Chapter 2: I Want to Know More

Over the next week or so, Mal was spending more and more time away from her friends and keeping to herself.

"Hey Melody," Mal had asked the day after the encounter.

"Yeah?"

"Just curious, how does your mom usually travel around the lands?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"It's… for a report I'm doing…" Mal lied quickly. "I'm asking different kids how their parents like to get around. I mean… Talia's mom usually uses pixie dust, Chad and Ben's parents use a coach, Carlos' mom in a retro car… My mom, if she could, would fly everywhere or teleport."

"Oh… okay, well my mom usually travels by boat, it makes her feel closer to the sea because of the whole mermaid thing."

"So, you've learned how to sail yourself?"

"Yep, I learned how to man a tiller before I could even walk."

"Does your mom still swim?"

"You mean as a mermaid?"

"Both."

"Not really, she can get her tail back if she wants to, but she has to ask my grandpa first. She says she prefers the legs to a tail, that way she's not cheating when we train together. I would still go for the tail, it's so much faster."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, plus you don't have to come up for air as often. I'd kill for a mermaid swim team here at school."

"Sounds like you really want to have a tail."

"Yeah… I mean I've had one before, but it's not a permanent thing. Mom still wants me to interact with people my own age and not just sea creatures."

"When was the last time you saw her as a mermaid…"

"Umm…" Melody said biting her lip. "I think it was almost two years ago… For my grandpa's 195th birthday."

Mal did her best not to act too surprised because it seems that Ariel might be living a double life. It had definitely been Ariel that she talked to the other night and she was most certainly a mermaid.

"Right I forgot mermaids live so long."

"I got to go too, it was quite the party."

"Gives new meaning to 'Under the Sea' dances," Mal smirked.

"Yeah, I guess. Hey, are you sure you don't want to join the swim team?"

"I'm good thanks," Mal said before walking away.

In her mind, she was trying to process the information. So, Melody's mom doesn't become a mermaid too often and since Melody just came to Auradon Prep, there's no way Ariel could have developed a secret life all of sudden. She remembers talking to this redheaded mermaid and she said that she travelled around a lot… plus she'd never heard of Auradon before. If Melody was coming to this school… how could her mother not know where she was? Could the daughter of Prince Eric and Ariel have run away from home? No that didn't make sense because Mal saw both parents at orientation week… It's not hard to miss the red hair.

Mal wanted more information. A few days later, she began searching the library for anything associated with mermaids or possible other worlds. The problem was, there weren't that many… it's as if Auradon wanted to deny the existence of alternate worlds, in fact in Geography class, there were only so many lands that they studied. The daughter of Maleficent ended up sneaking into a restricted section of the library, which wasn't too hard considering Dreamy… was the nickname given to Sleepy Junior. Sleepy's son was the library assistant and was either doing what his father did best or daydreaming behind the counter. To do this, she used her powers to make a stack of books fall from a table and while everyone was busy picking them up, she picked the lock and slipped inside.

The restricted section was very dark and very dusty, indicating that no one had been in here in awhile. Only teachers were allowed in this section and clearly, they didn't pay much attention to it anyways. Using a pencil flashlight, Mal began scanning through the titles, looking for some sort of forbidden content that was related to what she wanted to know… Most of it was junk until she came to something that most definitely peaked her interest.

Travel Guide to Different Realms and Universes

"Bingo," she whispered to herself. She took the large book off the shelf and blew the dust off it. The thing was very old, part of the spine was broken, and many edges of the pages were tattered and worn. She knew she wouldn't be allowed to take this book out by itself, so she slipped it between a stack of other books, including ones about mermaids.

She made another stack of books fall so she could slip out of the restricted section and then went to the front desk. She held her breath and prayed that Dreamy would be distracted enough to not notice what book she was checking out.

She placed the stack on the counter.

"Bit of light reading huh?" Dream asked, jokingly.

"Report," Mal lied.

As he began scanning the books, Mal knew she'd have to get him daydreaming about something quickly.

"Hey Dreamy," she said.

"Yeah?"

"You know I heard a little rumour going around that Ally likes you…" Mal nodded to where Tallia and Ally were sitting at a nearby table. This was a small lie, a white lie, but not totally untrue. She did often notice that Ally liked to talk to Dreamy and she was just as much a daydreamer as he was, coming from Wonderland and everything. Sure, the two could be a couple, if he asked her out on a date first.

"R-Really?"

"You didn't hear it from me," Mal said with a wink. She held her breath as he got to the restricted book, but Dreamy was still gazing at Ally. "But the problem is, Bashful Jr. also has a crush on her, but he is too shy to say anything…" Another lie, but had a lot of merit to it. Bashful Jr., the son of the dwarf Bashful was extremely shy and he always froze up when he tried to talk to any girls. "I'd make my move if I were you…"

Dreamy put the book in the pile, not even noticing its title, making the purple-haired teen feel relieved inside.

"It was kind of lonely at the Moonlight Madness Dance. Double D (son of Doc), insisted that we go stag except for Doug, who went with your best friend Evie of course, and we ended up not slow-dancing with anyone."

"Well, that sucks," Mal said, handing over her library card and she quickly put the books in her bag.

"Yeah, it did, well good luck with the report Mal."

"Thanks, and good luck with Ally…"

She hurried along without saying another word.

"Wait, what should I…" Dreamy wanted to ask but saw that Mal was already gone.

While she felt guilty for lying and playing with Dreamy's affections a bit, it served a greater purpose, mainly for her. She knew that moving to Auradon would change her because lying used to be so easy for her; it had been second nature and she never had second thoughts about it. But now… she had more of a conscience and her stomach turned a few times when she did tell a lie. The dishonesty backfired, especially when she'd lied to Auradon's public and Ben about her becoming the "perfect girlfriend," it just wasn't her any more… sort of.

