" "Blood shots!" declared Mal, leaping into the room as if she were just another guest. "For everyone!" "
"Whew, that was a close one," Akio said, slightly shaking his head.
"Yeah, we kinda expecting something," Elle added.
" And just like that, the party began again, as quickly as it had stopped. It was like the entire room exhaled in one relieved breath. Mal isn't mad. Mal isn't banning us from the streets. Mal isn't renaming us Slop.
Not yet..."
Aziz frowned. "Not yet? What do you mean?"
Jay chuckled nervously. "You'll see."
'Why did I even ask…' Aziz thought as he sunk further into his beanbag.
" So the crowd cheered, and toad's-blood shots splashed across the room by the cupful, and Mal, in a show of generous sportsmanship, chugged a slimy cup right along with the rest..."
Jane tapped her chin as she contemplated on whether she ask this question relating in regards if the Isle kids use actual toads or not.
But Lonnie beats her to it.
"Did you guys use a real toad to make toad's blood shots?" Lonnie asked, slightly horrified at the thought.
"Yeah," Yzla replied with a shrug.
Lonnie went pale. "…oh."
Hearing Yzla's reply made Jane nauseous.
" She circled the party¸ pilfering a wallet from one of the Gastons…"
The one of Gaston twins immediately patted their pockets to see if their wallet was there. Thankfully, it was there.
"…stopping to share a mean giggle with Ginny Gothel about the dress Harriet Hook was wearing…"
"Ginny, Mal, was my outfit looked shitty?" Harriet asked with an arched brow.
Ginny gulped. "Oh no! Your outfit was horrible! But in a good way of course."
"Yeah, your outfit was good!" Mal added.
Harriet wasn't entirely convinced by Ginny and Mal's answers, but nodded anyway."Oh. Good. Make sure it was," she then cross-folded her legs.
"…ducking under an overenthusiastic pirate swinging from the chandelier, taking a bite out of someone else's devil dog and grabbing a mouthful of dry popcorn…"
Mal blushed. She must admit, she kinda missed those days being on the Isle doing her own thing without any fear. But now, living in Auradon made her soft…
"She walked into the hallway and bumped into Jay, who was out of breath after winning the latest dance-off…"
"Jay can dance?" Lonnie asked incredulously with a light pink blush dusting her rosy cheeks.
Jay turned to Lonnie with a charming smile. "Yeah. I can show you some cool moves at break time," he then winked at her.
"Um..." Lonnie blushed a deep shade of red as she turned away.
Jay grinned.
Jay, you sly dog...
Shang eyed the long-haired boy suspiciously as he was flirting with Lonnie.
'I need to have a talk with Jay, ' Shang thought.
Meanwhile, Mulan chuckled softly at the sight of Jay flirting with her daughter and her husband being protective. Li'l Shang began to snicker at his father being in a protective Dad mode.
" "Having fun?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Where'd Carlos go?" "
"Yeah, where's Carlos?" Emir asked.
" Jay laughed and pointed toward a pair of black shoes poking out from behind a sheet covering the biggest of the bookcases. "Hiding from his party. Typical…" "
Persephone paused for a brief moment and frowned, as well as the other people in the room.
Jay's cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
Evie fixed her chocolate brown eyes on Carlos, who in return fixed his eyes on hers.
"Are you okay, Carlos?" Evie whispered.
Carlos didn't answer but instead, he gave the blue-haired girl a short nod.
"… But a vendetta was a vendetta, and she had more planned for this evening than just Deep, Dark, Secret, or Death-Defying Dare..."
Shelley felt a shiver crawl up in her spine.
'What Mal is going to do?' Shelley thought. She hoped it was not anything terrifying or mean.
"… Where's Princess Blueberry?" Mal asked. "I did a whole loop of this party, and I didn't see her anywhere…" "
Evie's heart skipped a beat as she felt her ear lobes getting warm. The palms of her hands suddenly became sweaty and she started to pant lightly.
'Oh no,' she thought in horror.
Mal bit her lip. She knew very well where this was going.
" " You mean Evie? She's not here yet. Nobody seems to know if she's coming or not." Jay shrugged. "Castle kids."
"She has to come. She's the whole point. She's the only reason I'm even having this stupid party." Mal hated when her evil schemes didn't go exactly as planned. This was the first step in Operation Take Down Evie, Or Else, and it had to work. She sighed, staring at the door…"
"Operation Take Down Evie? Because you weren't invited to her party? That's silly, to be honest," Jamilah said truthfully. "And childish too."
Some of the moms paid their attention to the purple-haired girl, even Belle and Ben.
