Dating the Enemy

Chapter 8- The Isle of the Lost

Mal burst into my room. She had tears in her eyes, and was wearing the same outfit she wore when I met her. Mal looked surprised, like she expected me not to be there.

"Hey." She wiped the tears from her face. "Do you have any flying dust left?"

"For the purpose of?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"(Y/n), come on," Mal pleaded. "I just want to get out of here."

"There's no way you're going to the Isle by yourself," I said. "I'm going with you."

"(Y/n), you have no idea how the Isle works," Mal argued.

"Then show me," I replied.

Mal sighed in defeat. She knew that the only way to get the dust was for me to go with her.

We headed out right after I changed. I grabbed the dagger Dad was infamous for, just in case. My shadow became alive and independent.

Mal and I walked to the edge of Auradon. I looked out at the Isle in amazement. We took the dust from the pouch I had and sprinkled it over ourselves. My flying wouldn't work on the Isle.

Mal cast a spell to let us in when we got close. My flying still worked as I flew through the barrier and continued across the Isle. Mal, on the other hand, landed on the ground with a thud.

"Home, sour home," Mal said as we walked into an alley.

"Lead the way," I said.

She led me to a gated stairway. Mal gave me a rock to throw at the sign. The gate lifted, making me smile. Neat invention. We walked up the stairs just as the gate closed behind me.

"So nobody knows about this place except the four of you?" I asked curiously.

"Yep. And now you," Mal added.

"Cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a sword in my eye," I joked.

Mal laughed as she picked up a spray can. I sat on the lump couch, listening to her paint. She stopped after a while. I noticed it was getting darker.

"Come on. I'm getting my color back," Mal said.

"Where exactly?" I questioned as we made it onto the street.

"Curl Up and Dye," Mal explained.

"Rude," I scoffed as I followed behind her.

I soon realized what she meant as we approached the hair salon. "Oh. Not literally."

"No." Mal shook her head, holding the door out for me to follow.

I saw a girl, a few years younger than we were, sweeping up hair from the floor. It took her a few minutes to finally notice us.

Dizzy took off her headphones and smiled. "Mal!" she exclaimed. She ran over and hugged Mal next to me, and then turned to me. "Is Evie back, too? And who are you?" she asked cheerfully.

"(Y/n) Pan," I introduced myself. I shook her hand before she turned back to Mal.

"And as if," Mal mumbled. "I, um, forgot you guys didn't open until midnight. Place looks good. So, what is your deal? Has your grandmother given you any customers yet?"

"Eh. Just a witch here and there. Mostly, it's a lot of scrubbing and scouring and sweeping. Lots and lots of sweeping."

"Sounds like the old Cinderella treatment, hey?" I joked, pacing around the shop.

"Yeah. She's gone from wicked stepmother to wicked grandmother."

"That's not really much of a switch," Mal commented. "Hey, Dizzy? You used to do Evie, right?"

"Yeah. I thought of the little braids." The girl grinned.

"Do you have any ideas for us?" Mal asked.

Dizzy inspected our hair and nails. "The washed-out blonde with purple tips? The best of no worlds. You can't tell where your face ends and your hair begins! Ugh, what is this? Bored to Death Pink?" Dizzy commented.

Dizzy led both of us into chairs. She turned to me and took out my ponytail. "And also, I get that (h/c) is a natural color, but that doesn't mean you can't have style either. The black is cool, but it needs to be refreshed," Dizzy noted.

"Dizzy already likes you," Mal assured me.

"How far can I go?" Dizzy asked.

"The works. For me, whatever makes me feel like me. But, you know. Way worse," Mal explained.

"Just do what you think is best," I said. "Make me look... cool."

"Yay!" Dizzy held up some large garden shears, making me panic on the inside. But I knew she did Mal and Evie a lot, so I should trust her.

Mal rolled her eyes and Dizzy started on her hair. While the hair was in soda can curlers, which were really inventive, she painted Mal's nails black. When she was done, Mal had purplish-pink hair with bangs and perfectly done nails.

She turned to me. She died a streak of my (h/c) hair red, like the feather in my father's hat. She painted my nails black and made my ring fingers a green-to-black ombre. She took some eyeshadow and made black disappear from the corner of my eyes to the other.

"Hey. There I am," Mal said.

"And hello new me," I said, smiling at my reflection.

"Voila!" Dizzy said cheerfully.

"Voila," Mal and I said in unison.

Mal and I both handed her money. "For me?"

"Yeah. You've earned it," Mal assured her.

Dizzy skipped cheerfully over to the register, but was stopped by another person.

"Fork it over, young runt."

I turned around and saw a boy around our age, maybe even older, in red, black, and white. I narrowed my eyes and saw that he had the slightest bit of eyeliner on. He tapped the register with a hook. "And the rest of it."

"Who is that?" I whispered to Mal.

"Harry Hook," she whispered back.

My shadow smiled mischievously as I hid behind Mal. I waved my hand over my neck, telling it no. It ignored me and slumped its way over to Hook. I turned around and looked over Mal's shoulder. My shadow had hidden behind Harry and started messing with him, making him drop his hook and tilting his hat into his face. Mal glanced at me sideways before turning back to Harry.

"And who might this be?" Harry asked, noticing me.

I whimpered slightly, collecting myself before coming out. He stood a little too close to me for my taste. I grabbed my shadow by the wrist and hid it behind me. I felt the handle of the blade Dad had given to me when I got my shadow.

"Would you like to know?" I asked. He took his left arm and made the hook run through my hair.

"I could hurt you... Both of you..." he trailed off. I grabbed his wrist, inspecting the hook. It was his father's, handed down to him.

Mal came up behind me and stuck the gum on the tip. "Not without her permission, I bet," Mal taunted.

Harry stared us down and left, swiping his hook at the counter and eating the gum off of his hook. I cringed at the unsanitariness and at the mess he made of everything on the counter.

"Great. More sweeping."