Chapter 19

***Charmington***

Doug was a straight A-Student and didn't like to skip classes but family was first.

(He had not skipped a class since he was in second grade and he was sick with a dragon flu)

"I'm going to return to school after finishing business with my mother" He told Evie when he said his goodbye, she had looked at him strangely as he had refused to be accompanied by her.

"Why you don't want me to go with you?" She had asked with a frown, his girlfriend almost never frowned that meant that he had made her worry.

"It's a family matter" He had said calmly "My mother's letter was not very enlightening, since she said that all my family would be there…it may be something very important"

His mother had written to him which was odd, they never wrote to each other as their family was not really close, not after his father had been confined to a hospital.

He had taken the bus to Charmington at the first light in the morning and read his book during the trip even if people looked at him strangely, he didn't care for them. As he already knew the landscape very well as he always made the trip four times in a year, he liked the green forest that covered the land between the two regions and the clear water that Belle's Harbor had.

When they were crossing the limit between Auradon Central and Charmington his mother called, it was another surprise. His mother never called, Doug even questioned himself if his mother had a phone and knew how to use it.

"Hi mom" He said "I'm near Snow Town"

"Doug" She greeted him rather stiffly as she always did.

"…So how are you?" He asked trying to make a conversation.

"I'm very well…" She took a breath "When you arrive…go to Uncle Happy's home directly"

"Why?"

His mother hung up. As always his mother wouldn't give him an explanation and he would have to piece everything together.

(He now wished he had asked Evie to come with him)

He then sighed again and returned to his reading until he arrived to his stop which was one before Charmington so he could take a taxi to his village. But his Uncle Sneezy was waiting for him, they greeted each other rather stiffly before he jumped in to the car.

Uncle Sneezy dropped him at Uncle Happy's, there he was greeted warmly by his uncle and cousins. He was guided to their dining room where tea and cookies were served.

"So why I was called so abruptly?" He asked without any hesitance.

"Don't you want to rest a bit before talking about…that" His cousin Hannah asked.

"I would prefer to finish business soon as I happen to have classes tomorrow" Doug said, if he wanted any answers he would have to be a bit rude to them.

Hannah looked at her father, who nodded as if giving her permission to tell him, after taking a sip of her tea she said "Maybe Uncle Grumpy hasn't said anything to his Majesty yet but a few weeks ago, I think three, there was an explosion down in the mine though no one died or was injured… but a few days after that there was another explosion and many of our cousins …" She didn't seem to find the word but Doug was already imagining the worst.

"Do you think that they are dead?" He asked with a gulp.

"They may be" Hannah said sipping her tea again.

"They are not" Uncle Happy said glaring at his daughter who shrugged "But we need help to find them, the rescue team are running short since there was another "happening" up north"

"Why I have not heard anything about that?" Doug asked "Surely the rulers have informed the capital"

Uncle Happy took out his glasses and rubbed his eyes, he didn't look so sure but said nothing and after that he left the table.

Doug had known thanks to Evie that the communication between the regions had not been the best for the last few months but he hadn't thought that King Florian was keeping things like this Ben (King Ben, he reminded himself).

He would have called Evie to talk about the matter if Hannah hadn't taken his arm and said "He doesn't want to admit that the mines are not safe anymore that we have to sell them"

"Sell them? To whom?" He asked in surprise.

"To the Crown, to who else?"

For the first time in many years he found himself surprised.

****Auradon Prep****

Mal sensed other magic users or magic bearers, that started to happen after the Cotillon.

Maybe she had the ability to sense them when she got off the Isle but she started to pay attention after Uma.

She feared that the squid would come back for vengeance or to cause chaos (or both), but after almost a year she was willing to be less paranoiac and focus on other "enemies", after all there was another predicament to be worried of.

There was going to be a High Council in the next few hours and some of the members had not arrived yet.

Kuzco, Elsa and King Eric had not arrived, while Sultan Aladdin said he was delayed.

She began to suspect something was off, maybe they weren't the ones responsible or maybe they were part of it. She didn't fully trust them as Belle had taught her.

A darkness was lurking around and it had started to make some people uneasy, people as in fellow magic users.

FG had sensed it first and asked Mal if she had felt it too, it was like someone was casting a strong spell but using dark magic.

Mal had not learnt how to read magic signatures, she only read the spells that were on her mother's spell book and she had not really invested her time on it while on Auradon, she had only focused on the ones that helped her become a better girlfriend to Ben. Also how could she read magic signatures on an isle that had an anti-magic barrier?

And also her book was now part of the museum…

Of course she had her suspects at the moment, well only two which were Melinoe and Uma. Though she inclined more on Hades' daughter since she was nearer than the squid.

