...
...
"The most dangerous lies, are the lies you tell yourself."
...
Mal wasn't entirely sure what Jane knew. She had always thought the daughter of the Fairy Godmother reserved and shy. Jane didn't get involved in matters which didn't involve her first — that's how she lasted so long in a place like Auradon. Mal wasn't even aware Jane and Audrey were friends, at least not after what happened before the Coronation. But, then again, Mal had missed a lot since she and the King got together. His deception had kept her blinded for so long, the Dragon Girl wasn't really sure of anything anymore.
Motioning for Jay, Carlos and Evie to stay back, Mal knocked loudly on Jane's door. She was one of the few who stayed at Auradon Prep during the Summer, due to Fairy Godmother running the Summer School program. Waiting a nervous moment, the dorm swung open easily. Jane was bright in a blue dress, her silver eyes glittering with her usual enthusiasm. Inside, Mal could see Lonnie on the bed, typing on her laptop.
"Oh, hey guys." Eyebrows dropping slightly in confusion, Jane kept her smile sincere as she glanced between all the VK's, "I wasn't expecting you guys till the party."
Mal wanted to face palm herself. She completely forgot about Jane's birthday, "is something wrong?"
"Jane. I'm super sorry to do this on your birthday, but we need your help."
Reaching into her pocket, Mal pulled the songbird necklace from it. The daughter of the Fairy Godmother took it quickly, feeling the turquoise center with a thumb. Waving a hand over the pendant, Mal jumped as the blue turned to a violent red.
"Oh no,"
Turning back inside, Jane left the door open for Mal and the others to enter as she hurried to Lonnie. They didn't say anything to one another, just removed their own pendants and laid them out on the bed. Watching curiously as Jane once again waved her hand over the cheap looking jewelry, all three flickered an angry crimson, "Audrey's in danger."
"What is that?" Mal asked, glancing over her shoulder. Evie had taken up a spot at the table, while Jay and Carlos guarded the door.
"Tracking devices," Lonnie said, picking up her sword and dragon pendant and returning it to her neck, "we always know where the other two are."
"They can also sense danger." Jane explained to Mal, returning her own pendant along with Audrey's to her neck, "I made them in case we needed to help one another. So what's happened?"
"I can't tell you." Mal said, expecting more backlash then she got as Jane just waved it away.
"I don't want details. Just...tell me what you'd tell someone who wasn't in your circle."
"Uh, I guess Ben thinks Audrey killed her grandmother, and now she's been arrested."
"That's enough for me. C'mon Lonnie."
Rolling off the bed, the female warrior grabbed her red jacket as Mal blinked.
"Where are you two going?"
"To get Audrey out of there," Lonnie insisted, pulling her black hair up into a ponytail as Jane opened a drawer and removed something from inside. It was a wand, slender and white, and completely unassuming as she shoved it up a lace sleeve.
"Wait, you can't just go breaking into Beast's Castle. You'll both get arrested to!" Mal argued, not wanting to tell Jane or Lonnie the truth about Ben. They just glanced at one another, then back at the VK's as Jane's face took on a dark shadow.
"Mal. I know you've probably only just figured out what's going on, but we don't have a lot of time." Jane said, causing Mal's jaw to open a bit as the Fairy Godmothers Daughter sighed heavily in frustration, "Audrey's been worried about...things, since after the Coronation. I made the necklaces at her request."
"So you know about..."
"No!" Jane interrupted, holding out a hand as Mal shut her mouth with a click, "we don't need the details. Details are dangerous, Mal. We only know that Audrey needs our help."
"That's an awful lot of faith to have in someone." Evie said softly from where she was sitting, fine brows curled upwards as Jane shook her head heavily, Lonnie placing a hand on her shoulder.
"We owe her a lot." The girl admitted, staring at Mal pointedly and with an expression none of the VK's had seen upon her face before, "I think you'll find that everyone in Auradon has their own secrets. I'm guessing Audrey told you where to go to find what you need?"
"Yes." Mal said cautiously, "do you know of it?"
"Only what she's told me. You can use my room as a base of operations for a bit if you'd like. Once we have Audrey we'll be heading to someplace she can't be found."
