement as she closed her link to her brother and quickly whipped through the pages of the spell book as she searched for the antidote for the love potion she'd given to Ben.
"The antidote that is, as we noted, not needed," Hyllus chuckled.
"As stated previously, scroll-me does not know this," Mal muttered, rolling her eyes.
Smiling slightly as she found it, Mal dog-eared the page and shut the book, ready to go make the antidote.
"You…you dog-eared the page?" Benji asked in shock, looking over at his wife.
"…it was Maleficent's spell book Ben, it's not like it was something I particularly cared for," Malinda told him. "It's the only book I've dog-eared a page in."
"But…the book!"
"Oh dear Gods, are you seriously freaking out because I dog-eared a page in Maleficent's spell book?"
"What did the poor book do to you? Have you never heard of a book mark?"
"I was in a hurry! I didn't have a book mark!"
"Then use toilet paper! Or an envelope! Or a dollar bill! Or a sticky note! Or—!"
"Since I won't be making the love potion/spell, you don't really need to worry about the page being dog-eared," Mal spoke up, breaking into Benji's tangent of other acceptable ways to mark one's place rather than dog-earring the page.
Before she could turn to leave, however, her eyes caught a glimpse of Blueberry lying on her bed; her face covered by her pillow. Mal was no idiot, she could see that despite Blueberry's best efforts to hide it that the other girl was crying.
"Oh dear!" Aurora gasped. "I hope you're alright."
Evie gave a minute shrug as she tried to give herself as invisible of a hug as possible. She had a feeling she knew why she was crying. After all, Charmington would have armies, and forces able to retrieve her father without needing to resort to stealing the wand. But with Chad dating Audrey…Evie would have no choice…
Snow White gave her step sister a sad smile. You're not crying over Prince Chad dating Princess Audrey are you? You poor thing, I'm sure the stress of what Maleficent asked you to do…no child should have their parent's fate hanging over their head like that.
She must have left the stands the minute Audrey had announced that Chad was her boyfriend but Mal didn't remember seeing her leave.
Malinda sighed softly as Benji wrapped his arms around her. She knew what the blue haired girl was going through. The real reason why Evie was crying.
Gods…the pressure Evie had to be under during that time, Malinda thought. Being forced to get Fairy Godmother's wand for Maleficent and having her father's fate held over her head if she failed…not to mention Evil Queen's mandate that Evie had to find a Prince…and I'm sure I didn't help matters…
She remembered the feeling of wanting to murder the blue haired girl as she hung on Mal's arm, jumping around while Ben put on his performance.
"You did seem rather annoyed with Evie when she did that to you in my timeline. I can't imagine what you'd have been like in a timeline where you didn't like Evie," Audie said, her voice soft.
The only reason Mal had been standing next to Blueberry in the first place was because Lonnie saw her when they were on their way to the game and invited her to sit with them.
"That was nice of you Lonnie," Mulan said, giving her daughter a proud smile.
"Evie seems like a nice girl, I'm sure future-me wasn't going to let her just be excluded for no reason," Lonnie told her mom.
Lonnie, apparently, had been one of the girls who got a clothing makeover by Blueberry that Sleeping Brat had been up in arms about.
"Lonnie!" Audrey exclaimed.
"What? Clearly Evie knows what she's doing and to be frank, my wardrobe could use a bit of sprucing up," Lonnie said as she shook her head. "You don't get to decide what I do or don't do Audrey."
Mal had rolled her eyes but tolerated the blue haired girl's presence in favor of cheering on Jay and Carlos, along with Akiho and Emir. And Ben.
Uma smirked. "And Ben huh Mali?"
"He's a good ally! Why wouldn't I want to cheer him on?" Mal asked with a faint flush to her cheeks.
"He's also a good husband," Malinda added with a smile as Benji kissed her cheek.
Crying? Over Charming Jr.? Seriously? I mean I get you want a prince but have some standards woman! Mal thought, making sure that her mental link was secured and that she hadn't accidentally connected to anyone.
Kit and Ella looked over at Chad with disappointed looks on their faces.
"You owe her an apology Chadwick," Kit said firmly.
"You don't even know that she's crying over me!" Chad exclaimed. "Circumstantial evidence! Not to mention it's Mal who's thinking it!"
Last thing she'd want was for her mom or dad to hear her.
Uma would be nice though, her snark would be well appreciated.
"Well I try cuz," Uma said with a small smirk.
