In January, people who know Zach see him with his new books and start throwing around the 'C' word. "He's so smart!" someone in the courts says while staying in the palace for the new year policy turnover and the subsequent overview of the previous year's records. "Are you going to send him to college before he becomes king?"
Other people make passing comments when they see him marking his textbooks up and scribbling little notes in his notepads. "Ben never went to college before he was crowned, did he?" "He's probably smart enough for university now." "What's he planning on studying?"
"He's not going," Mal shakes her head with anxiety clouding her soul. "He's not even eight yet. Not for another few years."
But the kicker is when the talk starts to get back to Ben. Because she can tell everyone in the courts that Zach isn't ready for college, but it's a mite bit harder to tell her husband, who knows their son quite well, the same thing."
"I think we need to get Zach tested to see what level he's on," Ben announces when she drops into bed and buries her face into her pillow. She can feel his eyebrows rise when she lets out a dissonant growl into the cushion. "Do you have an issue with that?"
"Depends," Mal sighs, rolling onto her side. "What's your reasoning?"
"I'm wondering if it might be beneficial to send him to school," Ben hums, reaching over to run his fingers through her hair. "He's smart. With a bit of training, he could be a certifiable genius."
It must be the hormones that make Mal immediately break down. "No," she moans, hiding her face away as her mascara clumps and then sticks to her face. "No, no, no. Ben, please don't do this to me. I'm not even forty - he's too little for college!"
"There are kids who go before they're eighteen," Ben frowns, picking her up and hugging her. "Why are you so afraid of it?"
"He's too smart," Mal sobs, still hiding her face. "Ben, he's entirely from your side of the family and it's only a matter of time before he realizes I have no idea what he's saying half the time and I - I don't want him to grow up and leave me!"
"Mal, he's not going to leave you. Just calm down," He pulls her hands away so he can wipe at her tears. "Listen, he's always gonna be around. He's going to be king when he's older. And you're always going to be his mom and he's always going to love you. He's not going to leave you behind just because he's smart. Do you realize he's smarter than me too? He came to ask me about electro-neogenesis and I didn't know and so he just shrugged it off and understood it wasn't something I had learned. He's not going to look down on you because you haven't learned certain things."
This is true, but Mal understands that Ben's wealth of knowledge is far greater than hers, and so if Zach's already more knowledgeable than Ben, her knowledge is probably insignificant. How did such a brilliant child come from her?
"I left my mother," She whispers. "I left when I went to school and when I learned about Auradon and met you. He could leave me. He could leave us."
"That's different," Ben replies flatly. "You recognized that your mother was abusive. And you still talked to her for years and years. The reason you stopped was because you got sick of her trying to hurt you. We are not abusive to Zach. He's not going to break things off with us."
"But what if he does?" Mal asks in despair.
"I didn't leave my parents," Ben points out. "We still see them every day."
"But what if he does?" Mal repeats, stressing every word.
"Fear of him leaving is a selfish reason not to help him succeed," Ben pinches his lips together and gives her a stern look.
Mal collapses into him. He rubs her back while she cries. It's a low blow, he knows, to point out a villainous characteristic in her, but he needs her to think about what's best for Zach right now. And now, hopefully, she'll come around.
On Valentine's day, Hades volunteers to watch the boys so that they can go out to dinner. It's a little odd - Mal's more heavily pregnant now, and they haven't gone out in a long while, and it's strange to not be with the boys for bedtime. Zach seems nonchalant about them leaving, but he doesn't exactly have them put him to bed every night anymore. Tyler is beyond excited when his blue-haired grandfather comes through the door and spends about ten minutes while Ben finishes getting ready wrestling with him, but when he finally figures out that Mom and Dad won't be back in time for bedtime, he's astonished. Still, he shakily agrees that all will be okay.
Ben's razor needs to be replaced, which is why it's taking him so long to get ready. Mal waits, watching Zach read and Tyler play with Hades, while Ben combs his hair and applies deodorant and grabs keys, wallet, everything he needs. And while she waits, she slowly starts peeling things off. First her gloves and then her scarf and heeled boots. Then her purse is flung onto the table and her hat set beside it. Tyler turns on the new electric fireplace to show Hades, and that's when Mal starts unbuttoning her overcoat to drop it on the cushion beside her. She's wearing a black dress with a low v-neck that's sleeveless. It still looks rather flattering despite her untrimmed figure.