As if she felt everyone's eyes on her, Mal sunk into her seat to the point where she didn't want to be seen.
Leah scoffed. She didn't expect anything better from the daughter of Maleficent.
" " What are you two doing?" asked Anthony Tremaine, Lady Tremaine's sixteen-year-old grandson, a tall, elegant boy with dark hair swept off a haughty forehead…"
"Of course I'm handsome. Who thought I wouldn't?" Anthony asked.
Harriet scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Don't be too cocky, Tremaine."
"Yes, Captain."
"…Maybe it was because Anthony had noble blood, and would probably have lived in Auradon except for his grandmother's being, you know, evil and banished…"
Cinderella tapped her chin in thought. She thought that this young boy, as well as the other kids on Isle, did not deserve this punishment because their parents were villains.
"…At one point he'd tried to get everyone on the Isle to call him Lord Tremaine, but the villain kids had all just laughed in his face.…"
"And we'll laugh again," Freddie as well as the other VKs laughed at Anthony's title, Lord Tremaine.
Harriet watched Anthony's cheeks turn red and she immediately quieted the VKs. Anthony gave the pirate girl a grateful smile and she returned the gesture.
" "Just talking," said Mal.
"Evil plotting," said Jay.
They looked at each other..."
"Wait, what?" Elle blinked, confused.
" Something about Anthony's handsome face brought to Mal's mind another handsome boy—the prince from her dream. He'd said he was her friend. His smile was kind and his voice gentle. Mal shuddered..."
"Why thank you Mal for saying my face is handsome," Anthony gave Mal a wink.
Ben and Harriet rolled their eyes. Although Ben can't help but blush at the fact that Mal found his smile was kind and his voice was gentle.
Mal looked up and saw her boyfriend blushing. She smiled softly.
'He's so cute when he blushes,' Mal thought with a small smile tugging her pink lips.
" " Do you want something?" Mal asked Anthony coolly..."
"Yeah Tremaine, do you want something?" Harriet eyed Anthony up and down as if she was examining him.
Anthony stammered. "Umm.."
CJ watched her older sister and Anthony and she could tell that Harriet was at least jealous.
"I can smell jealousy," CJ singsonged, and Harry raised a brow.
Harriet glared at her baby sister. "Shut up!"
" " Yes. To dance." Anthony looked at her expectantly…"
"I tell ya, Tony boy here has too many high expectations," Diego shocked his head in amusement.
"With Mal of all people," Rick added.
" She looked at him, confused. "Wait—with me?" Nobody had ever asked her before. But she'd never really been to a party before either..."
"Understandable," Anxelin nodded.
"Yes Mal, you," Melody giggled.
" "Well, I didn't mean him," Anthony said, looking awkwardly at Jay. "No offense, man..." "
Everyone, including Carlos a little, laughed.
Oh man, that was a good joke.
"Okay, that was good," Freddie said as she wiped away a tear.
"Yeah, but I'm not gonna lie, that was awkward," Emir added.
" "None taken." Jay grinned broadly, knowing how uncomfortable this made Mal. He found it hilarious. "You two kids go have fun out there. Anthony, make sure you pick a slow song," he said, as he slid away. "I have a step-granddaughter waiting for me…" "
"Jay, Jay, Jay. Tsk, tsk, tsk," Harriet shook her head. "The ladies man of the Isle. He's never changed."
"That's where you're wrong, Hook, one girl changed me…" his eyes landed on Lonnie, and Lonnie's eyes widened as she blushed deeply that she could feel her ears burning and her heart racing. Lonnie then covered her head with her hoodie(it had dog ears) and sunk deeper into her beanbag.
'Oh Jay...' Lonnie thought.
Lonnie's family stared at her before Mulan and Li'l Shang snickered and Shang fixed his eyes on Jay, who had no idea the older man was watching him.
" "I'm not a dancer," she said lamely.
"I can show you," he said with a smooth smile..."
Zevon scoffed. "Good luck on that one, bud."
Yzla smirked at her twin brother. If her memory served her right, Zevon used to have a huge crush on Mal, but she rejected him.
" Mal bristled. "I mean, I don't dance with anyone. Ever."
"Why not?" "
"Mal is annoyed by Anthony," Jane noted.
Mal nodded. "Yup."
" Mal thought about it. Her mind flashed back to earlier that evening… when her mother had made a rare appearance at her door..."
Aurora raised a brow. "Oh?"
" " Where on this dreadful island could you possibly be going?" Maleficent asked.
"To a party," Mal said.
Maleficent let out an exasperated sigh. "Mal, what have I told you about parties?"
