"Mallory."

Placing a marker on the spot he was at in his textbook, Aziz adverted his gaze to his roommate, who had locked the door behind him as a precaution. Aziz raised a curious eyebrow as his friend paced the length of their room. "Mallory who?"

"Mal's daughter," Ben claimed as he tried to collect his thoughts with his rapid walking. "That's her name: Mallory."

Jaw dropping at the revelation, Aziz tossed his history book aside to keep his focus on the soon-to-be king. Sitting up to full attention, the thief questioned, "Are you sure? How do you know?"

"I eased-dropped on her conversation with Jay earlier this morning," Ben admitted with no remorse in his tone. "She said, 'I miss my baby'."

"Is that what made her so upset?" Aziz assumed, leaning forward in interest.

"And the fact that she had to lie about how she obtained her stretchmarks," Ben added as he plopped down at the foot of his bed. "That happened in her gym class like I suspected. She made up some excuse about how she lost weight quickly. I am a hundred percent sure that it was her pregnancy."

"Why is Mal keeping Mallory a secret?" Aziz wondered as he continued with the interrogation. "She could have brought her daughter to Auradon with no fear."

"Actually . . . she does have something to fear," Ben revealed with a soft sigh. "Apparently, the only reason any of the four came to Auradon was so they could steal the Fairy Godmother's magic wand to bring down the barrier over the Isle. I'm thinking—after knowing about traveling to this kingdom for probably less than half an hour—Mal believed that the four of them would potentially fail in their plot and didn't want Mallory to be used against her for her punishment. I bet Mal believed she would have Mallory taken away from her and didn't want to risk it."

"That wouldn't have happened!" Aziz exclaimed defensively. Then, his demeanor changed to slight worry. "So, what are we going to do about them planning on taking the wand? I mean, Jay almost kissed me earlier before you texted. Because of all this, I don't know if he is using me for their plan or if he does like me."

"Jay clearly likes you," Ben reassured with a confident smile. "Why else would he steal your grandmother's bracelet and return it with no complaints? You'll probably have your first kiss with him tomorrow."

Chuckling at his friend's optimistic attitude, Aziz asked, "What about you? What are you going to do with Mal? When are you going to break up with Audrey so you can be with her?"

"Soon," Ben promised a little too quickly. "First, I want to do something to help Mal with her missing her child so much. Family day is coming up soon so maybe I can set up a video chat for her? Have one set up for all of the 'Core Four', as they called themselves, so no other Auradonian can get suspicious of my intentions."

"But does Mal's mother know about Mallory?" Aziz questioned realistically. "Does anyone on the Isle know about her? You said she only asked for Jay when Evie was with her moments before. Does that mean he's the only that knows?"

"I don't think so," Ben argued as he tried to go through the logistics of the situation. "Jay wouldn't know how to deliver a child at fifteen, assuming that Mallory is about one now. Lady Tremaine most likely delivered Mallory since she is the oldest female on the island and probably has grandchildren of her own. I don't see Maleficent hiding a child from the world, considering in her own tale the baby she cursed was hidden from the world. That would be too ironic and she would refuse to do so because of it, which means Maleficent may not know about her grand-daughter. So where would she. . ."

Trailing off in thought, a light-bulb went off in Ben's idea as the pieces of the mysterious puzzle came together. "Mal's father!"

"Hades?" Aziz clarified for those who forgot in this tale. "But you aren't even sure if he's truly her father. Professor Yen Sid refused to tell you and Mal has made no signs indicating that her father is that god."

"I think Mal's hair is enough," Ben joked in a small attempt to ease the slight tension in the room. "Her hair is freakin—"

"Just say 'fucking'," Aziz interrupted with a teasing eyebrow wag. "You know you want to. Your beast isn't going to come out because of one silly curse word."

Ben rolled his eyes at his friend's playful attitude. "Fucking," he pronounced dramatically, much to the amusement of the thief, "purple. Purple is made from blue and red. Who else do you know has hair that changes from blue to red depending on their mood?"

Aziz contemplated on the question for a few moments to think of an answer. "Just Hades," he agreed. "But why—?"

"I say a messy split or divorce between him and Maleficent," Ben assumed correctly. "Maleficent might not have wanted anyone to know her 'fling' with the god so she forbade Mal from telling anyone. When Mal became pregnant, she probably feared her mother would harm her innocent baby and went to her father for help. Hades may have Mallory hidden in his ca—home."

Aziz raised an eyebrow at his friend's stutter. "Is this just an idea or another realistic dream?"

"Dream," Ben answered with a careless shrug. "It was like I said before: Mal feared her mother would hurt her baby and went to her father for help. He asked if she wanted to keep the baby and she said 'yes' because she was an innocent child created by unfortunate circumstances."

If possible, Aziz's eyebrow raised even higher, but this time it was in concern. "So that really happened?" the thief deduced sadly. "Her being—"

"Don't say it," Ben growled against his will. "Every time I think about what happened to her, my beast wants to take over to make that person pay for what he did to her. Since I have no fucking idea who the guy is, the beast is just wallowing in anger, waiting to come out to make the abuser pay."

Despite the prince's temper being flared, Aziz couldn't help chuckling. "You cursed on your own! I'm so proud of you!" the thief teased with a smile. "I really am a bad influence on you. Don't you just love it?"

Ben scoffed at the question. "About as much as I love Audrey, which is none at all."

Rolling his at his friend's obvious hatred toward his current girl, Aziz wondered, "If you really don't like her, then why are you dating the bitch?"

"'Cause our parents set us up with the hopes that we would eventually marry and our rule over the kingdom would be better than just me." Ben sighed let loose all of his frustrations. "When I dump her, I'm going to wait a few days to expose her sexually cheating on me with Chad."

"That's going to ruin their reputation." Aziz smiled wickedly at the idea. "I love it! Just tell me what to do to help."

"It won't be until after the Tourney game next week," Ben informed before his friend could get too hyped up on the idea. "Win or lose, I plan on asking Mal to be my date for the coronation. Audrey will probably cause a scene and that's when I will expose her."

"You know what would make the scenario even better?" Aziz rhetorically questioned. "Chad being benched during that game. He's a terrible player, has bad sportsmanship, and his parents are paying for his spot on the team!"

"Maybe something will happen to make it come true," Ben suggested with a hopeful shrug. "For now, I'm going to talk with Fairy Godmother about switching Mal's gym class for art, since she painted a beautiful mural on her locker this morning before school started. I'll 'adjust' her transcript from Dragon Hall to show she already has taken that class, so I don't make Fairy Godmother suspicious."

"Again I ask, what should I do?" Aziz interrogated with depressed, sagging shoulders. "I'm supposed to spend the rest of the week with Jay to go over the rule-book, remember? Should I pretend I don't know about their plan to take the wand?"

"Yes, so that he and Mal will believe that we don't know about Mallory," Ben answered rationally. "If Jay truly likes you, or is head-over-heels for you, then he will tell you about their plan."

"Think Mal will eventually tell you?"

"Most likely not," Ben assumed. "She is too vulnerable right now and only trusts those closest to her because of the situation she went through. She may reluctantly go through with the plan, but she could choose good in the end."

Aziz groaned as he flopped onto his back dramatically. "I hope Jay does tell me," he admitted. "I've only known him for a day, yet I'm already in love."