None of the other room's occupants bat an eye as she leans back with more skin showing than she usually allows, and Zach doesn't even notice as he circles a phrase about centrifuges. His cell phone sits beside him along with his dictionary, which is used less now that many of Zach's unknown words extend outside the realms of common usage but is still valuable.
"Mal?" Ben appears from the bedroom, rushing to grab his coat on the wall, "Do you know where my cell phone is?"
"I think you left it on the table over there," Mal leans forwards and twists around to see it from where she sits on the couch, and Tyler lets out a horrified gasp.
"Mommy!" He wheezes as his arms still around Hades's neck, "Why do you have so many owwies?"
Ben stumbles while pulling his shoe on and knocks his elbow into the wall. Hades looks up, glances over his daughter's back, and his mouth drops open. Mal's face flushes deep red as she leans back into the couch, hiding the white marks across her back from view. In the end, it's Zach who speaks up. "They're from Grandma, Tyler," He says without looking up. "They're scars - they occur when the dermis layer of your skin is damaged."
"What?" Mal asks as she reaches for her coat and pulls it back on.
"The dermis?" Zach looks up. "It's the deepest of three main layers of-"
"Sweetheart, how do you know about Mom's scars?" Mal interrupts his explanation. She shoves the coat over her shoulders with a deep frown and buttons it back up. Ben winces from the side of the room.
"I just guessed," Zach shrugs. "Because Grandma used to hit you."
"Hit you?" Hades repeats softly, and Mal glances back and forth between the two boys.
"Who told you that, Zach?" She demands.
Ben takes in a hissing breath. "Mal, that was me," He calls. "He heard you talking about Maleficent and asked me about her. I watered things down, but..."
Zach furrows his brow then. "You lied?" He asks.
"No," Ben shakes his head. "No. I just didn't tell you everything because that's Mom's business and because I don't think you'd like to hear." He glances to the side at Mal. "Sorry," he mutters.
Hades stands up, shrugging off Tyler, and stares at Mal's coat as if he can see through it. "Those were some long hit marks!" Tyler exclaims with wide eyes. "When I hit my hip against my desk, it only made a dark mark. Not a white one. And mine was only this big." He peers through a hole in his hands to accentuate his point.
"They're not hit marks, Beastie," Mal admits, picking up her scarf and avoiding eye contact with her father. "Mom just has lots of old cuts on her back."
"Cuts?" Zach asks.
"Cuts?" Hades echoes sadly.
"Ben, are you ready to go?" Mal asks through clenched teeth.
Ben nods, still looking guilty, and pulls on his second shoe. He retrieves his phone and then picks up Tyler to hug him goodbye. Tyler squeezes him and points at Mal over his back. "I want lots of cool marks like Mom!" He exclaims. "She looks like a warrior!"
Ben and Mal both wince, and Zach sets aside his book, looking very sad. As he's gotten older, he's gotten better and better at reading social cues, and he knows that whatever he just said, he's made a bad situation worse. He hugs Ben around his neck and then twiddles his thumbs as Mal pulls on her gloves and shoes and picks up her bag before giving her his second hug.
"Be good," Ben instructs the boys. "Mom and I will be back before morning. If you misbehave, Grandpa has permission to send the furies after you."
"That's right," Hades agrees weakly. "You don't want to meet them, huh?"
"I could take fury!" Tyler beats the air with tiny fists. "Bring it on!" But then Ben and Mal step towards the door, and he drops his act. "Wait! Mom! Dad!" Tears start leaking down his cheeks, and Hades has to grab him before he follows them or lights anything on fire. Whichever comes first.
Mal doesn't speak all the way down to the car.
Mal knows she's doomed to being a college mom before forty the moment Ben helps Zach out of the car in March. They're not enrolling him(yet), or letting him look at any of the extracurriculars(yet), or even talking about sending him here(yet). They're only there to talk to the dean of admissions, who wants to talk to Zach and get an idea of where he's standing with his education.
Zach looks around with wide, amazed eyes. Everyone is taller than him and carrying backpacks and stacks of papers and clipboards and cellphones. In his arms in his prized dictionary, his lucky blue pencil, and a little notepad Ben let him take from his desk for the day. "This place is so cool!" He says, craning his head to peer underneath Ben's arm at a large cast-iron statue of someone important who Mal doesn't recognize. "Dad, did you go to school here?"
