𝙼 𝙰 𝚈 𝙱 𝙴
stave i 🥀 chapter 7

( third person narration )

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙄'𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣𝙚
𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮?
𝙇𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥
𝘼 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙜𝙚𝙩.

The Remedial Goodness class was silent. The five VK's sat at their desks, wiggiling pencils across an assignment that had been given to them.

Quinn was bothered. Not by the assignment (which was currently asking about kindness), but by something else. Family Day was in a couple of days. Students would gather with their royal and non-royal families, all smiling and laughing and taking photos.

But there were five people who wouldn't have families to crowd them. Those five were Mal, Evie, Carlos, Jay, and Quinn, who—due to irritating circumstances—were litearly an island away.

"Children, excuse me. Um, as you know, uh, this Sunday is family day here at Auradon Prep," Fairy Godmother echoed Quinn's thoughts as the VK's looked up, "And because your parents can't be here due to, uh, distance—"

Understatement.

"We've arranged for a special treat," Fairy Godmother walked to the front of the room and pressed a button near by a screen.

Quinn internally cringed at Maleficent's close up face from afar.

"I don't see anything, nor do I hear," the dark fairy said.

"Kids," Fairy Godmother bidded the five over.

The VK's reluctantly stood up, shuffling over to the TV. Quinn had to admit, seeing the villians faces reminded Quinn why she was in Auradon to begin with. As much as she hated it, Auradon had grown on her. It had good food, comfortable beds, and decent people.

But seeing her mother in her red gown was a reminder that all this was tempoary. She wasn't supposed to get attached, but Quinn couldn't deny it, she was getting attached to Auradon.

"Press enter," Jafar said, but was ignored by Maleficent.

"Can I please see a remote?" Maleficent ordered, turning around as the Queen of Hearts handed her a remote, "Is this thing on? Ugh, It's broken. Ugh! I hate electronic equip-"

The screen popped up, revealing the second generation of the villians. Quinn gave them all a tight lipped smile as the villians appeared to have gotten the computer to work. Sure, Fairy Godmother had good intentions, but villian-video chatting wasn't going to do anything, except for letting the VK's get scolded and interrogated by their parents about the wand.

"Evie, It's mommy. Oh! Look how beautiful," Evie lightly smiled, giving the Evil Queen a small wave, "Oh, you know what they say, the poison apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Don't you mean the weeds?" Maleficent joked, earning a light smack from the Evil Queen.

The Queen of Hearts hummed. "Looks like Quinn finally picked something up from Evie. Gotta say, you don't look half bad, dear," she said primly. 

Quinn rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "Hello to you too, mother."

"Ooh! Who's the old bat?" Curella DeVil said, referring to Fairy Godmother.

"This is Fairy Godmother," Mal introduced, cauing the villians to evily grin.

Maleficent smirked, "Still doing tricks with eggplants?"

Fairy Godmother looked offended. "I turned a pumpkin into a beautiful carriage," she defended.

"You really couldn't give Cinderella till one A.M.? I mean, really," Maleficent returned. Quinn silently agreed. Unlimited magic with a time limit. "What, the hamsters had to be back on their little wheels?"

"They were mice! They were not . . . they were mice," Fairy Godmother faced the teenagers, "They were not—"

"Thank you so much," Mal interrupted, feigning sympathy, "Thank you."

"They were mice."

Fairy Godmother finally got out of camera view, leaving the five VK's with their parents on the screen. While the headmistress was off-camera, she was still hanging out near-by, hearing everything that the villians were planning on saying.

"Hi mom," Mal started.

"Mal!" the Queen of Hearts elbowed Maleficent, who changed her tone upon rembering that Fairy Godmother was still in the room, "I m-miss you."

"You children are never far from our thoughts," Jafar added.

Yeah, right, Quinn thought to herself.

"I got it."

"How long must mommy wait to see you?" Maleficent asked. Quinn caught on. The villians were talking in code. When they met "wait to see you," they met "wait to see the wand."

"When?" Maleficent asked.

"Friday, 10 A.M," the purple-haired girl quickly answered.

She frowned. "You sure I can't see you before that? I don't know what I'll do If I don't get my hands on that magic wan-" Maleficent realized her mistake, "you-you little nugget that I love so much."