…

Now, she is reading as much as she could about mermaids and travelling between realms.

In one book, she reads about how mermaids could travel anywhere quickly, either by swimming or through whirlpools. The book said that these whirlpools glow a bright yellow and could open up in different places, possibly different worlds. It was all done through sheer willpower of the mermaid herself.

When different worlds came up, Mal brings out the restricted book. According to the restricted volume, there were other universes out there, not unlike their own. They all had different names associated with them and there were some places where magic was only heard of in stories or myths. Each world had its own chapter dedicated to it.

So far Mal is reading about The Land Without Colour, where everything was black, white, and bluish-gray that sounded like something out of a gothic novel when she hears Evie coming into the room. Quickly, she hides the book under her bed and grabs another, less restricted book.

Evie comes in with armfuls of jewelry and fabrics, having no doubt spent time in her new fashion studio with Dizzy. The two designers had decided to start moving Evie's supplies to Dizzy's room because the daughter of Drizella had her own room and therefore would have plenty of space for the clothes, fabrics, sewing supplies, and accessories.

"Hey," Mal says. "How was studio time?"

"I wish it was less stressful. Fairy Godmother wants me to design new cheerleading outfits and then she gave me a bunch of rules saying the skirts couldn't be too short and there had to be a long-sleeved version too…" Evie places all of the fabrics on her bed and has her curiosity peeked by what Mal is reading.

"Mermaids and Their Secrets," she reads the title. "That's a new subject for you."

"It's a report I have to do, about the biology of other magical creatures," Mal lies. She felt guilty lying to Evie like this; her best friend and "sister," but she knew that Evie would disapprove of what she is really researching. Evie had become the good girl of their VK group, her bestie's conscience and if she knew what Mal was learning, she'd do her best to convince the daughter of Maleficent to find something else to spend time on.

"You could've just picked fairies and done it on Jane, Tallia or Fairy Godmother…"

"Too easy," Mal says. "I like a challenge."

"Have you talked to Melody?"

"Yep, she says that having a tail is so much faster and she wished that Auradon had a mermaid swim team."

"That would be pretty cool."

"Yeah," Mal agrees. "Did you know that mermaids can summon each other by conch shells?"

"What purpose does that serve?" Evie asks.

"Old-fashioned cell phones I guess," Mal says. She gets up and puts the books in her bag, sneaking the restricted one under her bed in when Evie's back is turned. "Anyway, I'm going down to the beach to learn a bit more about the tides and how that affects the way a mermaid moves."

"Okay… you sure you don't want to take Ben down there with you? It would be pretty romantic during the sunset…"

Mal swallows hard. "I guess I could text him, but Tuesdays are usually teacher-king conference days."

"Okay well have fun," Evie says. "I'm going to take a nap before starting on the new designs."

Mal shuts the door behind her to give Evie some privacy. She walks down the halls, towards where she'd gone almost a week before. As she heads down the steps, Dude comes up and begins to trot alongside her.

"Hey Mal, what are you up to?" the dog asks.

"Hi Dude, where's Carlos?"

"Tourney practice, then he's meeting up with Jane, and then he's going to bed with his spotted blankie."

Mal does her best to not laugh after Dude ate the gummy she'd made for Carlos, the prized pup could only speak the truth, no matter how humiliating it was for his master or anyone else.

"So why are you alone and not with Ben tonight?" the dog asks.

"Ben's busy tonight and I'm doing research for a project."

"Is that the book smell, I'm smelling?"

"It is."

"Then why does one of them smell like dust and mildew? It's weird, I mean Carlos usually checks out books on how to impress girls and how to overcome the fear of dogs, but this one is really old…"

Mal swallows and keeps walking.

"Smells like Magic too,"

"Okay Dude, why don't you go to the cafeteria. It was steak and ribs night and you know how much you like the bones."

"Ooh, I love the bones, but was it medium rare night, I can't eat that, makes me gassy all night…"

"Okay Dude," Mal says as she hurries off towards her destination.

"You know you really should stop all this sneaking around Mal… It's not good for you," the dog calls out.

Ignoring him, Mal continues until she's back on the rocky beach where she'd seen Ariel the other night. She hopes lightning will strike twice and the famed mermaid will return when looking for more treasures. If not… she does have some reading that she can do in private.

Once she comes to her big rock, she sits on top of it. The sun is going to set soon, but fortunately, she had a flashlight. She gazes at the view. It really is beautiful; the horizon is light pink at the moment and would soon turn a rich orange colour, contrasting the purple/blue sky around it. And the reflection of the golden sun on the water was truly something worth watching. It was usually very cloudy on the Isle, so she never had that luxury of viewing this peaceful scene. When Ben had shown her a sunset for the first time, Mal thought was really pointless; the sun sets every day and how beautiful could it really be? However, when she stared at the water, Ben's hand holding hers, she realized why people liked to do this. Not only was it very beautiful, but very romantic as well. Ben had kissed her, their third official kiss at the time. She felt her heart flutter and she flushed a shade of pink that matched the sky, making her smile like never before. Part of her is tempted to call Ben and ask him to join her out here along the shore, but if he found out what she is reading, he'd be pretty mad at her… she didn't want another fight.

Against her better judgement, she tries his phone. As she expects, she hears.

"Hey this is Ben, sorry I can't take your call right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

Hanging up, Mal opens the book to where she was and continues to read.

She becomes so absorbed in the reading that she doesn't watch the sun go down. When she finishes the chapter on The Land Without Colour, she opens to the next chapter.

The Land Without Magic.