A/N: This should have been out way earlier. And I don't blame you guys If you hate me for not putting this out sooner. Truth be told, the entirety of this chapter and the next had mostly been written. Unfortunately, Chapter 3 had a couple dozen plotholes that had to be tied up before I could publish and I only just got to them today. So, at the very least, enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 3: Revealed

Let me be the first to say: I don't dance and I definitely don't sing. That being said, what unholy power is making me dance to this god forsaken song? Never mind the fact that the entire tourney team is in sync and the band automatically knew the song that Ben just made up. There was some primo magic in the air and it confused the living hell out of me.

Watching as Ben surfed the crowd on his way to Mal, I, at least, came to the conclusion that everything about what just happened was majorly ridiculous.

"I love you, Mal! Did I mention that?" Ben proclaimed to the entire school.

Then Audrey came out of nowhere and grabbed the mike. "Chad's my boyfriend. And I'm going to the coronation with him so I don't need your pity date." She kissed Chad.

Ben grabbed the mike back. "Mal, will you go to the coronation with me?"

She grabbed the mike and with a chipper voice shouted, "Yes!"

"She said yes!" Ben cried in victory and the crowd applauded.

I made my way to Nadra who was watching me with a calm, serene smile. "Good game!"

"Let's go." I said pointing to the campus and stretching out my hand.

"Go where?" She asked slightly confused.

"Doesn't matter. So long as I don't have to sing another song, anywhere's good." She placed her hand and mine and together, we ran off back to campus.

"Please tell me that doesn't happen often." I begged. We were walking down one of the school's many nature trails when I popped that question. The unnatural energy of that whole encounter was weird to me and I was still trying to wrap my mind around it.

"What? You mean the singing or the dancing?" There was a smile across her face so I'm guessing she was enjoying how absolutely flustered that I was.

"Both. It's one thing when two or three people know the lyrics to a song that someone just made up. But an entire crowd?"

She pursed her lips as she thought through her answers. "Do you want me to lie?"

"I don't mind if you do." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Then, no, that's most definitely an unnatural thing and I think that we may have a real-life problem on our hands." She smirked and I scowled.

"Why is it that even when you're lying, all I really hear is the sarcasm?"

"My dad's very sarcastic and, if you didn't know, he's the best of the best when it comes to using it. Guess I just picked up the habit."

"Doesn't seem like the best habit to have," I said in mock concern. She heard the cynicism in my voice and countered with, "Like you really can say anything."

"Touché." I said before turning my eyes towards her. "But seriously, what's with the songs?"

She chuckled slightly. "This was before most of the stories we know today. Like Sleeping Beauty or the Tales of the Arabian Nights or anything really. Back then, the world was still getting back on its feet. In that time, there was a fairy who wanted to help the world. She believed that if people can just come to understand each other, then we could make our world a better place. So, she cast a spell to do just that."

"How does breaking out into song and dance help us understand each other?"

"Songs can be useful if you want to convey emotions of some sort. To understand one another, emotions of empathy and compassion were needed to help everyone see what was best for one another. Add that to the fact that almost anyone can learn to sing and dance and it's the perfect idea for patching up the rest of the world. At least that was the reasoning at the time." She explained, as detailed as possible.

"Okay, but this fairy must have cast this spell ages ago. How come it's still working?"

"I'd like to think that she's like your mom… in a sense. She's definitely one of the more powerful fairies I've ever heard of. It's believed that if she and your mom had a fight, there's no telling who would come out on top."

"So she's that strong? Kinda a scary thought. Maleficent's known as the Mistress of Evil so this fairy must be like the Mistress of Goodness or something. What I wouldn't pay to see that fight?"

Nadra gave me an odd look but shook her head before I could ask about it. "How come you don't like your mother?"

My eyes snapped towards hers, shell-shocked. "W-what are you talking about? Where did you come up with that crazy idea?"

"The look on your face when you talk about her; you always look angry. Plus, there is the fact that we've been talking for a good while yet you've never called her your mom once. At least not in public when anyone could hear. You act ashamed." She said.

I didn't say anything for a while. Then:

"We've been gone for a while. Maybe we should go back."

