"How far did this guy go?" Pandora asked, clambering over a fallen log after the others. Phoebe lightly leapt over it, her wings tucked into her sides as she trotted along with the group.
Pandora couldn't help thinking the Pegasus was just glad to be out and about. She had a stable and pasture back home, and while she was allowed and able to fly away and explore, she never really had a reason to do that.
"Ben's a decent runner." Jay commented, pausing so Pandora could catch up, though she was only a couple steps behind him. "If he really wanted to, he could've made it a couple miles."
From up ahead, Griffin snorted at a bush, shaking his head before he and Dude scurried back toward the others.
"Whew, something stinks, and it wasn't me this time!" Dude exclaimed.
A loud roar ripped through the quiet forest before something leapt out at them. Past the sudden shock, Pandora's first thought was, 'What the heck is that?'
It almost looked like a humanoid, hippy grizzly bear in a guard's uniform.
Dude screamed and the two dogs scattered, followed by Phoebe lurching back and hiding somewhere in the trees.
The creature lunged at the teenagers, causing them to lurch back to avoid being slashed by it's claws, and it ended up crashing into a tree. They all watched warily, light on their toes as they waited for another attack, which came moments later. The creature lunged at them again, roaring as it swiped at Harry. Pandora lurched back, almost tripping backwards over a fallen log before Gil grabbed her hand and stopped her fall. The creature wasn't quite so lucky, tumbling over the log and rolling back onto it's feet.
It leapt back over the log, aiming for Harry, who Jay pulled out of the way. They waited warily again as it got to it's feet, glaring warily back at them. Pandora then noticed it held it's paw close to it's chest, as if injured.
Then, a light bulb went off in her head when she got a good look at it's face.
"Wait, it looks like the Beast." she commented, remembering the statue in from the Auradon Prep, as well as all the pictures in history books.
Carlos glanced at her before looking back at the creature.
"Ben?" Carlos tried, making the creature glance at him.
"Huh, I thought I recognized those pants." Jay joked.
"Oh, he's got a booboo! That's why he's so cranky." Gil exclaimed when Ben once more glanced down at his paw. "You know, my dad said that his dad did not handle pain well, at all."
"Well, to be fair, Gaston stabbed the Beast. I wouldn't like that, either." Pandora mumbled.
"You two are good with animals." Jay reminded Carlos and Pandora. "Do something."
Pandora and Carlos exchanged a mildly-panicked glance.
"Um, okay. I'll-I'll try to talk to him." Carlos decided, glancing up at Ben before turning to Pandora. "You just…Um, you have my back in case something goes wrong?" he suggested uncertainly.
"Yeah, sure." Pandora agreed nervously.
Carlos climbed up the small mound that Ben stood on, watching them approach warily. Pandora followed a few steps back, far enough to be out of the way, but close enough to step in if she needed to. Though she had no idea what she would do.
Carlos spoke soothingly to Ben, as if taming a wild animal. Ben lashed out at him at least once, but Carlos calmly persisted. Eventually, the King allowed Carlos to pull the rather large sliver from his paw.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief that the worst was over. A moment later, a stream of water flew over Jay's head to spray Ben in the chest.
Confused, everyone turned to see Jane standing on a fallen log, spraying water from a water soaker. Lonnie and Herkie stood behind her, Lonnie holding her purse and a sports water bottle, and Herkie holding a water gun.
Carlos beamed excitedly, almost pushing Pandora out of the way in his haste to get to his girlfriend. Pandora laughed, but followed him to greet Herkie. His clothes were damp, as was his auburn hair, which was hanging slightly in his eyes. He pulled her into a hug, almost squeezing her too tight but it was fine after the day she'd had. A few feet away Carlos and Jane were talking over each other about how glad they were the other was okay. It was adorably sweet.
"What are you guys doing here?" Pandora asked, accepting a hug from Lonnie as well, temporarily surprised though she'd already learned Lonnie was a huggy person.
"Well, we were at Jane's birthday party at the Enchanted Lake." Herkie explained. "Audrey showed up and spelled everyone to sleep, but we managed to duck under the water, keeping us from getting spelled. Then we pretty much just started wandering through the woods toward town."
