After what it seems like a 10 minute break, everyone returned their beanbags and Hercules returned to the podium to continue to read the rest of the chapter where he'd left off.

" "Still working on that machine of yours?"

"Yeah, wanna see?" he asked..."

"I almost forgot that Carlos was an inventor," Akio said as he slapped his forehead.

"Yeah, we've so focused on him being Cruella's slave than her son," Elle added softly.

" "Yeah, sure," Evie replied, following Carlos out of the room toward the back of the house, away from the party. Carlos slipped outside, holding the door open for Evie.

"Where are we going?"

"To my lab," Carlos replied, pulling out a matchbook and lighting a candle to lead the way into the weedy backyard.

"Your what?" "

"You heard that right Evie," Diego said. "Carlos's lab."

" "My science lab. Don't worry, I don't, like, sacrifice toads or something…" "

Nina and Tyrone heaved a sigh of relief, and their parents gave them a look.

Freddie stared at Tiana's twins and asked, "Why you two are sighing?"

"Because I don't like seeing frogs being dissected," Nina replied, a chill crept up in her spine. "One time we did that in Bio class and I fainted."

Aziz nodded as his girlfriend brought up that incident of her fainting in Bio class.

"You fainted?" Freddie asked incredulously with her eyebrows arched. "Haha, you Auradon kids are too weak."

"Not really," Tyrone said, defending his twin sister. "It's just that Nina isn't a fan of sugar or anything sweet for that matter. That and the fact that she hated seeing animals being being dissected."

Freddie blinked. "…oh."

'What kind of kid who hates candy?!' CJ thought. 'That's illegal!'

" They approached a huge, gnarled tree with a rope ladder. Carlos started climbing up it. "I have to keep it all in my tree house. I'm afraid my mom is going to get some big ideas and turn my chemicals into makeup and hair products…" "

"Oh God, please don't let her!" Anxelin pleaded. "Carlos had been living a washroom for a very long time and that treehouse was the only thing he had. So please don't let that demon take away that treehouse from him!"

Everyone in the room agreed with the goth girl.

" Evie scrambled up the ladder behind him. The tree house was more elaborate than any she'd ever seen, with miniature turrets and a tiny balcony that looked out onto the dark forest below. Inside, Evie spun around, gaping. The walls were lined with shelves of glass beakers, vials, and jars containing various neon-colored liquids. In the corner sat a small, old television with about fifteen different antennas strapped to it..."

"Impressive," Phoebus and Kristoff chorused, amused.

Roger tapped his chin, slightly nodding. 'Hopefully when we adopt Carlos, I'll make sure that he has own lab room,' He thought.

" " What is all this?" Evie asked, picking up a jar of something white and snowy.

"Oh, that's from Chem Lab. It's sodium polyacrylate—I was trying to see if I could use it as a sponge when mixed with water," Carlos said. "But here, this is what I wanted to show you." He pulled out the wire-box contraption he'd been working on in class. "I think I got the battery to work…" "

"I dunno if that could work but woah," Akio was amused by that the fact that Carlos was a smart fellow.

Li'l Shang leaned over and whispered in Jamilah's ear. "Y'know, if Carlos was here in Auradon before, he would definitely join that chemistry contest that we had won last year."

Jamilah nodded in agreement with her boyfriend. "He would definitely be the end game."

"True."

" Carlos fiddled with a few buttons and flicked a few switches. It sputtered to life, then died. His face fell. He tried again. This time, it emitted a high-pitched squeal before dying.

He looked up at Evie sheepishly. "Sorry, I thought I had it."

Evie looked at the black box. "Maybe try connecting this wire to that one?" she suggested.

Carlos peered at the wires. "You're right, they're in the wrong place." He switched the wires and hit the switch…"

"Beauty and brains," Jay said, glancing at Evie as he gave her a grin and she grinned back.

"I wonder what Carlos was going to do with this invention of his?" Alice asked no one in particular.

"Who knows?" Meg shrugged. "We'll just wait and see."

" A powerful electric burst shot out of the box, sending Carlos and Evie flying back against the wall and falling to the floor. The beam of light burst up toward the plywood ceiling, blasting a hole in the tree-house roof and up to the sky.

"Maleficent!" Carlos cursed.

"Oh my goblins!" Evie screamed. "What just happened?" "

Everybody in the room were alarmed by the sudden blast from Carlos's invention.

"That's what I was about to say too!" Emir said, panicked. "What the heck just happened?"