I turned to go back the way we came. A hand grabbed at my jersey and held on, holding me in place. "Why are you distancing yourself from me?"

"Don't know what you're talking about." My voice was flat as I answered.

"Yes you do. You're just trying to ignore the problem until it goes away. But, you can't go through your life ignoring what you don't like or understand." She whispered.

"It's always worked before. So, there's no reason to change now." I said firmly. "End of discussion."

She sighed. "Really? Because I don't think so. Tell you what: we'll go back for today. I'll forget about this conversation for now. But tomorrow, you'll meet me back here and we'll share our secrets. How's that sound?"

"Why in the world would you think I'd agree to this?" I scoffed.

Nadra shrugged. "I'm not expecting you to agree with anything. Even if you decide not to come, I'll be here waiting. And even if you do come, you don't have to share anything if you don't want to."

I looked to her with a certain curiosity but she only shook her head one more time before walking back the way we came.

"Children, excuse me," Fairy Godmother came up to us. "This Thursday is Family Day here at Auradon Prep. And because your parents can't be here due to the… um distance, we've arranged for a special treat." She hurried back to the front of the room and beckoned us forward.

We shuffled forward to see what this surprise was. In the front was a TV monitor. Fairy Godmother pressed a button on a remote and the TV flashed on and we all took a step back. Maleficent, Jafar, the Evil Queen, and Cruella de Vil were all staring at us and it was slightly unnerving. At least until Maleficent said, "I don't see anything. Nor do I hear."

Then, there was a scuffle with the laptop and I chuckled, hoping that the sound hadn't been turned on yet. This was too good right now.

It got even better when Cruella gave Fairy Godmother a pointed look. "Who's the old bat?"

I literally had to bite my tongue to keep from howling with laughter. Yeah, yeah. I know Nadra was adamant in believing that I was a good person no matter who raised me. But, the isle's influence wasn't just going to disappear in four days. And so, I choked on my laugh and tried to make it seem as though I was disappointed in her word choice.

Mal introduced her to our parents and Maleficent gave an almost mischievous smirk. "Still doing tricks with eggplants?"

Fairy Godmother's face turned red. "I turned a pumpkin into a beautiful carriage."

Maleficent smiled. "You really couldn't give Cinderella until 1 a.m. I mean, really?" Do the hamsters get stuck on their little wheels?"

"They were mice!" Fairy Godmother turned to us and Mal and I did our best to calm her down. Then she stepped to the side and allowed us some time to talk to our parents. Under supervision of course.

Maleficent was, unfortunately, no better than Mal at keeping secrets. It took suggestive hints from the other villains to stop her from saying anything that would give us away. We gave her the date of the coronation and she seemed to compose herself as well. It actually hadn't been that bad of a talk with our parents. At least not until Cruella opened her mouth again. "Carlos, is that a dog?"

We all took a look at Dude before looking back at the screen. I didn't catch all of what Cruella said but it was definitely disturbing, to say the least. That's when Carlos snapped. "He's the perfect size for a pet. This dog loves me and I love him. And FYI, your dog is stuffed. So give it a rest."

Jafar began to jeer at Cruella and then all of the villains began to argue amongst themselves. I noticed that everyone seemed miserable as we watched our parents bicker and squabble. Not being able to take much more of this, I jumped forward, took the remote and turned off the power. The screen went dark and I sighed, handing the remote to Fairy Godmother. "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry." She said.

Jay smiled genuinely. "Thanks for the sentiment."

"Of course."

We began to grab our things and head from the room. Halfway down the aisle, Evie asked the question that was on all of our minds. "M, what do you think our parents are going to do to us I we can't pull this off?"

Mal gave me a look and I shrugged. "Don't look at me. She asked you."

"I think they will be quietly disappointed in us but ultimately proud of us for doing our best." Mal gave us a reassuring smile that I didn't believe for a second. But Carlos was a little bit more gullible.

"Really?"

"Not even. There is no doubt in my mind that we're all goners." I said and Mal agreed. Then, we got ready for the day ahead of us.

It was nearly time for me to meet up with Nadra. But, I hesitated for a moment which turned into two moments before just sitting on my bed in indecision.

