Night meetings

A few days after Jay's birthday Freddie was woken in the middle of the night by her father's shadows. They wanted information. Freddie was afraid to answer them, for fear she would owe them. But they assured her if she told them what they wanted she would be free. She agreed.

"Tell us when we can begin our next phase, getting him back to the isle."
"October 21st. It is the Harvest Ball. Mal will be here with the whole school."
"Good. When is a good day for him to return with the army?"
"Christmas. The school will be empty except for us kids from the isle. We are orphans, as they call us. No homes to go to for the holidays. Mal and her band will be stuck here with the us four. And some older teacher that doesn't celebrates Christmas. The rest of the royal families will be spread out across the whole of Auradon. Several royal families even give their servants and guards the day off." Freddie wasn't really sure about the guards, but she wanted to make it sound good.

"We have heard Maleficent is in Auradon, where is she?"
"No one knows, not even Mal. She hasn't seen her since the coronation, or so I heard Evie, Evil Queens daughter, tell her boyfriend Doug."
"Good, then she will be out of our way."

"Who here is an enemy of Mal and her friends?"
"Audrey, daughter of Sleeping Beauty. She and her grandmother have caused them, especially Mal, a lot of trouble since the coronation."
"How easy is it to manipulate her?"
"If you say you are going to punish Mal she's all ears."
"Good, good. We will be back tomorrow with our plan." They left before she could object. Freddie looked over at Harriet to make sure she was asleep. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her eyes still closed.

What Freddie didn't know was Harriet wasn't asleep, and she was worried about Mal and her friends. They were all very nice and welcoming to her. Mal had so far kept her secret about being in the singing class. Harriet was really happy to be away from Smee and his commanding ways. As well as her lazy father's clutches. Yes, Freddie was bossy, but here in Auradon, Harriet could find places to avoid Freddie. Harriet decided then and there to choose good, and she would stay awake tomorrow, find out what the shadows wanted from Freddie, and tell Mal.

The following night Harriet lay in bed, trying not to fall asleep. It wasn't long after midnight when the shadows returned, this time with Facilier himself. Harriet kept her eyes shut, back to them, and listened intently. "Freddie, child. How are you?"
"Well Daddie. How are you?"
"Lonely, but I am used to being alone as I wait for what I most desire."
"Is it truly your desire father, or the shadows?"
"They will hear you. And we both want it. I cannot come forward to do this myself, as they are aware I am off the isle. But they do not know our plan. You are to use this it is a truth spell." Freddie hesitated to take the paper, it was a truth spell Mal got caught with, that got her thrown out of Auradon Prep. But who had she put it on? And would putting Audrey under the spell, really help the shadows and her father.

"And just how am I supposed to use this?"
"On the girl who is enemy with Mal. Ask her what she knows."
"Will she remember this?"
"No, and you only have 5 minutes to get the truth."
"What are we looking for?"

"Why she hates Mal. What she and her grandmother know about Maleficent. What she knows about Mal and Ben."
"How will this help you? I get the part about Mal's mom, and why she hates Mal, but how will that help the take over?"
"For once we get here, if we will need to hold the original four as prisioners, or if they are still faking it, waiting for a reason to rebel."
"That's easy, they are good. "
"Well spell the Sleeping Beauty Princess." And with that he left, the paper falling to the floor. Freddie, looked at Harriet who was still 'asleep' and then to the paper, with the written spell. She read it out loud, quietly. But not quiet enough that Harriet couldn't hear it.

"The truth be told, I have you in my hold. Honesty and truth is all I need for proof. Easy enough. But really five minutes, the way that prissy princess rambles, I will be lucky to get one question answered." She snickered. She rolled over and went to bed.

Harriet wondered how much trouble that spell could be to Mal and the others. She decided to talk to Mal first thing in the morning.

Harriet got up early, as Freddie slept she snuck out. She knew Evie got up early to get ready for classes, so she knew she would be awake. She knocked on their door. Evie opened it. "Harriet? What's wrong?" She could see the look of fear in her eyes.

"I…I need to talk to you and Mal, NOW. Freddie…is in to the shadow people and it's bad." With that Evie, let her in and woke Mal. When Mal was awake, Harriet told her story. Mal looked at Evie. And Evie nodded. She knew Mal needed to pop over to see Fairy Godmother and fast.

"I'll be back I have to use the bathroom." Mal said, and grabbed her clothes and ran out.

