Chapter 29: Mixed Emotions Lead To Weakness

"OK, I know they behaved rather ungratefully," Charles said, "but is the force field seriously necessary?"

Tensions were silent but obvious in the cafeteria at dinnertime. Because of the events that had occurred, Ben had no choice but to keep the Raft VKs concealed in a force field. Positively speaking, it sounded better than putting them in a local sheriff station, but they still got bad glares from the other students. Some even shot the glares at Ben, mentally asking him why on earth he just didn't dispose of them. Unlike the VKs from the Isle, these four definetly showed that if they were to get a grade for redemption, they could go lower than F-.

"I don't know what I can do." Ben sighed as he looked at his untouched plate. "I never thought I'd say this, but trying to give villain kids a chance for a better life is harder than I expected."

"To be fair, Ben, you were thinking about the kids from the Isle," Dusk Shimmer pointed out as she dared to sit next to them at the same table. "No one knew that the Raft was still a thing, so how on earth could you have been ready for a group of delinquents that don't even exist in the current records."

Ben briefly looked away to the table where the Raft VKs were sitting. Dwight, Aaron, Leona, and Vannabella didn't even speak or whisper to each other. Aside from exchanging blaming glares and just doing nothing, they pretty much just sat there like a bunch of little kids under a time out.

"You know, I managed to convince Tara Sam Scam to get her boyfriend to hack into the government files." Charles pulled a golden folder full of papers in it. "Behold our guests' criminal records." He handed it to Ben, who eagerly took it.

"You are one heck of a genius," Dusk said.

"Eh. Using my resources to break into other people's privacy as info for my gossip is what I do." Charles shrugged. He blinked at Dusk. "Isn't your bonded Troll with you?"

"Oddly enough all the Troll Teens got a spring illness called Troll Pox," Dusk said. "Gladiola said that they just need a day or two to relax."

Ben flipped through the papers. "Unbelievable. It contains almost everything about them from their birth certificates to their hobbies, favorite crimes, worst fears, and the highest things they've ever done in their lives. With all the scans and security footage of the Raft, they got their lives analyzed and scanned." He pulled out a couple sheets of paper pinned together with a paper clip. "Look at this. This is the profile of Vannabella."

He passed the paper to Dusk, who managed to quickly read through everything. "It says that her last name is Rídegel..."

"Rídegel?" Charles frowned. "Hey, that's the last name of Jacques, a French-Canadian ice dancer."

"You heard of him?" Ben asked.

"Remember how Aaron's dad used to be a TOTAL DRAMA contestant? Well after the reality show was cancelled, it was replaced by a more stable and still continuing show called THE RIDONCULOUS RACE. Jacques Rídegel and his partner Josee were professional Canadian Olympic ice dancers who participated in the race solely to get over their complete humiliation of winning a silver medal during the Olympics. They had gotten so many penalties for causing sabotages that even the host didn't like them. Fortunately they ended up with losing the finale by ending up in third place. I know all this because my father actually showed me clips of the series in order to lecture me on the sins and blasphemy hidden in competitive reality shows. Seriously, these guys were creepy enough to smile all the time just for the camera crew, it's bad enough that 'Rídegel' almost sounds like the French translation for 'laugh of frost'."

"Yep. Says here in Vannabella's profile that her parents are indeed Jacques and Josee. Apparently the authorities wanted to spare the Isle villains from Josee's vile tantrums." Dusk looked further at the document. "Uh. It further says here that due to an issue while Josee was in labor, Vannabella was born with crippled legs, and since they wanted her to be an ice dancer like them, they had a local surgeon perform an experimental surgery on Vannabella." She gasped. "Her ice-summoning skates...are her actual feet!"

"Let me see that!" Charles snatched the document and skimmed through it. "Claustrophobia, a lust for gold that will actually hypnotize her...Ah. Yep. Experimental feet." He looked further through the documents. "Wow. Apparently Leona's afraid of anything that can be dangerous, but the one being she's the most terrified is Randy Boggs, a Third Sector villainess born from the monster Randall. Apparently, Randy managed to escape from her cell only once and the only thing she did was not escape but seriously harass Leona, which is why Leona is too afraid to use her own magic to defend herself against the camouflaging monster.

