Reckless Paradise [a descendants story]

Chapter Twenty-Two | Hopelessness

On her way to Mark's apartment one evening, Quinn popped into the grocery store across from the train station. Normally she tried to shop at the Underground, both to support the local businesses and to avoid all the stares, but it was out of her way.

She turned her head away from the cashiers as she walked by, hoping they would not recognize her. As she walked down the aisle, she saw a familiar figure – Fairy Godmother. Quinn tried to turn quickly, but she had been seen.

"Hello, Miss Little," she said, kindly but not exactly warmly.

"Fairy Godmother!" Quinn turned to her, pasting on a smile. "How are you?"

"I am quite well, thank you. How are you?"

"I'm..." Dealing with hatred and mistrust from everyone? Being smeared almost daily on the news? "I'm alright."

"I hope your father is well."

"He is."

"And how his he. dealing with everything?" she asked.

Quinn searched for the meaning behind her words. "He is," she said cautiously. "very supportive of me, something I seem to be missing from most people these days." She noticed some movement at one of the cash registers and saw a cashier rush off to the back room.

"Well, can you really blame them, Quinn?" Her eyes were sympathetic, but not sympathetic for her.

"It has certainly been very eye-opening, seeing the other side of Auradon, the side you all fight so hard to hide," Quinn said quietly.

Fairy Godmother's mouth opened, but before she could say anything, a middle-aged man in a store uniform rushed over to them. The cashier who had run to the back room was a few steps behind him, eyes wide.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store," he said in a voice trying for authority but failing to hide his fear. "We don't serve villains here."

Quinn sighed and turned to Fairy Godmother. "You know," she said. "you're lucky you're wrong about villain kids always ultimately becoming their parents because then you'd all be dead by now."

"Did you threaten Fairy Godmother?" Mark asked when Quinn stepped inside his apartment half an hour later.

"What?"

Mark pointed at the TV, showing a shaken-looking Fairy Godmother being interviewed by Snow White right outside of the grocery store. The sound was muted but she could guess how this would be spun against her.

"I didn't actually threaten her," Quinn huffed, sinking into the couch.

"Didn't actu– What did you say?"

"I said that she was lucky she was wrong about villain kids becoming like their parents because otherwise." Quinn hesitated. "All of you would be dead."

"What?" Mark exclaimed. "Are you kidding me?"

"I know, I shouldn't have said it, it was dumb."

"Yeah, it was." Mark stood up and began pacing. "The whole reason you told everyone you were a VK was to show that VKs weren't guaranteed to become their parents."

"I know," Quinn said.

"This is going to be a nightmare for our image."

"I know." Quinn's voice grew louder.

"Do you have any idea how easily they can use this against you?"

"I know!" Quinn shouted, standing up.

Mark stopped his pacing and looked at her.

Quinn's bottom lip quivered. "I know, okay. I know how bad this looks. The news has been running stories about me for weeks. Yesterday, they got footage of me practising quarterstaff with Dad, implying that I'm violent, even though last year's Sherwood quarterstaff champion was Rowan Tinker! They dug up my school records, showing how many times I got detention and skipped class. They had interviews with all the kids from Auradon Prep about how I was a loner and didn't fit with the way hero kids are supposed to act." Quinn slumped down onto the couch again. "I was angry today because the manager of that store ordered me to leave, saying he doesn't serve villains. And Fairy Godmother was right there, the personification of all the performative goodness in this country."