"Sounds like a good birthday." Pandora joked to Jane, who laughed.
Jay had Ben's arm over his shoulder as he helped him sit on a rock. He was much less furry now, but he still had some scruff around his jaw and lip, as well as sharpened fangs, all of which Jay teased him for.
"You need another blast." Jane decided as everyone laughed. She lifted the soaker and sprayed Ben right in the face, making him scrunch up his face and squeeze his eyes shut.
When the spray finally stopped, Ben managed to utter what he tried to say the whole time he was being sprayed, "Please stop."
"Huh." Jane looked confused like most of them. The scruff and fangs were still there. "It's Enchanted Lake water." she explained to everyone. "I guess it can only do so much."
"By all means," Herkie laughed, "spray him in the face again."
Jay laughed, too, while Ben glared lightly at the two of them.
"Well, well, well." Harry spoke in a somewhat creepy voice as he stepped closer to Carlos and Jane, his eyes fixed intently on the brunette. "Harry Hook." he introduced himself, giving her a once-over. "And you, my little duckling, are…ravishing."
Pandora exchanged a glance with Herkie and Lonnie, mildly creeped out.
"Okay," Carlos chuckled, "uh, ravishing and taken." he pointed out, putting his hands on Jane's shoulders to emphasize that she was his. "Just in case anyone was confused."
Pandora snorted, trying to muffle her laughter.
"Hold on." Ben called, standing up. "Whose side are they on?" he asked, gesturing to Gil and Harry, though he focused more on Harry.
"They escaped and joined us." Jay explained. "And Mal has the ember, which is our only hope to stop Audrey. Details to follow."
"Hades' ember? Has Mal gone back to the Isle?" Ben demanded.
"I said details to follow. We're meeting up with Mal, Evie, and Uma and-"
"Uma?!"
"Details to follow!" everyone yelled.
Jay pushed Ben in the general direction of town and they all started the long trek through the woods.
"You could explain while we're walking." Ben argued, clearly still wanting some answers. "It's a bit of a walk and we have nothing better to do in the meantime. First, though, where'd the Pegasus come from?" he asked, having glanced over his shoulder to see a white horse with wings and a blue mane appearing to walk with Pandora and Herkie.
"She's mine." Herkie and Pandora spoke at once before glancing at each other and laughing.
"Sorry, she's his. I just do all the hard work taking care of her." Pandora explained, partially joking as she nudged Herkie with her elbow.
"Oh, ha ha." Herkie laughed sarcastically.
Jay gave Ben the vague explanation of what was happening, which was still a long enough conversation that it took most of the trek to Evie's.
"Has anyone been able to contact anyone?" Pandora asked near the end of the journey. "Like help, backup, something?"
"I was able to call Ben and my mom right after Audrey left my party." Jane explained. "But partway through my call with my mom I lost the signal."
"Yeah, we tried to call all of you as soon as we got back to Auradon." Carlos explained. "But none of the calls would go through."
"I managed to call my parents." Lonnie explained, causing a few hopeful glances to be directed at her. Pandora remembered she was the daughter of Mulan and Li Shang, so they'd likely have some pull in the Northern Wei military. That would certainly be helpful. "They didn't know much about what was going on at the time, since the spell hadn't reached that far when I called. They said they would try to gather their army and get down here, but that was a few hours ago. I haven't heard from them since, so I don't know what's happening."
"By now, the spell may have spread up there, too." Jay suggested. "While on the Isle, the news announced the spell was spreading. Does anyone have any idea how far it's spread so far?"
"Before Audrey spelled me, I was ordering the royal guard to pass out gas masks. At that point the sleeping spell had already spread to places like the Summerlands, and there were reports in Camelot and Notre Dame." Ben explained. "That was at least a couple hours ago. I don't know how far the spell has spread since then."
"I tried calling my grandfather up in Olympus, but I wasn't able to get in touch with anyone up there." Herkie added.
"Hopefully this sleeping spell can't get people inside vehicles." Pandora thought out loud worriedly. "In case someone tries to get down here, like on a plane. The last thing we need is a plane crash to add on top of all this."