"How will we find you again?"
"Here," waving a hand, four pendants in the shapes of black roses appeared in Jane's open palm, "use these. When you want to find us, tap them twice with a finger. You'll know where to go."
"Thanks Jane," passing the pendants out to her friends, Mal clasped her's around her neck, "I underestimated you. I'm sorry."
Nodding her head with a smile, Jane and Lonnie hurried out as Carlos snuck a kiss from his girlfriend as she left, whispering something in her ear. Setting her hands on her hips l, Mal exhaled heavily, "wow. I never thought Jane was such a 'getup and go' type."
"One of her friends is in danger, Mal." Evie insisted, "we'd do the same for you."
"I wonder what she meant by everyone has secrets." Mal pondered, turning slightly as Carlos opened the laptop left on Jane's bed. Typing for a moment, he moved the computer to the table so all could see.
"This is a 3-D schematic of the Museum from the Auradon Records."
"Do we see the archive Audrey was telling me about?"
Leaning over the back of Evie's chair, Mal squinted at the grid.
"There," Jay mumbled, pointing at a small door leading to seemingly nowhere, "this door."
"Let me see..." typing quickly again, Carlos's screen went black, as his type turned to green lettering, "I'm hacking into the system now. Seeing if something has been blocked from the public eye."
"I wonder what the importance of the archive is," Evie pondered, "and why would anything be hidden there anyway?"
"I'm not sure if it was hidden." Mal admitted, watching Carlos work, "Audrey said to look for a book about Beast's Fairytale..."
"There are dozens of those in the kingdom," Jay complained, "why are we after this one?"
"It must have some importance to the royal family or Audrey wouldn't have told us to find it." Mal said, watching as a new schematic appeared on the screen with the words 'CONFIDENTIAL' across the top. "What do we see, Carlos?"
"It's not much. Looks like an annexed room of some kind, probably a hidden library for important documents. The walls are thick though, enforced with steel."
"What does that mean for us?"
"It means our pretty pink princess couldn't have just walked in."
"Which means she found the book outside of the archive..." Evie finished knowingly, "if it really isa tome of some kind, maybe it was being used? That happens right?"
"But why would someone need a copy of a fairytale everybody already knows?" Jay insisted again, "it makes no sense."
"That's probably why Audrey is sending us to figure it out instead of just telling us." Mal insisted, "alright. Carlos, pull up a current schematic of the whole museum."
"On it."
Watching the map come up, Mal squinted at the door which lead to nowhere.
"Alright, so it looks like the entrance to the archive is in part of the museum with no exhibits."
"Shouldn't we wait till it's dark?" Evie asked, "we can't possibly go in while the museum is open."
"Jane was right in saying we don't have a lot of time." Mal said, "we do this in broad daylight...and I think I may have a plan." Smirking and feeling her old villain self returning, Mal turned to Jay, "you up for a bit of stealing?"
...
"When all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story."
...
Walking into the museum while it was in operation was a strange experience. Mal was used to it being empty and quiet. Now, they were surrounded by people. Young couples, old people, children's tour groups and more. It was unnerving, knowing they had to work around all of these eyes. Purple hair tucked neatly under a baseball cap, Mal shoved her hands into her pockets.
"Just look as natural as possible," Mal mumbled to Evie and Carlos, who had on disguises of their own. It would have been too distracting to see the future Queen of Auradon walking around, and Ben couldn't know she was here. Glancing down at her phone, a text from Jay had appeared. He would be at the location in two minutes, "alright, let's walk."
Swiveling on a heel, Mal picked up one of the Museums three pages brochures. Watching the security desk as they passed it, the Dragon Girl waved a hand. Immediately the security monitor went dark, causing the guard to sit up and start tapping at his keys. At that same moment, an alarm began to blare loudly as Jay successfully tripped whatever alarm protected the item he was trying to take. With everyone distracted by the noise, and all security personnel already running to the compromised area, Mal nodded to the corner.
The door was hidden by a heavy velvet curtain. Pulling it aside, Carlos kept watch for anyone wandering about as Mal held out her hand.
