Harry and the others all agreed that it would be safer to go the Isle at night when nobody could be able to see them. Well, the others agreed and Harry was forced into it. He wanted to leave immediately, but it wasn't safe for Ben and Jane to be in the Isle's public eye, even in the leather studded outfits that Evie had made them to help them blend in.
However, once the sun had set, the group wasted no time piling into a sleek SUV at the front of Auradon Prep's courtyard, which was around five minutes away from the bridge leading to the Isle.
"You know, it would be harder for villain kids to run away if the school wasn't built so close to the Isle." Jay commented from the backseat.
Ben replied as he drove down the quiet path with trees lined alongside it, "It was easier for my dad to keep tabs on the Isle and for Fairy Godmother to sense if there was anything wrong with the barrier around it too."
Carlos frowned, "How does that work?"
Jane - who was sitting next to Carlos, replied promptly, "If the barrier broke or malfunctioned, then Fairy Godmother would feel the magical tremor and fix it in time before some villains managed to jump through and escape here in Auradon."
Harry snorted from the passenger's seat, "You didn't have to have gone to all of that trouble. Nothing worked - not even Maleficent's attempt that I heard about when she first got rounded up there. Apparently, she passed out for three days."
Mal said as she looked out the window at the blur of barely visible greenery, "I heard about that. Everyone thought Mom was dead."
"My mom was terrified," Evie added. "She told me that she would never admit it to your mom, but my mom was so worried that she got sick."
Carlos laughed, "My mom was getting ready to bury Maleficent. She was so sure that she was dead."
Evie giggled, "It scared all of them so much when your mom sprang up all of a sudden, wide-eyed and asking around if the spell worked."
Harry suddenly roared with laughter, startling Ben. He explained quickly after with a wide grin on his face, "Father tried to offer her a pint when she found out that she was still on the Isle. She smacked it straight out of his hand and asked him to ram his ship against the side of the barrier. Dad asked her if she was insane and she stole his hook. He got it back when he chipped the side of her staff and they signed a truce."
Mal chuckled and Evie giggled while Jay and Carlos burst out laughing.
Ben smiled slightly and asked once all of the laughter had died down, "Do you miss your parents?"
Carlos shook his head, "Not really. Mom fed me lies. She said it was to protect me, but she really wanted me to stick around so she could have someone to boss around."
"Dad just wanted a genie," Jay said casually, "I'm pretty sure he would've wished himself out of the Isle and left me there without a second thought had he actually found one."
Evie sighed, "Mom taught me the wrong things. I thought she didn't know better when I was still on the Isle, but now that I'm here in Auradon, I can connect all the dots and pick up on the hints that she was only trying to get me to marry a prince so she could enjoy a life of luxury, since she was too old to marry into a royal family. I was a tool to her and she pretended to love me. Evil stepmothers are all the same."
Mal shrugged, "Mom loved me, in her own weird way. She wanted me to achieve world domination so bad, partly because she wanted to share the glory and partly because she wanted to tell people 'That's my daughter!'." Mal laughed softly. "But I don't miss her, not as much as a daughter should at least."
Ben nodded understandingly. He turned his head to glance at the pirate next to him. "What about you, Harry?" Ben asked. "What about Captain Hook?"
Harry snorted as he kicked up his feet onto the dashboard, "The minute he gave me his hook when I was ten, Dad turned into a drunk. He saw the hook as his responsibility as a captain, and once that was gone, he fell apart. He came home every night with a bottle of run and passed out on the couch in the living room. One night, he fell off the side of his ship and drowned."
There was an uncomfortable silence after Harry told his backstory. Harry noticed.
"What?" He asked demandingly. "If you're wondering whether I miss him, there wasn't much to miss. He didn't love me and I didn't love him."
"But you still carry his hook," Jane said quietly.
Harry stayed silent the remainder of the trip and even small talk among the rest of the group seemed strained.