"Wow. And on Aaron's profile, it says that after Aaron was born, his mother completely ditched him and his father and Duncan made sure that his son would grow up to be apathetic so that way his feelings for other people won't become weaknesses. That's why, according to the document, Aaron never admitted to fellow inmate Carly Courtney that he actually liked her." He pulled out a photo attached to the profile. It was a black-and-white image of Aaron Duncan walking through some sort of hallway. Judging by how young he looked in that image, the picture could have been taken around the same time as Ben's coronation. Aaron looked like he was passing by and ignoring a girl three years younger than him. Despite the lack of colors in the photo, it seemed pretty evident that the girl was a reading glass-bearing Hispanic, had light brown hair and bangs tied up by gray ribbons into a curly bun, wore a matching grey school girl outfit like those from British boarding schools, and obviously looked sadly at the passing Aaron.

"The poor thing," Dusk looked at the image before quickly glancing at the indifferent Duncan. "I bet he's not even aware that he might have hurt her feelings." She quickly grabbed a pen and wrote something on the back of the paper. The boys watched as she got up and walked over to the force field bubble, where she 'happened' to accidently drop the piece of paper near Aaron's foot and walked back to the table. They watched as Aaron suspiciously picked up the paper and looked at it. His face softened a bit, much to their surprise. After looking at the back of the paper, he acted like nothing happened and tucked the picture in his collar.

"Yep. He does care." Dusk smirked.

"What did you write on the paper?" Ben asked.

Before Dusk could answer, she heard the doors open and saw Gladiola, Glows Ruby, and Disco Jam walk through the rows of tables. Some students from St Luther tried to give them friendly greetings, but the Troll Teens gave them the cold shoulders. This caused Dusk to arch an eyebrow. This didn't look like the Troll Teens she knew. Usually they would always burst into song or try showering their classmates with cupcakes, glitters, or scrapbook invitations to their next party. Right now they were walking towards the table of the Raft VKs.

The latter fours looked up and nearly gawked when they saw the Troll teens. It was almost as if they had seen a ghost.

"What is up with them?" Charles asked.

Gladiola: My, such mixed emotions.

Disco Jam and Glows Ruby: Oh, oh, oh, oh

Gladiola: Why all such the commotion?

Just look at the state you are in.

It's like in a competition you just can't win.

Disco Jam and Glows Ruby: Oh, oh, oh, oh

Gladiola: Why do you even try working together

When you are clearly a group of lone wolves?

Disco Jam and Glows Ruby: Lone wolves.

Gladiola: You know that honesty is better,

So why not admit you work better alone?

"That...doesn't sound at all like a song Gladiola and the other Trolls would generally sing." Dusk looked suspiciously at the Troll Teens walking in circles around the force field that was shielding the four teenagers in it while they desperately tried to cover their ears from the singing.

"Yeah, I don't think she's trying to not stop the feeling," Charles said in deadpan.

The three Trolls: Mixed emo, mixed emotions,

Mixed emotions lead to weakness.

Why do we create SO much confusion?

Admit it, you just can't stand each other

Or work as one together.

You wished you'd just be alone in business.

One by one, Gladiola verbally harassed the Raft VKs.

Gladiola: (referring to Aaron) You wished you didn't have to work with them.

(Referring to Dwight) They made you hurt the one that beat your heart like a drum.

(Referring to Leona) They keep treating you like the weak link.

(Referring to Vannabella) They say you're vain and got nothing to think.

Disco Jam and Glows Ruby: Ah, ah, ah

The Three Trolls: Mixed emotions! But you all hate each other!

We told you, mixed emotions lead to weakness!

Mixed emotions! You don't like working together!

Because mixed emo, mixed emotions

Lead to weakness!

Suddenly, to the shock of everyone in the cafeteria, the Raft VKs started attacking each other: Dwight turned into a hollowgast and started punching Aaron, who only for the latter to lock him in a headlock.

"I never liked you in the first place!" Dwight snapped at Aaron.

