So Many Ways to be Wicked

Chapter 6

"This is all my fault," Carlos whined, putting his face in his hands.

"Not it's not, C," Jay insisted for the billionth time. As Evie joined the conversation, Mal quickly grew tired of it.

"Everyone be quiet! If it's anyone's fault, it's my own," Mal said, holding up a hand to stop any arguments. "I predicted there would be a ward up but I was cocky and reckless. This will not happen again, I assure you." Everyone was quiet for a moment, not used to Mal admitting her mistakes. Eventually, Evie moved to grab Mal's hand and squeezed it.

"You're right, we won't let it happen again because we will be meticulous. They won't know our plan until we've already grabbed the wand."

E is right, M. We'll all stick together and stick to the plan, whatever that may be," Jay added.

"First step of this plan, research the shit outta the wand. We need to know every last detail about this thing."

"The wand was created in 1852 by the original Fairy Godmother, Faedalana, the most powerful of the Fae at the time," Carlos read from the library book in his lap. It was the day after their failed heist and the VKs were eager to come up with another plan.

The wand gets passed down to the Fae with the purest soul and that Fae will become the next Fairy Godmother," Evie put in, reading her own book.

"Great, we just kill Faemina and intercept the wand before it gets passed to the next FG," Jay said, lounging on Evie's bed. Everyone stared at him. "What?"

"That can be plan B," Mal said, knowing there were far too many risks to the plan but not wanting to call Jay out.

"Um, I think I have something!" Carlos exclaimed. "The wand occasionally gets used for special occasions, like carnations or weddings. That's it!"

"What are you on about?" Mal asked, thoroughly confused. Evie, however, understood quickly.

"Ben, sorry, Prince Ben's coronation! The wand will be out and we can snatch it!"

"Exactly!"

"But how do we get close enough?" Mal asked, intrigued.

"Only the family and significant other is allowed in the front viewing box," Evie sighed.

Significant other, you say?" Mal muttered, a devious smile on her face. "I think I may have just the thing to help us."

The 4 VKs were down in the kitchen, thanking evil it was still the weekend, peering over Mal's spell book and the bowl of cookie dough.

"We need a tear," Mal said, frowning.

"Oh, I can cry on demand!" Evie exclaimed.

"No, like a tear of sadness," Mal explained. Evie began to frown as well before smoothing out her face. Wrinkles, right.

"How does that change anything?" Jay asked. Carlos rolled his eyes.

"It changes everything. Fake tears have certain chemicals while real, genuine tears have

a different chemical component," Evie explained patiently. Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing Mulan's daughter. Carlos stiffened slightly, glancing from her to Jay.

"Who are you?" Jay asked and Carlos felt a vindictive feeling of smugness that Jay hadn't bothered to remember the girl. Evidently, from the scowl on the girl's face, she remembered Jay.

"I'm Lonnie, Mulan's daughter," she turned a blinding smile onto the three VKs she hadn't run into.

"Mal, and this is Carlos, Jay and Evie," Mal answered, a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Nice to meet you. What are you making?" Lonnie asked, getting closer to the bowl.

"Uh, cookies. We've never had them before and we wanted to try them out," Evie answered, smiling sweetly.

"You've never had cookies? What about when you're sad? Didn't your parents ever bake you cookies, give you some hot chocolate and comfort you?" Lonnie asked, truly shocked. So naive, Mal thought to herself. The VKs stayed quiet, masking the hurt on their face and avoiding Lonnie's eyes.

"What? But--that's not-- I thought that..." Lonnie stuttered out. Something slowly dawned on Mal and she twisted her face up into a pout, letting tears glisten in her eyes.

"You thought that even villains love their kids, right?" Mal asked in a whispered, choked up voice. It worked like a charm, tears slowly dripping from Lonnie's eyes. Mal wanted to whip her arm out to get this over with but she slowly wiped the tears off Lonnie's face, discreetly letting one fall into the mixture.

"It's okay, Lonnie," Evie said. "We're in Auradon now where we can learn to be good and experience love." Lonnie nodded, sniffling. She headed towards the fridge and pulled out a bag of something.

"Chocolate chip cookies are the best," she whispered, dumping in half the bag before taking her leave, tears still running down her face. Once she was gone, Mal's face cleared and she growled.

"That bitch knows nothing. She doesn't deserve to cry for us, we don't need her pity," Mal fumed, viciously stirring the dough.

"Okay Mal, calm down. Let's get these into the oven, yeah?" Carlos said, slowly taking the bowl from Mal and beginning to place clumps onto a tray. After the tray had been filled, Carlos popped the cookies in the oven. The four VKs were quiet, left to their thoughts while the cookies baked.

It was in between classes and Evie knew now was the time. Holding the bag of cookies, she sauntered over to Ben. She watched as Audrey stormed off.

"Trouble in paradise, Prince Ben?" Evie asked, smiling cheekily at the boy's shocked expression. Ben's face quickly morphed into a smile at seeing the girl, always wanting to be welcoming.

"No, nothing like that. Cheer practice went awry, is all," Ben answered. Evie didn't know what Cheer was but it sounded awfully like something Auradonian that preached good.

"Oh, well, I came over here to say sorry for Mal's behaviour. It really wasn't fair of her to lash out. I, uh, baked you some cookies as an apology," Evie murmured, letting a blush seep onto her face.

"Oh, thanks. I'll eat them after the game-"

"What? I-I mean, why not now?" Evie was cursing in her head, hating that the plan was already going off script.

"I don't eat before a big Tourney game," Ben replied, looking genuinely sorry. Mal must've seen Evie floundering from where the other three were waiting because she was suddenly behind Evie, giving Ben a knowing look.

"I get it. She's a VK, how can you trust us, right?" Mal asked. Evie let tears well up in her eyes and quickly looked away from Ben when his eyes met hers.

"No! Look!" Ben snatched a cookie and took a huge bite. Mal and Evie smirked at each other. What they didn't realize was that Ben wasn't looking at Evie, he was staring at Mal.

"Mal, have your eyes always been that green? They're beautiful, how am I just noticing this now?" Ben asked, his eyes glazed over slightly. Mal slowly turned to look at Ben, her mouth hanging open.

"Fuck."