At around 8:45 that morning, Gil was studying with his Isle friends in Evie's room—as her room became the meet up for their group's activities—since they had free period that morning. Some of them had a few quizzes and test that day or the next they needed to prepare for. Those who really didn't need to study were just glad they could take a break from the redundant Remedial Goodness class.
Just as he was finishing his homework, Gil paused suddenly. Something just didn't feel right with him. It was almost as though he knew something bad was about to happen, but he didn't know what exactly.
As though he had the same premonition, Dude stood from his spot next to Carlos and hurriedly walked out of the bedroom with a simple bark.
"What did he say?" Evie interrogated absentmindedly.
"He said he was going to check on someone," Carlos translated with a slight shrug. "I'm sure it's no big thing."
"I'll follow him just in case there's an emergency," Gil quickly offered, casually tossing his textbooks to the side. "I'll be back soon."
Without hearing his friends' replies, the intelligent brute rushed out of the room to see where the dog went. Gazing down the hall, fear started to swarm inside Gil as he watched Dude relentlessly scratch on a certain princess's door. Quickly jogging down the corridor, the teenager opened the door for the animal, who slipped inside when the door was barely cracked.
A nearly inaudible gasp escaped his lips as he observed the condition of the bedroom. Clothes scattered about in messy piles. Broken shards from the vanity mirror littered the ground, creating an obstacle for anyone that chose to walk around barefoot. It appeared the room has been the way for a couple days, but there was just no way she would keep her room so filthy.
Right?
While still lost in his concerning thoughts, persistent barking forced Gil to advert his attention elsewhere. When he moved his gaze toward the bathroom, the color drained from his face as panic started swelling inside him.
Laying on the bathroom floor, surrounded in a small pool of her own blood and more shattered glass, was none other than a broken princess. Somewhat deep gashes were made down both of her arms, but by the size of the puddle, wasn't created too long ago.
"AUDREY!" Gil shouted as he ran to her. Quickly checking the beautiful girl's pulse, the teen ordered, "Dude, go get the others! Tell someone to grab the box of gloves under Evie's bathroom sink."
With a single bark, Dude sprinted out of the room to obey the command.
Safely dragging the princess out of bathroom, away from all the shards, Gil grabbed a pink dress that laid nearby and tightly wrapped it around one arm to slow the bleeding. He repeated the same process with the other arm, but instead used a baby blue sweater that was on the other side of him. With that done, he raised her arms in the air, so the blood flow would slow even more with it being above her heart.
After so many long seconds being wasted away, the other six Isle children finally arrived in the dorm room, gasping at the sight.
"Audrey . . ." Carlos trailed off with a terrified gulp. "Did she really-?"
"Now is not the time to talk about it," Gil snapped impatiently. Taking a second to take a deep breath, he began barking orders, "Carlos, Jay, one of you find Ben while the other finds Fairy Godmother. Mal, look in your mother's spell book for any healing spells. Evie, I need two needles, your thickest thread, and rubbing alcohol from under your bathroom sink to disinfect the needle; I will need to stitch these if Mal can't find a spell. Uma and Harry, put on those gloves and hold up Audrey's arms. I will watch her pulse until one of the princesses get back." When no one moved, he angrily shouted, "NOW!"
Like someone had lit a firecracker near them, the Core Four burst out of the room while the Sea Three attended to the princess. Harry moved to take Audrey's right arm while Uma took her left. Gil sat by the princess's head, keeping two fingers on her neck to keep track of her pulse.
A few tense moments later, Evie returned first with Mal tailing behind her. The fairy's nose was buried in the book as she hurriedly flipped through the pages to find a helpful spell. "I'm not seeing anything," Mal notified as she scanned page after page. "I know my mother told me about a time where she had to use a healing spell, but it's not in here. Maybe she didn't write it down so her enemies couldn't use it against her?"
"Then we'll have to do this the hard way," Gil grumbled as the fairy threw her spell book on the messy bed. "Evie, put on a pair of gloves and then pour the alcohol on the needles before you thread it. Cut at least a yard of thread each; it's best to have too much than too little. Mal, I need you to go to mine and Harry's bathroom to get our roll of bandages. There should be one in each bathroom."
"Why not get the ones from mine and Evie's bathroom?" Mal wondered while said-girl quickly went to fulfill her next task.
"She doesn't have any," Gil argued impatiently. "When we first came to Auradon, I checked each bathroom to see what medical supplies everyone had just in case I needed to patch someone up. You girls have the adhesive bandages while the guys have one roll of fabric bandages. Audrey will need a roll for each arm as a precaution in case the stitches don't hold."
