Here we are! Chapter 50!
I never thought one of my stories would have so many chapters, but here we are! This chapter is the start of the events from "Escape from the Isle of the Lost." I am going to guess that there will be four to five chapters about those events, maybe more.
I will admit that this chapter isn't as great as I wanted it to be. Next chapter, the Core Four will be back on the Isle of the Lost to spread the news about the VK Program. That is where we get to see Carlos becoming a momma's boy.
Oh! Remember last chapter when I mentioned something happening when I posted chapter 48? This story has more words than any of my other stories, which means this story is now number one on every list posted on profile!
Now, without any further interruptions:
Enjoy!
A few weeks after receiving her birthday gift from her parents, Mal made her way to the castle for a Royal Council meeting. Speaking of her gift, Mal made sure to wear the gold heart-shaped locket, which stood out against her matching black-and-purple shirt and skirt, her long purple hair tucked behind her ears. Only those closest to her have seen the pictures that the locket contains, which adds up to six people. Yes indeed, she showed Maurice since he treated her like a grand-daughter, and may she one day be.
Sorry, too much rhyming.
Anyways, Mal arrived a few minutes early, finding herself to be the first to have arrive. That wasn't unusual for her. However, her prompt appearance seemed to surprise Lumiere, who was still fluffing cushions and helping Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts set out the tea service.
"Lady Mal! You're early again!" Lumiere noted with a bit of a frown. As the head of the king's household, he didn't like to be caught with his candelabras down. "I wish you would warn us ahead of time."
"Sorry," Mal apologized while still smiling from ear to ear. "My mother taught me to always be early if I can help it. Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"There's no need to help us, dear. Please, be our guest." Though she denied the offer, Mrs. Potts almost dropped the two heaping plates of scones and pastries during her haste.
"Here," Mal persisted as she took one of the plates away, placing it in the middle of the table.
"We don't have much time!" Cogsworth fretted as he opened the drapes to let the light into the conference room. "The kings and queen will be here shortly! Fairy Godmother will turn us all into pumpkins—or worse, back into furniture—if things aren't perfect!"
"Cogsworth, you worry too much!" Mal insisted as she poured tea into everyone's cups. "Fairy Godmother is far too kind and far too forgiving to do something like that!"
To ease the loyal servant's troubled mind, Mal folded the napkins on the plates to resemble ladies' fans. A few weeks ago, when Mal had been early for another meeting, there was a few minutes to spare so Lumiere taught her how to fold them properly. Ever since, Mal purposely arrived early for the meetings to help with their workload.
Once the room was ready, and at the appointed hour, Mal took a seat as Cogsworth held the door open. King Beast, Queen Belle, King Ben, and Fairy Godmother all filed in right on time. The latter two were in deep conversation, unknowing to the married couple.
"—I think it's a wonderful idea," Ben whispered secretively so his parents wouldn't hear. "She'll be so thrilled."
"I thought she might." Fairy Godmother agreed, looking as polished as ever in her pink ruffled shirt and powder-blue suit. "I know it's been some time since she's seen them in person. This will be the perfect opportunity so no one will be suspicious."
Grinning from ear to ear, Ben took his seat next to Mal, who could only hear part of their conversation.
"What's going on?" Mal whispered to Ben as Fairy Godmother took a sip of her tea.
"You'll see," he promised, reaching for a scone. "And you're going to love it."
King Beast and Queen Belle looked deeply relaxed, though they were more clueless than Mal about the previous conversation. Ever since they hand over the reins of government to their son, the retired king and queen were only brought in to consult with the Royal Council. Ben had the final word on every decision, no matter if they disapproved.
After letting the assembled group eat for a moment, Ben called the meeting to order.
"Mal, I'm sorry we started this discussion without you," Ben apologized with no sincerity in his tone. "But the Royal Council believed you should like for you to do some diplomatic visits around all the kingdoms of Auradon. What do you think?"
"Oh!" Mal sat up straighter at the idea. "That sounds . . . exciting!"
Fairy Godmother cleared her throat so the attention would be adverted onto her. "It's important that you see as much of the kingdom as you can. Since you didn't grow up in Auradon, we thought it would be good for you to observe the customs of the country."
"We made a list of kingdoms for your itinerary," King Beast commented as he pushed a piece of paper across the table toward Mal. "Hopefully it won't be too distracting for your studies."
Mal felt her heartbeat speed up in excitement. It was true—she hadn't seen very much of Auradon at all. The chance to travel a country sounded so thrilling after a childhood spent trapped on a remote island. So many things to see! So many people to meet!
She glanced at the list. Every kingdom and region in Auradon were represented on her itinerary.
Every region, that is, except for one.
Mal glanced up from the paper. "Why is the Isle of the Lost not on this list?"
"What?" Fairy Godmother quickly stole the paper so she could read the contents for herself, surprised to find it was indeed gone. "That can't be. I could have sworn it was on here. It was the first one I listed! Olympus was right underneath it! It was ordered that way so you'd feel more comfortable with the travel. Why is it gone?"
King Beast shifted uncomfortably, coughing to clear the guilt in his throat. "I may have removed it from the list," he admitted. "It would be too dangerous for her to go there, especially now."
"The Isle of the Lost is Mal's home," Ben reminded with a sigh of annoyance. "She would be perfectly safe since her mother is back on the island, as we had announced a couple weeks ago. You had no right to do what you did, especially without consulting me first."
