melting hearts • Carlos De Vil

chapter three

****
The ride was awkward.
No one spoke a word, and Ellie tried to avoid her uneasiness by staring out of the window, watching the scenery of Auradon change the closer they got to the coastline.

Mara was holding Evie's hand in comfort, and Ben was constantly muttering things to himself.

"Could you please stop it, Ben!" Ellie yelled out after a while.
Ben looked at her in shock but stopped it.

Ellie felt guilty. He was just scared and felt bad, but if she heard him mutter things like 'it's my fault' one more time, she would kick him out of the moving car.

Ellie felt Carlos' worrying eyes on her from time to time, but she ignored him.

She wouldn't admit it, but Ellie was scared. She heard nightmare stories from that place since her birth, and now stepping foot on it scared her to the core. But, she swallowed that fear down and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. Finding Mal and bringing her back.

But Ellie wasn't so sure if that was the right thing to do. After her conversation with Mal, Ellie knew that Mal felt uncomfortable in Auradon, and Ellie didn't want to force her to come back to the life she fled from.

Finally, they got closer to the sea, and Jay used the remote to summon the bridge.

Ellie's eyes widened in awe as they started rolling over the golden bridge connecting the two lands.

Even though Ellie was a little scared to fall off the bridge, she still enjoyed the ride.

That was until they crossed the barrier.
The sun instantly vanished, and they were practically just driving through a big shadow.

From inside the car, Ellie could make out some of the Islanders.
Their clothes were made out of rags, and they were all coated in a layer of dirt.

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows. They were a sad sight and she felt bad for these people. But as she saw the vk's looking at them, she felt even more guilty. They all grew up here and were raised with the thought of spending their life's here. Just as these people outside the car.

Finally, Jay stopped the car, and everyone got out. The boys started covering the car.
Ben started walking away to a tunnel thing, and Ellie grabbed his arm.

"What's in here?" Ben called back to the vk's, and Ellie just pulled at his arm.
"Probably nothing good." Ellie told him.

"She's right, Ben... You don't want to know." Jay told him.

"Hey, guys. Keep it chill, all right?" Carlos told them, which got all of them nodding.

"The last thing we need is our parents figuring out we're here." The vk's shot eachother concerned looks and then started walking away.

Ben, Mara, and Ellie followed them through the different allyway's.

Ellie looked around in wonder. The Isle was different than she'd imagined.
People walked around and were shooting them weird glances. Children ran around playing, and she even saw some of them stealing from shops, but she didn't say anything. This was their way, and she didn't want to attract any attention.

Suddenly, children ran to Evie. They grabbed her wallet, but Evie got the thieve by their arm.

The group looked back and saw that Evie let them have her wallet. Ellie thought it was nice of her.
Evie had enough money from her fashion line, and these kids could need some money.

"Ben." Evie sighed, and just then, Ellie realised that Ben had wandered off again.
Ellie shook her head and started following them. They found Ben walking around a little marketplace, looking around in wonder.