She still missed her cousin, she couldn't hide it. Mal had a piece of paper under her bed that ticked off the number of days until Ben was king and he could start inviting more kids over.
"I'm sure we're doing something similar Mali," Harry said as he and Uma gave Mal a sad smile.
"Yeah cuz, we miss you too," Uma nodded.
"I promise, as soon as the coronation's over, I'll send out their invites," Ben promised.
Plus, Uma coming meant that Mal would no longer have to room with Blueberry. A win-win in Mal's book.
Malinda snorted in amusement. "Oh you'll be changing your tune soon enough."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Uma asked.
"Let's just say our two person dorm becomes a three person dorm," Malinda said. "I won't spoil anything more."
Still, watching Evie cry over Charming Jr., Mal wasn't going to lie —it was hard to watch. She was the only one who got to make Blueberry act like that. Female VK and forced roommate privilege.
"Well that's…kinda terrifying but also…reassuring in a strange way," Evie whispered.
"Blueberry, are…are you okay?" Mal asked and Evie lifted her head in shock.
Persephone gave Mal a proud smile at the question.
"At least someone's asking," Emma said, her voice soft.
Mal didn't blame her, she was still shocked she was doing this. But evidently she was.
"…and the world didn't end," Carlos said, his voice soft but surprisingly he didn't flinch away when Mal shot him a look.
"Oh…yes I'm fine Mal," Evie said softly, quickly wiping her eyes. Mal shook her head.
"You're a lot of things Princess but a good liar, you are not."
Mother always said that to be a proper Princess, you shouldn't lie but rather manipulate others into doing your bidding, Evie thought. She still didn't trust herself not to speak without crying.
"Why do you even care?" Evie muttered, glancing downward. "You've got Jay and now Carlos. You don't need me."
"I need you more than you think E," Malinda said gently. "Do you think my wardrobe would look half this good without you?"
There we go, she thought as Evie gave her a small half smile. It looked odd seeing frown on the younger girl.
Mal sighed but walked up to the other girl's bed. "We're VKs," she said after a minute of silence. "I may not particularly like you but…we're the only VK girls here. Anyone messes with you, they mess with me. That sort of thing."
Mal nodded slowly, as if in thought. "You may not be my favorite person but you didn't do anything to deserve that….plus, as the highest ranked VK there, you are kinda my responsibility."
"No, Mal, the VK Initiative was my—."
"Remember what I said about delegating?" Benji said, cutting Ben's statement off.
"But she shouldn't put everything on herself!" Ben exclaimed. "I can help!"
Malinda chuckled. "Ah the irony of Ben saying someone shouldn't put everything on themselves."
"You mean like…safety in numbers?" Evie asked, as if daring to hope what she was hearing was right. Mal couldn't help but smile a little at Evie's hopeful expression on her face.
"You don't have to worry about that in Auradon," Elle said, her voice soft.
Mal looked over at her cousin and raised an eyebrow as Uma gestured over to Chad and Audrey. As if to say 'oh really?'
Maybe she wasn't all bad, Mal thought and then paused. Oh Gods, I think Ben, Emir and Akiho are rubbing off on me.
"I can think of worse people to be like," Chip said as the three aforementioned boys smiled at him.
Still…maybe I had been a little hard on Blueberry all these years. Besides, being petty over not being invited to a party when we were six? What am I, the Dragon?
"I mean that's what I've been saying ever since I arrived here but what do I know? I'm just you." Malinda muttered, shaking her head.
Shaking her head slightly, and wondering why she even cared over whether or not she'd been cruel to the other girl since she'd known her, Mal sighed. "Evie…no one's… no one's been giving you a hard time have they?"
"Okay, that's the first hint that Mal's warming up to you," Jay said. "She only uses someone's true name if she respects them."
"Yeah, ask Freddy how many times Mal's called him 'Fred'," Uma chuckled. "I'll give you a hint. It's zero."
"What did you call me?" Evie asked after staring at Mal in shock for a few minutes.
"In my defense, that's the first time I've ever heard her use my name," Evie said, her voice still soft.
"Evie. Last I checked that was your name. Unless you want me to use your full name?" Mal shrugged. First Carlos, now Evie. Why was everyone shocked that Mal used their first names?
"Mal, I'm at least used to you calling me 'DeVil'," Carlos said, shaking his head. "You've never used Evie's name before."