Without a knock, Mal entered the room, depositing herself on my bed and just staring at me with an unreadable expression.

Breaking the silence, I asked her what was up.

"I'm kind of wondering that myself. You seemed troubled by something. The others have noticed it too."

I gave her an apathetic laugh. "Didn't know the others cared so much." I rested my head on the pillows and after a while, Mal followed suit and we just laid there in silence.

Then:

"Can't you be serious about this? We really are worried even if you don't believe that. I mean, I'm your sister and they're your friends. No matter how much we act like your problems don't matter, it's not true."

I let her keep talking. "You know," she added hesitantly, "Evie and the others figured out why you don't like Mom."

I sat straight up and stared at her with wide eyes. "WHAT?!"

Mal gauged my expression before biting back a laugh. "Don't be so dramatic. All they know is why you and Mom don't get along."

"And how would they know that?"

"… I may have let it slip that we were half siblings." She muttered.

I took a deep breath. "Well, as long as his name didn't leave your lips, I'm good."

Mal glanced at me in thought. "Still don't feel like telling the others? I mean, now that they have more clues about your father, it won't take that long before they piece it together for themselves."

"Maybe but if I'm going to tell anyone, I'm probably going to have to start small. Let a few people know at a time." I shivered as a sudden thought came to me. "Can you imagine if I screamed out to the world who my dad was? No one would ever be able to look me in the eye ever again." I let out a small laugh.

Mal joined in. "The entire school would probably try burning you at the stake with no questions asked. Even still, it would be awesome to see the looks of fear and astonishment plastered across their faces."

"I'm going to hope that I won't see those looks for a while." Glancing at the clock on the wall, I got up from the bed and said, "I've got somewhere I need to be. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Making my way to the clearing that Nadra and I had stopped in yesterday, I began to mull my thoughts over a little more. Was I a fool for coming back out here? Maybe. But, I was curious. Why was Nadra trying so hard to win my trust? And why did I want her too? Why was it about her that made it hard for me to say no and just walk away?

My musing was interrupted as a song on the wind reached my ears.

"I can show you the world…"

"Shining, shimmering, splendid…"

The voice disappeared as quickly as it had come but I couldn't get the voice out of my head. It was soft and almost ephemeral, fading into the wind. But the melody of the song had enraptured me and I could do nothing but follow the voice back to the source. As I walked, the voice became louder. The voice was still a whisper but it was more defined and pleasant. I knew who was singing but even I wasn't expecting this. Nadra was sitting in the path with her back to me. The singing had stopped but she was still humming the melody. A few feet from her, I stopped and stood in silence. I knew that if I sat down, there would be no going back. Swallowing my uncertainty, I crossed the distance and sat opposite her.

For a while, we just sat in silence.

"You came." She said. "I didn't think you were going to."

Looking away, I said, "If you want, I can still leave."

"No. It's okay." Nadra seemed uncomfortable. "So how do you wanna start this?"

"It was your idea." I pointed out. "You tell me."

She scratched her head and thought it through. "Okay, how about this? I'll start by telling you something about myself. And once I'm done, then you can share…" Noting my unwillingness, she amended her statement. "You can tell me something if you want. If not, you can just say, 'Pass' and I'll just pick up where you left off."

I was probably going to regret this later but I nodded in agreement.

Pleased, Nadra replied, "Okay, I'll start small. I've got an older brother on the tourney team."

"Wait, what?"

"Don't tell me you didn't notice." Nadra smiled, her face giving off an amused look. "When you played in the tourney game yesterday and Carlos and Jay were sent out, two players had to be benched. One of them was my brother."

Thinking back to yesterday, I remembered seeing two guys get benched but only one of them had looked similar to Nadra. "Amir's your older brother?"

She laughed out loud. "He can be taught!"

Ignoring the jab, I muttered, "Amir never mentioned having a sister."

"Yeah, I doubt he would. Especially not to a 'boy from the Isle' as he puts it." Nadra sighed. "Amir's got a big brother complex. He believes that it's his job to protect me from everything. Ever since Ben's proclamation, he's been keeping a closer eye on me since I…" I must have looked really eager to hear what she was about to say because she composed herself and said, "I think that's enough for now. It's your turn."