"Make it easy, make it quick. Open this door without a kick."
Snapping, there was a puff of green as the door unlocked instantly, swinging open, "go, go, go."
Waving Evie and Carlos in, Mal followed after as she closed the door. Glancing at her phone, Jay hadn't texted back yet as the Dragon Girl exhaled deeply. He was probably fine, unless he had gotten that rusty from their time in Auradon. Shaking the thought of Jay being caught and thrown into jail (or sent back to the Isle), Mal followed her friends down the stairway into the main archive. Like it was mapped, the room wasn't huge. But it was filled to the brim with books, and a single desk was pushed into the corner. Gravitating towards it, Mal unrolled some of the parchments on the surface.
"Evie, come look at this."
Feeling the bluenette's presence beside her, Mal looked at the maps confusedly, "these are maps for the Isle."
"Yeah. There's the cove, and the market, and the North Shore."
"Looks like someone's been using these recently," Mal pondered, wanting to read the red markings on the map, but being pulled away when Carlos yelled softly in success. Rolling the map into a tight wad, Mal pocketed it quickly as Carlos brought over a large tome.
"This is it. Beauty and the Beast, just like Audrey said."
"But that can't be right," Evie complained, feeling the cover with a hand, "it's much to thick, and the cover is wrong."
Grabbing the front cover, Mal flipped it open. At first the yellowed page was blank, but all of the VK's gasped as ink began to magically appear. Flipping from page to page, Mal was awed by the magic as the tale of Beauty and the Beast was told. When it was at the happy ending, Mal kept flipping only to find more and more pages. The uniting of Auradon, the creation of the Isle, Ben's birth. Even their own arrival was in the book.
"What is this thing?" Carlos breathed, feeling a page with a shy hand as Mal laughed lightly.
"It's a magical compendium. I've only ever heard of these..."
"A magical what now?"
"A compendium," Evie said again, "it's like an index of events, both past and present."
"So...it knows the future?" Carlos questioned, watching over Mal's shoulder as they passed through the events of the Coronation in black ink.
"Not necessarily," Mal explained, "it has some prophetic magic to it, but all things can be changed."
"Mal, wait. Look at this."
Stopping on the page in question, Mal had flipped well past Cotillion. There was only one illustration on this page, one of a monstrous beast with a crown atop its head. At its feet lay a figure, someone undefinable to Mal as her breath was stolen. Slowly, words began to scribble a small caption.
'The Tyrant King.'
"Oh my god..."
"Mal," feeling Carlos touch her arm, he was looking towards the stairs, "we have company."
"What do we do?" Evie rasped, taking the book as it was passed into her arms. Grasping onto both her friends, Mal spoke a spell.
"Foggy glass to crystal clear, make us all disappear."
Even though nothing appeared to happen, Mal couldn't see either Evie or Carlos anymore as the door to the room opened. Looking in, a security guard looked around. Mal was almost afraid her spell didn't work, but relaxed as the man grunted in annoyance and headed back up the stairs. When he was gone, Mal released her magic as all three VK's breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"That was too close," Evie complained, Book in hand as Mal took it from her.
"Good thing that spell worked then." The Dragon Girl laughed, waving a hand as the compendium shrunk down to a manageable size, "here E. Carlos, reorganize the books so it looks like nothing was taken."
Nodding, Carlos began to work the shelves as Mal removed her phone. Thankfully, a text from Jay was on the screen.
"Jay says he's fine, no one got him."
"Thank goodness. Now can we get out of here?"
"Yeah. Let's go guys."
Moving as one singular unit, Mal, Carlos and Evie slipped out one of the open emergency doors as they booked it across the parking lot to where Jay was hiding between two buildings. He was a bit flushed, no doubt from running, but he greeted the others with joy.
"Hey. Took you guys long enough."
"Sorry, we had to clean up before leaving." Mal snipped, just happy he was alright as she pulled the pendant from around her throat, "let's see what these can actually do."
Tapping the rose with a finger, Mal blinked as a blue line of pixie dust appeared above her head. Following suit, the others also stared up at the line, "looks like we know the direction we're headed." Mal said, "let's hurry up. I hate being out in the open like this."
