Love Is Not A Choice Yet a Possibility

Chapter 18: The Plan

We walked down the street until we reached our old hangout. We figured Mal would come here, due to her not being welcomed in the Isle and not wanting to go back to where we lived and see the other VK parents. "Come on." Carlos told Liam and Ben as Jay grabbed a rock and hit a sign saying "Danger, flying rocks." The sign moved and opened the entrance to the stairs. We pulled Liam over to the stairs. We stopped at the bottom, but he started to go up the stairs. He looked back at us. "Wish me luck." I gave him a faint smile, while Jay pointed upwards. "All the way up." He looks up before starting the climb. Evie moved forwards. "Good luck." She then looked back at the four of us and sighed. We all sat down, knowing it could be a while before we heard anything. Ben sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulder. I gave him a slight smile before looking down. I really wanted my sister to come back. "Hey, it's gonna be ok." "I don't think it is, Ben. You didn't see her face. She was so adamant about leaving. I feel like I failed her." "Hey, you did everything you could. This is her choice. You are the best sister that anyone can ask for." I smiled at him and he gave me a slight kiss before we were enveloped in silence, waiting for them to come down.

It had been 15 minutes before we heard a noise on the stairs. We all stand up and look to see Liam coming down the stairs with a broken look on his face. Evie, not wanting to give up hope, asked the question we were all thinking. "So... Where's Mal ?" "She's not coming back." "What ?! I'll talk to her." Evie ran over to the speaker, while Ben gave me a kiss on the cheek before going to help his brother. "M. Mal, it's Evie and Miranda. Let us just talk to you for a second. Mal, come on." We waited and finally heard a response. "Go away !" Evie sighs before Jay comes over to us. "Let's give her a couple hours to cool off." We nod before we are interrupted by Carlos. "Guys ! Where's Ben and Liam ?" My eyes go wide as we all look down the alley. "Ben ?" I questioned. "Ben !" I see a figure walking towards us and I believe Liam must be behind him. "Ben, don't scare us like that." Evie exhales. "Don't scare you ?" My blood runs cold. Harry. I haven't seen him since the day I left. "That's my speciality." "Harry." Evie sighs. "What did you do with Ben and Liam ?" Jay yells in his face. "Oh, uh, we nicked them. Mmm-hmm. Yeah, um, and if you want to see them again, have Mal come to the Chip Shoppe tonight. Alone." He points at all of us. "Uma wants a little visit. Aww, Jay. Seems like you've lost your touch." Jay goes at him, but Evie pulls him back. He creepily laughs, and then barks in Carlos' face. He then leaves, whistling as he walks. Seeing him brought back so many memories of my old life on the Isle. We all look at each other before climbing up the side of the staircase to get up to Mal.

We make it up to the hideout and tell Mal what happened. "If you guys never would have brought them here, this never would have happened." The boys look down, I glare at her, and Evie sighs. "What were you thinking ?!" Evie steps forward. "He was gonna come with or without he and Ben didn't want his brother to go alone. We just wanted to protect them." Carlos interrupts their fight. "Yeah. And we completely blew it." "Okay ! Ok, so what are we gonna do ?" "We are not doing anything. This is between Uma and me, and she's a punk. And guess what, now I have to go get them." Carlos stops her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mal, you're still gonna have to go through Harry Hook and his wharf rats." Jay nods. "Ya, you're gonna need us." "Uma said to come alone." Evie sighs. "Mal, come on." Carlos looks back at Evie, nodding. "She said to come alone." Carlos sits on the couch. "I know one thing. I'm not going anywhere." Jay nods. "We'll be here when you get back." She turns to leave, but I speak up for the first time. "Mal !" She turns and looks at me questioningly. "You may not want to be with Liam anymore, but they also have Ben and I love him. You do whatever you need to do to get them back. I need him." My eyes start to tear up at the thought of loss in him. Evie comes over and pulls me into a hug. Mal just nods and walks out of the room.

