*on my 4th Monster energy drink* Hey here's a thing!

Mal took a long sip of the soda can I had brought to the empty classroom Ben and I had been in before, mulling over the explanation I had given her at a fast pace and seeming to take it better than I was. It was dead of night now, students either asleep or hammered from the night's latest parties and the school was empty. Front doors were locked, but Mal surprised me when she said she'd be inside the building already, anyway. "The gang I like to explore new places." She had insisted over the phone, though it did cause a little bit of suspicion from me but who was I to judge? I almost destroyed a library beyond recognition.

Fast forward a bit, and we had both decided on the classroom where my powers felt the strongest. She and I both settled into a few chairs still left in the room and she let me explain it over. It sounded so much crazier than I had anticipated, but if she thought I was a lunatic it didn't seem to show. Instead, she nodded whenever I had paused for her reaction and hummed in thought with each concern.

"A tingling through your body, kinda like you felt buzzed out of your mind?"

I could only shrug in response. "Something like that. It's like it took full control over me,"

"Well, magic does run in your family, after all. And repressing magic is like holding in a sneeze. Both aren't good for you." She crushed the can in her hands and launched it across the room, landing a perfect shot into the trash can.

"But weren't you-"

"Yeah, yeah, 'the Isle of the Lost had the whole magical barrier thing, so what the hell would you know', I get it. But between you and me, it's been the same sort of feeling for me, too."

That gave me cause for concern, but I tried not to let it show. I was opening up to her for once, and she was doing the same. It was common courtesy for me to at least hear her out. "Really?"

"Of course," she lifted her fingers in the air and immediately, a tiny green flicker of fire appeared. It gave a faint green glow around the room, not bright enough to act as the main source of light but just enough to illuminate features of her face. Her eyes danced with each motion of the flames, with a faint smile growing on her lips when she noticed I was watching the flames now too. And I couldn't help but smile too because damn her smile was infectious. All without taking smiling seminar classes at her school, she's already mastered a sort of charm it took even Audrey a hell of a long time to obtain. It didn't help that her hair, an elegantly royal purple, curly and running down her shoulders, complimented the emerald flames well.

"Magic's a part of your personality, almost. It's like...denying it is like denying yourself air or water or any essential thing. That's why I couldn't part ways with my spellbook. Even on the Isle, where it's useless, I just couldn't part with it. It has a history with my family. So to ignore that part of you, it's like it's always missing...you know? Maybe I'm just...what do you guys call it? Venting? Expressing your feelings?"

She was breathtaking. And I didn't even get to truly appreciate how her eyes soon matched the color of the fire before she came to her senses and snapped out of it. "But, without the right control, it's a dangerous feeling. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that's what you felt all throughout today. With the library thing?"

"That's what I think," I was glad the room went back to being a little darker, save for our flashlights in the room. My cheeks were warm, so no doubt I'd be beaming like a tomato in the right lighting. "The library incident is the first I've ever really acted out on those instincts."

"And that's why it went downhill," Mal confirmed, grabbing another soda and taking a long sip. "Goddamn, these are good! On the isle, we were lucky if we didn't have Sebastian's relatives floating around in our water, let alone a nice cherry soda."

I let out something like a chuckle, but I was more than anxious to hear her thoughts. "W-Why'd it go downhill?"

"Because you don't use your magic a lot, as I said," Mal repeated herself, eyeing me up and down before adding, "And because you're not fit enough for magic."

Now it was my turn to give her a glare, not a fan of whatever that implied. "Pardon?"

"Magic is a physical activity," Mal said, a hint of a smile on her face at my misunderstanding. Moving up to her feet, she walked towards the middle of the room, a good distance away from where I was sitting, before pulling out her book of spells. "Kinda like those dicks out on the field, you have to keep practicing this sort of thing. If what you've told me is true, and you have some sort of pull towards more intense magic, then you're gonna feel exhausted every time it happens because you don't use it enough. And it's gonna be hard to resist each time you feel the pull to use it again."

"I can resist it! I've done it in the past..."

"...yeah, you sound certain of that." The flicker of the green flames returned in her one hand as she seemed to have found the spell she was looking for, glancing back up at me. "Your mom was the Enchantress. She cursed Beast's entire fucking castle, right?" I didn't respond. It was more of an affirmation than a question, anyway. "That's huge. Really, really huge. That sort of magic is passed down through the family, so it only makes sense you'd have that same ability."

I leaned back into my chair, surprisingly not comforted by any of this information. "What's with the spellbook?"

"I'm trying to prove a point in a way we won't get caught...here. This might do something," Mal motioned for me to come closer, and begrudgingly I obeyed and stood beside her to look at the book. So many notes were on the page regarding each spell, the pages covered in purple calligraphy that spelled out how the user could bring the kingdom to its knees with a flick of the wrist. It was no doubt Maleficent's book passed down to her daughter.

I was almost envious. My relationship with my mother may be less toxic, but my mother actively tried to avoid teaching me magic spells. To learn Maleficent's trade..

"Read this spell for me." Mal broke me out of my train of thought, as I got distracted silently reading along to the notes on the top of the page.

"..Huh?"

"Read the spell. I wanna see what I'm working with if I'm to teach you magic."

The thought was enough to startle me back away from her and against the wall. "You're not teaching me anything! I-I can't! I'm gonna hurt someone this time, I don't want to hurt you!"

We both froze when the hallway lights just outside the room flickered on, footsteps beginning to echo loud enough for us to hear. "Security!" Mal and I whispered at the same time before trying to find somewhere to hide, but not before Mal threw the spellbook at me and settled for the utility closet.

