HOOKED ↝ DESCENDANTS

[3]

Rosalie drove up the familiar driveway of the small castle Evie now called home, stopping the car slowly and putting it in park so as not to disrupt the cake sitting in the passenger seat by slamming on the breaks. She unbuckled her seatbelt, opening the car door and carefully lifting the cake from the seat next to her, her eyes falling on the bright blue frosting that covered the sugary dessert and the pale pink icing adorning the top, reading Happy Bibbidi Bobbidi Birthday Jane! 

With the aftermath of Hades disrupting the transportation of the four new VK students on the Isle of the Lost that afternoon, Rosalie had offered to stop by the bakery in Auradon City to pick up the cake, and take a load off Carlos's shoulders by giving him one less thing to worry about. Since they had arrived back at Evie's, the kids from the Isle had chosen to stay inside, away from the lingering gossip of the people of Auradon until things had begun to calm down, and the people were in a better mood.

Rosalie knocked lightly on the door, balancing the cake against her side as she waited outside in the cool night air, and the door flew open, revealing Evie on the other side, who greeted Rosalie with a bright smile, despite the tense mood of the air that hung inside the small starter castle.

"Rosalie!" Evie exclaimed, stepping aside to let the young princess inside. "Thank you so much for stopping to get the cake. Everyone's in the kitchen if you'd like to come meet them."

Evie led Rosalie through the halls of the small castle and into the kitchen, where Mal, Jay, and Carlos sat with four young kids Rosalie recognized both from the pictures in the applications Evie and Carlos had shown her earlier that week, and from the projector screens in front of Auradon Prep during the Hades debacle. Two identical young boys with long blonde hair wearing matching red beanies and striped blue and white shirts sat scarfing down slices of pizza from a box that sat in the middle of the table. Squeaky and Squirmy, the sons of Mr. Smee. 

She recognized Dizzy Tremaine right away, also from the countless pictures Evie had shown Rosalie of the two of them. Dizzy smiled at Rosalie, her eyes going right away to study Rosalie's dark brown hair, which only reached to about her shoulders, like her mother Rapunzel's after she had finally cut her long golden locks. Rosalie had remembered Evie telling her that Dizzy worked in her grandmother's hair salon, Curl Up and Dye, and was the best person, on both the Isle of the Lost and on Auradon, to come to for hair advice. She sat next to a girl with dyed dark red curls, who watched Rosalie with a devious grin, absentmindedly shuffling a deck of cards as she did so, though what secrets the card held, Rosalie couldn't quite be sure. Celia Facilier. 

"Everyone, this is Rosalie." Evie introduced quickly. "Rosie, this is Squeaky, Squirmy, Dizzy, and Celia. Rosalie's going to help you guys with the transition into Auradon, so you're ready for next school year. Just remember, no stealing from her."

At the introduction, Dizzy gave Rosalie a sweet smile. Squeaky and Squirmy remained silent, watching the young princess shyly before turning to look back at one another and taking another bite from their pizza slices, almost in perfect synchronicity. Celia, however, continued watching Rosalie with a grin, her eyes never once leaving hers while she studied her intently, the cards still being shuffled from one hand to another.

"How about a reading?" Celia asked Rosalie innocently, fanning the cards out in front of her with a simple flick of her wrist, and Rosalie nodded slowly after a moment, taking a step forward towards the young girl.

"Sure," Rosalie said, pulling out a card reading the Six of Cups and handing it back to Celia.

"Interesting," Celia mused, taking the card from Rosalie's outstretched hand and studying it before placing it back into the center of the deck. "According to this," she explained with an amused grin, "someone from your past is about to turn your life upside down."

"Better watch out, Rosie," Jay teased as Rosalie felt her heart drop into her stomach.

"The cards never lie," Celia said confidently, holding her hand out for a tip.

"Oh, right," Rosalie said quickly, scrambling to find her wallet in her purse and pulling out a bill, setting it into the little girl's hand, who took it with an excited smile. "Thank you."

"Alright you four, it's late." Evie said, eyeing the clock on the wall. "You should be getting to bed. You've all got a big day tomorrow."

The four young villain kids grumbled in response, though with a bit of encouraging they all agreed, trailing out of the living room and down the hall to where Rosalie could only assume Evie's guest bedrooms were. Evie followed after them, returning a moment later after she had wished them all goodnight.

It was easy to see how much hard work Evie had put into the VK exchange, and how much the young girl hoped it would all work out. Rosalie had seen firsthand what all the exchange had done for Evie and her friends, and how the four of them had changed since first arriving in Auradon, and if they could help more kids like that by giving them a chance, Rosalie owed it to herself to try.

"Some day today, huh?" Rosalie asked the four VKs, now that the newcomers were all tucked away in bed.

"Some day," Mal muttered in agreement.

"What happened out there?" she asked. "When everyone at Auradon Prep saw H-" Rosalie's voice caught in her throat at the mention of the villain's name. "When Hades almost got through the barrier, it was chaos. Everybody panicked."

"The little bit left of the barrier being open was enough for him to try and get through." Mal explained, her voice cold as she recounted the earlier events of the day. "When I tried to stop him, he countered with his ember, the source of his power. It did something to me, started to drain my magic, but we still managed to get him back behind the barrier so it could close. But if he had gotten through, then all of Auradon would've been in danger."

"Hey," Carlos said in an attempt to cheer up his friends. "Let's not think about that right now. Sure, today could have been bad. But he's back where he belongs, and we got the VKs here where they belong. Tomorrow's Jane's birthday, and I don't want to focus on the what-ifs, and ruin what was supposed to be a really great day for her. So let's put this behind us, even if it's just for one day?"

Evie looked around at the group then, noticing as, one by one, they all slowly nodded in agreement. "Alright," Evie said. "For Jane, one day it is."