"I'm not going to have fun, Mother. I'm going so I can make someone miserable." She almost wanted to share Operation Evie Scheme right then but thought better of it. She would tell her mother once she had completed it successfully, lest she disappoint her once more. Maleficent never failed to remind Mal that sometimes it just didn't seem like Mal was evil enough to be her daughter. At your age cursing entire kingdoms was a familiar phrase Mal had grown up hearing..."
All of the parents in the room frowned. They thought that no child should be like their parents, especially if their parents were evil.
"That must be a pain for Maleficent to remind you about her days," Doug said.
Mal rolled her green eyes. "Oh man, don't remind me."
" " So you're off to make someone miserable?" her mother cooed.
"Wretched, really!" enthused Mal..."
Persephone was disturbed by this.
At this point Evie became pale, and she felt the left side of her head start to throb.
Carlos watched Evie worriedly as he hugged her tighter.
"Does anybody in here feel like Mal is gonna do something horrible to Evie?" Jane asked, looking around.
"Yeah," most people in the room chorused.
Ben pursed his lips firmly. He wanted to hear what Mal was going to do to her now best friend.
" A slow smile formed on Maleficent's thin red lips. She crossed the room and stood in front of Mal, reaching out to trace a long nail along Mal's cheek. "That's a nasty little girl," she said..."
"That must be…creepy," Emilie said, making a face.
" Mal snapped back to reality as the band finished a punk rock number with clashing cymbals and a drum roll. Anthony Tremaine was still staring at her.
"So why don't you dance, again?"
Because I don't have time to dance when I have evil schemes to hatch, Mal wanted to say. One that will make my mother proud of me, finally…"
"Finally?" Meg questioned but then she remembered that this was the Isle, but she was no less concerned by this.
"She turned up her nose. "I don't have to have a reason."
"You don't. But that doesn't mean you don't have one."
He caught her by surprise because he was right..."
"He's got a point," Phoebus nodded.
" Because she did have a reason, a very good reason to stay clear of any kind of activity that might hint at or lead to romance. Her missing father. Otherwise known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-in-Maleficent's-Presence..."
"It goes right back to my point where I said that most of us Isle kids don't even know our other parents," Harriet stated. "So Mal might be my half-sister and I wouldn't even know."
Mal shuddered at the thought that her unknown father would be Captain Hook.
" …she glared at him again, for good measure. "Maybe I just like to be alone." Because maybe I'm so tired of my mother looking at me like I'm weak, just because I came from her moment of weakness…"
The moms in the room softened.
"Oh Mal…" Ariel shook her sadly.
" Because maybe I need to show her that I'm strong enough and evil enough to prove to her that I'm not like my weak, human father.
That I can be just like her..."
'You're not as weak as your dad, Mal,' Evie wanted to say but couldn't because she was too paralyzed at what Mal did to her.
Tiana shook her head. "This is too much for a child to bear."
"I agree," Esmeralda said.
" Maybe I don't want to dance because I don't want to have anything human about me..."
'But you are human, Mal. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise,' Evie thought.
"These kids are brainwashed completely," Aladdin declared and the dads agreed with him.
"From birth, plus Beast's propaganda," Shang added. "They stand no chance."
"They're real victims here," Phillip and Eugene chorused.
" " That can't be it," Anthony said, picking lint off his jacket. His voice was uncommonly low and pleasant, which once again brought back to Mal's mind the handsome prince by the enchanted lake…"
"I think Mal needs to sleep," Akio suggested with a hint of a joke.
" Except that Anthony wasn't quite as handsome as the boy in her dream had been, not that she thought that boy handsome, mind you. Not that she thought about him at all. "Nobody likes to be alone…" "
Anthony's face fell. "Excuse me?"
Harriet chuckled. "You're still good-looking, Tremaine. Don't worry."
Anthony blushed. "Um, thank you."
" "Well, I do," she insisted. It was true.
"And besides, everybody wants to dance with a lord," he said smugly.
"Nope, not me!" "
The girls can't help but chuckle. This Anthony guy is very persistent and annoying.
" "Fine, have it your way," Anthony said, finally backing away, his head held high. In a hot second, he had already asked Harriet Hook to dance, and she'd accepted with a delighted shriek..."
Harriet cringed slightly off past her letting out a shriek. She could understand if it was her sister, but her? But at least she was glad that Anthony asked her out for a dance. It took him long enough.
" Mal exhaled. Phew. Boys. Dreams. Princes. It was all too much for one day..."
"Yup, Mal needs some sleep," Akio said.
" "Mal. Mal. Earth to Mal?" Jay waved a hand in front of her face. "You okay?"
Mal nodded but didn't answer. For a moment she had been lost in the memory of that awful dream again..."