"I didn't know you knew my name, the number of times you and Uma would call me 'princess' or 'blueberry'," Evie sighed.
"I make it my business to know people's names. Whether I use them or not depends on how much they're on my good side," Mal said. "Besides, your mother uses your name every time she goes to Maleficent's castle. I couldn't escape knowing your name if I tried."
Evie couldn't help but smile at Mal as she heard that, the comment missing a bit of the usual barb from the purple haired girl.
"But…to answer your question Mal, no. Other than Audrey's comment about my not having 'royal status' and Chad playing me for a fool, no one's been giving me a hard time."
"But you do have a royal status Evie," Snow White said. "Like I said, you should be able to have some status through my family since your mother never divorced my father. When we get out of here I'll see what I can do."
"We sure one of Gaston's kids didn't somehow get adopted by Cinderella?" Mal muttered.
"There's no way Gaston would have let a precious son slip through his fingers," Harriet muttered.
"I…I don't see how that would be possible but Chad certainly acts like it," Evie sighed.
Chad fought to hide a flinch at that, especially as he felt his father's eyes staring at him. The only good thing was that this scroll was in the future therefore there was no feasible way for his parents to punish him.
Right?
Mal nodded before taking a breath. Maybe she'd been in Auradon too long but it was time to at least offer an olive branch. At least while they roomed together—no one got to mess with Blueberry except for her.
"A-hem!"
"Oh and Uma," Mal said, nodding her head slightly.
"Thank you cuz," Uma said with a slight smirk.
Er…she meant Evie. Yeah, that was going to take some getting used to, the whole calling the bluette by her first name thing.
"Well I mean it makes sense," Rachel said. "After all, you've referred to Evie by the nicknames for what sounds like all your lives. A habit is hard to break after all."
Wait, we're calling who by their first name now?
Do you ever have the mind link on mute Uma?
"Why would I?" Uma scoffed. "It's the best way to call for back up if it's needed plus it's the only way to talk to Mal!"
"Hey!"
"Oh, and Hadie of course," Uma added, chuckling a little at her younger cousin's annoyed exclamation.
Of course not Mali! Now, why are we referring to Blueberry by her first name?
…not now okay? I'll explain everything later.
"That makes sense in a way," Elle said. "Something like that would be too detailed to be explained through a brief conversation."
"Plus the mental link kinda makes you space out a little," Macaria nodded. "Not the sort of thing you want to happen if you're talking with someone else."
Okay. Hey, why is Aunt Steph asking me if you've said anything about Prince Beastie quote giving you his kingdom for just one kiss end quote?
I'll explain later.
But—
LATER!
"Well you see future me, Mali's going to give Benny a love potion cookie without knowing that he's immune to love potions. Benny will then see that as a sign that Mali's attracted to him and therefore will dump Sleeping Brat and confess his love to Mal."
"Cap'n, you do realize the scroll and your future self can't hear you right?" Harry asked.
"I'm well aware of that Harry."
"Just double checking."
"You know…I bet if Sleeping Brat had the ability to sew like you do, she wouldn't need to put people down to feel better about herself," Mal said softly, ending the conversation with Uma and bringing herself back to her conversation with her current roommate.
"Hmph, and yet you're putting down other people to make Evie feel better about herself," Audrey sniffed.
"She…she has a point?" Phil said. "Is the world ending?"
"Be nice Phillip," Aurora warned.
Evie couldn't help but give Mal a slight smile at that. "I…I guess I am pretty talented."
"Yeah okay, there's talented and then there's Evie," Malinda said as she stood up to show off the outfit she was wearing. "I'm wearing one of E's creations right now and I'll just say this again, thank Gods you started making maternity clothing. Plus this has pockets!"
"Don't take this to mean we're friends Evie," Mal said but the usual hatred or apathy was gone from her voice. "But maybe…we could stop being enemies and start being allies? After all, like you said, there's safety in numbers and we are the only two VK girls in Auradon."
"For now! But soon there'll be so many VK girls you won't know what to do with them all," Ashaki promised.
Emir jumped at the sound of his sister's voice. "You've been quiet. Stop that," he told her.
"I'll take that," Evie said softly, looking over at Mal. "Anything's better than being terrified you're going to fry me when you walk into a room."
Mal shrugged. "As fun as that is, it gets tiring after a while."
Mal snorted. "The thought may have crossed my mind but they frown on murder here. Plus my parents would have grounded me the minute your soul found its way to the Underworld."
