We were woken to the rest of the gang coming into our room with food. I groaned and Evie laughed quietly. We knew what today would bring. I helped Ace out of bed and we both grabbed muffins. While we were still in our sleep clothes, everybody else was dressed in comfortable sweat pants and loose t-shirts. I knew exactly why. I made Ace take the first shower so I could talk to the others.

"She went through hell the last few days. That's why we were so late agreeing to come. Her mom sold her again. 25 men at least, all in one night. I needed to get her out. To save her. Please, she can't go back. I almost lost her." The Queen of Hearts ran the biggest prostitution ring on the Isle. She had hundreds of clients and some of them were even other villains. The Queen had used her daughter in the past but with few clients and only a few a night. The Queen had gotten pissed at Ace after she caught her sneaking me out of her room. She didn't like Ace having friends, specifically female friends. She had locked Ace to a bed and let men use her, all night. I found her in the morning, picked the locks on the shackles, and cleaned her up. It was then we decided we should come to Auradon.

Mal nodded and while Evie looked like she was curious, she didn't pry. Carlos looked at me knowingly. The Queen and Cruella had been friends and Carlos had been sold to be used with the same punishment more than once. We stopped talking as soon as Ace came out and I went in to shower and dress. I found Ace curled in a ball in a chair and gently coaxed her into my lap. I began to work the knots out of her back as we waited to be summoned to the Council.

When we entered the Council chamber I could see some of the council members huff at our informal garments. I felt slightly embarresed but I knew we needed these clothes to tell our story. Mal gave Ben a quick kiss and then began.

"As you may know, Hell and Ace joined us from the Isle. They have brought bad news. The villains are rising again. Before you trapped the villains on the Isle they came up with a plan. They enchanted a magical brand to burn a V into every one of their future children's palms. We were branded at the age of 10. At least for some of us that was the only time we were branded. Many of the parents rebranded their children as a punishment. Evie and I never got rebranded but that doesn't mean we got out of the abuse. Abuse was common and known throughout the Isle. Our scars define us and remind us of why we left that life."

Mal turned around and lifted her shirt up to reveal her lower back. It was lumpy, so covered in scars you could barely see her actual back. It looked like claws had been scraped across her back but I knew better.

"My mom whipped me with a rawhide whip with glass shards woven in whenever I messed up."

The Council gasped at the site. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a few students standing by the door. Evie, with some help from Mal, lifted up her shirt nearly up to her bra. It looked like bars encircling her torso every few inches along with bars going up along her sides and up her spine.

"My mom would lock me in basically in a torso cage to stop me from losing my figure and would starve me."

Jay grimaced and pulled off his shirt. Healed cuts covered his torso, back, and arms as well as exposed healed burns were visible around his neck and wrists.

"My dad would put red hot shackles and a collar on me and then cut me with knives."

Carlos slowly pulled off his own shirt. Cigarette burns, long cuts, and puncture marks were all over his chest and I knew they were over most of his body.

"My mom would use me as an ashtray and then lock me in a closet with dog traps. I would move and they would cut me," he whispered, "When she sold me into prostitution she allowed them to do anything they wanted to me."

Ace pushed up her sleeves to reveal the marks from the shackles as well as scars from cuts up her blood vessels.

"Ma shackled me to the bed a couple of times including a few days before we came here and let men use me. A few times she cut my arms to try and get me to bleed out. She liked the red of the blood."

I sighed and ended up pulling my shirt completely off, leaving only my sports bra covering the burns. In the middle of my chest was a raised circle with scars radiating from it like flames covering my chest and arms.

"My dad would hold flames to my skin and let it burn across my skin. He said it was burning away all of the filth from my mother."

I heard loud gasps from the door and looked up. Half the school had to be there seeing our scars. I continued, "Jay, Carlos, Ace, and I were also branded more than once." We showed them the scars on our palms.

"Before you trapped our parents on the Isle they enchanted the brand. It worked on the Isle because it had so much stored magic. They think they've found a way to use that connection between parent and child to do terrible things. The more times we've been branded the more powerful the connection."

A councilman spoke up, "How does that concern us?"

I glared at him, "Ace and I didn't hear that much but we do know this: our parents may be able to cause physical pain through those burns," I glanced over at Carlos and Ace who were standing together, they had endured some of the worst abuse on the Isle.

"Those of us with more repeat burns of the V could possibly be actually controlled by our parents. Even from as far away as the Isle."