CHAPTER 5

"My darling," Evie felt someone softly caress her cheek, "Time to wake up now."

Evie opened her eyes and blinked slowly at the colour white above her head. Frowning, Evie blinked to clear her vision and found herself staring up at her own bedroom ceiling. Turning her head, she found her mother, sitting on the edge of her bed with a smile on her face.

"Wha-"

"Shh," Her mother pressed a finger to Evie's lips, "You need to save your strength, my darling."

Evie frowned and pushed herself to a sitting position, ignoring her mother's fussing. Evie pushed her mother's hands away and pulled back her blankets, hoping to get out of bed. Evie let out a startled yelp when the blankets ripped themselves from her grip and tucked themselves tightly under the mattress, effectively trapping her in the bed.

"What th-" Evie pulled sharply at the blankets.

"I told you, darling," Her mother caressed her cheek again, before gripping her chin tightly, hard enough to hurt, "You need to save your strength. It's nearly time."

"Mother, you're hurting me," Evie cried, as her mother forced their eyes to meet.

"Don't be silly, darling," Her mother laughing lightly, as she patted the side of Evie's face, each tap getting harder and harder, "You'll know when I'm hurting you," Her smile dropped from her face as she raked her fingernails down Evie's cheek.

Evie whimpered in pain as blood welled up on her cheek, "Mother," Evie pleaded, with tears in her eyes.

Grimhilde's eyes narrowed as she all but shoved Evie back down on the bed. She swung a leg up and straddled Evie's waist, pressing down on Evie's throat. Evie gasped, her eyes widened and she clawed at her mother's hand trying to pry it off.

"No, no, no darling," Grimhilde clicked her tongue, and leant down so close their noses touched, "It is time."

The queen pulled back her free hand and plunged it straight down into to Evie's chest, right above her heart. Evie let out a choked off scream, as she felt her mother dig her hand deeper and deeper into her chest, pushing past her ribs to reach her heart. Evie could only watch in horror as her mother smiled widely and slowly pulled out her heart from her chest.

Grimhilde let go of her daughter's neck, causing Evie's hands to fall limply to her sides. She held the still beating heart up and licked the side of it. She closed her eyes and moaned at the taste of power.

Grimhilde undid the laces on the front of her dress and pulled the fabric open. She used her index finger to make a cut above her heart. Pulling back the skin, she push Evie's heart into her own chest, the cut healed itself as soon as Grimhilde removed her hand. The queen laughed as she watched the light fade from Evie's eyes.

"I told you, my darling," She smirked, as she ran her bloody hand down Evie's face, "I will have it as my own."

The atmosphere in the back of the limo was tense. Mal crossed her arms and alternated her fierce glare between Uma, Harry and Gil. Uma glared back just as fiercely as she leant back in her chair. Harry and Gil were making sure that Evie was leaning as comfortably as she could between the two of them. Ben sat calmly as he could given he had been kidnapped and survived a sword fight, while Lonnie fidgeted in her seat, slightly nervous being around new villains.

"Do we have any blankets in here Ben?" Lonnie broke the silence, "We need to keep those two warm," She pointed to the still soaked through Harry and Evie.

Ben snapped out of his thoughts at the question, frowning he searched around the limo, trying to remember where the blankets were kept. Sliding off his seat, he reached for a compartment right under where Uma was sitting.

"Uh, excuse me please Uma," He requested, before reaching into her personal space.

Uma raised an eyebrow at him, but pulled her legs up and out of the way.

"Thank you very much," Ben smiled.

The king opened the sliding door and pulled out a number a different coloured blankets. He passed them up to Uma and Lonnie, along with a couple of spare fleecy jumpers and sweat pants he had left in there the last time he had ridden in the limo.

"These should help too," Ben commented, trying to pass the clothes to Gil, "You'll both need to get out your wet clothes."

Gil raised his eyebrows at Ben, and asked in confusion, "You want us to take off Evie's clothes and put warm ones on her?" The blonde looked over to Uma and then to Harry, seeing if he was understanding what Ben was saying, "I know she won't like that much, Evie was never one for an audience. Harry sure, no problem, but Evie no, big no." He pressed the clothes back to Ben, "It's a bit weird you asking us to do that when the limo is full of people. Are you trying to see Evie without her shirt on?"