She was pondering onto that when Evie entered their room, her blue haired girl said "Why are you not at Castle Beast?"

"Ben thought that it would be better if I stayed here, after all I'm not Queen of Auradon yet" She explained and the frowned "Why are you not there? Aren't you his advisor?"

"He gave me the day off; he wants to handle things by himself"

Mal bit her lip and asked her best friend "Do you feel that things are getting stranger? As if something is happening or going to happen?"

Evie looked at her and sighed "I may have a bit of magic Mal, but I'm not as powerful as you to feel it"

"I know but haven't you noticed that we may have some powerful magic being used around here?"

"Not really" the blue haired girl said but then she added "FG may be sensing something"

The soon-to-be queen closed her eyes and said "I'm going to talk to FG, if something is happening I have to be sure that she knows about it"

"Do you think that something is up?"

"I don't think that something is up" Mal said "I'm almost sure that dark magic is being used here"

"That will make King Adam doubt the new kids"

"None of them has magic" The purple haired girl said but then she added "But Hadie and Melinoe have great power…" She the sentence incomplete as she didn't want to think about it.

"Take care M"

"And you E"

****Castle Beast****

King Florian of Charmington stepped out of his limo and blinked at the brightness of the sunset, it was a beautiful sight.

He sighed and greeted the guards that were on the castle entrance, they just nodded and ignored him as he passed by. Ben's secretary was waiting for him outside the meeting room and greeted him with a stiff nod as if she knew why he had asked for an appointment so suddenly.

Ben was sitting in the couch reading some papers that Evie had sent in the mail the day before, he wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings so he was really surprised to see Florian in front of him.

"Your Majesty" Said the older man stiffly and curtsied.

That was unusual as usually the older man would extend his hand during private meetings, so Ben assumed that he was there to treat something important before the council and motioned Florian, his godfather, to sit in front of him.

"I suppose that you are here to tell me something before the other members arrive" The brown haired boy said trying to sound professional.

"Indeed I am"

"So, what's the matter?"

"I know that you are about to make another proclamation to bring all the children form the Isle of the Lost and the High Council had decided that it's too risky for the citizens of Auradon to continue… bringing villain children" He made a pause "For now at least, we do understand that…"

"You want me to ignore the situation the children are in the Isle?" Ben asked disbelievingly.

"No, we just want…to make people feel safe again" Florian explained "There have been some strange happenings in the northern kingdoms and with Callista Hook and Uma still on the loose, people have been talking about other villains escaping the Isle"

"You all know that we have been searching for them but all the leads seem to be false"

"I know, your Majesty" The older man seemed a bit pained and added while putting a hand on Ben's arm "Ben…the other kings are not really happy with all the…changes that have been happening as of late, they are wary about the new children… I know it was done with the best intentions but bringing sixteen children at once? King Eric and Queen Merida are not so sure that Fairy Godmother can handle all of them at school"

"They all are pretty well-behaved, none of them has caused any problem since they arrived, they have been adapting pretty well" Ben defended the new VKs, though he had not spent much time with them he heard about them from Mal and Evie who were keeping an eye on them.

"What about Anthony Tremaine? Has he woken up?"

Ben was surprised at the question, he had made sure that no one but his family knew about that and Cinderella wouldn't have shared that information with Snow White. Still, he maintained his cool and said "He is being treated by the best healers Auradon can offer"

Florian nodded and said with a pointed look "Hope he wakes up soon, it would be really sad that he would still be asleep when his mother arrives to Auradon"

The young king was taken aback by the statement "I…"

"We knew that eventually you would want to bring some former villains and we had prepared for the eventuality, some of us even agreed but this time…as your godfather I would suggest you to…stop"

"Why?"

"There's a reason why your father sent them there along with the others and though it's not my…"

Suddenly the doors opened and the former king of Auradon entered the room with a smile in his face, though Ben and Florian could see that his smile what not really sincere.

"Florian, I wasn't expecting you so early" Adam said "Since you are here, I thought we could have a chat"

Florian stood up and said with a smile "Of course, the king and I have finished talking about some…important matters" He turned to the king and curtsied "Your Majesty"

"King Florian" Ben nodded and sighed as he saw his father and godfather leave his study. Then he looked at the proclamations he was about to sign, well after the High Council approved it.

Maybe he should listen to his godfather's advice, he didn't want to lose the support of the other nobles and the auradonians, but he didn't want to let himself and his friends down.

He sighed and decided that he should discuss it during the council meeting.

Sorry for posting after such a long time.

I have found inspiration again and I'll try to post every two weeks.

As always thanks to those to comment, follow and favorite the story.

Hope you liked it and till next time.