[4] Phoenix | Descendants 3

TWENTY-SIX: Back to You

Mal and Uma stood on the grounds of Beast Castle, listening to Maleficent's laugh echo through the air. She just cast a spell, trapping them inside and most likely cutting them off from Helena. Mal let out a huff as she listened to her mother's laugh, the rage rising within her at an unprecedented speed. In her anger, a purple mist began to surround the girl as her eyes glowed green. She disappeared momentarily, transforming into a dragon that flew up into a sky. Still, her mother was not impressed.

"Oh, please," muttered Maleficent distastefully. The dragon breathed fire at the villainess, but she easily blocked it with her scepter. "You're going to have to do better than that!"

Uma watched as the dragon and the villainess continued to fight before her attention slowly shifted to the castle. With Mal distracting her mother, this was the perfect time for the sea witch to break that spell. But she could barely think straight, fear and anxiety clouding her mind.

"Think, Uma. Think," the sea witch muttered to herself. Nervously, she began to twirl her mother's shell necklace in her hand. Her hand then drifted to the left and that was when she felt her grandmother's gem, the Gem of Clarity.

The daughter of Ursula then took the gem out of her jacket and placed it in her hand. She paused momentarily, staring down at the gemstone as she remembered Hades' words: If you focus your energy through that gem, you'll find you have more inside you than you think.

Uma closed her around the stone, inhaling and exhaling as she did so. Focusing on the gem in her hand, the dormant power in her veins sprang to life and empowered her more than she ever realized. She took another deep breath and exhaled, the spell she needed popping into her mind.

Water formed in her hands, which was generated out of nothing. She then thrust the hands outwards in the direction of the castle before moving her hands so that her palms were facing each other, revealing a now glowing Gem of Clarity. She twirled one hand over the other, causing the water to form a large circle around the castle's perimeter that surrounded the vines near the ground. Her mother's shell necklace soon began to glow as well.

"By turn of one, this spell is done. By turn of two, its power is through." The sea witch directed the water upward, the circle getting tighter and tighter as it slowly reached the top. "By turn of three, it ceases to be!" When the water reached the top of the castle near the thundercloud, the daughter of Ursula spread her arms out, breaking the spell as she did so. The thundercloud disappeared in an instant, the sky now clear once again. The water from Uma's spell fell from the sky, the vines starting to disappear.

"NO!" screamed Maleficent, turning away from the dragon just to see her spell being broken. "You little-"

The dragoon swooped down, breathing fire directly at Maleficent that caused the villain to turn away. Uma smiled slightly as she paused to catch her breath. Looks like they could win this thing after all.

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Evie, Jay, Carlos, Ben, Jane, Hector, Doug, Celia, Harry and Gil were trapped inside Beast Castle. After finding the room where Helena was trapped in, Maleficent blocked their path with an array of thick, thorny vines.

"So now what do we do?" Gil's question hung in the air, only to be met by a disheartening silence.

"Is there a way out?" Evie asked her boyfriend meekly.

Doug peered back out the window, twisting and turning his head for any sign of hope. " I don't see anything except for more vines."

"Well, we can't just stand here and do nothing," said Jay lowly. "Those knights are going to be here any second."