"Nope," Ben replies, putting a guiding hand to the back of Zach's neck and navigating him around a couple of teenaged girls who are chatting on the edge of the sidewalk about how class was. One girl with long, brown hair smiles at Zach and waves at him before gesturing back down to her friends at an assignment she has open on her phone. "I went to Auradon Prep and then became king. There wasn't enough time for me to go to school. But since you're not on grade level, Mom and I thought we'd get you tested here to figure out when you might like to come."
"I like it here," Zach confides in them, leaning forward to see what's to see up ahead. Mal's toes curl into her shoes. Couples are making out and walking around with their hands in each other's back pockets. There are boys wrestling and girls putting on makeup and people she can't tell are boys or girls and shadowy, pale-skinned creatures who bob their heads to deathly tunes. There are things she doesn't want Zach copying yet.
Ben still plays the part of a king as they go. He knocks knuckles with people who recognize him and wave to people on the benches and moves a little slower on instinct if someone holds a camera up. They don't have any security around as people point phones at her and Zach either. Usually, if Mal is around, she's considered protection enough. Perks of being from the Isle of the Lost, but right now, Mal could do with some sort of guard to protect her baby from all the people here.
Ben opens the door to the main building and then finds a secretary who takes them back through several narrow, tan-carpeted hallways before the family pauses outside a grey door. Ben steps back and indicates Zach can knock. Zach wastes no time in stepping up and rapping his knuckles against the metal door A balding man with a bright smile opens it. He isn't surprised to see the royal family, sans Tyler, in the hall. He welcomes them all in, shaking their hands, and offers them all the seats in his office. There's only two, but he takes the cushioned, wheeled chair from behind his desk and offers it to Mal, insisting that he was planning on walking around a lot anyways.
"Well, Prince Zach, it's lovely to meet you," He starts, and Mal is thrown off-guard by her son's title. All the people who know him don't ever use it. Even in the courts, he's 'the prince' or 'Zach', sometimes with adjectives like 'little' or 'smart' thrown in front of his name. He's more commonly referred to as 'Ben's son' than 'Prince Zach', which has always irked Mal a little because Tyler has been described the opposite from the beginning. 'Mal's son', they refer to him, even though both children come from her and Ben. And Tyler looks like Ben has dyed his hair and taken on a new attitude... Zach has her face all mixed'n'mashed with Ben's. Ben's comment from day one has been about how everything from Zach's cheeks down is like someone copy and pasted her facial features onto his. His lips have gotten a little thinner over the years, but still!
"I've always heard you're the palace's little genius," the dean of admissions continues, "and I'm very excited to see how much you know today. You can call me Mr. Jensen."
"I know a Jenson," Zach whispers as he leans forward and shakes Mr. Jensen's hand. Ben's mannerisms. "Are you going to test me?"
"I will in a moment," Mr. Jensen replies. "You're going to take parts of four tests that we've combined into one for people like you. It'll go over English... math... science... and you'll be asked to write a little too. There's part of an International Bachelorette test, an Advanced Placement exam, an Auradon College Testing exam, and then a Scholastic Aptitude test. For the writing part, we're going to have you respond to two simple prompts from this school's admission essays."
"Can I see the prompts?" Zach asks, looking down to list the four tests on his notepad. Mr. Jensen chuckles.
"I have them here," he says, picking up a paper from his desk. He clears his throat and then begins to read aloud. "Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. And then the second is to describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?"
Mr. Jensen then looks over the tops of his glasses at Zach. "I have some alternates if you'd like them, but many of them are about problems you've faced before. We figured that these would interest you more and that you would have more to say on them."
Zach nods in understanding and doesn't ask to see the additional prompts. He continues scribbling on his little notepad while Mr. Jensen replaces the prompts in a little white folder that Mal assumes is for Zach. "When do I have to start?" He asks when he finishes writing.
Mr. Jensen pulls two forms from his desk and two clipboards from where they are stuck in a bookcase. "Unfortunately, Zach, we have to wait just a moment. Mom and Dad have to agree to let you take everything on the test. If there's something that they don't want you to test on, we might have to come up with an alternative."
