𝑨 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴 𝑰𝑺 𝑨 𝑾𝑰𝑺𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑴𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑺

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝟑𝟏

'A watched pot never boils.'

Delphina had never resented a saying more in her life. Every stovetop in the kitchen was on, running at a different heat in order to extract the magical properties of each plant at a certain speed to ensure its potency.

But they all seemed to be doing absolutely nothing.

Delphina groaned softly, trying to simultaneously rub her eyes and not aggravate her persistent headache. At the moment, she was sitting on the center table of the kitchen, legs swinging aimlessly as she stared out of one of the kitchen windows. At this point, her body had been running on a full 24 hours of no sleep, but it was likely even more than that by now. Had she still been on the Isle, she would've been fine. Back then, Delphina could go a terrifyingly long time without sleeping. Her record was just below 72 hours. At that point, Anthony usually hunted her down and dragged her back home, with Uma banning her from the chip shoppe until she got a full day of sleep.

But she wasn't on the Isle anymore. The stability of Auradon had allowed her body's internal clock to regulate and settle. The Delphina that could stay on her feet for nearly three days was sucked away by goose-feather down pillows and comforters with a 600 thread count.

Mal may have used her magic to stave off all the major effects of sleep deprivation, but Delphina could tell that she had forgotten all the little details. It would've been better if Mal had toyed with her memory to wipe the sensation of sleep off her mind completely.

Instead, Delphina's mind was stuck yearning for a relief it used to know.

Her fingers drummed on the table casually as she continued staring out the window. It had just reached four AM, which gave her plenty of time to let the pots finish boiling and get the potion assembled before the school cooks came in to make breakfast. Delphina sighed, ready to lay back on the table and savor in the silence of nighttime when she heard footsteps approaching the kitchen entrance.

Delphina tensed just as the person pushed against the heavily barricaded doors and grunted softly. The kitchen staff shouldn't be in for another two hours. Whoever was trying to get in definitely wasn't supposed to be there.

The stranger tried to push the doors open again, then huffed. "Hello?"

Oh, god.

Panic began to rise like bile in Delphina's throat. No. No, no, no. Why was he here? Why now? It was four A.M! What snack could he have been craving by four A.M that he didn't have in his room? Instinctively, Delphina clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle the way her breathing began to pick up.

On the other side of the door, Ben sighed in what sounded like a mixture of exhaustion and frustration at the silence. "Look, whoever's there, I promise I don't give a damn about you being in here. I just wanna grab a snack." Delphina's thoughts slowly began to crack and fissure.

Let him in! This is your chance! You can apologize!

And let him see what we're doing? Let him find out about the plan? Hell no.

That's a lot of boxes to move.

I'm too tired for this shit.

Delphina squeezed her eyes shut, forcing her thoughts all back into one line as Ben huffed. "Please? Look, I promise I'll be quick. I just...I couldn't sleep, and I was on my phone, but I kept thinking about my friend–"

Delphina's breath hitched.

Is he talking about me?

No. He's talking about Chad. Dumbass.