Alright everyone, I know I said that I would post weekly, but life has struck yet again. Unfortunately, I spent most of the last two weeks working on my driver's license or volunteering with local agencies to help people. That said, I am going to relook at how and when I write so I can get these chapters out on time. Please bear with me.

Second, I am happy to thank Excellentsunny101 and another guest for their reviews on Chapter 5. I always enjoy the feedback and messages I receive from everyone.

I also feel it is time to thank all of my followers. You guys motivate me to keep writing.

Finally, I owe all of you guys a second apology. I did try to post this chapter last night but was derailed by a Network Error Type 2 that kept appearing every time I tried to upload the document. I emailed tech support, but they never responded. If any of you have any information on this error, please private message me and let me know how to avoid it.

Ben was perplexed the next morning when he arrived at breakfast. Despite Audrey's and Chad's predictions to the contrary, most of the villain kids seemed to have made a decent assimilation to the school. Jay was on the Tourney Team and putting his physical prowess to good use, Lonnie and Jane had both said good things about Mal's talents with hair spells, and Doug had told him about how Evie was beginning to buckle down on her homework. The only one Ben couldn't account for was Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil. Ben had only seen Carlos once since orientation, and Carlos had been very clear that he was in a rush to get somewhere.

When Ben had made the proclamation, he had assumed that all four of the kids would hang out with each other at the very least. He saw now that that was probably very presumptuous. After all, even the children of Auradon Prep had created a sort of class system in the school. Royals and sidekicks, for the most part, didn't interact much, preferring to stick with those of like minds. Who knows what kind of class system had been formed on the Isle of the Lost?

No matter what though, Ben needed to find out if Carlos was assimilating well. He didn't want anyone in the school to be suffering from loneliness. In a lot of ways, Carlos reminded Ben of Jane. Up until the VK's arrived, Jane had always kept to herself. Everyone knew that she was the daughter of the Fairy Godmother, which meant that everyone except Ben had given her a wide girth. Their caution of her mother meant that Jane had never had real friends before. There had been a brief time where Chad had "befriended" her, but after everyone learned that Chad was just tricking her into doing his homework, that relationship had quickly ended. Ben tried to be friends with Jane, but she took an extremely professional approach to him as if he was already King of Auradon. Now Carlos looked to be doing the same thing, and Ben was not about to be shut out again, but that meant that he needed to find Carlos first. So when Ben saw Mal, Jane, Lonnie, and Jay all sitting at a table together, he decided to take action.

As Ben approached the table, he couldn't help but overhear a part of their current conversation.

"So you see, a lot of the girls are interested in the new "Villain" look and have asked me to talk to you about setting something up. Oh, and of course they are all willing to pay you for your trouble. So… What do you think?" Ben could tell that Lonnie had just finished what must have been a very long explanation about something.

"Fine, Lonnie, I'll help them with their hair. Just let me know where the want to meet." Mal sounded defeated, and Ben realized that Lonnie's persistence had won again.

"Yay. So, we'll just meet at your room after school. You do the hair and I will make sure you get the money." With that, Lonnie hopped up from the table and instantly headed for a table where a group of girls had already been gathering. He couldn't hear Lonnie speaking, but he definitely heard their excited squeals and chatter break out.

"Hey, Ben the man." Jay greeted with a punch to the arm. Ben was a little more prepared for the punch this time but still found himself rubbing his arm.

"Hey, guys, just wanting to see how you were doing. Is everything going well?" Ben asked

"Great, just another shiny, good filled day here at the land of goodness," Mal replied with a smile. Ben overlooked the obvious mocking in the comment, deciding that that was just the way she was.

"Great. Oh, by the way, have either of you seen Carlos? I was hoping to talk to him, making sure that he was adjusting well.

"Haven't seen him since last night," Jay replied as he sat down and put some toast in his mouth.

"Oh… well is there anything you guys can tell me that might help me find him?" Ben was further disheartened when both of the VK's glanced at each other in confusion.

"All I know is he very easily scared. Actually scared him into letting me throw a party at his house a couple of days before the proclamation was passed." Mal smiled sinisterly as she remembered.

"Oh, yeah, and remember his reaction when he came down from the rooftops right in front of your mom. I'm surprised he didn't pee himself right then and there." Jay reminded her, bringing out a laugh from both of them. Jane and Ben both gave courtesy smiles as the two laughed, neither knowing what they were talking about.