When they arrived at the Isle, the familiar feeling of the cracked stone gravel underneath his feet made Harry breathe out a sigh of relief. Auradon was amazing and he was free there, but he hadn't realized that he had missed the place he had grown up in, even though it was essentially a prison.
"Wow," Jane said, trying to look and sound impressed. "This place is..."
"Broken, dirty and looks ridiculously abandoned," Evie filled in, looking around and sighing.
"Hey, I never said that," Jane said defensively.
Evie smiled empathetically, "It's fine, Jane. I get it. I feel the same way too."
"Hey, we need to keep a low profile," Carlos reminded. "We can't afford our parents knowing that we're here."
Mal nodded, "Carlos is right. We need to get in and out quick."
"In that case, do we know where XJ's gone?" Ben asked. "The last time I was here, I didn't get a good look around."
"Xiao's going to be in her house," Harry said without missing a beat and already walking ahead. "Let's go."
"You know where that is?" Jane asked as the group followed, struggling to keep up with Harry's quick footsteps.
"I used to go over to her place when we were back on the Isle. I..." Harry hesitated for a little bit before continuing in a softer voice. "I went over each day."
After a moment of silence, other than the sound of everyone's footsteps on the ground, Evie cleared her throat.
"Harry..."
"What?" Harry snapped.
"What are you going to say to XJ to try and get her to come back?" Evie asked carefully. She didn't trust Harry not to stab her with his hook if she pushed too far.
Harry laughed humorlessly, "Nothing I'm going to say will make a difference. It's up to Ben."
Ben blinked, "I'm not her boyfriend."
"That's the point, Bennyboy. You weren't the one who broke her heart." Harry snorted. "Once you break Xiao's heart, you're never finding your way back in."
"You could at least try, you know." Evie said, raising an eyebrow.
Harry sighed, "I never said I wasn't going to."
A couple more minutes of Jane looking around, asking questions about the Isle and Carlos replying to them, Harry finally stopped at a building.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair, "We're here."
"You know," Jane said, her eyes wide at the building, "This is surprisingly nice compared to everything else on the Isle. Who built it?"
Harry shrugged, "Nobody knows exactly since nobody's ever seen the house being built - it kind of just showed up overnight like magic, but they're pretty sure that Shan Yu built it before he disappeared into thin air."
"He built all of this in one night?" Ben asked, his eyes wide.
Evie nodded, "I heard that there was no sound either, which only adds to the rumor that Shan Yu wasn't just human."
"The rumor?" Jane asked, confused.
"Shan Yu won so many wars, people started questioning whether he had made a deal with the devil, or if he had magic of his own." Jay explained. "It started when he got his hawk and they had some sort of psychic connection."
"I'm assuming that it's never been confirmed." Ben said.
Mal nodded, "He disappeared before anyone could. He left XJ though, who was vicious enough by being his daughter and even more so because she had been left alone. Nobody ever dared ask her if she had magic herself, but so far, I don't think she does. She's just...smart. In a bad way." Mal added, making Harry glower at her.
Harry sighed as he turned his gaze back to the familiar structure. "Well, Xiao should be in there. She'd want to go home after...everything."
Mal looked at him funny, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go in."
She was about to open the door, expecting it to swing open, when Harry snickered.
Mal turned around and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Harry sighed, a knowing grin on his face. "Xiao doesn't want anybody talking to her normally; what makes you think she'll make her place an open invitation to step in? She used to have her door unlocked when we were back on the Isle and I came over all the time to visit, but since we're not together anymore and she definitely does not want people touching her stuff, her door is locked."
Jay shrugged as he stepped forward, "The lock can't be that sturdy. We're on the Isle. I'll just ram it open."
"Guess who tried that the first night he met the owner too and ended up with a bruised shoulder?" Harry asked with an amused expression.
Mal scowled, "Alright, alright. You've made your point. Hey," Her eyes suddenly lit up, "We could try and lock pick it. Evie, do you have a hairpin?"
Evie nodded and grinned, "Of course I do. Jay, do your thing."