I didn't want to say anything. I wanted to listen to Nadra as she recounted stories and memories. But, something in me wanted to spill the beans about everything. Realizing that doing so would be potentially bad, I cast aside the thought and said, "Despite Mal and I being twins, she was born on a Friday night and I was born on a Saturday morning."

Nadra raised her eyebrows in surprise but otherwise remained quiet. I scratched the back of my head as I began to sweat slightly. Did she think that I wasn't really participating and that she should quit while she was ahead? Or maybe…

"I've got a pet tiger named Azim." Nadra let this slip out right as I was contemplating all of the things that could go wrong.

"A pet tiger?"

Nadra noticed the look of skepticism that graced my features and sighed. "Is it really that hard to believe that I can tame a tiger?"

"Not really, no." I said, backtracking, "It's just that I was surprised. Most people go down the dog or cat route. But you've got a tiger."

Nadra unhooked another one of her charms from her key chain. "Technically, a tiger is a cat."

Giving me a devilish grin, she threw the trinket into the air and shouted, "Azim, appear!"

The clearing was lit with a blinding light and I had to look away for a split second. When I was able to look again, I jumped to my feet and froze. Right in front of me was a black tiger, a big one. Azim stood at six feet, almost a full foot taller than me. Its blue eyes gazed at Nadra before training their sights on me. He snarled and took a threatening step forward. Instinctively, I took a step back. The only people I mess with are people I know I can take. Could I take on a tiger? Maybe. Could I take on a magical tiger on steroids? Doubtful.

Nadra put her hand on its head and immediately, he calmed down and leaned into her, craving the contact. Again, she sat down and Azim lowered himself to the ground to make a cushion for her to lay back on.

When we got situated once more, I asked the obvious question. "Where in the world do you get a magic tiger?"

She shrugged and replied vaguely. "When your godfather is a magical genie, things happen."

I warily looked at the tiger and Nadra noticed. "Don't worry, he won't attack you. He only attacks if I consider the person to be a threat. And the opposite works as well. If I wish to protect a friend, Azim will protect them for me. He may also listen to someone else if I trust them enough."

I watched as Nadra snuggled into Azim's fur and the cat purred. After a minute or two of silence, she sighed. "You know, you could stand to say something. I was being quiet because I was waiting but…" She trailed off. "You really don't want to do this, do you?"

I opened my mouth to speak in protest but no sound came out. Closing my mouth just as quickly, I averted my gaze and studied the ground.

I could feel Nadra's stare on me while I looked away. "I…" I didn't know what to say or even what I wanted to say.

This was a bad idea and I knew it was. I knew that if I looked up, I'd see Nadra's disappointed gaze and I didn't want that. So, turning around, I began to walk away from the clearing.

I can show you the world

Sparkling, shimmering, splendid

An arm grabbed my wrist holding me back. Stopping in my tracks, I spun around to see Nadra, her eyes closed as she sang. And something inside me stirred at the lyrics.

Tell me, Princess, now when did

You last let your heart decide?

I had never heard the song before but something about it felt familiar.

I can open your eyes

Nadra stopped singing, her eyes shooting open as I began to sing. I didn't know what was going on. I wasn't familiar with this song and yet…

Take you wonder by wonder

Over, sideways, and under

On a magic carpet ride

It was only when I stopped that I fixed Nadra with a confused look. "Why did you start singing? You know I hate singing."

Nadra seemed to be in shock. "Sorry, I had no idea if that would work or not."

"Uh… work?" I asked.

"It's nothing. I just… you were leaving and I wanted you to stay so I did the first thing that came to mind."

"Getting me to sing?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "Well, I suppose it could have been worse. It could have been that impromptu song Ben came up with. But, it wasn't. It sounded melodic and soothing and familiar for some reason. Must be more of that fairy's magic, huh?"

Nadra looked away. "I-I suppose it was."

I frowned. Her responses seemed odd like she was hiding something. But pot calling the kettle black…

"I'm sorry." I said.

Nadra looked at me blankly. "For what?"