"All right, well thanks for the trying guys." Ben returned to his table to finish breakfast. Ben thought about the information that had he had been given. At least now he knew why Carlos had been so distant from everyone since he arrived. But that didn't help Ben figure out where Carlos could be hiding between classes. But Jay's comment about rooftops might be a good place to start.

As Ben tried to find Carlos, Carlos was wandering the forest. He had left the school grounds when he awoke that morning in order to clear his head before he had to go to class.

Carlos wanted nothing more than to disappear from the school grounds altogether. He probably would have if he thought that he wouldn't be found. But he remembered the Isle. It never mattered where he went or how long he stayed. Eventually, he would have to return home and deal with his mother. The same was still true out here in Auradon. He may not be on the Isle, but he would never be able to escape from it forever. Even if he finished up all his schooling out here, they would just send him back to the Isle of the Lost, back to his mother.

His only option was to fight. When they sent him back to the Isle, he needed to have the Barrier Breaker ready. Otherwise, he would be as good as dead.

The bulk of the school day went by quietly for everyone except Mal. Aside from being filled to the brim with anticipation about her and Jay's plan for the night, Mal was also getting quite flustered with the amount of attention she had brought on herself.

When she had agreed to Lonnie's idea, it was only to keep people from being curious about her intentions with Jane. But now she had spent all her afternoon free time casting spells on princesses. Under literally any other circumstance, this would've landed her back on the Isle.

By the time she crashed in Jay's room, she was mentally exhausted. Jay decided to leave her alone while he worked on homework. If he wanted to stay on the Tourney Team, then he needed to keep up with his homework.

"What are we doing?" Mal finally asked aloud.

"You are feeling drained after dealing with Princesses and I am doing homework," Jay replied, his voice lacking his usual confidence.

"Yeah, but why? Our whole goal is to steal the wand and free everyone on the Isle of the Lost. Why am I playing dress up with the enemy?" Mal reminded herself more than Jay.

"So that way our marks don't suspect that we are going to steal from them," Jay replied, setting down his pencil and giving Mal his full attention.

"They invited us here."

"Nooo, one of them invited us here. The rest of them could care less about us and our activities. Although, Chad and that Audrey girl have been keeping an eye on us. You should see the way Chad glares at me. You'd think we'd already overthrown Auradon." Jay was teasing, but Mal could tell that he was getting annoyed by Chad's actions. Mal was feeling the same way. The classes that she shared with Audrey found Audrey constantly giving her smiles of condescension when Audrey even bothered to look at her.

"Yeah, well, after tonight, we won't ever have to worry about them again," Mal said with a grin. "But for now, let's milk one last dinner out these golden geese." Jay gave his trademark grin as the two headed for dinner.

If there was one thing that Evie had learned over the past two days at Auradon, it was that eating at meal times was less of a rule and more of a suggestion. A fact that Doug had made abundantly clear by bringing her to the library both nights. The first time he had done it, he had convinced her that going to the library during a meal was against the rules, thus appealing to Evie's villain side, but tonight, he had been pretty blunt about the fact that it wasn't. Now, as Doug and Evie sat together in the library, Evie found herself paying less attention to the homework in front of her and more attention to the boy across from her. Doug couldn't miss the looks she gave him either.

"What's up, Evie? You have a question about something?" Doug gave her a smile that Evie was beginning to enjoy seeing.

"Yeah. Why are you being so helpful? I mean, I know this is Auradon and everyone is supposed to be heroic and princely, but are you just helping me because you have to?"

"What? No! I mean yes, helping you is the right thing to do, but that's not the only reason I am helping you." No sooner had the words left his mouth then Doug realized the door he had just left open for Evie.

"Oh, really? Then, what is the other reason you're helping me?" Evie asked in her most appealing voice. Doug blushed a deep red as he realized how cornered he was.

"Oh, well…it's just… that you are very pretty…and I kind of like you, I mean hanging out with you. You know?" Doug replied, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Doug waited for the merciless teasing or inevitable rejection. He was surprised when he felt a peck on his cheek.

