Chapter 10

"Go to the party tonight," Hades instructed his daughter as he leaned against the doorway, having been informed about the day's events. "There is no harm in attending for a few minutes."

"That's what I thought last time," Mal retorted as she quickly changed her daughter into a clean diaper before putting her in a night-onesie. "I ended up drunk and taken advantage of."

"That won't happen this time," the god insisted as he tilted his head curiously. "Jay will be with you the entire time. You may be a mother now, but you are still a teenager. You need to enjoy your childhood as much as you can. I can watch Mallory while you're gone."

"I can't let you do that," Mal claimed while tucking Mallory into one side of the bed—since she outgrew her crib months ago. "You've watched her too much already as it is. You need a break from her."

"And you need to be there for Evie," Hades argued softly so his grand-daughter could easily lull to sleep. "This is her first teenage party. She won't realize all the drinking and such that will be happening. You need to be there so what happened to you doesn't happen to her. Alright?"

Mal hesitated, pondering on the pros and cons of the 'social gathering'. Sighing in annoyance, she reluctantly announced, "One hour. I will stay for one hour to keep an eye on her and to make sure Carlos is comfortable with the party. If either one feels unsafe, I'll shut it down with no hesitation."

More than an hour after the party had officially started, Mal—with loyal friend Jay at her side—knocked sharply on the front door of Hell Hall. The duo could hear the music and chattering stop inside while hearing someone rush to the door. In the next moment, Carlos opened the entrance like a soldier called to attention.

"Hey, Carlos," Mal greeted with a simple nod. "Jay and I had to do a couple errands for our parents before we could come here. Are we late?"

"Not at all," Carlos denied while moving out of their way. "Come in."

"Excited to see us?" Mal wondered while allowing a faint smile to grace her lips.

He nodded yes, though the fairy could see just how nervous he truly was. Instead of reveling in his reaction, Mal decided to let him be since the teen looked like he was at least having fun.

While Jay went to compete in a dance competition, Mal circled the party for a few minutes in search of certain someone. She pilfered a wallet from one of the Gastons, though there was nothing inside. In a couple minutes she ducked underneath a pirate, who was swinging over-enthusiastically from the homemade chandelier-swing. Finally, she grabbed a mouthful of dry popcorn since it was the most edible food at the snack table.

Walking into the hallway, Mal bumped into Jay, who was slightly out of breath from winning the dance-off. "You alright?" He interrogated worriedly. "Need a moment outside to keep calm?"

"I'm fine," Mal reassured with a careless shrug. "Where'd Carlos go?"

With an amused smirk, Jay gestured toward a pair of black shoes poking out from behind a sheet covering the biggest of the bookcases. "Hiding from his own party. Typical."

Although she would never admit it, Mal knew exactly how Carlos felt. She would rather be watching her daughter sleeping peacefully next to her than be at the stupid party, but she had to keep her word.

"Where's Princess Blueberry?" Mal questioned as she kept an eye on the crowd. "I did a whole loop of this party. I didn't see her anywhere."

"You mean Evie? She's not here yet," Jay informed with a shrug of his own. "She might have gotten to nervous and decided not to come."

The teenage fairy groaned in aggravation. "She has to come! She and Carlos are the only reason I came to this party in the first place."

"What are you two doing?" asked Anthony Tremaine, Lady Tremaine's sixteen-year-old grandson, a tall, elegant boy with dark hair swept off a haughty forehead.

"Just talking," Mal retorted before Jay could say anything. "Do you want something?"

"Yes. To dance." Anthony looked at her expectantly.

She looked at him, confused. "Wait—with me?"

"Well, I didn't mean him," Anthony argued, looking awkwardly at Jay. "No offense, man."

"None taken." Jay claimed a little tensely. "But Mal can't dance with you and, in fact, she won't. Since Mal contracted her illness, she doesn't allow anyone to touch her, with the exception of me. You are just wasting your time and breath on something that is never going to happen."

With a clenched jaw, Anthony promptly stormed away from the fairy and thief to ask Harriet Hook for a dance, who accepted with a delighted shriek. Meanwhile, Mal adverted her attention to her friend with a happy smile. "Have I told you how grateful I am that you are my gay best friend?"

"Just once," Jay answered with a teasing smirk. "But I wouldn't mind hearing it again from time to time."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Some time later, just a few minutes before the one-hour time limit would be up, Evie finally arrived in an outfit that clearly took time to plan. Mal cautiously kept an eye on her from a distance, believing the princess deserved a few moments to enjoy the 'experience' of her first party.

However, when Mal took her eyes off Evie for a brief second, the princess was found in a predicament that made the fairy's blood boil in fury.

The Gaston twins—both drunk out of their minds from the spiked apple cider—decided to approach, innocent Evie, who had no idea what they had planned. It took barely a second for the princess to feel extremely uncomfortable by proximity of the two very muscular men. One was playing with a strand of her long blue hair while the other observed her up and down, almost like he was mentally undressing her.

Mal seen enough for her to be pissed off.

One of the twins reached out to grab Evie's ass, but didn't expect to be flipped on his back instead. The brother ogled at what happened, but found himself suddenly knocked out of breath and in a split second slammed to the ground, possibly with a broken bone or two. Meanwhile, Evie stared at the scene in awe, surprised by who her 'savior' was.

Standing over the twins was none other than Mal, who was practically seething with rage. "Don't you ever come near Evie again!" She demanded through a shout.

The eldest twin tried to sit up, groaning, "How—"

"I'm not just the daughter of Maleficent," Mal revealed as her green eyes shined defiantly. "I am the daughter of Hades, god of the Underworld! My uncle is King Zeus! King of the Gods! I am a demigod, which means I inherited incredible strength that you can never match. I will have no problem teaching you a lesson for harassing an innocent princess. For now, GO!"

While the twins scrambled to their feet and scurried out of the mansion like cowards, Mal observed the party guests around her that watched in amazement and horror. "Party's over," she announced authoritatively. "Leave, now!"

The fairy had to admit, she thought it was quite amusing to see so many teenagers race out of the building due to her revealing her other parentage. If she had known she would have received that type of response, Mal would have told everyone about her father sooner.

Within a couple minutes, all that remained in the mansion was an amused Jay, a scared Carlos, and a surprised Evie. "Sorry," Mal apologized insincerely, "for ruining the party. I just can't stand the idea of a girl being taken advantage of. I guess I lost my 'godly' temper."

"There's no need to apologize," Evie reassured with a kind smile. "I'm grateful you stepped in, like a friend would do."

Gazing around at the mess left by the guest, Mal awkwardly suggested, "Carlos, how about Jay, Evie, and I help you clean up? It would give us a chance to hang out as . . . friends."

With little to no arguments, the four set upon the task to clean up the mansion so the son wouldn't feel the wrath of his insane mother. Within a few minutes, the group was laughing and joking around like any kind of friends would. However, it would take a very long time before Mal revealed her biggest secret to the duo.

Though none of them realized in just a couple weeks, their life would be turned upside down—

Or that a mother would reluctantly have to say 'good-bye' to her daughter for a short time.