After the 5-minute break, everyone returned to their seats, and Hera went back up to the podium to read.
As the goddess of marriage took up the Isle book and opened it to read, she heard King Eugene calling her name.
"Uh, Hera?" Eugene asked, a tinge of nervousness in his voice.
"Yes, King Eugene?" Hera replied with a warm smile plastered on her angelic face.
Seeing the goddess of marriage was smiling at him, Eugene breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Don't take this the wrong way, but can you read a little faster? Most of us here don't want to hear these disturbing things going on the Isle."
Most of the Auradonians, including Leah agreed with Eugene's question as they were still reeling from the last paragraph where Mal(and the other Isle kids) ate garbage.
Hera nodded and replied, "Of course, I'll try to read faster and not miss out on any sentences. I too was disturbed and disgusted by the horrors of the Isle. However, I'm afraid that this is the tip of the iceberg. Am I correct, Blue Fairy?"
"You are correct, Hera," Blue Fairy said, slowly bobbing her head.
Hera shifted her gaze from the fairy to the crowd before her.
"As I said before, I'll read as fast I can," Hera said. "So is everyone settled and ready?"
"Yes," Everyone in the room chorused.
There was a light chuckle escaped from Hera's lips as she said, "Alright then, let's continue."
" "What do you want?" a surly goblin asked, demanding her order. In the past, the disgusting things had been foot soldiers in her mother's dark army, ruthlessly dispatched across the land to find a hidden princess; but now their tasks were reduced to serving up coffee as bitter as their hearts, in tall, grande, and venti sizes..."
Phillip huffed. "So this is what these goblins are doing nowadays, eh?"
"Yup, and they're still dumb," Mal replied with a snicker.
While Hera was reading, over on the VK's side, Diego was absentmindedly glancing around the room, half listening to the reading until his light brown eyes landed on the back of a girl's head on the AK's side. She was sitting at the front.
In an instant, Diego was mesmerized by this girl's long, flowy, raven locks, with curls at the end, cascading down her back. Diego guessed that the girl's hair stopped at hip length if she wasn't sitting comfortably in her bean bag.
Although he had never seen her face, Diego could tell that this mysterious girl was beautiful. So, he kept staring at her.
As if she felt someone's eyes peering into her back, the girl turned her head to look over at the VK's side, checking to see who was staring at her.
Diego immediately caught a glimpse of the girl's eyes; they were indigo like Audrey's before he turned away, blushing slightly hoping that she didn't see him.
Once the girl didn't see anyone from the VK's looking at her, she focused her attention back on the goddess reading, shifting slightly in her seat. But she knew someone was staring at her, and she didn't like it at all.
As the girl turned her head away, Diego turned his head and fixed his gaze on her.
'Wow, she is lovely,' Diego thought.
Maybe when it reaches break time, Diego might as well gather some courage to talk to her and get to know her better. If his cousin, Carlos can do it, then Diego surely can!
Rick Ratcliffe arched a brow as he saw how his acquaintance was acting strange. So, he leaned over and whispered in Diego's ear and asked, "Are you ok, dude?"
"Yeah, I'm alright," Diego whispered back with a nod.
"Hm," Rick wasn't entirely convinced by Diego's answer but for now, he accepted it and focused his attention on Hera's reading.
Over on the AK's side, seeing how her friend was looking uncomfortable, Arabella leaned over and whispered in her friend's ear and asked, "Are you alright, Ariana? Is something wrong?"
"Hm, yeah, I'm good," Ariana replied with a whisper. "It's just that I thought some weirdo on the VK's side was staring at my back."
"Oh," that's all Arabella could say before she shifted her sea-green eyes from her best friend to the goddess reading at the podium.
" "Do I look like I want curds? Give me the strongest, blackest coffee you've got! What is this, Auradon?" "
Most of the AKs gagged and the adults frowned.
Belle glanced at her husband, who had sunk in his bean bag. Although she may not show it, Belle is utterly disappointed with Beast, in regards to shipping off the garbage on the Isle where people, especially children lives, and make the other Auradon adults look like cruel people.
She might as well would like to have a 'talk' with him after Hera's reading.
" Mal continued on her way, stopping to smirk at the poster of King Beast admonishing the citizens of the island to BE GOOD! BECAUSE IT'S GOOD FOR YOU! with that silly yellow crown on his head and that big grin on his face..."
Most of the VKs, and the AKs snorted.
At this point, who could blame them?
"… Mal took out her paint cans and sprayed a mustache and goatee on the king's face and crossed out his ridiculous message. King Beast was the one who had locked them all up on the island, after all. That hypocrite. She had a few messages of her own for him, and they all involved revenge..."
Anxelin chuckled. She can't blame Mal for doing that. In fact, she would have done the same thing too! But with a giant middle finger.
However, Anxelin might as well get into big trouble for disrespecting the now-former King.
But she didn't care.
" Not bad. Badder. And that was much better..." Hera finished.
"Hera, are you going to continue the second chapter?" Blue Fairy asked.