Mal feels like both a powerful overseer and a lurking villain as she takes the clipboard from the aged Dean. She could always shake her head and say she doesn't feel comfortable with him taking such an advanced exam, but then she'd crush her little baby. She listens to Ben tap his pen against the clipboard as he thinks and tries to focus. She skims past the purpose and the procedure, then closely examines the risks, which have several bullet points she doesn't immediately like. "Your child will be tested on medical conditions and procedures including but not limited to cancer, chemotherapy, AIDS, Herpes, and HIV. Please notify the test administrator if you do not wish your child to respond to these questions." "Your child will be asked to respond to questions regarding reproduction in both humans, animals, and plants. Please notify the test administrator is you do not wish your child to respond to these questions." "Your child will be asked historical-based questions regarding race, class, war, gender differences, and major political events." Beside the last point, several scribbled notes have been added. "Formation of Auradon, Reign of Villainy, Isle of the Lost."
Mal opens her mouth about the same time Ben does. "Can we see these questions?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.
Mr. Jensen nods and then pulls a large testing booklet out of Zach's folder. He flips through it for a moment, then hands it to Ben and Mal, pointing to a collection of questions. Mal's head starts to pound. She glances at Ben, and he nods in affirmation before Mr. Jensen flips the page a few times. Mal glimpses a collection of Punnett Squares, which she remembers how to use, and some related questions on blood type and sex-linked diseases. Those are okay.
Mr. Jensen flips to the very back of the booklet and then backs off as they skim the questions. Mal sees questions regarding Belle and Adam's decisions to make the Isle, and then a few questions about what year the throne was passed on and what King Ben's first proclamation was about, and then a couple regarding the fall of the barrier and the effects of reopening Auradon. Most of the questions are pre-Auradon, though. Things about Kingdom revolts and different trends in different places and major discoveries 9and events.
"Those are all okay," Ben nods, sitting back and continuing reading the form. "He knows all of those."
"He does?" Mal asks, blinking a little.
"Yeah," Ben nods. "Well, not all of the medical conditions, but he's got the theories behind them. He'll be fine."
"He knows about Aids?" Mal feels her shoulders roll forward. "And Herpes?"
"He knows about pathogens and Helper T cells and how pathogens can lie dormant inside of your body," Ben replies, continuing to skim. "That's what they're asking about. The diseases themselves are just examples." He pauses, then looks up. "Pathogens are just viruses or bacteria. And Helper T cells mark them so your body can destroy them."
Mr. Jensen snorts a little as Ben defines the words for her. Mal feels her cheeks grow hot. Zach slumps back into his chair a little with a sigh. "Can I have a book?" He asks, eyeing the bookcase behind Mr. Jensen's desk.
"We're almost done, champ," Ben hums as he signs his name off on the consent line and dates it. He glances at Mal, who looks back down with a swallow. She reads through the confidentiality statement and then glances at the time duration.
"Four hours?" Mal asks, looking back up. "Four hours straight?"
"He'll take a half-hour break after the first two sections or at the one-and-a-half-hour mark," Mr. Jensen explains. "And he's allowed, because of his age, to go get water or use the restroom at any time. I'll provide a few snacks as we go too." He pulls from behind his desk a large plastic tub with graham crackers, juice boxes, fruit snacks, peanuts, and tiny oranges. Zach's eyes light up. "If he finishes early, then I'll call you and let you know."
"Do you want us to stick around and wait for him?" Ben asks, handing the form and the clipboard back to Mr. Jensen.
"Most participants test better without the pressure," Mr. Jensen shakes his head. "I'd suggest going out and finding something to entertain yourselves with while you wait without going too far."
Mal signs off her name and hands the clipboard to Mr. Jensen. He takes it with a nod and then turns to Zach, gesturing around the room. "Is this a good place for you to take a test?" He asks. "Or would it be easier for you in a classroom?"
"I don't know," Zach shrugs. "I've never taken a test before."
"Let's take it in the classroom then, so you can get used to it," Mr. Jensen decides. He opens a side door and Zach gets off his chair to follow him into a large room with many wooden desks lined up in a semi-circle with seven rows. "Pick anywhere you like," Mr. Jensen tells him, and then brings the tub of snacks in too. Ben and Mal hover in the doorway to watch Zach go to the left side of the front row and sit down to wait.
"You aren't allowed to talk to me at all during the test unless there's a problem with the papers," Mr. Jensen begins to explain. "These questions are all different levels from lots of different areas, so it's okay if you don't know them all. It's better to skip questions you don't know and come back to them later. One strategy a lot of students use is to pick a letter - A, B, C, or D - and then go back and fill in all the questions for that letter if they run out of time."
