If you mess up "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" this badly, it should be a war crime.

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ROSE IN CRUEL CURVES (3) — Water Under the Burning Bridge _2

They share a silence, loud in wordless desperation.

Night approaches and the last rays of light stream through the trees around the Enchanted Lake. It would be a captivating scene if everyone wasn't already captive to the same thoughts.

Carlos hunkers down on a boulder near the water; behind him, Jane alternates between awkwardly touching his shoulder and keeping her hands in her lap. Evie sits on the floor against the rock, there but not there. Jay leans on the opposite side, face tensed like a fist. Mal hovers several yards away, right at the edge of the lake, outside of whatever imaginary circle they've formed; she's a statue, unreadable and immobile to whatever world is coalescing around them.

Ben stands facing them all, having rubbed his hands together like he's going to speak for the last fifteen minutes.

But it's Evie that finally breaks the stunned silence. "You guys, I can't…"

Jay just shakes his head in reply.

"We were celebrating," Jane says slowly. "The wall came down and we were dancing and singing and then, then…"

"—Then everything just broke," Carlos mutters.

"That's putting it nicely," Doug adds, forcing out a small, dry laugh.

Nobody laughs with him. Instead, a light but uneasy quiet hangs over the gathering, connecting them with sticky gossamer strands in a web spun between the trees around them. Jay shifts to standing without saying a word.

Jane again. "But, like, how… how did it get so out of hand?"

"I don't know."

"They were fine," Evie affirms. "Everybody was great. It just… everyone just..."

"They got anxious," Ben offers. He shakes his head and begins a slow pace. For a second, he glances at Mal–still removed, turned away, and transfixed with whatever is happening on the water several yards away. It's the lake where they had their first date–if you can call a love potion and three layers of deception a "date." Not for the first time, Ben watches the back of her head as if he can see the thoughts ticking on the inside. He sighs. "They just got a little nervous and made a bad move. It shouldn't have gotten so messed up. It was all just a big misunderstanding."

"I don't know about that..." Evie answers, looking away.

The faint trailing-off tone does the trick, and she's surprised to turn back and see all other eyes waiting. Evie winces a little bit. "Well, it didn't seem like there was 'misunderstanding' so much as 'not-trying-to-understand-at-all.' No offense to anybody."

"No, you're right," Ben says. "I think things got tense and, unfortunately, emotions got the better of exactly the wrong people at the wrong time."

"I'll say…"

Doug shakes his head. "I can't believe they would do that. Just break everything. After Auradon opened up to them."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

For a moment that seems like an eternity, the only thing heard is the faraway, bubbling flow of the lake water. Filling the rest of the uncertain silence is the inaudible crunch of gears grinding in everybody's minds.

"…"

"…Wait, what?"

"…"

"Were you…" Evie ventures, "were you all talking about the Island kids this whole time?"

"What?" Jane replies. "Who were you talking about?"

"Um, the freaking guards!"

"Why?" Doug answered with visible confusion. "They were keeping order when things got out of hand. It's the VKs that just lost it. I thought we were all agreeing on that?"

Evie literally pops off from the giant rock. "Are you kidding, Doug? They were attacked!"

"The guards are the ones that got anxious," Carlos interjects, standing and facing the others. He glances at Ben for confirmation. "That's who you meant got nervous and made 'a bad move,' right?"

Ben stares back.

"Right, Ben?"

"I'm not… It wasn't clear how…" His answer is as insubstantial as his decision for what to do with his hands, going from hanging limply aside to gesturing away at nothing. Ben flounders visibly.

Jay steps in beside Evie and looks around at the faces. "I was there. And it was pretty clear to me: I was seconds away from getting a sword in my face. And so were the kids around me. All because they happened to be from the Isle of the Lost. Where their parents—our parents—were sent by those same guards and the goodie-goodie 'Heroes' that—"

"—Woah woah—"

"Both sides…" Ben motions quickly, suddenly finding a footing while standing in the exact place he'd been in for 20 minutes. "Everybody lost their cool, okay? It was… God, that was a mess. I'm sorry, I should have acted sooner and put a stop to it all. I was just celebrating and didn't think it would get so ugly so fast."