"Yes, like how I'm here now," Hera replied.
"Oh, alright."
Hera cleared her throat as she moved on to the second chapter.
" If Mal lived above a shop, Jay, son of Jafar, actually lived inside one, sleeping on a worn carpet beneath a shelf straining under ancient television sets with manual dials, radios that never worked, and telephones that had actual cords attached to them. His father had been the former grand vizier of Agrabah, feared and respected by all, but that was a long time ago, and the evil enchanter was now the proprietor of Jafar's Junk Shop, and Jay, his only son and heir, was also his sole supplier. If Jay's destiny had once been to become a great prince, only his father remembered it these days..."
Jasmine was utterly disturbed at the fact that her long-lost son lived almost the same way as her husband, if not worse than Aladdin.
As if he was sensing his wife's features, Aladdin fixed his gaze on Jasmine and took her dainty hand in his warm ones, giving it a gentle squeeze. Jasmine gave him a weak smile and Aladdin returned the gesture as he brought his wife's hand (the same hand Aladdin was holding) to his lips and kissed it softly.
Aziz, Jamilah, and Emir watched their parents sadly, but they didn't say anything. They focused their attention on Hera and continued to listen to the story at hand.
But one thing for sure was that Jay finally reunited with his real family after 17 years, and that's what matters.
" Because Jay was a prince, all right. A prince of thieves, a con man, and a schemer, whose lies were as beautiful as his dark eyes..."
Lonnie blushed a deep shade of red at the last sentence. She then cleared her throat as she straightened her posture in the bean bag.
" " Don't thank me, it's particularly awful today. I think they threw some raw toads into the brew this morning," she said..."
Shelley White almost threw up at the second sentence.
Gosh, these poor kids...
" "Bonus! Extra protein." Amphibians or not, Jay drained it in one shot. He wiped his lips and smiled. "Thanks, you're a pal," he said in all honesty, even though he and Mal weren't friends, exactly, although they were partners in crime..."
Jasmine twisted her face in disgust. She really couldn't hear any more of this, it was too much for her.
Mal and Jay exchanged looks, smiling. They may not noticed it or admitted it then, but they were friends.
" Even so, they fell into step on the walk to school. "Heard the news?" he asked..."
"What news?" Jane asked.
"You'll soon find out," Mal answered.
" "What news? There's no new news," she scoffed, meaning nothing new ever happened on the island. The island's old-fashioned fuzzy-screened televisions only broadcast two channels—Auradon News Network, which was full of do-gooder propaganda, and the DSC, the Dungeon Shopping Channel, which specialized in hidden-lair décor.."
No one commented on this, other than most of the Auradon adults just shake their heads.
" They turned off the main road, toward the uneven, broken-down graveyard that was the front lawn of Dragon Hall. The venerable school for the advancement of evil education was located in a former mausoleum, a hulking gray structure with a domed ceiling and a broken-down colonnade, its pediment inscribed with the school's motto: IN EVIL WE TRUST. Scattered around its haunted grounds, instead of the usual tombstones, were doomstones with horrible sayings carved into them..."
The AKs were horrified at the fact the VKs went to a school that was formerly a cemetery. They pondered if those kids weren't scared of any ghosts haunting them during school. That is if the VKs believe in ghosts.
If most of the VKs, even Harriet, were honest with themselves, they were spooked that the school they went to was formerly a cemetery. But over time, they were used to it.
"So you're telling me that this school was formerly a cemetery?" Esmeralda asked, horror laced in her voice.
"Yep," Carlos replied as if it was nothing.
" "I'm totally serious," he said, narrowly avoiding stumbling over a doomstone inscribed with the phrase IT IS BETTER TO HAVE NEVER LOVED AT ALL THAN TO BE LOVED…"
The Auradon adults frowned at that phrase. Even Hera frowned at that phrase as she read it out loud. She paused for a moment before continuing to read.
" "New girl? From where, exactly?" Mal asked, pointing to the magical dome that covered the island and shrouded the sky, obscuring the clouds.."
"Gee, I wonder who this 'new girl' could be?" Mal cast a side-eye glance at her friend with a smirk, and Evie blushed.
" "New to us. She's been castle-schooled until now, so it's her first time in the dungeon," said Jay as they approached the wrought-iron gates.."
"Castle-schooled?" Ruby arched a brow.
Evie turned and gave the long-haired girl a smile. "Yeah, it's like homeschooling but in a castle. A worn one that is."
"Oh."
" Really." Mal stopped in her tracks. "What do you mean, 'castle-schooled'?" she asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"A real princess too, is what I've heard. Like, your basic true-love's-kiss-prick-your-finger-spin-your-gold-skip-the-haircut-marry-the-prince-level princess." He felt dizzy just thinking about it..."
"He wasn't wrong about that. Heck, I'd be dizzy too!" Akio chuckled.
" "A princess?" Mal said sternly. "I don't believe you..." "
"To be fair," Shelley began, "Evie's mom is the Evil Queen. An actual queen in my opinion."