Ben flushed bright red, as he stuttered out a response, "Wha-? No! No, no!" He shook his head as his face went brighter, "I-i thought that Mal and maybe Lonnie could help get Evie changed. We would have held a blanket up so no one could see anything."

Gil pondered the answer and tapped his chin thoughtfully, "That sounds okay, I guess."

Silence feel over the limo cabin, as Harry stripped off his wet clothes and took the offered clothes from Ben, with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows. Harry laughed as the King blushed again. The pirate pulled on the sweat pants, but he frowned at the image on the front of the jumper.

"What exactly am Ah wearing?" He asked Ben.

"It's a jumper for one of the sporting teams at Auradon," Ben replied.

Harry looked at it in disgust, before pulling it over his head, at least it was warm and dry.

"Uma," Harry whined, "Ah look like an idiot."

"At least you're dry," Uma smirked.

Harry huffed and took the blanket she offered him. Silence fell over the limo cabin again as Mal tried to figure out a way to get Evie warm and dry in front of 5 other people. The awkward silence was only broken by the sudden whimpering coming from Evie.

Mal's head swung around the sound and hissed at Harry, "What are you doing to her?"

Harry leant away from the angry girl, "Ah haven't done nothing to your princess."

"Then why is she crying in pain?" Mal demanded, her eyes glowing bright green as her anger spiked.

Gil frowned down at Evie and noticed red welling up on her cheek. Gently he turned her face to the side and then cringed at the sight of four scratch marks running down her cheek.

"Uh, guys," Gil called out, only to be ignored as Mal threw even more accusations at Harry.

Gil frowned, bit his bottom lip and tried again, "Guys!"

No one listened to him, too caught up in watching Mal hiss at Harry. His eyes widen as a dark shadowy figure perched itself over Evie's lap. He leant back against the door, trying to get away from the shadow.

"Guys!" Gil tried to gain anyone's attention.

"What Gil?!" Mal rounded onto the blonde teen.

Gil didn't reply, he only pointed to the shadowy figure, confused and slight fearful of what he saw. The group gasped in confusion at the shadow and could only watch as it pulled back it's 'arm' and shove it into Evie's chest. Evie gasped in pain and arched up from the seat.

Mal yelled out in a panic and lunged from her seat, trying to get to her friend. Unsheathing her dagger, she tried to slash the shadow. The steel dagger went straight through the shadow, not harming it at all. The shadow twisted it's arm, digging in deeper into Evie's chest. Evie cried out in more pain. Snarling, Mal's eyes glowed bright green and to her surprise, so did her hand. Slashing again, the shadow let out a piercing shriek as it evaporated.

Queen Grimhilde leant back in her throne as her shadow phantom was extinguished, her eyes changing from icy blue back to normal brown. She smiled down at her bloody hand, knowing the dream sharing spell she used had worked, with the help of Maleficent's spell book. The barrier was fracturing, proven by the use the small spell.

"You are marked, my darling," She sung out to the empty throne room, "I'll get your heart soon enough."

Mal dropped her dagger and reached for Evie's jacket. She fumbled with the front of it, trying pull down the zipper and check if there was any more bleeding coming from the princess. Pulling apart the jacket, Mal then ripped the top of Evie's shirt. Stopping before she exposed any more skin than she had too, to the two pirates sitting next to Evie.

"Don't even think of sneaking a peek," She hissed at the two pirates.

Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes at the demand, but he did respectfully turn his head and look over to his captain. While Gil looks slightly confused, not should where he was supposed to look, before settling on Ben.

"Is she okay Mal?" Ben asked worryingly.

"Well she's not missing her heart, if that's what you're thinking," Mal muttered, as she pulled open Evie's shirt, "But it looks like whatever that thing was, left an angry welt type wound, not an open wound. Kind of the same as she face. No blood but it looks like it's painful. We really need to get her to a doctor."

Ben leant over to the limos partition and tapped on it. It rolled down and Carlos stuck his head through, with a questioning look on his face.

"Tell Jay to go faster," Ben ordered, " We've had another attack back here."

Carlos frowned, before glancing up at Mal and Evie.