"You were just trying to be nice and get to know me. Other than my sister and my friends, I didn't think I needed anyone else. So, when you came up with this idea of sharing our secrets, I just froze and wanted nothing to do with it."

Nadra was silent. But, then she gave me a knowing smile. "It's not your fault. I guess it's just not that easy to earn your trust. No harm done. I still think you're cool and I hope we can become friends. In time, of course."

She gave me a smile and began to walk away. This time, I surged forward and grabbed ahold of her arm. "Wait!"

She turned back towards me, startled. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my raging nerves. "Do you want to see something cool?"

"This is amazing!" Nadra said, the wind blowing her hair about. "How are you doing this?"

I smirked and looked down at the people below us. They were the size of ants and it was amazing. "It's nothing but a simple flight spell. Applying it to a regular carpet gives it the ability to fly. So, in a way, we're on our own magic carpet ride."

I proceeded to do some twists in turns in the air while Nadra looked around us in awe. "I can't believe this." She laughed loudly and it was as if sunlight had been given a voice.

I did this for a couple more minutes before I glided back down to the forest floor. Once we got to solid ground, Nadra jumped up in excitement. "Your magic… it's unbelievable. And the ride was so indescribable. I almost can't put my feeling into words."

I gave a genuine smile. "I get what you mean. Being up there, it's kinda like being free. No limitations, no walls, no one telling you who you can be or what you can do. Your life isn't laid out for you; you can be whoever you wish. And up there, it really feels like all of that is true."

Nadra laughed again. And I thought about it. If I were ever to tell anyone about me… I have a feeling it would be her. My hand found a way to my power glove as I contemplated this. "Hey, Nadra?"

"Yes?"

"There's one other thing I wanted to tell you." I said nervously.

She gave me a calming look. "What is it?"

My grip tightened on the glove as I began to remove it. "I-I… um."

And then I stopped and let my hand fall away. "I just wanted you to know that even now, I think of you as a good friend."

"I feel the same." The look on her face made me perk up, despite not having said what I had been planning to.

After some more idle talk, Nadra bid me farewell and began walking back to the dorms. I watched her go with a smile on my face. Once she disappeared from view and her footfalls vanished in the distance, I let the smile drop from my face. Taking a glance at my gloved hand, I ripped the glove from my hand and threw it to the ground. I should have had the courage to do that earlier.

"Damn, I'm such a coward." With the change occurring once more, I took a moment or two to clear my thoughts. Once I finished, I retrieved my glove, slipped it on and performed my spell. Then, with the carpet in one hand, I exited the woods and went back to the dorms.

"Okay, it will be up on the dais under the Beast's spell jar," Mal reiterated, pointing at her drawing of the wand. "And we'll be coming in from here. I'll be in the very front. You all will be up in the balcony. Carlos?"

"I'll find our limo so we can escape with the wand."

"Perfect." Mal pulled a perfume bottle out of her bag and handed it to Evie. "You will use this to take out the driver. Two sprays and he'll be out like a light." Evie nodded and placed the bottle in her purse. "Lev? You remember the plan?"

"In case something goes wrong, Jay and I will stay with you for additional support, whether physical or magical. I got it."

The others understood the plan fine but we all had gained so much in the small time we'd been here. And now, we were throwing it away. It just wasn't fair.

It was Family Day and I'm happy to say that I only heard a small bit of the chorus as a distinct group of students sang to their heart's content. Scanning the rows, I noticed Nadra singing along with the others. Glancing at me and noticing my smirk, she sighed but got back into character and finished the song.

When they finished, there was a tumulus amount of applause. I clapped along too. Even if I hated singing, I had to admit that Nadra was good at it.

"Mal!"

I looked up to see Ben gesturing to Mal. I grinned. "I think Loverboy's calling you."

She pushed me playfully and went to meet him. My eyes followed her as she made her way to him.

"They're pretty good together." Nadra said, walking up.

"Yeah, they are," I agreed.

She then punched me in my arm. "What was that for?"

"Don't think I didn't notice all of those weird looks you gave me. You're going to rag on me because I can sing, aren't you?" Nadra pouted as she waited for me to answer.