"Use B," Mal calls from the doorway, interrupting Mr. Jensen's spiel. She remembers that strategy from high school. Mr. Jensen laughs with a nod.
"I can show you where the restroom is when you need it. Please fill in the bubble on the sheet all the way so that the computer can grade it and we can tell you in two days what level you're on. Someone else will have to read the writing portion and tell us about it. Any questions?" Mr. Jensen crosses his arms as Zach thinks for a moment and then shakes his head. Mr. Jensen holds out his hand. "I'll have to take that dictionary away from you, son," He says. "You're not allowed to have it until the end of the test. Do you have a phone?"
"Not here," Zach pouts as he hands the dictionary over. "Please take care of it. It's important."
Mr. Jensen nods and then sets the dictionary down at the lecturer's desk at the front of the room, giving it a little pet to accentuate how it is safe. Then he looks back up at them. "You can leave whenever," he calls. "Just let yourselves out."
"Be good, Zach!" Ben calls, waving at their son. Zach waves back with a little smile, and then they step out of the room and leave the office into the hallway. Ben puts an arm around Mal's shoulders as she sighs. "He'll be okay," he assures her.
They wander out onto campus and through people and end up in a cafe somewhere while Ben checks through his emails and Mal drums her fingers anxiously, peering between her cellphone and a bell tower that rises above the main building on campus. Ben orders them lunch - sandwiches and shakes and cake for dessert - and then has to step outside to call one of his advisors about a file that was sent out incorrectly.
A song Mal has heard before starts on the cafe radio. It's very fast and catchy. She taps her foot along and then the baby kicks against her ribs in a sharp motion that has her wincing and grabbing her side to rub the hurt area.
Ben finally returns and puts his phone down with a sigh. "Sorry," he mumbles and then picks up a sandwich.
Mal shrugs. "Work has to get done," she sighs. The baby kicks again, making Mal groan. "Stop kicking me," she pokes her belly back.
"They like music," Ben chuckles across the table as his phone buzzes and he flips it back over with a sigh.
"What?" Mal raises her eyebrows and Ben looks back up, a little unfocused as he tries to remember what he'd said. Finally, it comes back to him.
"Oh, you always complain about them kicking when music is playing. I think we have a dancer on our hands."
Mal pinches her lips together as Ben goes back to his phone. "I hadn't realized," she mutters under her breath. Ben snorts and picks up her hand across the table. She squeezes his fingers as he finishes skimming the text and then flips the screen back over to gaze into her eyes.
"One genius, one dragon, and one dancer," he whispers.
"Tyler dances," Mal reminds him. "He was asking me if he could try singing too. So maybe we'll have a performer."
Ben snorts, squeezing her hand even tighter. "You're a great mom," he whispers. "I'm glad I picked you."
Mal blushes a little. "I'm just glad that I turned out okay. I honestly was afraid I'd lose control and hit them or scream from time to time."
"No, that's me," Ben rolls his eyes. "But it's okay. We're both doing well. Everything will be okay."
Mal nods in agreement, though her mind jumps back to that classroom where Zach may or may not be struggling with his test.
Four hours later, they pick him back up. His face is red with barely-contained frustration and his pockets are stuffed full of gummy bears and fruit snacks. Mr. Jensen looks amused as he files Zach's responses for someone to read and grade. "He did well," he explains. "But his knowledge isn't un-emcompassable - he was very frustrated with not knowing enough about definitions or terms to answer a question even if he knew the theory behind it." It turns out that Zach had actually needed the full four hours, and he still ended up filling in a lot of 'IDK Letter B's'. He practically seethes as they walk back down to where they parked the car and get in to go to the palace. Ma isn't surprised when he begins to complain as soon as all the doors are shut.
"I didn't know what the options were for the cancer questions, so I had to guess!" He says, crossing his arms and stomping his feet into the floor of the backseat. "And I didn't know any animal hormones or about the endocrine systems, and I didn't know what the Hilbert problems were and two of the English problems asked the same thing and I couldn't answer because they both used the word chimerical." He flips through his returned dictionary while Ben pinches his lips together in amusement. Mal, too, finds it funny that he's so riled up about not knowing things, but she understands. After all, she just spent four hours worrying about exactly how much he does know compared to her.