I only realise that I've fell asleep when I'm awoken by a loud wailing noise. I'm still in the museum and the alarm is going off. Shit, what did the others do to make this go off, it's deafening, my hands unwillingly go over my ears. I have to get out of here, I stand up in the dark and turn towards what I think is the door but see a beam of white light in front of me, a torch, the security guard is in the Gallery of Villains, the light spreads across the room, making it clear that he's coming in here, I have to hide, making as little noise as I can I quickly hide behind the statue of Greyback and try to keep my breathing steady and quiet. The security guards footsteps enter the room and the torch moves across the room, he goes to the left in the room and starts looking behind the statues. Shit, there's no way I can get out of this one, he's going to find me, I look around but all I can see is the faint outline of the statues in the dark. I try to think of a plan, I have never been left without a single idea, there must be something, I'm running out of time before I remember what my father said to me "there is magic in Auradon and that you have magic running through your veins,". Magic. The way to get out of this, the only way to get out of this is magic. I think back to my mother's and father's many lessons on magic, which spell does what and how to say them, a vanishing spell... Evanesco. Will this work without a wand? I'm just going to have to try it and hope it does. I close my eyes to concentrate and take a deep breath,
"Evanesco," I whisper, I have no idea that it's worked until the torch is in my face, shining brightly and burning my eyes and the security guard can't see me, I grin and watch as he moves on to the last few statues and eventually leaves. I release a breath I didn't realise I was holding and move away from the statue. I walk out of the door and make my way out if the Gallery of Villains and towards the stairs,
"Hey! Stop!" a voice shouts, I automatically spin towards the voice, the security guard, "Villain kid! I should have known," I look around and see I'm the only one here so the spell must have worn off, should I run? No, he already knows who I am, or that I'm at least one of the five and he'd easily recognise me if he looked for me at Auradon Prep, fuck sake why can my life never be simple, he arrives next to me out of breath, "Wha-" he gasps "-t are y-" he gasps again, I roll my eyes, he only ran 10 meters, "-ou doing he-" I cut him off
"Just ask me again in a minute, get your breath back, it's really annoying when you don't finish your words," he looks at me, almost shocked and continues panting for another minute, he takes one last breath before starting again
"What are you doing here?" oh right, I probably should have been thinking of an excuse
"I, uh, heard some students at Auradon Prep talking about, uh, maybe coming here tomorrow after their classes, and, uh, one student mentioned the Gallery of Villains so I used the laptop thing to research what that was and I, uh, wanted to see them for myself," I stutter, there is no way he's going to believe me, be more like yourself you idiot, you're from the Isle, he's not going to think that your innocent,
"Some students huh? Which students?" I don't even think about what I'm going to say next
"How the Hell would I know, I've only been here a few hours in which I know 4 names, Ben, Doug, Fairy Godmother and Aubrey,"
"You mean Audrey?"
"Whatever," he eyes me suspiciously, "I must say though, Cruella, Maleficent-" he shudders at the name, "Lucius, Greyback, Bellatrix and Voldemort are very realistic," his eyes go wide in fear at the name of my father, I stop a smirk that threatens to come onto my face, "however, Evil Queen may need some work, not enough make up, she needs a lot more eyeshadow and a brighter lipstick, Jafar is okay, I guess," I continue, I think my story almost sounds convincing now, almost as if I have been in just those 2 rooms and staring at the figurines.
"How did you get in?" he says, shit, didn't think of this one, don't panic, just slightly change the truth.
"Through the room with Maleficents Spinning Wheel,"
"That's the room I was in,"
"Yeah, I know, I saw you asleep and the doors we're already open so I just assumed you were open and I went through,"
"Hmm, I don't know if I believe you or not, but I know a way I can find out," he says, almost as if he knows I'm lying, "security cameras," he smirks, I try not to react, I think it works on my face but I think my heart has stopped, I'm screwed! He beckons me to follow him down the stairs and I do, don't let him think your lying. Will I be sent back to the Isle? He leads me into the room with Maleficents Spinning Wheel and sets up the camera footage, my heart has meanwhile started again and is racing faster than it ever has, if I get sent back on my first day my father will surely kill me without any hesitation. I see him set the camera back to just over 2 hours ago, has it really been that long? He goes to press play and I remember I have magic, I quickly make up a rhyme and hope for the best "security camera, save me the gory, make the footage follow my story," I say under my breath, he fortunately doesn't hear and I see green smoke float to the camera and I almost collapse when I see every detail of my story play on the screen, I sigh in relief, I'm safe for now.