"What? No, the idea never crossed my mind." I said but then added as an afterthought, "Although…"

She punched me in the chest next but this time it wasn't as hard. "You're horrible," she grumbled.

"Takes one to know one." I smiled impishly and she returned my smile in full. "It's alright. Maybe I'll go around telling everyone how magnificent your singing voice is. That'll be a laugh."

I shook my head and laughed. "So where are the 'rents anyway?"

Nadra's eyebrows raised at the mention of the word 'rents but politely answered anyway. "Spending time with Amir. They told me I could go and talk to some of my friends for a while and that they'd call me when it was time for dinner."

"Cool," Mal said walking into the conversation.

"Hey, Mal," Nadra gave her a quick hug. "What's up?"

"Ben's parents invited us to play croquette with them before we go to dinner."

I smiled. "Can I bring Nadra too?"

Mal's grin wavered. "I'm sure they won't say no if she joins the game. I'm not a hundred percent sure about the dinner though. You'll have to ask Ben."

"Hey, the game's better than nothing. Let's go." Nadra grabbed my hand and pulled me across the lawn.

We had invested nearly an hour into the game when things began to go downhill. Like tourney, croquette was a game that required me to learn the rules in all of two minutes and guess at everything else that I couldn't explain or understand. Nadra helped to fill in the blanks and this was easily becoming the best day of my life. But the universe loves proving me wrong and this time, it might have been entirely my fault.

"You!" The shouts of an older woman drew everyone's attention to us. Turning, I saw Mal talking with an older woman. Audrey was there too. And that's when I knew that something was definitely wrong with this picture. The woman looked at Mal in shock. "How are you here? And how have you managed to stay so young?"

Ben ran up to appease the situation and Nadra and I followed. "Queen Leah, it's okay. Maleficent is still on the island. This is her daughter, Mal and her son, Lev. Didn't you remember my proclamation to give the new generation a chance?"

The queen was unfazed. "A chance to what, Ben? Destroy us?" She turned to Fairy Godmother. "You remember, don't you? The poison apples?" Then she looked Queen Belle and King Beast straight into the eyes. "And the spells?" Her voice lowered to a whisper. "The spells… my daughter was raised by fairies because of your mother's curse. Her first words… her first steps… I MISSED IT ALL!" She began to cry into Fairy Godmother's shoulder and Mal and I exchanged glances of guilt. She tried to apologize in Maleficent's stead when Chad pushed her hands away.

"No way, stay away from her!"

A vein popped out on Ben's head. "Don't do this, Chad!"

Chad looked incredulous, as if he couldn't understand what Ben was saying. "What? They were raised by their parents, Ben. What do you think villains teach their kids, huh? Kindness, fair play? No way!" Then, he began to rant, starting with Mal. "You stole another girl's boyfriend." Then Jay. "You enjoy hurting people." Then Evie. "And you… you're nothing but a gold digger and a cheat."

Evie snarled and brought out her mirror. "Mirror, mirror, in my hand, who's the biggest jerk in the land?" She showed it off and this time, the mirror did nothing allowing Chad to look at his reflection in the looking glass. He clenched his fist and went to grab Evie but I grabbed him and held him in place. Wrinkling his shirt thoroughly, I growled, "Don't you dare touch her, you sick bastard."

Chad's only response was to laugh. "And you… you might be the worst of them all." His voice began to rise, drawing even more of a crowd than there already was. "So do you want to tell them or should I?"

"What the heck are you talking about, pretty boy?"

"You know what, maybe I should show them?" Escaping my grip, he grabbed ahold of my power glove and my eyes widened in alarm. Ripping it off of me, he stepped back. The crowd was silent for all of a few seconds before…

"AUGGGHHHH!"

Screams rang out and the crowd dispersed widely. I was exposed for everyone to see and it was not a pretty sight. My yellow eyes glowed brightly and the horns had grown to their fullest height. I seemed to have put on some muscle which was stretching my suit to the point of tearing it. I had grown talons on my feet and five claws on each hand. My canines were elongated and I couldn't properly shut my mouth while they were like that. My skin was midnight black, which only managed to further the look. I was like a demon. I was a demon.