Satisfied with the explanation, Mal ran out of the room once more just as Evie handed the first prepared needle to Gil.
"Uma, I will start with your arm first," Gil informed while he moved to the other side of the sea witch. "Unwrap the dress, but keep it pressed against the injury. When I start to stitch it, move the dress down as I go. When I am done with the arm, keep it raised until Mal gets back. Harry, you will do the same thing with the sweater. Evie, after you give me the second needle, look in the spell book for a spell, just in case Mal looked over it."
With a simple nod from each of the three, Uma unwrapped the fabric, keeping it pressed against the gash as instructed. Taking in another deep breath to calm his nerves, Gil set about his painstaking task of carefully and precisely stitching the cut close, making sure not to go too deep in the princess's skin and not too shallow that the thread could rip out. After a minute or so, the brute tied off the thread at the end of the stitch, satisfied with his work. Switching needles with Evie, Gil moved next to Harry to get started on the arm.
As if things were finally going right, Mal returned just as Gil finished stitching the other arm. Handing off a roll of bandages, Gil and Harry started wrapping the arm they had while Uma and Mal wrapped the other arm. Halfway through the task Carlos and Jay finally returned with Ben behind them, while Evie found a different book on the bed to look through.
"What happened?" Ben demanded forcefully. "Why did Audrey do this to herself?"
"We don't know yet," Harry claimed as he fumbled with the bandage for a moment. "Gil's been doctoring her since before we showed up. If Gil hadn't been here, there's no way she would have survived."
"Where's Fairy Godmother?" Gil snapped to change the subject. "I thought I told someone to get her."
"I tried," Carlos insisted with an irritated huff. "She thought I was trying to pull a prank and gave me detention for three days."
"I'll talk to Fairy Godmother, and have it taken away," Ben reassured, a growl just underneath his tone. "When you're done, we can take her to the nurse's office. She can rest there until someone can clean up her room."
"If you can convince Fairy Godmother, I can do it during Remedial Goodness tomorrow," Gil offered nonchalantly as the pairs finally finished bandaging her arms. "This way, it just stays between us and the whole school doesn't find out."
"Guys . . ." Evie trailed off as she read the same page again. "I found Audrey's diary. This entry is dated for yesterday. I think this will help us know what's been going on with her."
Clearing her throat, Evie read, " 'With almost no sleep in the past month, I still managed to have another nightmare last night. Once again, I played the role of an evil enchantress. This time, I didn't cast some citizens to sleep or turned some students into stone. It's even worse than the nightmare of turning Mal, the daughter of Maleficent and Hades, into a filthy old hag. Instead, I used the Dragon's Eye scepter in jealousy to turn Prince Ben into a monstrous beast, just as his father was so many years ago.
" 'I don't recall why I was so jealous in the nightmare. Ben looked older, so I suppose he must have been king by then. Maybe he chose a queen that wasn't me, but I don't care about becoming queen or even my royal status anymore. I do know I can't look at Ben without having visions of my nightmare. It's the reason why I can't look or talk to anyone else, well . . . except for Gil. In my dreams, he is the only one I didn't hurt with my recklessness.
" 'When those children from the Isle first came to Auradon, I didn't much care for them. But now, after talking to Gil for a couple days, I see that I misunderstood them. They aren't their parents, just like Ben had said. However . . . Gil must have inherited something from his father or mother to make him the person he is. He's overly generous, kind-hearted, and seems to know how to make all my worries go away.
" 'Maybe I don't need a prince to be happy like my grandmother always tells me. Maybe I just need him. Maybe . . . he can stop me from becoming the 'Queen of Mean'.' "
The group took a few moments to process the new information, as it was quite a bit to go on.
"So Audrey wasn't going insane," Uma deduced incredulously, dramatically tearing off the latex gloves from her hands. "She was remembering what was going to happen in the future."
"Audrey had used the scepter just a couple days before the engagement party," Ben reminded the group. "Maybe, when we were sent to this time, she received a sort of backlash from the magic because it realized she wasn't its master?"
Mal couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips. "But there couldn't have been a backlash without the scepter being used again, which means . . ."
Hoping to hear the end of it quickly, Jay persisted, "Which means . . ."
"I think I know who is behind this," the fairy claimed, recalling a certain exchange of words that took place before she left the Isle. "I think I know who sent us back in time, to give us another chance to take the wand."
"Who?" Evie interrogated stressfully.
With a snarl on her lips, Mal spat venomously, "Mother."