Their discussion continued for a couple more minutes before Evie's cottage finally came into view from between the trees. The others inside must have been watching from the windows, because just as the group reached the patio the double doors were yanked open so Mal could run outside and right into Ben's arms.
The two groups merged together, grinning as friends were reunited. Uma greeted Gil and Harry, Celia greeted Jay, Carlos greeted Evie and Doug, and so on. But Pandora almost went into shock when her eyes landed on three people she hadn't expected.
"Dora!" bleach-blonde hair temporarily blinded Pandora as small but toned arms nearly choked her in a hug.
"Pavati?" Pandora squawked in shock, returning the hug after a moment and trying to look past her friend's screen of long hair. When the two girls finally pulled apart, Pandora got a good look at her friends.
Pavati, daughter of Poseidon, was beaming at her, her bleach-blonde hair in waves and blue-green eyes shining. Amadeus was greeting Herkie with a fist bump, practically looking like brothers. Amadeus had his father Hephaestus's muscular biceps and his mother Aphrodite's blonde hair and blue eyes. Finally, Aaron, son of Athena, with his dark hair stepped past Pavati to hug Pandora in greeting.
"What are you guys doing here?" Pandora demanded curiously. "I thought you couldn't get in touch with anyone back home?" she added to Herkie.
"I couldn't, today." Herkie agreed. "I actually, um, called Pavati yesterday. I know grandpa knows you're okay, but everyone's been worried about you. So, I told Pavati where you were."
"And good thing, too." Pavati commented. "I think we just missed the sleeping spell on the way down here. We all tried calling our parents as soon as we heard about the spell, but we couldn't reach anyone."
Pandora nodded, figuring as much considering what the others were saying on the way over. They all focused back on Mal, who was telling Ben that they thought Audrey might be at a place called Fairy Cottage. She then asked if Audrey ever took Ben there.
"Every Fairy Godmother's Day." Ben answered softly, his eyes landing on where Jane had taken a seat at one of the patio tables. "Where is Fairy Godmother when you need her?"
Nearly everyone couldn't help following his gaze to Jane, who looked so small and scared at the topic.
"I wish I knew." she admitted quietly. Carlos sat with her, probably to give her the birthday present he made for her.
"Hey, Dora." Gil called from a few feet away, causing Pandora to glance between Aaron and Pavati's shoulders. "Did you grow these, too?" he asked, picking an orange from one of the small potted orange trees around the patio.
"Uh, no, those were there before." Pandora answered, smiling slightly. Despite knowing names, they'd never done an official introduction. Gil must have overheard Carlos or Jay or someone calling her Dora.
"Doug," Ben called, approaching Evie's boyfriend, "go with Jane. We need to find Fairy Godmother."
Uma grabbed Ben's arm to get his attention. "They might need some muscle." she suggested.
"Hey." Doug complained.
Gil looked down at his biceps before looking up. "Well, I'll go." he volunteered.
"Yeah, actually, I would feel better." Carlos called, his arm around Jane's shoulder.
"Yeah, actually, I'd feel better, too." Evie agreed, to which several people started nodding their heads.
"Same." Mal added.
"Actually, I would, too." Doug admitted.
Gil grinned excitedly, yanking Doug into his side before the two of them and Jane headed toward town. Everyone watched from the patio, expressions of worry on many faces as they watched the trio disappear.
Before everyone could disappear into the small cottage, Ben turned to them with an air of authority. "Fairy Cottage is a couple hours away by car. We'll wait an hour before heading out, so we'll arrive around nightfall. That gives us time to rest and plan, and hopefully nightfall will give us the element of surprise."
Everyone nodded, splitting off to find ways to relax and pass the time.
AN: Now you know who the surprise visitors were: Pavati, Aaron, and Amadeus.
Also, I'd like some suggestions. Pandora isn't going to meet her father for at least a few more chapters, but are there any suggestions for what should happen or what should be said? I've started writing some stuff down, but I've hit a bit of a writer's block on that chapter. So if there's something you'd like to see when the time comes, please review and let me know. And please let me know what you all thought of this chapter! I love hearing from you all!