Blamed

Chapter 10 - I Hate Coffee

Coming up in this chapter : more things that don't make sense!
Yay.

It was beginning to get Irritating.

I was trying to concentrate. As usual.
While Jay and Carlos tried to talk to me. As usual.

No matter how many times I tried to tell them that all 3 villains were still out there, they continued to disrupt my tracking state.

Its complicated magic, tracking. To tap into a particular person's body, mind and soul, like you have to do to track, is a complex process - one that takes many hours.

It's not my fault the boys have such a short attention span.

Opening my eyes, I stared into the swirling abyss that was the mug of black coffee before me, picturing the faces of our targets in its surface.
Quickly, I found myself glaring at the imaginary image.

Sighing, I dropped my concentration and drank the coffee, wincing at the bitter taste.
As usual.

"Got anything yet, Mal?" Carlos asked me. I turned my head, catching sight of the hopeful expression that slid off his face when I shook my head.

Normally, the Mal thing to do would've been yelling at him for disrupting my concentration, but it wasn't like I was getting anywhere anyway.
Okay, fine. I didn't have the heart to either. He was friends with... Evie... A long time before I was; I knew he was in just as much pain as I was.
We knew how the other felt. It brought us closer together.

"...Okay," I could hear the misery in his tone, "do you want any more coffee?" I wrinkled my nose, and he cracked a smile. Barely a second later, it disappeared, but I saw it. I knew the excitable, caring, smarty pants dog boy was still in there. Somewhere.

"One more pot of coffee coming up."

<><><>

Tracking is much harder with cold liquid than hot.
It could've been anything : water, milk, potion. It was coffee because tracking is boring. I need to keep myself from falling asleep.

Carlos put the mug in front of me, and I wriggled in my chair, preparing for another failed attempt at tracking any of the free villains we need to clear our name.

But my mind insisted on drifting over to other things.

What would happen when we got back to Auradon? Would we get a pardon, or would the rest of their thick-headed community insist on locking us back up.
I considered sending a message to Doug about what happened to Evie, but in the end decided against it. Not only would it make Doug unhappy, which is not something Evie would want for him, it would also give Auradon's stupid officers a way to track us down.

Though I doubt their skills are as fine tuned as mine. Unless they used Fairy Godmother. She would be able to beat me in a magic contest any day.

Only becuase she's more experienced than me - I'm only 17 and spent 16 of those years on the magic-free Isle!
That is the only reason that she'd be better than me. Absolutely, yep.

I let out a sigh. I would never admit it, but I knew I was stuck, and I was certain the boys knew it too.
I was still thankful that they didn't try to bring it up, though.

Settling my attention back on the mug of dark filth, I again concentrated on the words needed to perform a tracking spell.
It's not a verbal spell, so I don't need to actually say anything, but that doesn't mean I don't need to think it.