Blamed

Chapter 1 - The Barrier

This will make much more sense if you've read Framed before starting this. If you haven't, go check it out!

My fingers brushed the rough bark of the thick trunk below me.
I was up a tree, making the most of the time I have alone while concealed in its canopy. I had a feeling that someone was on the search for me, but I didn't care; I needed room to breathe.

I watched the Isle sadly - the place that was my home for 16 years. You could almost hear the shouting of angry parents, the clatter of feet on roofs and the smell of food that is way past the gone. Sometimes I miss it, the freedom of living life the way you want to, but I don't think I'll ever be returning there again. Not by choice.

I don't actually know when Dizzy's due for collection, but I know it's soon. Ben asked for mine and Evie's opinion on when to bring another set of Villain's kids to Auradon. Evie said 'before Christmas' (this celebration where you put a tree in your house and this white stuff gets everywhere that makes your toes freeze off). I said after Family day, so it is happening sometime between these two dates.

I smiled softly, remembering the 'good old days' : Me, Evie, Jay and Carlos leaping across roof after roof, fleeing from whatever angry shopkeeper we stole from - laughing like insane, well, villains. You could almost hear the buzzing of the streets.

However, I was quickly snapped from my thoughts by a soft "Mew" below me.
Dropping my gaze, I saw a small ball of what looked like Candy floss at the foot of the trunk. After dropping down, I scooped up the not-so-little animal and held her close to my face so that my pale green bet her vibrant emerald.
"Hello Chelsea," I cooed softly, and a smile spread across my face when her eyes crinkled, like she was smiling.
"What is it?"
My cat had become sort-of like a feline messenger for the residents of Auradon Prep, if anyone needed a message ferried to me or one of the other VK, considering we still didn't really use our phones.

She began to paw at the air, like there was some sort of invisible fly that she was attacking - a typical sign that she wanted to talk.
I grasped her little purple paw and I felt a connection establish between our minds.
"Hello Mistress," she won't stop calling me that. Reminds me a bit of Danny, except he's rightfully a bird, not a cat.

"Chelsea, please just call me Mal. Or Holly."
"Okie. King Benny says that he is to see Mal. In the offiss."
I frowned. After the incident with Uma, at Cotillion when I joined the court, Fairy Godmother created an emotional link between me and Ben, so we know what emotions each other are feeling, which apparently all Kings and Queens share : Belle and Adam, Cinderella and Charming. Aurora and Phillip, and now, me and Ben.
I don't know why I haven't picked up on any changes in emotion, but the only way for it to be taken down is if Fairy Godmother does it.
So something's probably wrong.

I put Chelsea back onto the floor, then made my way towards Ben's office.

<><><><><>

The spruce door slowly opened to reveal a concentrated Ben, staring intently at something on his desk.
When he heard the door, his eyes darted up and a smile slowly stretched across his face upon seeing my Purple Locks (Which are now, by the way, dark, once more. I got bored of the lighter purple).

"Hey Mal."
"Hi Benny Boo," I teased. "Chelsea says you need something?"
"Yeah," he frowned, "the link didn't seem to be working."
"I'll ask Fairy Godmother about it later. So... what is it?"
"Oh, right."
He stood from his leather chair, and grabbed a sheet; the same one he was just staring at.
"I'm not sure which other kids to bring over."
My eyes skimmed down the list, and a few names caught my eye.