Always by your Side - A Descendants Story : REWRITTEN

Chapter 14

"Ben! What's going on?! Have they found anything?!" Evie asks, rushing into his dorm, along with the rest of the group.

Ben shakes his head, and hands her the letter.

"What's this?" she asks, taking it and just looking at him, confused.

"Read it," he says, trying to keep in his tears.

They all gather around Evie to read the letter from the pirates. When she's read the whole thing, Evie drops down on the couch, feeling tears going down her face.

Jay is the only one who's immediately ready to take action. "We need to get that wand," he says to the others, who all need to sit down and process what is happening at the moment. They all try to not imagine the hell their friend must be living in.

"I- I just- how did they..." Lonnie stammers, trying to get a grip on the situation, to make it make sense in her head.

"I should've listened to her... I should've stationed more guards everywhere..." Ben sighs, not being able to keep in his tears anymore.
"You couldn't have predicted any of this," Jane tells him "Uma left quite civilly at the cotillion, she didn't seem like such a threat... no one saw this one coming..."

"They haven't changed one bit," Carlos tells them. "And if they are as bad as we think, we must act quickly."

Jay nods. "How do we get that wand?"

"We're really just going to give them the wand?" Troy asks. "Is there no other way we can play this?"

"After that trick we pulled last time, with the fake wand? I don't think so," Jay tells his girlfriend. "They won't fall for another ploy like that."

"Jay's right," Ben agrees. "We must get that wand, and I know just how to get it..."

If Ben wouldn't have been the King, they'd have never gotten that wand so easily. He basically has access to everything, even the secret underground tunnels all throughout the city. After getting into that museum, they turn off the electricity in the safe of the museum with Ben's passcode and then replace the wand with a fake, taking the real one with them. Then they quickly make their way to the meeting place.

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The big ship is hidden away deep in the forest, almost inaccessible to even reach on foot. When they get there, a couple minutes before midnight, there's no one to be seen anywhere in or around the ship. Then they hear someone shout something from the crow's nest and suddenly a dozen pirates walk out of the cabin onto the deck of the ship. Uma walks towards the gangway and stands still right in front of it, signing the group to join her on the deck. They look at each other, before they carefully make their way onto the ship. "Why, good evening, my friends," she greets them, smirking.

"Where's Mal?" Ben asks, trying to sound confident and determined.

Uma chuckles. "You're so weak, you silly little king..." she mocks. "Now, give me that wand."

"First, you give me Mal!" he tells her.

Uma sighs and turns to the door of the cabin. "Harry!" she yells. "Bring her!"

A few seconds later, Harry walks out, holding Mal in a tight grip with her hands tied behind her back. Ben is in shock seeing the state she is in; there are bruises and cuts all over her, she's covered in dirt and filth and she's barely able to even keep her swollen eyes open anymore.

They're are all silent, too shocked to see their friend in this almost unrecognisable, awful way. Harry walks up to them, stands next to Uma and lets Mal fall to her knees right in front of Ben. He looks at her, trying to make eye contact, but she looks down to the ground.