darkness rising ( complete )

Best. Sleepover. Ever.

This chapter is pretty long, and this is the part of the book where the chapters get longer. There's a lot of things going on in this chapter, so bear with me here.

Mal flipped through the pages in her book. There was absolutely nothing on Raven. Mal was 100% sure that Raven was the queen in her dreams. And besides the picture, there was basically nothing. In agony, she flung the book over her shoulder and covered her face in her pillow.

"Why is there nothing on Raven in the book?" she moaned.

"Whose parents would be evil enough to name their kid Raven?" asked Jay. He and Carlos tended to walk into Mal and Evie's dorms whenever they please. Mal was lying on her bed, while Evie was getting ready for the sleepover that night.

"Someone pretty crazy," said Carlos.

"You're telling me," said Evie dropping Mal's bag at the foot of her bed. "At least it's not Crow."

"Queen Crow of the ravens," said Jay. "Catchy title." He and Carlos chuckled.

"Oh, yeah, ha ha," said Mal. "Raven's a real threat, as much as I want to taunt her name, you need to stop."

"What harm could a bunch of ravens do to us?" asked Carlos.

"She commands the wolves Carlos," said Evie.

"We're dead," Carlos squeaked.

"Oh, chill out," said Jay. "How can we be so certain she's even a real threat? Nobody's seen her and there's nothing about her in any of the history books."

"Which means nobody can know about her," said Evie looking through the bathroom cupboards. "Which makes her more dangerous." She pulled out her and Mal's toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste. "Will Audrey have toothpaste?"

"Who cares about hygiene when lives are on the line?!" Mal yelled.

"So that's a no," said Evie flatly, tossing the tube into a small bag.

"What if she attacks?" Mal asked. "We'll all be dead and nobody will care about brushing teeth!"

"And if she doesn't," said Evie. "We will have a clean mouth."

"You guys are weird," said Jay, heading for the door, Carlos at his heels. "See ya!"

"Bye!" said Carlos, closing the door behind them.

"They don't get us," said Mal.

"Nope," said Evie.

The two girls looked at each other and smiled.

***

One thing Lonnie enjoyed about being back at Auradon Prep was the extra time she had to herself in the amphitheater to beat up punching bags. She was captain of the swords and shields team, and she was up against eight guys. Including Jay, who was the best one on the team. As she hit the bag with the sword again, she focused all her anger into hitting it, stepped back and bumped into something.

"Crap," she muttered.

"You OK?" asked a familiar voice.

"Yeah," said Lonnie. "Thanks for breaking my fall Jay."

"No prob," Jay responded picking up her sword. The two didn't look at each other until just then. They were nose to nose. Jay handed her the sword and she took it.

"Thanks," she said under her breath.

Their hands touched. Jay opened his mouth to say something, but Lonnie put her finger to it. "Before you say anything-"