Crossing the Water

Chapter 19

[Celia and Uma sat at the kitchen table, eating more of Jane's cake as Mal walked over to her former nemesis.]

"That was a really good idea, to check Audrey's room," Mal told her as Uma looked over at her. "Now, we know that we're on the right track."

"How hard was that? Admitting you might have been wrong?" Jay chuckled.

"Well when it happens, I'll let you know," Mal shook her head.

"Is there an insult in there that I missed?" Uma asked.

"How could anything Mal just said be considered an insult?" Ava asked.

"Just...I wanted to thank you." Mal told her and the three girls sat in silence, Celia giving Uma an impressed look.

Uma couldn't help but smile at her younger half sister. As they got older, it was harder and harder to be impressed by anything the Isle gave them. Though to be fair, Mal of all people thanking her would be impressive.

"No!" Audrey exclaimed as the screen showed her in an increasingly darkening Fairy Cottage, glaring into the scepter.

Does she have a fan constantly on her or something? Where is that wind coming from? Freddie thought as she glared slightly at Audrey. Her sisters were in that castle.

"You think you're on the right track? We're not going anywhere!"

She looked up from the scepter. "Let's mess them up a little."

"I say we go back to my place and maybe binge-watch some TV?" Chad offered.

Get out of there Chad! Kitty thought nervously as she watched the on screen version of her big brother. She couldn't help but feel bad for Chad in a way—he had sacrificed his freedom for her and her sisters and they hadn't even been able to get out of Audrey's sleeping curse. Now he had no choice but to serve Audrey and he still was trying to find a way to keep the others safe.

"Huh? Or maybe order some stuff online? Yeah? Yeah."

"I do have to admit, ordering stuff online is fun," Ally nodded. "Sometimes I'll put on a blindfold and order something without seeing what it is. Makes it more mysterious."

"I do that too. It's called getting drunk," Lucas chuckled. "Though sometimes I'll wake up the next day with my underwear in the freezer."

"That's because drunk you likes to pull pranks on hungover you," Chip told him.

"...that makes so much more sense."

Audrey reached out her hand and forced Chad to his knees.

Mal paused and leaned forward a bit. Was the scepter giving Audrey magical abilities? How was that even possible?

"What about pizza, huh?" Chad suggested but Audrey only continued to force him down, this time making the prince sit down on the stone floor.

"Don't even think about it Audrey," Kitty muttered under her breath, seeing the open closet door behind Chad.

"Yeah, you don't like pizza. Salad? Sa...!"

Chad screamed as Audrey forced him into the nearby broom closet and shut the door, moving the scepter a tad to cause the door to become locked with a board holding the door shut.