"I mean…and you would have wound up on the Isle which would have made it hard to get Uma, Harry, and Hadie over to Auradon," Jay added.
"That kinda goes without saying," Mal stated.
"Mal?" Evie asked after a minute of silence. "If…If Lady Persephone and Lord Hades are your parents, as you said, why did you never say anything on the Isle?"
"Because the minute Freddy Frollo found out, he would have doubled his attempt to rid the Isle of Mal," Uma stated. "Oh and plus the Dragon wasn't exactly fond of talking about Mal's father either."
Mal sighed. "Look, I know you've got questions Evie but we're not there yet. Jay knows because we've been friends since I was five. He was there through it all. Carlos is in the same boat as you information wise."
"And we certainly can't fault anyone for wanting to move at their pace in terms of revealing private information," Lucy said with a small smile.
"Oh," Evie said softly. "Okay, that makes sense."
"I'm…I'm not saying I won't tell you," Mal said after a few minutes. "Especially if my mom comes to Family Day. We're…we're not at that point yet. However, I can tell you that you're probably not going to have a smoke bomb come your way anymore. At least not one thrown by me."
"As for me or Harry, I make no promises about the lack of smoke bombs," Uma said with a smirk.
"Uma…." Persephone warned. She was happy that Mal was finally warming up to Evie but that didn't mean that Uma needed to take the place of the antagonist in Evie's life.
"I didn't say I'd hate her! But smoke bombs never hurt any one Aunt Steph," Uma stated.
"I'll take that," Evie sighed. "I probably won't be lucky enough to have the same deal from Uma when she comes over here. She'll probably be in the next group—I'm happy for her of course but…part of me wishes Dizzy could come over sooner."
"Why can't we make the group bigger?" Ben asked. "I can understand wanting your friends but that doesn't mean other kids should have to wait longer."
"Plus Dizzy's my friend Mal," Hadie spoke up. "You really want me to be in Auradon without my friends?"
"You're assuming you'll be part of the next group?"
"Considering you've been saying I would be in most of the scrolls…"
Malinda chuckled. "You are, Hadie. The first group that came after Ben was crowned King of Auradon was you, Uma, Harry, and Gil."
"…what?!"
"Robin, read before Harry goes on a two hour rant about Gil," Mal said.
"Dizzy?"
"Dizzy Tremaine," Evie elaborated and Mal nodded, knowing exactly who Evie was talking about. Dizzy, also known as Celia's cousin, was a ball of energy and had the most contagious smile that ever existed. How she was related to Anthony was something that confused all who met her.
"But at least now I know that I've got another cousin with Celia!" Dizzy said with a megawatt grin. "She's now my favorite cousin!"
"When my competition's Anthony, there's not much to go off of," Celia said with a soft chuckle.
Hey Uma?
Yeah? You gonna tell me about Prince Beastie wanting a kiss from you?
"I'm surprised you even care about that," Harry muttered.
"Of course I care! Mal's getting hit on by guys and I'm not there to tease her?" Uma shook her head, not noticing how Harry seemed to perk up a little at the assurance that Uma wasn't interested in Ben.
Not right now. Hey, do we have Dizzy under protection?
Considering she's Celia's cousin…yes.
And the Warf Rats know she's under protection?
"Of course they do! Even Gil knows that," Harry scoffed.
Milah shook her head. "I know you've said it a few times Harry but I still can't believe you still have your hatred of young Gil."
"He's a moron!"
"He's harmless," CJ muttered.
"Yeah well you spend almost every moment with the Captain shoving him into your life and you see how you like it, Runt," Harry grumbled.
"Harry!" Milah exclaimed but CJ just shrugged. She was used to it.
Okay stop. One: why are you calling Tremaine by her first name and two: why are you making sure she's under protection?
One: because I also call Anthony by his last name and I didn't want to confuse the two and two:…Ben asked me to be his date to coronation!
"That's one way to distract her," Lucas chuckled.
…HE DID WHAT?!
Sorry Uma, got to go!
Oh no, you do not get to—
"I definitely paid for that when Uma got to Auradon," Malinda said, shaking her head. "But it was definitely worth it."
Mal quickly muted her mental link and tuned back into her conversation with Evie. She knew she'd probably pay for that later, either by a mom grilling or by a smoke bomb from Uma.
"You honestly think I'd tell Aunt Steph your business without your okay?" Uma asked, raising an eyebrow.