"Thanks for all the help. But you know, I might need your help with homework more often. Let's meet up for lunch tomorrow and work out the details." Evie gave him a genuine smile before looking back to her books. Now it was Doug's turn to stare and smile.

After checking the cafeteria for Carlos, Ben made his way up to the door that leads to the roof. Officially, it was against the rules to go up to the roof. Aside from the top of the tower, most of the roof was steep and the staff had considered it too dangerous to allow the students access to that area. Realistically though, the door that leads to the roof was in an area that didn't get a lot of foot traffic and the school had never really had an incident with the student's going up there before. So aside from the occasional guard walking by, the area was mostly left alone. Another reason that no one bothered was that the door looked like a closet until you opened the door and saw the spiral staircase.

Ben quickly ascended the spiral staircase and pushed open the door from below. There was a crunch as the trap door hit the ground. Ben popped his head through the opening and found a very surprised and confused Carlos looking back at him.

"What are you doing here?" Carlos asked after gathering his senses.

"Looking for you." Ben climbed the rest of the way out onto the roof and looked around. He himself had never actually been on the tower before. The view of the grounds was pretty impressive. He could also understand why the students could never find Carlos outside of class. No one would ever think to look up at the tower.

"I realize this might not mean much to a villain kid, but you know it's against the rules to be up here, right?" Ben leaned against the wall and looked down on the grounds, watching the students as they went about their business.

"You're right. That doesn't mean much to me." There was a dark tone in Carlos' voice that Ben couldn't miss.

"How come?"

"What are you gonna do? Send me back to the Isle. You people are already going to do that anyway."

"Why would you think that?"

"I heard Audrey and Chad. I know how everyone looks at me. We VK's don't stand a chance when it comes to fitting in out here. The moment we are done with school, someone will find a reason to have us sent back to the Isle of the Lost for good. Our only hope is…" Carlos had forced himself to remember who it was he was speaking to. If he spilled the beans about Mal and Jay before they completed their mission they would make his life a living nightmare.

"Your only hope is what?" Ben prompted. He was starting to get an idea as to why Carlos was being so distant but also knew that Carlos was wrong.

Carlos had had many incidents on the Isle where getting away wasn't an option. He learned quickly that it was better to sacrifice something the other guy knew you had then to risk the other guy getting everything. This time was no exception.

"My only hope is the Barrier Breaker." Carlos surrendered, not entirely lying. If Mal and Jay failed, then his only escape from his mother would be the barrier breaker. Carlos gestured to the scattered papers around him showing Ben exactly what he was referring to. Ben reached down before hesitating a moment.

"Do you mind?" Ben asked politely.

"Oh…" Carlos had been unprepared for Ben to ask permission. "Sure, I mean I figured you were just going to steal them."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I just told you I have plans for a device to break the barrier around the Isle of the Lost. That should freak out everybody."

"True, but you only have plans for one, you haven't built it yet," Ben replied as he grabbed the papers and began to look through them. The plans were extremely detailed and, as far as Ben could tell, were absolutely sound.

"You know Carlos, I am glad you told me about this. Have you ever made a working one of these?"

"Yeah, I was trying to get more channels for my television set. It cut a hole in the barrier for a couple of seconds before it just blew. After that, the thing just kept beeping. Before I could figure out how to fix it, the proclamation came."

"Well, what if I helped you with building a working one?" Ben offered. He was surprised to find confusion all over Carlos' face.

"Why would you do that? That would undo everything that Auradon has accomplished."

"Only if you used it, and from what I gather, you don't want to go back to the Isle, so why would you use it?"

"But what about Mal, Evie, and Jay?"

"All of them have friends and are getting along in school just fine. I seriously doubt that any of them would."

Carlos knew better than to tell Ben that Mal and Jay were playing him for a fool. He decided that as long as Ben believed that no one would use the barrier breaker, then he would help him built it.

"So, let's make a deal." Ben said, bringing Carlos out of his thoughts, "I will help you build the barrier breaker. In return, I want you to stop hanging out up in towers like a captured maiden and start hanging out with other students. You can even hang out with me if you want, but you have to hang out with people. Deal?" Ben held the paper out to Carlos, a smile lighting up his face.

"Deal." Carlos smiled back as he took the papers.