"You were still out after curfew, this information must go to King Adam," the security guard says, holding on to my forearm and dragging me along the path towards King Beasts Castle.
"Adam?" I question, tugging my throbbing, newly tattooed arm away from his grasp, I managed to cover my arm with my long sleeve before he noticed it.
"Yes, King Adam, you will know him as King Beast but I can imagine that you don't learn anything on the Isle of the Lost so I'll let it slide," did he just call me stupid?
"Um, excuse me?" I half whisper half shout, surprised, "did you just call me stupid?"
"I believe I called you uneducated," he says plainly.
"I'm uneducated? You have a job where you sit and do nothing all night! This is Auradon, where there isn't a bad person because they're all trapped on an island and you sit around protecting statues from these Auradonians! It sounds to me like you the uneducated one and this is the only job you could get! That's what I think uneducated is, I mean what could possibly happen in a museum in Auradon that it would need a security guard?" I rage, I notice he has stopped in the middle of the road to listen to me but he doesn't react and continues walking after a few seconds, expecting me to follow him, I just watch him go. A few seconds go by before he realises I'm not following and he comes back, grabbing my arm again and dragging me along, I wince and pull my arm away quickly.
"Touch me again and you'll lose your arm," I threaten, he laughs,
"You can't do anything to me, you'll get sent back to the Isle," he smirks
"You wanna try me? I'll gladly go back if it means I get to hurt you," I smirk back, he grows pale and walks ahead of me again, I follow this time. We get to the steps leading to King Beasts castle and begin to climb them. We're almost at the doors when they fly open, almost sending the security guard flying back down the stairs, I smile at the thought. A bright light shines through the open doors and show the outline of King Beast, Queen Belle and Ben, Beast and Ben wearing matching blue suits and Belle wearing a long sparkling yellow dress, as if it wasn't the middle of the night, I roll my eyes just at their clothes,
"King Adam, Queen Belle, Prince Ben," the security guard says, falling to his knees and bowing dramatically, it's almost embarrassing and I have to hold in a laugh, biting my lip to stop it escaping. I see Beast lift his head proudly, Belle smile and close her eyes proudly and Ben grin widely, again proudly, I would absolutely hate it if someone acted like that in front of me and I probably wouldn't be able to stop my laughter everytime someone did it. The security guards rises and begins to speak
"I found this kid from the Isle wandering around in the museum just 20 minutes ago, she claims she was coming to compare the statues in the Gallery of Villains to the real thing and that I left the doors open and fell asleep, but I would never leave the doors open or sleep on the job, at least not willingly, your majesties," wait what?
