Descendants: Seasons & Elements

13. Rubies and Fire

Evie couldn't move. She stared at Queenie, then back at the gigantic, black ruby dragon, which quickly approached her. She vaguely heard someone calling her name. Her head perked up when someone pushed her away. Evie glanced at the place she stood a few seconds ago. The dragon let out a huge, orange flame. Evie's eyes widened. She felt someone's arms wrapped around her waist. She slowly looked up and saw Doug flushing red with a worried expression. Evie frowned at him. "What's happening?" she whispered.

Doug shook his head. "I have no idea."

Jay rushed over to them with Chad on his heels. He offered Evie a hand. She took it and Jay pulled her to her feet. Doug crawled back up. Jay crossed his arms. "Evie, what happened?"

Evie frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked quietly. She looked at the boys' worried expressions.

"What were you doing? You could've been burned, " Jay pointed out.

Evie broke the eye contact. "I... I don't know. It was like--"

Chad frantically looked behind. "Okay, very interesting, but we still have a gigantic dragon behind us!" he reminded. He tried to be not too loud, although Chad almost had an overdramatic panic attack. The others turned around. Their eyes widened when the dragon's glowing glare fell on them.

They heard a chuckle. "Have fun with your new toys, Gehénnam!" Queenie sneered. The last thing the four heard before she disappeared in black smoke was a cackling, wicked laugh.

Maybe Evie didn't gain very much knowledge through the years, but she did know from one of her mother's books that 'gehénnam' meant 'hellfire', and there was a reason why the Dragon carried that name. And honestly, Evie didn't want to know that reason at all. She broke from her thoughts when Gehénnam opened her huge dragon mouth. "Run!" Evie warned. She pushed her friends away and ran behind them.

Meanwhile, they heard an angry growl. The dragon missed again. It turned to the teens again. Doug looked around. He better didn't. A second later, he fell over a rock. He moaned painfully. He slowly looked around at the sneaky dragon, which quickly approached him. Gehénnam opened her mouth to fire. Doug paled. He stood up, but he couldn't run. He sprained his ankle. He frowned before he was pushed a few meters back by a flash of blue. Jay and Chad, who stopped running, took his arms to help him up. Doug didn't move from his sitting position. He stared at Evie, who stumbled when she pushed him away. Chad and Jay followed his gaze. They gasped. Evie put her arm in front of her face protectively. "NO!" Doug screamed. He felt his eyes burn. Fresh, wet tears.

Evie waited for the fire to come. She heard a cracking, crisping sound instead. She opened her eyes and blinked. When she removed her arm, she saw flames. But not the regular, burning ones, no. These were frozen. Ice. Her mouth fell open. Behind the fire, she saw the dragon, surrounded by pure ice. A small, impressed smile crossed her lips. Chad and Jay helped Doug to stand up. They carried him to Evie. The three boys looked up at the frozen flame. Jay and Chad put Doug down next to Evie. He looked at her. She smiled tiny at him. Doug shook his head. "Why?"

Evie shrugged a little. "Why not? You were in danger, " she whispered weakly.

Doug frowned. "I was, but you brought yourself in danger. You were almost..." His voice trailed off.

Evie nodded. She watched a tear rolling down Doug's cheek. She sighed. "I know." She smirked. "But it was worth it."

Doug stared at her. He shook his head. Me? Worth it?

Jay coughed. "Sorry we have to ruin the moment, you guys, but we'd better move on, " Chad said when he gave Doug a pat on his shoulder. Doug wiped his tears away before he looked up at Chad's offered hand. He took it and pulled himself up, slow and painful as it was. He leaned his arm around Chad's neck for balance.

Evie frowned before crawling to her feet. "What's wrong?" she asked Doug. She noticed Jay, who stood behind her. He withdrew his offered hand to help her up. She shrugged. He chuckled.

Doug shook his head. "Nothing, just my ankle. It burns a bit, " he waved her concern away.

Chad put his hand up. "Not. A single word. About burning, " he whispered dramatically. The others laughed.

Evie clapped. "Okay, guys, let's move on." And with those words, she put Doug's other arm around her neck and her arm around his waist, just like Chad did. Doug looked at her. She smiled. He flushed red. Jay put his arm around Evie's neck. She put her other arm around his waist. And so the four disappeared into the woods like one.

But what they didn't know was that the ice cracked once, and a few seconds after that, Gehénnam opened one of her blood-red eyes...