Descendants: To Kill A Dragon

Chapter Twenty-Five

"All together now, on the count of three!" Evie announced, before counting up for the assembled Fae army in front of her. They'd figured out the right magic to use in terraforming the Isle, and today was something of the first test.

When she called 'three!' a burst of magic rushed over every inch of the island. Grass sprung up underfoot, and wildflowers bloomed out of season as the magic took hold over the dead soil of the island, transforming into a lush paradise. Ivy crept across the walls of every building, somewhat insulating the shoddy construction with leaves and vines. The dark and forboding trees in the forest started growing taller, and greener, dark and curling leaves replaced with bright green foliage. Every struggling garden outside Dragon Hall grew three times in the space of seconds, and the greenhouse workers were rushing to and fro to gather all the new produce that had suddenly appeared on heavily laden plants and vines.

Evie looked around when the magic had dissipated, and she smiled brightly at the grass beneath her feet. "It worked." She whispered. "It worked!"

"Did you expect any less, my lady?" Flitter, the head of the terraforming group commented, glancing at his fingers with disinterest. Most of the Fae army accepted their Queen's chosen consort with grace and respect. Witches had always been close allies with the Faeries in the past, so it wasn't uncommon for some to intermarry. The children tended to have a blend of Fae and Witch magics, which were very different, but 'played together' well, so you speak, especially in earth-related magics and the like.

"Well, Mal believed you could do it, and I trusted her judgement." Evie explained. "Still, believing it and seeing it are two different things."

"It was actually a lot easier than I thought!" Another faerie commented. "Less like forcing things to grow on a barren rock, and more like removing the block that prevented things from growing in the first place."

"Wait," Evie interuppted, seething. "Are you saying that they put us here and then took away any chance of growing our own foo!?"

"Oh no," Flitter interrupted. "Madame Fairweather was responsible for Isle magics, yes?"

Evie nodded her agreement. As far as she knew, no one else had tampered with magic here until Mal herself.

"It couldn't have been her." The elemental faerie insisted. "This was dark magic, definitely Unseelie. I'm not sure Fairweather would even be capable of casting a spell like that."

"Oh, I entirely agree!" The second faerie chimed in. "It felt like old, old, magic. Something from eons ago, definitely not a recent working."

"How curious..." Evie mused, biting her lip in concentration. She'd never really thought about it before but... What had the Isle been before they were placed here? Where did it come from? Who lived here before them, if anyone? Originally, they'd all thought that the Isle was just a pile of dirt upon a platform of some kind, after all, it was very conveniently close to Auradon to be a natural island. Carlos had once speculated that it might have just been a rocky outcropping with sand poured over it, but while that theory explained why nothing grew in the town, it didn't explain why the forest existed, magical and mysterious though it was.

Evie dismissed the faeries who'd helped with the terraforming, and frowned in thought as she walked to Hell Hall to meet up with Carlos.

"Frowning causes wrinkles, you know." The young man commented as she entered his home, and Evie immediately snapped out of it, recalling her mother saying those very words so often during her childhood. She realized what Carlos was doing, and scowled at him.

"Carlos! You know that freaks me out."

"It got you to stop frowning though." The boy replied.