Hey guys! I know it's been a while and I am sorry I didn't update sooner. I blame several school projects and exams coming soon (so it may take another month before this story is updated again ) but after that, there will be three months vacation, so I hope the updates will come sooner then. Before you can read the next installment of this story, here are my responses to the reviews:

Decembra1998: Thanks for reviewing! I can guarantee it will get even better (or worse) as the story continues.

Kingson24601: I'm glad you caught the reference to Dove! She can't escape the goodness. Henry is not the only one who still needs convincing (everyone except Ben won't trust her). Thanks for reviewing!

jaleftwich: Thanks for reviewing! Henry is the son of King Hans (Frozen). If it makes you feel better, I'm not going to set those two up (they'll only continue to bicker) because the story doesn't need that pairing.

pinksakura271: Well, her parents were fighters, so why not? And Mal will indeed have to be more careful. Maybe he'll like the new color, maybe he won't. We'll see what so much goodness will do to her next chapter. Thanks for reviewing!

PurpleNicole531: Thanks for reviewing! It will influence her, yes, but will she ignore it or not? And yes, that's exactly who Henry is and what he did! Only he had more sincere motives than Mal for joining. He isn't just her lover, though... If you don't get everything right now, it will all be explained eventually.

brianhu1: Looking at the background and history in this story, the villains could be talking and thinking about them that way, but they will never say it out loud. Thanks for reviewing!

Enjoy!

-Writer207

A few days after that first extraction, Mal's friends have had no contact with her whatsoever. Carlos, Jay and Evie waited patiently for some more information, but so far she hadn't tried to contact them yet. As far as they knew, at least. She could have tried and failed. There was a high chance they took her phone or that there was no reception wherever they were hiding.

Instead of waiting and boring themselves to death, the three friends decided to follow Mal's orders. That meant they would try to find the wand from their own positions. The more people looked for it, the bigger the chance was of finding it. Jay and Evie teamed up while Carlos preferred to work on his own. Carlos was searching the internet and beyond for every bit of information they could find about the wand and its user. He could barely find any pictures of either, but the info was indeed very helpful. Before he was looking for the wand, he had no idea magic items would survive a non-magical explosion. In the meantime, Evie and Jay worked together to find the wand. Their method was that Jay listed all the places where the wand could possibly be while Evie would ask the mirror if the wand was there.

It may be a lot more efficient if she would ask the mirror where the wand was, but all she got was a blank spot. They asked the Evil Queen what it meant and she replied that whatever they were looking for was concealed with magic. They saw the same blank space when they asked the mirror where Mal was and what she was doing now. She truly was on her own now, with no way of contacting her. But this was Mal they were talking about, so they shouldn't be afraid. She could handle the situation she was in, whatever it was.

At the end of the day, Carlos could already show his progress in the search if someone ever wanted to see proof. All Jay and Evie could tell was where the wand definitely wasn't. Carlos saw that as an extra advantage. As long as they couldn't find it with the help of the mirror, he still had a chance of finding it first. He continuously typed in key words, saved information and looked up some more. He barely heard what Jay and Evie were saying in the background, but there was one time they caught his attention.

"The Cursed Cave," Jay suggested, "It has got to be there if it isn't anywhere else." Those words made Carlos look away from his screen and so he gave Jay a sceptical look while Evie asked the mirror about the Cursed Cave.

"Really?" he said, "The Cursed Cave? Do you really think they would hide the wand there?" Rumors were spread about that cave, which varied from one another depending on who was telling the story. One element that always came back in those stories was that a villain who likes to live on his or her own lived deep in the cave. Anyone who dared to enter it would end up dead or deranged. It was true people who found it put it on the map before descending the Cursed Cave. They would never return. Carlos couldn't understand why Jay would think that place would be the place where they hid the Fairy Godmother's wand. It just didn't seem like the right place to hide the wand. He felt like they would never hide that wand there.

"Why not?" Jay asked. Carlos saw a chance to tell Jay about his plans, and maybe with Evie, he could convince Jay this was the only efficient way of finding that wand since the mirror could not tell them where it was.