Evie was about to take her pin out of her hair when Harry shut down the idea. "Little brats tried getting in doing the exact same thing on dares a while back. The lock's foolproof. We can't get anywhere with the door."
"How did she get such a nice lock?" Jane frowned.
"Stealing, inventing," Harry replied, looking melancholy. "Xiao could have been an engineer without question."
"Or a thief," Mal muttered quietly. Thankfully, Harry didn't hear her.
"If the door's locked, what do you think we should do?" Ben asked, eyeing the building up and down.
Harry thought for a moment before he answered, "We could try the windows, but I highly doubt that they're open. I never really paid attention to any of the locks, but I'd imagine that Xiao would use her best lock for her door and not for each of her windows."
"I mean," Carlos said hesitantly, "It couldn't hurt to try right?"
The rest of the group, other than Harry, all exchanged looks of agreement.
"I'll go around the back and see if there are any." Jay volunteered.
"I'll go with you," Carlos said, smiling nervously.
Harry rolled his eyes, "You two have never been around this part of the Isle, have you?"
"Well..."
"Jesus - I'll take you two around the house so you don't get lost and Xiao doesn't see you. The minute she does, she'll take off without a second glance." Harry sighed.
He started walking, his footsteps quieter than normal. When he didn't hear Carlos and Jay follow, he sighed and didn't bother to turn back. However, he did raise his hand and make a beckoning sign to the boys behind him. "Let's go." He said boredly.
Carlos and Jay looked at each other nervously, which was a first for Jay and something that wouldn't be the last for Carlos.
Carlos turned to Jane and forced a smile, "Well, I'll see you later."
Jane giggled, "You're not going off to war, Carlos. Hurry up so we can grab XJ and go back to Auradon."
Carlos grinned at his girlfriend before catching up with Jay and Harry, who were already walking around the right corner of the house.
"Alright," Harry said in a low voice. "Do both of you know how to lock pick?"
Jay and Carlos both nodded and Harry breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank god, then we should split up to cover more ground faster. Jay, you can check the left; Carlos, you can stay here and I'll check the back. There should be a couple of windows. Make sure you peek to see if it's within Xiao's field of vision before you try it. Best case scenario is that Xiao's not directly in front of you."
"And if she is?" Carlos asked, biting his lip anxiously.
Harry shrugged, "We'll improvise."
"That's not a solid plan." Jay stated.
Harry snorted, "Plans are Xiao's thing, not mine. Let's get a move on before Bennyboy and your girlfriend," Harry said, looking directly at Carlos, "get kidnapped or something."
Carlos' eyes widened but Jay scoffed. "That's rich coming from you." He snapped.
Harry rolled his eyes, completely unfazed, "Move your arse."
Without another word, Harry walked to the back of the house, disappearing from view. Jay and Carlos exchanged an exasperated look before Jay clapped him on the shoulder.
"Good luck and don't get spotted," Jay said, grinning slightly.
Carlos grinned back, "Same goes for you."
Jay walked away too, leaving Carlos alone on the right side of the house. Carlos sighed and looked up. The house wasn't too tall or big as they were still on the Isle, no matter how sturdy it looked compared to the other structures around it, and Carlos immediately spotted a window.
He stepped up to it and was about to start lock-picking when he remembered that XJ could be on the opposite side of the glass. He shuddered at the thought of XJ catching him, goosebumps forming on his skin; XJ had always scared him. He had been terrified of her as a child and he was still intimidated now as a teenager.
So Carlos crept down and shuffled awkwardly until he was directly underneath the window. He took in a deep breath.
1.
2.
3.
Carlos shot up, hoping to snag a peek through the glass, but was met with something heavy and metallic smacking straight into his face. Carlos yelped and stumbled back, hoping to regain balance. However, he failed and he tumbled, landing on the ground.
"Oh my god! Are you okay?"
Carlos looked up and his jaw dropped.
"Lonnie?"