Did I Mention?

Bone Deep

Summary: Everything seems to be going smoothly at Auradon Prep for the VKs now that they've decided good is the way to go. Sure, they haven't dropped all their Isle habits (obviously), but overall, life is good. At least, until some of the AKs decide that they've had enough of the VKs roaming their school free-range and try to take matters into their own hands.

The minute Mal stepped into her dorm room, she knew something was off. There was a strange aura to the room she could feel even before she'd fully opened the door. Opening her door carefully, she pulled a knife from her sleeve just in case. This may be Auradon, but she wasn't one to drop old habits and she knew bad things could happen in good places. With the knife in hand, she cautiously stepped into the room, glancing over her shoulder into the empty hall before turning to face whatever was in her room. The second she looked up, she froze.

Iron. Everything was covered in iron. Her desk chair had been replaced with a rusty old iron one, iron jewellery covered her desk, and she could tell the chain metal blanketing her bed and covering her pillow was made of iron just by the strong smell of it.

She couldn't move. Glancing around the room revealed anything that had been hers was now either replaced or covered with rusty iron and she could hardly breathe. The worst part was the tiara Ben had given her on one of their dates was missing and in its place sat an old, rusted crown, hanging from the mirror that had been smashed before being placed upright again.

She went numb. Everything in her screamed for her to run, to get out of there before she accidentally touched something and burned herself, but she couldn't feel her fingers or make her legs move. With a horrible, sinking feeling in her chest, she turned to face the door and was unsurprised to see their beautiful gold door handle had been replaced with a disgusting iron one. The outside handle had remained normal, but the one inside the room had been changed over and somehow during her moment of panic, the heavy door had shut on its own.

"No," she whispered, staring down at the metal and taking a step back. "No, no, no. Let me out!" she screamed, pulling her arms across her body.

The smell of then iron was giving her a headache, burning the front of her mind as she tried not to panic and think of how to get out. She could just stay right there and not move. Someone would find her. Evie may have gone for the weekend to meet Doug's family, but the boys or Ben would notice her missing and come check on her.

Only five minutes later, she realised it was too much. She couldn't stay in the room without feeling the effects and in the few minutes she'd been there, she already had a pounding in her head and what felt like a thousand tiny needles stabbing her brain.

She could try yelling and hope someone heard her or she could try opening the door with magic. It was unlikely the door would open for her, though, as whoever had done this knew she was fae and therefore had probably accounted for magic. She would still try though as she couldn't just sit there hopelessly.

Getting to her spellbook was trickier than she had thought. She had to be careful where she stepped as old iron was scattered across the floor. It wouldn't have been a problem if she'd been wearing her high tops as usual, but today she'd had a date with Ben at lunch and knowing she wouldn't have time to change, she'd worn a dress and sandals to all her classes.

With bare toes, she had to tiptoe around the room to where she kept her spell book. When she finally did make it to the bookshelf, she wanted to cry. Her spell book wasn't there. Whoever had invaded her room had moved it and after a brief scan of the room, she realised it was on her bed under the blanket of chain mail. There was no way she could get to it without burning herself, so she carefully walked back to the door and stood in front of it.