Chad gave Ben a victorious smile. "I don't remember your proclamation saying anything about children of Chernabog."

Despite my apparent uncomfortableness, I took a step forward. "Give me back my glove."

Chad smirked nastily and proceeded to push me back. "Or what? You'll cast a spell on me?" Then he grabbed a piece of my tattered suit and brought us face-to-face yet again. "You don't call the shots here. None of you do."

Apparently, everyone else had had enough of this. Evie pulled the sleeping draught from her purse and sprayed Chad twice, which knocked him out like a light. While he was falling, I snatched my glove out of his hand, slipped it on and recast the spell. While the other students tried to wake Chad up, Carlos, Evie, and Jay grabbed me and pulled me up. Searching the crowd for Nadra, I spotted her eyeing me worriedly. To her right, Fazil and Amir were glaring at me as they stood protectively in front of her. I turned away quickly before we had another confrontation. Then, Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos, and I ran away, knowing that one of the best days of our lives took a huge nosedive and became the worst of them all.

We were sitting at one of the many lunch tables that surrounded the school. We could have easily gone back to our rooms and brooded there. But I think some of us were still trying to figure out just where all of this went wrong. I know I was. "How did he find out about that?" I said aloud.

The others chanced glances my way but didn't ask. It was obvious what I was talking about. If anything, it was the most revealing thing that had happened. I hadn't needed to see my friend's faces to know that they had been just as shocked and confused about my parentage as everyone else. And even now they were looking at me like they couldn't quite believe that I wouldn't tell them about something this big.

The sounds of fake laughter and the smell of overused perfume drifted from the common area. The popular crowd stopped at a table behind us and began to talk amongst themselves, with conversations ranging from Prince Ben's coronation to insulting us with the full intention of letting us hear.

When Ben walked up, none of us were in the mood to acknowledge him, even if he was the only one to stand by us. "Hey guys, how is everyone?"

His question was met with silence. Glancing at him for a brief moment, I saw Nadra walking up behind him. Her eyes met mine and my heart warmed up. But then, a shout from Fazil made her freeze. She glanced at him and then at her brother. Amir glared at me before shouting as well. "Nadra, over here."

Nadra looked between the two tables, indecision wrapped in her gaze. She looked at me with teary eyes and mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' before striding over to their table and sitting with her back facing me. In that moment, the sliver of hope that I had extinguished like a light and I felt like crawling into a ditch and staying there for eternity.

Ben, having failed to brighten our day, gave Mal a hug and said, "I'll see you guys later."

Then, he left us with only our thought to keep us company. Well, that and…

"How long does she think that's going to last?" Audrey said, coming up behind Mal. "Mal's just a bad girl infatuation." To make matters worse, Jane decided to join in. "Yeah, I mean, he's never going to make a villain a queen." They gave cruel smiles and began to laugh with their friends. Meanwhile, Mal pulled out her spell book and I clenched my fists. "Are you going to do the honors or shall I?"

Mal flipped to the page she needed and said the spell. "Beware, forswear, undo Jane's hair." She made a cross motion, there was a scream and the crowd parted to reveal Jane with her original hairstyle. Chuckling, I pulled myself up from and went to stand next to my sister. "You girls would do well to learn your places."

Mal closed her book and gave them a cold stare. "There's a lot more where that came from."

Audrey looked at us in disgust. "Excuse me, who do you think you are?"

I unclenched my fists and brandished my power glove. "I don't know. You tell me. Besides…"

Mal and I snarled. "Does it look like we're kidding?" We each began to prepare a spell and the girls finally got the picture as they began to run away. I saw Amir pulling Nadra away, but it looked like Amir was forcing Nadra to follow. But, in the end, she ran like everyone else.

Mal turned to address us. "I'm really looking forward to tomorrow." Evie smiled, Carlos and Jay nodded and I grunted. "Let's grab that wand and blow this Popsicle stand."

Then we got up and walked away, heading back to our dorms. As the countdown clock winded down, I began to wonder how tomorrow would turn out. I figured like everything else, it'd be a huge disaster. But, hey, that's life.