The three Trolls: Mixed

"Well I'm not the one who got Stockholm Syndrome for the first button-eyed chick I met!" Aaron kicked Dwight in the stomach.

The three Trolls: Emotions

"Everything just has to be about you getting a non-existing gold medal!" Leona shouted at Vannabella while the two girls engaged in a cat fight, with Leona taking off her clothes so that she could severely harm Vannabella.

The three Trolls: Lead to weakness!

"That's rich, Miss Everything-Is-Going-To-Kill-Me!"

Marius, who appeared out of nowhere, grabbed Vannabella's ankle before she could swing her skate at Leona's face. The Troll Teen slipped themselves away while Marius forced the four teenagers back on their seats and brutally punched each of them on the face, much to everyone's terror.

"The next misfit you make and I'll make sure I bring over my only cannibal goblin over to silence you permanently! GOT IT?" The Fae Realm Prince so loudly that anyone sitting about five feet near him had to make a run for it to the farthest seat. He hadn't looked so enraged ever since he came to Auradon... People actually saw the Raft kids being afraid of him. Leona was hugging Dwight tightly like a little girl hugging her big brother in the hopes that he'll protect her from bullies, Aaron looked petrified, and Vannabella was trying very hard to hide her terrified face with a smile.

"We'll behave," she said.

"Will you stop smiling?" Audrey asked from another table. "It's creeping me out!"

"It's not creepy." Vannabella shrugged as she sat upstraight on her chair. "I just happen to be a full-time smiling individual."

"She even does it in the bathroom." Leona snorted. "Even Texas McLean was freaked out when she recorded it...Oh, wait! The cameras she uses in the Raft bathrooms are usually in the toilet!"

"BURN!" Aaron high-fived Leona while Vannabella looked unamused.

"Yeah, who would have thought that her mark of villainy and an ugly mole would be located right between the...OW!" Dwight got punched by Vannabella and the two proceeded to tackle on their table.

"Eyeball breath!" She shouted at him.

"Silver paste face!"

"Limbless charmer!"

"Wannabe champion!"

"Should we stop them?" Leona asked Aaron as they dodged their hits.

"Eh." He shrugged. "You know the chorus. They fight, she throws tantrums, and ten minutes later, she'll be snoring like a pig in a county fair."

"OK, I'm out!" Marius said in exasperation and stormed out of the cafeteria. Wondering what could be bothering the Fae Realm prince so much, Dusk got up and left the others to deal with the Raft kids while she ran after him the hallway.

"Your Highness?" She called out once she managed to catch up with him and walk at his rhythm.

"I'm not in the mood," he downright told her. "Please leave me be."

"Normally I would," she said patiently, "but it's not how I function as a student body president. Unlike what you may think, I actually bother reaching out to people with issues and giving them advice." She saw him arch a skeptical eyebrow at her. "What? You thought that my job consists of only throwing parties or organizing the next pep rallies? That's the party planning committee's job. My position requires a lot of work."

"I'll take your word for it." He sighed. The prince pushed open the next door leading to the nearest outdoor courtyard, where he took the moment to pull out a fancy scroll with a green royal seal from his tunic and handed it to Dusk. "This just came to be today after the fiasco of the field trip."

The daughter of Sunset Shimmer unrolled the scroll and, with Marius' accord, read it out loud. "'Prince Marius Bogfae of the Fae Realm, after reading your mixed reports concerning your diplomatic expedition in Auradon and hearing the words of your own cousin Princess Daylight, it has been decided by the council that your expedition will soon get its final judgment by official members of the royal court other than you, your cousin, and the Sugar Plum Fairy.

"'In no late time, the royal family and some members of the council will join you and your cousin in Auradon until after your host's Tri-Relay Race event. Once that has occurred, it will help us determine whether or not your claims of Auradon being worthy trading allies is true or not, since any future relationship will be held responsible from you as future king.

