Death's Daughter: A Disney's Descendants Story

What Did We Do?

(FYI: Hesper's appearance is minimal in this chapter, and she hardly appears in the next 2 after this. But after that, she'll be pretty regular)

    Hesper watched Mal walk away, cackling. The crowd around had dispersed, not paying much mind to poor princess inside the death trap of a closet. Hesper found herself self-consciously rubbing her left wrist. She pulled up her leather jacket and found herself looking through her fishnet gloves and directly at a memorable scar.
     She had received it when her 10 year old self had gotten curious and ventured into Cruella's closet. One of the traps had snapped all the way around her wrist. Somehow, it hadn't broken her wrist, but it had drawn a lot of blood. Once she got out, Hesper remembered that Carlos had helped her bandage it up. They vowed to never speak of it again, worried that someone would find out that Carlos had gone soft and helped her or that Hesper was keeping such a dark secret to herself.

    She sighed, hearing the cries from Evie. To keep herself from doing something she would regret, she decided it would be best if she left the party.

***     "Help! Help! Let me out!" Evie yelled.
    But there was no answer, and the band was playing so loudly, Evie knew no one would hear her, nor care.
     It was hard to see so Evie felt her way tentatively in the darkness, sliding her left foot on the floor first. Her foot came in contact with something cold and heavy, so she retreated.
     She slowly headed to the far end, hoping to find a way out.
     Evie shifted to her right, hoping to avoid the trap, to move around it, but her foot struck another, and she jumped back as it too snapped shut with a bang, springing into the air and barely grazing her knee.
     She knew her best chance on getting out was a quick escape. So she ran. The chorus of snapping metal jaws rang through the darkness, steel blades against steel blades, as she ran screaming towards the back door. The traps slammed shut, BAM, BAM, BAM, one after another. One almost caught her heels as she turned the door handle, left the room and shut the door behind her.
     But just as she thought she was safe, she realized she had plunged right into a dark, furry presence. It took her a moment to process that it wasn't an animal, but a fur coat. There were dozens of them, all of them black or white or black and white, made of the thickest, lushest hides—they was spotted ocelot and dip dyed mink, silky sable and shiny skunk, all of them packed in like sardines, so full, so fluffy, so thick.
     This was Cruella De Vil's fur closet, her wondrous collection, her obsessions, her greatest weakness.
     Evie finally managed to untangle herself and push aside the wall of fur, just as a hand grasped her wrist and pulled her through to the other side.
     "You okay?" It was Carlos.
     Evie took a deep breath. "Yes. I think so. Do I win the game?" she asked dryly.
     Carlos laughed. "Mal's going to be so mad you survived."
     "Where are we?" Evie looked around. There was a lumpy mattress on the floor next to an ironing board and a washbasin, along with a vanity table that held dozens of white and black wigs.
     When Carlos looked embarrassed, she realized it was his bedroom. Cruella's fur closet opened onto a dressing room, where her son slept.
     "Oh."
     Carlos shrugged. "It's home."
     "It's not so bad in here, really!" Evie said. "I'm sure it's cozy and, hey...you'll never catch a cold. You can just use one of her fur coats for a blanket, right?" It was awfully drafty in the room: like her own home, Hell Hall wasn't insulated for winter.
     Carlos shook his head. "I'm not allowed to touch them," he said, trying to put the furs back in order. They were so heavy, and there were so many of them. "I'll fix them later. She doesn't come back till Sunday."
     Evie nodded. "This is all my mother's fault. If she hadn't tried to challenge Maleficent's leadership when they first came to the Isle, none of this would have happened."
     "Your mother actually challenged Maleficent?" Carlos goggled. It was unheard of.
     "Well, she is a queen, after all," Evie pointed out. "Yeah, she was angry that everyone on the island decided to follow Maleficent instead of her." She walked over to the vanity and began to fix her makeup, delicately powdering her nose and applying pink gloss to her rosebud lips. "And now here we are."
     "Mal will get over it," he said hopefully.
     "Are you kidding? A grudge is a grudge. She'll never forgive me. Didn't you listen in Selfie class? I thought you were so smart." Evie smiled wryly. "Oh well, I should just face it. Go back to our castle and never come out."
     "But you're not, right?"
     "No, I guess not." Evie put away her compact. "Hey," she said softly. "I have an old comforter I never use...I mean, if you get cold and you can't...Oh, never mind." Carlos looked as if he didn't know what to say.
     "Forget I said anything," said Evie in a rush.