"Yes, I completely understand, mother."

Quinn bit her lip. Why couldn't the villian parents love something other than revenge or world domination. That's nonsense, Quinn countered to herself, of course your mother loves you. Right?

"Carlos, is that a dog?" Curella stared at her son wildly, before squeezing the stuffed dog on her fur coat, "Oh, yes, yes, baby, I do understand. It would make the perfect size for earmuffs."

"He's the perfect size for a pet," Carlos snapped. Quinn smiled. It was a big leap for VK's to stand up to their parents, let alone Carlos to Curella DeVil, "This dog loves me, and I love him. And FYI, your dog is stuffed!"

Curella looked offended at these words.

"So give it a rest!"

Jafar cackled at Carlos standing up to his mother. "Oh-ho! Burn!" he interjected. The VK's were already having enough with this video call.

"Oh! Why don't you go sell a toaster, you two-bit salesman!"

"People who talk to stuffed animals shouldn't throw stones."

"Oh, well, people who sell toasters shouldn't use mixed metaphors."

"Enough!"

The rest of the arguing was cut off by Jay pressing the spacebar, exiting out of the video call. Everyone sighed in relief as Quinn pressed her maniqured fingers to her temples. This is what their lives had come to.

Fairy Godmother held a face of sympathy for the teenagers. "I'm so sorry," she said.

"Thanks for the special treat," Jay said.

"Of course."

The teenagers shuffled back to their seats, retreiving their things. Quinn's frown stayed etched onto her red lips. She knew that the whole "sharing the throne" with her mother was all an act. The villians had only promised their children power to get them to do their dirty work.

Who knows? Maybe they would be kicked to the curb after the villians didn't need anything from them anymore. Knowing her mother, Quinn assumed that's what the Queen of Hearts would do.

The five started to walk out of the classroom in silence. But Evie's soothing voice was the first to break it.

"M?" the blue-haired girl started, "What do you think our parents are gonna do to us. If we don't pull this off?"

The five stopped walking. Mal opened her mouth to say something but quickly hesitated before talking. "I think they will be quietly disappointed in us, but ultimately . . . " she trailed off, "proud of us for doing our best."

Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" Carlos asked with the same tone when his mother said that she would miss him while he was in Auradon. Carlos was alwas the positive one in their friend group.

"No, I think we are definitely goners."

• • •

After the video chat, Quinn needed three things, tea, music, and a long nap. Evie had woken the girl up after an hour or two, saying that she, Quinn, and Mal were going to Jay and Carlos' dorm.

The mention of three girls going to Carlos and Jay's dorm earned a raised eyebrow from Alison.

So Evie dragged Quinn out of bed, who was still in pajamas and a low messy bun.

The teenagers all stood around a map of the cathedral, where the coronation ceremony was being held. They were currently finalizing plans for the wand-stealing escepade that they had been working on for weeks.

"Okay, we all know what this looks like. So it'll be up on the dais under the beast's spell jar, and we'll be coming in from here," Mal pointed to the cathedral's entrance on the map, "I will be in the very front. You all will be up in the balcony." She turned to Carlos, "Okay. Carlos?"

"Okay, so I'll find our limo, so we can break the barrier, and, uh, get back on the island with the wand," Carlos said.

"Perfect."

Quinn felt queezy about the whole "steal the wand" plan. She started to feel like it wasn't the right thing to do. But wasn't it? Wasn't stealing and revenge etched into the VK's brain since birth? This is what they've been trained to do.

But, it was either those Remedial Goodness lessons or other factors that made Quinn felt like what they were doing was wrong. But, she continued listening anyways. After all, they had no choice, didn't they?

"Evie," Mal turned to her best friend, holding a pale blue perfume bottle, "You will use this to take out the driver. Two sprays and he'll be out like a light."

"Okay," Evie took the bottle.

The rest of the VK's drew away from the blueprints. Evie and Mal stayed close to Mal. The duo watched as the purple-haired girl seemed to obsessivly study something in her spellbook. Quinn nudged Evie, shrugging, a signal that something was up with Mal. Evie looked at the spellbook as Quinn looked around.