No one in the room commented.
" Jay frowned, holding out a cup of cider. "Here. It's like you've powered down, or something."
Mal realized that she hadn't moved from the front hall. She'd been standing there, stupidly frozen, ever since Anthony had left her side. That was three songs ago, and the Bad Apples were playing their current hit, "Call Me Never…" "
Anxelin smothered a laugh. "Omg, is this a parody of 'Call Me Maybe'?"
"Nah, it's our song," Diego replied. "Although we got some inspiration from that song."
"Ah…"
"It kinda reminds me of 'Charm Me Maybe'," Jamilah commented as her eyes landed on Chad, who swallowed himself into the beanbag.
" She perked up, not because of the cider or the catchy song but because, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Evie through the floor-to-ceiling window in the foyer…"
Evie gulped as she started to tremble. Her palms were so sweaty that they were slipping away from Carlos's embrace. She hoped that this chapter could finish faster.
"… She thinks she is so special. Well, I'll show her, Mal thought. Her eyes wandered over the room and rested upon a familiar-looking door..."
Evie felt her heart drop to the soles of her feel as felt chills ran up her spine.
Persephone paused again, her hands shaking.
Blue Fairy gazed at her, concerned.
"Are you alright, Persephone?" Blue Fairy asked.
Persephone bobbed her head. "Oh yeah, sorry, it's just that I keep on getting distracted. Let me continue."
Elle frowned. "A familiar-looking door? What door is that?" She had a bad feeling about this.
Jay bit his bottom lip and Mal didn't utter a word.
" It was the door that led to Cruella De Vil's storage closet. Mal only knew it was there because she and Carlos had once accidentally come across it when they were working on a skit about evil family trees in sixth grade, and Mal had been bored and had decided to go poking around Hell Hall. Cruella's closet was not for the faint of heart..."
"Not for the faint of heart…" Jane trailed off, her head became light.
Anita and Roger might have an idea as to what was stored within Cruella's closet, but they weren't so sure…
The parents were cornered about Cruella's closet and curious as well. They hoped it was not what they were thinking it was.
" It was the kind of closet that would get the best of anyone. Especially a princess who was making her way up the steps to the front door and would appear at any moment now…"
Mal stiffened.
Aziz and Emir shared a worried look, along with Li'l Shang and Jamilah.
" " Jay," she said, motioning to the front door. "Let me know when Evie arrives."
"Huh? What? Why?"
"You'll see," she told him.
"All part of the evil scheme, huh?" he said, happy to do her bidding. Jay was always up for a good prank…"
"I wish I had never done this," Jay said guiltily as he slapped his forehead.
" But Carlos went white-faced when he saw where Mal was heading. "Don't—" he shouted. He shook off his sheet, almost tripping over the fabric in an attempt to get to the door before Mal could open it all the way.
It slammed shut. Just in time..."
"Call me crazy, but I'm curious as to what is going to happen next," Alice said as she tapped her chin.
Aladdin shook his slightly. "Oh no Alice, you're not the crazy one here. All of us curious and horrified."
" But Mal crossed her arms. She wasn't backing down from this one. It was just too perfect. She glanced out the window again. Princess-Oh-So-Fashionably-Late was at the front door now..."
Mal's green eyes landed on Evie, who was pale in Carlos's beanbag.
'I'm so sorry, E…' Mal thought. She wanted to hug Evie but she couldn't. She wondered what the blue-haired girl thought of her…
" Mal raised her voice. "New game! Seven Minutes in Heaven! And you've never played Seven Minutes if you haven't played it in a De Vil closet…" "
"Oooh, I knew Seven Minutes in Heaven!" Jane chirped. "We used to play this game back around in 5th grade!" She blushed.
Akio chuckled. "Oh yeah, I know this game. This game was wild…"
" The words were barely out of Mal's mouth before most of the evil step-granddaughters practically trampled her to get to the door. They loved playing Seven Minutes and were enthusiastically wondering with whom they would end up inside. A few of them puckered their lips and powdered their noses while fluttering their eyelashes at Jay, who was stationed by the front door like a sentry…"
Jay scrunched his face in disgust. "Bleh."
Anthony rolled his dark eyes.
" " Who wants to go first?" Mal asked.
"Me! Me! Me!" yelped the step-granddaughters..."
"Of course," Anthony muttered, again rolling his eyes while Harriet chuckled.
" " She does," Jay called, holding a very recognizable blue cape.
"I do? What do I want to do?" asked the cape's owner.
Mal smiled.
