SHORT CHAPTER

FRAGMENT

secret conversation

THE BLACK SHADOWS GATHERED AROUND A STONE pedestal. In the center of it was a ring of light, showing a vision of Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

“That little squirt took down another Heartless! Who’d a thunk! What’s that now, three?”

“And the brat’s friends are the king’s lackeys. Swoggle me eyes, they’re all bilge rats by the look of them…”

“You’re no prize yourself.”

“Shut up!”

The man in a black cape, with a staff shaped like a snake, and the man in a great red hat with a feather in it and a piece of sharp curved metal in place of his left hand—Jafar and Hook—had begun to argue. A third chilly voice cut them off. “Enough.”

This was Maleficent in a cloak as black as the shadows.

“That is the power of the Keyblade. The boy’s strength is not his own.” She walked toward the ring of light on the pedestal and raised her staff to it.

“Why not turn him into a Heartless? That’ll settle this quick enough!” said Hook with a cruel grin.

With a sweep of her cloak, Maleficent smiled. “The Keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him? Either way, he could be quite useful.”

The shadowy figures all peered closely at the image of Sora.

“At any rate—what could have drawn the Heartless into a jungle like that?” Hook wondered.

Maleficent answered without looking away from the ring of light. “The hunter lured them there. His own lust for power became the bait.”

“A weakhearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless,” said Jafar, raising his snake-headed staff and moving toward Maleficent. “But the boy is a problem. He has been finding the Keyholes.”

“It will take him ages to find the rest,” Maleficent replied, her gaze still locked on Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the ring of light. “Besides, he remains blissfully unaware of our other plan.”

“The princesses…,” Hook said, folding his arms.

“Yes. They are falling into our hands one by one. And speaking of which…” Maleficent gestured with her staff to the prisoner, who had gone missing in Wonderland—Alice.