"'In addition, Princess Daylight has mentioned you possibly finding a consort within the lady Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle, daughter of the demoness Svjetla, descendant of Calcifer, and of Lord Tom Marvolo Riddle, descendant of Salazar Slytherin and Prince Yaveske, and your current love interest from Auradon. Since traditions will soon require you to publicly declare your Fairy Queen once you are crowned, the royal family would find it within their pleasure to meet the fortunate maiden who conquered your heart and with luck she shall obtain the Bog King Lysander and the Fairy Queen Marianne's blessing.

"'We look forward to seeing you, for you have been missed by all your subjects, and we are quite eager to meet your new partner. With all genuine care and respect, the Bog King Lysander and the Fairy Queen Marianne, aka Dad and Mom.'" Dusk looked up from the scroll once she finished reading it. "Wow. Your folks do know how to write a formal letter. So what worries you the most? The part of Auradon or the part of introducing Penna to them?"

"Both," Marius confessed as he sat down on a nearby bench. "What on earth am I going to do? They're expecting a peaceful country and right now there's the crisis of the villain kids no one knew existed and might cause a war, and then there's the part of Penna both still being crabby at me and going through her disorder..."

"Crabby? Disorder?" Dusk took a deep breath and spoke patiently. "Just sum it up in a few words."

"Fair enough." Marius sighed. "Last night at my camp, Penna and I had an...intimate moment together in which I took the advantage of removing more of her Kraken Needles and now she has only five left. And this morning, while she was still asleep, I unintentionally got sucked into an old memory of hers by touching one of her remaining needles. She didn't take it well because it was a memory of her being forced to kill someone in order to create a Horcrux and her first crush Mandire was trying to comfort her, so she didn't speak to me all day. She especially got worse when she left to take care of her Horcruxes after Vannabella tried stealing from them, and this made me feel worse because then Aaron said that because I removed a majority of her needles, I...I might have led the woman I love to her doom."

"I see." Dusk nodded. "And you're worried that she won't forgive you?"

"I wanted to ask for forgiveness earlier this afternoon, but that's when I spotted her starting to glitch. It was if removing her needles was the cause of her physically and mentally changing. One moment, she's fine, but then she morphs into the human Penelope, and then it's the evil Penna in the dark dress of doom. Feige and Minuit didn't let me in her house when I found out of her situation. Penna wasn't lying... when she said she was suffering from multiple personalities."

"Mmh." Dusk nodded before giving her conclusion to the prince. "Your Highness, you do have to keep in mind two important points: habit and adaptation."

"Habit and adaptation?" Marius asked.

"Look." Dusk sat at the end of the bench to give him space. "You know that Penna is already having a time A, being something other than her dad's evil slave, and B, being in a romantic relationship that's actually lasting a long time. It's already difficult for her to realize who she really is because most VKs around her...physical age, know who they are meant to be because of their earned marks of villainy, but since her own mark came because her dad manipulated it through the needles and its now dissolving because you removed most of them, she's still struggling to discover who she is."

"Are you saying I'm dooming her?" Marius asked in horror.

"No!" Dusk waved her hands in a 'Don't freak out' manner. "It's already happened before you came."

"Phew!"

"All I'm saying, your Highness, is that Penna needs time to both understand who she's meant to become and how ready she is to accept meaningful people into her life." She then shrugged. "You have to admit, even by accident, snooping through memories she personally dislikes is an invasion of privacy and trust is important in relationships. But she'll forgive you eventually."

"What a relief," Marius said happily.

"Yeah, just don't freak her out when you tell her, which you should, about your parents wanting to meet her," Dusk warned. "You'd be shocked, but a majority of existing parents don't like Penna De Mort."

"I'm sure my parents won't dislike her," Marius said in a self-reassuring tone. "Besides, my father used to be a villain and he married my mother. I'm sure they can relate... I just hope my grandmother doesn't start harassing Penna..."

"Speaking of marriage, does Penna know that you're, you know, considering giving her a marriage proposal?" Dusk asked.

"I never said that!" Marius said indignantly.

"Your parents' note implies this." She waved the scroll in her hands before he snatched it back and hid it in his tunic.

"So I happen to...really like her and I...may have told Fancy Parents I'd like to have Penna as my queen...and my reason for me having sex with her last night was to see if whether or not she could provide heirs...OH, WHO AM I KIDDING?" He exclaimed. "I DO WANT PENNA DE MORT AS MY QUEEN!"