"Cool, then tomorrow after school, you and I are going to the Museum of Cultural History. I want to show you how different the world out here is from the Isle of the Lost." Ben turned and began to make his way down through the trap door in the roof. He was halfway down when he realized that Carlos was still sitting on the roof. "Hey, why don't you come have supper with me?"

"What about Audrey and Chad?"

"Well, only one way to find out."

Carlos grinned at that statement. There was deviousness about Ben's face that Carlos couldn't miss.

"Careful, people might think their new King is becoming one of us," Carlos replied while he began to gather up his things.

As night descended on Auradon, Mal's excitement grew. With every passing minute, her victory came closer. Once she and Jay got Fairy Godmother's Wand, they could return to the Isle of the Lost and free her mom and all the rest of the villains.

As she and Jay arrived at the museum, however, they came across their first problem.

"This place is massive. How are we going to find the wand in here?" Jay asked, voicing the question that was in Mal's head.

"Let's just try and get in first, and then we can worry about finding it," Mal suggested.

Mal and Jay spent the next several minutes wandering around the museum, testing doors. They skipped one where a security guard was sitting at a desk at first, trying to avoid him. But upon realizing that every other door was locked, they finally decided that they would have to deal with the security guard. As they were looking for a way in, Jay noticed something.

"That's your mother's spinning wheel? Hahahaha." Jay comment, spotting the spinning wheel that was right behind the security officer on duty.

"It's magic, it doesn't have to look scary." Mal retorted as she pulled out her mother's spell book, an idea forming in her head.

"Magic Spindle, Do not linger, make my victim prick a finger." Mal was more than frustrated when the only thing that happened was the security guard yawned.

"Impressive."

"Okay. You know what." Mal turned back to the book. "Prick the finger, Prick it deep, send my enemy off to sleep." This time, the security guard stood up. After a couple seconds of entranced staring, he reached for the spinning wheel. When he touched the spinning wheel, there was a small pop as green sparks shot from the contact. The guard yawned and then promptly curled up next to the spinning wheel and fell asleep.

"Not so dorky now. Hah." Mal gave a smug smile as she reached for the handle, only to find that this door was also locked. As she tried to force the door open, Jay began to get a smug smile on his face.

"Stand back." He said as he steadily walked backward.

"Make it easy, make it quick, open up without a kick." Mal charmed quickly. Jay charged the door at full speed as it swung open on its own, allowing Jay to fly through the open door and land on his butt. Mal laughed as she walked in behind Jay, giving him a slight kick as she passed. "Coming?"

Jay quickly gathered himself off the floor and began to follow Mal. As he looked around, he was in a thieves dream. Artifacts of all kinds were left around completely unprotected, ripe for the taking. Jay saw clothes and armors that could easily sell on the Isle of the Lost for more than everything in his dad's shop combined. He even caught a glimpse of the famed lamp of Agrabah that his dad had told him about. Jay knew exactly the first thing he would steal after all the villains on the Isle of the Lost were free. But for now, he needed to stick with Mal and find the wand.

As the two departed deep into the museum, they failed to notice a certain white haired fourteen-year-old sneaking into the museum entrance that they left wide open. Carlos quietly closed the doors behind him and made his way over to the security desk. He searched through the desk's many drawers, looking for all the information he could. He found two things of use. First was a manual on the security system, which held all the details about the alarms, security camera's, and even the secure line from the museum to the Auradon Secret Service. There was no way to cut the connection from the alarms to the Secret Service without alerting them, but Carlos did find that if he called them and told them that he would be testing the alarms, he could keep them from responding to a break in. Carlos knew he couldn't let Mal and Jay steal the want because that would free his mother from the Isle, but if they were caught trying to steal the wand, then Carlos would be sent back to the Isle of the Lost anyway, and he couldn't afford to be sent back this early. He needed at least a week before to build and test the Barrier Breaker. Before that, he couldn't afford for Mal or Jay to screw things up for him. Without any further hesitation, he dialed the number to the Secret Service that was listed in the manual.

The next half hour of the night found Jay and Mal searching in every corridor for the wand. Every minute found Mal regretting not being able to use the mirror even more. Finally, they came across the front entrance of the museum and found the maps that guests would use when they came to visit. After finding the Wand's location on the map, which apparently was the main attraction of the entire museum and therefore pointed out in bold letters, Jay and Mal made a beeline for the location. The Chamber of the Wand was a two story room with a domed roof. Light shone in from above, lighting up the wand, which hovered in the middle of the room for all to see. Jay stared right at it, his heart racing as he realized he was only inches away from making history. He ducked under the railing around the area where the wand was floating.