"I'm certain they wouldn't hide it at that specific cave," Carlos began, "That just feels… wrong. Just like it feels wrong that they hid it at every one of those places you name. I think that if they wanted to hide it somewhere, they would put it at a place we'd never think of, someplace anonymous, and give it a guardian we have never heard of. This guardian should have a good hold of magic so he or she – can control its magic if it falls into our hands. Based on that theory, I think…"

"That it wouldn't work," Jay interrupted him and Carlos shot him a frustrated look. He suppressed the feeling to take his crossbow and continue target practice with him. Instead, he decided to just say something.

"I know you think your way of solving this is superior, but you could at least give it a chance." Carlos kept staring at Jay, who returned the favour and looked at him with anger. Carlos stood up from his chair and was ready to turn this staring competition into a fight, if they had to.

"The Cursed Cave isn't too far away from here," Evie said. She had noticed it would get out of hand soon and decided it would be better to interfere before they would make stupid mistakes, "the mirror says there's a high chance the wand is there."

"That's a coincidence," Carlos said, not looking away from Jay. Jay, on the other hand, started to look away from Carlos and at Evie, pleased to hear the good news. They can't have found the wand that quickly, he thought. They couldn't have.

"It does fit your theory," Evie then said, trying to satisfy both Jay and Carlos -the last thing she wanted was for them to fight. "It could have a guardian we have never heard of before." Carlos nodded – nobody knew what was down in that cave, so it could indeed be a magician-guardian hired by the resistance.

"Okay then," Jay said, "Let's go get it!" Evie and Jay walked to the door and when they were about to walk out of the room, they noticed Carlos had walked towards his computer again. He sat down on his chair.

"You're not coming?" Evie asked and Carlos shook his head.

"No, I'm not," he responded. "I think I'm going to stay here and work some more. That cave isn't too far away. I'll probably hear Jay from there when you discover it ain't there." He focused his attention on the computer screen again, continuing his research. He was still gathering information about magic and that wand when Jay came up and turned his computer off. As soon as Carlos noticed the screen went black, he furiously looked at Jay.

"What was that for?" If Carlos hadn't saved his latest results, he would have had to look all of that up again. Besides, Jay should know better than turn off the computer while Carlos was still using it – or to touch the machine altogether.

"I think Evie would like you to be there," Jay said, "You're always in this room, behind your computer. You oughta have some fresh air. Besides, what's the point of doing research when it will be unnecessary?" Carlos realized Jay was trying to get him outside or into the garage. Once he left his safe and secure room, Jay could easily drag him to the Cursed Cave, Jay would have the upper hand. Carlos sighed.

"You're not gonna shut up until I'm coming with you, right?" Jay nodded.

"Yep."

"If it makes you shut up, I'm in," Carlos said and he stood up, "Just don't expect me to go inside that cave!"

"What? Are you scared?" Jay teased him, even if it could also be considered something else, looking at their current partnership.

"No, I am smart enough to realize it's a bad idea to even go near that place," He said, then followed Jay and Evie outside. While they were talking, all he could think of was his own plan to find the wand. In every way, it was probably much more superior than whatever method Jay and Evie would think about. Technology was reliable and allowed him to analyze certain situations quickly and find the wand while they were still analyzing. And now, with their nonsense of the Cursed Cave, they were slowing him down.

I'd better work without them around, he thought, which sparked an idea. What if he and Jay argued enough so Carlos could have a valid reason to leave them and continue the search on his own? It happened before when they were little. Carlos had run into the forest after he and Jay argued about something stupid. They still acted like little kids, arguing about the smallest things, but Carlos could only blame Evie's choice of men for that.

In the castle's garage, there were always at least ten cars present and the same number of drivers, ready to take the inhabitants of the castle wherever they wanted to go, whenever they wanted to go. As soon as they noticed the three kids, one of the drivers followed them and, once they had chosen which car was best fit to take them to the Cave, the driver stepped into it.

