Alia and Jay climbed back inside, Jay shutting the window behind them. They hurried into the little gathering area, where the others were already waiting. Evie and Carlos had both taken off their leather jackets, though Evie was still wearing the leather skirt that seemed attached to her jacket earlier. Jay took off his own jacket and tossed it over the back of the red leather couch before plopping down and lounging against the arm of said couch. Alia took off her jacket and set it on the couch's other arm before sitting by her brother while Carlos sat at the desk, sitting backward in the chair. Evie remained standing while Mal paced back and forth angrily.

"Okay, so, Uma gave us an ultimatum." Mal announced grimly. "By noon tomorrow we have to bring Fairy Godmother's wand to her ship, or Ben's dead."

"What?!" Most of them exclaimed in horror.

"There's no way we're gonna give Uma the wand! We can't just let her destroy Auradon!" Evie argued desperately.

"Uma doesn't get the wand, then Ben is toast." Carlos pointed out.

"Yeah-"

"Great, so we're going to give Uma, of all people, the wand."

"Do we have another choice?" Carlos, Evie, and Jay all talked over each other.

"Wait, you guys!" Mal called, her face lighting up with an idea. Everyone fell silent and looked at her. "Your 3D printer." she said to Carlos.

"A phony wand." Carlos caught on.

"Yes!"

"In my sleep."

"Yeah, but the second Uma tests it she'll know it's fake." Evie pointed out.

Jay sat up while Alia leaned forward on her elbows.

"Okay, so we'll just get Ben out really fast." Mal pointed out.

"We could use some kind of diversion so they don't notice." Alia suggested, thinking of her pickpocketing knowledge.

There was silence for a second before Jay thought of a diversion. "Smoke bombs!"

Mal pointed at him excitedly while Alia grinned.

"That's perfect!" Evie agreed, finally getting into the plan. "I'll get the chemicals we need from Lady Tremaine's place. That could work."

Evie crossed the room and stopped in front of Mal. "Oh, and sick hair, by the way," she said, touching Mal's hair, "Evil step-mom seriously stepped up her game."

"Okay, you wanna know something? Dizzy did this." Mal told her in amazement.

"Little Dizzy? Shut up."

Alia glanced over at the boys. Jay had stood up and moved toward the desk behind Carlos, who was staring open-mouthed at the two girls.

"I know. I'm, like, loving it. It's like a lot lighter." Mal added, running her fingers through her hair.

"I'm really proud of her." Evie added.

Jay cleared his throat loudly, bumping his elbow into Carlos's back.

"Hellooo?" Carlos added.

Mal and Evie paused, Evie whipping her head around to stare at them. Carlos responded by holding out one hand in a gesture that said 'Seriously?'.

Mal clapped once while Evie said, "Right." both getting back on track.

"Carlos, Jay, you guys meet us at Pirate's Bay no later than noon. And you guys," she added when Jay stood up straight again, "losing: not an option. 'Cause we're rotten."

"To the core." Evie, Jay, and Carlos answered.

Jay and Carlos both grabbed their jackets and Alia stood up before she realized, she wasn't sure who she was going with.

"Uh, who am I with?" she asked, raising a hand.

"You could-"

"Us." Jay cut Evie off. Evie gave him a patient, mildly-amused look.

"You know, she'd probably like Dizzy." she pointed out.

"I'm sure she would." Jay agreed, shrugging his jacket on. "Everyone with a heart likes Dizzy. But I'm not leaving my little sister on the Isle of the Lost without me."

"'Little' my butt." Alia joked. "You're four minutes older than me."

"And a lot taller." Jay responded with a smirk.

"Five inches!" Alia shot back.

"Okay! Thank you!" Carlos stepped between them, waving his hands, though he looked amused. "She'll come with us. Just to be safe." he added to Alia. "We've already lost Ben, we don't need to risk another kidnapping."

"Alright, fine." Alia sighed in defeat, pulling on her jacket and zipping it up halfway before following the others. When the five of them reached the alley, they went separate ways, Jay, Carlos, and Alia going back the way they'd come when they arrived at the Isle.

"Okay, so...who's Dizzy?" Alia asked quietly, walking between the boys down the narrow alley away from the hideout.

"You know Lady Tremaine? Cinderella's evil stepmother?" Carlos asked. Alia nodded. "Dizzy's one of her granddaughters. She's Drizella's youngest daughter. I think she's…ten now?" Carlos glanced at Jay.

"Yeah, something like that." Jay agreed. "Her and Evie are close, practically sisters. Dizzy always looked up to her."

"And Jay had a soft spot for her, too." Carlos smirked. Jay stretched a long, muscled arm around Alia's back to smack him upside the head before they turned into the marketplace.

"We included Tremaine's Curl up & Dye shop in our turf to keep creeps like Harry from messing with Dizzy." Jay admitted quietly. "We still collected from the shop, but me and Evie made sure no one messed with Dizzy."