"I have no idea, man," Akio shook his head, still reeling from panic. He even felt his head started to throb.

" They both scrambled out onto the tree-house balcony and stared up at the sky, where the light was streaking all the way up, through the clouds, up, up, up, all to the way to the dome!"

"What?!" Beast cried.

" The light seared through the barrier as easily as it had burned a hole in the tree-house roof.

Lightning flashed, and the very earth shook with a supersonic rumble. For a second they could see through the dome and directly into the night sky. The black box began to emit a strange beeping noise..."

The crowd frowned but they were oddly curious at was about to happen next.

" there was something on the television in the room, which had burst to life all of a sudden.

"Look!" Evie cried..."

"What? What's there?" Someone in the room asked.

" The screen was flashing with so many different scenes it was dizzying. For a moment they saw a talking dog (Carlos screamed at the sight);"

Meg rolled her violet eyes. "Of course that woman instilled fear in that poor kid," she sighed as she placed her chin in her palm.

"A talking dog?" Jane arched a brow. "Is that show referring to Dog with a Blog?"

"It looks like it," Lonnie replied.

" then it switched to a pair of twins who were nothing alike (one was boyish and athletic and the other was sort of a diva, and they both sort of looked like Mal, except with yellow hair);"

"Liv and Maddie?" Lonnie and Ruby chorused.

"Ok, how does those twin girls look like me if I've never watched that show?" Mal asked. "Is it because of the actor or something?"

"Good question, Mal," Anxelin nodded. "Tell ya the truth, I have no idea since I'm not a fan of Disney Channel. But I do watch Victorious."

"Omg, I loved that show!" Jordan said, beaming. "That show was a bop."

"True," Nina agreed. "Not gonna lie, I had a huge crush on Beck Oliver and probably I have good taste," she cast a loving glance at Aziz who blushed.

Li'l Shang snorted. "Almost every girl had a huge crush on Beck. Lonnie even had a Beck Oliver body pillow in her room before she switched to V from that K-pop boy band."

Lonnie's face turned tomato red.

"Wait Lonnie has those?" Jay asked amused.

"Yup."

Jay burst out laughing, causing Lonnie to blush in embarrassment, and sinking herself into her bean bag.

When Jay's laughter died down and collected himself, he said, "Oh man, I need to see those," he wiped off a tear from the corner of his eye.

"Sure thing! I'll keep that in mind," Li'l Shang told the long haired boy with a slight mischievous smile.

But Lonnie wasn't having it as she glared at her older brother and in retaliation, she punched him in his arm, causing him to yelp.

"Ow!" Li'l Shang winced as he rubbed his arm.

"You're the one to talk," Lonnie muttered still glaring at her brother. "You have a huge wallpaper of Selena Gomez in your room!"

Li'l Shang gaped and his face turned tomato red too.

'Oh my gosh,' he thought.

Jamilah gave her boyfriend a look.

"Oh shit, for real?!" Anxelin questioned, her hazel eyes went wide in surprise. Anxelin's face looked like she was on the verge of laughing her heart out.

"Oh yeah, I even heard him sing her songs while he was in the shower and he had no idea that I was listening to him," there was a devilish grin tugging on Lonnie's face. "At one point, gege says that Selena Gomez was his wife."

The AKs and some of the VKs laughed hard at this, making poor Li'l Shang embarrassed to the point where he covered his head with his cat hoodie(with ears) and sunk further into his beanbag grumbling.

Mulan and Shang can't help but laugh softly at their kids' antics.

As Lonnie realized that her job was done, she had a triumphant look on her face and dusted off her hands.

This goes to show that when anyone messes with Lonnie, they're going to regret crossing her.

'Good,' Lonnie thought with a nod.

On the other hand, Jamilah found it cute that her boyfriend admired a female artist. If she was being frank, she, like the other Auradon girls had a huge crush on Beck from Victorious.

When the teens' laughter had died down, they continued to listen to the former hero of Olympus reading.

" …then it switched again to two teenage boys who seemed to be running a hospital for superheroes…"

"Mighty Med?" Akio raised a brow.

"Again," Anxelin started. "I don't know these shows since I don't watch Disney Channel. But I do know a show featuring two girls creating their own web show."

"That's I-Carly!" Jane chirped.

"Oh yes! I loved that show!" Jordan commented. "That show I believe is the reason why I started my own web show!"

"Hey don't forget Big Time Rush," Li'l Shang spoke.