"Get us to the Cursed Cave," Jay commanded. The driver nodded and started the motor. They left the garage and castle behind. Jay and Evie talked and let Carlos get caught up in his own thoughts.

Carlos barely noticed the car stopped after their ten-minute drive to the Cursed Cave. He had already thought of multiple scenarios and multiple things to respond to whatever Jay would tell him. They stepped out of the car, not worrying about it driving off – the driver would wait for them until they told him they were going home. The Cave was 100 yards away from them. The entrance was hidden between the trees and bushes, clear to see for those who were looking for this entrance.

"Let's go get the wand," Jay said with a big smile on his face, knowing he would find the wand there. Evie walked along with him, while Carlos leaned against the car and waited for them to come back. Before she completely disappeared between the trees, she turned to Carlos.

"Are you sure you're not coming?" she asked him and Carlos shook his head.

"No, I'm staying here," he responded, "It's not like something is going to attack me." She showed him one more smile before she turned around and walked to Jay. Carlos couldn't help but smile, too. He still thought she had the loveliest smile and the best personality. She still was wonderful, amazing and poisonous.

Carlos shook his head. He shouldn't think about those things. Evie dumped him and once she dumped a guy, she would never consider taking him a second time – unless he really blew her away. She broke his heart and yet, he couldn't blame her – he could only blame himself for being stupid enough to start a relationship with her.

Along with thinking about what to say to Jay, he thought about reminding Jay Evie was supposed to marry Henry. He knew Jay never liked to talk about Henry and he seemed to avoid to mention the chemistry between Henry and Evie, even if they knew each other for only one day.

Before Carlos knew it, Jay and Evie returned to the car. They looked quite different from when they left. Evie hadn't changed too much – she probably let Jay walk up front and waited for the coast to be clear – but Jay hadn't. If he hadn't been in such a bad mood, Carlos would have dared to laugh. Jay was limping and Evie had to support him, or else he may not be able to walk. He was bruised, his clothing was torn apart and there were cuts all over his body. Jay's bad mood was confirmed by his reaction when he caught Carlos staring at him.

"What are you looking at?"

"You," Carlos said, trying to sound as indifferent as possible. It may not be his smartest move if this wasn't one of the answers he had been thinking about.

"You're the smart guy," Jay continued, "You should've warned me." Carlos saw this as the perfect chance to make a statement and quit their team – at least, when it came to finding that wand. They were still the only friends he could ever have.

"Excuse me?" Carlos said, overreacting, "I warned you, like, five times! You didn't know? Well, that because you never listen to what I have to say!" He paused, then continued with a softer tone, "I know how you think about me, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't ignore me." Carlos meant every word he said. Jay was indeed spending more time with Evie lately when he wasn't travelling and he felt ignored.

Jay didn't disappoint. His bad mood combined with Carlos' outburst made him furious. Evie tried to calm him down, but that was impossible at that point.

"You don't think I care?" Jay practically shouted. "I do care, Carlos, I really do. It's just that I have better things to do than to show affection! I just went into that freaking cave and risked my life to get that wand! I don't have time for your nonsense." Even if those words hurt Carlos more than Jay could know, Carlos had obtained the wished result.

"If you don't have time for my nonsense, then I'd better go." Carlos turned around and started to walk away. It would take much longer than ten minutes to return home, but he didn't care. At least he could think about the next step of his research.

"Where are you going?" Evie shouted at him. Maybe Jay would care to know, too, but in this situation, he may not care at all.

"I'm going home," he shouted back, not looking at them while he still shouted, "I don't need your help to find it. I can do it myself." He then focused on the road ahead, walking a little faster, hands in his pockets. He could hear Evie calling out for him and Jay yelling "you coward".

As he walked home, he promised himself he would find the wand. He would show them what he was capable of. This so-called lesser villain kid would show 'em he was more than capable of finding that wand. And once he did, he would keep it a few days and experience its power before handing it over to Maleficent.

In fact, there was a high chance he would never hand it over to Maleficent.