Phoebe flew them a few miles past the shoreline before they landed. Then, Mal vanished the carriage so they could walk the rest of the way through Auradon City toward the school and castle.
Pandora walked near the back of the group, Phoebe at her side. Mal, Evie, and Carlos were trying to call people, but it appeared no one was answering their phones. Likely asleep because of the sleeping spell, or maybe the service was down.
Harry, Pandora finally learned his name, dropped back a couple paces to walk next to Pandora. She kept her eyes straight ahead, her hand on Phoebe's shoulder as they walked.
"So, what's a lovely thing like you doin' with this crew?" Harry asked charmingly.
Pandora barely glanced at him, uninterested. "At the moment, trying to save Auradon." she answered dully.
"I saw you with them on the Isle. You certainly don't look like someone from Bore-adon, but I think I'd remember someone as lovely as you on the island." Harry flirted. Pandora, with her eyes fixed ahead, noticed Jay glance back with narrowed eyes.
Pandora didn't dignify Harry's comment with a response.
"So, who's your hero parent? Hmm? Hercules?" Harry kept pushing.
Pandora finally looked over at him, sighing through her nose. "Actually, you've probably heard of my father. Lord of the Dead? God of the Underworld? Hades?" she added, her tone slightly ominous as she narrowed her eyes at him.
Harry took a small step away from her in response, which she took as a victory.
Uma looked over her shoulder from where she was in the lead with Mal, which was really only several feet ahead of Pandora. "How is that possible? You couldn't have been born before the Isle, how did you grow up in Auradon with your father trapped on the Isle?"
Pandora shrugged slightly. "We're still working that out. I only found out recently."
Thankfully, the conversation was dropped as some of the others tried using their phones again. Light from up ahead told Pandora they were nearing the edge of the forest. Within moments, they left the shadows of the woods and stepped out into the sun. The green lawn ahead of them was covered in people fast asleep, either on the grass, at picnic tables, and on benches.
"They're asleep." Evie noted, her head whipping around as she surveyed the scene. "Everyone."
"I can't get Ben." Mal admitted, pulling her phone from her ear.
"Or Dizzy, or Doug." Evie added.
"Or Jane, the signal's out." Carlos added.
"Is that Auradon Prep?" Celia asked, awestruck, after catching sight of the massive castle.
"Yeah." Carlos grinned. "And when everybody wakes up you're going to love it."
Pandora grinned at Celia's face. She gaped for a few moments, before muttering, "Yes!"
"Hey," Pandora hissed at Phoebe, "quit that!" Her horse had decided to snack on a sleeping girl's uneaten salad. She pushed at Phoebe's massive neck, forcing the large animal away from the food.
"Everything is so…" Gil trailed off, looking all around at the trees and bushes.
"Freaky." Jay finished, also looking around.
"Green." Gil finished himself, making Pandora glance at him in mild surprise. Of all the things to notice, he noticed that? "You have leaves on your trees." he exclaimed to Jay in amazement. "And what are those colored things on the bushes?" he asked, pointing toward a bunch of enormous bushes.
Pandora and Jay briefly followed where he was pointing. "The flowers?" Pandora clarified hesitantly.
"Flowers are pretty." Gil grinned, gazing around in amazement.
Pandora's eyes softened and she had to stop herself from gaping or anything else. Given how she grew up, and obviously given her powers, the thought of not seeing green plants and brightly colored flowers everyday was just…sad.
"Cantaloupe?!" Pandora was snapped back to the moment by Gil snatching up a girl's bowl of grapes, devouring them quickly. Jay reached out as if to stop him, but then seemed to think better of it.
"We don't have any fresh fruit on the Isle, remember?" Uma, who had apparently been watching the whole thing, called from several feet away.
Pandora tried to keep her expression blank, her eyes moving back to Jay and Gil. Jay appeared to have the same issue before patting Gil's shoulder.
"They're grapes." he informed the other guy before walking away.