"You know I never thought I'd say this," Carlos breathed as they began to move quickly away from the museum, "but I really hope Audrey is alright."
"Yeah," Pursing her lips at the idea of the Princess in that cell, Mal shook her head, "I hope so too."
...
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusionof things.
...
"Wow, when Jane said they were going someplace they couldn't be found, I really underestimated the walk."
The four VK's approached the clearing in the Enchanted wood exhaustedly. The sun was already beginning to set around them as Evie whimpered, pulling at her high heels.
"So not the right shoes for hiking in."
"Shh," quieting her friends, Mal looked upon the small, dilapidated cottage before them. It felt familiar to her somehow, the feeling of fairy magic surrounding the place alerting Mal to Jane's presence. Before she could even reach the door, it opened slowly. Jane poked her head out.
"We're you seen?" She asked. Mal shook her head, the fairy girl sighing with relief as she opened the door and ushered the four VK's inside, "Sorry, we're all a bit on edge here,"
Glancing around the cottage, Lonnie was sitting in the window seat. Her shirt was pulled up, revealing the long gash in her side as she held a pack of ice against it. Even sweet little Jane had a smaller cut across her forehead, one which was beginning to bruise.
"Did you manage it?" Mal asked, observing Jay as he moved to help Lonnie, while Evie and Carlos collapsed into chairs, pulling off their shoes from the long walk, "are you guys ok?"
"Yeah. Audrey's in a bit of rough shape though. She's upstairs."
"Great," placing a hand on Jane's shoulder, Mal felt a real respect for the fairy as she smiled, "thanks."
"Course."
Smiling, Jane moved to sit by Carlos as Mal turned and headed up the narrow staircase. Quietly as possible she entered the single bedroom. Audrey was once again in bed, eyes closed as she slept on. Her good eye now had the shadow of a bruise around it from a hit to the face, and her bottom lip was busted and scanned over. Her long wound from the night before looked angry and red, and Mal could tell even from a distance she needed real medical attention. Pulling up a crooked stool, the Dragon Girl gently tapped Audrey's hand with her own.
"Audrey? Hey, Audrey, are you ok?"
Shifting slightly, Audrey's single ok eye opened blearily. Her fingers trembled as Mal gently took them in her own, stilling their shaking.
"...the tyrant king..." Audrey breathed carefully, "an evil even greater then...then Maleficent ever was."
"Don't strain yourself." Mal mumbled, "I just wanted to check on you."
"Aegroto, dum anima est, spes est." Audrey mumbled, more to herself then to Mal as she inhaled deeply, "For the sick, while there is life, there is hope."
Frowning at the Latin proverb, Audrey dropped back into sleep as Evie appeared beside Mal, handing her a teacup.
"She doesn't look well," the bluenette observed, "she needs a hospital."
"I know." Rubbing a hand across her face, Mal held the cup in her lap, "I only know one person who may be able to help without Ben finding out."
Glancing up at Evie, the girl nodded knowingly as she exhaled deeply through the nose.
"I'll tell the guys. When do we leave for the Isle?"
"Tomorrow. I'll get the remote from Beast's Castle when I see Ben for breakfast. In the meantime, we can figure out the compendium and what the royal family is willing to kill for."
"Ok." squeezing Mal's shoulder, Evie left as the fiancé to the king sat watching over the Sleeping Beauty. Her breaths we're strained, brows crumpled in incredible pain as Mal ran a hand through her hair.
"Cogitationes posteriores sunt saniores." Mal mumbled to herself, leaning on steepled fingers as she closed her eyes to the sounds of Audrey's slumber, "Second thoughts are best; We shall lose nothing by waiting."
...
...
A/N: Ooooo we get to go back to the Isle next chapter! Thanks for all the continued support from everyone on all of my stories. For the question of whether or not this is going to be a Maldry fic, that has yet to be seen. Maybe, maybe not. Who knows! Be sure to drop a comment down below as I love hearing from you guys! Till next update!
P.s I apologize in advance for any butchered latin? I just got some mottos from google, so blame them XD