Truth Or Fiction

Chapter Ninety Four

Malinda couldn't help but smile as she looked over at everyone talking. Yes it was still weird to see a teenaged Harry being nice to CJ but she wasn't about to rock that boat. Harriet deserved to have a moment of her siblings getting along.

Speaking of siblings...

"What are 'deviled strawberries'?" Hadie asked, pulling Malinda's attention away from the group and onto her little brother.

"I'm not sure," Malinda told him. "Let's have a look shall we?"

Malinda took the descriptor card from the table and held it close so that both she and Hadie could read it.

"So apparently the mix has heavy whipping cream, sour cream, and cream cheese? Rather dairy forward isn't it?" Malinda asked with a small chuckle, even as she popped one into her mouth. Hey a strawberry was a strawberry, she wasn't about to turn her nose up at one even if the filling did seem weird.

"Did you get lemon in there?" Hadie asked.

"Oddly enough I did," Malinda nodded before looking at the descriptor card again. "Huh, there's fresh lemon juice in there. That's the lemony flavor I'm guessing."

Hadie shook his head. "So dad's right apparently, the sun melts your brain."

"Oh really?" Malinda asked with a small chuckle, knowing her little brother was only teasing her.

"Hey Malinda...actually...can I call you Mali?"

"You can call me whatever you want Hads," Malinda told Hadie, looking over at her brother. She wasn't going to lie, it was weird having to look down again after so many years of needing to look up at her younger brother. That being said...she wasn't going to lie and say she didn't also enjoy it.

Hey she was the older sister okay? Order needed to be restored somehow and it had been! Maybe temporarily but it still had been restored!

"Thanks Mali," Hadie said before sighing. "Do...do you know why I couldn't go with Ben to get your ring? I just...you or younger you or older Mal—."

"Hads? You're focusing too much on the semantics," Malinda said gently. "I know you mean me, you can just say that."

Hadie gave her a smile. "Thanks, it was getting confusing even when I was just thinking it. But anyway, you seem to be able to just hop off and visit dad whenever you want in the scroll. Why can't my scroll self do that too?"

Malinda signed and sat down so that she was looking Hadie in the eyes. "Alright Hads, I want you to listen to me okay? First off, don't think that I didn't want you to come with. Every trip we did was spur of the moment, if they'd been planned you would have been part of the group."

Hadie raised an eyebrow. "The trip to drop off food and the applications to the Warf Rats was planned and I wasn't part of the group. I, or my scroll self, probably would have enjoyed seeing CJ and Ryan, or ducking into Curl Up and Dye to see Dizzy while you guys were at dad's restaurant."

"Right, right," Malinda said with a small sigh. "Okay, full honesty, cards on the table? You weren't medically cleared to go back to the Isle."

"Wha—?"

"I don't fully understand it but the barrier affected your development," Malinda told him. "You were on a prescription course of nectar and ambrosia to stabilize your magic and going back to the Isle could have undone what progress you'd made or even damaged you. I wasn't going to let that happen, and neither was mom once she was in Auradon."

"So...so I'll never get to see dad in the scrolls?" Hadie asked softly.

Malinda shook her head. "Hads, didn't you hear me say Zeus granted dad the ability to go back and forth as a wedding present? We all live in Auradon now, we get both of our parents in our lives full time now."