HOOKED ↝ DESCENDANTS

[9]

The group had barely made it up the path to Evie's front door when the rest of their friends came running out of the house, eager to reunite the two groups as one. Mal came barreling into Ben's arms, Uma reuniting with her Pirates, and, much to Rosalie's surprise, Doug followed Evie outside, pulling Rosalie into a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Rosalie asked, hugging her friend back tightly.

"Lonnie and I were helping Evie with some last minute things before Jane's party." he explained. "When Audrey's curse spread around the kingdom, it made its way out here, and we were both put under, along with the other kids inside."

"We found them asleep when we got here." Evie added. "I was able to wake up Doug, but the others are all still inside."

"Lonnie's here?" Ansel asked, Krissy crossing her arms over her chest, worried at the news of her best friend.

"She's still asleep in Evie's fabric room." Doug said.

"Wait," Rosalie said, stopping short. "How were you able to wake up Doug?"

Evie and Doug shared a look, a sweet, dreamlike smile on both of their faces as they turned back towards the three young royals, who continued to watch them with confused expressions. "Turns out, True Love's Kiss really does work every time." Evie said proudly, her smile never once fading. "It was Uma's idea, surprisingly enough."

"Wow," Rosalie stared at the two of them for a moment before sighing in relief. "It's about time you two said it to each other. I thought Doug was going to lose his mind eventually."

"Hey," Doug protested, though he soon slung an arm over his girlfriend's shoulders, still smiling.

"Okay," Mal announced, pulling the attention of the group onto her. "So we all think that Audrey could be at Fairy Cottage. We have no idea where it is. Ben, did she ever take you there?"

"Every Fairy Godmother's Day," Ben confirmed with a nod.

"We've been there too," Krissy added, gesturing to Rosalie and Ansel, who both nodded in agreement.

"Where is Fairy Godmother when you need her?" Ben murmured, clenching his fists at his side briefly as his eyes trained on the ground.

It wasn't hard to see that Ben still blamed himself for Audrey's deeds, and for the misfortunes that had befallen his people that day. Although Rosalie and the rest of their friends knew it wasn't his fault that he chose the path that made him happy, the only thing that would help Ben was making everything right between him and Audrey, and putting Auradon back to the way things were before that morning.

"I wish I knew," Jane said sadly from where she sat next to Carlos.

"Hey, maybe I should do one final sweep of the place before we go." Rosalie suggested, turning to Evie. "Just in case anything's still lurking in here. Is that okay with you?"

Evie nodded. "Be my guest," she said, gesturing back inside the small starter castle.

"I'll go with you." Ansel offered, following her back inside the house.

"So what happens?" Rosalie asked her cousin as they walked through the halls, past the three sleeping VKs passed out on the couch with a blanket draped over them. "What happens if we find Audrey, and Chad's on her side?"

As they searched, doing a sweep over the rooms in Evie's castle, Rosalie was relieved to find that they hadn't come across anything magical, alerting them that, wherever Audrey was, she wasn't hiding out or keeping any spells nearby that might have been sent their way. They were safe, for the time being, at least.

"I don't know what kind of fight this is going to end in." Ansel admitted uneasily. "Chad's my best friend, but when it comes down to it, we have to do what's right for Auradon. I wouldn't fight against them if we had any other choice, and I hope that, when the time comes, Chad will make the right decision and pick our side."

"Where does this end?" Rosalie asked, frustrated. "Does she keep everyone asleep? Or like the statues milling in the courtyard? Those are our friends, Ans. Her friends, that we've known since we were kids. We're her friends, and she's going after all of us. She's not going to give this up so easily, and if Mal and Uma can't stop her..." she trailed off. "I don't know what we'll do if that happens, or what happens to us."

"Then I guess there's only one thing left to do," he said as they paused outside Evie's fabric room, the one room they still had yet to search.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Hope like hell that Mal and Uma can fix this." he said, turning the knob and pushing the door open.

In typical Evie style, her fabrics and accessories were spread out throughout the room in an organized fashion. Everything seemed to have a place, all except for the girl lying asleep in the corner. Someone had tucked a pillow under Lonnie's head and brought her a blanket, most likely Evie or Doug, and the girl looked peaceful, completely unaware of the situation surrounding them.

Ansel watched the sleeping girl uneasily for a moment before turning to Rosalie. "I wanna try something, but just..." he sighed. "Don't ask, okay?"

"Okay?" Rosalie asked in response as he stepped further into the room, and she watched as Ansel knelt down next to Lonnie. "What are you..?"

Ansel brushed a stray piece of hair away from Lonnie's face, leaning down and pressing his lips against hers softly, much to Rosalie's surprise. Her jaw dropped slightly as Lonnie's eyes fluttered open, and the daughter of Mulan looked around, confused as her eyes landed on first Ansel hovering over her before Rosalie standing on the opposite end of the room.

"What happened?" Lonnie asked. "Where's Doug?"

"He's outside," Ansel explained. "Everyone's outside. Audrey put the kingdom under a sleeping curse, and we need to stop her."

"Ansel, how did you..?" Rosalie asked.

"It's like Evie said outside." he said simply, with a small shrug, helping Lonnie to her feet. "True Love's Kiss works every time."

"True Love's Ki-" Rosalie stopped short as slowly, the puzzle pieces began to fit together.

She thought back to Ansel's nervous antics back at the Enchanted Lake, how he held his phone close and wouldn't tell anybody who he was texting, the unusually happy behavior he'd had for the past few weeks that he refused to comment on whenever someone brought it up. She'd known all along he'd been lying whenever he told them they were crazy for thinking it had something to do with a relationship, but...

"It was Lonnie you were texting back at Jane's birthday party." Rosalie concluded. "Lonnie's the secret girlfriend you wouldn't tell us about."

"Please don't tell anyone." Lonnie pleaded. "We want to tell everyone, we really do, but the timing just wasn't right, and we never got the chance."

"Plus, my sister will kill me." Ansel added. "She always said I was never allowed to go out with her best friend."

"Your secret's safe with me." Rosalie said simply, causing Ansel and Lonnie to stare back at her with shocked expressions.

"That's it?" Lonnie asked.

"Yeah," she nodded, "It's definitely not my business to share. I know you guys are happy, if Ansel was able to break the spell, and I'm happy for you. But, if you go out there no longer under the curse, then they're definitely going to have some questions."

"I'll think of something," Lonnie assured her. "But thanks, Rosie."

"We should go." Ansel said. "Everybody's waiting. Lonnie, we've got a lot to catch you up on, and a very short time to do so. Come on."