In the Screaming Clearing

The first place Mal had thought of was the place Mason had taken her to go screaming. But when she appeared there and saw him, her heart dropped.

"I was expecting a call back, but this is even better," Mason said with a smile as he exited the game he was playing on his phone and turned toward her. "What are you doing poofing around?"

Mal turned around and ran.

"Was it something I said?" Mason called after her. Now, he was thoroughly stumped. At least until he noticed the thought that jumped from her mind to his. I can't be trusted right now. That piqued his interest. His eyes glowed gold as he scanned around him for Mal's mind. It was hard to do when he didn't know an exact location thanks to the fact that he couldn't write off the chance that she'd got tired of running and teleported away. He searched for angry minds and tuned in on one that had a thought mentioning Ben.

Why would he want her? A voice thought. I was everything a king could ask for. I'm pretty, sweet, I get along with his friends, I'm rich, I'm a princess, I did everything my grandmother told me. I even started cheering so I could be there on the field with him during his games. What's so special about Mal? I'm so tired of pretending. Where's my happy ending. I followed...

That only furthered Carver's confusion until he realized it wasn't Mal lamenting about Millie, as he thought. It was someone else. He searched around, finding another mind. This one was full of remorse, horrified by a lapse in control of her magic. That was right. He peered into Mal's mind and saw everything. It had only been a few minutes, but, apparently, she'd sent the king flying into the lake.

Now, there was a decision to be made. Try to console Mal? Or go back to Uma to plan out how to press this opportunity? It was a hard decision that made him so mad at himself. It's not important how she feels unless it helps with the plan, he told himself, there are too many people to help. He shouldn't have even considered the former course of action, he decided. He said,

"Moving from one place to the next is an easy switch,

take me to the daughter of the sea witch"

He was surrounded with golden light as he disappeared.

In Uma and Carver's Room

Uma had just finished putting on a shower cap and robe when she heard the knock on the bathroom door. Of course the mind-reader already knows. She strode to the door and opened it, "You are so lucky I'm already done with my soak," She lied when she saw Carver at the door in Mason's form. "What's going on?"

"So, it's...actually I'll just..." Carver's eyes glowed gold and Uma received what she could only describe as a mind e-mail. A memory that wasn't hers was placed at the edge of her mind and she somehow opened it by just thinking about it. It didn't show her anything that was news to her, but she still had to put on a look of enjoyment to keep Carver from knowing her part in the incident."She threw him in the lake!" She laughed. "For real?"

"Yes." Carver gave her a moment to get her laughs out before saying, "So the question is: what's the best thing we can do while this is going on?"

Uma had to pretend she hadn't already planned for this by thinking for a second. "How about you make some gossip think they saw the whole argument while they were on a stroll, then spread it around the whole school. Then you turn me into Millie in the morning and I bring Ben flowers and tell him I heard about the accident."

"Halfway genius, but bring food instead. And bringing flowers in Auradon means you're in love, someone's dead, or he's in the hospital. They wouldn't mean what you think. But everyone likes food on any occasion." Carver said.

"Fine, food. What kind would be fitting for one of you royals?"

"For the thousandth time, I'm not a royal. And a cake would be fine. His favorite is-" his eyes glowed gold a second "-carrot. If we spell one up, you can act like you made it from scratch and you can say you can just tell that he's a carrot type of person because he's so nice and blah, blah, blah."

"'Millie' is so perfect even I hate her. I deserve an award for this acting."

"Sorry, but when we're done, you'll just have to settle with being a queen-"

"Already am one," Uma said with a smirk as she crossed her arms and leaned against the door, "but I don't mind it being on paper."

"And I will give Mal some time to deal with everyone staring at her and whispering behind her back that she assaulted the king. I'll make sure the rumors escalate to saying that he can't even walk anymore. Then, I'll swoop in and take her on a magical tour of Auradon to get away from everything."

"Sounds like a plan," Uma said. "Now turn me into Millie so I can get ready for tomorrow."

"As you wish," Carver said,

"It's smoke and mirrors, a trick of the light, a delusion,

that surrounds Uma in a perfect illusion."

Gold light surrounded Uma as she got taller and her already long braids grew even longer. Her cheekbones rose and her eyes narrowed as the light faded.

"Let's do this," Uma said, even her voice sounding lighter and softer.

"Aye aye, captain," Carver said with a salute.