Evie had arrived…"
Anthony breathed a sigh of relief that his cousins had dodged a bullet…
" " Evie, sweetie! So glad you could make it!" Mal said, throwing her arms theatrically around the girl and giving her a giant and fake embrace. "We're playing Seven Minutes in Heaven! Want to play?" "
"No Evie! Say no!" The Aks and the VKs warned as they knew where this was leading.
Leah scoffed.
" " Uh, I don't know," said Evie, looking around the party nervously.
"It'll be a scream," said Mal. "Come on, you want to be my friend, don't you?"
Evie stared at Mal. "You want me to be your friend?"
"Sure—why not?" Mal led her to the closet door and opened it..."
"No Evie, No!"
" "But doesn't a boy go in here with me?" Evie asked as Mal shoved her inside the storage room. For someone castle-schooled, Evie sure knew her kissing games…"
Everyone, except Evie and Carlos, was horrified.
Tears were spilling from the corners of Mal's eyes. She tried her best to keep her tears at bay but…
" " Did I say Seven Minutes in Heaven? No, you're playing Seven Minutes in Hell!" Mal cackled; she couldn't help it. This was going to be so much fun…"
"Wait, what?" Doug stammered in shock. "Seven Minutes in Hell? Did I hear that correctly?"
"Yes, little brother," Derek nodded. He too was in shock.
Mal closed her eyes, allowing the tears to flow down her cheeks. She didn't care if Ben or anybody else was staring at her, she just knew that she was deeply ashamed of her actions.
" The crowd around the hallway had scattered in fear after it was clear Mal had no interest in having other people join the game—or Evie—inside the locked room..."
"It was most likely Evie," Uma said, slightly shuddering.
" But Carlos remained standing, his face as white as the tips of his hair. "Mal, what are you doing?"
"Playing a dirty trick—what does it look like I'm doing?" "
"Yeah, a dirty trick that leaves Evie uh," Jay looked over at the girl who was dead silent. "Paralyzed."
"But Jay," Emir began. "You and Mal set up this plan."
"Yeah, I had no idea that Mal was gonna take it this far. Plus, I didn't know Mal was going something like this!" And he was telling the truth.
" " You can't leave her in there! Remember what happened to us?" he asked, motioning angrily to his leg, which had two distinct white scars on the calf..."
Persephone wanted to faint.
The moms gasped.
"How bad were Carlos's scars?" Cinderella questioned. "And Cruella was concerned by her son's injuries?"
"No, Your Majesty," Diego responded. "Cruella didn't care and uh let's say Carlos's scars were very bad."
Cinderella's face was as white as Carlos's hair.
" "I do!" Mal said gleefully. She wondered why Carlos was so concerned about Evie. It wasn't as if they'd been taught to care about other people..."
"Dear Lord…" Snow and Shelley said in unison as Snow cried again.
Esmeralda and Meg shook their heads.
Jasmine and Mulan looked at each other.
Tiana wrapped an arm around Rapunzel, who was sniffling.
"This is just…" Belle's voice softly faded as she put her hand to her forehead.
" But Carlos soon made clear that he wasn't being altruistic. "If she's not able to get out on her own, I'm going to have to clean up the mess! And my mother will freak out! You can't leave her in there!" he whispered fiercely, anxiety about Cruella's punishment written all over his face…"
Anna's lips quivered, and tears made their urge to stream down her cheeks. "Poor baby boy…" she choked back a sob, and Kristoff wasted no time as he gathered his wife in his arms.
Harriet sighed. "This is very rough, I'm not gonna lie." She then tilted her head so that her cheek could rest in her palm.
"Carlos will," Jane said, sounding confident. "Right?"
"Yup," Diego bobbed his head.
Carlos looked up at Evie and noticed that she wasn't saying or moving in the slightest.
" There was a scream from behind the door..."
There was a look of terror plastered on everyone's faces. Some even went pale.
Persephone's hands trembled so violently that she almost dropped the book. Luckily, she gained composure and held the book firmly.
"I can do this, I can do this," Persephone told herself and she took a deep breath and read the last couple of sentences.
" Mal wiped her hands. "You want her out? You get her out." Her job was done.
Her evil scheme had worked. This was going to be a real howler…" Persephone finished with a shaky sigh.
Anxelin glared at Mal as she growled slightly. 'Fucking bitch.'
"Are you okay, Persephone? Do you-" Blue Fairy was cut off by Persephone.
"Oh no, I'm fine. I'm going to continue into the next chapter because I'm curious as to what happened to Evie," Persephone assured Blue as she skipped the page moved on to the next one, and began reading.
Persephone hoped that this new chapter wasn't terrible.
But little did Persephone know, this chapter was bad.
AN: Let the Evie torture begin! Mwah hahaha!