"Ding dong, ding dong!" Dusk said in a tune imitating 'Here Comes the Bride'. "This is actually the first time I hear somebody say that they want to have the Dark Lord' daughter at the altar! Priceless!"

"Sure, keep laughing," Marius rolled his eyes. "I don't think they can hear you all the way at the Isle."

"OK." Dusk turned serious all of sudden as if she had a switch that turned her like this. "How are you going to tell Penna all this?"

"Uh..." Marius had to mentally admit, Dusk Shimmer gave him a rather hard armor-piercing question. How can he tell his personality complex girlfriend with magical powers that his parents wanted to meet her and hopefully get their blessing for a possible marriage proposal offered by Marius? For one, it wasn't as easy as winning the lottery, which hardly ever happens to anyone on a scale from one to ten.

Dusk checked her wristwatch shaped like her solar motif and got up. "Well, I'd better go. I'm having a karaoke soirée with Sirenius at Sebastian's Groove Bar." She patted Marius in a comforting fashion. "Good luck with Penna."

"Thanks again for the advice."

Dusk left him and made a run for the parking lot, where she grabbed her motorcycle and drove her way out of Auradon Prep.

Penna needs time, Dusk's words echoed in his head. But the amount of time? That was something he still needed to figure out before...

"Meditating your royal issues, Bug Fly?"

Marius nearly screamed when Penna suddenly popped out of nowhere from the rose bush that stood behind him. She stepped out of it and sat on the bench as well. Marius noted that the roses withered once she got out.

"I never liked roses," Penna shrugged when Marius gave her a questioning look.

"I couldn't tell," he said. And now she makes plants wither, he told himself. My parents are SO going to like her. "How long where you in that bush? And I'm not asking because of the flowers."

"Oh, long enough for me to hear an entire conversation." Penna crossed her legs covered by the black scale pants she was wearing with her teal high heeled boots (the heels looked like snakes bearing fangs) and a sleeveless halter top with a venom green and black pattern reminding him of the scales of a boomslang snake. Marius didn't know how Penna did it, but she managed to braid her hair in a slithering serpent way and kept it tied with a band made of white pearls.

Her bluish eyes looked sincerely at Marius. "Marius, why didn't you tell me about you worrying that I wouldn't forgive you?" She asked. "I mean, after how I reacted the first time, you probably now know to never do it."

"Yes, but then when you didn't want to talk to me all day or when you started screaming and then Aaron Duncan saying that I could have caused your death..." Marius tilted his head guiltily. "I almost began to believe that I was on the verge of losing the only woman other than my mother or cousin that I care so much and couldn't live without thinking of her at least ten times before going to bed."

Penna awed sweetly and held Marius by the hand. "That's one of the most romantic things you've ever told me ever since we first met!"

"So, you're not mad at me anymore?" Marius asked in relief.

"Of course not, but seriously, don't ever poke through my memories without my accord!" Penna said sternly. Marius nodded, with a glare that said he'd pretend he forgot what he saw. Penna straightened herself on the bench. "Besides, I wasn't just mad at you and the theft attempt of my Horcruxes. I...also had a bitter argument with Jessie while you went on the field trip."

"What happened? Please tell me you didn't find out about the entire prank involving Junk and my fairy guards' armors turning into harlequin colors."

"She did what?" Penna exclaimed.

"NOT RELEVANT!" Marius said in a panicked tone. "I mean, I'm sure you argued over a small thing."

"By small thing, you mean like this?" Penna pulled out a smartphone from her pants and showed a text containing an image to Marius. The image itself was a photo of a couple making out in a public ladies' room. If it wasn't strange enough that the picture was of Jessie Joker kissing Grinchelda May Whovier from St Luther directly on the lips while the latter was sitting on the bathroom sink and her dress was lowered so that the photographer had a good shot of her red bra, the text attached to the image was ten times worse.