The group stands divided. With subtle steps, they've wound up split—Evie, Carlos, and Jay on the left; Doug and Jane on the right; with the giant boulder between them, leaving Ben literally between a rock and their hard faces. At least, for a moment, it seems like they consider his words.

"I promise, I'm going straight to the castle to make sure everything is okay. My parents and I will... I won't… I can't let this happen again."

"But it did happen," Jay says, stepping forward. "I was there, Ben. The Isle Kids are here, they can't go back, and Auradon isn't even half as welcoming as we thought it was. In fact, I think it might be… rotten. To the freakin' core."

Without any more explanation, Jay takes off, back toward the castle, shaking his head the entire way. Every other reaction in the group is relatively subdued but just as conflicted. Ben searches for some kind of acknowledgement from the downcast teens, but the air is thick and heavy.

"I promise, guys."

"Okay, we... we trust you, Ben," Evie says with a forced smile. "Just… remember those Isle kids are just like us. And we turned out okay, right?"

Carlos plops back down onto the boulder and Evie pushes away from it, trouble knitting their brows; behind them, Jane and Doug move back and forth between getting closer with open hands or not. Jane follows through and grabs Carlos' shoulders, but by the time Doug acts, Evie is away, even more tense than before, stepping slowly up the path toward the courtyard.

Ben approaches Mal and finds her unmoved from the edge of the clearing, still staring out at the water. When he enters her eye line, she finally parts her lips enough to whisper.

"I'm supposed to become their queen, Ben."

She looks up at him, searching his face with a quiet desperation. With all that's happened in the last few years, it's still not often Ben sees her so fully vulnerable, so emotionally defenseless. Mal is entirely too preoccupied to hold up any fronts. "How am I… How can I face them all now?"

Ben tries to answer and falters for the last time. He gives up trying to hand out solutions and just wraps his arms around her. Mal feels tiny in his grasp, maybe for the first time ever.

"Ben, what do we do now?"

With so much fresh water flowing beside the group of friends, it's bitterly ironic that their relationships feel so very cracked.

The forest opens up to the courtyard and to the low rumble of heated conversation, frantic whispers, and suppressed arguments.

Jay emerges into the hotbed of low gossip feeling hot. There's too many thoughts to nail down a dominant one, too many feelings to describe a mood, but the sunshine on his face feels like a challenge and he's intent on burning hotter than it.

It takes some skill to navigate the maze of busybodies (thank you, tourney practice), but he finally slips past prying eyes, round the palace entrance, and is about to retreat—somewhere, anywhere, far away from here—when all creation freezes and he sees… her.

The rich black luster of hair complements a vividly tanned physique; eyes arrestingly large and somehow darker than her locks. In a kingdom resplendent with queens, she uniquely radiates royalty, understated wealth and grace in a simple, flowing, cream dress. A turquoise jewel sits on her headband.

She is the most beautiful person Jay's eyes have ever seen.

By the time she reaches the palace entrance—gliding along the silk of the earth—he realizes everyone is staring at her too.

She pauses at the palace entrance as her male companion—dressed with simple modesty like her, in a linen ensemble—sheepishly whispers to the royal master of ceremonies, who begins announcing the pair to the interior grand foyer.

From across the grand palace entrance, she inexplicably turns… and meets Jay's hypnotized gaze.

For the briefest of moments, their eyes are bound. Magnetically, mystically, cursedly. Electricity crackles and hair raises on both their necks. Emotions replace emotions on their faces, moods inconclusive and fleeting like sparks.

They share a silence, thundering in wordless confusion.

Then…

Sultana Jasmine scowls, disappears into the Palace, and Jay is left frozen in place.

King Adam stands gravely at the head of the oversized wooden table in the great hall.

The scattered parties stand in clusters, near the windows and by the large fireplace, most familiar but not overly close. A large panel of windows bathes the dimly-lit room in the glow of courtyard torches.

"Thank you all for arriving so quickly. I apologize for assembling on such short notice. Let the record show: We have 13 delegates representing 14 participating regions… of the 18 combined regions of the United States of Auradon. Therefore, the Chamber of Nobility has a quorum. Let us convene."