Gold | Disney Descendants

Chap 11

The four sat in a line along the tree branch. Their wings droop, all leaning forward with their chins in their upturned hands. They breathe out a sigh in unison. It's quiet for a long while and Elspeth slumps even further. She then glances towards Twyla, who looked even sadder than the rest of them.

"I guess we're going back to Pixie Hollow, huh?" Elspeth murmurs. Twyla sighs loudly, shoving her hands through her hair and then rakes them down her face. Then, quick as an arrow, she shoots off the branch, fluttering in front of them.

"No! No no no! We're gonna find it, we can't just give up! We can't!"

The other three just look between each other. Copper's the first to speak up.

"You told Zarina that we'd go home if the ravens didn't know anything, Twy."

Twyla shakes her head roughly, dark hair whipping around her face: "It's an adventure! We can't just go home!"

"Hopes in flight, you're exactly right; with adventure on the horizon, hopes and dreams you can't abandon."

All the fairies leapt up with a small gasp as a small raven hopped along the tree branch towards them. It's iridescent feathers glisten in the moonlight and it stops a mere foot from the group of fairies. Twyla flits back to the branch, taking a stand in front of the others. She straightens her shoulders, lifting her chin high.

"W-what are you talking about, raven?" she asks, trying to keep her voice steady, almost wincing at the little shake of it. The raven bounces forward again, twitching its wings a little bit. Everything is quiet as the fairies wait and the raven pecks at its feathers. When it straightens again, it leans its head towards Twyla, its large brown bead-eyes blink slowly. Its voice is a low feminine caw.

"If it's a treasure you wish to find, go to the cave that homes the mind." With that, the raven bows her head and then she's gone, flying away into the deep shadows, leaving only a caw on the wind. As the raven flies away, Twyla begins to glow brightly and twist-jumps back around to face her companions.

She's beaming wide.

"Well ... the ravens know something!" Copper and Elspeth begin to cheer and laugh along with her. Then, one by one, they all begin to stop and Twyla frowns slightly. "But ... 'the cave that homes the mind'? What's that supposed to mean?"

The other three shrug, beginning to frown as well. Saffron just throws her hands up.

"Well we can figure it out tomorrow. Can we just go to sleep now?"

—— §

The moon was high in the sky and Twyla was sitting on the far edge of the tree branch. Her delicate fingers twisted her dark hair into a fishbraid, quietly repeating to herself what the raven had said. 'Cave that homes the mind'. She felt like it was right on the edge of her tongue but she couldn't get it out. She tugged another strand into the braid, frustrated noises leaving her.

"Why is this so important to you?" Saffron's voice from the dark behind her almost had Twyla falling off the branch.

"W-what?" Saffron strolled over, dropping down beside Twyla and pushing her curls back over her pointy ears as she repeated herself.

"Why is this necklace so important to you?"

Twyla let her hair go, the ends of her braid untwisting as it dropped. Her shoulders and wings dropped slightly and she twiddled with her fingers. Her head drops back, staring upwards to the moon and the little twinkling stars. Finally, she sighs.

"When I was away, there was an ... incident. A whole thing. Got grabbed, thrown in a lantern. I got out, obviously, with the help of a couple of friends, but ..." A short sigh leaves her and she glances towards Saffron a moment before turning her gaze back skyward. "I never want to feel helpless like that again and ... I don't feel like I belong here, in Neverland or Pixie Hollow, but I can't leave if I'm just going to be so easily caught like that again. If I find this necklace, maybe I won't be so helpless." There's a twitch of a sad smile on her lips. "Stupid, huh?"

Saffron stared at her. Reaching out, she pushed Twyla's braid over her shoulder then settles back on her palms. Twyla stared over at the dust-fairy, giving a small shrug of her shoulders.

"It doesn't matter if we can't figure this out though, huh?" Twyla murmurs. Saffron knocks against her side.

"We'll figure it out. What did that raven say again?"

"'If its a treasure you wish to find, go to the cave that homes the mind.' Insane, huh? 'Homes the mind'? What could that even mean?"

Saffron claps her on the shoulder. "Figure it out tomorrow. Can't have you slowing us down if you're too tired." She moves to stand up and turns to walk away before looking back at Twyla. "And it's not 'stupid'. I think you're insane for shouting at a raven, but you've always been determined when you get your mind set on something. And we're with you. Now go to sleep."

"Thanks Saff."

"Goodnight Twylie."

Twyla just smirked, dropping back to lie down. She sighs, closing her eyes. In a blink, she was asleep, the raven's words disappearing out of her mind.

—— §

Elspeth, as always, rises early. She's stretching high to the sun as the other's begin to stir. Copper and Saffron grumble as they drag themselves from the tree hollow, using their leftover fairy dust to drift down to the forest floor. Twyla, on the other hand, falls from her sleep space. With a shriek, she knocks against another branch and plops down into a bush at the base of the tree. With a grunt and a groan, she pushes out from the bush, twigs sticking out of her still half-braided hair. She walks over towards the others, yanking sticks out of her hair as she slumps down onto the ground beside them. The other three are busy stifling their laughs. Grumbling, she picks up her sword from the ground as she heads over to them.

As Twyla sits down, Elspeth holds out a poppy-puff roll, with a murmur of 'breakfast?'. She takes it with a smile, sinking her teeth into it with a hum. Copper pulls the map out of his satchel, dusting his fingers of poppy seeds. He rolls out the map in the middle of them.

"So, we better look for caves, huh? If we can't figure out the riddle, then we can at least plot out all the caves on Neverland," he says.

"It would take forever and a day to search all the caves on Neverland," Saffron grumbles, leaning over to look at the map. Copper twists around to grab a handful of pebbles. He starts places them on each of the most visible caves. In a matter of moments, there are over a dozen all across the map. The four frown.

"Well, I was right. We'd have to fly all around Neverland to visit each of these, not to mention how deep some of these caves might be. Or what could be living there." Saffron shakes her head, taking another large bite out of her roll. Twyla flops back, groaning. Elspeth just leans over the map again.

"Adventure though, right? C'mon, what was it that the raven said last night?" she asks. Twyla sits up, leaning her elbows on her knees.

"'Go to the cave that homes the mind'."

Her eyes flicker over the map. She looks from pebble to pebble: Indigo Falls, Skull Rock, Echo Cavern. She pauses. 'Homes the mind'.

"Skull Rock!" Twyla shrieks. The others jump, staring wide-eyed at her. Twyla jabs a finger at the skull pattern etched on the map, down on the south end of Neverland. "'Homes the mind'. The skull holds the brain. The mind!"

"Twy!" Elspeth squeals. Twyla grins, snatching up the map, dropping rocks back to the ground. She holds it up, staring at Skull Rock. She rolls the map up, shoves it into her bag and grabs Saffron by the arm to drag her up.

"C'mon, c'mon! Let's go!"