Go the Distance

03

The VKs made their way to the museum and Mal said to Evie impatiently, "Come on. Check your mirror."

Evie frowned and asked, "Is my mascara smudged?"

Mal nodded. "Yeah. And, hey, while you're at it, why don't you see if you can find us the wand?"

"Sure. This way."

They stood outside the museum entrance. They saw a guard turn and ducked out of the way.

When they returned, Jay noticed Maleficent's wheel. "That's your mother's spinning wheel?"

Mal nodded and Carlos scoffed. "Yeah, it's kind of dorky."

Mal rolled her eyes. "It's magic. It doesn't have to look scary. 'Magic spindle, do not linger. Make my victim prick a finger.'"

"Impressive," Jay said.

"I got chills," Carlos added.

Mal frowned. "Okay, you know what? 'Prick the finger, prick it deep. Send my enemy off to sleep.'"

"Ooh!" the security guard sitting at the desk exclaimed. He touched the spinning wheel and laid on the spinning wheel pedestal and fell asleep.

Mal smirked. "Not so dorky now, huh?"

"Dorky and this really isn't smart," Maia said, appearing. Elias appeared shortly behind.

Mal glared at them. "What are you two doing here?"

"You were plotting something nefarious. Elias and I are making sure you don't do it."

"Maia, Elias, go back to school."

"No. You guys are trying to steal something from where Elias and I live. We're not gonna let you."

"I warned you I would-"

Elias nodded. "Yeah, we know what you said. But you're not gonna steal it. And it's going to be fun to see you fail."

"Fail? Please." Mal looked between them a moment. "You two aren't not as good and sweet as you make it seem, are you?"

"When people threaten our home, no," Maia said in a lightly sharp tone.

Jay said, "Stand back."

"'Make it easy, make it quick, open up without a kick,'" Mal read.

"Ahh!" Jay cried, landing on the floor after his attempted kick.

"Coming?"

They followed her inside and Carlos glanced back. "Come on, Jay."

He shook his head. "I'm good."

Carlos pursed his lips. "Just trying to help."

Mal glanced at him. "Shh. Carlos!"

"Coming," he answered.

Evie looked in her mirror. "So close. Upstairs."

"Come on," Mal said. "Go, go, go, go. Up, up, up, up, up."

We ran up the stairs and Evie called out, "Come on, guys. Almost there." She paused, seeing waxed figures of our parents. "Mommy?"

Mal walked up to the waxed figure of her mother. "Killer," Jay said, noticing his dad.

Carlos shuddered slightly. "I will never forget Mother's Day again."

Jay looked around the room. "Well, the wand's not here. Let's bounce. Let's go."

"I always thought they were creepy," Maia muttered.

Elias said quietly, "At least they don't have snakes for hair that turn you to stone."

"Very true."

Mal continued staring at her mother's waxed figure. "Mom, I don't want to fail you, but what if I do? What then? Will you welcome me back?"

The figure remained silent. "Of course you don't answer."

[Evil Like Me]

Evie ran into the room. "Hey, I found the wand."

Mal stared at the still figure of her mother before running after Evie.

"Here it is," Evie said.

"Whoo!" Jay cheered.

He readied to go under the barrier and Mal cried, "Jay, don't! Wait, no! No! Don't! Ah!"

Jay reached for the wand and as soon as his hand hit the force field, sirens started blaring and Carlos' eyes narrowed. "A force field and a siren?"

"That's just a little excessive," Jay noted.

"Let's go!" Mal cried.

"Hurry," Evie said.

"Come on."

Carlos pressed a button. "Hello? Uh, uh, just give me one second. One second. Uh, yeah, yeah. No, false alarm. It was a malfunction in the, uh, in the 714 chip in the breadboard circuit. Yeah. Okay. Say hi to the missus."

"Carlos!"

"You're welcome," Carlos answered sarcastically.

Mal turned to Jay with an angry expression. "Way to go, Jay. Now we have to go to school tomorrow."

Maia smirked. "As Elias said, you'd fail. And you did."

"Shut up."

"That's rude. Hey, school isn't that bad."

"Yeah it is."