Finally Heroes

Chapter Six

          "Hey, guys."

I drifted my eyes up, the tiniest hint of a smile forming on my face as I spotted Mal and Celia emerging from around the corner. The former held a blue stone in her hand, the ends of her hair now suddenly matching. Or maybe it was just something I never noticed before? Mal had a habit of making little changes to her color schemes all the time.

"Still no bikes?" Celia sighed, crossing her arms.

"We lost them at some point," Jay informed them. "They rounded a corner and then just... poof." Mal's jaw dropped a little, as though shocked at how we managed to lose them (given the circumstances), but ultimately, she managed to bring herself back from her moment.

"Okay, that's fine, it's fine." She sounded as though she were trying to reassure herself more than the rest of us. "We can figure something out. Let's just... get to the gate and open the barrier. We can go from there."

Subconsciously, Carlos reached out for my hand, squeezing it a little as we approached the barrier. I managed to look over at him for a moment and flash him a small smile, as though that would just make the previous outburst I had go away. Hopefully, Mal really had another way to get back to Auradon because otherwise, we'd be trapped here for a while. Even if Harry and Gil emerged again and came to taunt us, they weren't just going to give those things back to us, and as strong as we all were, even our higher numbers wouldn't be enough to take them down.

"All right. Get in, get out. Jay, you're good?"

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"Okay. Hold on."

Mal stuck her arms out in front of all of us, stopping us from moving any further. Jay reached into his pocket and removed the remote that looked more like it would be used to open a garage than a giant, magical barrier. Then again, the mere existence of magic and barrier was likely strange to someone who came from outside of Auradon and the Isle. Apparently, this and some other place in Scotland were the only real places where magic existed.

Imagine that.

The small hole formed in the barrier the moment Jay pushed the button, and with only a quick glance behind us to make sure there wasn't anyone trying to sneak through with us, we all rushed to the other side. The moment we stepped onto the stone bridge, a surge of blue overtook Mal, and the blue I'd noticed before became brighter and more noticeable. I had to admit, the blue and purple looked really good on her.

"Whoa. You got a little Hades thing going on," I marveled, reaching out and batting some of her blue hair.

"Wow," Evie sighed, almost as though she were in a dream.

"That thing packs a punch, huh?"

Suddenly, there was the sound of two bodies thudding behind us, and when we whipped around, Harry and Gil shot up. They stared at the barrier for a moment, just as it closed, then turned to each other with wide, goofy smiles.

"We made it, bro," Gil exclaimed, clearly ecstatic.

"We made it."

They embraced for a moment, then turned around, as though just noticing we were here. Their eyes widened slightly as all of us stared at them with varying degrees of annoyance or anger.

"Hey, guys. We're just coming for a wee visit."

They tried to get closer to us, but Jay and Carlos pushed the pair back, seeming to try to keep them away from me in particular. Unfortunately, Harry and Gil weren't the kind to back down that easily, and within only a few moments, Mal and Evie were helping to try and push them back. In the process, someone knocked Mal's hand, and the Ember went tumbling onto the bridge. In a flash, Harry flicked his hook, and the Ember shot into the air one last time before plummeting into the water. My jaw dropped as all of us rushed to the edge of the bridge, trying to get a glimpse at where the Ember was going. Just before it splashed into the depths, a green tentacle shot up and wrapped around the small object. My eyes widened even further as the threatening figure of Uma emerged from the water, cackling and smirking at all of us.