Mal arrived in Fairy Godmothers office, just as she reported to work. "Mal what's wrong?"
"Freddie has had visits from the shadow people and her father. From what Harriet heard, her father wants to get caught and sent back. He plans to leave the isle again with an army of villians on Christmas day. I just don't know how."
"There is only two ways, magic from over here or a bridge controller. I will make sure all are accounted for."
"I…I have an idea. But first How do the controllers work?"
"On a special frequency that is emitted from the controller. It is the only small bit of magic that can still work on the isle if it's there."
"I don't know much about the dome, but can we make the controller unusable?"
"No, wait I think I can. I need Carlos. I will see if we can change the frequency of the dome. Ben told me he broke through once. Maybe he can help."
"I will have him stop by. We have till Christmas to fix it. We just need to make sure Freddie and Facilier don't know we are on to them. What about Audrey's being spelled?"
"I am not sure what her truths will do to help Facilier, but Have Evie use the mirror as she did before, when she was tracking Leah. So we know what is asked and what Freddie learns. If we need to we can wipe it from her mind."
"Ok, thank you." Mal popped back into the bathroom and then to her room. Harriet was gone, worried Freddie would wonder where she was.

"Ok, so spell the mirror to show you what happens when Freddie spells Audrey. Have it remember what it sees so we can show Fairy Godmother. If we need to we will wipe that from Freddie's mind. We think Facilier might have stolen a dome controller. She is looking into that now. Fairy Godmother is going to see if Carlos can help with that if that's the case. We don't let them know we are onto them. We will let him get caught, question him for a few days than give him what he wants. A trip to the isle with the controller. But he won't know it won't work come Christmas."
"Ok. Works for me. I'll talk to Harriet later."
"No, let me. Now, the mirror." Evie pulled the mirror out of its hiding place in the wall safe with Mal's wand.

"Mirror, Mirror that I hold, a spell of truth will soon be told. When it does, I need to know. For you to save it for all to behold." It glowed a brief second than went back to being a mirror. "All set."
"Good. Ok off to class, I have to find Carlos too."

It was a day later, during lunch when Mal and Evie spotted Freddie talking to Audrey. Evie pulled out the mirror. "The truth be told, I have you in my hold. Honesty and truth is all I need for proof." They heard Freddie say.

Audrey said, "What?" than a funny look crossed her face and Freddie started asking her questions.

"Where is Maleficent?"
"In a glass cage, behind a magic barrier. No one knows where she is."
"No one?"
"Maybe Fairy Godmother, I don't know."
"Does your Grandmother know?"
"No one knows. Not even Ben or Mal."
"Why do you hate Mal?"
"She stole my chance to be queen. She stole Ben from me. I may not have been in love with him, but I could tolerate him."
"Is that why you hate her?"
"Yes, and for what her mother did to my mother. My mother was raised by fairies. My grandmother raised me because my mother had no idea how to raise a child as the fairies had no idea how to raise her. Mal is the same as her mother. She will break Ben's heart and I will be there to fix it and be queen. Someday she will mess up and I will fix it. I have tried to break them up and so has Grammie. So far not well enough, be we still try."

"What did you do?" Freddie wasn't sure this could help the shadows but she sure as hell wanted it for gossip.

"We lied about Mal's spell being illegal. Got her kicked out of school to be away from Ben. Then they tricked us and home schooled her at the palace. Than Grammie made it hard for her to graduate, by taking away the classes she needed to graduate and making her take home maker classes. When that didn't work, Grammie had her transferred to the furthest school in Agrabah. But all that did was take away my singing title. Mal beat me in the choir contest. But Grammie isn't done yet. Mal can't marry Ben she isn't a citizen of Auradon, and she has to be. And she needs to be titled, not a princess, but at least a real lady or something like that. He'll learn when he turns 18. I can't wait." By then Audrey was getting foggy and the spell wore off. The mirror faded back to a mirror. Evie and Mal exchanged looks.

"Did you know that?"

"About having to be a citizen of Auradon and being titled?" Evie shook her head. "I knew about the first one. But what she doesn't seem to know is that the Isle is in the kingdom of Auradon, we have Auradonain birth certificates. I learned that in Poly Sci. I just don't know where they are held. As for titled, no that will be Ben's department. I'll talk to him, that has to be a deeply imbedded law in the charter. We only briefly touched on the main laws in Political Science 101."
"Well we are one up on her now. She won't know until Ben turns 18." Mal smiled at Evie's words.

"Well this little spell of Freddies didn't really give her anything the shadows could use, I don't think, but it sure helped our cause against Audrey."

An hour later the girls and Ben were in Fairy Godmother's office. "Mirror Mirror that I hold please retell the story that you hold." The mirror lit up and started its show again.

"The truth be told, I have you in my hold. Honesty and truth is all I need for proof." They heard Freddie say.

Audrey said, "What?"

