Chapter 3

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"I just can't bear the idea that you would be able to leave and live out your dreams and be happy, while I'm still here in this gritty, cruel place full of nothing but bitterness, with a future that goes nowhere, and Goth's still trapped. It doesn't feel right."

"Nothing here is right, Clarissa," Goth sighed, lost in a reverie.

"You sound like Uma," Dizzy laughed, still in good spirits from her joyful news. "Don't go capturing any royals, you two."

We both cracked up at the irony- that was exactly what our mothers had done. 

"Say, where IS Uma? I haven't seen her in ages," Goth inquired, feeling the need to change the subject before things got out of hand.

"Oh, yeah. Well, I guess she's still somewhere in Auradon. Whatever," Dizzy shrugged.

I gritted my teeth, my face flaring fiery as my mother's dragon form. "Lucky her," I mumbled passive-aggressively. 

I never cared much for Uma, even though I suppose we had the same ambitions. Now I was terrified that with my mother's vindictiveness running through my veins, I might even become aggressive like her once Dizzy leaves me and Goth. I'm not really an aggressive person- I suppose that mysterious shadowed boy I met on the streets would call me soft- but who knows? It's in my blood, isn't it?

My face flushed even redder. Pull yourself together, I told myself. You're going mad- that's nothing like you. You're not like those kinds of villains. 

"I suppose that's my problem with Mal and Uma- everything's always about THEM. They both think they're the heroine, they're the little leader," I admitted.

"And you think you should be?," Goth raised an eyebrow.

I gave a pained sigh. "I'm just like my mother, for better or worse," I moped.

"You should leave for now and take a moment. Go get some fresh air and soak in the sunshine. It's more than I can do. Dream your dream- I know you'll live it," Goth smiled sagely at me, wise far beyond her years. 

My eyes welled up with tears of conflicting sadness and joy. I really have the greatest friends a villain could hope to have. I guess I was lucky in that manner, then. I embraced Goth, warmly as the sun, and held Dizzy solemnly close as my eyes misted. Then I glided down the narrow winding labyrinth of stairs and through the quaint and cozy yet confining expanses of Goth's home, wondering what it would be like to never be able to leave. To be doubly trapped. 

I suddenly felt even guiltier for my secret, poisonous thoughts. I really WAS lucky.

I braced myself for the organized chaos that was the flow of traffic on the Isle, as I stepped shyly through Goth's secret escape that she had used for many a carefully plotted midnight escapade. I couldn't take being literally stepped all over and pushed around again, I just couldn't. A girl could only handle so much! 

I had to get out of this terrible place. 


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