"Jay, don't," Mal ordered, realizing what Jay had planned. Jay gave her a small grin before continuing.

"Wait, no, no, no," Mal yelled as Jay reached out for the wand. As Jay's hand reached the light, an invisible force field sent him flying backward. An alarm blared overhead, causing Mal to cover her ears. Jay rose from the floor slowly, reeling from the force of the throw.

"Let's go," Mal called as she turned and fled the chamber, Jay following as quickly as he could.

Carlos had been prepared for an alarm to go off for awhile, but the amount of noise caught him off guard. It also awoke the sleeping guard nearby. Carlos dove over the security desk and prayed that the guard hadn't seen him. The sound of footsteps moving away let him know that the guard was more interested in the alarm than anything else.

The moment the guard was gone, Carlos was back behind the security desk. He was glad that he had already called the security force. Now all he had to do was shut down the alarm before the guard found the source of the noise. He typed the code into the keypad as fast as he could and was grateful for the lack of noise. Until he heard feet storming down the hall toward him.

When he turned around, he saw Mal and Jay, faces blanketed in confusion, running straight toward him. Jay gave Carlos a deep glare before racing past him toward the door. Carlos raced off after them, making sure to once again close the door behind him.

When the group finally got back to the dorm, they all collapsed into the nearest piece of furniture to catch their breath. The peace lasted all of three seconds before Jay got back up, grabbed Carlos by the collar of his jacket, and slammed into the wall of the dorm room.

"Gah." Carlos grunted in pain, "Is this going to be a thing with you?" He asked, his voice filled with irritation.

"What in the world were you doing at the museum tonight, short stock?" Jay yelled, raising Carlos a little bit higher off the floor.

"Making sure you didn't get caught," Carlos yelled back.

"And why do you care?" Mal questioned, glaring daggers into Carlos.

"Because if you get caught, we all get sent back to the Isle of the Lost, not just you and Jay." Carlos was talking to Mal but didn't break eye contact with Jay for a minute.

"So? If we get the wand, then it doesn't matter." Mal rose from the chair she was in, frustrated.

"And if we get sent back without it, then we all die. If you fail your mission, then you, Jay, Evie, and me will be fed to Ursula for lunch without a second thought. I don't care about you, but I don't intend to die because you two messed up a simple robbery."

Mal thought for a second about what Carlos had said, and was annoyed at how right he was. Whether she liked it or not, Carlos and Evie had been sent to Auradon with her and Mal. She had barely considered their thoughts on things while she had been plotting.

"Jay set him down." Mal didn't have to watch Jay listen to her; she just had to hear the thump. She turned back to Carlos, who was rising back up from the floor. "Since you have such a big stake in this, why don't you help us get the wand?"

"No."

"No?" Mal had never been told no by anyone except her mother. Now, this little shrimp was saying it to her face.

"Yeah, no. I am not going back to the Isle without a good reason. You may want to impress your mother, but I hate mine. I am not going back, ever." Carlos glared her down. Carlos' heart was pumping. Adrenaline raced through his veins and his mind focused on one thing. Survival. To go back to the Isle meant certain doom for him, regardless if they had the wand or not. His mother would make his life a living nightmare if he ever went back. He turned from Mal and went back to his bed. He sat down and stared at the floor, ignoring the looks from Jay and Mal.

"Whatever, I'm going to bed. Jay, we'll meet up tomorrow and come up with a way to deal with the force field." Mal didn't even wait for a response before leaving the room, leaving Jay running his hands through his hair in frustration.

Jay knew that Carlos was right. If they had been caught, then all four of them would be dead. It was one of the reasons Jay had hated running with crews in the past. If even one member messed up, the entire team was done for. But he also realized something else. It was the one fear he had back when they first entered the limousine. Evie and Carlos had no intention of helping them. In fact, it looked like they had every reason to sell out Mal and Jay. Evie might not have any knowledge of what was going on, but Carlos had more than enough information to get Jay and Mal in trouble. Jay knew that the next couple of days would decide the fate of all four of the VK's.