"Oh shit," He turned to Jay and smacked him on the shoulder to get his attention, "Floor it Jay. Evie needs of of here, like now."

"Got it."

Mal sighed in relief as she felt the limo pick up speed. She called over Lonnie to help her get Evie changed. Mal also suggested with a glare to Harry and Gil, that they be the ones to hold the blanket up to block Evie from view.

Evie groaned in pain, as Jay swerve the limo sharply to avoid hitting people walking in the market streets. The sudden jerky movement caused the injured princess to slam into a hard body next to her.

"Oww," She murmured to herself as she slowly opened her eyes, "I feel like I've been hit with a truck."

"Not a truck Evie, a creepy shadow figure." A voice said from above.

"Gil?" Evie asked, tilting her head up and looking the blonde teen, "What are you doing here?" Evie frowned and looked to where she was, "Actually, where is here?" She looked down at herself, "And why am I wearing tourney sweats?"

"Evie!" Mal called out, before pulling Evie away from Gil and into a tight hug, "You're awake!"

"Too tight," Evie gasped, trying to relax into the hug as Mal eased up on the pressure.

"Sorry."

"It's alright," Evie murmured into Mal's hair, "But please tell me what's happening. Last thing I remember is Humbert slashing me with a sword , then kicking me from the broad walk and into the water."

Everyone frowned at Evie's words. Mal let her go, and sat back on her seat. Gil pulled Evie back to rest against the leather seat, and pulled the blanket back around her. Evie let herself be pulled back without a fuss. Evie pulled the blanket tight and leant against Gil's shoulder.

Ben leant forward and asked lightly, "You don't remember Harry saving you from the water or Lonnie giving you mouth-to-mouth?"

"I remember pain in my stomach, from the sword, I believe," Evie's hand went to her stomach, she felt fabric pressed against it, "Then it was cold and dark," Her nose scrunched up as she tried to remember the past events, "I dreamt of my mother."

"What, really?" Mal asked in disbelief, "What did you see?"

"She trapped me in my bed somehow, scratched up my face and ripped out my heart."

The group stared at Evie in shock.

"Probably not so much a dream, princess," Harry pointed out, running a finger down her cheek, "You've got marks on your face and on your chest."

Evie frowned and pulled the collar of the jumper down to check her chest. She winced at the bruising on her ribs and the red welts over her heart.

"Did you guys see something cause these marks?" She asked the room.

"It was a shadow creature," Uma offered, "Digging right into your chest, before bestie here," She nodded towards Mal, "Made her fist glow with magic and made it disappear."

"Magic, really?" Evie asked in disbelief, "Magic doesn't work on The Isle. Everyone knows that. Mother tried for years to get even a spark, without any success."

"Really, really," Lonnie chimed in, "You did some form of magic too, back at the broad walk. You sent Humbert flying through the air, before you passed out again."

"Maybe, that's why she wants your heart," Gil suggested thoughtfully, "Maybe you did something to the barrier when you sent Humbert flying. Mal couldn't do magic until after you did magic and that shadow creature wouldn't have been able to attack you before."

Evie opened her mouth to reply, but was unable to do so, as the limo slammed to a halt.

"Uh guys," Carlos called out, "Slight problem with the barrier control."

Ben frowned, "What do you mean Carlos?"

"Well," Carlos started, "Bad news is the controller isn't working."

"What's the good news?" Mal asked.

"Oh, no good news," Carlos chirped, "Just bad news."

"Well can you fix the controller?" Ben asked.

"I don't think it's broken, I think some thing's stopping it from working."

"Why do you think that?" Ben asked.

"Well, the bridge is up, but the limo won't go through the barrier," Carlos told the teens.

The group leant forward to peer through the partition, frowning at the glowing barrier between the limo and the bridge.

"What the hell," Mal gasped.

Grimhilde smirked as she finished reading the spell she found in Maleficent's book. Now that her daughter was stuck on The Isle, it was only a matter of time before her minions found her and brought her back to the castle.

TBC . . .

I'm glad everyone is enjoying this story so far :) I tried to make this chapter longer again, tell what you think :D What do you think going to happen next? Come join me on tumblr, my username is evie-thequeen