"Where is Maleficent?"
"In a glass cage, behind a magic barrier. No one knows where she is."
"No one?"
"Maybe Fairy Godmother, I don't know."
"Does your Grandmother know?"
"No one knows. Not even Ben or Mal."
"Why do you hate Mal?"
"She stole my chance to be queen. She stole Ben from me. I may not have been in love with him, but I could tolerate him."
"Is that why you hate her?"
"Yes, and for what her mother did to my mother. My mother was raised by fairies. My grandmother raised me because my mother had no idea how to raise a child as the fairies had no idea how to raise her. Mal is the same as her mother. She will break Ben's heart and I will be there to fix it and be queen. Someday she will mess up and I will fix it. I have tried to break them up and so has Grammie. So far not well enough, be we still try."

"What did you do?"

"We lied about Mal's spell being illegal. Got her kicked out of school to be away from Ben. Then they tricked us and home schooled her at the palace. Than Grammie made it hard for her to graduate, by taking away the classes she needed to graduate and making her take home maker classes. When that didn't work, Grammie had her transferred to the furthest school in Agrabah. But all that did was take away my singing title. Mal beat me in the choir contest. But Grammie isn't done yet. Mal can't marry Ben she isn't a citizen of Auradon, and she has to be. And she needs to be titled, not a princess, but at least a real lady or something like that. He'll learn when he turns 18. I can't wait."

Fairy Godmother and Ben watched the mirror fade. "Well we have Queen Leah beat on both those counts." Ben said in a matter of fact tone.
"I am not titled Ben." Mal reminded him.
"Not yet. But that can easily be changed." He said with confidence.
"UM, Ben Dear, don't you need council approval for something like that?"
"Not all of it. I believe I know the rule they are referring to. I believe I can Knight Mal, and that will do it."
"Really?" Evie and Mal said together.

"I believe so, will have to check for sure."

"As for the birth certificate. We have a copy on file here, the original is filed on the isle. But there is also a legal one filed at the hall of records here in Auradon."
"How?" Evie asked.

"When we take the yearly census, they also take a copy of all the births and deaths. They are recorded a second time, officially here in Auradon. The isle is under Auradon's protection and considered Auradonian soil. Someone forgot to tell Leah that I guess." Ben answered. "So no worries there. And as for the other thing. We can make that happen too. I just have to make sure knighthood is it. If not, then we petition the council for a title. I would rather not because she will know I know her game plan, but I have the votes, that won't be an issue."

"Mal dear, you need to make sure Harriet is safe."
"Freddie didn't know she was listening. She came to us when Freddie was still sleeping, and faked being asleep. Twice, so I am sure the shadows don't know."

"Ok. Carlos and I have been working on his plan, but he may need his machine from the isle. Thing is he doesn't remember where it is. We might need to take him over there."
"Mal, can't go over there for sure. The boys and I maybe." Evie sadly admitted.

"I was thinking only the boys Evie, dear. They can get in and out faster. I know you'd love to see your mother, but honestly, I think they will do best."
"I understand. Ben, can…can I video chat with my mother?"
"I can do that. I was actually thinking of putting limited internet access into Dragon Hall. Just for educational sights. When they run the wire, I can see what we can do to wire up your mom's place, for video chats." Evie hugged and kissed Ben. They all laughed.

"OOPs sorry Mal."
"I'll let it pass." She teased, "But just this once. And I think we can skip telling Doug."

"Might be a good idea." Ben agreed.

"So when will the boys be going?"
"As soon as they are ready. Jay and Carlos are going with a few on the guards, they will be disguised as citizens. They go over at night. Carlos seems to think his mother should be at the spa?"
"Oh, yes, she does go often." Mal agreed.

The boys went over to the isle a few nights later. They arrived just about midnight. With the controller tucked safely on one of the guards and a decoy one on another, they headed out for Cruella's house. Jay wanted to check in on his father, but he knew they had to get Carlos' invention first. As they approached Hell Hall. Carlos noticed the car was in deed gone. "We're clear, Baby is gone."

"Baby?" One of the guards asked.

"That's what his nutty mother called her car. Loves that thing more than him." Jay points to Carlos, who sadly nods in agreement. "Ok where is your lab?"
"Follow me." Carlos leads them into the house. Through the main room and into the closet. On the other side of the closet, his hidden lab. They were in. Carlos found his machine, and grabbed whatever tools he could find.

They were heading out of the closet when they heard Baby returning. "That's Baby. Quick out this way." Carlos said, running towards the back door. The others followed. They made it out as Cruella parked the car. She entered the building, and the others came back around front to head back towards town.

"That was close. She never drives at night, something must have happened. Oh well. I have what I need, let's get out of here."

In town the four boys pass Jay's father's shop. Jay sneaks in and takes a few things that belong to him. He leaves his father a note. The sun is coming up so they have to run for the bridge. The limo is waiting on the other side of the barrier. They hit the button and cross over as the sun rises enough to start waking people. The boys watch the isle as they are driven away, knowing for sure they will never be on the isle again.