"I know, I was in denial," Mal said.
"Jay stared at her, and in the back of his mind he heard alarm bells and had a faint memory of an awesome birthday party concerning a princess…and some sort of scandal that involved Mal and her mother. He felt bad, remembering now that Mal hadn't received an invitation, but he quickly suppressed the icky emotion, unsure of where it came from. Villains were supposed to revel in other people's sadness, not empathize!"
Hera paused again as she shook her head. 'Who really taught these children to be bitter and miserable with no trace of emotion? What are they? Robots?' She thought.
Blue Fairy looked at the goddess in concern and asked, "Are you alright, Hera?"
Hera pinched the bridge of her nose and nodded. "Mhm. It's just these kids were poisoned from birth to be bitter!"
Almost every adult agreed with Hera.
"I mean, that's the whole point of being a VK," Harriet shrugged.
Hera sighed as she resumed her reading.
" Besides, when it came down to it, Mal was like a sister, an annoying, ever-present pest, and a pain in the…"
"Ass?" Anxelin guessed, and over on the VK's side, Harriet thought the same thing and was about to say it but Anxelin beat her to it.
" Bells. Ringing and echoing through the island from the top of the tower, where Claudine Frollo was tugging the rope and being pulled up along with it as she rang in the official start of the Dragon Hall school day..."
Anxelin pouted. "Bummer."
"Hey, that's me!" Claudine said quietly with a tiny smile blooming on her face.
Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Phoebus, Emilie, and Zephyr frowned as they glanced at the daughter of Claude Frollo.
"So, you're the new bell ringer, Claudine?" Quasimodo asked and the raven, curly-haired girl nodded.
" Jay and Mal shared a smirk. They were officially tardy. The first thing that had gone right all morning…"
"That…doesn't sound like an achievement," Jane said truthfully.
"Well, it was an achievement for us!" Jay commented with a proud smirk. Although, he knew deep down that Jane was right.
" Frightened students scrambled to get out of their way as Mal and Jay walked past the dead ivy–covered great hall toward the rusting double doors that led to the underground class-tombs…"
"Sounds like you guys were the most feared at Dragon Hall," Lonnie noted.
"Yeah, we were," Jay winked at the brunette, and Lonnie blushed deeper. Li'l Shang rolled his eyes, playfully of course at the two.
" Mal came to a halt.
The boy slowly lifted his head, his eye patch trembling.
"S-s-so s-s-sorry, M-m-m-mal," he said.
"M-m-m-MOVE IT," Mal said, her voice high and mocking. She rolled her eyes and kicked the torn textbooks out of her way. The boy scampered toward the first open door he saw, dropping his fake hooked hand in his haste and sending it rolling away…"
Mal sunk into her seat, feeling guilty at her actions.
Ben did not want to admit it, but he was disappointed in Mal.
"… Why not just throw a party of your own instead of sulking about it?"
"That's a good idea!" CJ agreed.
" " What are you talking about?" said Mal. "As if I care…" "
"I mean, you did care because you weren't invited to Evie's 6th birthday party," Carlos told Mal.
" Mal had gone silent for a moment, and Jay assumed she was still brooding on what happened ten years ago, when she suddenly snapped her fingers and said, with a wicked gleam in her eyes, "You're absolutely right, Jay. You're a genius!" "
" I am? I mean, yes, I am," replied Jay. "Wait—what am I right about?" "
Most people chuckled at Jay's sentence, including Jay himself.
" "Having a party of my own. There's a lot to celebrate, after all. You just said there was a new princess in our midst. So I'm going to throw a party."
Jay goggled at her. "You are? I mean, I was just kidding. Everyone knows you hate…"
"Parties." Mal nodded. "But not this one. You'll see. It's going to be a real howler." She grinned. "Especially for the new kid." "
Jane felt a chill up in her spine and said, "I don't like where this is going."
Ally can't help but feel curious. 'What Mal is going to do?' She thought.
" Jay smiled back weakly, wishing he had never mentioned it. When Mal got like this, it usually had terrible consequences. He shivered. There was a definite chill in the air—a new wild wind was blowing, and he was smart enough to worry about where it would lead." Hera finished, letting out a massive sigh of relief as she closed the book.
"Welp, what a cliffhanger," Anxelin said.
Blue Fairy got up from her bean bag and went up to the podium as Hera stepped down and she declared, "Well everyone, we're going to have a 30-minute break."
Cheers began to erupt in the room(mainly from the VK's side) once they heard Blue Fairy's announcement and everyone got up from their seats and started to do some stretches before heading over to the snack table.
Blue Fairy smiled warmly at the VKs, they truly deserved something to eat after listening to the horrors of 'food' shipped to them thanks to Beast.
With that said Blue Fairy went over to Hera and the gods to discuss the previous events that happened in the first few chapters of the book.
AN: I'm going to post the current 7 chapters here since I finally found out how to crosspost from ao3 to here.
In the meantime, please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think! :)