by Eric Geron
Copyright © 2017 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cover design © 2017 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Disney Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney Press, 1101 Flower Street, Glendale, California 91201.
ISBN 978-1-368-01224-9
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Epilogue
Photos from the Film
About the Author
To my fellow Villain Kids,
for following me to the Isle and back
Mal here. Remember me?
For those who don’t: I’m the daughter of the wicked sorceress Maleficent—but hey, just ’cause I’m the spawn of a vile villain, it doesn’t mean I’m following in Mom’s fiery footsteps. Well, I guess tiny footsteps is more fitting, because Mom’s been a little lizard ever since she went all fire-breathing dragon on me and my friends and shrank to the size of the love in her heart. In case you missed that: not a lot of love. Big shock. Me and my friends realized that we didn’t have to be like our villain parents. We chose to be good over evil (actual big shock), and King Ben and I had our happily ever after.
You didn’t think that was the end of the story, did you?
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.
Mal and her friends stood around a large steaming cauldron in the dark.
She was wearing her signature tough-as-nails boots, ripped leggings, and leather jacket. Her dark purple hair was longer and thicker than ever before. She looked down at her hands, holding her mother’s spell book, which she had spray-painted with acid-green and purple flames that caged the glinting gold dragon in the center. She glanced up at her three friends. There was something venomous in her smile.
Despite living in Auradon, Mal was still very much Maleficent’s daughter.
Evie, daughter of Evil Queen, grinned at Mal. She wore a distressed blue leather jacket, a graffitied skirt, and a necklace with a red gem topped by a gold crown. Evie tossed back her silky blue hair as she stirred the steaming cauldron brew.
Jay, son of Jafar, held a bucket of shiny red apples. His biceps bulged out of his sleeveless red-and-yellow leather vest, and his long dark hair flowed from under a beanie. Jay emitted great strength and confidence. A light from the cauldron made his eyes sparkle dangerously, and he gazed across the swirling mist at Carlos.
Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil, 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.
Mal smirked, opened the spell book, and read aloud: “‘Wicked ways beneath the skin, let all who taste it now join in!’” She and her friends stared at the cauldron.
The brew began to spit, boil, and bubble. The spell had worked. Mal and her friends cackled triumphantly. Jay and Carlos dumped the apples into the thickening brew. The four Villain Kids (or VKs for short) circled the cauldron, howling, and refilled the buckets with the spelled apples. They were about to make mischief.
They knew all too well the many ways to be wicked.
Within minutes, Carlos 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 jerseys, cheerleading uniforms, and pastel-colored garments watched the apples roll past. They dove to snatch them. After biting into the wicked fruit, they whooped and danced in delight, instantly transformed from well-mannered to maniacal. Mal strutted over the apples, slamming the doors to lockers. The locker doors revealed the tag LONG LIVE EVIL!, which Mal had spray-painted there. She stopped in front of a shy girl wearing a large white bow in her chestnut hair.
It was Jane, daughter of Fairy Godmother. She gasped as Mal handed an apple to her. Stock-still, in her blue, white, and yellow cheerleading uniform, she stared at it. She chomped down on the apple, and her mouth twisted into a sinister grin. Jane snatched the spray paint can from Mal and boldly danced out of sight.
The apples had an intoxicating effect as Mal and her friends continued to share them across the sunny campus. They were making everyone—and everything—a whole lot more fun. Outside, cheerleaders with apples did a routine with Jay before he ran off. In the school hall, Carlos 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, Evie strolled through rows of students and doled out apples. She strutted to Fairy Godmother’s desk, placed an apple on it, and moved on. Fairy Godmother, the school’s headmistress, bit into the apple. She looked up and saw that chaos had erupted: Evie and the students danced and threw loose papers into the air. Fairy Godmother shimmied and shook out her hair, joining in the madness that had seized her once neat and orderly classroom.
The wicked fever kept on spreading.
On the quad, Jay chucked apples off the balcony with glee. Doug, son of Dopey, was playing the trumpet when one of Jay’s apples landed in it. More apples dropped into the trumpets of other band members, as well. As Jay 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.
Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos 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 Beast and Belle, who also clutched bitten apples and jived to the sound of wicked rebellion.
Mal marched through a row of hedges and raised into the air the school flag, which was now a dark purple one that said LONG LIVE EVIL! The horde cheered. Mal loved it. She led everyone farther away from the school, climbed a ladder, and spray-painted the fearsome statue that represented King Ben’s father in beast form.
Mal recalled something her boyfriend, Ben, 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. Mal could laugh at the irony.
She grinned and tossed the last one of the spelled apples high into the air.
