Madder than a Hatter (Descendants)

The March Hare (Edited)

I had to resist the urge to cartwheel down the wall way as I headed for my next class. Strangely enough, I had all of them with the other VKs, which probably meant something, but I was choosing to ignore it.

In my hurry to get to places unknown, I walked directly into Ben Beast-Charming-Florian whatever his last name was. Audrey stood next to him, looking as beautiful as ever, attempting to keep his attention for something she was saying.

"Hello, friends, enemies, and those who are still under review," I said pleasantly. "How are we this fine, fine morning?"

"Uh, very good, thank you," Ben said, ever the royal. "I wanted to ask you how you've been settling in."

"Oh, you know, it's fine, I'm working on it, I almost set my room on fire, things happen," I said dismissively. "Any idea how to get here?" I held up my schedule and gestured towards Remedial Goodness.

Audrey took charge for that one, a bright, sunny smile adorning her face as she gave me precise directions and all but shooed me away. I couldn't blame her.

I took my seat behind Mal and Evie, who were quietly having a disagreement over the Fairy Godmother's wand. Apparently, a few days before, they had attempted to steal it from the museum it was in, but were thwarted by a magical barrier. Sounded like a skill issue to me, but then again, I didn't have the threat of losing my parent's love hanging over my head like a sword of Damocles.

"How are we feeling today, girls?" I asked.

"Oh, wonderful," Evie gushed, in a good mood for some reason.

"Evie's found herself a prince," Mal explained, looking disgruntled. "Carlos has seemingly gotten over his fear of dogs, Jay joined the tourney team, and I am no closer to getting that stupid wand."

"I missed a lot," I said, mystified. I supposed that was what I got for spending my days gallivanting around the school campus until I was forcibly brought to class and my nights tap-dancing on the roof and playing solitaire. "Do you have any ideas? For how to get the wand, I mean."

"The wand will be used at Ben's coronation in a few weeks, so we're just waiting it out for now," Mal explained. "There really isn't much we can do except try to fit in."

"I guess," I replied, somewhat unimpressed. "Who's the prince?"

"Chad Charming," Evie said dreamily. So that was the guy who had the surname Charming. He sounded like a jerk.

Mal leaned over and whispered conspiratorially in my ear, "She's doing his homework for him. He's just using her."

"And you're not doing anything about this?" I whispered back.

"It's not my job to sort out her love life. My job is to get that wand and make my mom proud of me."

"If you say so." In any case, the VKs weren't going to get my help. I had nothing to do with their nonsense, but I would happily take credit for it, given the opportunity. It was truly a shame that I hadn't put the idea in their heads, even though it was so crazy it totally could've been my handiwork.

It was about that time that the Fairy Godmother metaphorically took the stage at the front of the room and class started.

"Hey, Mal, wake me up when class is over," I whispered.

"Fine."

"Thank you, you're a nightmare and your enemies will tremble at the merest mention of your name." I put my head on the desk and fell asleep.

"I just took the best nap in Remedial Goodness and I'm going to take another one in Chemistry," I told my hat, leaning up against a tree in the courtyard. I'd taken to not really associating with the other VKs outside of class, although Carlos frequently invited me over to the boys' room to play cards.

He'd introduced me to his new dog, Dude (who was actually the school's dog), last night, with no shortage of excitement. The dog was kind of scraggly, the perfect dog for him.

Imaginary spiders began running up my spine and I jumped to my feet, putting my hat back on my head. I was in dire need of a wander, and what better way to get one in than skipping through the woods?

All was going well on my skipping adventure until I tripped over a large tree root and fell face-first into a hole in the ground.

"Ow," I said, and got a mouthful of dirt.

I sat up and touched my face, wiping off as much dirt as I could. I'd given myself a bloody nose, but there were more important things to worry about. My biggest priority, currently, was the fact that this hole had a tunnel in it. Tunnels were excellent aids during a wander.

I decided to continue on down this tunnel. I would definitely miss the rest of the school day, but that thought was shoved away as the tunnel got darker and seemed to stretch on forever.

After what seemed like a million and one years, the light returned. I'd walked into several walls when there had been sudden turns, and was becoming increasingly short-tempered.

The light filled the tunnel and I began to run towards the source.

It was- wait for it- another hole.

This one, however, seemed extremely easy to get out of. So, with no small effort on my part, I crawled out of the hole, further dirtying my clothes. As I looked around my new location, I could hardly believe my eyes.

I was back on the Isle.