Phoebe somehow knew to meet up with the guys at one of the back doors, which had been broken down by something. Ben's scent told them he left the castle this way according to Dude and Griffin. The scent then lead them out into the woods behind the castle.

Pandora and the guys spread out a few feet, calling out Ben's name every so often as they trailed behind the dogs. Pandora kept a hand on Phoebe's shoulder as she walked. Her strength was returning after using her powers, but hiking over the hills and terrain of the woods wasn't exactly easy either.

"You know, you have a horse." Jay pointed out as they hiked, moving a bit closer to her as he moved around a tree. "You can ride her instead of walking."

Pandora glared at him, not bothering to respond. Jay held his hands up in surrender, continuing into the forest. There was no way she was getting special treatment.

Griffin and Dude stopped moving forward. Their noses were to the ground as they paced and circled. They appeared to have lost Ben's scent. Carlos called Dude back, sitting on a rock to pet him. They all paused, taking a short break. Gil started eating from a wild berry bush, amazed that there was food everywhere in Auradon.

Pandora leaned against Phoebe, her eyes watching Griffin as he moved from one bush to another, his nose to the ground.

"Hey." Carlos looked up at her. "Jay mentioned you figured something out about your powers, like it's more moving energy around instead of just making plants grow?"

Pandora nodded. "Yeah, it was something like that. Like, I was able to move one fern's life force into another one. That's why my powers sometimes drain me, because I wasn't necessarily pushing my powers into the plants, I was actually pushing my own life force into the plant."

"Thus draining your own energy." Carlos concluded, nodding his head thoughtfully. "Which is probably why you're tired now; in order to make that ivy grow like you did you'd have to push a lot of your energy into it." Pandora nodded slightly, it made sense. "Think it would work the other way?" Carlos suddenly asked, looking up at her as if the idea just struck him.

"What do you mean?" Pandora asked, looking down at where he was seated.

"You said you were pushing your own life force into the plants. And you pulled life forces from some plants to push them into other plants." Carlos noted. "What if you could pull some life force from one thing, like a plant, and pull it into yourself, giving yourself more energy?"

Pandora blinked a few times, looking blankly at the ground as she considered that suggestion. "That…does kinda make sense." she admitted thoughtfully. She looked around the forest until her eyes landed on a giant elm tree behind the group. She moved away from Phoebe and approached the tree, her eyes traveling up the tall trunk and into the branches high above her head.

Taking a deep breath, Pandora reached out and pressed her hand flat to the trunk. With the leather glove on her hand, only her fingers could press into the rough bark, but it was enough. Closing her eyes, Pandora forced herself to relax and searched within herself.

She felt the familiar warmth filling her chest, but instead of allowing it to stretch and spread into her arms, she kept it confined within herself. Instead, she focused on the warmth thrumming beneath her fingertips; the life force within the tree.

She paused for a moment, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do. Normally this would be when she let her powers, or her life force or whatever, flow into the plant. But now she was supposed to do the opposite. How was she supposed to do that?

Taking another deep breath, she tried to remember what she'd done earlier with the ferns. Focusing on the warmth at her fingertips, she tried to pull it like she'd done earlier, as if grasping strands of yarn and pulling them toward her. She felt the warmth travel up her arm into her chest, making her take a shaky breath of fresh air, feeling as if the warmth in her chest was expanding.

Her hand jerked back from the tree, her eyes flying open as she took a small step back.

"You good?" Carlos asked, having joined her. He put a hand on her back in case she fell over. He was looking worriedly at her.

Pandora took a deep breath, assessing how she felt. She didn't feel tired like she had earlier. For a moment, it almost felt like she'd been given a shot of adrenaline, but not necessarily an overdose of it, just enough that she was no longer tired. She actually felt back to normal.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm good." Pandora answered, a smile stretching across her face as she glanced over at Carlos.

"So, it actually worked?" Carlos checked excitedly.

"Yeah, I think it worked!" Pandora laughed.

"Except your hair looks a little leafy now." Jay called from where he and Gil were watching by a berry bush.

Pandora's hands flew to her head in panic, but Carlos turned and gave Jay a look. "It does not. He's just messing with you." Carlos assured her.

"Hey, can you grow berry bushes like you did that plant earlier?" Gil asked excitedly before plopping another berry into his mouth.

"Uh, yeah I can. I actually did that at Evie's the other day. I can show you the bush when we get there later." Pandora offered as she approached the bush. Jay offered her a handful of berries, and she took some to snack on.

"Okay! I like that you can grow food!" Gil announced randomly.

At Pandora's amused but puzzled expression, Jay explained, "We were playing that Ice Breaker game."

"Oh." Pandora nodded in understanding before turning back to Gil thoughtfully. "I like…that you're always so happy about things the rest of us take for granted."

Gil's smile faltered. "I suppose you guys have seen everything, huh? Furry rocks, giant fish. Eating a snack off a bush."

"Actually, this is one of the first times I left Olympus my whole life." Pandora admitted, picking another berry. "There's a lot of things I've never seen in person."

Jay nodded. "And I usually just grab lunch out of a vending machine, or order pizza. Tourney and ROAR eat up most of my time."

Harry burst into hysterical laughter before mocking the two sports.

"You know what would be fun?" Gil asked, ignoring Harry. "Go rafting on a jungle river."

"Deep sea diving." Pandora suggested.

"Find a lost civilization." Jay added.

"Oh, and maybe a penguin." Gil added eagerly, making Pandora chuckle.

"You guys are killing me!" Harry complained, joining them at the bush and plucking a berry with his hook to eat. He then glanced toward Carlos. "P.S., your mutts went that way." he announced, nodding into the trees.

"Carlos!" Dude called, causing everyone to hurry after the two dogs.

Meanwhile, at Evie's cottage:

Mal glanced through the kitchen and into Evie's studio where her best friend was talking with a recently-awoken Doug. They'd returned to the cottage about fifteen minutes ago after searching Audrey's dorm, where Uma found Audrey's diary where she mentioned Fairy Cottage. They figured that's as good a place as any to check next. Now they just needed to wait another hour or so for Pandora and the guys to meet them at Evie's.

When they returned to Evie's cottage, it was to find Dizzy, the twins, and Doug spelled asleep. Evie was able to wake her boyfriend up with True Love's Kiss, but the others would just have to remain asleep until they were able to stop Audrey.

Celia left the kitchen just then, moving past Mal with Jane's cake in her hands, which she set on the dining room table. She cut herself a piece and sat at the table to eat it. She glanced out the window as she ate, only to pause.

"Mal!" Celia called even though Mal was only a few feet away. The girl jumped up from the table and hurried to the door. Mal hurried after her, looking out the window with Uma on her heels.

Some strangers were walking around the cottage.

AN: I decided to post this chapter a bit early, as I'm not sure I'd have time tomorrow. Let me know what you all thought! Who do you think are the strangers wandering around Evie's cottage?