It's been twenty minutes before Mal walks back in the room. She tells us about the events with Uma. Evie stands up. "There is no way we can give Uma the wand. We can't let her destroy Auradon." "Uma doesn't get the wand, then Ben and Liam are toast, guys." Carlos reminds us. I look down at my hands at the thought. "Great, so we're going to give Uma, of all people, the wand." Jay, Evie, and Carlos start arguing before an idea comes to my mind. I stand up. "Wait, you guys. Your 3D printer." Carlos picks up on my idea. "A phony wand." "Yes !" "In my sleep." Evie brings up the flaw. "Yeah, but the second Uma tests it, she'll know it's fake." "Ok, so then we get Ben and Liam out really fast." Jay says, going along with the plan. "Then, we just need some kind of diversion." Mal adds. "Smoke bombs." Jay yells out and I point at him. "That's perfect. I'll get the chemicals I need from Lady Tremaine's place. That could work." Evie inputs. She walks over to Mal. "Oh, sick hair by the way. Evil Stepmom seriously stepped her game." "Ok, want to know something. Dizzy did this." Mal smiles at Evie. "Little Dizzy ? Shut up." "I know. I'm like, loving it. It's a lot lighter." "I'm really proud of her." I rolled my eyes at the two, so annoyed. Jay clears his throat, and Carlos calls out, "Hello ?" The two turns. "Hello, Ben and Liam's life is on the line." "Right." The two girls nod. I turn to the boys. "Carlos, Jay, you guys meet us at the Pirates Bay, no later than noon. And you guys, losing, not a option." Mal steps in. "Cause we're rotten." "To the core." We all head off into our separate directions.

I decided to go with the guys. I knew Evie needed to talk to Mal and sometimes, I feel like the odd one out between the three of us. We made it to the garage, hopped in the limo, and made our way back to Auradon. Once Jay parked, we ran straight for the guys' dorm. Dude met us outside their door. Carlos picked him up. "I'm sorry I'm so late, Dude. Ben and Liam got captured." Carlos and I move to walk in before Jay pulls us back. "No. Why is our door open ?" We all look at each other before slowly moving to the door and looking in. Turns out it was Chad using their printer again. "You've got to be kidding me." Chad turns off the printer and turns around. "I knocked." I scoffed at him. Like that made it any better. We walk in the room and Carlos puts Dude on the ground before holding his hand out to Chad. He sighs sadly before reaching into his pocket and putting the key he made into Carlos' hand. Jay asks the million dollar question. "What is that ?" "Oh. That's a little Chad action figure. Well, minus the head." I roll my eyes at him. He is a giant baby. "Sounds like an improvement. Excuse me."

Jay and I laugh as we move next to Carlos. He pulls out his phone and sets up the 3D printer to make Fairy Godmother's wand. "Why are you guys making Fairy Godmother's wand ?" We all look at each other, trying to come up with an excuse. "Uh, why are we making Fairy Godmother's wand ?" "Because uh..." Finally, Dude speaks. "Ben and Liam have been captured." We all look towards him. "What ? Dude can talk ?" Of course, that's what he picked up on. "I was stalling." "I thought you forgot." Jay hits his shoulder. "Don't tell anyone. Ben and Liam's life depends on it." "Really ?" "So, if something were to happen, you know what I'm saying." Something bad, we get it. "God forbid. But, if something were to happen, who do you think would be in line to be king ?" I glare at him before jumping forward as Jay holds me back. "Is it me or is that in really poor taste ?" Jay gets the door and slams it in Chad's face the moment he is gone. "Can you believe him ?" "Thank you, Jay. All right." They set everything up and now, we just have to go wait.

We had pulled up chairs by the printer and we must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, I am getting hit by Jay. "Carlos. Miranda." "Mmmm. What ?" He hits us again. We both looked up to see the wand had been finished. Carlos opens it up before taking out the wand. "Not bad." "Yeah." "Let's go save Ben and Liam." The two boys nod before we all head towards the door. We stop when we hear Dude. "Hey, guys. What about me ?" "No, Dude. You stay. I'm serious. Stay." He whines, but lies down. Jay opens the door and we head out. "I love you, buddy. We'll be back before you know it." We head back out to where we park the car before we are intercepted by Doug. Jay hides the wand behind his back. "Have you seen Evie ?" "Uh... She went camping." Internally, I rolled my eyes. "Evie "I wanna live in a castle" sleeping in the ground with no place to plug in a hair dryer ?" "You know how spontaneous she is, bro. Right ?" Jay and I both awkwardly laugh and nod. "Totally. Totally." "Later, Doug." I smiled at him as we walked backwards before turning around and being stopped by Lonnie. "I'm coming with you guys." "What ? We don't need swords at the Waffle Hut." Carlos and I look at him with the most confused looks on our faces. "You guys are terrible at lying." "You're going to the the Isle to rescue Ben and Liam. Look, it's either you take me, or I'm gonna have to tell Fairy Godmother." I smile at her and nod. "Ok." She wraps her arm around my shoulder and we head towards the limo.

Ben, I'm coming.