"M?" Quinn's attention was drawn back to Mal by Evies worried voice, "You want to break Ben's love spell?"

Sure enough, the spell that Mal was obsessivly re-reading was an anti-love potion, assumed to eveuntaly be used to break Ben's love spell.

Mal faced the duo in surprise, but quickly played it off. "Yeah. You know, for after. I don't—I've just been thinking, you know, when the villains finally do invade Auradon, and begin to loot and kick everyone out of their castles and imprison their leaders and destroy all that is good and beautiful," she trailed off, "Ben still being in love with me just seems a little extra . . . cruel."

A short silence hung over everyone before Mal sat up, briskly shutting her spellbook and walking out of the boys' dorm.

"M," Quinn said, eyeing Mal's retreating figure. She faced Evie, who looked worried. Quinn changed her face upon seeing Evie's worried look. "It's okay, Evie. She's gonna be okay."

Quinn zoned out, not really sure that Mal was going to be okay.

"Q," Evie began, "Are you sure we should do this? I mean, is it the right thing to do?"

Quinn licked her lips. "Honestly," she started, "I don't think so."

"But we have no other option."

• • •

Quinn tossed and turned in her pink comforter. She couldn't sleep and she was already irritated by it. Maybe she took too long of a nap.

She tried everything. Counting sheep, meditating, taking deep breaths, listening to calming music. You name it, she tried it. But nothing had worked. Something was keeping her up.

Quinn sat up, squinting her eyes in the darkness. Nearby street lamps were the only thing bringing subtle light into the dorm. The moon wasn't visible. Quinn fully knew it was a full one, but not in the correct position.

Her eyes landed on a sleeping Alison. Quinn lightly smiled, and quietly thanked Alice Liddel's daughter for being welcoming to her, despite their parents being mortal enemies. Quinn hated that she would have to leave her behind. To leave her to her mother to imprison her family and question Quinn on if she was faking it all along.

Which she wasn't.

Quinn left the dorm, deciding to roam around the dark hallways in her red pajama set. She found herself drawn to the music room, whose door was cracked slightly. Mrs. A had forgotten to lock it.

She pushed the door quietly. A small gust of wind found itself in the room. The wind chimes above Mrs. A's desk quietly chimed. It's peaceful sound instanly calming the Hearts girl. Quinn didn't notice the wind chimes before. She didn't notice a lot of things about the music room.

The walls were painted light gray, but seemed dark in the darkness. Wooden chairs stood in one area, where the students usually sat in during class. A chalkboard stood at the front, scribbled with trebble cleffs, music notes, and assignment names in white chalk.

Something new sat in the room, however. It was large and covered with a dusty cloth. Quinn assumed it was a piano. She slowly pulled the fabric off, revealing a mahogany grand piano. Quinn sat on the matching stool, placing her fingers on the cold ivory.

She played a couple of stray keys, not planning on playing a particular tune. She had learned on her mother's cherry-red piano back on the Isle. That one was scratched and it's once shiny demeanor was now dull. Keys were missing, but Quinn still learned a lot. Even though her mother hated the noise and threatened to get rid of it on several occasions.

Quinn sighed as she lowered her hands from the keys and rested her chin on top of the piano, staring at the wild moon. The moon emitted a pale glow, shining on the piano and Quinn's face. She felt calm with the wood under her head. Quinn fluttered her eyes closed, not out of tiredness, but out of peace. After all, she wasn't tired.

Quinn would soon leave all this behind. Music, Alison, Percy. It would all fade away at the snatch of a wand. Just when everything was going good for the VK's.

Carlos had overcame his fear of dogs and even made friends with a special one. Jay had leanred about the vaule of hard work and working as a team. Evie learned that she's capable of more than she thinks, and life is more than a prince and a shiny castle. And Mal, she learned that maybe her mother wasn't right about everything after all.

World domination wasn't what the VK's wanted, they just wanted a place to call home.

I know it's time to say goodbye. It's so hard to let go . . .

AUTHOR'S NOTE

this book may be put on hold after descendants one so i can write the other two movies. but how are you liking quinn's character so far??

her and evie's dynamic >>>>>>

thanks for bearing with me. :)
until next time.

~crrashingwavves