"I am Queen of the Isle," Mal added to help aid the situation, hoping she could help advert an argument before it starts. "They are my people. I don't want them to think that I've forgotten them, especially after everything you Auradonians put them through."
"Let's not squabble about this just yet," Fairy Godmother proposed, becoming the actual mediator. "We'll discuss this again at the next Royal Council meeting in a couple days." She gave Mal a knowing wink. "It will give me some time to convince him to change his mind."
"Sounds wonderful." Ben smiled despite being slightly riled up before. "I'd take any excuse to have more tea and scones from Mrs. Potts."
About a day later, Ben had his brow creased as he read the latest safety report from Genie, who kept an eye on all the kingdoms. The news was the same—no sign of Uma or her tentacles. Ben was writing a note advising Genie to keep an eye on the oceans, when the door to his study burst open. He was surprised, but happy to find Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos talking excitedly to each other as they made their way to the front of his desk.
"We could tell them about Tourney!" Jay suggested.
"And chocolate chip cookies!" Carlos added energetically. "Oh, and hot showers!"
"And how nobody locks you up in a tower if you forget your homework!" said Evie.
"Ben!" Mal perched on the side of his desk. "Wait till you hear this idea!"
"What is it?" Ben wondered, grinning and leaning back on his chair, glad to have a distraction. Even kings needed a break from time to time. "What's the idea?"
"A VK program!" Evie announced with a wide smile. "We bring over some more villain kids to study at Auradon Prep!"
Ben raised his eyebrows, wondering why he didn't think about it sooner. "That sounds wonderful," he complimented. "How would you make the villain kids interested?"
"I was thinking that we could take photos of us," Evie explained as she took a seat near Mal. Carlos took the empty chair across from Ben's desk while Jay took a place by the windowsill. "We could use them to make posters and put them all over the island. Kind of inspirational!"
"We need to show them that anyone and everyone can come to Auradon Prep," Mal insisted
"We'll definitely give everyone a chance to apply," Ben promised. "But we can't take everyone from the Isle of the Lost. We need to figure out exactly how many kids we can bring over. There's a lot to plan before this happens."
"How about four children?" Carlos suggested as he leaned forward to get more involved in the conversation. "Four of us came last time, so they may already expect four more to go next."
"I'd really like for Dizzy to be one of the four," Evie admitted hopefully. "But we need to go to the Isle to help spread information about the VK program. We could tell them exactly how wonderful it is here, and answer their questions, we'll be able to get a lot more of them interested in applying."
"If my father doesn't get in the way," Ben commented. "He almost went beast at the idea of Mal going alone. Besides, Auradon Prep discourages student travel during the school year,"
"But not if it's part of my diplomatic visits . . ." Mal mused. "That's it! My diplomatic visits!" She turned to Ben, her eyes sparkling. "We agreed that the Isle of the Lost should be included on my official itinerary. If I'm using my visit to promote the VK program at the same time, Fairy Godmother won't be able to say no and neither could your father! It's the perfect opportunity!"
Ben finally nodded. "It does make sense. How long would you need?"
"Three days?" Mal guesstimated. "The day we arrive, a full day to talk about the program, and leave the next day. It would give me some time to spend with my parents—"
"Like Fairy Godmother and I were trying to do before," Ben interrupted as he smiled reassuringly. "We'll present it at the next council meeting."
The next meeting of the Royal Council didn't involve scones, mostly because it was after dinner, but Ben's disappointment was assuaged when he noticed that Mrs. Potts was serving dessert instead. Pies and pudding en flambé. Yum. He shared a conspiratorial wink with Mal.
His parents were already at the table with Fairy Godmother. After exchanging a few pleasantries and going over the notes for the upcoming trade meeting, Ben steered the conversation back to the decision about Mal's official itinerary.
"Do we really need to discuss this right now?" King Beast yawned.
"Sending Mal to the Isle of the Lost doesn't seem like a terrible idea," Queen Belle commented gently. "I'm just afraid that it would be dangerous."
"Mal will have her friends with her. She'll be perfectly safe," Ben reassured. "And I said before, her mother will be there too."
"I promise, nothing will happen." Mal glanced at her beloved for encouragement. "In fact, I would like to use my trip to help with the initiative of bringing more VKs over to Auradon."
"That would definitely help benefit both the Isle and Auradon," Fairy Godmother agreed. "It's time to bring the kids to the mainland. Mal is the best person for the job."
"I still have my doubts," King Beast argued. "Where would you and your friends stay?"
"Probably at my mother's place," Mal answered, but then she hesitated. "Well . . . Carlos may want to stay with his mother since he's been missing her."
King Beast sighed as he slumped in his chair. "Why do are you so fixated on your mother?"
"Because she raised me to be a queen," Mal retorted almost rudely. "I need to check on her anyways. She didn't sound right in her letters. I'm afraid she's sick and is too stubborn to tell me."
"Then I give you my permission to go, despite the king and queen's disapproval," Fairy Godmother announced. "What's the plan?"
"Mal and her friends are going to meet with Dr. Facilier of Dragon Hall and liaise with him to drum up interest in the program," Ben informed, giving his full attention to the headmistress instead of his parents. "Once we receive all the applications, we'll select four new candidates."
"I'll have the royal press issue a proclamation with the dates of Mal's visit." Fairy Godmother pulled out a feather pen and scribbled a few notes. Once she was finished, she smiled encouragingly at Mal. "Have a wonderful trip and I hope you enjoy your visit with your mother."