12:15pm
"Okay, fine, I'll do it."
Ben finally said, hanging up on Rashid.
After seeing Chad carrying the queen on his shoulders, the couple knew that something unusual was going on, so just before his fiancée made any impulse decisions, Ben called Rashid.
"What did he say?"
Mal asked, uneasy about the situation.
"You stay here and wait for Rashid to arrive. Jay and I are going to the castle to see what's going on."
"You what? Obviously not Ben! For all we know Agatha could be here."
"Listen, you need to find Merlin and we still don't know if she's really here."
"So, Chad now kidnaps queens as a hobby?"
He asked sarcastically.
"Mal, take it easy! The only thing we know is that you need to go to Merlin's hut, if there's anything going on, I'll let you know." She still looked angry, but Ben tried to calm her down. "Everything will work out, okay? I promise."
"You know you can't promise that."
"Rashid's on his way, will you be all right?"
"Yes, go ahead."
She took a long breath and let her husband go back to the kingdom to see what was going on.
"I love you."
He kissed her on the forehead and ran back to where he had left the horse.
(...)
12:17 pm
Less than two minutes later, Rashid appeared in a puff of smoke in front of Mal.
"Okay, I'm here.
He let out a long sigh, tired from the brief teleportation he had done; after all, it wasn't like being twenty years old was so easy anymore.
"Tired?"
Mal asked him with a sarcastic smile.
"When you're my age you'll understand."
"How are things? Have you discovered anything?"
"Agatha is or was controlling the king, Artie and some soldiers too."
"Perfect and the queen?"
"Another matter, I don't know anymore, but what I do know is that we have to go now, our time is running out."
(...)
12:10pm
A long time ago, when Ben called Rashid.
"Mom? Has anyone seen the queen? Has anyone in this damn castle seen the queen?"
The prince went screaming through the castle looking for his mother.
"Yeah, I think I got it." Rashid said to Ben on the phone, as he watched Artie running around. "Tell Mal to wait for me there and you'll come here." He left his room and headed towards the desperate boy. "Hey kid, what's up?"
"Who are you? Are you one of the servants?"
Artie looked nervous and scared, as if he'd woken up from a nightmare.
"Rashid, I came with King Ben."
He answered confusedly, but trying to understand the situation better.
"Has Ben arrived yet?"
"Just what I need, by the name of magic Jay! Jay!" He shouted for the man in the corridor who had appeared startled. "Agatha has bewitched the prince and his father."
"How?"
Jafar's son looked as if he had just woken up from a nap.
"Don't worry, or almost, I think the spell is over. Ben is coming and I'm going after Mal. Listen, there's something not good going on here, you and Ben need to find out."
"What? Come back here." Rashid disappeared right in front of him, before he could answer his questions. "That's great."
(...)
12:00pm
Agatha and Chad's bedroom
"Damn! Damn!
The witch shouted, knocking over some of the objects lying around.
"Queen kidnapped, done. "Chad said, bringing the woman's body over. "Have you seen how silky her hair is?" he asked, running his hands through the hair of Guinevere, who was passed out in a chair.
"My powers, the control spell is over, damn it! I can't control anything else from here."
"What about the queen?"
"We'll have to wait a while, I need to rest my magic."
She replied in frustration.
(...)
13:00 12pm
Mal and Rashid finally find Merlin's house after an hour of searching.
"What do we do now? Do you have a magic word or something?"
Mal asked him, as they stood in front of the door of the lord's house.
"Of course."
He said sarcastically and turned the door handles.
"Ah, I see."
"It's not all magic, unfortunately."
The two of them entered the small place. There was a huge cauldron in the center of the house, a bookcase, a bed and a mess all over the room.
"And where is he?"
Mal asked without much courage to enter the mess.
"Excellent question."
"Who in the name of magic is there?"
An elderly man with white hair and beard asked, his stature making Mal wonder how he managed to get into such a small house. As soon as he saw the door to his home wide open, he was ready to attack
"Merlin, it's us, Rashid and Mal."
Rashid walked up to him, introducing himself and calming his nerves.
"You scared me, how did you get in here?"
He was carrying some shopping bags with him.
"Open door."
"I always forget it like that."
"Merlin, have you received the parchment yet?"
Rashid asked
"Yes, intelligent magic."
"Can we start then?"
Rashid asked impatiently, he was getting tired of being there.
(...)
13:30pm
Camelot Castle
"So, this crazy woman turned us into zombies and she's with my wife?"
Arthur asked the boys, while pressing an ice pack to his head.
"Basically."
Ben answered him.
"Where do you think that crazy woman is?"
Artie asked them too.
"Most likely inside the castle."
"How? What are you going to do?"
Arthur flared up at the new information.
"We have no idea either."
Jay informed them
"We have to find her, she's with her mom, we have to do something."
(...)
13:45pm
"So Mal, what else can you tell me about yourself?"
Merlin asked the girl, they were already ready for training, in which case Merlin had sent her to pick up stones and carry them from one place to another
"Well, my name is Mal, I've been living in Auradon for five years, I'm Maleficent's daughter, I honestly have no idea who my father is and I'm King Ben's girlfriend, I mean wife."
She said, as she carried a stone over to the other side.
"So, Mal is short for Maleficent which is the name your mother gave you and which is also her name, which makes me assume that you have magic just like her, but you're married to Ben which makes me think you're not evil like her. If you've been in Auradon for five years, you've spent your entire childhood on the Island, which means you're from the Island and finally you want to know who your father is, but you don't have the courage to investigate."
He said all this, while moving all the stones with some magic that Mal didn't know, the fact was that, while she had barely carried two stones, the wizard had carried more than half of the pile there.
"How did you...how did you...how did you do that?"
She asked in disbelief and anger at how quickly he had done it.
"I never said you couldn't use magic. Use your intelligence Mal."
This was certainly going to be a lot harder than the first lesson in Neverland.