     "No, no bring it. I mean, no one's ever cared whether I'm warm or not," he said, blushing red as his voice trailed off. "Not that your care, of course."
     "I certainly don't!" agreed Evie. Caring was definitely against the rules at Dragon Hall and could turn anyone into a laughing stock. "We were going to throw it out."
     "Excellent, just consider my home your Dumpster."
     "Er, okay."
     "Do you think you might have a pillow you were going to toss out too? I've never had a pillow." Carlos turned red again. "I mean, I've had tons of pillows, of course. So many! We have to keep throwing them away. I get so many pillows. I mean, who's never had a pillow in their life? That's preposterous."
     "Yeah, I think we were going to throw away a pillow," Evie said, turning just as red as Carlos, even as a warm sunny sensation had taken over her chest. She changed the subject. "Still working on that machine of yours?" In class, Carlos had shown Evie a machine that he was planning to use to poke a hole through the dome and get some of the outside world in. Like other TV channels besides the Auradon Channel.
     "Yeah, wanna see?" he asked.
     "Yeah, sure," Evie replied, following Carlos out of the room toward the back of the house, away from the party. Carlos slipped outside, holding the door open for Evie.
     "Where are we going?"
     "To my lab," Carlos replied, pulling out a matchbook and lighting a candle to lead the way into the weedy backyard.
     "Your what?"
     "My science lab." He replied as they approached a huge, gnarled tree with a rope ladder. Carlos started climbing up it. "I have to keep it all in my tree house. I'm afraid my mom is going to get some big ideas and turn my chemicals into makeup and hair products."
     Evie scrambled up the ladder behind him. Inside the walls were lined with shelves of glass beakers, vials, and jars containing various neon-colored liquids. In the corner sat a small, old television with about fifteen different antennas strapped to it.
     "What is all this?" Evie asked, picking up a jar of something white and snowy.
     "Oh, that's from Chem Lab. It's sodium polyacrylate—I was trying to see if I could use it was a sponge when mixed with water," Carlos said. "But here, this is what I wanted to show you." He pulled out the wire-box contraption he'd been working on in class. "I think I got the battery to work."
     Carlos fiddles with a few buttons and flisked a few switches. It sputtered to life, then died. His face fell. He tried again. This time it emitted a high pitched squeal before dying.
     He looked up at Evie sheepishly. "Sorry, I thought I had it."
     Evie looked at the black box. "Maybe try connecting this wire to that one?" she suggested.
     Carlos peered at the wires. "You're right, they're in the wrong place." He switched the wires and hit the switch.
     A powerful electric burst shot of the box, sending Carlos and Evie flying back against the wall and falling to the floor. The beam of light burst up toward the plywood ceiling, blasting a hole in the tree-house roof and up to the sky.
     "Maleficent!" Carlos cursed.
     "Oh my goblins!" Evie screamed. "What just happened?"
     They both scrambled out onto the tree-house balcony and stared up at the sky, where the light was streaking all the way up, through the clouds, up, up, up, all the way to the dome!
     The light seared through the barrier as easily as it had burned a hole in the tree-house roof.
Lighting flashed, and the very earth shook with a supersonic rumble. For a second they could see through the dome and directly into the night sky. The black box began to emit a strange beeping noise.
     Carlos and Evie hurried back inside, and Carlos picked up the box. It was making a sound neither of them had heard before. And for a brief moment, there was something on the television, which had burst to life all of a sudden.
     "Look!" Evie cried. The screen was flashing with so many different scenes it was dizzying.
     "Look at all these different television shows!" Carlos said. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew there had to be other kinds!"
     Evie laughed. Then the screen flickered and went dark again, and the box in Carlos's hands went dead. "What happened?"
     "I don't know. I think maybe it worked? It penetrated the dome for a second, didn't it?" he asked, approaching the box fearfully and touching it with the end of one finger. It was hot to the touch, and he pulled his hand away quickly.
     "It must have," Evie said. "That's the only explanation."
     "Promise you won't tell anyone about what happened, especially about the dome. We could get in real trouble you know."
     "I promise," said Evie, making and X with her fingers behind her back.
     "Good," Carlos smiled. "You want to go back to the party?"
    "Do we have to?" she asked.
    "You have appoint. And that show you like on Auradon News Network, the one that features the Prince of the Week, is going to be on in five minutes.
     "Excellent!"