"Yes!" Some of the Ak boys chorused at the mentioning of that said show.

"I loved BTR so much!" Ruby squealed. "They had some of the best songs, characters and ugh! It's so good!"

Jamilah tapped her chin. "Y'know, James from BTR kinda reminds me of Chad but he had a nicer personality."

"Hey!" Chad exclaimed, sounding offended. "I've changed!"

"Yeah, but my point still stands."

Chad pouted and Audrey laughed softly.

While the AKs chatted excitedly about their favorite tv shows amongst one another, the VKs stared at them, completely bewildered, but some if not most were intrigued by those shows.

The parents though just looked the Aks.

"Ahem," Hercules cleared his throat loud enough so that he could get the AKs attention.

"I know you kids love to talk about your favorite shows, but can you talk about at break?" He asked kindly. "I want to finish this chapter."

"Sorry," the AKs apologized in unison and Hercules smiled as he resumed his reading.

" Look at all these different television shows!" Carlos said. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew there had to be other kinds!" "

Snow smiled. "I'm glad that you Dears found tv shows from the ones you're being propagandized."

The moms agreed with the queen of Charmington.

"Tell me about it," Freddie sighed. "We're tired of seeing Beast's face."

"Evie laughed. Then the screen flickered and went dark again, and the box in Carlos's hands went dead. "What happened?" "

"That's what I wanna know too!" Emir said.

" I don't know. I think maybe it worked. It penetrated the dome for a second, didn't it?" he asked, approaching the box fearfully and touching it with the end of one finger. It was hot to the touch, and he pulled his hand away quickly..."

"I…wouldn't touch that if I were you," Herkie said. One could hear the warning in his voice.

" "Promise you won't tell anyone about what happened, especially about the dome. We could get in real trouble, you know…" "

"How?" Jane asked.

"You'll see," Evie answered.

" "I promise," said Evie, making an X with her fingers behind her back..."

No one in the room uttered a word, but the adults found it nice that Evie and Carlos started trusting each other.

" " You want to go back to the party?"

"Do we have to?" she asked, unwilling to find herself trapped in another closet..."

"Fair enough," Mal nodded, although she felt a guilty pang in her chest.

" "You have a point. And that shows you like on Auradon News Network, the one that features the Prince of the Week, is going to be on in five minutes."

"Excellent!" "

"And that Prince of the week would be..? Aziz cocked a brow.

"Between Ben or Chad," Anxelin replied. "I knew because they're like the most popular princes in Auradon."

"What about us?" Akio asked, referring to him, Emir, Tyrone, Herkie, and Aziz as well as Marlon.

Harriet looked up and down at the other princes. "Hmm sorry. It's mostly Chad and Golden Boy."

"…bummer."

" Unbeknown to the two villain children, far off in the distance, deep in the heart of the forbidden fortress, hidden behind a gray misty fog on the other side of the island, a long black scepter with a jewel on its end came back to life, glowing green with power again. The most powerful weapon of darkness had been awakened for a moment..."

Ben furrowed his brows. "Wait, why Maleficent's scepter is in on the Isle?" He glanced at him for an answer.

But Beast was unable to come up with a suitable answer and because of this, he remained quiet.

Ben was taken aback by this.

Belle wasn't surprised.

Mal's green eyes widened in surprise. She didn't know about this.

" Next to the hidden staff, a stone statue of a raven began to vibrate, and when the bird began to shake its wings, the stone crumbled into dust, and in its place was that black-eyed fiend, that wicked fairy's familiar, the one and only Diablo, Maleficent's best and first friend.

Diablo shook his feathers and gave a throaty, triumphant cry. Evil would fly again.

Evil lives.…" Hercules finished as felt a eerie chill crawling up his spine.

"That ending gives off a oddly ominous feel to it," Anna noted. "Don't you think guys?" She looked around, hoping to get a response from the other adults.

The Auradon adults responded, "Yes."

"Oh dear," Fairy Godmother said, worried. "Like how the scepter is or was, not sure about the state, on the Isle, that means Maleficent might had an idea as to where it was."

"Could be," Henry said. "Though, the scepter should have been here in Auradon at the museum."

"Agreed," most of the adults nodded."Hun, are you going to continue read?" Meg asked her husband.

"Yes, like how I'm here now," Hercules told his wife.

"Ah ok. Go ahead."

Hercules nodded as he skipped the next page onto a new one as he took a deep breath and began reading the new chapter.

Oh boy, this was going to be an interesting one.