"Um, what? You saw the footage on the security cameras! You know that I'm telling the truth! You saw it," I'm the only one who knows I changed it and I know that he saw what I wanted him to see,
"Saw what footage? I went to watch it and you had deleted it, I know I locked the doors and like I said I would never fall asleep on the job... willingly," my jaw drops, he, an Auradonian, is lying to the King, Queen and Prince of Auradon and is dropping me in it, of course they'll believe him, he's from Auradon, I'm from the Isle, this is a losing battle, what the Hell am I supposed to do? "I haven't figured out what her intentions were yet but I can easily find out if you would allow me to, your majesties," Find out if they'll allow him to? What is he talking about? Is he trying to make me feel threatened? I watch the royal family, trying to find any sign that they don't believe him in their faces but they show no emotion. Beast speaks first,
"This isn't my job, Ben, you wanted them here, this is your responsibility," he says, gently leading Belle back into the castle, leaving me with Ben and the security guard, Ben might believe me, he really wants us to fit in here.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, you may return to your position, Viviana, follow me please," Ben says before walking into the castle, the security guard smirks at me and walks back down the steps as I make my way inside and follow Ben down the corridor of the huge, labyrinth-like castle. We eventually arrive at a brown door, with golden calligraphy spelling 'Prince Benjamin Florian' Florian? Wow. What a name. He opens it and goes inside, I follow him in, he's barely closed the door when he does something I'd never expect,
"What do you think you're doing! I bring you to Auradon to give you a chance at a normal life and this is how you repay me! By breaking the rules!" he shouts, he takes a breath before continuing "my father doesn't believe that you five can come here and live normally like everyone else, and within 6 hours he's been proved right! You and the others were supposed to be my chance to show my parents that I can handle being King and you have ruined it, do you see Mal or Evie or Carlos or Jay breaking into museums after hours?" I keep quiet, no point dropping them in it too, "No! You don't! And I don't either! You are the only one who has broke the rules so far! You are going to be the problem" he growls. There's no way he's talking to me like that
"I don't know who you think you're talking to but it sure as Hell ain't me! You brought us here for your own benefit, I'm not going to change myself to make you look good!" I shout back, the room goes silent while he stares at me with wide eyes and I stare at him with narrow eyes. So far I'm hating Auradon and everyone in it, it's worse than I thought. He stays silent and doesn't move for a further minute before slowly coming closer to me until he's in my face, he speaks slowly
"You know, I only respect people who respect me back and you don't. I only grant people favours if they will do me favours and you won't. I am only nice to people who are nice to me and you aren't... So, I can give you a choice; respect me, help me and be nice or," he pauses, hoping to add effect to his already boring offer "-I will be your worse nightmare," he threatens and I can't help but burst out laughing,
"You? My worst nightmare? Wow you are funny, I grew up on the Isle, Ben, I grew up in a prison with all the worst villains in the world and possibly the worst villains as parents, yet you think that you would be my worst nightmare, that's really funny,"
"Do you really want to risk finding out what I can do?" He says, making his voice deeper, if he's trying to scare me then he's failing. Miserably. I scoff,
"What are you going to do? The worst you can do is send me back to the Isle and I honestly wouldn't mind that, Auradon is, so far, awful and like you said, I've only been here for 6 hours," his eyes narrow,
"Don't push me Viviana," he growls
"Don't push you? How am I pushing you? All I've said is that I'm not scared of you, even with your oh-so terrifying 'threats'," I say sarcastically, "Do you really think you're scary just because you talk like that? You probably couldn't even scare Carlos and he was scared by your stupid statue," I notice that he's gone silent and for some reason get annoyed, "so you think you can act like the big bad because you have a higher position than me but as soon as I fight back you back down, your all bark and no bite! On the Isle you'd most likely be murdered for backing out of a fight you star-" I ramble but stop when Ben lunges at me. Unholy shit! I stumble back in shock and hit the wall, he reaches me and tightly wraps his hands around my neck, I try to pull his hands away but find out he's just as strong as I am, I'm running out of time, I can't breathe! I kick him in the stomach and send him flying towards his desk, breaking it in half and sending splinters of wood flying around the room, I fall to the ground gasping and try to get my breath back, what the Hell just happened? He gets up and lunges again, I'm ready this time, my fist connects with his jaw and he's knocked back again, halfway between me and his now broken desk, he holds his jaw
"I told you, I'm only nice to people who are nice to me," he says, coming slowly towards me,
"Well you better get used to this fighting thing then, 'cause 'nice' isn't in my vocabulary," I snarl at him. He must have been expecting me to back down as he looks shocked again,
"Fine, you're dismissed, go back to your dorm and stay there." he says, opening the door, I scoff and go to walk out but his arm crosses the door frame, blocking my path, he leans in close to my ear, "this isn't over," he whispers, I almost shudder but manage to control myself before he can see.
"I'd be horrified if it was, after tonight performance I'd sleep with one eye open, your majesty," I snarl, throwing his arm out of the way and storming out of the room, the door slams loudly behind me. I make my way back to Auradon Prep slowly, thinking about my first night in Auradon, attacked by Death Eaters, my father and now the King, I can already tell that my time here is going to be ridiculously bad and I think I'd rather be in Hell than here.