"Aw!" Alia cooed teasingly, smirking sideways at her brother. She almost wished she'd gone with the girls to meet Dizzy, now, knowing Jay seemed to have seen her as yet another little sister.

"Shut up." Jay said simply, reaching over and shoving Alia's beanie down over her eyes.

"Well, look who came back to their roots." an unfamiliar, deep, smooth voice spoke from somewhere behind them.

Alia stopped, feeling the boys go tense and turn around on either side of her. Pulling her hat back up, Alia also turned around, only to go stiff. She almost didn't notice Jay pull her slightly behind him, because her eyes were fixed on the figure that stepped out of a nearby booth.

He looked much the same as his statue and portrait in the Cultural History Museum in Auradon, except he'd obviously aged and put on a little weight. His clothes were tattered and tight around his middle, but he still had the cruel smirk and cold, dark eyes.

"Hello, Son." he smirked, looking at Jay.

"I'm not your son." Jay snapped, taking a single step toward the man.

"And yet, here you are, back home, in your element." Jafar stated smoothly, taking a couple steps closer to them.

"This isn't my home." Jay told him, his lip curled in disgust. "And you're not my father."

"Maybe not by blood." Jafar agreed. "But who raised you since you were a baby? Who cared for you? Made you the man you are today?"

"You stole me from my family." Jay snapped, getting even angrier. "And you may have raised me, but you never cared for me. Never loved me the way a parent is supposed to. I should have been raised by my real parents, Aladdin and Jasmine, but you stole that from me just as you stole their son from them. And the man I am today?" he continued. "That has nothing to do with you. I chose to be good. I chose to accept my family and my birthright. I will be ruling Agrabah in the near future, like you always wanted to. But I will be ruling it the right way, sharing the honor and responsibility with my sister. You failed, Jafar." Jay told him slowly. "You tried to turn Aladdin's son into a villain,…and you failed."

Head held high, Jay turned away from Jafar and started to lead the way down the marketplace.

"I may have failed to turn you into a villain," Jafar called angrily, "but I will get off this retched island!"

There was a scuffle behind them and Jay felt a chill run up his spine when he heard his sister yelp in surprise. Jay and Carlos whipped around to see that Jafar had Alia in his grasp, one arm around her chest while his other hand held a dagger to her throat. Alia's body was rigid, his chin tilted up and jaw clenched. The whites of her eyes were visible as she glanced around for an escape.

Jay instinctively took a step toward them, only to freeze because Carlos grabbed his shoulder and Jafar pressed the blade more firmly to Alia's neck.

"Ah, ah, ah." Jafar taunted. "Not another step, Jason." he sneered. "She's my ticket out of here. Free me, and she's free to go."

Carlos glanced anxiously at Jay, but his friend's eyes were fixed almost frantically on his sister. They didn't know what to do. First, they lost Ben, now this?

Then, Alia suddenly leaned forward and down against the arm with the knife, her hands pinning Jafar's arm to her chest. This forced the blade away from her enough that she was safe to slam her elbow into Jafar's side. He gasped in pain while Alia ducked backward under his knife-wielding arm, twisting his arm around behind his back. With a twist against Jafar's wrist, she disarmed him of the dagger and quickly backed away toward Jay and Carlos. Jay instantly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her behind him so she was between him and Carlos.

Jafar grabbed his shoulder, wincing as he glared balefully at the three teens.

"I see you've been teaching her a few things." he muttered to Jay, who stared at him through narrow eyes.

"Nope. She knew that before I did." Jay stated simply. "Now back off, or you'll get worse than that."

With Carlos leading, and Jay keeping a careful eye on their backs, the three teens hurried as calmly as they could out of the marketplace. Only when Carlos lead them into another alley did they slow down, though they still kept a careful eye on their surroundings.

Jay moved to Alia's side, gently taking the dagger from her white-knuckled grasp.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, watching her expression.

Alia swallowed thickly, her eyes darting toward him before looking straight ahead. "Yeah, I'm fine…I just never really expected to have to use those self-defense lessons."

Jay sighed harshly, his eyes straight ahead again as they hurried through the maze of alleys. "I never should've allowed this. You shouldn't have come."

"You're not the boss of me." she reminded him, surprisingly in a quiet voice instead of teasing or mocking or even angry. "You have to learn, Jay, we're partners. We're equals. You don't have to protect me all the time. We're eventually going to rule a kingdom together, and I get just as much say in the decisions we'll have to make as you do."

Jay sighed quietly, looking down at the dirty alley street as they walked. "I guess you're right. When this whole nightmare is over, I'll really work on it."

Alia glanced up at him, and though she didn't smile, as they'd instructed her and Ben not to do on the Isle, her brown eyes were light.

They reached the hidden limo a few minutes later, and after pulling the tarps off the car, the boys got in the front while Alia slid into the back. Then Jay sped toward Auradon.