Descendants 2 [H.S. & C.S.]

Chapter 2

Auradon is all blue skies and butterflies, I mean, what could be better? How about dreaming up all the ways to be wicked? What can I say? Some things never change.

Harry and his friends stood around a large steaming cauldron in the dark.

He was wearing his signature tough-as-nails boots, ripped leggings, and leather jacket. His dark purple hair was longer and thicker than ever before. He looked down at his hands, holding his mother's spell book, which he had spray-painted with acid-green and purple flames that caged the glinting gold dragon in the center. He glanced up at his friends. There was something venomous in his smile.

Despite living in Auradon, Harry was still very much Anne's son.

Calum, son of Bradley, grinned at Harry. He wore a distressed blue leather jacket, a graffitied pants, and a necklace with a red gem topped by a gold crown. Calum tossed back his silky blue hair as he stirred the steamy cauldron brew.

Michael, son of Louis, held a bucket of shiny red apples. His biceps bulged out of his sleeveless red-and-yellow leather vest, and his long dark hair flowers from under a beanie. Michael emitted great strength and confidence. A light from the cauldron made his eyes sparkle dangerously, and he gazed across the swirling mist at Justin.

Justin, son of Zayn, also held a bucket of shiny red apples. He was a skinny teen with spiky white hair with black roots, and he wore a red, white and black fur-trimmed jacket. He looked at his three friends and snickered.

Harry smirked, opened the spell book and read aloud: "Wicked ways beneath the skin, let all who taste it now join in!" He and his friends stared at the cauldron.

The brew began to spit, boil, and bubble. The spell had worked. Harry and his friends cackled triumphantly. Michael and Justin dumped the apples into the thickening brew. The four Villain Kids (or VKs for short) circles around the cauldron, howling and refilled the buckets with the spelled apples. They were about the make mischief.

They knew all too well the ways to be wicked. Within minutes, Justin was dumping a bucket of the spelled apples down the floor of the bright Auradon Prep hallway in front of the lockers. Cheerful students in yellow-and-blue tourney jersey, cheerleading uniform, and pastel-colored garments watched the apples roll past. They drove to snatch them. After biting the wicked fruit, they whooped and danced in delight, instantly transformed from well-mannered to maniacal. Harry strutted over the apples, slamming the doors to lockers. The locker doors revealed the tag LONG LIVE EVIL! which Harry had spray painted there. He stopped in front of a shy girl wearing a large white bow in her chestnut hair.

It was Jade, daughter of Becca. She gasped as Harry handed an apple to her. Stock-still, in her blue, white and yellow cheerleader uniform, she stared at it. She chomped down on the apple, and her mouth twisted into a sinister grin. Jade snatched the spray can from Harry and boldly danced out of sight.

The apples had an intoxicating effect as Harry and his friends continued to share them across the sunny campus. They were thinking making everyone—and everything—-a whole lot more fun. Outside, cheerleaders with apples did a routine with Michael before he ran off. In the second hall, Justin slid into a group of guys, who fell over. One student bit into an apple, then screwed his hat on backward and did a flip off the lockers. In one of the classrooms, Calum strolled through rows of students and doled their apples. He strutted to Becca's desk, placed an apple on it, and moved on. Becca, the school's headmistress, bit into the apple. She looked up and saw that chaos has erupted. Calum and the students danced and three loose papers into the air. Becca shimmied and shook out her hair, joining in the madness that has seized her once neat and orderly classroom.

The wicked fever kept on spreading. On the quad, Michael chucked apples off the balcony with glee. Liam, son of Geoff, was playing the trumpet when one of Michael's apples landed in it. More apples dropped into the trumpet of the other band members, as well. As Michael continued to fire the apples rapidly, the band players scrambled to catch them and chomp down.

In the rose garden, students kneeled around the stone fountain and dunked their faces into the clear water. One by one, they emerged, flipping back their wet hair with glistening apples in their mouths. Everyone wanted a bite of true evil and mad mischief. They couldn't get enough. Other students who overlooked the busy lawns jumped up and down, waved their apples, and danced victoriously.

Harry, Calum, Michael and Justin reunited as a fierce squad at the front of Auradon Prep, the castle-like building with proud blue-and-gold banners rustling from the stone battlements. They rallied the dancing students. Among them were Luke and Ariana, who also clutched bitten apples and jived to the sound of wicked rebellion.

Harry marched through a row of hedges and raised into the air the school flag, which was now a dark purple that said "LONG LIVE EVIL!" The horde cheered. Harry loved it. He led everyone farther away from the school, climbed a ladder, and spray-painted the fear-some status that represented King Cole's father in beast form.

Harry recalled something his boyfriend, Cole, had once said about the statue: My father wanted his statue to morph from beast to man to remind us that anything is possible. Anything was possible indeed, Harry could laugh at the irony.

He grinned and tossed the last one of the spelled apples high into the air.

It came down, and King Cole, golden boy and only son of Luke and Ariana, caught it. He flashed Harry an innocent smile, and his eyes sparkled angelically beneath honey-brown hair that swooped down his forehead. Cole hadn't been changed, not yet. He bit into the apple and a devilish grin broke over his face.