But it was worth it—the mental link was not the best place to try to explain to Uma that she was entering into a tentative alliance with Blue—with Evie.
"…okay you may be right about that," Uma sighed. "That's the sort of thing that would need to be done face to face."
"Hey Mal, Jane and I are gonna go grab dinner. You want to come?" Lonnie asked as she popped her head in.
"Sure," Mal nodded. "Evie, you in?"
"A…A VK never turns down food," Evie said, her voice soft as she tried to keep the hug she was giving herself a secret. As if a reminder that no matter what her scroll-self was pushed to do, she would have options.
Evie paused, as if not expecting an invitation. "I…I thought…."
"Evie, it's dinner. We may not be friends but you still deserve to eat," Mal said rolling her eyes.
"Everyone deserves to eat," Lil Shang said, giving Leah a look.
"The Isle got their food, I still don't see what everyone's hang up is about this."
"Food that is not edible does not count as food," Demeter said, glaring at the aged Queen.
"Besides, the boys are probably off gorging themselves on victory pizza right now so it's not like we need to grab them."
"That's right! I forgot about that!" Akiho grinned.
"Victory pizza's one thing but Championship victory pizza probably tastes a thousand times better!" Emir nodded.
"Speaking of boys…Mal, Ben's performance is the talk of the school," Lonnie said.
"Great…" Mal sighed and shook her head while Ben's cheeks glowed bright red.
"Yes, and thank you Lonnie for whirling me around when I was trying to leave," Mal told her as the three girls started to make their way to the cafeteria.
"My pleasure! Or it will be my pleasure," Lonnie said with a grin.
"I'm pretty sure she was being sarcastic," Lil Shang told her.
Lonnie shook her head. "You honestly think I don't know sarcasm from Uncle Yao and Uncle Ling at this point? It's practically my third language. But if it made it possible for Mal and Ben to get over their stubbornness and actually get together, then it is my pleasure."
As Lonnie began to tease Mal and Evie started chuckling, Mal never realized that she had forgotten the main reason she had been rushing to her room in the first place.
The antidote to the love potion.
"Which isn't need—."
"The next person who says that the antidote wasn't needed when the scroll version of myself didn't know that to be the case will get slapped," Malinda said.
"Just slapped?" Audie asked.
"It's the most my worrywart of a husband will let me do while pregnant," Malinda sighed.
Well, Mal thought after triple checking that her mental link was on mute, I can always make the antidote tomorrow. Jay and Carlos are with Ben, it's not like…why did I already forget those two participated in that number this afternoon? Okay new plan, panic. But just not in an obvious way. Last thing you want is for people asking questions.
"…how do you panic but in a non obvious way?" CJ asked.
"It takes practice," Harriet told her.
She'd resisted the temptation to murder Evie this afternoon. She wasn't sure how well her willpower would hold a second time if Ben continued to act the way he had.
"…so would Evie be the murdered party or would that be Ben?" Emma asked, tilting her head slightly.
Especially if Sleeping Brat tries to confront me, Mal thought as she walked into the cafeteria. I will gladly turn into a fireball if that's what it takes to get her off my back.
"See Ben?! She's threatening to murder me and you think she's a good person to date?!"
"How…how has she not gotten smote yet?" Lonnie muttered to Akiho.
"The world may never know," Akiho sighed as Audrey continued to rant.
"Hey Jane," Lonnie smiled at a small girl with an unfortunate bob hairstyle. Mal nodded, she'd met Jane before but hadn't been the most welcoming of hosts.
"Oh right, you had mentioned Jane before when you were upset about Evie doing something in your dorm," Rose said.
Considering Jane was paling around with Evie at the time and Mal…well maybe it's better if she didn't dig up the past.
"That's probably a good idea," Kitty nodded.
"Hey Lonnie, hey Mal, hey Evie," Jane said with a smile as the other three girls sat down next to her. "How ridiculous was that game today?"
"I think you meant to say that the game was 'R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S'," Neal said with a small chuckle.
Mal bit back a groan as the other girls chuckled. She should have expected that.
"So….how long did the 'ridiculous' puns and jokes go on for?" Ben asked.
"You're never escaping them Benji," Chip chuckled.
Robin shook her head in amusement. "Well that's the end of the scroll. Who wants next?"
"I'll go!" Emir said. "I can't believe I haven't read yet!"
"Actually knowing you that is surprising," Benji nodded as Emir scrambled to get a scroll.