I almost let out a yelp of surprise but caught myself last minute by slapping a hand over my mouth and diving under one of the desks stacked up against the wall, pulling the chairs we had just been sitting in to try and conceal myself behind them. I could almost hear Mal facepalm at my decision for a hiding place, to which I replied with a grunt of concern or confusion or fright or one that said 'HEY I DON'T SNEAK AROUND OFTEN LEAVE ME ALONE' or something.

I could see the security guard's shoes as he entered further into the room, and he turned on the classroom light and took notice of the cans of soda left around on the floor or by the trash can, thanks to yours truly who thought she could land a shot as easily as Mal had. It was moments like that which confirmed I lacked physical strength in magic and in sports, like the phenomenal student I am.

I snuck a quick glance down at the spellbook in my hands but immediately did a double-take. A sleeping spell. A sleeping spell. Did Mal know this would happen? Is having psychic abilities a VK thing or a Maleficent thing?

Did it matter?

Even if I couldn't hear her through the closet, I knew Mal was urging me to hurry up and try something already. And I knew I owed it to her to get us out of the situation because I was the one who dragged her out there in the first place.

So I slowly sat up under the table, stopping when I felt my head gently hit against the top of it, and trying to keep my voice down, I began:

'Darkness of night is now at hand

For you to sleep is my command'

The tingling feeling overwhelmed my senses once more, an electric pulse extending from my fingertips all the way up my arms to my shoulders, my chest, my stomach, my heart, everywhere. It was such a simple spell, but it was enough for me to feel as though I was commanding a house to fall on someone. It was enough for me to feel excitement with a twinge of discomfort because I should not be putting this much effort into a minor sleeping spell.

It would have been a truly badass moment until I absolutely let out a startled yell when the security guard collapsed with a loud 'thud' onto the ground, and if it weren't for the fact the man snored like a scary monster, I would have thought I killed him.

Before I could even register that, Mal pushed open the closet door with a grin on her face.

"Oh my god, maybe you're a little more controlled than I thought!" She laughed, and when she noticed my startled expression continue to grow, she waved a hand dismissively. "Relax, Sparkles. He'll be up as soon as the first rays of sun hit. Says so right in the book."

It took one quick glance at the page to confirm it as true, and relieved, I finally climbed out from under the table and held the book out for her. "How did you-"

"I was gonna have you use it on me. The cure for the spell was on the next page, anyway. You would've figured it out eventually."

"How can you be so sure?"

Mal crossed her arms, glancing down at the security guard while seemingly still impressed. "You risked expulsion trying to help me out in the library. So, of course, you'd try to break the spell."

It was my turn to shrug and give a dismissive wave. "Anyone here would've."

"You're not like everyone else here. You're..." Mal looked back up at me this time, her expression unreadable but that might only be because the only focus I had was how pretty she looked in the moonlight and my heartbeat was ringing loudly in my ears. But, and maybe it was that moonlight I kept getting distracted by, there was a touch of softness in her eyes. "Kind. At least, the 'kind' they try to preach about around here."

She took the spellbook from my hands, but neither one of us made any sudden movements to leave the room even though we should have and just looked at one another, that sweet smile still on her face and I was sure I had one of my own. I should have run away from her, screamed at her that she was a terrible influence and I would never talk to her again for what she made me do. But she didn't make me do anything at all. Sure, she opened the spellbook for me, but she didn't force me to speak the words. That was me. That was my decision.

So I didn't want to. I wanted to thank her. I wanted to tell her how I always thought of myself more like her people, like those who weren't sure where they aligned themselves. I wasn't a bad guy, but to sacrifice all parts of myself to feel good felt wrong too. I knew better than anywhere where her head was, and where Evie, Carlos, and Jay were no doubt struggling. I was on their side. I was on hers.

I wanted to be with her, regardless of what that really meant.

But I was so horrible at words that I couldn't express it, so I forced myself to be the one to look away first to adjust my glasses. "You're kind too. At least more than you think..." Those words seemed to snap her out of the same trance I was in, as she put her spellbook away in her bag and swung her arms back and forth in an attempt to break whatever feeling we created in the room.

"That's uh...sweet, Sparkles. You're wrong, but it's still sweet." Mal said, motioning towards the door. "Let's just get out of here, though." I began to follow her to the door before she put an arm out so I'd run into it and stop.

"I can still teach you if you want." She said softly, uncertain. No doubt she had thought I would be horrified by her and run, just as I knew I should have done. "I can help you feel better about this, about the magic. You won't have to feel like you're repressing so much."

With a boldness I still wasn't used to, I nodded. "Please."

Turning to face me fully, she stuck her gloved hand out in front of me. "It's a deal, Pupil Sparkles."

It was so hard to keep from blushing around this girl, but I still managed to grab hold of her hand and shake firmly. "Deal." But nothing could have prepared me for her to take a step closer, her face just inches from mine. Her eyes once again had that green glow to them, and I knew I should've been terrified and averted my glare but something about her enthusiasm kept me in place. A part of me wanted to ask if I-

"Welcome to the VKs." She whispered, her tone dipping low and dangerous like I had passed an initiation. I could feel her warm breath on my face and I wondered for a split second if she was about to answer the question I couldn't bear to ask, but in a flash, she released my hand and hurried out of the room, escaping through the window we had propped open (and no doubt what the guard had seen that caused him to investigate, I later realized).

I released a shaky breath once she had disappeared, coming down from the highs of everything that just happened and looking down at my hand as a dawning horror soon crept up on me over what I had just done.

Was there turning back?

If there was, did I even want to?

Sorry again for being gone so long. Fay's been giving me hell to keep going, though, and since I'm gonna be home a lot I might as well.

I know it's hard, but we're here together, okay? Take a deep breath, kids. We're gonna get through this, I promise. See you later

-Ginger