It came down, and King Ben, golden boy and only child of Belle and Beast, caught it. He flashed Mal an innocent smile, and his eyes sparkled angelically beneath honey-brown hair that swooped across his forehead. Ben hadn’t been changed—not yet. He bit into the apple and a devilish grin broke over his face.
HA!
IF ONLY.
Fine. that never happened. but a girl can dream, right?
This is how the story actually picks up….
Flashing cameras snapped Mal back to reality.
Like that, she was no longer leading all of Auradon Prep in a rotten-to-the-core victory march. Instead, Mal faced a mass of rowdy news reporters and camerapeople at a press conference. Her signature leather getup and long purple hair were no more. In fact, Mal looked every bit a prissy princess, like the very ones she used to mock when she lived on the Isle of the Lost, except that instead of pretty in pink, Mal’s lace dress was white, and her hair was ice blond and pinned up in a bun. There was a slight purple ombré to the tips—the only trace left of her villain roots.
“Mal!” the news reporters called out, shoving microphones in her face.
Mal remembered to breathe, and to smile. Be ladylike, she reminded herself.
“Only three days to the Royal Cotillion!” shouted a reporter.
“Ever think a girl like you would be lady of the court?” yelled another.
Mal turned from face to face, unsure of which to address first.
“How do you feel being the most envied girl in Auradon?”
“Do you like being a blonde?”
“Is your mother still a lizard?”
Mal opened her mouth. She was unable to formulate a single word.
“Okay! All right!” said Ben to the camera crew as he leaped to Mal’s side, looking dashing in his royal-blue suit. He held an ordinary apple with a bite taken out of it. “We will let you know if and when that particular situation changes,” he told reporters.
Mal felt momentarily relieved, but the reporters resumed shouting.
“King Ben, did you ever think you’d be with a Villain Kid?”
“We’re done here,” Ben said to the crowd, doing his best to ignore the ruckus. He faced Mal and smiled kindly.
Fairy Godmother tottered through the rose garden and stepped between Mal and Ben and the frenzied crowd. Her hair was up in a loose bun, and she wore pearl earrings and a lavender dress with a big pink bow at the neck, as always. She addressed the raucous mass. “Okay, okay,” she said. “Shoosh, shoosh, shoosh, shoosh, shoosh.” She motioned for silence with her hands. “This is still a school. So if you’re here, you’re either skipping or trespassing! Either way, I need you to—”
People began to spout remarks.
“Shhh! Shhh! Shhhhhh!” said Fairy Godmother, gesturing again for silence. Once the crowd finally quieted, she smiled. “Shhh!” she added with a merry little laugh.
The news reporters began to disperse.
For good measure, Fairy Godmother said, “Shhh! Shhh! Shhh! Shoo.”
Before long, almost the whole crowd had receded to the edge of the lawn.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you,” called Fairy Godmother.
“Thank you, guys!” said Ben with a wave.
“Thank you!” said Mal—and she meant it.
“Mal. Ben,” said Fairy Godmother with a nod of acknowledgement.
“Fairy Godmother,” replied Mal and Ben in unison.
Fairy Godmother’s work was done. She turned and scampered off.
Mal looked at Ben. “Hi,” she said, letting out a flustered laugh.
Ben beamed a comforting smile. “Just ignore them,” he said of the throng of reporters, who were now milling at a safe distance with their cameras at their sides.
“That’s a lot easier said than done.” Mal gave him a slight smile.
Ben pulled Mal close to him. “I know, I know. Maybe we should go out….We should—” He glanced at his golden watch. “Oh my God. I am so late for a council meeting!” He looked into Mal’s green eyes and winced. “I have got to go!” he said.
“That’s okay.” Mal had nothing but understanding in her voice.
“We’ll finish this, though, okay?” said Ben sincerely.
“Yeah,” said Mal, nodding. In a way, she was strangely relieved.
More time to rest, she thought. Keeping up this act is exhausting.
Evie ran up behind Mal. Stylish as always, she wore a blue dress with a gold collar and belt. Her long blue hair was down in loose waves, held in place by a delicate gold headband encrusted with red gems. Evie grabbed Mal’s arm and spun her around. Mal cried out in surprise.
“If we don’t do a fitting for your gown right this minute, you’ll be dancing in your bathrobe,” Evie told Mal. “Bye, Ben,” she added as she deftly dragged Mal away.
There goes my nap. Mal turned back to Ben and mouthed, Bye, Ben.
In a flash, the news reporters swarmed Ben with microphones and cameras aimed like swords. “King Ben! King Ben! Just one question about the cotillion—”
Ben glanced at his watch again. “I’ve really got to go.” He speed-walked away.
