Queen Belle's obsession with books was known everywhere, even on the Isle. Mal just hadn't known it would look like this.

The library felt too big to be called a library. Three floors of a huge building were filled with bookshelves and every shelf overflowed with books. There were cabinets full of scrolls and papers and glass displays with treaties and artifacts. Somehow everything still felt organized and peaceful while looking cluttered. Thick carpet covered the floors to prevent extra noise and there were small sections with disgustingly comfortable couches or chairs at tables for people to work and read. Pristine and ancient looking.

It was beautiful.

Mal hated it.

How the fuck was anyone supposed to find anything in this place? The sign on the doors had said "The doors to wisdom are never shut" and Mal couldn't help but think that it didn't really matter. The doors could be open at all hours and she still wouldn't find what she wanted after fifty years.

"So, um, how are we doing this?" Jay frowned, head tilted back to look up the stairs towards the upper floors.

"Divide each floor into four sections and each work a section?" Carlos suggested, eyes wide as he stared at the shelves closest to them.

"And, what, look at each book?"

"Until I can figure out how they organized everything, we might have to."

"Mal?" Evie asked.

With a groan, Mal adjusted the strap of her bag over her shoulders. "I got nothing better. Los, divide up the sections for this floor. E, make sure the librarian doesn't bother us. Tell her whatever you think will keep her away without making her think we're up to something. Jay, double check where all the exits are and let us know. Make sure nobody sneaks up on us."

Ten minutes later, Mal walked into her section. Pulling out her philosophy notebook–she had no reason to use it during class so she might as well use it for other things–Mal grabbed a book and sat on the floor. By the time she'd made it to the tenth page her brain hurt and she felt like she'd lost something instead of learning. Who talked like that? And she'd thought Doug sounded stuck up and formal.

Barely managing to close the book without slamming it, she put it away, wrote down what she thought it was about so Carlos could try to understand organization, and grabbed the next book. And repeated the same thing again and again and again and again and again and again and again and…

Ten books later, she clenched her jaw and gave in to the urge to slam the book. Nothing made sense. There were too many words trying to say something that shouldn't need that many words. Why couldn't they say what they meant in five words instead of trying to sound smart for fifty? It would save them, and her, so much time. People in the Ascendency really had nothing to do if they wrote like that. Gods, most of the books didn't even have titles on the covers.

Even worse, she couldn't read as fast as Evie or do what Evie called "skimming", a very fast look over the page to understand the basics. And for all she knew, all the books she'd put back had something useful and she couldn't understand it enough to know that. Or she just couldn't force herself to read every word to find the information.

But…She ran her fingers over the curse. Maleficent was far more patient than most of the villains on the Isle, after all she'd lived for ages and she'd keep living for ages, but she wouldn't wait years for them to find the information.

The screams of her pack echoed in her head, haunted her dreams every night, every time she saw their curse marks. None of them talked about it, but she knew they'd seen Diablo too. The raven never got too close. He was probably there more often than she'd actually seen him perched among leaves or high on a building. As a familiar and a descendant of magical creatures, he didn't have to be close to watch them.

Godsdamnit.

She had to read the books. Only a few pages from each wasn't going to protect her pack. Nothing was going to save them other than finding what they needed. Huffing a curse, she dragged herself back to the first book, yanking it from the shelf. She needed to pay better attention in English. Practice her reading more.

Book in her lap, Mal sat on the floor, reading and rereading anything that didn't make sense until she'd figured it out.

"In accordance to the pattern of the moon and Sun, and the position of Mars and Venus, we can determine that the position of Jupiter and Saturn to be no more than twice the distance from the Sun than the distance from the Earth to Neptune. Therefore, Sirius and Polaris should be no more than five hundred times as far from the Sun as Andromeda is from the Earth. Using these positions we can-"

Each word added to the frustration burning in her chest. Why did this have to be so hard? Why was everything here so hard?! All she wanted was to keep her pack safe. She'd managed it for the most part before. So why. Was. It. Getting. Worse?!

And Evie didn't seem to get it. "Auradon's perfect". "Everything we need is here". Except protection from her mother! Except for feeling in control! Except for knowing where and what the danger was!

Jaw clenching, Mal swallowed a roar. The glow of her eyes darkened the shadows in the aisle of books. Her grip on the book tightened, fingers threatening to wrinkle or tear the paper.

A green spark darted across the page, sizzling.

"Fuck!" Mal dropped the book, scrambling back a few feet.

More sparks flared along her arms. Her hair swayed around her face as if she was underwater.

Magic. Her magic.

For some reason that only pissed her off more. Of course she could use it now. Now, when she didn't need it. No. Only in Auradon could she have the very thing she'd needed most on the Isle.

Fire streaked through her hair as the glow of her eyes got brighter. Sparks danced between her fingers, ready to burn the world down around her. Gods. She could do it. She could destroy everything on campus. Show all of them why they should be scared of her. Why they should give her what she wanted.

Lifting her hand, Mal watched the green sparks curling in her hand.

No. It wouldn't work. Her only chance was to try and blend in. Read as much as she could. She needed this campus more than she wanted it to burn. Slowly, she breathed in, counting to seven. Then held her breath for four. Then breathed out for seven. It was the only thing from Magic Basics that ever worked for her and she needed it to work now.

Seven. Four. Seven.

The fire sputtered and died.

Seven. Four. Seven.

The sparks faded away.

Seven. Four. Seven.

Her hair drifted down.

Body suddenly heavy, Mal leaned against the shelves, closing her eyes. It was still new, her magic responding to her emotions. On the Isle only her eyes would glow whenever she was truly pissed off. But here…There was magic in Auradon and her magic wasn't being suppressed by the barrier anymore. From what little she'd learned from her mother, fae magic was reactive to thoughts and intentions. Emotions must be part of it too. No barrier, nothing to keep her magic from doing what came naturally.

With an effort, she opened her eyes to stare at the book she'd abandoned. She could do this. Reading was nothing compared to the Isle. The Isle hadn't beaten her so she couldn't lose to a bunch of fucking words. After taking another breath, she returned to her book.

It was night by the time Carlos found her. He'd chewed his lip almost bloody and Checkers was weaving between his legs purring. When their eyes met, Mal cursed softly as Carlos's shoulders slumped. Two failures out of four. Without a word, Mal dragged herself off the floor, body aching and sore. Once she had her bag, she joined Carlos, ruffling his hair as he lightly bumped against her.

Jay and Evie were waiting for them at the front doors and they didn't need to say anything. Jay's head was lifted just a little too high, his jaw tight and unforgiving. Only the fact that Evie had let her hair down gave her away. Four failures out of four.

Fuck.

"Let's eat," Mal said as she and Carlos joined them.

"Great," Evie smiled.

With only a shrug, Jay led the way.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.