WAY TO RAISE YOUR KIDS, DE MORT. FIRST YOUR ALICORN JEERLEADING BRAT SLEPT WITH JOCKS AND NOW YOUR CLOWNISH FREAK IS A LESBIAN WHORE. LOVE TO SEE HOW THE PEOPLE WHO HATE YOU REACT TO THIS IF THIS WERE PUBLIC.

"Unbelievable!" Marius exclaimed.

"I know, right?" Penna was infuriated. "Apparently this photo was taken last night in a pub and I got the text this morning! Jessie was a horrified as I was when I burst into her history class, dragged her in the hallway, and confronted her about it!"

"Why on earth would Jessie make out with Grinchelda in a public bathroom?" Marius asked. "I mean, c'mon! It's unbelievable! I've had my passionate moments with you, but I do it privately and far away from the nearest witness!"

Penna rolled her eyes. "You're not getting my point, Marius, are you?"

"What? Is it because we can see Grinchelda's bra?"

"No."

Marius looked back at the text. "Is it because the text mentions Minuit sleeping with jocks? Is that part true?"

"No and yes!"

"Wait, you let Minuit sleep with jocks? Have you seen those like Chad Charming?"

"MARIUS!" Penna snapped. "I was angry at Jessie because she hid from me the fact that she's LESBIAN! Or if you prefer a simpler way, she's attracted to girls rather than boys!"

"Penna, I know what homosexuality is," Marius said. "We have goblins back in the Fae Realm who can change their sex or act like the opposite of their gender. I mean, Kit and Junk's mother Stuff goes around acting like a goblin male, even going as far as not wearing any clothing like a normal male goblin, she and Stuff occasionally get mistaken as a gay couple."

"OK, I did not need to know that!" Penna sounded disturbed until she calmed down and tried to explain in a restrained patience. "Look, Marius, I may be the daughter of the worst villain in the universe, but I was still raised like a Catholic, so I don't really have a good eye on same-sex relationships. Which is why I'm rather angry at Jessie."

"You're angry at Jessie for preferring a female love interest? You're being a hypocrite, Penna." Marius shook his head.

"Repeat that to me again!" Penna shouted angrily, but Marius retained his ground.

"Last time I checked, your father was a hypocrite who disliked mixed species while being a half-blood himself and forced you to kill your first crush just because he didn't believe in love and didn't want you to have it. Now you are being a hypocrite for not approving of your foster kid's romantic affair while you hated your father for ruining your love life." He rubbed his nails and gave her a glare. "Sounds familiar?"

Penna blinked at him, her frozen expression showing that she realized quickly his point. "I can't believe you're right," she said and slapped herself on the forehead. "I sound like Voldemort!"

"Positively speaking, you didn't incinerate Grinchelda on the spot, otherwise Jessie would have turned into you." He put a gentle hand on her back. "I'm sure she'll forgive you."

"She's forgiven!"

They blinked in confusion until the sound of rustling leaves caught their attention and they saw Jessie jumping down from the nearest tree. "Seriously?" Marius said in exasperation. "Who else has been listening?"

"Just me and a few squirrels who pooped on my shoulder." Jessie sighed in disgust at a bunch of brown goop that was stuck on her jacket's left shoulder before going back to the other two. "I thought I'd follow my boss around. Just to make sure that she didn't harm Grinch because of the stupid text."

"She's fine," Penna rolled her eyes. "Just because I don't approve of...certain relationships doesn't mean that I was going to resort to violence."

"I'm sorry, but you do remember how you kept beating Bayen for his unrequited crush on you, right?" Jessie asked skeptically.

"Look, she's sorry, you forgave her, can we just move on in life?" Marius didn't even want to know more about whoever this Bayen was.

"Speaking of moving on, wanna discuss introducing Penna to your folks? Because my boss is good parenting material but bad impressing other parents material," Jessie said.

"Thank you, J.J," Penna said both sweetly for the compliment and sourly for the last insult. Clearly, Jessie was a slight upset about the argument they had earlier.

Penna turned to Marius and showed the prince her worried face. "Jessie's right, Marius. When are your parents coming?"