Pandora grinned slightly, turning and slowly following after the others, who were mostly spread out over the lawn, still trying to call people. She briefly wondered if she should try calling Herkie, or even her mom or Zeus. Deciding it couldn't hurt to try, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Herkie. Unfortunately, there was no answer. She then tried calling her friend Aaron up in Olympus, her eyes fixed on a small disagreement between Jay and Harry. There was no answer, so she hung up in time for Harry to get in Jay's face.
"You think I'm scared of you, Jay?" Harry sneered, his hook in Jay's face.
"Guys." Uma and Mal snapped warningly.
"Dude!" Carlos called, getting everyone's attention. Pandora's head snapped up and she hurried over to where Carlos stood over Dude and Griffin. Pandora practically fell to her knees, wrapping her arms tight around Griffin's thick neck. She smothered a grin when Dude burped next to them.
"Dude, really?" Carlos groaned.
"What, it wasn't me, I swear! Okay, it was me." Dude rambled, sitting and looking up at his owner.
Pandora stood up as the rest of the group joined them.
"Do you know what happened here?" Carlos asked him.
"Yep. Audrey showed up, she put everybody to sleep, and then she turned some of them to-"
"Guys." Evie called, causing everyone to look toward her. "Hannah turned to stone." There was a girl in a school band uniform stood near Evie, turned to stone like she said.
Everyone gathered around the girl, worried. Pandora found herself truly starting to worry about her friends and family. Maybe they weren't answering because they were asleep or turned to stone.
"Look, since we're here, let's check the school." Uma decided, turning toward the school with Gil, Harry, and Celia.
"No." Mal responded, causing them to stop and turn back to her. "Audrey went straight for the crown, so I think it's safe to assume that she's going to go for Ben and his castle next?" Mal suggested, glancing around at her friends, who nodded in agreement. "That's where we'll go."
"Says who?" Uma responded, stepping back toward Mal.
"Says me." Mal responded, stepping closer as well.
"'Says you', and that's supposed to mean something to me?" Uma scoffed.
"Guys." Evie called, making them glance at her.
"Mal probably knows how this Audrey girl thinks better than most of us, so it'd be smart to listen to her." Pandora pointed out.
Uma rolled her eyes, subtly backing off as Mal turned to lead them all to the castle.
Pandora once again fell back to a comfortable pace at the rear of the group, Phoebe on one side and Griffin on the other. Instead of walking at Mal's shoulder like Pandora expected, Jay dropped back to walk with her on Griffin's other side. From what she'd seen of the groups interactions, Jay seemed to be like a second-in-command to Mal, so she was slightly surprised that he was walking at the back.
"How're you holding up?" Jay asked quietly, making sure no one would be listening to their conversation.
Pandora shrugged. "Probably no worse than anyone else, I suppose." she admitted honestly. She was quiet for a moment, her eyes fixed at the front of the group. "What's they're deal?" she asked quietly, referring to Mal and Uma. "I'm sensing some tension." she added, partially joking. It was impossible not to sense the animosity between the two girls.
Jay grimaced slightly. "Long story short, a deep-seated childhood rivalry that evolved as they did."
Pandora nodded, figuring it wasn't her place to ask for details, just like it wasn't Jay's place to divulge those details.
"What about you and Coat Hanger?" she asked quietly, nodding toward where Harry was walking with Uma and Gil.
Jay snorted slightly, smirking at the nickname. "Nothing nearly as dramatic, I'm afraid. We've just always butted heads. It was probably made worse when Mal and Uma started their two different gangs, and we both became the muscle of our gangs."
Pandora smirked slightly in amusement. It was clear Jay and Harry were both "alpha males", so it made sense they constantly butted heads.
"I can see that." Pandora agreed lightly, making Jay bump her with his elbow.
AN: Sorry this chapter's so short, but the fight during the Night Falls song is in the next chapter, so that should be interesting!