The noisy news reporters followed right behind him.
I’m far from being a perfect Lady of the Court.
It’s only a matter of time before people see right through me.
Sunlight shone through the polished windows into Mal and Evie’s dorm.
Evie had made herself at home. A bejeweled periodic table of the elements dominated a wall, and her worktable hosted spools of fabric, her sewing machine, an assortment of multisize boxes, colored pencils, and pages of clothing designs she had drawn. Beside the worktable, Evie’s handmade dresses hung on a rack. One look at Evie’s side of the room and it was clear fashion designing was her passion.
Mal’s half of the room was much more of a zoo. The lizard in an aquarium tank on Mal’s bedside table didn’t help matters. It bore a sign that said DON’T FEED MY MOM, for inside was none other than the evil Maleficent, who had been transformed at King Ben’s coronation ceremony from a giant powerful dragon to a puny green lizard. As the lizard sat on the mini-throne inside her aquarium, Mal stood on a fitting platform so Evie could fit her cotillion gown.
The blue-and-yellow garment, with its layers of tulle and darkly glinting gems, was crafted for a true queen. Evie yanked the dress tight in the bodice and pinned it.
Mal squawked. “Evie. I cannot breathe.”
Evie lifted Mal’s arm. “Well, you can breathe after Cotillion.” She smiled.
Mal let out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, well, I sincerely doubt that. I have like twenty more events directly behind it, and I can’t even remember what a single one of them is right now.” Mal looked longingly at her leather Isle of the Lost jacket, hanging on a hook above the TV. She thought about when she had been rotten to the core—with her purple hair and jacket—and feared and respected by everyone on the Isle.
“Evie,” Mal said in a distant way.
“Huh?” Evie held a measuring tape across Mal’s gown.
“Do you ever wonder what we’d be doing right now if we were still back on the Isle?” asked Mal. Her mind floated to her friends’ hideout there, where they had spent time plotting and planning, crafting mischievous schemes to cause serious trouble.
Evie laughed, not really paying attention to Mal’s question. “That’s funny,” she said, turning. “Well, would ya look at who’s on TV!” She grabbed the remote, cranked up the volume, and listened to the television while studying some of her sketches.
Behind her, Mal plopped down in a sea of yellow tulle onto her canopy bed.
She and Evie watched an old clip playing on the screen. In it, Mal was sporting a beaded sheer dress with a shawl and
a delicate gold headpiece. Aladdin, in a cream-colored suit and hat, and Jasmine, in a long sheer turquoise dress, greeted Mal and King Ben. Servers placed a meal in the center of a room filled with cushions and candles. Aladdin escorted Mal to her seat while Ben led Jasmine to hers. Aladdin and Ben sat down across from each other, and a waitress uncovered a silver dish.
Mal picked up a piece of meat. She bit into it and gagged but covered it up with a quick smile. When no one was looking, Mal spit it out into a napkin, which she stashed behind her, and beamed at her company. Watching the TV, Mal blanched.
“Six months ago, no one thought King Ben and his girl from the wrong side of the bridge would last,” said a news reporter.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Mal mumbled.
The news reporter continued. “I don’t know her secret, but Mal is fitting in beautifully now!” Footage played of Mal at the press conference earlier that day. She smiled and waved with her white lace gloves. “Mal must be counting down the days till the Royal Cotillion, where she will officially become a lady of the court.”
Mal’s eyes opened wide. Don’t remind me, she thought. She scooted around her bed and took the etiquette book The Lady’s Manners from her bedside table. Then she pulled her spell book from under her pillow, opened it, and incanted: “Read it fast, at lightning speed, remember everything I need.” She quickly turned the pages of The Lady’s Manners and was able to magically absorb the book’s facts.
Evie walked over to Mal. “Well, I know Mal’s secret to fitting in, and Ben wouldn’t like it one bit.” She crossed her arms. “Haven’t you guys had enough secrets between the two of you?”
Mal looked up from The Lady’s Manners. “You saw what I was like before I started using the spell book, okay?” she said. “I was a complete disaster!” She resumed flipping through the pages of the book.
“Well, personally, as your best friend, I strongly believe you should put this spell book in the museum along with my mirror,” said Evie. She was referring to the magic mirror Evil Queen had once given her so she could find and steal Fairy Godmother’s wand. Evie had turned over a new leaf. No more wickedness. She grabbed Mal’s spell book, and Mal pouted at Evie and then shut The Lady’s Manners. “Don’t give me the face,” said Evie. “Put the pout away.”