"The messenger who delivered me my parents' scroll said that they're planning on coming tomorrow morning," Marius said. "This is sort of last minute, so Ben asked for his parents to help set up the welcoming preparations while I asked Sugar Plum since he and I were busy with the problem with the Raft VKs."

"Yeah, these guys are like a rotten layered cake!" Jessie scoffed. "You cut through one scheming layer and you don't see that they have another one going behind the first one. Can you believe that while they had everyone focus on the entire they-tried-to-kidnap-two-students fiasco, they tried to aid one of their prison inmates into stealing my boss' Horcruxes for their boss?" She shook her head and went back to the main topic. "So, welcoming committee?"

"Well, from what I know so far, Belle, Beast, and Sugar Plum have managed to organize at the last minute an early family gathering as to welcome my parents," Marius said. "All the parents of the two schools will attend some sort of garden party in the Auradon campus like they usually do on something called Family Day. Belle mentioned something about exceptionally letting around twelve parents from the Isle of the Lost come over to see their kids until the end of the Pride Games."

"Aw," Penna said. "That sounds sweet."

"You do remember what happened to Mal and her friends when they attended Family Day, right?" Jessie asked skeptically.

"Right." Penna grumbled. "Ben introduces Mal to his folks as his new girlfriend, so far everyone seems to accept until Audrey's grandma, Sleeping Beauty's mother, starts lashing out because Mal's mother cursed Aurora. I'm not going to describe the commotion that followed."

"Look on the positive side," Marius reassured Penna. "I'm sure that the parents from the Isle will be too busy hating their arch-rivals from Auradon and nobody will bother you naturally impressing your parents."

Penna smirked a smug at her boyfriend. "You know, I actually like it when you talk like a bad boy. And aside from the Family Day?"

"Then they were planning on hosting a royal soirée at Ben's castle, almost like the dinner party Ben hosted to welcome me when I first arrived in Auradon. And this time, Penna, can you please not bail?"

Penna blushed at the memory of her not coming to the dinner party because she worried that she would ruin it. Then again, she thought, missing the dinner party eventually led me to properly meet Bug Fly.

"My family will be staying at my camp and will personally tour the places of Auradon I've described to them in my letters. Then, Ben's parents have managed to get them VIP spots for them during the Tri-Relay Race. That way they'll have a good view of the event. Hopefully everything should go well after the closing ceremony..."

Penna gulped. "Yay..."

"Relax and just be natural," Marius told her gently. "I'm sure my family will like you."

"Aside from your parents and your cousin, who else will I...meet?" Penna asked, sweat drooling its way down her neck.

"Just my aunt Dawn, my uncle Sunny, my Grannyselda, my grandpa Dagda, and my pet Impius," Marius listed. "But please try to put your personality clash on hold and don't ask too many questions to my parents about their individual heartbreaks. And don't try to make yourself too pretty just because you're meeting them. They like people as they are."

"Shouldn't be too hard." Jessie nodded.

"And be careful when you're around my Grannyselda. She's my worst matchmaking nightmare, so try to politely dodge her questions about marriage and future great-grandchildren. Also, don't let her hug you."

"I never had a grandmother, but now I'm starting to think yours will terrify me," Penna admitted.

"And lastly, you might want to tell Naga to control herself when she's around my pet Impius." Marius wasn't joking when he said this last point. "Snakes are natural predators to his species back home, so he might think Naga wants to eat him if she starts chasing him."

"Naga doesn't eat people unless I tell her to, so Impius should be fine," Penna said with a smile.

"Uh, Penna," Marius said, "imps in the Fae Realm are like white bunny eared possums the size of raccoons like those I give to Naga as treats."

Penna lost her smile. "Jessie, remind me to bring a leash in case Naga goes carnivorous."

"I got it covered." She opened her jacket and revealed several colorful leashes of different sizes strapped inside her jacket, along with laugh gas grenades, a clown makeup kit, and a Swiss Army knife. "You never know when you have to deal with a crazy snake."

"Well," Penna chuckled nervously, "now that means I only have two things to worry about so far. Impressing Marius' parents and...hoping that I don't have to face Martin Fiske during the last round of the Tri-Relay Race."